Trapped in a Game

BEEP*

BEEP*

BEEP*

The blaring alarm sounded just to my right, but as I jolted awake and reached instinctively towards the source of the sound to silence it, a groan sounded as my hand pressed inadvertently into something warm, soft, and most definitely alive.

"Nnh, too early- just gimme five more minutes," the sleepy voice complained, and I rubbed my eyes gingerly as I tried to help them adjust to the light in the room.

Where was I?

The room was spacious, yet cosy, and perhaps a bit too brightly coloured for my liking.

A gentle breeze was sneaking in through the window to my right, illuminating the room as little wisps of air moved the curtains in little flutters.

My vision hadn't yet cleared, but I was wrapped, quite snugly, in the warmth of a blanket, the occupant of which was now squirming beside me.

Who was it?

As my vision cleared, I gazed down at my bed-mate with interest.

The voice which spoke was definitely a woman's, but I knew that it wasn't Kelly's.

It sounded so familiar though.

Almost like-

"Oh my God, the alarm!" she yelled, as she threw off the covers and bounced out of bed.

"Shit, shit. Shit!" she swore, and my eyes went wide as a girl, completely nude, emerged before me.

She began to rifle through a pile of clothing, eventually settling on a big cotton t-shirt which she quickly donned before jerking to a halt as she realized that my eyes were on her.

"I'm sorry," I quickly apologized, averting my eyes, though perhaps too late, but she quickly slid over the bed and knelt next to me, to meet my gaze.

"Oh Josh, you're having a bad day again, aren't you?"

Her casual use of my name drew an inquisitive glance, but I hardly had time to question it when door across the room burst open, and a little girl came flying towards us.

"Mommy!"

"There she is!"

The little girl dove into her mother's arms, and the woman spun her around before collapsing with her onto the bed in a fit of giggles.

The woman shot me a quick look that for some reason I immediately read as 'play along,' and not a second too late as the little girl turned towards me.

"Daddy, aren't you happy to see me?"

"Uh-" a huge knot seemed to form at once in my throat, but the woman shot me a sharper glare, and I quickly loosened it.

"Of course, kiddo! I was, uh- just giving you and your mom a chance to, uh..."

I wasn't sure what I was going to say but thankfully the girl's attention seemed to shift quickly.

"I made something for you! You have to see it!" she cried out, pulling me with her, and as I followed her out the door, I caught sight of the woman from the room scrambling towards the pile of clothes again.

"Uh, wait up!" she yelled at us, but the little girl didn't seem to heed her mother's request.

"Come on!" she cried, pulling me harder.

We went down a corridor past a few doors to a grand, wooden stairwell which wound elegantly towards a large room below, but I hardly had time to take in my surroundings as I was pulled down the stairs and through the entryway below and outside.

"I made it just for you, daddy!" the girl declared.

I was just barely keeping up with all of the new and constantly changing scenery, and my eyes were struggling to adjust to the brightness of the sun outside.

"That's uh, great, but..." my words trailed off as soon as I saw it.

It was a clay model of Kelly's avatar from the game, complete with the fiery wings that she'd used in the last battle.

"I-is that?"

"It's Kelly!" the girl interrupted excitedly, and I shot her a nervous smile as she looked at me expectantly.

"Well? Do you like it?" she asked impatiently, but before I could muster a response, the woman from earlier burst through the door behind us.

"Jesus, Katie. What did we talk about?"

She was out of breath, but the little girl was now fidgeting.

"I'm sorry mommy. I just wanted to show daddy what I made."

"I know sweetie, but you need to remember what we talked about, okay? Daddy can get confused sometimes on mornings, so you can't just run away with him like that."

"I'm sorry, daddy. Did I scare you?" The girl looked at me, a glint of concern in her eyes, and I quickly shook away my stupor.

"No, no. It's okay, sweetie."

I stooped down to her level, and she quickly wrapped her arms around me, hugging me tight.

I shot a worried look at the woman behind us, and she bit her lip nervously as she placed a hand on the little girl's shoulder.

"Come on now, give your dad some time to catch up, then we'll talk about your project, alright?"

"Ok mommy," the girl conceded.

She gave me one final squeeze before slipping away from me and darting into the house.

"Hey, make sure you unpack before you start playing!" the woman called after her, and for some reason, I found myself smiling absently as I looked at her.

