Cherry

Parted, with a towel wrapped around her body, Cherry walked seductively to the closed window. A pull forced the blackout room to light as if a massive camera taking a picture. Glared, her body turned into a silhouette with how bright it was, '-did I really get purchased…' faced down on the bed, *Player Contract,* stared him. 'It's legit,' he sighed, and thought, the time displayed 9:00.

"I'm going to the shower," leaning closer, *mwah,* "-you can join if you want," she winked and scurried behind with a subtle click. The sound of water running seep through the door left ajar. Humming and singing soon overwhelmed the running water.

*Player One, else known as, Sayer Asce has agreed and signed the form to have his Virtual persona linked and tied with Cherry,* an excerpt of a long contract with many, many details.

'Slavery,' was the first thing that came across the mind, '-D-sports, a game of life and death. She paid half a million to buy my ownership; I've no idea why she would do so,' nervous, scared, and somewhat happy, '-I can't help it,' a smile sprawled across the face. "Who would have thought," standing with no clothes, "-my life is worth half-a-million,' he laughed and took a closer look. 'Bandages, my face, and arm hurt,' coming from the game yesterday – the memories of killing a lady brushed against his mind, slowly and softly. A slow-acting poison, "-my neck," suddenly, "-it hurts," falling to his knee, "-I c-c-can't breathe," strained shut, he gritted. 'Side effects from the pod, it's unpleasant,' biting his lips, '-I can't afford to crumble ever again,' it softened.

"Hey, Sayer, are you coming or not," shuffling came from the shower, "-you're going to be late if you don't shower," the door left ajar swung open, "-get in here quick," head wrapped in a white-towel, water droplets flowed down her body. The ray of light peering in the window made her skin glistened.

"Y-yes," swallowing the pain, '-the girl is my owner,' walking into the shower, '-a contract is a contract. I got desperate and wanted an easy way to make money,' warm water fell onto the skinny body. 'My life as collateral, I'm going to play D-game and live. The nightmare of shooting that girl will never leave me alone, I can feel it,' taking a deep breath, water rolled down the face unforgivingly, '-money, that's what a person needs to survive,' a few minutes later, it turned off.

"Here," a turtleneck red shirt with brown tight joggers, "-they should be more comfortable than those loose things you call clothes," piled in the corner the old attire. A few meters away, she sat in front of a mirror and dried her hair.

"M-miss Cherry," reaching for the boxers, "-I h-have a question," he asked rather shyly.

"If it's concerning why we were naked in bed, let's just say I needed assurance and confirmation of your obedience," holding her chin and tilting her head, her hair fell over to one side, "-you have a single purpose, and that's to obey what I say. I promise to treat you nicely if you obey, that's the only condition. You'll be paid after having won ten matches, until then, all the winning is going to be held by yours truly," having a change in mind, she stood, "-don't get the wrong idea," she walked over and wrapped her hands around his back, "-I'm not the kind of girl you think I am. I'm still pure," fingers on his lips, "-I have a lot of options," she winked, "-you're the first boy who caught my attention. Like I said," stood on her toe, their lips locked, "-show me more of what you can do in D-sport, I swear I'll make it worth your time," tapping his legs, "-it's 09:30, I'll take you to university."

'Cherry,' dressed in the clothes she gave, '-she has issues,' stood in a lift, the destined floor was underground, a car-park. 'Assertive and confident,' admiring her hair, '-there's a lot I can learn from her personality. Given that she thinks me a toy and she's my owner, I can't help but follow and give in to her charm. I've read about her kind before, Femme fatale. Two words that summarized her perfectly.' Opened, clean and immaculate, cars, of which were expensive and beautiful were parked one after the other. Some subtle whilst others flamboyant, many tastes for many people.

"Here," hand in hand, she pointed to one yellow, it unlocked and roared into life.

"Amazing," mumbled, he watched, "-this is the L.E 430, made by the company leading development in Virtualization. I thought it wasn't meant for sale till next year," turning to Cherry who got in. "Sit already."

"You sure know your stuff," backed out, the car drove forth, "-are you interested in cars that much?" she turned and asked.

"No," the head shook with eyes admiring the scenery, "-I happened to read across the article when scouring the net for information about Gian's tournament. As a kid, I had always dreamed of taking part, but tis was the same as a child saying he wanted to be an astronaut. Nowadays, either get scouted by a gaming organization, make a name and become famous or attend a gaming academy. It doesn't surprise me that many choose the latter – after graduating, the player has many paths opened. From Rookie to Pro-league, there's money to be made," turning to Cherry, "-I'm sorry," he stopped, "-I'll shut up, it's probably boring," silently with defeated eyes, he leaned on the window.

"I don't get why you're so…" voiced in an unpleasant tone, "-come on Sayer, don't you have a backbone? Are you going to always keep your head down and bow to a higher power, from what I've seen so far, you're very shy and considerate. This morning, I only kept on teasing, running around naked, I wanted to see you get flushed or give into some other desires, yet, the control you have is…" she glanced over and stared.

"It's not that I didn't feel anything," he returned the gaze, "-I just don't care, I guess. I sometimes get lost in thought and block out the outer world. I very well might be deaf and blind at that stage – I prefer the quiet over loudness," from residential, the car drove across the highway and into the district were Sayer lived. The apartment was tall and large, it reeked of rich and bourgeois, she belonged to a world, far, far away.

