Kyrie Haleven's uncle was packing a suitcase in the living room when Kyrie arrived home that evening. Kyrie wasn't in the least bit surprised, though the disappointment never failed to simmer in the back of her mind.
She placed her shoes on the rack near the front door and said, "another job already?"
"Yes, yes. This time it's about a 6-hour drive to the dig site. Sorry, I didn't tell you earlier, I figured I shouldn't text you while you're in your classes and at work."
"No, yeah, it's fine."
Uncle stood up straight after patting down a leather folder into the suitcase. "In any case, it won't be long. Three weeks is just a little over what I usually do. You're always fine on your own. You're in college after all." He smiled kindly, the warm wrinkles appearing along the edges of his eyes. "I'm so proud of you. You're keeping up good grades even though you got a job."
Kyrie folded in her shoulders and dimples appeared on her cheeks. "Yeah. For sure."
She noticed that despite Uncle's praise, he seemed a bit concerned.
"So, you've been playing a game lately?" he asked.
Kyrie froze. "Um. Yeah, It's just something I do on the side."
Noticing that she looked like a criminal in an interrogation, Uncle laughed and followed up with, "Oh, it's just because I was hearing you talk loudly the other night at your computer about your game lagging. But I'm glad you're enjoying a hobby." He still hesitated for a bit.
Kyrie looked relieved. "Ah, I see. Yeah, it was giving me a bit of trouble."
"You got... friends on that game?"
"Mm sort of?"
"That's nice." Uncle zipped the suitcase and propped it up onto its wheels. "Well, I made some dinner. It's in the fridge, so when you're ready you can heat it up, okay?"
"Thanks, uncle," Kyrie said.
"No problem. I've got to head out now so that I can get enough sleep for work tomorrow. You'll be okay, right?"
Kyrie laughed and waved her hand in a carefree manner. "Of course. You know I'm always fine."
They hugged and exchanged "I love you's" and "goodbyes."
As Uncle opened the front door, he turned around suddenly. Kyrie froze again and looked questioningly at him. "Did you forget something?"
Uncle smiled and said, "Nah. But just one other thing... I know you've been a good student and a hard worker, but I was wondering if you, maybe, had people that you hang out with for fun? I mean I'm sure you do, so maybe it's just that I don't see that side of you."
Kyrie couldn't answer. She averted her eyes and began to play with her short, pageboy-style, blond hair at the side of her head.
Uncle waved dismissively. "It's nothing. I just think that maybe if you do anything the three weeks while I'm gone, you could do something fun for yourself. If it's your game, even that would be great. It'd be even better if you enjoyed friends' company in person, of course."
"I see," Kyrie said. "I think I made a friend at work, so maybe something will come of that."
"That's great!" Uncle beamed. "Well, see you later, Kyrie."
They exchanged their final goodbyes, then Uncle stepped out of the house and closed the door behind him. Kyrie was left with the faint ticking of an old clock in the corner of the living room.
She sighed. Uncle wouldn't ask her for good grades nor an income. She already had those. That wasn't even the point, though, even if she didn't have those, he would probably not care too much so long as she had a semblance of a goal in life. What she hadn't expected was that he would ever ask her to basically get a social life besides working with peers at college.
Now exhausted, she sighed and then headed upstairs to her bedroom, not bothering to shut the door behind her since she had the house to herself.
She had all the time in the world today. She didn't have classes tomorrow, only work at 2 pm.
She immediately turned on her computer and then opened the "Xijio Online" icon at the top right corner of her desktop.
Her character, Haronai, waited there for her like a tether tying her back to whatever reality she had decided was home.