Ring, buzzz, ring, buzz, rinnnnnng… "Alarm clock"
Chirp, chirp, chirpy… " birds in the background"
It was the morning, after yesterday's gaming session. Erin woke up with a dazed expression on
his face.
Erin started throwing around punches, and as he retracted one of those punches too quickly, he
accidentally hit himself in the face.
"Ouch, I'm awake, awake!" said Erin
After waking up on his couch, Erin started maneuvering around his things, to get to the
bathroom to get himself all washed up. After he was done he headed to the kitchen.
He turned on the stove and started cooking breakfast. While he was waiting for his food to finish
cooking, he turned on his laptop on his desk, to check and see when the servers would be back
up.
"Looks like the servers will be back up at around noon. Not only that, on the site, forum postings
were made for each beginner's area, of each respective region from around the world, and of
course one was made for Seedling Island as well. " thought Erin
After looking it up Erin went and ate his breakfast. Noticing he still had plenty of time, he started
working on his side job. On his laptop Erin was speedily writing up a gaming article to post on a
gaming news site to make some money.
"The game is amazing!... You can do this… It is so realistic… etc. etc. etc." As rigorously typed
away, he was thinking back to just one month ago when he was still deciding if he should buy
the ridiculously expensive capsule or not.
It was a cold and snowy, wintery December day.
Mid-afternoon day, Erin was treading his way through snow, back to his small apartment
complex where he was renting a room, after failing his 173th job interview. He was 35 years old
at the time, thinking to himself what am I doing with my life.
"I am sorry, but we have found someone else more qualified for the job… you are overqualified,
you are underqualified, you lack experience, maybe you should try this… this is an impressive
resume but…" These were all the things said by the human resources departments interviews
he's been through.
"Whatever it is. I have heard it all." said Erin
Each step he took was a heavy one, and each time the road was cleared of snow, another layer
would form just minutes after. Looking up at the blank white sky, of the never ending cycle of
wind and snow. A tear started forming in his eyes.
He continued treading onwards back to his place. About 10 minutes later the weather has
gotten so bad, that even the traffic on the road all stopped.
"Hey, young man! Get indoors quick! There is a blizzard hitting here soon" yelled a shopkeeper
from down the road.
"I am still an hours walk away from where I live!" said Erin
"Just get in here then, stay until things calm down." said the shopkeeper
"But, I have no money!" said Erin
"I don't care if you have no money. I am not just going to leave someone outside like that, not in
this weather!" said the shopkeeper
As he has no better options available to him, he quickly went inside.
Erin was seated on a table by a window. While waiting for the snow the die down, the
shopkeeper bought over some warm water.
"Thank you." said Erin
"Don't worry about it young man. What were you doing outside in this blizzard anyways?" said
the shopkeeper
"I was at a job interview, and failing for the 173rd time…" said Erin with a down face.
"Well, I don't have much to say about that, as in that you have probably heard it all and that I
wouldn't be able to help you out much at all, since I am barely making it myself as well." said the
shopkeeper
"It is already more than enough that you helped me out today." said Erin
As they went on talking for a little bit more, the shopkeeper went on back to his work.
Erin pulled out his smartphone. He was texting his one friend that he still kept in touch with over
the years his name was Chad.
"How did it go? My friend." typed Chad
"Failed again, my 173rd time." typed Erin
"Well, I will try and help you out some more." typed Chad
"You have already been helping out so much, ever since my last family member died. It was
also thanks to you that I managed to get this side job as a writer for a news outlet." typed Erin
"I wouldn't want to disappoint aunty Li, especially for not helping out his son since she has also
taken care of me at one point of my life. You have already done your part Erin you saw her off
with the brightest smile you ever made." typed Chad
It was six years ago at the age of 29, that Erin's mother passed away from a heart problem the
last of his family members. None of his relatives were there for the funeral, they all seemed to
have had better things to do. When things really took a turn for the worst everybody in his life
abandon him friends and family members. The only one who stayed was his best friend Chad.
Typing…Typing, Typing… Chad is still Typing
"Have you heard? VR: Acornstory is coming out! It is said to be the first 100% full immersion
mmorpg game. I can't believe that I am actually alive to experience something like this. It is said
to be the true successor to the original "Leafstory" and "Leafstory 2". Oh man, those two games
were our childhood." said Chad
"I know right! We would spend hours upon hours playing it. Though Leafstory 2 was a dud, we
always hoped that a game would come out that would incorporate the true spirit of both games.
The gameplay of Leafstory and the social aspect of Leafstory 2." said Erin
"And that is it! They are saying this is the one! They said it is releasing on the 2nd day after new
year. It is in VR too!" said Chad
"When are they selling the system to play it?" said Erin
"Soon! Ok, talk to you later my friend." said Chad
"Bye" said Erin
After a few more hours, the snow stopped, and saying goodbye to the shopkeeper he headed
back to his place.
He started writing about the blizzard and how it affected the city. As he was finished up. He
went to bed.
The next day he remembered that his birthday was coming up soon.
"So it is going to be another year already huh, I am turning 36." thought Erin
Not really caring he went on his laptop to search for information on when the VR system was
going to be sold.
"Eh, the system will be sold a few days from today. On my birthday?!" thought Erin.
"Let's see how much it will cost $500 for a 90% immersion helmet, $999 for a 95% immersion
helmet, and What! $10,000 for a 100% full body capsule, only 100 available! at release." said
Erin
Though it may seem like a lot of money, with the amount of technology that might have went
into making it they might just be breaking even, so more people can try out the game.
"Let see how much money I still have left in the bank."thought Erin
"$15,768"
"At this rate, I will never have enough saved to retire." said Erin with a sigh
"I will never be able to buy a house, a car, or even have a family with someone." shaking his
head as Erin said that out loud.
"Going on vacation for a week is just a waste of money… I might as well splurge on the $10,000
VR gaming system. I want to play without lag! I hate how I never had the best systems to ever
play my games, for some reason at every critical moment I always mess up because of it. Well
no more!" thought Erin
A few days later he stayed up until late at night, waiting for the timer to turn 12.
12:00am
It was his birthday… But he didn't care about that at all. Ready with all his information typed in
he clicked buy.
"Order has been placed, will be delivered in 2 weeks." written on in the webpage
Capsule #97
"That was so close. I almost didn't get one!" said Erin with a bead of sweat dripping down his
face.
"Must have been my birthday present." thought Erin
It's been two weeks.
Knock Knock.
"Package delivery." said the mailman
Erin got up and ran towards the door to pick it up. It was immediately placed by his desk and
couch.
He spent the following days setting it up.
When opening day came, he was already inside the capsule.
Logging in.
[Welcome, to Acorn....]