Video Games

Chapter Four

"Miss Eidos, this shall be your stop," one of the men bark. As my seatbelt lock is unlocked, I unfasten the tight band around my waist - leaving me with a slight pain - and stand up. Why do they lock the seatbelts? Why would any of us attempt to stand up on a hovercraft like this?

Swaying from side to side, I maintain a skateboarding position I'm familiar with from Tony Hawk games. This one boy, a guy with shaggy blonde hair and a cheeky smirk, watches me as I maintain my balance - he's probably a THPS runner, potentially a THU runner. How I know this, I don't know, but the look in his eye doesn't hide the fact that skateboarding is a passion of his.

Finally making my way over to the door, I cling to the handle by the metal door; I watch as my knuckles turn white as I grip the cool bar as hard as I can. It's only because I'm desperate not to fall over in front of the twenty six people watching me currently.

Yeah, they have been dropped off already. It seems to be going in the backwards order to what we made our lands in, meaning Chibuike has just departed; Kwesi will be entering his new home just after me.

The hovercraft comes to an abrupt stop, sending me flying into the side of the metal vehicle. Regaining my breath, I watch the door in front of me swiftly slide open, revealing my made up world to me.

The lake looks as clean as I made it; part of me can't help but think that the taintless water is going to - slowly - become contaminated, untouchable. The trees, not as straight and as perfect as I created from the blocks, shade my house at this particular time - tomorrow, I shall have to keep an eye on the position of the sun.

Planting my crops in the shade isn't going to be that much help to my survival is it?

This rope ladder falls from the bottom step of the slow descent to the opening of the door; the ladder lightly brushes the ground. To my surprise, I don't have to jump ten feet and break my ankles before reaching the floor.

Without hesitation, I cling to the rungs of the ladder and waver around in the air, about seventy five feet above the ground. If I'm to fall right now, I can die. It's almost certain that I'll die; unless the wind carried me over to the pond lurking to the side of my world...

No, Ryota, don't think the worst is going to happen. This isn't a run through of a game, this is real life - even if your life was built on a computer, and you have no right to treat it with no caution. This is hazardous; you have one life, not ninety nine.

Decline down the ladder, my limbs shake. If you told me, just a few days ago, that I'd be playing real life versions of my favourite video games, I'd laugh in your face because how can sweet dreams become a reality?

Upon closer inspection, I realise how ugly my house is. It looks as if someone has dumped tar over it, not a pretty sight, as you can imagine. But these games aren't about looks, they're about surviving.

As I waver about twenty feet above the diet floor, I finally notice the intensity of the heat; the scorching sun's rays burn through my clothes, sizzle my skin. Part of me wants to wipe my brow with my arm, but I know that my descent will become a plummet if I lose focus on this ladder for more than half a second.

Finally, I reach the penultimate rung of the ladder and decide to jump; I'm not gonna break my ankles jumping a few inches from a ladder. Well, it wasn't exactly a jump, but more of a failed leap. Nevertheless, I land on my feet.

Instantly, the ladder flies back into the hovercraft; the engine starts up, sending the twenty six teenagers above to their own homes. Soon, Kwesi will be leaving his seat, climbing down the ladder that four of us have used to reach our homes.

I wonder where Dexio and Baiyou are in the number line. As I stop staring at the grey blob in the sky, I decide to explore my home, ready to see how it lives up to the actual Minecraft game I used to build this part of the world.