Dropping Out

**Roman will refer to the game coming to the real world as PATCH NOTES 1 from now on. (ex. "It was all fine until PATCH NOTES 1 came out.)

-

I walked to my little sister's room. Her name was Clementine or Clem for short. She had just turned 16. Every morning, I use to take her to school like this.

"Deep breathes Roman. Don't show anything on your face."

The last time I saw Clem was after my family got split up during a gang war. I got hit by a stray attack and I fell down. I looked for Clem but she was also hit. She was unconscious and vulnerable so I tried protecting her.

I failed.

The gang members saw her and grabbed her. She cried out for me but all I could do was stumble in her direction before falling completely unconscious. The last thing I heard was her cry and the name of the gang. The Crazed Oni.

I once again took a deep breath. I knocked on her door.

"Come on Clem! You're going to be late!"

"I'm coming! Hold on!!"

"I'll be waiting down stairs!"

My hands were shaking when I heard her voice. I quickly leave in case I end up crying. I went downstairs and grabbed my keys.

"Taking your sister?"

Once again. Another person that I haven't heard in a long time. My mom.

I turn to see her. She looked exactly as I remembered. Mom had long black hair. She had bushy thick eyebrows that somehow worked with her face. She was quiet beautiful for a woman in her 40s. When standing next to one another, she came up to my shoulders.

I bit the inner parts of my mouth. I tried distracting myself from my sad thoughts.

The last time I saw mom, she left with dad to scout a path out for us. At the end of the night, only dad returned, leaving only the two of us.

"What's wrong sweetie? Feeling okay?" Mom came up and checked my temperature with her hand.

I careful took her hand and looked at her.

"I'm okay mom. It's just surprising to see you."

"Haha! You silly boy. I'm more surprised to see you this earlier. Usually I have to wake you up so that Clementine wouldn't be late!"

I've truly missed this. I talk with her some more about my plans for the day then leave and start up my car.

After five minutes, Clem finally came out. She looked a lot like me according to everyone around us.

She and I both had dark black hair just like mom. We were both taller than average too. She was 5 foot 6 and I was 5 foot 10. She dressed up like any other high schooler, in her pajamas.

"Alright, let's go." She closed the door and put in her headphones immediately. I just sigh.

'I still have plenty of time to talk to her.'

I start my drive and head to the local high school. It took only 15 minutes before we reached the school's parking lot. Clem just leaves but I stop her really quick.

"Here, take it." I handed her my last 50 dollar bill. I wanted her to use it for herself after school ends.

She just looks at me with a disgusted face. "Why? What do you want??"

"Just take it!" I shove it into her hands and kick her out of my car. I forgot that this was how our relationship was before everything changed. A little strange but there was that familia love. Of course she wouldn't understand why I was giving her some money.

When the PATCH NOTES 1 came out, we ended up growing closer since we depended on each other a lot for support. Well it doesn't matter now, as long as she's happy this time.

"Okay! Time to drop out!" After dropping her off, I head to my community college. I was going to drop out and prepare myself for the upcoming disaster.

-

-

I just left the offices of my community college. It was quite easy dropping out and they didn't even question me.

I can resell all my textbooks as well. I need to get my hands on those VR sets ASAP. I head to the student's lounge, I can resell the textbooks back there.

When I reached the student's lounge, I immediately sold all my class textbooks. I was only taking two classes so I sold both of my text books for $1000 total.

I get a drink from the vending machine and sit down. I pull up my bank account through my phone and see how much I have.

"$5,000 in total huh? $6,000 if you include the money from the books."

The VR sets were going for $1,000 each at the moment. In the past, I didn't focus to much on the game's release until the end of the week. At that point, the VR sets were already selling for $5,000+ each!

However, this time I will spend $4,000. I will buy everyone in my family one. I pull out my journal with the major events I had written down.

"May 10th, 2099. Those who had been playing the game has shown signs of rapid physical changes. Not much else was made public."

