REINCARNATED AS A CREATED PLAYER

"Joten I picked up the new volume of that book about the Skelton guy you like, you want me to read it to you now or after dinner?"

My sister came barging in my room, as usual. She never knocks, ever.

"Whenever you're ready Sheri," I responded. I was capable of reading my own books of course, but I was diagnosed with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG) a form of brain cancer that affects the brain stem when I was 13 years old. I have been able to function fairly well up to this point, but now my weakness made it difficult to even sit up in bed. I was withdrawn from school before I could start high school. Virtual school was recommended to me, but unless the pathway to the afterlife was a hypotenuse I didn't want to spend my last years here learning a2+b2=c2. I'm hoping that the afterlife doesn't require a standardized test to get in. It wasn't safe for me to mingle in public because this tumor crushed my immune system. I could die from a cold simply by being in the presence of a carrier, as my doctor so bluntly put it.

Even now my sister made sure she took a shower immediately after she came from school and donned a protective gown, hair net, a face mask, and even gloves before she barged into my room, but not for her protection, but for my own. I was sure it was all such a hassle. She was even careful to spray the new book with disinfectant before she brought it in. I didn't see the point in doing this anymore. DIPG has a less than 1% chance of survival after five years. As a matter of fact, no one has survived it for more than five years and four months. I, now eighteen, have had this disease for five years and one month.

"Hey bro, how are you feeling?" She looked at me with her ever hopeful eyes. My mother and I have all but accepted my fate, but not her she believes that I am her big brother who can do anything, so there is no way I'm not making it through this. It took a lot of energy to smile at her and move into a position where I could look her in the eyes. I peeled the sheets back revealing my frail frame. Not only was cancer killing me, but the treatment was just as bad. My hair fell out; I couldn't eat leading to a weight loss so severe my ribs showed through.

"Come here, Sheri." I beckoned her over to me.

She gingerly approached my bed and sat on the side next to me.

"Listen to me; I am not long for this world. I feel the life leaving my body day by day and I am certain my time is almost here."

As if someone turned the knob on a faucet, tears started streaming down her red cheeks. A strand of her hair fell thru from the front of her hair net. Sheri's hair was jet black, but she dyed a small lock in a bright blood red, something she'd seen on one of her pop idols. My little sister was cute, but she was now sixteen and raising her hope was not something I wanted to do.

"But, I don't want you to go." She managed to mumble those words in between her tears.

"No need to fret, you and mom have each other, an I'll reincarnate in one of those fantasy worlds I love so much," I responded with a smile.

"Should I hire a truck driver?" She asked jokingly. She always manages to bring a smile to my face through all the suffering.

I haven't left the house in five years. I've read almost every light novel that hit the shelves. I was among the best players in the MMORPG Crestfallen because I had so much time on my hands.

She wiped her tears and laughed casually as she opened the book she just bought and began reading to me.

I really was ready to die, not because I was unhappy with life, but because my life was a burden to the people around me. My family had to sit and watch me die slowly all while knowing there was nothing they could do about it. Every phone call made my mom twinge with fear that it was the call she did not want. More than anything, she feared not being there when it mattered.