The day went by like any other day. The hustle and bustle of cars, people and traffic echoed throughout the city. And among all that, there was a young man running down the sidewalk as if there were no tomorrow, sweating and in a hurry.
Without paying attention to the traffic lights that had already changed to give the pass to the vehicles, the young man kept running without even looking away. Each vehicle slowed down a few meters away from running over him, but not before hurling lots of curses and rudeness at him.
"Be more careful, you idiot!"
"Watch where you're going inept!"
"Next time I'll send you to hell!"
The young man kept running, ignoring those voices that wanted him dead. He was only focused on one particular target.
"Ha...ha...I've finally arrived!"
Panting from exhaustion with drops of sweat running down his face, he had stopped at one particular place.
"It's awful to have to run so far to get to the video game store... anyway, what I came for!"
The video game store called "Arcadia", a place where gamers gather to spend their money on fun, and this case would be no exception.
It's the year 2040, where it's been more than 10 years since Mexico had an economic crisis at the end of 2020. It wasn't until 2030 that a new president took power, and decided to put an end to the corruption of senators, deputies, governors, legislators, etc. by creating new laws where corruption would be paid for with death.
From that moment on everything started to change. Mexico made new trade agreements with different countries; the economy increased significantly; poverty decreased as well as illiteracy; crime was reduced due to new laws stipulated, where murder, theft, drug trafficking would be paid equally with death. The war against drug trafficking lasted about 06 years, where there were too many victims on both sides, including collateral victims, but finally it almost disappeared completely.
In the end, Mexico managed to become a powerhouse, equalizing the peso with the dollar, but that's another story.
The young man in the video game store is our protagonist named Alexander; 17 years old, pearly complexion, dark brown eyes, jet black hair, six feet tall and athletic build; a lover of video games and sports; he is one of the most popular and intelligent people in his school; able to speak eight languages: English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and his native Spanish. When he was born, he had been diagnosed with a heart problem, from which he could be successfully operated. At the age of 3, he was given a test where his IQ was found to be much higher than average.
Alexander entered Arcadia without blinking, looking around for a new video game that had been released days before.
Walking through the corridors, Alexandre continued his search, paying attention to every detail while looking at the game shelves. After searching through two shelves, he finally found what he was looking for.
"There you are! I can't wait to play it!"
The game is called "World War: Emergency Call", which is about the life of a soldier in the hypothetical third world war, where all countries without exception were involved.
"This costs $600, years earlier the price would be double or triple" murmured Alexandre holding the game in his hand, heading for the counter.
Alexander, seeing the long line that awaited him, could only let out a downcast sigh and then form in the line.
••••
After three long hours of waiting, Alexander ran home with the same carelessness as before. His house was two stories high, built on a 200x200 square meter lot. The land was fenced with large walls made of cement with a black metal door in the middle. The house was white with a cherry-colored roof, and the garden was full of various flowers and plants, especially since Alexander's mother was a botany lover.
On the other hand, Alexander's father was a well-known naval doctor, so some days he was not at home, one of those days was this one. Still, both parents were too loving with him, partly because he was an only child.
As soon as he got home, he went straight to his room and closed the door, so that no one would disturb him. His room was a bit messy, with underwear strewn all over the place. It was also full of shelves with awards, diplomas, medals and trophies for swimming, volleyball, soccer, basketball, baseball, Jiu Jitsu, math, speech, etc.
Even so, Alexander also had his Otaku side, because on one shelf he had his collection of different mangas, as well as a small collection of light novels from both Japan and Korea, Alexander's favorite was Re:Zero, which he had finished two years ago, and that had broken Alexander's heart.
No longer reluctant to play, he turned on the GearveRear console and immersed himself in the virtual reality VRMMO.
Once inside the game, a small screen appeared in front of him with the option to design his character, from which he had to choose his nationality, sex, name, hair type and colour, skin colour, height and eye type and colour.
"Hmmm...let's see, I choose this, this, this, and this and this. Ah, this too!"
Moving his fingers quickly, Alexander chose his Mexican nationality, and the rest he modified to the standards of Alexander's normal body, including the character's name.
As soon as he created his avatar, a robotic voice resounded in the virtual room.
"Welcome, Alexander. Prepare your mind and soul. Initiating World War project."
That said, the room changed completely and now Alexander was in a military camp, with armed men and military suits, including him.
"Wow, the graphics look so real. I'm definitely going to have fun!"
And so, Alexander's afternoon passed.
••••
After a long afternoon of video games, Alexander disconnected from virtual reality, returning to normal reality. Carving his eyes with his fists, he let out a little yawn.
"It's already 11:00 pm, I should be asleep by now. I have school tomorrow, homework due and... and..."
Such a big dream invaded Alexander's mind, that after fighting the dream for a few seconds, he finally fell asleep in his bed not knowing that this would be his last day of peace.