Chapter 2

TEXTING

There was a loud crash in the kitchen.

I stayed huddled under the deck outside the back door. It was old and huge, and looked out over a half acre of overgrown weeds and a kidney bean shaped pool. The steps were off to my left, still visible in the fading light of the sunset. Spiderwebs brushed against my hair as I felt something crawl against my ankle. I shifted my foot, crunching the dried leaves that had collected over the years, the slender threads of waning sunlight casting just enough light to see them. Niamh perched on the protruding root of the large old tree that the deck was built around. Her white fur cast a soft glow in the near darkness.

There was a dead mouse under the deck a few feet away, maggots crawling all over it. I ignored it, and the smell. There were often dead rats under there. It's where I tossed them when I had to empty out the mouse traps.

I couldn't make out words from the screaming that came from the house, but I didn't need to. The angry voices were the same. Two people who came together because it was what they were supposed to do, escaping the cycles of their own childhoods to create a new one for their own children.

"Do you really think I'll make it through the admissions interview?" I whispered.

It isn't about you, Niamh replied. I'm a useful familiar. The school will want me, so they will take you.

I didn't know why she chose to come to me, to bond with me, but she did. I was afraid to ask, frightened that the first good thing that had come to me might leave if she realized how shit I was.

At the same time, she was with me all the time, so she had to know that by now.

Another crash reverberated through the boards above me, followed by loud sobbing.

My phone vibrated in my pocket.

I pulled it out, the glow of the screen similar to the glow of Niamh's fur.

Magnus: Do I need a tent?

I looked at the simple question on my screen, the ache in my chest replaced by the sudden thrill of excitement. He asked for my number. He texted me.

I couldn't believe he texted me.

I knew I was silly for getting excited. He had a legitimate question, but this was different. He had said yes.

Now he was texting me.

My heart pounded in my chest. I was about to put myself out there even further.

I typed a response.

Me: We can share mine. It's brand new.

The next question came back instantly.

Magnus: What should I bring? Sleeping bag? Food?

I hit send on my next response, and instantly regretted it.

Me: If you can bring food, that is good. I'll pack some, too. Bring water. I have a double sized sleeping bag we can share if you don't have anything.

I stared at my message, my cheeks burning. I'd gotten it because it was on sale, and a double seemed more comfortable because I could spread out. I hadn't thought about how heavy it was, so the first trip I took with it was really hard. The fact that I was going to carry all that weight again, for some guy who asked someone else out to prom, gave new energy to the waves of my embarrassment and excitement.

It took him far too long to reply.

Magnus: Okay.

I waited, but nothing else came.

I stared at the screen until the only light was coming from my phone and my familiar.

"Lumi?" My dad called out the back door, and I hunched my shoulders held my breath. He sounded tired, but not quite tired enough to make me feel comfortable. "I know you're out here. Come back inside! Now!"

I waited until I heard the door slam shut. If I stayed out much longer he might lock the back door, and I would have to pop the screen off the bathroom window to get in.

I tucked my phone into my pocket and crawled out from under the deck, brushing the spider webs from my hair. I felt something skitter over my shoulder and tried to ignore it as I walked up the steps back to the top of the deck. I opened the door, paint peeling around the edges, and walked into the kitchen.

My younger sister sat at the kitchen table working on her homework, her face red and splotchy.

I took off one of my ragged sneakers.

"There is glass on the floor again," my sister muttered. "I made food and left you a plate on the counter."

I shoved my foot back into the sneaker.

I wasn't supposed to wear my shoes in the house, but it was a special sort of irritating to have a small piece of glass stuck in your heel for a week or more.

There was a plate on the counter with six small potstickers and a palm sized amount of previously frozen peas.

I took a step towards it and my dad reappeared with a broom and a dustbin. He shoved them into my hands as I flinched backwards.

"The floor needs sweeping," he grunted. "Did you do your homework?"

I nodded. "I did it at school." Most of my teachers wrote the homework assignments on the board at the beginning of class, so I would do them during the lecture. It was easier than trying to pay attention to someone talking for forty minutes at a time.

"At least one of my children does what they're told." He glared at the back of my sister's head before walking out of the kitchen. On his way past the counter he picked up two of the potstickers off the plate and ate them as he walked across the small living room and down the hallway crowded with stacks of books piled on the floor in disorganized towers.