"What?" she asked, and I quickly averted my gaze.

"Uh- nothing. I, uh-" I began in a fluster, but as I trailed off, I could see a playful smile forming on her lips, and I held her gaze. "You're Serra. Aren't you?"

The smile on her lips quickly faded and I gulped as she put her hands on her hips.

"How

dare

you utter that name in front of me?" she began, but as I scoured my brain for a way to erase my transgression, I noticed the teasing smirk on her face and I let out a deep breath.

"Christ," I muttered, as she giggled at me.

"That look on your face. Never gets old!"

I let out another deep breath, then took a look at my surroundings.

There seemed to be fields surrounding the area as far as I could see, with several houses dotting the landscape in the distance.

But as I looked back at the house that I stood in front of, I noted that 'house' was perhaps too shabby a word to describe the structure, as it seemed more like a modest mansion than anything I'd ever seen, in person, in my life.

"Where are we?" I asked, and Serra snorted a little at the question.

"Don't you mean when?" she asked, and I glanced back at her in confusion.

"When?"

"To answer your first question; Aurich, Bremen."

"Germany? We're in Germany?" I asked, unable to hide my surprise. "And what date?"

She held up her phone, the screen in my direction and I gasped as I read the date off of the screen.

October 12

th

, 2034.

"H-how is that possible?" I asked, and she let out a sigh.

"When Tsun stabbed you back then, you died in the game. But you survived... with some minor brain damage."

"Jesus," I muttered, reaching for the back of my head.

"Did they?"

"Cut open your head? No."

"Wait. So, what happened?"

"Back then?"

I nodded, and Serra continued:

"After you died, I kind of lost it... I went after Tsun pretty hard. Almost killed him, but..."

"Oh?"

I smirked at Serra, and she blushed, then shoved me.

"You can't tease me for loving you when we've been married for almost a decade and have a daughter together."

"I think I can, apparently. So, what happened?"

"Well, Kelly found out you'd survived, so that kind of put the brakes on my suicide mission. I suggested that we just lay low, since things were kind of spiralling out of control..."

I took a deep breath in.

"I'm guessing Kelly dissented?"

"Yep. That girl had a serious saviour complex."

I sighed.

"She really likes to help people."

"Yeah... she did."

I swallowed, a lump forming in the back of my throat.

"So... Kelly didn't make it out?" I asked, and as the question hung in the air, I could feel my heartbeat quicken in my chest.

"I'm sorry, Josh. She didn't."

I let out a long sigh, but I kind of figured as much already.

I mean, I wouldn't be married to Serra if Kelly was alive, would I?

I caught Serra glancing at me worriedly, and I quickly masked my feelings with a smile.

"I'm okay," I muttered, somewhat unconvincingly, and Serra smiled, stepping towards me.

She paused, trying to get a feel for the situation, so I gave a little nod and she came over, wrapping her arms around me.

"It's fine, really," I tried again, but she shook her head, pulling away just enough to look into my eyes.

"You always say that on the first day," she countered, and I tilted my head at her.

"The first day?"

She looked away, a sudden feeling of unease springing up between us and I felt slightly guilty as a momentary look of hurt flashed in her eyes.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I usually try to give you some space on days like this... I mean, you're my husband and I'm used to being all close and touchy with you, but when this happens it's as if you're a completely different person. It's as if you're the person you were back then, when we weren't close like that just yet."

It's true that I didn't know Serra that well.

Hell, now that I think about it, this is the first time I'm meeting her in person, and not just as avatars in a game.

But even so, I could tell that even if she was strong enough to not show her feelings right now, that she was hurting, and something in me really hated the thought.

I took a step towards her, but she recoiled.

"You really don't have to-"

But I didn't wait to hear the end of the sentence.

I put my arms around her, and hugged her tightly, and I could feel her body relax, bit by bit, as I held her.

"I'm sorry. This must be hard. How often does this happen?" I asked, and Serra let out a long, deep sigh.

"Too often," she answered vaguely.

She relaxed in my arms, hugging me tightly, so I decided not to press the question any further.

"So, what exactly is my-"

"If you two don't mind, maybe you could separate yourselves from each other for long enough to help me unpack."

I jumped at the sound of a familiar voice, pulling instinctively away from Serra, feeling suddenly like a guilty child.

