A few days after the conversation about Diana’s progress in the game, Zara expected Diana to return as her usual peppy self. Instead, Zara was shocked to see that Diana wore a despondent expression as she hopped from rock to rock until she reached the one Zara was standing on. Zara searched for the familiar sparkle in Diana’s hazel eyes but she couldn’t find any sign of emotion other than pain.
Fear struck Zara’s being as Zara searched her memories for any cues from the past days that could help her understand Diana’s sudden shift in her behavior. For the most part, in Zara’s memories of the past few days, Diana seemed to act normal, save for Diana’s occasional longing glances at the exit of the fire realm; Zara had chalked up those glances to Diana’s worries that her parents would call her for dinner and she would have to bolt to the exit. But maybe there was another reason for those seemingly unsuspicious glances.
“What’s wrong?” Zara instinctively asked, her curiosity overruling her emotional sensitivity that could have led her to ask less curtly.
Instead of looking Zara in the eyes, Diana looked past Zara’s shoulder to avoid eye contact as she informed, “I think I’m going to finish the game.”
“What? But you said that you were going to stay!” Zara exclaimed loudly, her voice echoing throughout the cave.
Sensing the alarm in Zara’s voice, Diana quickly reasoned, “Yes, but I want to finish the game. I’m tired of going through this realm over and over again. I want to explore other realms too. I’m so close to being done, and I want to start playing other games. Plus, maybe once I’m done playing other games, I come back and restart this game and we can meet again!”
“But it won’t be the same. I won’t remember you. We’d have to do this whole thing again. Wouldn’t you just rather stay?” Zara pleaded. Above the speech bubble next to her head, a little notification popped up that read “NPC discovered a new emotion: panic!”.
Diana reached her hands out to hold Zara’s as she tried to calm her friend down. “No, it’ll be okay! It’ll be a new adventure for both of us. Maybe you’ll learn different things the next time I come around!”
For a moment, Zara fell silent as she stared down at her and Diana’s hands, and Diana cautiously analyzed Zara’s blank expression. Had Zara finally accepted Diana’s decision?
Then, Zara looked back up at Diana and squeezed Diana’s hands tighter. “If you don’t want to stay here, then I can make you stay. I know a way to cut all reality away from the Essence so you can stay here forever.”
“Wait, is that even possible? Are you just trying to scare me into staying?” Diana demanded as she tried to pull her hands out of Zara’s grasp but failed as Zara continued to grip her hands even tighter.
“Yes, it is. I can do it. I just need to get all the other NPCs to help out, and once it’s done, you don’t have to worry about reality or other games anymore,” Zara grinned.
Diana’s mouth fell open and she searched for the correct words to express her feelings. A broad term that would fit her reaction would be shock, but Diana felt oddly appreciative of Zara’s offer to go the extra mile to get her to stay. For the first time, somebody didn’t want her to leave. And admittedly, the feeling of being wanted was nice.
Still, Diana felt alarmed by the notion that she would never be able to return to reality. As much as she hated the tense family dinners, the lonely days spent in her noisy school, and the empty feeling that enveloped her whenever she had to take care of her responsibilities, Diana couldn’t imagine her life without the burdensome but familiar routine.
“Well, um, I don’t know if I really want to.”
“I thought you hated reality, Diana! You said that you’re happy when you’re here,” Zara retorted, stepping closer to Diana. Glancing behind her heels to make sure she wouldn’t accidentally walk off of the rock, Diana took a step back, trying to increase the distance between her and her friend whose behavior was scaring her. Was the heat rising because of the lava surrounding the two or because of Zara’s desperation?
“I do! But if I stay here forever, it’ll be… bad,” Diana winced at her rough choice of words. “I just mean that too much of a good thing is always bad.”
Zara shook her head and tried to tug Diana closer as she argued, “I don’t agree. I think you should stay here forever. You’ll be happy here, and you’ll have to deal with any of that stuff you have to deal with in reality.”
“This is a really bad idea. I think I should go. See you.” Before Zara could try to convince Diana to stay and hear her out, Diana logged out of the game, causing her avatar in the game to disappear into a million fading pixels. Usually, Diana would give Zara a hug, leap across the rocks floating on lava, and exit through the back exit of the fire realm to leave, but Diana was so desperate to leave the escalating situation she took the emergency exit: logging off.
Back in reality, Diana took her virtual reality headset off and unstrapped herself from all the equipment. Her chest was heaving with heavy breaths as she stared at the palms of her hands. When she closed her eyes, Diana could still feel the ghost of Zara’s death grip.
“Diana? Dinner’s ready!” Diana’s mother called from the kitchen, jolting Diana out of her thoughts.
Diana ran her hands over her face to help her snap out of the emotions she was trying to process. She shut off the entire VR system and replied, “Coming!”
Then, she left the game behind to return to the reality that she once wanted to escape from.
