It was three years ago, in the middle of summer break, right after Freshman year. Being an MMO junkie, I spent many of my summer days waking up and playing the same game, over and over again. Today was slightly different however, I woke up a bit earlier than usual, so I could head to the store to pick up my physical deluxe edition of the new expansion for the MMO. I went to boot up the game real quick just to see who was online and to see if any of my items sold on the market before heading out. I noticed when I logged on, only myself and our guild's tank was online. She gave me a bland welcoming:
Clairith: 'Sup Faustus, how are you.
Faustus: I'm doing fine, just checking my items on the market before heading out.
Clairith: Nice, where to?
Faustus: Just heading to a local game store to pick up the expansion's battle chest.
Clairith: Same actually, the store opens soon, but I pulled an all-nighter, so I was just sitting around until then.
Faustus: Fun, well I gotta head out, don't pass out while outside.
Clairith: Aye aye.
Then I logged off. I went to my bathroom as I began washing my face and brushing my teeth, glancing at my hair while doing so. It was a complete mess, but I didn't care enough to fix it while heading to the store, it's early on in the day so people will understand anyway.
I felt more influenced to dress nicer than to fix my hair. I began to put on black skinny jeans, a swamp green t-shirt with a black hooded overshirt, and just a pair of sneakers. I grabbed my phone with my headphones and pocketed my wallet as well as my keys. Heading out of my flat I locked my front door as I exited the apartment building. Plugging in my headphones I began to put on a casual playlist as I walked to the store.
Living by myself has been hard, but it was a lifestyle I got used to over the past year. My mother passed away at a young age, and my father, at the end of 8th grade ended up winning a jackpot lottery. He won about 300 million and told me that if I went to go live by myself he'd pay for my apartment and give me a million dollars a year until I was 18 and that then I was off by myself. I ended up accepting the deal although it seemed I did not have much of a choice as he had plans to visit around the world and buy apartments everywhere.
Regardless, I accepted this, in my bank account I have a majority of the money left, hell I haven't even spent 15 thousand dollars this year and he's bound to send the next check at the end of summer to my account. Many people at my school heard about this and my financial condition, a bunch of my classmates tried to become my friend cause of financial benefits, although a few offered suggestions with my money, saying how I should invest into stocks and into other things. They weren't bad ideas at all, but for now, I just wanted to sink into this way of life. Cause of this financial blessing, it was a curse in disguise. I was now alienated from my father who was already my only family close to me, and I can't really make friends without expecting ulterior motives. It was part of the reason I became an MMO junkie.
I ended up making more online friends than anything else and felt welcomed to a lot of communities online. As a courtesy for them being warm and welcoming, I'd purchase them some gifts or games to play online, but they would begin soon leeching and asking for everything cause they knew I had money to spare. Maybe that's why I didn't stick around in too many guilds and communities at the time.
After ten minutes or so, I arrived at the store. Surprisingly enough it was empty, I saw one of my friends who worked at the store talk to the only customer in the store. She was actually a girl from my school, knew nothing about her, but she was in the same grade. Standing around 5'3", she seemed to be able to stand right above my shoulder. Sometimes I wished I could be taller, but I suppose as of right now, I have to settle with being 5'8".
From where I stood she actually looked kind of cute, she had some sort of otaku t-shirt on, baggy black cargo pants, and similarly dark-colored boots. She seemed to not have a bunch of make-up on, but she had dark rings around her eyes. Definitely fit the goth stereotype. My friend went to the backroom to get something as I walked to the counter and patiently waited for my turn as he eventually came back.
"Alright Miss, here is your battle chest deluxe edition of Starlight Online's new expansion. Is there anything else you'd like or- woah! Is that my boy Faust! What are you doing here, are you getting your deluxe edition as well, haven't seen you all summer since you began to grind Starlight Online."
I just gave a plain nod to his excited, yet teasing remark.
"Yeah, I'm just here to pick it up and then head home, no big plans for today."
The girl looked behind to glance at me as she raised her head and gave a curious expression towards me.
"You said your name was Faust, yeah?"
I gave a simple nod towards her.
"And you just happened to get your deluxe edition at this time?"
I looked a little annoyingly at her, I don't know why this mattered so much that I was just picking up my copy.
"Yes, I'm just picking up my copy, I am not some sort of stalker or whatever, just wanna get the game and head home if you don't mind."
She looked at me a little annoyed at my rudeness.
"Whatever, I just remember your face from somewhere around the school, was just going to ask if you know a player by Clairith."
She gave up on eye contact as she looked somewhere to the side, but as soon as I heard the name my eyes widened, was this random-ass goth girl from school actually Clairith. I ended up stuttering on my words afterward.
"Y-yeah, it does actually. I'm Faustus from the same guild… Darkmoon Raiders, a-are you actually Clairith?"
She quickly looked back a bit flushed, with a slight nod.