"Here we are," pulling up at around 09:50, the flashy car caught the attention of students. "T-thanks for everything, Miss Cherry," going in for a bow, she forcefully grabbed his chin and gave a kiss.

"Your SCHD has my contact info. Call if anything happens, you're my possession now, I don't want to have a single injury on your body, understand that?"

"Yes," with a nod, the door opened, '-the taste of cherry.' Rushing to the hall, none paid attention since rich cars were a common sight around these parts. Inside, ending at 15:00, the exam began.

'Over at last,' stretching, '-ten matches before I get paid. Ten people have to die before I earn the money to help out my sister. I'm being used for something far shadier than I can imagine. None would pay 500,000 on a single person. It's common in the pro-gaming world, but not for someone inconsistent and unknown,' swept by the crowd, the afternoon sun raged forth, flaming hot streets – the last day of University life. 'Four years ended, I'm free and without worry about the student loan. Time to start looking for a new place to stay, I might have to move back to the old house out of academy city. Don't worry Elise, big brother has found a path; even if it's shady, I'll get over the fear and anxiety. I just have to remember to think of it as a game and not as real life – that's the compromise I have to make. Desperately trying to hold on what little humanity I have is pathetic, I'm a monster, I killed because of money; father and mother would be so disappointed.��

"Hey," strong hands pulled from the back, "-where were you?" stood Sophia with a menacing look. "I saw the girl this morning," she stared the bruised face and injured arm, "-are you ok?"

"Y-yes," he reached for his bag, "-thanks for everything yesterday," 480 bits in an envelope.

"Are you an idiot?" she threw the money back, "-I helped because I wanted. A simple thank you without trying to return the favor would have sufficed," she held out her SCHD, "-take my contact info. We'll be graduating in a few months; I don't care what excuse you have. We're going to play Manticore," adamant, he accepted, the academy seemed to go silent.

"I apologize if I offended," in a soft voice, "-I best return home. You're a nice person deep down, Miss Sophia," left with a smile, she stood speechless. 'What's gotten into him?'

'I've made up my mind,' taking out the SCHD, '-if I'm going to have my life on the line – I better practice,' checking how much time he had left allocated for virtualization, it indicated, 8740 hours. 'That's a lot of hours,' stopped close to a tree overlapping onto the road, its leaves scattered alongside the sidewalk. Aided by wind and cars, the leaves traveled further up the road. 'Cherry must have recharged it while I was asleep,' he thought and continued to the apartment. Cutting inside alleys, left and right, '-I feel better than I've felt in a long time.'

Opened, the backpack was thrown onto the kitchen counter, he slid into where the futon rested. Plugged into the wall, the SCHD charged. Holding down the middle-button, [Commence Virtualization?] Swallowed back into the virtual world, '-black gloves,' the HIF popped up [Friends Currently Online: Jenifer] sat in the lobby, '-guess she's playing Manticore,' [Match status 14-2]

'From what Cherry told me, the game they use is an older version of Mantis. It felt like it, the mechanics were the same,' [Toggle offline mode?] '-training alone will be better.' From blue, it turned to grey, all the players turned into tiny-blocks then disappeared.

'It has been a long time,' staring the gateway to Mantis, '-there's no going back now. I have to learn to adapt to my new conditions, D-sports is what I've been thrown into, D-sports is what I'll get good at. One on one, a team game turned into one where the player is responsible for his safety alone. The rush I felt during that match was immoral,' punching the gateway, it rippled as if water. 'I had fun,' eyes rolled, '-I don't care,' stepping through the portal, game settings popped up in the middle. [Pain nullification: 0] '-I better get used to feeling pain, [Bot difficulty: Pro League - Random] '-they'll emulate the pro's style and add more variation. The AI is the toughest to play against. If I want to get better faster, I better reawaken my muscle memory. Physical fitness is important since I'm a sniper, I don't require it that much. I'll take out the target without them seeing me coming – that's how I've played this game before, and it's how I'll make my return. Not ideal, tis the hand I was re-dealt. [Commence Match?] grey-scaled, the map named; Lakepoint, was the one used yesterday. One versus five, [Three… Two… One… BEGIN!]

"Don't fail me DLS-40, you're the first weapon I used. Come, let's kill them," jumping out of cover *BANG,* splatted across the wall, [Bot Henry killed Player One] 'The pain is intense,' he knelt, '-those bots are no joke. Getting a shot in is going to be tough,' the round restarted. 'Come to me,' in position and watching the bridge, bikes approached. *PAK, PAK, PAK,* not even blink and they opened fire, whistled past [Bot Jerry killed Player One]

"Am I this bad?" the round restarted. 'Focus, this is to awaken the muscle memory. They may be hard to beat – I don't care, this is fun,' minutes turned to hours, the scoreboard showed 500 deaths for Player One and no kills.

[Game Restart]

[Three…Two…One… BEGIN]

'Two on the right, two in the middle, one at spawn. Targets on the right are 3 Kilometers away. Two rushing the bridge will be here soon. Distance, 2.9 Kilometers,' scoped in, *bang,* shot at the same time the bots on bike responded. 'One down, four to go,' one after the other, adjusting for the bullet drop, speed, distance, *bang, bang, bang, bang.*

[Player One Wins] '-I've still got it.'