When my alarm went off at 2 PM, I wanted nothing more than to slam my fist on the clock and roll over. Even after I sat up and turned off the alarm, the ringing still blared in my head, perhaps louder than the actual clock. I stumbled to the bathroom in a daze. My limbs ached, my stomach churned, and my head was splitting with pain. For a brief moment I considered calling in to work sick, but I knew I couldn't do that. There was a word for people like me.
Hung-over. Really, really, hung-over.
I took a cold shower to try to free myself from the dark cloud that entrapped my brain, but not even that was going to do the trick today. I stepped out and wrapped a towel around my waist, heading into my small bedroom. At one point I had actually tried to turn the dilapidated apartment into a decent looking space, but eventually I gave up and just threw my crap on the floor like every other college student. I pulled on crinkled pants and a work shirt and dragged a brush through my hair, but no matter how much I brushed, straightened, or cursed, the strands acted as if they were gravitating away from my skull. I tied my hair into a sloppy bun in defeat and slouched to the kitchen for a quick bite before my glorious eight hour shift at the shit-hole movie theater I worked at. Had I not opened my fridge to find just a single bottle of Gatorade I might have just called in sick, but I desperately needed the money. I sighed, chugged the drink, and headed to work.
My name was Amelia Greene, daughter to Scumbag and She-Devil Greene. I was 21 years young living in Tempe, Arizona. I wasn't dating anyone, but I sometimes wondered if I was truly still a virgin after having been raped by my tuition for the past three years. The only reason I kept my petty managerial job at the movie theater was to pay the rent for my crappy apartment, to pay for my crappy car, and to pay off my crappy, crappy, crappy student loans. I was studying aerospace engineering, which sounds totally fancy and appealing but in all honesty I only put up with it because the Air Force had agreed to pay for a large chunk of my tuition. It wasn't without its attachments; I had to serve a four year term as an officer when I completed my degree. It sounded really cool 3 years ago when I had signed the contract, but now that it was so close I was scared. So instead of being a senior in college with my life finally starting to come together, I was scared, poor, clueless, and hung-over.
It was August, and my 5000 tuition check was due in a week. I was literally scratching my head, trying to rub two nickels together to figure out how to pay for it. Between essentials, rent, and car insurance, I was at the mercy of my crummy job, and in no way was I going to be able to afford school within the week. I drove my clunker car to work in silence, trying to decide if the churning in my stomach was due to the nerves or the alcohol. Probably both.
Work, for once, went off without a hitch. I was a projectionist, so I spent the majority of my shift holed up in the attic of the theater, staring at a computer. Occasionally I went downstairs to fill up my coffee cup with possibly the world's worst movie theater coffee, but for the most part I was isolated from everyone else. Yeah, it got lonely, but then I remembered how much I hated the teenagers that worked in stand and got over it real quick.
When I got off my shift at 11PM, I was tired and hungry, and decided to treat myself to Taco Bell for a job well done. I walked into the building and I swear the workers just glared at me the whole time for making them actually do their jobs at such an ungodly hour. There was another group of guys sitting in the corner; but they had long since finished eating and were talking in hushed voices. I sat down across the room and ate my delectable tacos in peace.
All was going fine, until I noticed one of the guys looking at me. I recognized them from school and even knew one of them. They were in the engineering department as well, but were way more advanced than me. These guys were the ones the department gave all the money to, who literally got to blow stuff up in the government clearance only labs for free. The one who was looking at me was tall and skinny, and actually quite attractive with thick rimmed glasses and short, dark hair. When he caught my eyes, he quickly looked down, turning back to his friends and talking quicker than ever. It kinda gave me the creeps because I felt like they were talking about me, but I shrugged it off. All I wanted to do was eat my tacos and mind my own business. No harm, no fowl, right?
Wrong.
After a few uncomfortable minutes of the guys taking their turns staring at me, I finally stood up and dumped my tray into the garbage. I almost made it to the door, too, but a voice stopped me in my tracks.
"Hey, Amelia!" It was Brad, the only one of the three I actually knew. He was a short guy with shaggy blonde hair that could use a decent scrubbing, but he was nice enough. Brad was the only reason I had passed Calculus 3, that for which I was truly grateful. Still, I had a feeling they were cooking up trouble, nerd style.
I turned to face the guys, rooted to the spot. "Hi," I said cautiously. They were getting up now too, throwing their bags in the garbage and coming to stand by me.
