Chapter Text
Blinding lights fluttered through the gaps in the curtains, shining down onto my sleeping face. Ugh, I hate mornings... I hate waking up really.
The house around me was chaotic: my dad was trying to leave for work while my mum was trying to get my sister to school. Thank god I take an online university course. I could hear the shuffling of feet on the hard wood surfaces as my eyes peeled open, looking at the carpeted floor concealed by layers of my worn clothes. My desk was the only clean thing in my room, computer set up perfectly and ready to begin coding and game design lessons, or ready to play a guilty game of Minecraft in the background for fun. My eyes looked up from the blue pillow cases my head rest in to see some water and a note left by my dad.
’See you at dinner son. -love Dad’
A half-smile poked at my face at the simple note.
“Thanks dad, love you too” I muttered as I rub my eyes and sit up. Stretching, I groan and toss my feet to the floor and my legs along with them. I walk downstairs to find my sister being sent out the door to walk to school and my mum stood by the kettle.
”Bloody hell, is the world ending? What you doing up George?” She joked and another half-smile pulled at my lips until it was replaced by a fake one.
”Nice to see you too mum.” I chuckle and reach for some bread and pushing it into the metal cage to cook it. I reached for my mug and poured some instant coffee grounds into the mug before sliding it over to my mum who chuckled.
”How’d you sleep love?” She asked with a hum as the water began to boil and the kettle clicked to signify it was done. Pouring out the water, she looked to the swirling liquid with a soft smile.
“Well thank you, I needed a haircut which is why I’m up early. We’re presenting our progress in lessons today so I wanted to look less like I’ve been pulled through a hedge by my toe” I commented, pulling out a plate and butter to put on my soon to be finished toast. Mum laughed at the comment.
”Ah, thank god, it looks like a birds nest love. Don’t forget to brush it for the hairdresser, it’s cheaper then” she chuckled, before opening the fridge and humming.
“Thats the last of the milk, since you’re already going out could you pick up a couple pints from the corner?”
I smile. “‘Course I can mum” I mutter as I pull my toast out the toaster and start spreading the butter on top of it.
”Give you a chance to talk to that lovely gal on the till eh? What’s her name? Lizzy? No BETH! That’s it Beth!” My mum winked as she shoved the coffee over to me and cradled her own mug.
I rolled my eyes as a sick feeling crawled up my throat, my fake smile faltering slightly. I really should tell my mum I’m not interested in girls. “Uh yeah sure mum, lovely girl” I mutter without a thought. Picking up my mug and plate, I kiss my mum on the cheek and walk out the kitchen.
”I’ll pick up some milk while I’m out, I won’t be more than an hour okay?” I say as I walk away.
”Alright hun, I’ll be out for work in an hour so I’ll see you when I get back” She calls after me, picking up a newspaper and starting to fill in the crossword as she drinks her tea.
I walk back into my cluttered room, stepping over the stranded clothes and shoving them into a corner by my wardrobe. Eating my toast I plan out the same outfit I wear every day and make my bed. Leaving my coffee to cool as I walk through to the bathroom to shower and brush my teeth. 10 minutes later, I leave in a towel and my pjs in my hand. Pulling on my hoodie, underwear and jeans, I drink my coffee and check the time.
‘Half an hour till my haircut, 5 minutes to the hairdressers? Guess I’ve got 20 minutes to play minecraft.’ I think to myself as I pull up the blocky game that fills me with such happiness. Stupid thing.
I click on the server named ‘Dream Land’ before it loaded a small character in similar clothes to himself. ‘GeorgeNotFound’ were the words that floated above the block man’s head. I spawned in my home, looking out upon the small cottages and simple farms inside the castle ground walls. I was at the tallest point in the castle, a tower. Away from everyone and a point where I could see everything and everyone.
Mountains dotted the far off landscape, all familiar and easily recognisable. From the first spawn point and my first build to the last little market place inside the castle grounds were all easily seen.
