1 Going Home

Emma Vera finished with her twelve-hour shift at the Highland Medical Center. The ICU was completely filled with no empty rooms, so it was busy for the nurses working on the floor. The patients already had their dinner. Emma did some final checks on the patients she was assigned to as they ate. Once she was finished, she had walked over to the break room to gather her belongings. Emma passed by a mirror and looked at herself. Her green nurse uniform was all wrinkly and dirty as she forgot to put it in the laundry the other day. She sighed as she looked down on herself. Emma put a mental note as a reminder to properly do her laundry.

"Vera, what are you still doing here? Your shift is over," Dr. Philips said as she passed by.

"Yeah, I'm on my way out."

Dr. Philips was on her way out too. She already had her jacket on along with a backpack. She always called her coworkers by their last names. Emma found it strange that she kept a certain distance from others during work but was always acting close with her patients.

Emma forgot something and walked into one of the rooms on the floor.

"Mrs. Harolds, I'm going to leave now. Have a good night."

"Emma, dear. Come here," Mrs. Harolds gestured to Emma.

Mrs. Harolds was an old woman. She looked her age at seventy-five. Emma had been looking after her for the past two days but Mrs. Harolds had been in the hospital for a long time. She only arrived at the ICU to wait for a surgery that had been on hold for too long.

"What is it?" Emma asked.

"You'll be here tomorrow, right?" She asked. Emma nodded then Mrs. Harolds continued. "If I go to surgery before my family comes in tomorrow, I want you to give them a message."

She handed Emma a paper.

"I'll be sure to give them this message tomorrow. First thing in the morning."

"Thank you, dear."

"Have a good night," Emma said with a smile.

Emma put on a heavy coat, grabbed her purse and slid the message in the purse for safety. She then passed by the patient's rooms on her way out. There were plenty of patients currently using a VR system. Emma sighed as soon as she was reminded of these kinds of patients.

The floor was busy with nurses and doctors starting their shift for the evening. Some will end up working the twelve-hour shift until morning. Emma was glad her shift was over. She dragged her worn out legs across the floor towards the elevators.

Once she got on the elevator, Emma caught the attention of a familiar person.

"Emma!"

"Susan, how are you?"

Susan wore a blue nursing uniform. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail and her purse hung low on her hips. Susan wore more than enough makeup, at least to Emma's standards who barely wore makeup. They were at a similar height next to each other while Emma stood slightly higher than Susan. The elevator felt damp. Emma groaned at the feeling. Susan could only nod in agreement.

"Long day, right?" Susan asked.

"Tell me about it."

"Too many patients with that stupid machine. I understand this place isn't exactly heaven and all. But come on. It's like looking after children."

"You are looking after children, Susan. That's your floor."

"I know," Susan let a breath out. "I meant like little infants. They don't listen to what you say as if they don't understand yo- you know what I mean, right?"

"You need to work on your analogies," Emma laughed. "But I understand. My floor is basically filled with them."

"I know right, that stupid machine, CR? What's it called again?"

"VR. Not my cup of tea, I'll tell you that Susan."

"I wish that stupid company never gifted us those death machines."

"They're not dead, and they're not vegetables either. I wish you never made that joke before."

They laughed. The elevator reached the lobby and they parted ways at the entrance of the hospital as they said their goodbyes.

The lobby was filled with doctors and nurses either ready for their shift or ready to go home. Emma being the latter was eager to leave the place. She looked around at the hospital grounds. There were a number of buildings at Highland Medical Center. The building she had walked out of was one of the bigger buildings in the area. There were other buildings specialized in different departments.

Emma's commute home was very short. She didn't have to take a bus or train as it was just a twenty-minute walk away from the hospital. Emma thought it was a pain since she had to spend another twenty minutes before she could relax after work. She missed sitting on the bus for an hour where she could fall asleep without any worries. But that was from her old job at another hospital. All Emma thought about was that she was being paid better this time. Plus the walk could help with her losing weight.

The walk also gave Emma a chance to explore the neighborhood. There were plenty of old-fashioned houses on the way. It was a different view from back in the hospital where there were plenty of shiny, new buildings. The tech these days made buildings much more elegant. Emma was impressed with how preserved the old houses were.

Further down the road was a group of old looking houses. They dated back to the twenty-first century. As Emma walked up to one of the houses and inserted her key into the door. She pulled the door, twisted the doorknob and then pushed it with her leg. Emma found it annoying to open the door this way. Emma took off her coat and hung it on the coat rack. There were only three other coats that hung from it. She then walked across the foyer into the living room. Each step creaked as loud signaling her arrival. There, her parents greeted her without even looking up.

"Welcome home, honey," The mother said. Emma's father was busy with a tablet and only grunted. Emma understood that it was his attempt to say hello.

"Hey, mom."

