Chapter 2: Adventure Quest

Chapter 2: Adventure Quest

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As good of an idea as getting yogurt had sounded and should have been, things were a bit more tense between my son and I then I wanted them to be. It wasn't the first time things had been awkward between us, and I figured it wouldn't be the last time either. It was just this time, something was different. I actually felt on edge around him. I hated the feeling

It was hard to describe. It was like there was an almost tense and formal hostility between us that I didn't really understand. More than once Luca referred to me as father rather than dad. As much as it grated on my nerves, I tried to let it go and not bother me too much. I figured it was one of those things that just came along with being a parent.

But… If it continues, I'll have to make a point to absolutely stomp it out. Once we got to the food court, I got us both a bowl. For the time being at least, we ate the yogurt in silence. I did what I could to try and engage with him, but it was hard.

At one point, I even brought in the big guns. "You know, your mom really used to love this place. Do you remember how she would get chunks of pineapple with the honey drizzle and coconut shavings?"

Luca stopped eating for a moment and cocked his head as if struggling to remember. A ghost of something that could barely be called a smile spread across his face. It bothered me a little. "Yeah, I guess she did. Honey drizzle, coconut shavings, and dulce de leche."

This was a good idea after all. It was the first genuine response I'd gotten from him since he woke up, and the first time in weeks he'd even mentioned his mom. I counted it as a win.

Soon each of our spoons was scraping the bottom of the bowls. It was the closest to happy I'd been in awhile, even with the tension. Fully contented, I grabbed both of the bowls and tossed them into the recycling. I'd never been big on the environment, but Marie had been, and since it was important to her, it became important to me. It was one of the ways I kept her memory alive.

"So… what do you want to do now kiddo? I asked looking at him as he very intensively started scaning around. What's he looking out for? Girls? Games? I hope this doesn't become another episode. I was enjoying this. "Traffic is still going to be terrible. No point in getting back on the road yet. We've got a couple hours to blow, what do you want to do? Maybe we can check out Spicier Gifts or Games Pad. Maybe even the bookstore?"

Luca shook his head and muttered a simple "No" with an aggravating amount of derision that grated on me, as if the suggestion was the dumbest thing he'd ever heard. It took everything I had not to bite his head off for the disrespect.

Disrespect aside, I hadn't really expected anything else. He was still a little too young to appreciate some of the finer points of screen t-shirts and off-color jokes. Judging by the look on his face, he actually seemed almost offended, irritated even that I'd suggested looking at the novelty store. Lewd or not, it could be fun. There's that attitude again. I repeated my mantra. Love is patient...

"I'm fine dad. Really, I'm fine. Let's just hit up the arcade. They just launched a new game that everyone at school is talking about. We should play." Luca said looking across the food court towards the gaming area.

And... he's back to calling me dad. Alright, he's got me interested. A game he wants to play?My kid? The broody kid that never wants to do anything with me? Color me pink and count me in.

I looked over at what he was looking at and saw a big sign advertising

"Enter the Dungeon!"

"The adventure starts at 2:00. Sign up now.

The prize? Power Everlasting, Wealth Beyond Measure, and Eternal Life!"

I figured it was a hybrid game of one of those escape room type deals mixed with some LARP event. I'd always wanted to do something like that, but Marie had never been interested and neither had my son. "Let's do it Luca. Far worse ways to blow some time."

I tried to push him over in the wheelchair, but he was a little insistent that I leave him alone to push himself. With all the attitude he was giving me, I wasn't in the mood to try to fight him over it. For what was probably the fifth time of the day I almost lost my cool, espcially when Luca tried to push my hand away when I went to push him. Instead of yelling, I tried to be calm. "If you want to be unappreciative, I won't beat myself up over it trying to help you."

We crossed the food court, and though it was fairly empty, the few people who were eating gave me sideways looks of pity. I tried to ignore it. It didn't do me or Luca any good. Once we were in the arcade it was a lot emptier than I thought it would be. I guess what did I expect? When you can play next gen at home, why go to the Arcade to play last generation games for dollars at a time. I looked around to see if anything looked cool. I was mostly looking for shooters so me and Luca play together.

The few kids I saw, were running around from game to game, while a small of them circled around a sweaty kid with curly hair in a tracksuit who was frantically jumping around to smash buttons that were lit up on the floor for some rave type dancing game.

"There it is." Shouted Luca, pointing towards the back of the room at some illustrated cutouts of mages, magic, and warriors.

It looked like the designers had tried to make it look like a dungeon entrance too, at least what I thought one would look like. Black bricks, lit torches, omniums looking skulls, and the scent of ax body spray. It had everything.

"Let's go Luca. That'll give us a minute to check it out and see if we want to go through with it." I told him as we walked across the way. I was not super impressed with what I saw once we were on the other side.