I began tapping at my computer and individually coded NPCs walked out of their homes and began interacting. Selling and talking to each other, exchanging satisfying 1s and 0s between each line of code. This was my heaven. I know what happens, I can control it, I can never be touched in my rather new blackstone tower.
I manoeuvred my character until he reached the bottom floor, walking past pictures that I uploaded from past birthdays and special events. Images of my family, old friends and other players who no longer visit my dream land. Memories encased in photoshopped gold frames and hung in the virtual block world.
I am happy. They are happy. This is happy.
I try to force a smile to brush upon my face again but one doesn’t show. I am happy, aren’t I?
By pushing a button, the wooden door to the main castle falls like a drawbridge and rests on the opposite side of the moat. My NPCs great me by the gate as I walk through. I walk until I find a partially completed carpenter’s store. Pulling the supplies from my inventory, I begin my work.
Time practically flies by until I hear the ringing of my alarm to telling me to leave.
“Shit” I mutter before, logging out of the server and standing up. I brush my hair back for a final time and pick up my phone as I look in the mirror.
Baby blue hoodie and dark blue jeans with black trainers. Usual outfit. My eyes landed on the white rectangle surrounded by a brownish black barrier. I’ve been told it’s red but it makes no difference to me. I push my headphones into my ears and leave my room, forgetting to switch off my computer. I walk out the door, leaving before my mum can say goodbye or start chatting about whatever her name is by the till.
Shutting the door behind me, I begin walking through the chill of London air. It’s late September so the warmth of the summer has already left and the sharp chill of autumn has already begun to kick in. Stepping to the quiet hum of my music, I make my way down to the barbershop along the high street.
Thankfully, I’m a regular at this place so I’m out of the little shop within half an hour. The ‘birds nest’ of hair, as my mum described, now gone into slick and neat looking hair ready for presentation day. Now for my last task, milk.
The idea of talking to that overly clingy, rambling walking tart made my stomach turn. Hopefully she isn’t on shift today. I could never understand why my mum took a liking to her. Her hay like blonde locks wasn’t much more real than the gold in her hoop earrings. It wasn’t much of a stretch to say she isn’t my type.
I guess my mum, must be right about something. Beth is distracting enough for me not to even notice I had walked onto the road... distracting enough to ignore the frantic horns and screeching of heavy breaks as a big brownish/black double decker bus comes barrelling-
—————
I wake up to a beam of light shining directly onto my face. The rustling of leaves presumably outside my bedroom window and the soft lushness of the strangely textured bedsheets?
As I continue to listen, the sounds and noises get weirder. Almost like the soft trickling of water and the cluck of a chicken beside my head. Is that the sound of bones??
The confusion is too much to just fall back to sleep too and I open my eyes to the sight of a sun shining directly onto my face. Blue sky surrounding the shape and blocky clouds dotting the unfamiliar sky. Turning my head, a strangely square chicken sits itself by my head, staring off into the strangely square forest. Is that oak? I begin to sit up and feel the soft yellow grass on my fingers and the hoodie stuck to my skin. I begin to touch my body to check I’m still here only to find, I have no milk, no phone but I have a backpack, a quick access belt and some sunglasses? White framed sunglasses ontop of my head.
I’m still wearing the same hoodie and blue jeans, even the same shoes but the sleeves on the hoodie on my inner arms some strange print lives.
Hearts? No lives on my left arm and hunger icons on my right. My body wills me to stand as I turn my head to see the rest of the world.
“What the fuck” I mutter in confusion. The world around me I can instantly recognise to be a fresh new game of Minecraft. What I don’t understand is why I look normal, not a blocky character but I look and feel like me?
My feet push me towards a tree and I begin punching the blocks to gain the logs it stands on. I must just be dreaming? Or I fell asleep playing a new version of Minecraft VR. That has to be the only explanation, right?
I’m so stuck in my head I can barely notice the already half mined tree and crafting table in the corner of my vision.
I begin to mindlessly wander towards the plains biome beside the oak forest, using the backpack to craft a crafting table to then craft a sword. Murdering a few cows and sheep before walking towards a village.