"How's school?" Brad asked honestly with a small smile. I kinda got the feeling Brad liked me in more way than one, which made me a little uncomfortable.
"It's summer," I said flatly.
Brad covered his tracks. "Right. So uh, how are things, um, financially?"
Brad knew I was flat broke, which is why he had never asked for any money when he spent hours tutoring me. My scumbag parents didn't leave a dime to my name when they kicked me out at 18, and it seemed everyone knew Amelia Green was piss-poor.
"Dude, I am not having this conversation with you."
"Okay, okay," he said quickly before I could add more venom to the statement. He looked nervous, but then again Brad always seemed nervous so I couldn't judge much based on that. "Look, I need your help."
Now I knew for sure trouble was a-brewing. Bradley Jones never needed anyone's help, let alone C-average, 120 pounds of dull Amelia Greene. My eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"No," I said. I turned away and headed to my car, wanting nothing more than to just get the heck out of there.
"Wait, Amelia!" Brad said, following right on my heels. "Let me explain."
"Okay," I said slowly, turning to face him. "Explain."
He looked stunned. He tripped over himself trying to get his tongue to work right. "Well, uh, we kind of need a, um, well…" he stumbled, his face turning cherry red.
Cute guy with glasses came to Brad's rescue. "We have an experiment we're conducting. If this works we could change life as we know it. The meaning of science would be changed, all thanks to us."
"And where do I fit into this?" I asked half-heartedly. I eyed my car, trying to figure out my chances of escape if I just sprinted to it and locked the doors.
"Well…"Brad mumbled. "We need a test subject."
"Absolutely not," I stated. Sure, these guys were the best, but that didn't mean I trusted them to come anywhere near me to do "science".
"Please, Amelia. We'll pay you. Please, please, please, please," Brad begged.
I looked them over, weighing the possibilities in my head. I so badly wanted to turn away and leave, but…
"How much?"
"Huh?"
I shuffled uncomfortably. "You said you'd pay me. How much?"
"Oh, uh-," Brad started.
"10,000 dollars," Glasses stated confidently. His friends looked both outraged and hopeful. They all had their eyes on me, waiting for my answer.
"Yes," I blurted out before I could even think about it. I had to restrain myself from clapping a hand over my mouth. Was I crazy?
No, not crazy. Just really, really, poor.
The guys were over themselves with joy. They had quickly gotten over the fact that they'd soon be out ten grand, and were swapping high fives and exclamations.
"So what do I do?" I asked with a dark sigh. I just hoped they wouldn't try to switch my arms with my legs or make my hair fall out. I got in Brad's brand new Mercedes while they chattered away. I think they were talking to me but I was busy worrying about what deathly experiment they were going to perform on me. I tried to relax. I just had to live through it. If I lived through it, I could pay for school and even buy myself some nice things for once.
We arrived at Brad's house within a matter of minutes. I had been to Brad's house before when he was teaching me math, and it was the stuff kids dreamed of. Yeah, Brad's parents were filthy rich, but he made bank doing science for some top secret government organization as well. The house was full of cool things like pinball machines and huge TVs and pools. I sometimes wondered if I should date Brad just for use of his house.
The guys led me down to the basement, the only floor of the house I had never been to. As we hit the last step, I saw why. His basement was a huge science lab! Brad had to scan a security badge and do a retina scan and everything just to get in. We followed him through a maze of tables holding chemistry stations and super advanced computers and other science junk I had never seen before. On the right were bookshelves with literally thousands of books on the wall. It was incredible. We went all the way to the back of the lab, and I was a little confused when I got there. Up until that point, the science lab had been, well, science-y. This spot where we went was just like a normal teenage boy's room. There was a sloppily made bed and a computer with a video game up, and a mini fridge full of Mountain Dew in the corner. The only thing that looked remotely concerning was a random plastic Adirondack chair in the middle of the room.
"You sit here," Brad said, laying a blanket over the chair. I assumed he just wanted to make it more comfortable, so I wasn't going to argue. I sat down. Glasses offered me a drink. Brad sat down at his computer and continued playing the video game. I recognized it; Skyrim. Brad was fighting a dragon with a dagger and a shield. It looked really….lame.
"So fellas, what exactly are we doing?"
As soon as I said that, the third guy showed up, his arms full with wires and a funny looking helmet thing.
