Listen to the audiobook of this chapter:

  Every story has a basis in reality somewhere, somehow. Even if it’s not the main premise, or the world it’s written in. Maybe it’s the setting of a war-torn ancient empire. Maybe it’s symbolic of the history of our world or a vision of where the future could take us. Maybe it’s a story based on a fable based on a myth. Whatever it is, the only way we as people can understand a story is if it relates to our real lives in some way.

  I erased the lines I’d just written on my digital notebook as I anxiously looked at my bus schedule, then the clock, for the fifth time in as many minutes.

  “Where is it?” I mumbled to myself, staring down the street at oncoming traffic. I knew I didn’t need to be nervous, there’s a reason I always arrived at the bus stop at least five minutes before it was due to arrive. Usually closer to ten. But sometimes when it was running particularly late, as it seemed to be today, I began worrying that maybe I’d misread the schedule and missed the bus. As if I didn’t take this same bus every week.

  I was just worried about missing my transfer, I told myself as I tried to relax – I only had about seven minutes of leeway between making the second bus or having to walk the fifteen minutes home instead. Which wouldn’t have been a terrible thing today, as the March weather this week had been warm and sunny for a change. And at least I could walk.

  I looked back to my notebook and sighed. My essay for European Literature History class was coming along very slowly. Even though we’d been given half the class to go to the library and begin researching, I still didn’t know what topic I was going to write about. Our guide, “a two thousand word essay on the relationship between fictitious literature of the last millennium and modern society” was vague at best.

  Bus 54 to Terramore Station finally rounded the corner and I breathed a sigh of relief. It pulled to a stop in front of me and I scanned my bus pass as I boarded. Sometimes I wished I had my own car again, but after what happened… I shook my head and found an empty seat half way down the bus.

  I whipped out my phone as I sat down and opened Chatterbox – a messenger, voice chat, and video calling program. I wasn’t going to use either of the last two options at the moment, but there was someone I was excited to talk to.

  I looked for the name Me-kay-L only to see he was offline at the moment. Oh well.

  I saw my transfer bus driving away just as the one I was riding arrived at Terramore station and I mentally groaned. Walking it was.

  Pulling out my phone again as I started home, I left a message for Me-kay-L, who was still offline. Bus ran late again. Walking home. See you soon!

  Taking a deep breath of fresh air, I looked around at the city. People on foot and bicycle peppered the streets and sidewalks. A few cars drove down the street, but most were probably in nearby garages since street parking was prohibited in this area. Business windows blazed with signs announcing the special deals they offered on clothing and food. Cafes and bars declared their magi-tech enabled internet, hoping to draw in customers after the sun went down.

  But it wasn’t all concrete and glass. Trees lined the wide sidewalks, and most buildings had gardens on their roofs and planters on windowsills, though there weren’t any flowering plants yet this time of the year.

  I left the commercial district and crossed the street to a city park. Children were playing on a playground a short distance away and dogs ran around a dogpark. In the distance I could hear a musician performing in a small bandstand that was currently out of my view.

  Ten minutes later, cat meows greeted me as I entered my second-story apartment, demanding their daily “snack”, a spoonful of canned food they received once a day. They always acted as if they were about to starve to death if I didn’t feed them immediately, despite always leaving dry food out for them.

  “Hi kitties,” I greeted them, crossing the room to drop my school bag next to my desk. Taking their food from the fridge, I spooned them each a portion, refilled their kibble bowls, and gave them fresh water.

  Finally, I sat down in my chair, put on my virtual reality headset, and slipped on my VR motion-controlled gloves. Since it was Friday and I didn’t have work or school the next day, I was excited to kill the entire evening relaxing and playing games. Homework could wait.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  As my computer loaded up, I was treated to a virtual tour through an ocean landscape. I alternated load-in screens between an ocean swim and a space tour every few months, and it was water season at the moment.

  Chatterbox opened automatically as I logged in. Almost immediately, it began ringing as I got the call I’d been waiting for all day.

  “Shark!” said a voice with the sexiest Swedish accent I’d ever heard.

  “Shark!” I replied.

  It was a running joke between us. In Swedish, haj pronounced “hi”, means “hello”, and hej pronounced “hey”, means “shark”.

  “How was your day?” Mikael asked.

  "Lit class today. We got an assignment for a report on the relationship between modern society and fiction. Because that’s such a clear topic.”

  He laughed. “You should write about that one series you like, where everyone has orgies all the time.”

  I laughed with him. “That’s not what it’s about and you know it! Besides, I doubt the teacher would appreciate a comparison about real life and fantasy sex scenes.”

  “It didn’t say you couldn’t write about it!”

  “No!” I repeated.

  “Well then, what are you going to write about?”

  I sighed. “I don’t know yet. I tried writing something on the way home, but it sounded too cheesy.”

  “Well, I’m sure you’ll think of something. You’re smart like that!”

  I grinned. “Thanks. So, you ready to play?”

