"You have MS, also called multiple sclerosis", the doctor said.
Silence.
"Did you hear what I just said Daniel?" he asked.
Still silence. Daniel didn't answer.
His father, James, spoke up in his place. "Is there really no chance for it to be the wrong diagnosis? I mean, how high is the possibility that it really is... I know that it's an inheritable disease, but... This can't be true!" Tears started to run down his face, as he looked into the stern face of the doctor, flailing his arms, helpless.
Daniel wished he could hug him. Tell him that it was all going to be alright and that he didn't mind. But he couldn't.
His body was frozen. The whole world appeared to be grey and it seemed like time had stopped.
'MS, huh? Well, at least it's not something boring like cancer. Everybody has cancer. I just heard about another case from a friend in...
Ah, what the fuck? What am I saying? Why am I comparing the type of diseases? Shouldn't I be crying my eyes out instead? Why am I even thinking about how common it is to get cancer?'
Daniel started to think of everything he knew about MS. ' It's a deadly disease. Still not treatable. The chances of getting it are minimal, but the risk rises with the possibility of inheritance'.
His Mom popped into his head. Elisa. She had had MS and had recently died of the symptoms on his 15th birthday.
He had never really spent time with her due to her bad health and the dire limitations that came with it. 'And now I am being punished for it'.
"The diagnosis is clear. All test results are positive. I'm very sorry. I will give you some space to process the news and come back later" the doctor explained to his father, as he was about to leave the room.
"Bu-bu-but that can't be?! Why?! Why?!" his father cried out.
"I'm very sorry".
Silence. They were alone.
Softly weeping his father had put his face into his palms to hide his tears, unable to process the events that had just concurred.
That should have been his reaction! He was the one with the incurable illness after all! But instead...
No reaction. Nothing. He just sat there, empty eyes staring holes into the ground. Prisoner in a spiral of thoughts.
They sat until the doctor came back to tell them that they had to leave. The next patients were waiting.
__________________________
The following years were hard for Daniel. His father had shut himself off completely from the outside world, only leaving his study for Daniel, to eat, drink and relieve himself. Daniel had tried to talk to him at first after the fateful appointment and had asked him to visit a psychiatrist, but there was no getting through. The shock had hit him worse than he had hit Daniel himself.
His Dad had been a successful man during his career as a Game Creator, but now he was just a pitiful version of the happy man, he had once been. James had always been wearing a smile on his face. Even as Elisa had died nothing much changed. Daniel had always admired him for that...
'Well, at least we don't have any money issues' he thought to himself.
His Dad was the creator of a few popular VR games, that had just become reality and was therefore a rich man, getting wealthier by the second. Unfortunately, you can't buy health.
As life went on, Daniel tried to make the best of his time. He quit school and made all kinds of trips. Visited other countries, took courses, and made new friends...
Until the strains just became too much.
Shortly before his 25th birthday, his legs failed to walk and Daniel had to learn to move around in a wheelchair.
Hours upon hours he trained to drive around, not to miss out on the last few months he still had left. He invested sweat and blood. But for what? His condition got worse and worse and the time he was able to move around got shorter and shorter.
Daniel became frustrated with the world, frustrated with himself even! Wasn't he still young? There was so much he hadn't done yet. Get a girlfriend! Have a relationship! All the countries he had yet to visit, the people he had to meet! All that would never become a reality the way things were progressing.
On his 25th birthday, his arms gave out as well and Daniel succumbed to depression. He stopped eating and slept all day long. His friends? He was tired of them too. Life had become meaningless. Before going to sleep for, as he hoped, the last time, Daniel recalled his life.
'I tried. I made the best of it! I really did. I saw more than the average person ever will and experienced things I probably otherwise would've never done' he thought to himself. Maybe it had all been for the best the way it was now.
When Daniel awoke, darkness surrounded him.
'It must still be early' he thought, scouting the area. But there was nothing there. Only deeper and deeper shades of black awaited him, the harder he tried to see.
"Dad?" David asked into the gaping dark. Nothing.
"Daaad?" now a bit louder. Still silence.
"DAAAAAD!" Daniel screamed, now panicking. However, only darkness surrounded him, seemingly mocking him. He couldn't even hear his own echo.
"Fuck! Fuuuuck!" Daniel cursed. "Is this the end? Am I dead? But where is the angel or reaper or whatever it is that is supposed to happen now?"
Suddenly, a green bar popped up in the middle of his field of vision. [ 80% ]
"Wow. Woooooooow. Wow. What is that? What is happening? Looks like in a video game... Where am I?"
Daniel had played video games when he had been smaller and was supposed to test the games of his father. Later on, he stopped, only playing with friends whenever they got bored. He couldn't really remember why.
"Oh, it's moving?". [ 81% ]. [ 82 % ]. [ 83% ]. "What the hell is going on here?".
Daniel waited silently until the bar had reached 100%, too confused about what was happening.
When it did, blue letters started flashing in Daniel's vision, so brightly, that Daniel had to shut his eyes for a second.
The last thing he could discern was his father saying:
"Welcome to Elisa'a: A new world!"
before the world went white.