Chapter IX

Someone knocked on my door and it scared the hell out of me. I was just browsing in my private chat room and first thought the sound was in-game.

Only a few days passed since the fight with Ghostface and I was still paranoid everywhere I went in the OASIS. Sara hadn't been online anymore.

Thoughts were racing through my head about whoever could be at my door. Everything seemed possible. Was it a masked killer here to finish the job? Did Sara fly to Canada?

Another knock. Persistent, hard and long.

I carefully walked to the monitor near the door. It couldn't be a delivery. The apartments in my flat had special mailboxes for that, functioning as a sort of air lock with the world outside.

On the monitor I saw an impatient young woman about to knock again.

"Who's this?" I asked over the intercom.

"What kind of question is that? Your neighbor of course," she answered while taking a good look in the lens of my door camera.

I had no idea who this person was. I moved the camera around the hallway to see if she was alone.

"What the hell, dude! We've been living next to each other for over a year!"

Was she telling the truth? It sounded like someone telling the truth. I carefully opened the four locks on my door and pulled the doorknob.

The short-haired blonde was standing there in sweaty sports clothing, holding something of a power shake. Back from a work-out? I decided to let her in.

"Thank you!" she stated overly dramatic. "You honestly have no idea, do you?"

I didn't know the answer to that.

"Riley," she said. "Ri-ley."

"Leo," I muttered.

The girl next door took a look around my apartment and noticed my vr-gear.

"That explains all the moaning and grunting I keep hearing at night," she said.

"..."

"Ha, just messing with you."

"Can I help you with something?" I asked slightly annoyed.

"Locked myself out, gonna need your balcony."

The balconies were connected to each other, forming one long gallery on each floor of the flat. But they were separated by a waist high brick wall with bars on top that went all the way up to the next storey.

Climbing to a neighbor's balcony would require stepping over the railing. And we were on the 24th floor.

"That's suicide," I said. "Just call the landlord."

"Ha," she smirked. "I'm already waiting two months for them to fix my shower."

"The fire station then?"

"Can't afford them."

I had at least another fifty alternatives that didn't require killing herself, but Riley's patience ran out. She walked to my balcony and pressed her drink into my chest.

"Hold this for a moment, will you?"

She held one of the bars that separated our balconies, put her left foot on the railing and with a gracious swing she was back home.

"Impressive," I said, passing back her shake.

"That's me," she said. "Impressive. Sorry that I scared you, have fun gunting or whatever."

She noticed how I took everything she said as an insult and she started smiling.

"Just messing with you! God! You're a tough crowd."

"A bit distracted at the moment," I said. "By the way, if you want to shower sometime, mine is working."

Why the hell did I just say that? It must've been fucking creepy to her.

Riley looked baffled.

"Seriously?" she asked.

"Well, uh..."

"That would be awesome!"

Ten minutes later there was singing coming from my bathroom. The splashing sounds reminded me of taking baths as a kid, she was really indulging the moment.

"So what do you do?" she shouted from the bathroom.

"I have a shop in the OASIS," I said.

"What?"

"A shop! In the OASIS!"

"Can't hear you, come closer!"

She had left the door ajar. I walked over and leaned against the doorpost that didn't allow for a peek.

"I said I have a shop in the OASIS."

"Ah, there you are!" Riley exclaimed. "What are you selling?"

"Rare items, stuff like that."

I wasn't about to tell a naked girl in my apartment that I played Pokémon games.

"How about you?" I asked.

"Student. Getting my master's in Social and Behavioural Sciences."

"Ah, tech companies will soon be fighting over you."

"Nope. Soon I will be fighting them."

The water stopped and a moment later Riley came out walking in comfortable clothing, her hair wrapped in a pink towel.

She took another extensive look at my VR gear and pointed at the monitor on my desk.

"Your avatar?" she asked. "Morphynn?"

The log-in screen was showing, with rock 'n' roll hero Morphynn waiting to get back in the game. Only now did I realise that might come off as dorky. Still I had little choice but to confirm.

"You're a musician?" Riley wondered.

"Not really."

"If you want to be a rockstar, be a rockstar."

"How?"

"There is so much more out there than you know," she said, nodding towards the view of our skyscraper neighborhood. "More than ever before. I'll show you sometime, OK?"

I nodded.

"Nice," she said. "It's a date."

I tried to get Riley out of my head as soon as she left my apartment. She was probably texting friends about her weird neighbor that very moment.

It still somehow made me hesitant to dive back into the OASIS. Was she right? Should I be doing something else?