Serene, wiping her eyes, had made her way downstairs, following a few moments behind her mother. At the base of the stairs just past the landing wall was the dining room table. Her father and her two younger brothers sat there waiting for them. She could see that the two boys were nearly bouncing up and down, only contained by their weary-eyed father. Her father sat at the head of the table, in front of a large open window, clearly showcasing the downpour outside. He sat calm and composed, steely-eyed with his short blonde hair and muddy brown eyes, though the bags under his eyes were evident. Her two brothers, with growing dirty blonde hair, and chocolate-colored eyes, were arguing with one another, as they seemed ready to get in a tussle. Serene was used to such antics from her brothers. "That's just what they did since they were so close in age," she thought to herself, "and young," she added.
Her mother sat down next to her father, there was a box of sorts in the chair next to her mother, so she sat at the foot of the table. Her father held out his hands to her brother on his left, and her mother to his right. It was a family tradition to pray before they ate, although she never understood why since they never seemed to go to mass. She held hands with her mother who was to her left, and the older brother, who was to her right. She could see the rest of her family bowing their heads and closing their eyes, and she could also see her father had begun to speak. However, she couldn't see his lips, so she didn't know what he was saying, though it was likely the same thing he always said. With some resignation, she also bowed her head and closed her eyes, yet she didn't know what to say. Or even if she should say anything at all. The thoughts battled within herself on the matter and before he could even come to a solution she felt her brother yank his hand from hers.
"Father must've finished already," Serene thought to herself. She raised her head and opened her eyes and could see that her two brothers had already begun to dig into the food. Their family always liked to eat together and tried to make enough food so that they could serve it in a family self-serve fashion. It was just how their family functioned, she was well used to it by this point. The family began to eat in an uneasy silence. However, Serene seemed interested only in toying with her food.
"So, how was your day Serene," her father asked, breaking the silence. However, a moment after he finished speaking, he let out a hopeless sigh. "I can't seem to ever remember." Serene's father put his silverware down and deeply rubbed his eyes. However, Serene's mother gently put her hand on her husbands.
"Derrick, you don't need to beat yourself up over it, we all," she paused for a moment, slightly flinching at the words she was about to say, "keep forgetting." Serene's mother's eyes trailed off, before a hint of water began to form. Derrick could only ruefully smile at his wife's interjection before he noticed her state of mind. He lightly squeezed his wife's hand in turn, pulling her away from her own thoughts. "Thank you, Lindsey," he mouthed soundlessly. She nodded, quickly wiping the water from her eyes. The two boys were far too enamored by their food to have paid attention. "Can you get Serene's attention this time," he asked.
"Of course." Lindsey lightly tapped on Serene's shoulder. Serene was pulled out of her lull and looked over and Lindsey pointed towards her father, who was currently lightly smiling, trying to hide the shame he felt just moments ago.
"How was your day," Derrick asked slowly in a precise manner. Serene read his lips and just shrugged her shoulders. Derrick couldn't help but look a little disappointed. "Are you still not speaking?" Serene just shook her head, before she finally started to eat, and began to take a bite out of her food. She watched the rain fall on the window from behind her father's spot at the table. Her father's eyes didn't meet hers for the rest of the meal. Lindsey couldn't help but release a disappointed sigh, she couldn't help but think about how things ended up like this.
It didn't take long for the family to finish dinner. Serene's two younger brothers had quickly finished their meal and ran off to go play together somewhere, or at least avoid the chore of cleaning up after themselves. Both of Serene's parents had begun to clean up the table, however Serene stayed in order to keep eating. She had only begun to eat at a normal pace once the rest of her family had left the table. By the time she had finished, her parents came back into the room with a cake in hand.
"Happy Birthday," they yelled out, trying to annunciate the words. Seren looked wide-eyed at her parents She wasn't expecting her two little brothers who had also jumped out from either side of her to. Serene could only smile in response to her family's shenanigans. Derrick quickly put the cake down and began to cut it. He gave the first piece to her. It was a red velvet cake with white frosting, that had the words 'Happy Birthday Serene' on it. Yet her piece only had a portion of the word 'day' and a little bit of the 'Happy' in it. However, she ate the cake with glee. It had been a while since she had eaten something this sweet. The family sat and ate the cake, cracking jokes that Serene could only occasionally understand. However, by the end of it, her dad had a look of elation on his face before he quickly stood up and left the room. Serene could only look confused at her father's sudden exit. However, her mother gently put her hand on Serene's shoulder and gave a soft smile, putting her worries at ease. A few moments later her father came back with his back turn towards Serene. When he finally made it close to her, he whipped around and shouted "ta-da".
He was carrying a present in his hands. It was a decently sized box in his hands, he quickly set it down on the table and looked eager for Serene to open it. Serene, pointed to herself, and her father nodded in response. Serene began to carefully open the present, making sure not to ruin the wrapping paper. By the time she was done, she gently flipped the box in order to take off the last piece of wrapping paper, as well as her finally being able to see what exactly her parents had gotten her. It was a weird-looking helmet, almost a headset that was called 'OptiX 4GS". She looked up at her father in confusion but it seemed he was well prepared for this moment. He pulled out a folded piece of paper and handed it to her. Serene took it and began to open it, curious to see what it would say.
Happy Birthday Serene! Your mother and I are so proud to see how far you've come, as well as how much you've grown. Every day seeing how beautiful you've become only makes us prouder. Seeing you recover every day from the accident as well can only make us prouder. We know that it had a massive toll on your life and things have never truly been the same since then. We also know that things have changed because of it, and even you have changed from it. However, that doesn't change how much we love you, and we will keep loving you no matter what happens.
However, you are probably curious about the present you got. The OptiX 4GS is a virtual reality headset that allows you to go into the video game Atlas as if you were really there. We know you haven't played video games since the accident, but with how you've recently been staying in your room more often, your mother and I were hoping you'd be able to use this to get back into it. I hope you'll be able to find a good time with it and hopefully, maybe you'll get an unexpected gift from it.
Best of Love,
Mom and Dad
Serene looked up from the paper and she could still her father and mother waiting for her response. Serene didn't know what to do so she simply went and hugged her father. Derrick could only smile from getting that kind of response from his daughter. He quickly separated from her and handed her the box and pointed upstairs towards her room.
"Why don't you go try it? The directions are in the box." Serene could only nod to her father's words and grabbed the box before heading upstairs. She sat on her bed and opened the box to the headset, taking it out, as well as the directions. She read through the directions quickly and was surprised at how easy the thing was to use. She just simply had to put it on her head, turn the power on, and then say 'OptiX Start' Then the user's vision would go black and they would be transported to Atlas. It seemed cliche to her, but maybe that was just the easiest way to make the headset work. However, she did have to be lying down to use it, as it would put the user's body into a coma-like state, and standing while using it could cause injuries. Serene went and shut her door before lying on her bed and putting the headgear on. She turned it on just like the directions told her, and then she steeled herself. She looked one last time at her window, which still had rain soundlessly running down it. Then she closed her eyes.
With her eyes closed, and for the first time since the accident she spoke, "OptiX, Start." Her vision then went black and her 'consciousness' faded.