Chapter 2

Serene had made her way downstairs, following her mother. At the base of the stairs in another room was the dining room table. Her father and her two brothers sat there waiting for them. She could see that the two boys were restlessly waiting for her, waiting so that they could eat. Her father sat at the head of the table, calm and composed, even though the two brothers were likely arguing with one another. That's just what they did since they were so close young and close in age. The mother and daughter made it to their seats and sat down. Her father held his hands to her brother on his left, and her mother to his right. It was family tradition to pray before they ate, although she never understood why, she wasn't the one to stop the tradition. So she held hands with her mother who was next to her, and her youngest brother who was across from her. She could see the rest of her family bowing their heads and closing their eyes, and she could also see her father had begun to speak. However, she couldn't read his lips due to his head being down. With some resignation, she also bowed her head and closed her eyes, yet she didn't know what to say. Or even if she should say anything at all. Worst of all, she really didn't want to say anything. Serene battled with herself on the matter and before he could even come to a solution she felt her little brother yank his hand from hers.

"Father must've finished already," Serene thought to herself. She raised her head and opened her eyes and could see that her two brothers and already begun to dig into the food. Their family always liked to eat together and tried to make enough food so that they could serve it in a self-serve fashion. It was just how their family functioned, she was well used to it by this point. Serene just looked down at her food, before eating it slowly, distracted by her own thoughts.

"So, how was your day Serene," her father asked. However, right after he finished asking he let out a hopeless sigh. "It still so hard trying to remember even though it's just been over a year." Serene's father couldn't help but put his silverware down and look down in shame. However, Serene's mother gently put her hand on her husband. He looked up and saw the gentle caring smile that he had fallen in love with.

"Derrick, you don't need to beat yourself up over it, we all keep forgetting," Serene's mother caringly stated. Derrick could only smile in response to his wife's heartfelt interjection.

"Thank you, Lindsey," Derrick said in a low tone. "Can you get Serene's attention this time, so she can at least read my lips?"

"Of course." Lindsey lightly tapped on Serene's shoulder. Serene looked over in response and Lindsey pointed toward her father, who was currently lightly smiling as if to hide the shame he felt just moments ago.

"How was your day," Derrick asked slowly in a precise manner. Serene read his lips and just shrugged her shoulders. Derrick couldn't help but look a little disappointed. "Are you still not speaking?" Serene just shook her head in response, before she began to take a bite out of her food. She kept an eye on her father from the corner of her eye, just encase he decided to say anything else. However, he didn't, merely just eating his dinner with a downcast look on his face. His eyes didn't meet hers for the rest of the meal. Lindsey couldn't help but release a disappointed sigh, she couldn't help but think about how things ended up like this.

It didn't take long for the family to finish dinner. Serene's two younger brothers had quickly finished their meal and ran off to go play together somewhere, or at least avoid the chore of cleaning up after themselves. Both of Serene's parents had begun to clean up the table, however, Serene stayed in order to keep eating. She was a slow eater and hadn't cleaned off her plate just yet. By the time she had finished cleaning off her plate, she was gonna stand up and take it to the kitchen to clean off, but her parents came back into the room with a cake in hand.

"Happy Birthday," they yelled out, hoping that Serene would've been able to catch them saying it. Her mouth was agape, and eyes wide. She wasn't expecting this, her two little brothers had also jumped out from either side of her too. Serene could only smile in response to her family's shenanigans. Derrick put the cake on the table, quickly cut the cake, and gave the first piece to her. It was a red velvet cake with white frosting, that had the words 'Happy Birthday Serene' on it. Yet her piece only had a portion of the word 'day' and a little bit of the 'Happy' in it. However, she ate the cake with glee. It had been a while since she had eaten something this sweet. The family sat and ate the cake, cracking jokes that Serene could only occasionally understand. However, by the end of it, her dad had a look of elation on his face before he quickly stood up and left the room. Serene could only look confused at her father's sudden exit. However, her mother gently put her hand on Serene's shoulder and give a soft smile, putting her worries at ease. A few moments later her father came back with his back turn towards Serene. When he finally made it close to her, he whipped around and shouted "ta-da". He was carrying a present in his hands. It was a decently sized box in his hands, he quickly set it down on the table and looked eager for Serene to open it. Serene, pointed to herself, and her father nodded in response. Serene began to carefully open the present, making sure not to ruin the wrapping paper. By the time she was done, she gently flipped the box in order to take off the last piece of wrapping paper, as well as finally being able to see what exactly her parents had gotten her. It was a weird-looking helmet, almost a headset that was called 'OptiX 4GS". She looked up at her father in confusion but it seemed he was well prepared for this moment. He pulled out a folded piece of paper and handed it to her. Serene took it and began to open it, curious to see what it would say.

Happy Birthday, Serene! Your mother and I are so proud to see how far you've come, as well as how much you've grown. Everyday seeing how beautiful you've become only makes us prouder. Seeing you recover everyday from the accident as well can only make us prouder. We know that it had a massive toll on your life and things have never trully been the same since then. We also know that things have changed because of it, and even you have changed from it. However, that doesn't change how much we love you, and we will keep loving you no matter what happens. However, you are probably curious about the present you got. The OptiX 4GS is a virtual reality headset that allows you to go into the video game Atlas as if you were really there. We know you haven't played video games since the accident, but with how you've recently been staying in your room more often, your mother and I were hoping you'd be able to use this to get back into it. I hope you'll be able to find a good time with it and hopefully, maybe you'll get an unexpected gift from it.

Best of Love,

Mom and Dad

Serene looked up from the paper and she could still see her father and mother waiting for her response. Serene didn't know what to do so she simply went and hugged her father. Derrick could only smile from getting that kind of response from his daughter. He quickly separated from her and handed her the box and pointed upstairs towards her room.

"Why don't you go try it? The directions are in the box." Serene could only nod to her father's words and grabbed the box before heading upstairs. Serene quickly made her way into her room and sat on her bed. She opened the box to the headset, taking it out, as well as the directions. She read through the directions quickly and was surprised at how easy the thing was to use. She just simply had to put it on her head, turn the power on, and then say 'OptiX Start'. Then the user's vision would go black and they would be transported to Atlas. However, she did have to be lying down to use it, as it would put the person's body into a meditative state, and standing while using it could provide injuries. Serene stood back up and went to shut her door before lying on her bed and putting the headgear on. She turned it on just like the directions told her, and then she steeled herself. It had been more than a year since she last spoke. She hated the fact that she couldn't hear her voice anymore, but maybe this time she can do it. It is the only way to start it up after all.

"OptiX, Start," Serene didn't even know if the words she said were the correct ones, however, her vision went black as the directions said, and that's when her 'consciousness' went out.