"Mom?" I asked, almost disbelievingly, and she paused in her approach, studying me intently.

"One of those days, again?" she asked, and Serra nodded, her face slightly red.

I found the reaction slightly amusing, and my mom regarded the silent exchange with a slight shake of the head.

"You two are just as incorrigible as the day you got married. Now if you don't mind, help an old woman out?"

She gestured at the gear that she'd been hauling in towards the door, and I quickly grabbed it up, then headed into the house.

"Uhh..."

I turned back to the two women who were still standing outside, a confused expression on my face and my mom let out a long sigh, gesturing for Serra to enter ahead of her.

"Follow me," Serra offered, but as I stole a little glance back at my mother, I noted a worried look in her eyes.

"M-my mom lives here?" I asked, my voice sounding perhaps a bit more worried than I'd intended, and Serra snorted a little as she chuckled.

"God, no. I mean, we moved here just get away from her."

I eyed Serra, trying to gauge if she was serious or not, and she quickly wiped the grin off her face.

"Fine. We weren't running away. Not from your mom, at least."

Her words sounded a little ominous, and I made a mental note to ask about that later as we came to a door at the end of a long corridor, which opened up to a large garage space which housed two cars, neither the make nor model I could make heads or tails of.

"Well that's... interesting," I muttered under my breath.

"You can take them out for a spin later," Serra responded, smirking as she continued to lead me past the vehicles to a storage space on the other side of the room.

"Do I even have a licence?" I asked, as I stowed away the equipment, and Serra giggled.

"Yep! And, you also know how to drive them. Freaks you out every time!"

"Jeez, do you really have to sound so excited?" I chided Serra, and she shrugged.

"Oh Joshie, life's all about the small things. Like seeing you panic over not knowing why you know how to do things that you don't think you can do."

She giggled, and I shook my head disapprovingly.

"Come on. If we don't go up for breakfast soon your mom will be here to drag us up by the ear."

I let out a sigh, then followed her back into the corridor from whence we'd come.

"So, my memory loss... is it one of those, can't make new memories things?" I asked, and Serra let out a laugh.

"What, do you think I'm making you fall in love with me every day?" she asked, and I blushed as Serra turned around, walking backwards so that she could keep her mocking gaze on me.

"No, Joshie, you just lose your ability to access your post-brain damage memories from time to time."

"So... my memories will come back?"

"Yep. I mean, not immediately, but in a couple days. Three tops."

I shot Serra a sceptical look as I followed her through the house, and she sighed.

"What? I wouldn't fu-"

Serra stopped in her tracks and looked around tensely, before continuing, her voice lowered.

"I mean, I wouldn't kid around with this, I swear."

I smirked a little at her strained self-censure, and Serra shoved me.

"How old is our daughter?" I asked.

"Seven."

"And you're still adapting to kiddie friendly language?" I teased, and she blushed.

"Oh, shut it. You've not been any better at this than I have."

"Oh sure, blame the guy with memory loss."

"I'm not- but, seriously," Serra leaned in, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper, before continuing, "Katie told your mom to 'fuck off' last week. I told her she didn't hear that kind of language from me, but she's not buying it. I'm tryna make sure she doesn't overhear anything to make her think that it really was me."

As Serra spoke, I couldn't help but noticed all of the subtle affectations that betrayed how close she really was to me.

I mean, back in the game, we had gotten really close, but it was different.

This was the kind of closeness that came with being comfortable with someone after spending a significant period of time together.

I got lost in my thoughts, and when I caught myself, I noticed Serra studying me worriedly.

"Are you... okay?" she asked, her voice tinged with worry, and I quickly nodded.

"I'm good. Let's-"

I gestured forward, and Serra continued to lead me through the maze that was, apparently, our house.

We got to the kitchen just as my mom and Katie, were setting the table.

"Knives go on this side, sweetie."

"But we're not

using

knives," the little girl complained.

"We're not using a lot of things, but that doesn't mean they don't have a place," the old woman countered, and Serra rolled her eyes, before taking my hand and leading me to the table.

"There you two are. I was just about to send out a search party," my mom added.

Serra shot me an 'I told you so' look, and we quickly help her set the table which was already laid out with an impressive spread of jams, cheeses and sausages, and an assortment of freshly baked breads.

"Wow," I muttered, genuinely impressed, and my mom beamed at me.

