"Please? It's the last one!" Knox says.
"You mean second to last," I smirk. He punches my shoulder in retaliation to my snarky response.
"You know what I mean, dude. It's a console released from Polaris! Polaris almost never exports technology to other countries. Once these are sold out, they're not releasing any more. This is my only chance to play Elysia in full dive," Knox whines.
"Your birthday budget is one thousand dollars," my brother Milo says. "The game is two thousand."
Knox huffs. "Dammit."
"Hey, I'm going to go look at some other games over there," I say.
Knox rests his forehead on the glass of the video game display shelf and grumbles before giving me a thumbs up from behind.
I grab Milo's arm and pull him along with me. I stop once we're out of Knox's earshot. "Y'know, I have some money saved up from my job at the music store. I could buy it for him," I say.
"You should be saving that for college. It's a nice gesture, but I think it's a little much to be spending on a video game especially if you aren't going to play it yourself."
"It's not just a video game to him. This is a limited edition version of his favorite video game he'll never have a second chance to play. I think it'll be worth it," I say.
Milo thinks for a moment before pulling out his phone. "Let me call his parents," he says.
Knox is still staring longingly at the game console with his face pressed against the glass when I walk back over to him.
"C'mon, Lenny," I say.
"I've been waiting an entire year for this. I thought my dad would understand since he loves Elysia too- I guess I'll have to live knowing there's an Elysia game I'll never play."
After a few minutes, Milo waves me back over. "Well?" I ask.
"They said you can buy it as long as you put all your pay for the next few months into your college fund," Milo says.
"Sweet! Can you distract Knox for me while I buy it and put it in the car?" I ask.
"Sure. Knox, let's go to the music store across the street. Heard they got some good drum sets," Milo says.
Knox walks over to us. "But I already have one. Fine…," he says.
#
"Cake time!" Milo exclaims as he carries a box with him.
Milo opens the box to a chocolate frosted cake with both our names on top in white icing. The two candles on top form the number '16'. Knox excitedly watches as Milo lights them but the joy in his face is overshadowed by his disappointment from earlier.
Mrs. Bourdon's hands move excitedly as she signs to us. Happy birthday! I can't believe how old you two are getting.
Mr. Bourdon laughs. It feels like it was only yesterday when you two were in preschool together, He signs.
Yeah, feels like only yesterday the chaos started, Knox signs to them. He tries to match their energy but his hands seem to be weighed down by gravity. It's obviously forced.
After we blow out the candles, we cut the cake but Knox only pokes at his slice.
Why don't we open presents now?, I ask.
"Good idea," Milo says.
Knox is handed his gift first. He fakes a smile and tears the wrapping paper but when he sees the logo on the top of the box with the word 'Nerve Gear' under it, his real smile forms. His mouth stretches to either ear in such a way that makes it look like it shouldn't fit on a human face and he shows off most of his teeth. It's the smile he only does when he's really happy.
"You- How?" He asks, bouncing several times on the balls of his feet.
"I had some money saved up. Wanted to make sure you had a nice birthday," I say.
He stares at me like a deer in headlights while he takes that in. "Dude! You spent two thousand dollars on me? What the frick?" He punches my shoulder and laughs.
"I just bought you a really expensive game, and this is your thanks? Ow," I say with a laugh.
"It's my way of saying thanks for being an overspending idiot," he says.
"Alright, it's Maven's birthday too. Time for his gift," Milo says.
He places a box in front of me identical to the one Knox just unwrapped. I confusedly unwrap it, unsure of what I could have asked for that would fit inside but my jaw drops when I also find the logo on top.
"I thought we could only afford one," I say.
Milo chuckles. "You could only afford one. The Bourdons and I talked and we decided to use the money from Knox's birthday budget and yours to afford it. We thought you deserved something nice too."
"I really appreciate the gesture, but I don't play Elysia."
"Well, I guess we could sell it after they run out of stock. It'll probably sell for way more than we paid and then we can get you a guitar or something," Milo says.
"Wait, don't! We should play together," Knox says.
"I'm not that big on video games," I say.
"Oh, c'mon! Please, please please?" Knox presses his hands together.
"Fine," I say.
He jumps up and snatches his box. "I'm gonna go get mine set up right now!"
"Wait, what about your-" Knox races up to his bedroom before I can finish. "Cake…"
"Well, you know how he is with video games," Milo says.
I grab my fork. "I'm in no rush," I say.
Knox doesn't come back for the rest of the party but it comes as no surprise to us since we assume he's sucked into the game. Three hours after the party starts to seem a little odd since Knox usually at the very least comes downstairs every now and then to grab a snack while gaming. It's about six hours after he ran upstairs that his dad asks me to go check on him.
Knox is laying in his bed motionless with some kind of headset on. It's plugged into his computer which displays the Elysia logo but nothing else.
