After the whole ordeal with Zara, Diana avoided logging onto The Legend of the Seven Stone Kingdom for several days, which meant she had nothing but her thoughts to accompany her. And, boy, were her thoughts loud, especially at school. Ironically, the day after Diana argued with Zara, Diana was assigned a project in English class in which she was required to write an essay about a close friend of hers.
While everybody else in her class excitedly got to work, scribbling down all their thoughts about their close friends, Diana tapped her dull pencil against the surface of her desk, trying to rack her brain for any close friends other than Zara that she could write about. Maybe she could write about that one person she once did a group project with. Or maybe she could write about the boy who had helped her with that math problem because she once sent him the answers to biology homework.
By the time Diana had exhausted her list of real people to consider writing about, the bell that signaled the end of English class and the beginning of lunch had already rung. Gathering her supplies, Diana headed out of the classroom. Instead of sitting inside a teacher’s classroom to eat lunch, Diana opted to eat lunch in the hallway.
She found a secluded hallway and sat down, opening her lunchbox and unwrapping her sandwich. Diana didn’t even realize that it reminded her of the sandwiches that she used to share with Zara until she took a bite out of it and was brought back to one of her earliest memories of sharing food with Zara.
“What’s that?” Zara questioned, pointing to the sandwich in Diana’s hands. It was the first time Diana had eaten something in front of Zara.
“It’s a sandwich. I eat it to gain energy,” Diana replied, lifting her sandwich closer to Zara’s face to show the character the ingredients of the sandwich — cheese, ham, lettuce, bread, and mayo.
Zara tilted her head curiously and watched Diana take a bite out of the sandwich. “If I eat it, will I get energy?”
“Maybe. Let’s test it out!” Diana broke off the untouched part of the sandwich and handed it to Zara, who inspected the chunk of the sandwich very carefully before shoving it into her mouth. Zara waited expectantly for a burst of energy, and Diana laughed. “You have to chew it.”
With her mouth stuffed with the sandwich, Zara asked, “How do you chew?”
“Like this.” Diana demonstrated chewing by biting into her sandwich and exaggeratedly chomping her teeth together. Zara imitated Diana’s movements, and Diana instructed, “Now swallow.”
Following Diana’s large gulping motion, Zara swallowed her food and frowned as she waited for something to change. After a few seconds passed, Zara concluded, “I don’t think I get energy from food. I don’t feel anything, but it tasted good when it was in my mouth.”
“Huh. Weird. I guess we’re just built differently. But if you liked how it tasted, I can share my sandwiches with you,” Diana offered, brushing the bread crumbs off her lap.
Zara’s eyes widened in shock. Even though Diana’s suggestion didn’t seem like a big deal to Diana, it was the first time somebody had offered something to Zara. “Really? You would share your resources with me?”
“Of course! We’re friends,” Diana cheerfully replied.
“What are friends?” The word felt foreign on Zara’s tongue. She hadn’t been programmed to learn about anything related to “friends”. She knew what enemies, fire, lava, defeat, victory, curiosity, and anger were, but she had yet to learn about “friends”.
“Friends…” Diana trailed off, contemplating how to define the word. The word “friends” had also seemed foreign to Diana, who grew up struggling to connect with people around her. But Diana had read enough books and seen enough books to develop an idea of what should be considered genuine friendship. “Friends are people you trust and care about. Like you and me. We’re friends because we trust each other.”
“Friends,” Zara repeated, trying out the word. She grinned when she saw Diana smile at her attempt. “I like that.”
Diana angrily bit into her sandwich and chewed aggressively, hoping that she could shake all memories of Zara. But despite her attempts to erase Zara from her mind, Diana continued to think about Zara during the days following her English assignment.
On the day before the essay was due, Diana sat down at her desk at home and resolved to write the essay. For an entire hour, she brainstormed possible candidates for the essay again, going over her list of people she somewhat knew. Still, she didn’t know them well enough to write five paragraphs about them.