My eyes scanned the village only to notice a few strange things.
1) There was nothing in the chests, absolutely nothing?? Really? Not even any bread or bones?
2) There was some spots of brown where the grass hasn’t grown from where hay bails have been picked up and some farmlands have been looted.
3) There was a hole in one of the houses where two blocks of cobble have been mined and another crafting table has been placed near it.
4) There is a man, around my age, wearing a bright yellow hoodie, black jeans and running shoes as well as a white mask. He had built a pillar 2 blocks high and was using a stone sword to jump and fight the poor Iron Golem which was just about to die.
“Who the fuck are you?” I shout out in disbelief, slowly walking up to the guy, not thinking he could hear me. As soon as I yell, the man stops jumping and his head flicks around to me in shock, mask only covering his forehead, eyes and nose so his mouth opened wide in shock. Leaving enough time for the golem to fight back and toss the man into the air and killing him when he lands.
“Oh shit, you can hear me?” I question as I run to save the man’s stuff. Dropping a crafting table and building a chest to place his belongings in before watching him bound up the the village.
“HEY!” He yells at me, waving his arm about.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?? THIS SERVER IS PRIVATE!” His voice gets louder as he gets closer.
“AND HOW THE FUCK CAN I HEAR YOU?” He yells his last question as he props up onto the chest to stand taller, crouching down so he was just above eye level. Unnecessary really.
My brows furrow a little.
“The fuck do you mean this is a private server?? I just spawned here, I didn’t even realise VR had servers only single player” I talk back with a rather offended tone. His jaw drops slightly in even deeper confusion.
“Wh-Wha? WHAT?” He yells again.
“VR? No this is pc duh??” He says in a matter of fact tone. My head tilts slightly in confusion.
“Look, ummm nameless? you have to explain yourself before I ban you from this server okay!” He growls finally, flicking his wrist to show a hologram of a keyboard and chat function, looking for a gamer tag above my head.
“Look it must’ve been a glitch, I’ll leave, geez” I muttered under my breath as i begin to tap my body and flick my wrists.
‘Where would an exit button be?’ I think to myself, typing into chat the words ‘disconnect’.
Nothing happens. The man infront of me tilts my head.
“What are you doing? Just bring up the menu and just press disconnect, you don’t type it in chat” he grumbles and I shoot him a glare.
“Yeah, I know that’s how it usually works on PC but I don’t know how this new VR thing works” I mutter back with a little bit of sharpness to my voice.
“Wha? VR? No there isn’t any VR game of Minecraft that can connect with PC gamers. Plus there isn’t any ‘new’ VR anyway!” The guy grumbles, adjusting his mask.
“What are you talking about of course there is, there has to be. I literally just woke up in here and I have no head gear on so it’s not like it’s the usual VR stuff and I’m definitely not on my PC because when I turn my head I can’t see anything but this” I growl back at him, still looking for some kind of disconnect.
“Ugh this is frustrating, just give me your gamer tag and I’ll ban you” the guy mutters, flicking his wrist again and waiting to put in the /ban command.
“GeorgeNotFound” I say in defeat, unable to figure out how to log off of the stupid game. ‘I should be working anyway, I’ve got a test in a week I need to be studying for’
The guy infront of me begins typing before sending it off and looking at me.
Nothing happens.
He types again and nothing happens.
“Are you spelling it right? It’s G-E-O-R-G-E-N-O-T-F-O-U-N-D no spaces, capital G-N-F” I say to clarify and the man types again.
“It keeps saying ‘player does not exist’ or ‘player can’t disconnect’” the man looks up at me again in confusion.
As reality begins to dawn on me, my hands reach up to my head. Grabbing at what should be VR headsets, air is what is there. My head suddenly begins shooting with pain and I curl over myself and groan in pain, a hospital beep quiet but deep in my head.
“You said you woke up here, you didn’t say you spawned here... what are you” the man muttered as he suddenly walked closer.
“Hey are you okay?” He asks as I grip my body in pain.
“I’m not playing a game... I was hit by a bus this morning”