Two Thousand Miles

Chapter One

The obnoxious multi colored lights are strobing fast and the remix of a Cardi B song is so loud in my ears. I grin and take a breath to reply to my best friend while we jump up and down to the catchy song playing. The world where I, Abby and my best friend, Miles, live in is a world we pretty much create together. And the music is always loud and the laughter is endless. When I say create, I mean literally, we create it online together in a virtual world.

I blink and my world returns to the real world and it's in the middle of my dark bedroom with a laptop illuminating my face that sits in front of me. The scene is rather sad, considering I'm a college student sitting on the bed in the middle of the dark playing online games others would consider a "dating or dress up game" To me, its so much more. 

I mumble out the words as I look at my laptop screen while my fingers dance across my keyboard as I type, "I think I'm gonna pass out if you don't let me leave this club, Miles!" I watch my brown wavy hair sway on my character look-a-like dance up and down with my best friend, Miles, in circles in tune with the song playing in game.

Rubbing my tired sore eyes at four in the morning for the third night in a row is not a cute look. The days blend together but it's a sacrifice for all the fun and excitement that happen for me.

I dig my hand out of the salty chip bag, brush the salt off the palms of my hands and move my laptop so that it's resting on my thighs.

My greasy fingers I suspect coat my keyboard and as I type to my best friend while smiling, "On second thought, I may just skip class if you're going to force me to stay for another few hours. You're all the way in Canada anyway, aren't you three hours behind me? You know I can't keep up with you. The time and dance moves". I chuckle as I watch his avatar twerking to the song and strangely to the beat.  I love his goofy ass.  

I can admit it; I'm addicted to an online game called 'Another World'. It isn't really a game though but an online world where I can create anything, become anyone I want and communicate with other people from around the world. Things that I am no good at in the real world.

The game is meant to create worlds and to be sociable with folks from anywhere in the world but people have learned quickly that it can be used to meet your future girlfriend or boyfriend. And of course, it's a big beauty contest between people but I won't get too deep on that subject.

In real life, I'm a twenty one year old freshman in college attending a community college for photography that gets decent grades and wears sweatpants and old vacation tees to classes almost daily. Nothing close to my glamorous life in 'Another World'. The most glam I ever get in real life is when me and my best friend Christine go to the Olive Garden on the east side of town of Wichita, Kansas. That side of town is the fanciest part of town where we have an Olive Garden and a decent sized mall which I never seem to be at, not like the rest of the town. Not like I could afford it anyway between spending all my money in this game and candles from Bath and Body Works.  I mostly spend my time on 'Another World' when I can. My dad jokingly says to me every time I leave the house that the "Caveman has finally left the cave". And every time, I roll my eyes at his comments. He just doesn't understand that this is where all my closest friends and creativity lives. Not that he knows what I'm doing.  I don't even know what he thinks I'm doing.  It's the not so fancy part of my life but this is where I am the most happiest and a place I can escape the real world and the anxieties of real life.

I have met the greatest people on 'Another World' and even some hot guys along the way. If I'm being honest, meeting guys has been one of the best things because in the real world, talking to any guy instantly makes me red in the face, especially if he is attractive. But when I log into 'Another World', I feel incredibly confident and with my avatar looking exactly how I want her to be, it makes me feel like I can be flirty or sexy to any guy I like. That's something that I couldn't pull off in the real world. Real world confidence equals zero.