CHAPTER 2
The morning came as usual. I got up at 7:00 AM to get ready for
another boring day of school. I hated school. It was the one place I
DIDN'T feel safe. The teachers say that school is a safe environment
where everyone can get along and live in peace. I detest. School
wasn't safe; at least not for me. I was picked on all the time. Even
the people who were uglier or geekier than me got off easy. All this
just because of a few cool movies. I used to post signs up on walls
with the words: "Un-plug, don't be slaves." More ridicule. After a
while, I just gave up. People didn't want to learn more about "un-
plugging" or the Matrix. I stopped talking about it until "Matrix
Warrior" was released. If only people weren't so ignorant, but in the
infamous words of Cypher; "Ignorance is bliss", and everyone seemed to
be pretty content not knowing about the Matrix.
After what seemed like eternity, the lunch bell rang and I was free to
go. Or so I thought. As I rounded the corner to leave the doors of
my educational prison, a group of bullies blocked my path.
"Prepare for a beating, Matrix freak. Have you taken your red pills
today?" They all started to laugh.
"Leave me alone," I said as anger built up inside me.
"Your precious Neo not here to save you?", said one of the other
bullies.
"Dodge this!" The largest bully was about to throw a punch when
someone came around the corner.
"Hey," yelled the person as he got in front of me and chased the
bullies away.
"Thanks," I said feeling slightly embarrased.
"No problem. You're that kid who likes "The Matrix" movies a lot,
right?"
".....Y....y.......yeah.....," I said timidly, in fear that he might
hate me now, too.
"Cool. I like them a lot myself."
Wow, I thought. Why haven't I seen him before? He liked "The Matrix"
as much as I did. He wore trench coat just like Neo's. He was fairly
tall, with silvery hair and a strong build. For some strange reason,
I felt like I had met him before, but where? It didn't really matter
to me at the moment, though.
"My name's Robert, but you can call me Bobby. All my friends do." He
shook my hand with a strong grip. He hurt my knuckles, but not
terribly.
After a few seconds of hand-shaking , he said good-bye and left the
school to continue with lunch break. I stood there in awe of one of
the coolest people I've ever seen. After about ten seconds, I noticed
that people were staring at me, so I decided to go back to my locker
and get my books for next class.
I didn't really do much work throughout the rest of the day as I was
too busy thinking about where I had met Robert before. I was so
preoccupied that I almost spilled toxic chemicals on the floor in
chemistry class. After a one more class, the bell rang to let the
students leave for home. I gathered my homework and started the trek
to my house where I would finish my homework, and play more "Matrix
Warrior". On the way, I was greeted by Robert. We talked about all
kinds of Matrix related stuff. He had so much to talk about and
before I knew it, I was at my house and had said good-bye to Robert.
As I opened the door, I turned my head to look back to ask Robert if
he wanted to come into my house, but he was nowhere to be seen. I was
a liitle disappointed, but even more excited about seeing him again
tomorrow. I walked into my house, closed the door and there began the
sequence of events that would change my life forever.
*****
When I finished my homework, I stuffed all my books away and put on my
VR headgear, and loaded "Matrix Warrior". I logged-in and started
scanning the chat rooms for "DataAngel". Not in "General Chat", not
in "FAQ's Chat", not even in his own chat room, "DataAngel's Guild".
He was always online by now. I knew because he told me that this was
his routine. I felt disheartened, so I logged-off. Again, the game
asked me to continue. Suddenly, the game started acting strangely.
The headgear started to vibrate and ring in my ears. The screen went
to static snow and came back again, but it didn't look the same. The
countdown clock was there with the numbers 10 down to 0 flashing at
high speeds and under the numbers was a red pill and a blue pill. The
words "Want to stay in Wonderland?" appeared below the pills and the
game froze. I was so freaked out by the sudden occurance that I
grabbed the headgear from my head and tossed it on the floor. I went
to my computer and pressed the power button. What had just happened?
Had I found a secret message in the game or had I did something I
shouldn't have to it? I picked up the headgear and put it back on my
desk. I wasn't tired and it wasn't late, but I decided to go to bed
early. I also decided to tell Robert this in the morning on the way
to school as I learned that he didn't live to far from my house. I
couldn't sleep the rest of the night as the screwed-up continue screen
flashed in my head.