Looking over at her virtual reality equipment, Diana sighed and accepted that the only person she cared enough about was Zara. So, she began writing about all her thoughts and feelings about Zara. She wrote about how she loved teaching Zara about new concepts, about how she enjoyed Zara’s effortlessly thought-provoking questions, and, most importantly, about how she felt much braver and much more confident than she had ever felt before in her life when she was around Zara.
After pouring her heart out in her essay about Zara, Diana finally caved and decided to return to the game. She strapped herself into the virtual reality gear accordingly and waited impatiently for the game to finish loading, eager to see her friend again. When Diana loaded into the lobby, she was shocked to be greeted by Zara, who was standing near the spawn point instead of staying where she was programmed to remain in the fire realm.
“Zara! What are you doing out here? Shouldn’t you be in the fire realm?”
“I’ve been waiting for you for days!” Zara enthusiastically embraced Diana while Diana cautiously hugged the NPC back. I wanted to say I’m really sorry about everything that happened the last time we talked. I reacted badly and I understand why you’re upset.”
“You do? You seemed pretty determined to get me to stay,” Diana retorted as she broke the hug, searching Zara’s eyes for any sign of anger. Zara’s purple eyes reflected a little remorse but mostly enthusiasm, presumably because of Diana’s unexpected but welcomed return.
“I really do. I’m sorry,” answered Zara earnestly. Diana smiled, relaxing her shoulders and letting her guard down. It was amazing that Zara understood Diana’s frustration and changed her opinions. Taking a break from the game wasn’t a horrible idea after all.
“I forgive you. I’m just glad to be back.” Diana hugged Zara again, trying to savor the feeling of contentment of the moment. It was as though heavy weights had been lifted off her shoulder and she could finally reach her arms up to touch the sky. She could finally stop worrying about her fractured friendship with Zara and having to choose between reality or virtual reality.
Zara squeezed Diana tightly as they hugged and called, “Now!”
“What? Zara, what’s going on?” Diana demanded as she jolted back, glancing around the lobby frantically to see who or what Zara was yelling at.
Out of the corner of her eye, Zara saw a group of NPCs bring out a large keyboard with several buttons on it. And, just like in all dramatic sci-fi movies, there was a giant red button in the middle of the keyboard. There were hundreds of other buttons and keys on the keyboard, but Diana focused on the large red one, because how could you ignore that glaring warning?
“Wait, why does it say disconnect under the red button?” Diana questioned, panic rising up her throat. She whipped around to see Zara’s warm expression melt into a cold, determined, and robotic expression. “Zara! What does it mean?”
Zara didn’t respond, simply continuing to smile as she watched an NPC dressed in shiny silver armor climb onto the keyboard and place their hand on the button. Diana realized what was happening and sprinted toward the keyboard, screaming, “No! Don’t press it!”
Alas, it was too late. The NPC slammed their hand down onto the red button, and Diana collapsed onto the ground, clutching at her stomach. There was a sensation of something inside of her being sucked out into oblivion. It wasn’t painful, but it wasn’t comfortable either. Diana grimaced and groaned, praying for the feeling to fade.
Thankfully, the sensation lasted a minute at most. However, when Diana attempted to stand up, her head spun. She felt like she was walking on air and that gravity wasn’t weighing her down. Stumbling toward the keyboard that was already being carried away by the NPCs that carried it into the lobby, Diana weakly inquired, “Zara, what did you do?”
“I disconnected you from reality,” Zara gleefully explained, causing Diana to turn around and face her with an expression of betrayal displayed on her face.
“You didn’t. No, you didn’t,” Diana denied and shook her head, hoping that her claims would be true.
“Yes, I did. I know this is what you wanted,” Zara calmly replied. Her smile widened, almost to a point where it terrified Diana with its Grinch-esque nature, and she spread her arms wide as if to demonstrate that the whole game was now hers and Diana’s. “Now, we can be best friends forever, just like you said.”
