The Other World

Whisper - Part 2

Sara burst through the front door of her home and slammed it shut behind her. She leaned against the cool, metal door and breathed a sigh of relief.

Annie's right; he is getting faster.

The door made a hollow thud as Sara let her head fall backward. Her moment of peace was fleeting, cut short by the sound of her brother's footsteps pounding up the driveway.

"No way!" she huffed, bolting down the hallway towards the VR room. Although she was only a few steps away, she couldn't reach it before she heard the front door fling open.

"There had better be a good reason why everyone is slamming doors around here!" The voice of Sara's mom rang through the house from almost everywhere at once. Jace and Sara instinctively froze.

"Homework!" Sara yelled.

"I got a new game!" Jace replied at the same time.

"Homework comes first!" the voice of their mom echoed.

Sara stuck her tongue out at Jace, who stood deflated in the foyer.

"You know if I wasn't already tired I would have beaten you here," Jace mumbled. "Let me know when you're done. Okay?"

"Don't be so sad," Sara taunted. "It's not my fault I'm good at what I set my mind to."

"You must have forgotten to set your mind to grow."

"Whatever! I'm regular-sized! You're just freakishly tall," Sara folded her arms. "That's all."

"What?" Jace cupped his hand behind his ear. "I can't hear you from up here."

Sara rolled her eyes and shook her head as she spun around to go into the VR room. I hope he doesn't expect me to get off the VR anytime soon after that. Sara plotted her retribution as she stepped into the room and flicked on the light. Inside the small, carpeted room sat what looked like a dentist's chair. Connected to the top was a clear, dome-shaped VR headset. She casually sat herself down and leaned back into the comfortable cloth cushioning. Reaching up over her head, she slid the headset over her face. Sara laid her arms down by her side, relaxed, and closed her eyes.

The hum of the air conditioning in the room slowly faded away. She opened her eyes a moment later, no longer lying on a chair in the small room. Her body was still in her VR room lying on the chair, of course. But after the signals from the headset started interacting with her brain waves, the reality she saw was completely different.

"Welcome back, Sara," said the familiar voice of the VR lounge's virtual intelligence. "How may I help you?"

Sara now found herself relaxing on an elegant leather couch in a lounge of her own design. She stood up on the hardwood floor. "I need to start on this week's surgery homework," she said, stretching and wiggling her fingers, making sure her body was synced properly to the new reality.

"Of course," said the voice. "Before you begin, my sensors show that your heart rate is abnormally fast. Would you like to wait for it to slow down?"

"No," Sara shook her head. She had already forgotten that her body in the real world was still winded from running. "I'll be fine. Please start up the homework."

"Right away," answered the program.

Sara took a deep breath and stood still while she waited to transfer into the medical training program.

I'm really not in the mood for any gunshot victims today. I swear that's all they are training me for

"I'm very sorry," the voice spoke, cutting off her thoughts. "It appears that there is an update required to begin your homework."