"Lenny?" I ask.
The box for the game console is on the floor next to his bed which he carelessly kicked to the side. I find the manual inside which I skim through. I get the basic idea of what the console does after reading some of the words which include 'virtual reality', 'fully immersive' and 'sensory input override.'
"Is Knox okay?" Milo asks, opening the door.
"Yeah, I think so. The console is just so advanced that it replaces all of his sensory input with data from the game. I guess he's on some kind of adventure in there," I say.
"Polarian technology is sure crazy," Milo says. "Maybe you should go check on him in there. It's been six hours."
"I'm sure he's fine," I say.
"His parents are getting worried. Could you do it anyway?"
"Alright. I guess I could go see what all the fuss is about," I say.
After grabbing my own box from downstairs, I plug it into my own computer next to my bed on the opposite side of the room from Knox. While I set the game up, I make a quick decision to open my live streaming software. "I'll stream it so you can see what I'm doing," I say.
Milo gives me a smile as I place it over my head and lay back on my bed. "Don't take too long," he says.
I chuckle. "I'm not like Knox. I'll be in and out," I say.
"What do you want for dinner?" he asks.
"You know I always want spaghetti," I smirk.
"Spaghetti it is. It'll be waiting for you when you come back."
I press the button on the side of the headset. I barely have a chance to place my arm back down before my vision suddenly goes white and I lose feeling in every part of my body.
"Starting up," A voice that kind of sounds like a female AI assistant says.
I'm dropped onto my feet into a blank white world which starts to build itself piece by piece. A marble floor expands around me in a circular shape before six large pillars rise up from the floor. Through the gaps between them, I start to see thick leaves which a few rays of sunlight poke through.
"Maven!"
I turn to find Knox standing at the end of the marble floor where a staircase has formed. "Maven, you need to log out immediately!" He says.
He runs over to me. "Now!"
"Welcome to Elysia Online! I will guide you through the tutorial," The female AI voice says. "Open your menu by doing the following hand gesture." A little image pops up in front of me which depicts a downward hand motion. Knox watches frantically as I copy it.
"Log out like right now dude," Knox says.
I scroll through the menu but I don't find any option for logging out. "Care to explain how you do that?" I ask.
"Dammit…" Knox shakes his fist at the sky. "Dammit!"
"What's wrong?" I ask.
"When I logged in, nobody could log out. Then we all got this really weird message from this hacker group who calls themselves 'Vendetta'. Here, look." He opens his own menu and clicks on a video in his inbox.
A man in a black cloak and solid white mask appears in the frame. "Greetings, players. I am known as Nameless, the leader of a hacker group known as Vendetta. As I'm sure many of you have noticed, the log out button is missing from your menu. Let me reassure you all that this is by design. You see, shortly before Elysia Online's release, myself and my team took control of the game by force and made some changes in order to further our own agenda. Rest assured, we do not plan to harm any of you. You will be allowed to leave once the game has been completed. In order to ensure no one can escape, we've disabled the safety features of the Nerve Gear. If anyone from the outside makes an attempt to take it off of you, the Nerve Gear has been reprogrammed to release a fatal electrical shock to your brain. In addition, the same is true if your HP bar reaches zero. This is to provide an incentive for the completion of the game. That is all. I bid you good luck, players." The video fades to black.
"This has got to be a joke," I say with a chuckle.
"Everyone else thought it was a joke too. Then some guy jokingly stabbed himself and didn't respawn. Everyone freaked the fuck out," Knox says. "This isn't a joke man."
"Well fuck," I say. "What do we do now? I don't want to die- Milo needs me!"
"We won't die here. This is a safe zone. And our hunger won't start to run out until we make our characters. We could just stay in the lobby until someone completes the game."
"And how long will that take?" I ask.
He shrugs. "I dunno. The last multiplayer Elysia game took like a year to beat."
"A year? I can't stay here for a whole year!"
"You got a better idea?"
I sit against the wall. "No. I guess not," I say.
"I can't die either. What would my parents do without me?" Knox asks.
"They'd have to find another interpreter," I say, trying to lighten the mood. Knox doesn't smile like he usually does when I make that joke. "At least we have each other," I say.
"It's my fault," Knox looks away from me. "You wanted to sell your console but I convinced you not to. It's my fault you're trapped too."
I reach for his arm but he moves away from me. "If it makes you feel any better, I wouldn't have wanted you to be trapped in here alone. If you're in here, I'm here too. I would have gone in after you anyway."
"You're an idiot," Knox says. But I start to see the hint of a smile.
"C'mon, you would have done it for me too," I say.
"Yeah, but only because I know for a damn fact that you couldn't survive in this game without me," Knox says.
"See? We'll be okay. You're practically an expert at this game."
He finally allows me to take his hand and he holds mine tightly. "I guess this place is going to be our home for a while."