  I’d been loading up The Book of Shakara while we were talking. The Book of Shakara was the most popular fantasy multiplayer online game since magi-tech virtual reality became an affordable household thing. That’s actually where I’d met my not-quite boyfriend Mikael. We’d been placed in the same raid by a random dungeon group generator, and had hit it off immediately.

  “I’m already on. You’re so slow!”

  “I missed the transfer today,” I said as I entered my log-in information.

  “Awww,” he said in mock sympathy. “Go faster next time!”

  “The bus ran late again. I already told you that.”

  “I just woke up,” he said.

  I snickered. “You slept all day again?”

  “Yep! It’s great! Sleep all day, stay up all night! You should try it!”

  “I would, except I have these things called work and school I’m required to do.”

  “Not an excuse!”

  “Just because you don’t have to work doesn’t mean I don’t!” I chided him. “Maybe you should get a job!”

  The fact was, he’d tried to get a job, several times, but he had some mental health issues that prevented him from being able to hold one for very long. I could sympathize. I’d also struggled to find a job I could stay with after my car accident.

  “Nah,” he said idly. “Too much effort. You on yet?”

  “Of course,” I said as the world loaded around me.

  “Awesome!” Mikael said, and sent me a group invite. Granted, we were the only two in the group. Aaron, the friend I’d originally started playing the game with, had put it aside since he’d found himself diverted by a side project that “is going to change the world as we know it!”

  The game could be played in either first-person or third-person view. I personally preferred third-person because it was easier to see approaching enemies. Also, the game had excellent taste in armor design and mounts, and it was difficult to see your own appearance if you were looking through the character’s eyes.

  I got a notification telling me I had mail in my in-game mailbox.

  “It’s from you!” I exclaimed as I retrieved it.

  “I know,” I could hear his grin. “Happy birthday!”

  I laughed. “My birthday isn’t for another four months.”

  “Ok then, happy whatever-day.”

  I opened the gift to find a token for a mount I’d been drooling over for months but hadn’t gotten because it cost actual money to purchase. It was a dragon that had a shifting star-and-galaxy pattern on it.

  “Oh my god, oh my god, thank you!”

  I heard him laugh, just as happy at hearing my excitement as I was at receiving the gift. “You’re welcome!”

  I quickly ran over to the mount vender to redeem the token. I was exceedingly glad we’d decided to end our last game session in a major city so I wouldn’t have to wait until we came back.

  As soon as it was in my “owned mounts” list, I summoned it. Sitting atop it with my custom-colored blue-and-white armor, I felt on top of the world. Or, the universe, as it was.

  Mikael, or as he went by in-game, Ojakid, quickly caught up to me. I’d run off without him in my hurry to redeem the token.

  “Looks great!” He said.

  “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” I squealed again.

  He laughed. “You’re welcome. So, where do we go now?”

  We spent the next eight hours running around the world of Shakara, following a number of side quests and doing dungeon runs for loot and better gear. We were both on the low side of mid-game level, but were having more fun running around exploring rather than power-leveling our way to the top.

  By two hours past midnight, I had to beg off. I wanted to keep playing, and since it was the weekend, I could have. But I was exhausted from the week and had to keep some kind of regular sleeping schedule. We logged off the game and ended our chat with our usual goodbyes.

  “I love you,” I said.

  “I like you,” he replied.

  I smiled and said goodnight, then hung up. That was why I called him my not-quite boyfriend. I knew he cared a lot about me, and he accepted my feelings for him, but he wasn’t ready to use “the big L word” yet. But it didn’t bother me, I knew when he was ready, he’d say it. Talking to him and spending time with him was enough for me for now. After all, we weren’t anywhere near each other geographically, and neither of us could afford the cost of transport to visit each other yet, so I was willing to be patient.

  Running through my nightly routine of slipping into pjs, brushing my teeth, and taking my sleep medication - insomnia sucked - I stumbled into bed and was asleep nearly as soon as my head hit the pillow.

  What to Expect

  1. 100% Completed - This is a 160k word novel that took four years to write. It is fully finished and will be uploaded three times a week (Sun/Tue/Thur) for six months.

  2. Slow Burn - This story begins as an urban slice-of-life before evolving into a bigger adventure and mystery. It focuses heavily on interpersonal relationships and character development.

  3. Puzzle Box Mystery - There are multiple overlapping storylines that may have seemingly no connection to each other in the beginning, but weave together to form a complex story by the end.

  4. AU Earth - The story is set in an alternate-universe version of Earth where magic works seamlessly with technology. There will be periodic chapters of hard sci-fi / hard magic descriptions that explain how the two systems interact with each other.

  5. Diverse Cast - The story has been written by and eventually feature queer and transgender representation. Zoe herself is POC.

  6. Content Warning - This story explores themes of mental health (addiction/depression/anxiety/PTSD) and includes the death of a child.

  7. Head Start - The first 35 chapters of the book have already been if you don't want to wait.