The sound of his voice echoed down the hallway, causing me to flinch again.

My mom screamed back at him.

I swept before wiping the whole floor with a wet rag. When I was done I picked up the plate of lukewarm potstickers and ate them with my hands, bolting them down quickly. I tilted the plate to pour the peas down my throat.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket. Hope clenched its spindly fingers around my heart. Would he keep messaging me?

I immediately brushed that thought aside.

It wasn't like he would suddenly start talking to me more just because I extended an invite to spend time alone together. We were barely even friends. We'd always hung out in groups. We'd never been alone. Didn't we have to hang out one on one to really be friends?

I checked my notifications, but there was nothing.

I shuffled over to the family computer, its screen facing the rest of the room. The chair squealed as I sank down into its faded brown cushion. I pulled up the Telnet software and typed in the ssh connection. The familiar word Lensmoor scrolled across the screen and I typed in my username and password.

As soon as I logged onto my favorite text based online multiplayer game, an incoming message popped up.

[Private Message] Nolan: I've been waiting for you to come online. ;)

I typed my message back, smiling.

[Private Message] Alexandria: I'm going to run a 21-26 area today. I want to get to level 20 so I can buy a house. I'm so close!

[Private Message] Nolan: We could always get married and share a house.

I lifted my hands off the keyboard and looked around me to see if anyone was near enough to read the screen.

The offer of marriage in the game didn't really mean anything, but I flushed anyway. My friend Gia had made the same offer so we could create a new child character for her to play, but this was different.

I'd met Nolan a few months ago when he messaged me, asking for advice literally right after he created a character for the first time. He must have spotted my name as I ran past the newbie area, but he was pleasant to chat with, so I answered any questions he had about the game. I played in groups with him until he outleveled me. He seemed to spend more time online than I did.

Now that he was a lot higher level, we didn't group up or play together anymore, so we chatted instead, typing out different roleplay scenes of being goofy together.

Players got married all the time in the game, but what was the point if we didn't actually play together? It was a strange thing for him to suddenly ask me.

He didn't wait for me to figure out a response.

[Private Message] Nolan: Want to come see my house?

I typed back quickly.

[Private Message] Alexandria: Ok, I'll meet you in the main square.

I teleported my character and typed out the command to list the other players. Nolan was already there.

[Private Message] Nolan: Follow me.

I typed in the command to have my character automatically follow him.

He led me a few streets away, then created a portal. My character automatically followed him through it and he closed the portal.

[Room Emote] Nolan reaches out and pushes a strand of hair back behind your ear.

My face felt hot.

I typed out the command to display the room description.

You are standing in the center of the entryway to a mansion. The floor is pitch black, like the endless sea of night, so glossy that you can see yourself reflected in it. There are dozens of small lights set into the ceiling that reflect on the floor like stars. There is a small black vase sitting on a side table, unimpressive compared to the size and sparkle of the entryway.

Ok, that gave me something to focus on, rather than the whole imaginary touching thing. I wondered what it would be like if Magnus did it in real life. I typed out an action for my character to display to the room.

[Room Emote] I walk away, my skin flushing as I avoid looking at Nolan, and my gaze falls on a small black vase.

[Room Speech] Alexandria: "What is this?"

I waited.

[Room Emote] Nolan follows after you, reaching out like he is about to put his hand on your back before it drops back down to his side.

[Room Speech] Nolan: My father's ashes. He died when I was young, leaving me an orphan.

I grin. Orphan is the absolute easiest backstory for any character in this game. Left an orphan, growing up a street rat, and emerging into a world of monsters that have to be slain. I had the same backstory, so I couldn't tease him about it.

"Get off the computer and come over here!" my father shouted from the living room.

All of the tension that had melted from between my shoulder blades came back with a vengeance as I winced.

[Private Message] Alexandria: I have to go. Bye.

I logged off, wishing I could stay.

Fantasy worlds were easier than anything I had to deal with in the real world.

Niamh rubbed against me as I stood up. I reached down to pet her before I walked back into the room where no one would be able to see her.

I only had to do this for a little while longer.

Then my new life could begin in a different world.