After greeting her parents, Emma walked up the stairs. She carefully lifted her foot with each step. Still, they squeak even with her effort to prevent that. Each stair step varied with how loose they were. Some steps were still while others wiggled out of place. Emma walked normally to her room as soon as she got to the top of the stairs. After gathering a new set of clothes and her towel, she strolled down the hall.

While passing by each open door, one gave her a familiar sight. It was as if she was having deja vu from the hospital. Rather it was the opposite for Emma. She peeked inside one room and found someone wearing a Paramount VR system. It appeared as a helmet and a thin metal neck brace. How it functioned was beyond Emma's understanding. Even though she was a nurse. She could only assume it had to do with the nervous system.

The owner of the VR system was her brother, Emmett. Emma could only frown at this familiar sight. She walked up to the bed and sat down beside her brother.

"How's it going, Emmett."

She tried to bring out a smile, but the edge of her lips curled downwards. Emma held her brother's hand for a few seconds before she went on to take a bath.

After refreshing herself, Emma went to go eat dinner. She talked with her parents about having a day out this weekend. The three of them enjoyed eating salmon and spinach. Emma then got a cup of tea and walked to her room. She glanced at her brother's room from the stairs then closed the door behind her as she entered her room.

Emma's room was filled with stacks of old books from her schooling days. There were some dusty stuffed toys on a chair and a worn out television that Emma never used. With tea in hand, she opened her personal computer. The computer was pretty old but its specs were still good at this day and age. She wiped the dust off of the computer tower. Emma thought to herself that one day she'll clean her room. She took a sip of her tea as she waited for the computer to boot up.

Once the computer started up, she moved the mouse to open a program called Obscure Abyss. The game loaded up and Emma viewed the character select screen. She picked one of her many characters, this time the mage class. As her character loaded into the world, Emma took another sip of her tea.

Obscure Abyss was Emma's favorite past time. It was a classic MMO that had been around for decades. It was recently revived by the developers as they added expansions to the MMO. Emma had been playing it on and off over the past few years. Since starting her new job, she had even less time to play it.

Emma continued her quests in the game. Her ability to use skills in succession was decent. She also chatted with a few of her guildmates along the way of her questing. She was proficient in typing on a physical keyboard. It was not something many people these days use.

Emma enjoyed MMOs. The decision making of what ability to use, to effectively use them in a speedy fashion and with conversing with people online. Emma's love for using this keyboard was her life outside of family, friends, and work.

"Hey, Hana!"

A noise popped up. There was a message from the guild chat. Emma typed a response.

"How's it going, Bandler."

Emma's handle was Hana11. She was close to her guildmates, even though she didn't know them in real life.

"Just had a tough day at work," Emma typed.

"Really? I'm looking for a job. It's hard," Bandler said.

Emma was glad she had a way to vent outside of her family and friends about work and other frustrations she went through.

While talking with her guildmates, there was a knock on her door.

"I'm hungry."

It was her brother, Emmett. He spoke in a soft voice as if he had no experience in talking. Emma looked at the time in-game and it said it was two thirty in the morning. She had lost track of time and didn't realize it. Her parents were already asleep so Emmett had no one else to ask for food. But Emma put those thoughts aside for a minute.

"E-Emmet," She stuttered. Emma was surprised to see her brother up. "I'll get you food right away."

She jumped off her chair and walked her little brother down the stairs. They both knew to walk carefully to make the least amount of noise.

Emma made clam chowder. It was easy to make and it was Emmett's favorite. Once she finished cooking it and setting it in a bowl, she set in front of Emmett as he sat at the dining table.

Emma watched her brother eat. She couldn't figure out what words to say but she was fine with watching. It was rare for her to see her little brother. A wide smile could be seen on her face.

"Oh," Emmett paused. There was still plenty of clam chowder in the bowl. "I forgot. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"I saw you still play that game," Emmett said quietly.

"Yeah, your older sister still likes it old school," She laughed.

"You should try out this new game with me," Emmett said with a hint of eagerness. He tried hard to speak up but only the volume of his voice raised slightly.

"We can't afford another VR system. I still have to pay the bills and my student loans," Emma sighed. "You need to get the idea that I still hate virtual reality."

"B-but there's this new game coming out. Strife of Celestials. It's the first MMO to come out for VR!"

Emma was a bit frustrated. She was interested in MMOs but the idea of using virtual reality turned her away.

"We can talk about this tomorrow."

"Okay."

Emmett seemed dejected. He slowly finished his clam chowder and went to bed. Emma decided it was time to call it a night. She closed her computer and went to bed too.

The world was filled with virtual reality. Even if Emma was old fashioned, she hated it. No matter how effective it is to use for learning purposes or just to play games. But in the end, all that she cared about was being able to see her brother once in a while. Emma thought to herself that night. Maybe she was just sick of it because of the people obsessions with it.