The morning came as usual. I got up at 7:00 AM to get ready for
another boring day of school. I hated school. It was the one place I
DIDN'T feel safe. The teachers say that school is a safe environment
where everyone can get along and live in peace. I detest. School
wasn't safe; at least not for me. I was picked on all the time. Even
the people who were uglier or geekier than me got off easy. All this
just because of a few cool movies. I used to post signs up on walls
with the words: "Un-plug, don't be slaves." More ridicule. After a
while, I just gave up. People didn't want to learn more about "un-
plugging" or the Matrix. I stopped talking about it until "Matrix
Warrior" was released. If only people weren't so ignorant, but in the
infamous words of Cypher; "Ignorance is bliss", and everyone seemed to
be pretty content not knowing about the Matrix.
After what seemed like eternity, the lunch bell rang and I was free to
go. Or so I thought. As I rounded the corner to leave the doors of
my educational prison, a group of bullies blocked my path.
"Prepare for a beating, Matrix freak. Have you taken your red pills
today?" They all started to laugh.
"Leave me alone," I said as anger built up inside me.
"Your precious Neo not here to save you?", said one of the other
bullies.
"Dodge this!" The largest bully was about to throw a punch when
someone came around the corner.
"Hey," yelled the person as he got in front of me and chased the
bullies away.
"Thanks," I said feeling slightly embarrased.
"No problem. You're that kid who likes "The Matrix" movies a lot,
right?"
".....Y....y.......yeah.....," I said timidly, in fear that he might
hate me now, too.
"Cool. I like them a lot myself."
Wow, I thought. Why haven't I seen him before? He liked "The Matrix"
as much as I did. He wore trench coat just like Neo's. He was fairly
tall, with silvery hair and a strong build. For some strange reason,
I felt like I had met him before, but where? It didn't really matter
to me at the moment, though.
"My name's Robert, but you can call me Bobby. All my friends do." He
shook my hand with a strong grip. He hurt my knuckles, but not
terribly.
After a few seconds of hand-shaking , he said good-bye and left the
school to continue with lunch break. I stood there in awe of one of
the coolest people I've ever seen. After about ten seconds, I noticed
that people were staring at me, so I decided to go back to my locker
and get my books for next class.
I didn't really do much work throughout the rest of the day as I was
too busy thinking about where I had met Robert before. I was so
preoccupied that I almost spilled toxic chemicals on the floor in
chemistry class. After a one more class, the bell rang to let the
students leave for home. I gathered my homework and started the trek
to my house where I would finish my homework, and play more "Matrix
Warrior". On the way, I was greeted by Robert. We talked about all
kinds of Matrix related stuff. He had so much to talk about and
before I knew it, I was at my house and had said good-bye to Robert.
As I opened the door, I turned my head to look back to ask Robert if
he wanted to come into my house, but he was nowhere to be seen. I was
a liitle disappointed, but even more excited about seeing him again
tomorrow. I walked into my house, closed the door and there began the
sequence of events that would change my life forever.
*****
When I finished my homework, I stuffed all my books away and put on my
VR headgear, and loaded "Matrix Warrior". I logged-in and started
scanning the chat rooms for "DataAngel". Not in "General Chat", not
in "FAQ's Chat", not even in his own chat room, "DataAngel's Guild".
He was always online by now. I knew because he told me that this was
his routine. I felt disheartened, so I logged-off. Again, the game
asked me to continue. Suddenly, the game started acting strangely.
The headgear started to vibrate and ring in my ears. The screen went
to static snow and came back again, but it didn't look the same. The
countdown clock was there with the numbers 10 down to 0 flashing at
high speeds and under the numbers was a red pill and a blue pill. The
words "Want to stay in Wonderland?" appeared below the pills and the
game froze. I was so freaked out by the sudden occurance that I
grabbed the headgear from my head and tossed it on the floor. I went
to my computer and pressed the power button. What had just happened?
Had I found a secret message in the game or had I did something I
shouldn't have to it? I picked up the headgear and put it back on my
desk. I wasn't tired and it wasn't late, but I decided to go to bed
early. I also decided to tell Robert this in the morning on the way
to school as I learned that he didn't live to far from my house. I
couldn't sleep the rest of the night as the screwed-up continue screen
flashed in my head.