Chapter 3

Elsa stumbled upstairs. She felt crazed. She was pretty sure she was having a mild photosensitive seizure or something like that because she kept seeing black splotches and she felt like she was floating. For the past sixteen hours, she had been sitting in front of her computer mindlessly killing everything in her virtual path. Now she was finally tired. Making it to her bedroom, she squinted at the clock; it was four in the morning. Crap, she thought. She had to be at work by five-thirty. At least I have one hour to 'sleep.' She made her way through her train wreck of a room. Clothes, papers and books littered the floor as well as growing dust piles. This place looks like a sty. Elsa summed it up to her being in what she called her 'withering away' phase which was basically her neglecting things because she was disenchanted with life. Kristoff poked fun at her when he would come home in the evening to find her in front of her computer just as he had left her in the morning. He would ask her all about her day already knowing that she didn't leave the house, hadn't really eaten much and hadn't really moved from her spot.

Elsa didn't really consider herself a gamer. There were times where she would play a lot—like now—but she also had periods where she didn't game at all. On top of that, she felt her game knowledge was rather limited. The only games she played were whatever few games Kristoff bought but never got around to. All-in-all, she didn't really know that much about gaming, or computers; apparently playing PC games meant that you knew about computers. Contrary to what Elsa believed, she always ended up spending hours in front of a console or her computer. Her mother said that she was addicted, but Elsa didn't think it was that bad. Truth be told, she often didn't even enjoy playing games. Gaming had become routine, brainless clicking and button-mashing. For Elsa, gaming was a way to escape—from what? She couldn't exactly say. The meaning of gaming, as well as everything else, changed as Elsa got older. At the present, as she lay on her mattress with only a pillow under her head, she supposed that she used gaming as justifying herself and the fact that she had practically no life, no friends and no human contact outside of her immediate family. She didn't even know why she should feel this way. Telling people that she played games was how Elsa excused her own awkward and strange behaviour. This excuse worked amongst people who bought into the 'gamers are weird hermits' stereotype and surprisingly, a lot of people though this way. She knew this stereotype wasn't true, yet she was all for perpetuating it if only to protect herself. The truth was, Elsa was deathly afraid of people. Specifically, she was hyper-sensitive to even the most minute forms of rejection. She was scared of saying hello to someone because they might not saying hello back. She was scared of answering questions in class in case she got them wrong. She was scared that if people found out who she really was, they would treat her differently. That was why Elsa never let anyone come too close. If she found herself getting attached to someone, she would back off and reign herself in. Conceal, don't feel was the mantra she always told herself. Elsa always wondered when and how she became so withdrawn but she could never pinpoint a particular moment.

Gaming had positives though. Elsa learned a lot about how economies worked, how to bargain with people, how to spot scammers, and how to deal with interesting characters. The fact that everything was online made it easier because there was always a blacklist option if you were truly desperate. Plus, not having to face people made things easier. To Elsa, online interactions were purely online. She was never interested in making the connection with the person behind the username. Elsa heard stories of people making friends online and then in real life, but she liked to keep both worlds apart. In fact, Elsa was terrible at making friends online just as she was terrible at making them in real life. Many people liked to have a conversation; whereas Elsa liked to farm things, harvest things, hyper train or power through quests, all while ignoring the few poor souls who partied with her.

Elsa had recently joined a guild on a newer game that she was playing. It was about time that she found a group to help her endgame goals. She liked this new guild; it had a cool name, The Sisters of Moira. She didn't participate in guild chat and hadn't gotten the boot yet. That was a good sign. The guild store was a convenient way to buy and sell things and she finally had a default mob she could join when she PVPed. Plus, the leader, 1ST Light, was pretty badass. She had led their guild to many victories. However, it was during one of their losing battles that 1ST Light messaged her.

'hey, that's one smokinn hawt char you have there.'

Elsa giggled. 'lol thanks, but let's just focus on taking down this fort, mmkay?'

'too late, I just died, and so did you.'

Damn! She was right. Elsa wasn't used to typing and playing at the same time. She watched her character disintegrate into a pile of ashes. 'thanks to you.' Elsa didn't want to return to the battle just yet. They were getting owned and they needed to regroup. She would just wait until more people died and respawned back at their fort. She decided she would talk to this 1ST Light person. She was her guild leader after all.

'no problem. so, I've noticed that you're pretty much a god, but I've never heard of you.' She was right. Elsa had accumulated so many points in PVP that she ranked fifth on the server. She killed almost everyone who crossed her path and almost never died… unless she was trying to type and play at the same time.

'uhh I'm low-key I guess?'

'That's cool. I'm glad that you chose our guild. But let's get back to the main point. Where the heck did you get those clothes?! I've never seen them before. That is probably the sexiest outfit I've ever seen in this game.' Okay. So 1ST Light had weird tastes. Elsa's avatar was wearing a rather plain dark blue slim gown with a pale orange fur-trimmed caplet. On her head rested a pale orange fur-trimmed hat. It kind of looked like a Santa Claus hat, except the tail wasn't that long. Whatever floats her boat?

'The Chasm.' The Chasm was one of the most difficult locations in the game.

'oooooo. That place is a little too tough for me :(.'

'uhmm yea. It was tough for me. I died like 43243, but I guess that doesn't matter because I'm hawt ;-)'

'haha, can't believe I said that, but it's true.'

'I was thinking of going back there maybe tomorrow or something. The loot is sorta amazing. We should go there together. I need a meat shield. Also, you have unexpected tastes.'

'ohmygosh. That would be awesome! I would be honoured! And I have unexpectedly discerning tastes thankyouverymuch. So what time zone are you in? so we can synchronize better.'

'EST.'

'ohhh, same here. Ontario?'

'Toronto?'

'This is crazy! We could practically be neighbours!'