Chapter Text
-About 5 months later (February)-
Rob’s alarm sounded it’s dreaded five a.m. call, pulling him right out of his dreams. The boy groaned and rolled about in bed. It was time for school. Usually if he wasn’t up in fifteen minutes, his dad would come upstairs and make sure of it. That day he didn’t mind. The cyclops shut his eye slowly and turned around for a quick nap. Just a few more minutes…. A bright light woke Rob up the second time. It was a little too bright for 5:15.. The boy reached over and grabbed his phone. He practically fell out of bed when he read the clock. He stumbled downstairs to shower and freshen up.
Good thing Dad’s bringing me today. Rob thought as he raked shampoo through his hair. Walking at this time would surely add another good thirty minutes to his arrival time. And Rob hated being tardy. He finished within five minutes and swiftly got dressed. He packed his backpack with homework and pens then went to the kitchen for breakfast. Usually on the days his dad would bring him to school, he would also have enough time to make him food. Rob entered the kitchen to find that was not the case. In fact, Rob didn’t see his dad at all. He’s probably defrosting the car. The teen decided after settling for a bowl of cereal. But even after he drank his last spoonful of milk and played on social media for a bit, his dad still didn’t turn up. It was becoming a bit late and Rob was beginning to panic.” Dad?” He walked around his house, searching every room. No dad. He even called his cell. No dad. Finally, he’d had enough and pulled on his jacket to check outside. Rob’s mouth hung open in shock. The driveway was empty! Rob had a small anxiety attack before he collected himself and decided to walk late to school, slipping continuously in the February weather.
Rob arrived an entire hour late to school, fuming. He had slipped more times than he could count due to the sidewalks not being paved— that had made him even more late! He knew getting ready was his responsibility, and understood his dad was on-call at work, but a little notice would sevice! Dad had even said he’d drop him off, and Rob usually knew a day ahead what the plan would be. He would have been more proactive about getting himself to school if his dad had just said he wouldn’t be there; instead he went and bailed on him! To make matters worse, he wasn’t even picking up his phone now. Rob grumbled to himself as the principal signed his tardy slip.
The boy caught 2nd period 10 minutes late. He awkwardly shuffled into his seat as Mr. Smalls announced the day’s assignment.
“ Everyone will have 3 class periods to complete a psychology poster with at least 25 of the terms we discussed. I will put you into groups of two; not three, two!”
Rob was paired with a cat named Gumball. He remembered meeting him and his adopted fish brother at Rachel’s party; the three had played games together, may or may not have broken a few of the Wilson’s valuables, and Rob was pretty sure they and all the other underclassmen had gotten high off the kool aid. Life of the party they sure were.
“ Hey Gumball, nice to see you again.” Rob smiled as the feline walked over to his desk.
“ Hey thereee.. Kiddo— I’m sorry, I cannot remember your name for the death of me.” Gumball admitted with a raise to his brow. Rob laughed
“ It’s Rob. I get it, that whole night was kinda a blur. Just think of ‘The Wrong Bob’; that should help you remember.”
Gumball facepalmed.” Rob! That was it! Ugh it’s so simple.”
“ No sweat. The more boring the more forgettable I guess. Let’s get this junk out of the way.”
They had planned to get the junk out of the way.
But the next moment Rob knew, he and Gumball were doubling over in complete gut- busting laughter every other minute; Mr. Smalls was visibly getting more and more agitated the more they did it.
“ Seriously Man, what is a good picture to represent the term, “ therapy”?”
Rob wiped a tear from his eye with his pencil hovering over the page, ready to make an illustration. The poster had to have creative expression, as Mr. Smalls had put it, after all. This would be his third attempt without completely collapsing with amusement; Gumball had just been cracking joke after joke after joke! That feline sure had a sense of humor.
“ I don’t know man; a unicorn?”
Rob scoffed.
“ A unicorn? Why?” He questioned, although he had already begun to sketch it out.
“ Meh, they’re just so calming and majestic ; like therapy for the eyes. Though I’m sure a unicorn’s therapist would probably tell him to believe in himself.”
Rob wheezed, dropping his pencil.
The boys laughed for a good two minutes before they were able to focus again. Next term.
“ What about for Pavlov?” Rob was already weak at this point..
Gumball cocked his head.
“ Who?”
Rob blinked.
“ Ivan Pavlov? We just learned about him last week.”
The blue cat crossed his arms.
“ Doesn’t ring a bell.”
The cyclops basically lost it.
By the end of the class they barely got any work done for ⅓ periods. But all Rob’s frustrations had dissolved.
The metaphor of multiple lives entered the video game world well after the Eastern doctrines of reincarnation and its concept of multiple lives. It’s not clear whether the original moniker of “multiple lives” in video games had any connection with multiple lives in Eastern spiritual traditions. However, the real question is do the avatars in video games even know they are in a video game? Rob bit into a sandwich as he read. It was an interesting question. Console embodiments were simply there to play a role on repeat and that was it. Their “ lives” only purpose was to bring the players enjoyment— it didn’t seem like they’d be aware of that at all. The same excitement, the same script, the same oblivion to the same obstacles, over and over again. It’d be disastrous if an avatar knew what it was; they’d go against the video game rules, rebelling, panicking and screwing with the whole balance of things!
Rob walked home extra cautious, though that didn’t stop him from falling on his ass a few times. He got home later than usual, shivering and cold. The teen sighed, walking to the kitchen to pour himself a drink. He was on to pouring himself the third helping of pomegranate juice when he saw his father. He stood mindless in the kitchen, holding his construction bag. Rob furrowed his brow and set his cup down on the countertop. He felt the morning's frustrations renew themselves.
" Dad!" He walked over, angrily.
Dad didn't budge.
" Dad, where were you this morning? You said you'd drop me off but you just left without saying anything! I had to walk to school-- in the snow! I haven't been that late since elementary! Dad? Are you listening?!"
At that moment he turned around. Rob defused when he saw his face. He looked bewildered, tired even with his work uniform in slight shambles. It took him a while, but he did finally look down at his son. He blinked a few times.
“ Rob?”
The boy stared back at him.
“ Dad?”
A smile formed on Jack’s face.
“ Robby my boy— that’s why the day felt off!”
Rob raised his brow, feeling a bit uneasy.
“ Umm, what do you mean?”
The man swept through his brown hair, setting his construction bag on the ground.
“ This whole day has been weird and I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. I didn’t get a chance to tell you good morning and wish you a good day at school.”
He ruffled Rob’s manes, who gawked at him in disbelief.
“ Tell me good morning…..?! Dad, you forgot about me all together! You didn’t get me up, for all I know you didn’t even defrost the car, heck, you didn’t even honk the horn on your way out like you always do! Look, I know it’s not your responsibility to get me up for school. In a few years, I won’t be your responsibility at all! But until then, all you had to do is say you don’t wanna drive me to school, that’s it! Don’t make up excuses like, you forgot to tell me good morning!”
The cyclops stormed off towards his room upstairs. He turned around halfway up, looking down at his bewildered father.
“ And that’s a really bad excuse !” He added pubescently before shutting himself in his bedroom.
Rob curled up under the covers that night, downhearted and massively confused. He stared at his nightstand clock. He’d been pondering for over thirty minutes. But he couldn’t help it. Had his dad really gone to work and forgotten all about him? Was something seriously wrong with dad?
Or was there something seriously wrong with him? It was only then that his eye finally grew heavy with fatigue. He sighed thankfully and fell fast asleep.