"You must be hungry, dear," she added, and I quickly helped myself to a bite.

"If there's one thing that's good about this country; it's the bakeries. American delis just do not hold a candle anymore."

Serra seemed to be visibly stifling the urge to say something, and I quickly shot her a 'don't you dare' look to help her keep her mouth shut.

But I quickly found that my attention was being drawn towards Katie, whose mannerisms, now that I had the chance to study her properly, reminded me so much of a younger Kelly that my chest began to tighten.

Kelly...

Was she really... dead?

Part of me didn't really react to the news because, even now, I still more or less believed that maybe, just maybe, this was all just a dream, and I'd wake up back in the game, and she'd be right there.

Safe and sound... relatively speaking.

But as I sat in this... surreal setting, that hope was beginning to fade away.

Was this real?

There was no denying that this might all be a simulation of a reality in a virtual space like that of the game.

Except... It didn't feel like the dulled sensations that I felt within the game.

All of the sensations felt as real as I remembered.

Serra's touch.

Her warmth.

Even the texture of the bread as I broke off a piece between my fingers, and the taste of butter on my tongue.

If this wasn't real, then I could no longer be sure of anything.

"Daddy... are you okay?"

The little girl's voice snapped me out of my reverie, and I noticed she was studying me intently, a look on her face that equal parts fear and concern.

"I-I'm fine, sweetie."

"Katie, remember what we talked about," Serra added sternly, and the girl quickly nodded.

"Sometimes daddy forgets."

She spoke the words in a robotic way, as if it were a mantra that had been recited to her over and over to make sure that it was ingrained in her memory.

I suddenly noted my mom glaring at me, and nodding towards the little girl, and I quickly cleared my throat.

"So- did you really make that? The, uh-"

"Sculpture," Serra helped, and I nodded.

"Yeah, the sculpture of your aunt Kelly."

"Yes! Did you like it?" Katie asked, her excitement seeming to completely usurp the unease she'd felt.

"I

loved

it," I replied. "It's amazing! Did you really make it?"

She nodded enthusiastically.

"All by myself!" she announced proudly, and I couldn't help but smile.

"Real artist we got here," Serra added. "To be honest, I dunno which of us she got that from."

I looked thoughtfully at Kate as she chewed away at a piece of bread, and she caught my gaze, then blushed a little, averting her eyes from mine, and I felt an immediate twinge in my chest.

Her mannerisms.

The way she looked.

If I hadn't been told that she was mine...

And Serra's.

I'd be certain she was Kelly's.

I felt my breath caught in my throat, and just as the feeling threatened to overwhelm me, I felt a hand on mine's and I looked over to see Serra, a look of concern on her face.

She was about to speak when-

*BEEP!

-an alert sounded off on her phone.

"Oh f-for god's sake," she quickly corrected herself, and I caught my mom shooting daggers out of her eyes at her.

"What is it?" I asked, and she quickly wiped away some bread crumbs from her mouth.

"I've got a scheduled streaming sesh. Hey! You should come!"

"Come? As in, watch?"

"No, doofus. Play! You

are

officially part of my team," she added, and I rubbed the back of my head, unable to hide my apprehension.

"I dunno... I probably won't be any good... you know, like this."

"Oh please, you always say that. You'll be fine. I mean, you have me."

Serra winked, and I found myself absently smiling.

Apparently even all these years later, she was just as cocky as she was back then.

"Is it alright?" I directed the question at my mother, who nodded, dabbing a paper towel at her mouth before speaking.

"Yes. I was planning on spending the day with Katie anyway," she answered.

"Well, okay then," I answered, giving a little shrug, and Serra's eyes lit up.

"Yes!" She grabbed my hand and began pulling me along, when my mom called after us.

"Stop running down the hallways!"

"Sorry!" Serra called, back, looking at me and giggling a little as she slowed her pace down to a quick walk.

"You are going to

fucking

love this!"

"And~, there it is. You know, I'm surprised you managed to go that long without dropping an f-bomb," I noted, and Serra smirked.

"Oh, fuck it. So what? I've got a dirty mouth. You know, most days you love that about me," she added, and before I knew what was happening, Serra pushed me up against a wall, and mashed her lips hungrily against mine.

She kissed me hard, her hands pulling me impatiently into her own body, and even though the kiss lasted barely a minute, when she pulled away, I was out of breath.