Cherry

*Gasp,* [Emergency De-virtualization]. Awoken to the smell of burning plastic, '-the charger is ruined,' turned to the wall, '-damn it. The match against Henry was going fine until the SCHD decided to give out. What a pain,' thrown on a brown carpet with stain marks of food in differing patterns, he stood with a growing pain at the neck. 'The first generation sure is hard on the body,' breathing consistent and without pressure, '-I'm not hungry, guess its time to call it a night.'

Meanwhile, inside the Virtual World, Cherry's aloofness changed into one of worry. "Do you know why he'd just disconnect like that?" asked Henry somewhat concerned.

"No, I think not."

"Have you considered the possibility of his SCHD breaking; you said something about nervous system pressure," a clever guess from Jenifer had her in shock.

"You're right," [De-virtualization]. The world unloaded, '-what she said might be true,' awoken from a pod, Cherry sprawled into her shoes to then dash out the door.

"Jenifer,"

"Henry, what is it?"

"Are you sure you want this?"

"Want what?"

"Being in a relationship with me," he smiled, "-I know I might come across as an arrogant fool. Many people say that my personality is toxic, I hate losing, and I hate being shown up," turned to the tree inside his lobby, "-will that work?"

"Of course, it will," they embraced, "-be selfish, egotistical, I don't care. What I fell for were the complete honesty and earnest hard-work. Many people refer to you as a prodigy, I bet not even a fraction of those fan-girls know how much you've trained. Day and night, hours onto hours until the doctors had to intervene. It's fine, don't worry."

"I'm sorry,"

"Why?"

"About you not being able to make it into the top 1024. Competition as a Rifler is far more than a sniper. I wish I could help you," heavy with a tone of regret, his fingers moved as if combs down her head.

"Don't worry," an innocent smiled stopped his hands, "-you pulled enough strings to have me join Quadrum's Legion's Academy. That's good enough, I'll carve my way into the intermediate team's roster soon."

"Make it to rookie first," he laughed, "-that's the starting point."

"Yeah, don't worry," she rolled her eyes as if a joke.

*BANG, BANG,* displayed on the clock was 23:00, '-who is it at this hour.' Cold to the point of shivering, Sayer stood with a running nose. Sniffles paired with an unbalance stance led towards the door. *BANG, BANG.*

"Why are you being so loud?" the lock clicked with the door pushed ajar. It was as if opening a fridge; the cold breeze blasted its way in. A shorter figure wearing a beanie, puffy-jacket, ankle-high boots stood.

"Are you ok?" it asked muffled by a scarf.

"Yes, but who are you?" still in the clutches of sleep, the mind bearly worked.

"It's me," pulled the door outwards, the figure marched in without a care.

"Hello Me, I'm me, wait I'm not me, I'm Sayer. Hey Me… that sounds so bad, what who are you again?" wiping the eyes, the door long closed with the room now as cold as outside.

"Aren't you scared?" asked the mysterious figure, "-who opens the door to a stranger in the middle of the night. I could have robbed and even killed you."

"Scared," he took a few steps away to pull the string connected to the light bulb, "-go ahead and steal, there's a knife on the counter. Kill me if you so pleased, I'm going to bed."

"Don't just leave," holding his arm, "-why are you not scared?" demanded the figure.

"There's nothing to be scared about," breathing a yawn, "-my sleep is broken," conscious, "-there's nothing of value to steal here," the voice returned to normal, "-take a look, and if perchance a blood-crazed murderer was on the loose, the patrol outside would have taken care of any suspicious individual." Taken to his advice, the paint, white, had turned yellow in a few corners – moss started to grow on hard to reach places. The kitchen counter that gave onto an alley filled with garbage cans, had rusted barriers as protection.

"Wait," she stopped meanwhile Sayer returned into a familiar futon, "-did you know who I was?"

"Miss Cherry, you said that you'd send people to fetch me for the D-game. Apart from you, I've no family and friends to speak off, even if some were to reach out, my address would still be the dormitory," head under the blanket, "-I don't mean to be rude but could you kindly turn off the light?"

"Are you not going to welcome a guest?" she stood with arms crossed.

"Guest, none likes one that is uninvited," he laughed.

"Uninvited you say," pounced onto the futon, "-OUCH," she yelped.

"Don't just jump on someone's bed," blanket off, Cherry sat with her hand holding onto her knee. "It's thin, you basically jumped onto the concrete floor," stood to help her settle, "-should be fine after a few minutes, leave it alone," he gently massaged to which she gave a whiff of comfort.

"Sayer," her eyes warm, "-are you ok?"

"Why do you ask?" focused on the knee, he didn't notice her gaze.

"Look at this supposed apartment, it looks as if a hideout for an underground kidnapping association. Remove the futon, break the windows, and have the light swing, it will be a great set for a torture scene," she chuckled.

"I know," he chuckled in return, "-that's the charm. I always wanted to live in a decrepit place such as this," said sarcastically, she frowned.

"Honestly speaking," placing a hand atop his shoulder, "-don't you have dreams and aspirations?"