I know exactly what happened. The files were made public after PATCH NOTES 1 came. Their bodies changed according to how strong their in-game characters were. The more you improved in the game, the more you improved in real life. I think it was to prepare us all for PATCH NOTES 1.

While I was reading through my journal, I didn't hear the three others approaching me.

"Hey man. What are you looking at?"

I felt a tap on my shoulder, I make an attempt to hide the journal from them so they don't see what was written inside. The guy that tapped my shoulder was Dante. He towered over me at 6 foot 2. He was wearing a baseball cap that hid his bright red hair. He was well built since he has always been an athlete since high school.

"Are you alright? You were so caught up in that journal."

I look at the other guy that just spoke. Jared. He was the same height as me. He was a chubbier guy but all the ladies still loved him. He was quite handsome even though his chubby cheeks took up most of his face. He kept brushing his long blonde hair to the side.

"Were you looking at your plans for the day Roman?"

The last person was a soft spoken girl. Anna. She was Dante's little sister. She was just one year younger than the three of us. She was wearing a oversized black hoodie. The sleeves were to long so they came over her hands. Unlike her brother, she had dark black hair. Apparently only her dad and Dante had that bright red hair. I always found her shy nature cute.

"Yeah, that's all it is. I plan to go to the mall and get the new VR set."

"Oh mannnn! You're getting that new game right? The one everyone is talking about!"

Jared was super excited. He also wanted to play but he couldn't afford to buy the VR set.

"That's right. I'm going to be getting one for everyone in my family."

The three of them looked at me like I was crazy. Dante spoke to me in a worrying tone.

"Is that okay? Are you sure your parents will be okay with that?"

I get what he was trying to say. Mom and Dad before the PATCH NOTES 1 were against gaming. They believed it was a waste of time… but that didn't matter now. Saving all of them was my goal this time.

"It'll be fine! Don't worry!" I gave him a thumbs up and a wide smile. I check my phone for the time.

"It's almost 9 AM! You guys will be late for class."

The three heard me and already started running. Anna turned around before leaving.

"Let's hangout later okay!"

I nod and she turns to follow her brother and Jared.

After the three leave, I also leave. The mall was opening soon so I should be the first in line to get that VR set.

-

-

Scene Change: Roman's room.

I just got back from the mall. Thankfully I got the four headsets without any issues.

I was ready. I had my headset prepared for tomorrow morning. I could give everyone else their headset but I remembered hearing rumors about the game in the past. I should check on the state of the game first to see if anything changed. I put my headset on my desk and put the other three away in the closet.

I was home alone at the moment. Mom left for work after we left this morning. I check the time.

"It's 12:13. Dad should be home by 1. In the past, he had gotten sick and returned home early from work."

I was very anxious about meeting Dad. Right before the Fountain of Time sent me back, he said that he would follow. If all went well then he should be back with those memories intact.

I quickly left and did some grocery shopping. After an hour I returned home. Dad's car was parked outside so I hurried in. I could hear him in the kitchen. I dropped everything and ran to him.

"Dad! You're here!"

He turned to look at me. He looked so much better than before. He still had a full head of black hair. No wrinkles could be seen on his face. He was still handsome too. His beard was well kept and clean unlike before when he had the messy full beard.

"Oh what's up Roman. I felt a little pop in my hip so I was sent home early."

When I heard him say that, I froze.

'You were suppose to be sick? Why is it your hip that bothers you?'

"What's wrong Roman? Why did you get quiet all of a sudden? You need some money for school?"

He pulled out his phone and it also surprised me. He had a bright green phone case. In the past he always had a black one.

"Dad? Where's your black phone case?"

"Huh? I've always had this green one?"

He looked at me like I was weird. I ignored him. I had only one thought.

'What if… the Fountain of Time didn't send me back to the past? What if it sent me to a different timeline?!?'

(End)