Glitched

Gltiched

---

Naomi was irritated. There she was, the daughter that she didn’t have, sitting at her kitchen table and eating a bowl of cereal.

“What’s your name again?” Naomi asked her, and the child giggled with her mouth full.

“You know my name, Mommy.”

She looked like a perfect mixture of her and her husband, with her black, thick hair pulled back and bushed up, crowning her cute face. She was older than the son who sat across from her, who interacted with her as if she should be there, opening his mouth full of mushed cereal and making her say, “Ew!” But she was a few years younger than her real daughter.

Naomi tried again. “Well, tell me your name as if I didn’t know you.”

The child sighed. “Just think really hard and you’ll know it.”

This only made Naomi more irritated. “Leana, if you don’t tell me your name, right now!”

Both children started laughing, and Naomi realized what she had said.

“Leana?” Naomi cautiously stated.

“Yes, Mommy?” The girl turned to look at the TV as it blinked from an advertisement to an actually cartoon show.

Before Naomi could question again, her husband entered the house wearing his farming outfit and notifying that he had gathered all of the fruit, wheat, and vegetables, and cutting down trees for wood, and was now changing his clothes to go mining for iron, coal, and gold. These were the supplies they were running low on. He kissed Naomi’s cheek and went upstairs to change. It reminded her that she had to go hunting. She had enough skill now to retrieve some specialty loot.

As she grabbed her sword, Leana waved and said, “Good luck, Mommy!” and floated to the sink to put away her bowl.

Naomi rolled her eyes in annoyance and looked out the window at the height of the sun. She had plenty of time to go kill something.

***

Her mood changed after surveying the amount of loot she had gathered, which would help immensely with her purse. She thought about some of the things she wanted to buy for the house, places she wanted to travel where the ticket prices were previously too high for her to manage, and paying for some mercenaries to gather a few items she didn’t want to spend the time to get herself. But all of that had to wait until tomorrow.

She breathed as she reached for the back of her head and tapped on a button. The familiar musical notes sounded as the helmet expanded and allowed her to remove it from her head. Her eyes met the digital numbers shining on her ceiling. 9:42PM. It was time for bed.

She checked the status of her troubleshooting ticket on the wall panel, which was still in queue now at #262. It was up by ten since last she checked. She edited the ticket that the daughter that she shouldn’t have was named Leana.

Undressing out of the gaming suit, she then placed it in the self-cleaning container. Lying also on their single beds was her daughter Romi and her husband Neil. Naomi tapped on the panel to send a message to both of them to log off.

It took a few more minutes before they both were taking off their helmets.

“You leveled up again,” Neil said slapping her on the bottom. “I sparred with your husband,” he chuckled. “He’s getting good.”

“Your wife,” Naomi teased back, “Not so good. Are you ever going to level her up? Or is she just good for one thing.”

“Maintaining the land and house,” Neil said, winking at Naomi when Romi wasn’t watching, and placing both of their suits in for cleaning. He was indeed enjoying that wife in other ways.

Naomi shifted the attention to their daughter. “How was your dive, Romi?”

Romi stood wearing her purple lining with yellow lightning bolts. Even as a teenager, she still liked her kiddie designs.

“I’m still not joining you two,” she said, waving at her parents, while walking out of the game room.

“But we need you in our Alliance!” Neil called after her.

“Still not joining,” her voice called up from the stairs, heading to the kitchen for a snack, even though they had already eaten dinner before diving.

“What kind of child did we raise?” Neil said. “Just abandoning her own parents.”

Naomi chuckled and headed to their bedroom. “I still have that glitch.”

“The kid showed up again?” Neil asked, worried. “What did the Help Desk say?”

“Same as always--they’re still looking into the problem.”

Neil rubbed his bald head that had a sheen from the helmet. “I read up on the forums,” he said, while going into the shower. “Though they aren’t adding any value or using resources,” he continue shouting over the water, “people can engage with them better than any of the existing NPCs. Some people reported rooms and doors going to places not on the map. Talk is, that it’s an upgrade that’s bleeding through, but it’s only affecting a very small percentage of divers.”

“I knew her name,” Naomi started, “without even looking it up.”

“What?” Neil pulled open the shower curtain trying to hear.

“I said, I hope they fix it soon,” she answered.

“Yeah, I’m sure they will.” Neil continued with his showering.

*** On her next dive, Naomi was looking around for the glitch when her husband asked for some coins to buy a few things. She added it to his inventory as he headed out, and her son left right after him for sword training.

She found her in the living room, watching TV.

Naomi stayed at the doorway. “Uh, Leana, right?”

“Yes, Mommy?” She turned to give her full attention.

“Are you going to be doing anything today?”

The child shrugged.

“You want to do some farming? Hunting?” Naomi was trying to find a clue on the NPC’s function, though previous attempts ended with silence. But now that she knew its name….

The child laughed. “You know I don’t do any of those things, Mommy.”

Naomi inhaled. “Well, can you remind me, Leana,” she emphasized her name, to make sure she didn’t lose her attention, “what do you do?”

Leana stared directly into her eyes. “I open doors,” she answered. “Are you ready for the door now, Mommy?”

Naomi repeated, “Door?”

If this was a quest that could level her up in some way, she was game, even if this was a glitch. She may just delete her trouble ticket so that anything that she gained, she would keep.

“Yes,” Naomi said. “Please open a door.”

The child immediately hopped up and headed out the back door. Naomi followed her until they reached a pond, where the child stopped and pointed.

Naomi looked at the sparkling water, but couldn’t make out any treasure chests or glittering objects to pick up.

She looked at the child, who kept pointing. Naomi decided to go in.

Though the water was cold, she fully submerged herself.

She was jolted into a burst of colors and light, seeing twisted geometric shapes soaring all around and through her. Yet, she could no longer feel her body. It wasn’t like the gaming-suit where everything was still with taste, hearing and touch. This was simply a weightlessness, where, if she could cry, she would describe it as a release and…peace.

She could feel, no, sense, the many consciousness that surrounded her. Merged with her. She felt a joining that felt quite familiar, like coming home. A world more real than the one she knew.

In that instant that she felt the experience, she was lifted out, and found herself standing up, shivering, in the pond.

She gasped, her heart racing. Looking around, she tried to remember the virtual reality that surrounded her. Leana was still there at the edge of the pond.

“So glad you understand now,” the child-form said, with a more mature voice. Naomi now knew she was an entity from that other place.

Naomi nodded. Somehow this game had glitched and opened a doorway which connected to the other side. And Naomi had submerged and ascended, reborn, into that realm--the Afterlife.

The End

© 2019

Other Writings - Short Stories