The room was as industrial as I've ever seen. Sparse. Ugly. Not decorated at all and furnished worse than my college apartment when I was single. I'd been expecting see maybe you know, trees, dragons, epic battle scenes and magic painted on the walls.

You know… something to really immerse you in fantasy.

Instead, it was a sanitized room straight out of a hospital setting. This is about as fun as a colonoscopy.

All things aside, I am not a fun sucker or a good time killer. My kid wanted an adventure, and I was going to provide that, even if he wasn't being a good sport about the day so far. We moved over to the check in counter, but nobody seemed to be there. A little bell advertised to ring it if you needed service and I did just that.

What kind of place doesn't have somebody behind the counter? That's bad business. I should just call it a day here and tell Luca that's no dice.

Just as I was getting ready to call it quits a voice shouted out, "One moment." I looked over and saw a young woman closing the door to the management suite, as soon as she was at her station she asked, "Can I help you? You're here for the dungeon run right?"

"Yeah, me and my son Luca are wanting to go on a quest. I'm just not really quite sure how any of this works, but it looks fun." I replied, trying to ignore the fact that she was giving me a death stare like I was the hundreth person to say something stupid that day.

I wasn't quite sure where she came from but she was definitely pretty by most standards, she had a hood up over her head that covered most of her face, but I could see that she had pointed ears, like an elf. "They really go hard on the costumes here don't they Luca," I asked him to squat down and whispering in his ear. Somehow, they both scowled.

"All right, well we're running a special promo today since it's launch day. Since you're in the first 100 people. It's actually free to go in. We just need you to sign a waiver, fill out some information, and then you're free to to go in once we start." She explained pushing a clipboard over.

I looked it over. It was full of questions like name number, address liability waiver. The usual questions that none of these places had any business knowing.

" Don't worry", she said trying to be comforting as if sensing I wanted to back out. "Part of this is also used to build your character sheet for when you come back. You'll just have to do a quick orientation. It's a quick three phases."

A long running game? The nerdy part of me thought that that was super cool. Whereas the adult into me was already feeling a little anxious about what seemed like a marketing tactic to put me on the hook for ongoing subscription costs. First hits always free right?

I nodded and filled it out before sliding the forms back over and she looked them over like to make sure everything was good. "Everything looks like its in order, go ahead and wait with the other players in the waiting area. We will be starting shortly."

"Come on Luca," I said, feeling unnerved by how intensively he was staring at the girl. I really need to try to get him a girlfriend. There wasn't really a spot for Luca's wheelchair, but much to the annoyance of the other players, I made room. All I had to do was move some chairs around so he could fit.

Once I sad down, I waved to everyone else who was there, look like there was a total of nine people. And though I tried to make a little bit of small talk, nobody seemed interested in saying anything. They just looked at me like I was an idiot for trying to make some conversation, The worst of the group was a guy wearing a camo shirt that reference himself in the text as "The Storm".

A few minutes later the elf girl came out and waved me over.

"Sir, we have a problem. I didn't notice that your son was in a wheelchair. Is he going to be able to do this by himself." She asked.

Anger rose up in me, hot bitter anger. "Of course he can do it," I snapped. "He's in a wheelchair. Not invalid. He has every right to be here too. All he needs is a little help from me sometimes."

She shook her head. "No, that's not what I meant. Can he start by himself? For the purpose of the game, we required everyone to start in different spots and then join up later. Can he do that?"

A frown spread across my face and the anger burned brighter. That actually sounded a little bit like a deal breaker to me. I was completely ready to walk out at the point when Luca grabbed me on the shoulder and asked, "Please dad. I really want to do this. I can do this."

He looked at me with those eyes that reminded me so much of when he was still my little guy. "Alright, you're old enough, just yell loudly if you need help."

Besides, I'll still be right there if he needs me. "Alright I guess. I don't like it, but is that's how it needs to be, I get it. But I'll walk with him to the starting area."

And I figured I'd just be in the next room. If he needed me. All right, I guess that's fine but is it okay if I walk into the room to starting area.

Call me crazy but I was still an overprotective dad. On overprotecting dad who at least wanted to make sure his son was going to be ok.

She looked at me and frowned. Biting her lip before answering. "Yeah, I think that's fine. I'll have to ask higher, but I think they'll allow it."

"Alright, great,". I said dryly, already regretting my decision to sign on for this.

"It'll just be a few more minutes," She a apologized as she disappeared behind the counter and through the door.

Those were an uncomfortable few minutes. The other players who were waiting kept throwing dirty looks my way and my son's way, as if to say why are you here?

I'd recognize those looks. I've been dealing with them pretty much nonstop. Ever since Luca had been hospitalized after the accident. It was the look that always followed when empathy ran out. I tried to not let it get to me, and spent the rest of my time waiting, ignoring them, and ignoring Luca since he didn't seem to want to talk to me either. He's lost in his thoughts. I lost myself in mine too and we waited.