"Okay," Brad said, minimizing his game. He was quickly typing into some sort of program which I had never seen before. "Erik is going to hook you up and we're going to take a test drive online."
Erik made haste sticking little suction cups all over my body. There must have been a hundred little wires connected to me by the time he was done, all attached to this little box that kinda looked like a car battery. Glasses hooked the battery up to Brad's computer, and Brad resumed typing and clicking and doing general nerd stuff.
"What exactly is happening?" I asked, suddenly nervous. Erik had fitted the silly looking helmet onto my head, fastening it with a Velcro chinstrap.
"Don't worry, it's the same stuff we told you in the car," Brad assured me. Too bad I hadn't been paying attention in the car.
They all circled around the computer now. Whatever program Brad had been loading was complete, and was now prompting them to start the experiment.
"Wait," I said shakily. "Should I sign some kind of waiver or something? You know…if I die?"
"Oh, um," Brad said, tearing his desk apart for a piece of paper. He scribbled furiously, and a few seconds later, handed me the note.
'If Amelia dies, it is not our fault.'
"Wow, that's the best you can do?" I asked irritably. I just hoped this experiment would be over in time to catch Robot Chicken at 2AM.
"Are you ready or what?" Glasses asked, turning back to the computer.
"Sure…" I mumbled.
One nerdy "FOR SCIENCE!" speech later, the lights had been cut and the only source came from the tubes attached to my body and Brad's computer screen.
"You ready boys?" Brad asked gruffly. The guys nodded, and Brad clicked the "RUN PROGRAM" button.
Nothing happened. I watched the guys exchange looks and then focus their attention on me.
I shut my eyes in defeat. I really needed the money.
SPLASH!
With a thud, I hit water. I sank a few feet, being pulled gently by the current. My mind was blank as I floated in the water, trying to remember what had happened. My name was Amelia Greene. That I could remember. Had I been drinking? Did someone just dump me in the pool? Surely I was still at Brad's house, going for a swim in his Olympic sized pool.
When I opened my eyes, I was shocked to see that I was not, in fact, in Brad's pool. The water was murky and green, and seaweed waved gently in the water. No, I was in a river.
WHAT. THE. HELL.
I kicked off the bottom in panic, rocketing to the surface. Something caught my arm, something SHARP. I thrashed in the water, desperate to detach the creature and still somehow make it to the surface. What I ended up doing was sinking further into the depths, whatever the hell kind of critter still holding onto my arm with the jaws of life. All my oxygen was out, and all I could do was sink farther and farther into the darkness…
With one swift movement, big hands gripped my shoulders, yanking me to the surface. A man had jumped into the water to save me! He ripped the creature off my arm, and with one big pull, dragged me onto the rocky shore. Another set of hands grabbed me and pulled me away from the water while I coughed and sputtered and tried not to puke river water all over my saviors.
"Can you hear me?" a gruff man's voice cut through my head, bringing me to reality. I flopped around on the grass like a fish out of water, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Where did those turds take me? Not a few seconds ago I was sitting at Brad's house, and now I was drowning in a river in broad daylight?
I finally stopped thrashing, breathing in a few calming breaths to keep myself from panicking. Amelia Greene. Arizona. Air Force.
I looked around. I was lying in a patch of lush green grass that led right up to a gentle river. Big, leafy trees surrounded the river bank, full of chirping birds and other critters scurrying about.
No. I definitely wasn't in Arizona anymore.
"Lass, can you hear me?"
My attention snapped to a big, muscular, and well, grungy, man. He had the biggest dang muscles I had ever seen, his wet shirt clinging to his broad chest. He had long hair that desperately needed a conditioning and a scruffy, unkempt beard, but still he was…well he wasn't ugly I guess. But he had saved my life, and that's all that mattered to me now.
There was a girl a few steps back, eyeing us with distaste. She was pretty, but somehow dark and mysterious with a forcible scowl that made me want to turn around and jump back in the river. I rolled away from them, pushing myself onto my hands and knees, shaking in fear. I felt the man's gigantic hand clutch my shoulder, easing me to the ground.
"Take it easy there, lass," he mumbled in a soothing tone. The woman just shifted impatiently, her arms crossed.
"Where am I?" I asked, my voice full of fear.
The man looked around. "A few paces short of Riften I'd guess."
I was a senior in college. I had never heard of any 'Riften' in my life.
"Who are you?"
The man extended a hand. "Name's Brynjolf. What brings you to Skyrim?"
Uh oh.