Chapter Twelve: Reality Vs Fiction

After she logs out, she wakes up back in her bed. She takes off the headset and sits up. Her snow white hair has gotten even longer in the past two years, nearly making it all the way down to her knees. A single lamp illuminates the small hospital room, and the light sparkles off her crimson red eyes as she lets out a long yawn.

"It took you long enough."

Eris... no, Alexia turns to see her nurse standing in the doorway, "Oh hi, Miss Erica," she says nervously.

"Do you realize that you were supposed to eat your dinner thirty minutes ago?"

"Yeah… sorry about that. I kinda got into a little mix with a bunch of players, and I had to fight my way out," Alexia answers nervously.

"I saw that, but that only took you five minutes!! What about the other twenty five minutes that you spent fighting?!"

"Huh? Oh, I forgot about the monitor thing," she says as Erica brings over a tray of food.

Alexia begins chowing down on her dinner in bed and Erica sits down next to her, "You know, you spend an awful lot of time in that game."

The girl swallows the piece of meat in her mouth, "Well, it's not like there's a lot of things to do around here. My brother can't visit all the time, and you and Lauren are the only others I talk to. Other than that I read sometimes but I can't do much. I mean, I can't even get up and walk." she pulls away her blanket showing her unhealthily thin legs. One can make out the bones that make her legs up, "I haven't used my legs in so long, that I can't even feel them at all anymore. But in the game, I can walk, I can run, I can do things that are impossible for someone like me to do. Out here, I'm nothing, but in there, I feel like I have somewhere to belong."

"You do know that there's a difference between reality and fiction right? Everything in there isn't real. But you are someone in this world."

"I wish that that was the case," says Alexia with a tear running down her cheek, "You say that I am someone, but I'm not. My parents want nothing to do with me. They didn't even want me in the first place. I don't do anything to contribute to this world. And in a few years time, I'm going to die. At this point, I'm nothing more than a waste of money."

Erica grabs Alexia's shoulder, "Don't say that about yourself! Don't you dare say that about yourself!!"

"Why not!? It's the truth!!" Alexia shouts back with rivers running from her eyes, "I'm nobody!! I'm just a hospital patient that likes games!! I have nothing to my name, no parents, and no life!! I've had nothing but pain for my entire life, and the only one who can relive it, only sees me once a month!! And even then, I feel terrible. He works so hard. And unlike me, he actually has a future ahead of him. I'm nothing, and yet he visits me. I'm just more of a strain and worry on his life. At this point, I'm better off dead."

Erica slaps the little girl on her right cheek. Her face, already redend, redens even more. She looks back at her nurse and finds an angered expression combined with a tear running down her face.

"Don't you ever let me hear you talking like that again, young lady! I had a son once, and like you, he was bullied in school. But instead of moving along with life's challenges… he ended his own life. Then I grieved, for a long time. I skipped many days of work, and I nearly lost my job here. You want to know what happened next?" Alexia nods her head, "You were admitted here. And my first day back, I was assigned to you. You're not a replacement for my son, but I think of you like my own daughter. Do you have any idea how your death would affect your brother and I? And you say that you're not anyone worth worrying about? It was that thinking that made me lose my son, and I don't want you thinking that way either. It doesn't matter if you live eighteen years, or thirty years, or a hundred years, you are someone, Alexia! You wouldn't be here right now if you weren't!" the little girl looks down with shame as tears continue to flow from her eyes, "No one knows what the future holds. We may find something to help you. Don't give up on life just yet."

"But, you all worry about me so much. It just makes me so guilty. Me with no future at all, being worried about by people who do. I feel like I'm holding everyone back."

Erica pulls Alexia close and embraces her, "You're not holding anyone back. We worry about you because your brother and I care about you like family, and we don't want to lose you." Alexia struggles, but is unable to hold back her tears, and begins to cry into Erica's arms. Though her hics and sobs, Erica pulls her in tighter and speaks softly, "It's alright. Just know that there are people here that love you, and that don't want you to go."

Alexia continues to cry, eventually crying herself to sleep. Erica gently lays Alexia's head down on her pillow, and wipes the tears off of the little girl's red cheeks. Then she pulls the covers up to the little girl's shoulders, and before turning off the lamp, she lightly kisses Alexia's forehead. Finally, she quietly takes the tray, and leaves the room.