"Dreams," still massaging her knee, "-the things that force a person to move forward. I had a dream once, then it all went down the shitter. I barely make it to live; still, I'm grateful to what I have. A good education, a place to live, there are far more people who live in the worst conditions. They have to deal with plagues while I have to deal with a few mosquitoes, the smell of trash, and maybe a cold once in a while. The day I lost everything; I knew it wasn't worth keeping anything special," paused, he turned to the window that showed the night sky, "-I suppose I have one dream still. I want to speak to my sister again; her smile and strong-headed attitude just like her father. Dreams…" trailed, "-must be nice." Turned to Cherry, "-what about you?" she fell asleep. 'Seriously,' stood, "-sleep well, Miss Cherry," a cupboard opened, few cardboard boxes were folded. Laid a few steps away from the futon, the light turned off and he went to sleep.

'Such pungent smell, how can anyone live in such a condition. That aside,' a singular tear rolled, '-no dreams nor aspirations. He has been hurting so long that the things around him don't affect how he feels. I can sense that he's happy, happy with every little thing accomplished. A man who's on the brink of giving up. Sayer… sorry.'

Few minutes in, he returned to the world of slumber. 'I can't shake this feeling,' barely marking out his contours, '-why is it my heart beats so fast. The smell, the battered room, such a pitiful environment, if I were alone, I'd have thrown a fit. Still, with him there at arm's reach, I feel peace,' edged closer, he turned facing her with curled legs. 'You're cold,' inches away from his face, '-he smells… nice,' sharing the blanket. 'I would have never noticed it before,' a helpless grin surfaced, the eyes closed peacefully, thus, the two embarked on a trip down the ocean of dreams.

'She's close,' awake, time showed 05:30, '-I thought she'd have left by now,' calmly taking her hand off his shoulder, '-she shared the blanket. Look at her face,' sat upright, '-she seems at peace.' Gently as possible, '-I better not wake her.' Teeth brushed without any excess loudness, stove-on, a hot cup of tea, dressed. A final check of the room later, he stood with Cherry smiling viciously, '-well then,' tucked in, he stepped out and jogged to work.

"Where am I?" practically jumped, the clock showed 07:30, '-wait this is Sayer's place?' memories of last night returned. Her SCHD vibrated to the sound of a notification. [Message from Sayer],

"Good morning Miss Cherry, I still don't have a clue why you'd come to visit so late at night. Anyway, thanks for checking up on me if that was the intent. There's nothing much in the way of breakfast – there's a spare key over the fridge. Sorry if I didn't wake you, it's just that you seemed so relax and at peace that I thought to take a picture."

~attachment received. "Quite nice, isn't it. Next time, do send a message before visiting, I'm sorry you had to stay in my less than an ideal apartment. See you on Thursday."

The picture, one with the ambient color of the sunrise against her face – gave the perfect result. 'It's indeed a nice picture, a bit creepy considering I was sleeping. Gives off the feeling of the many fabled sleeping princesses.' [Save] [Yes]. 'I got so carried away last night,' door opened, '-I better not get any closer. If I grow to like him, things might get complicated, I can't let my emotions interfere. Calm your mind,' closed, she stood with the head against the name-plate, '-why is it that I can't seem to help shake this feeling. Why is it I can think about is his face, ugh, damn it.' Swift, a roar followed down the road.

The day continued without much trouble. Ending the shift early in the afternoon, he returned home with the SCHD now abled to virtualize again. The apparent cause, as told by Rodger, was an over-stimulation of the thoughts. Friends offline, neither Cherry nor Jenifer were seen throughout the following days. Focused on regaining his muscle memory, long were the hours of fighting against Pro-bots. Barely killing two per fifty rounds; the strain on the mind gave headache that he ignored.

Thursday the 19th came, on the way back home, [Notification: Message]

"Are you there?"

"Yes, why do you ask?"

"Today's the next scheduled D-game, make your way home, fast."

"On it, Miss Cherry." As she said, once home, the door knocked.

'I'm back here,' the familiar feeling of being reawakened inside a pod. Frosty with what seemed to be frozen blood down the side, "-what is this?"

"That's blood," came a man's voice, "-don't be grossed out, your opponent is a newbie we found on the street. Get to it Player-one, you've more matches to win." [Commence Virtualization.]

"Why are you not speaking to him?" asked Hep with a cigarette and a smug look, "-did your slave get in a fight with you?"

"Mind your goddamn business," gnarled across, he knew not to press on the provocation.

"Whatever, lady," spat, "-today will be a tough fight. He's going up against a girl."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, you weren't here before, so lemme explain," shown on another screen, his face lit in contentment. "The opponent is a girl aged twelve, an orphan one of our men brought over. I'll spare the details, basically, she either had two choices – a plaything or a D-game player. Not that it'd affect me, she tried out for the game and killed the one who brought her here. I swear, that girl has the face of the devil. Innocent but kills without a shred of mercy. From what I've seen from Player-one, he's a softy – the whole situation about his sister might end up killing him today. Pulling the trigger on a child; any man worth his penny would rather die than do such a thing."

"Why did you allow this then, it's immoral, hell to that, I'm not letting him kill a child.'

"Don't interfere," he grabbed her hands, "-consider this another test. Today will decide if he's worth keeping around. Orders came from the top, apparently, you have been acting a little out of character. If he dies then it's your fault. Should have kept silent and let him under my wing."

"Cut it with the smug bullshit," she stood.

"What, got something to say?"

[Match Begin!]