The gold panners had finished their dinner and were sitting around the cook’s fire chatting. It was a pleasant time of day. The guards were more relaxed, and the workers had time to enjoy each other’s company before going to bed.
“Can I have a seat?” Silas asked as he stood looking down at Sarah.
“Of course.”
“Where are your friends?” Silas asked as he sat on the ground.
“Oh, they are looking at their clothes. Betty has a special skill for making new designs and wanted to make our clothes more comfortable for panning.” Sarah added the last part hoping to keep Daphne and Betty out of trouble.
“That’s cool,” Silas said. “I wanted to thank you for healing me.”
“You’ve been so nice to us, I wanted to do it. I’m glad you are OK. Those things were scary, worse than the cats.”
“I agree. Getting killed in this game sucks, but so does being made a slave to Goblins.”
Sarah looked at Silas. She didn’t think he had realized what he had said. “You know that I would have just been trading masters, right?” Sarah asked.
Silas blushed. “Yeah. Sorry. But I’m sure the goblin experience would have been worse.”
“I don’t know, maybe I could have learnt some new magic or skills,” Sarah added smiling. She didn’t want to make him feel bad.
“Yes. I was wondering how you got your magic. Did you develop it before you signed your contract?”
“No. I was only in the game a short time before I was tricked into signing the Black Wolf Guild contract.”
Silas nodded. “It can be hard if you don’t have friends who are more experienced players to help you. Do you have any friends in the game?”
Sarah laughed. “I do now, but no, none of my friends from real life are here with me. I’m a medi-pod player.”
“What? You are? Do you mind if I ask why?” Silas said surprised.
“One of my classmates in real life brought back a virus from her vacation. Unfortunately, my body couldn’t fight it. The doctors can’t help me so I’m in here to stop my body from getting worse.”
“Wow, that’s rough. How old are you?”
Sarah paused, trying to decide if she should tell the truth. “I’m fourteen.”
Silas looked shocked. “Are you even allowed to play at that age?” he said incredulously.
“I’m stuck here for life. Or until they find a way to kill the virus destroying my body. I guess they bent a few rules for me.”
Silas sat quietly, staring into the fire. Sarah could see that he was uncomfortable with her being so young. Or maybe, he was put off by the thought of her being stuck here indefinitely.
“Can I ask you a question?” Sarah finally said to break the silence.
“Sure.”
“Is the scar on your face from real life?”
Silas looked surprised at her choice of question. “Yes, I could have gotten rid of it, but it has been a part of my identity for so long I chose to keep the scar for my character.”
Sarah nodded, trying to encourage him to tell her more. It felt private sitting in the dark. The quiet voices and laughter in the background, the flickering and snapping of the fire.
“My Dad was an alcoholic. He used to come home from the bar and pick fights with my mom or me and my brothers. It didn’t seem to matter how careful we were, he would always find something to punish us for. One time, he came home and saw that my mom had bought a new dress.” Silas paused to look at Sarah. “I had a science fair coming up and my mom was going to be a guest judge. She wanted to look nice in front of the school. She had worked extra hours to buy it.”
Sarah nodded. She could understand. Her mom sometimes did the same thing for special occasions.
“Anyway, my Dad saw it and accused her of trying to attract another man. He was always really controlling and possessive of her. When he started to hit her, my brothers and I came out of our room to try and help. It just made him madder. We were pleading with him to stop and trying to tell him the truth, but he was in a rage. My oldest brother had joined the football team that year and thought he could tackle him. He did go down, but a drunk is impervious to pain. He got on top of my brother and started smashing his head into the floor. I thought he would kill him. My mom was screaming. I had to do something. I grabbed the first thing I saw, a frying pan off the stove and hit my father in the back of the head.”
Sarah gasped. Silas stopped. “Sorry is this too much?”
Sarah shook her head and responded. “It sounds awful. I’m hoping for a happy ending?” she said hopefully.
Silas laughed, “In the end, my brother was OK. He had a concussion and a lot of bruises. Unfortunately, for me,” he said pointing to his eye, “I was the next person my Dad attacked, and the last.” Silas went quiet for a moment. “He came at me with a knife. I don’t even know how it got into his hand, maybe from the kitchen table. Sometime during the fight, he got me across the face. I was bleeding like crazy trying to fend him off. We were in the kitchen. He slipped on my blood and hit his head on the counter. He went down hard. He never got back up. They said the impact to his brain caused a clot, killing him almost instantly.”
“Oh my god,” Sarah whispered. She was trying hard not to cry, and she wasn’t sure what to say to a story like that.
Silas nudged Sarah’s shoulder. “Now for the happy ending. My brothers and I are close and my mom remarried. Our stepdad is really cool. He paid for me and my brothers to be in this game. He thought it would be good therapy and fun for us to try out different roles without the consequences of real life.”
“Is that what you think?” Sarah asked.
“I don’t know yet. I want to support my brother, the one who is higher up than me, but I’m not sure I can now. I don’t think him and his friends have thought of the consequences of their actions, or even worse maybe they have and just don't care.”
“Yeah, that’s a tough one,” Sarah whispered.
“Hey, listen. I’m still figuring things out. I owe you. If you need anything, I want you to ask. I don’t know if I will be able to help, but I will try.”
Sarah nodded. It felt comforting to know that other people had also fallen on hard times. It had been good to forget about her real-world problems while playing the game, but she suddenly missed her mom. She knew her mom was busy working to pay the bills and probably having to deal with her dad and guilt. She hadn’t really thought about how this would affect her mom’s life. Sarah decided to log out again tonight and check in with her.
“Thanks for sharing your story, Silas. It made me think about my mom. I think I will log out and check on her.”
“Thanks for listening. I haven’t told many people about that night. It must be those big eyes of yours, making me do crazy things,” he said with a friendly wink.
Sarah laughed. She knew what he meant; the anime eyes were really cute. She batted her eyes and then made a big puppy dog face.
“Stop, I’m powerless against the puppy eyes!” Silas joked as he blocked his eyes.
The whistle for bedtime blew and the workers gathered their things to take to the cabin. Sarah was thoughtful as she walked with the others. Maybe she could convince Silas to help her escape. He was obviously a protective person and loyal. He would be a good partner to play the game with. Plus, he was strong and skilled, she could use someone like that to make her experience better. Thinking of stronger, she wondered about her grandma and how long she would wait before she messaged her. She might have some good ideas for how to fix her situation. She would ask her mom again tonight if she had any new updates.
Sarah entered the cabin and made her way to her bunk. Daphne and Betty were sitting together on her bed.
“Hey Sarah, check this out!” Daphne said as she stood up and did a twirl.
“Wow, you did that just now?” Sarah asked Betty.
“Yup. I took the pieces of her clothes, added some stuff that I begged for and borrowed and voila,” Betty said proudly.
Sarah admired the design Betty had come up with. Daphne now had a thick vest for staying warm in the cold water and sleeves that could be tucked up when panning. Her pants were also able to be tied up around her thighs for panning and then let down for warmth and protection. The outfit was practical but also really flattering.
“It’s impressive. I bet you could make a fortune designing clothes in a village,” Sarah said with a big smile.
“Yes, when I get back to my friends, I will look into that. I want to continue improving the skill to advance my position in the game. We can’t all be powerful warriors.”
“But you are good in a fight Betty. Make sure you keep working on your martial arts,” Daphne warned.
“By the number of things trying to attack or steal us, it shouldn’t be a problem,” Betty laughed as she yawned.
“Lights out,” the guard called from the door.
Daphne slid under the covers and turned so she could whisper to Sarah.
“That was a crazy story about Silas hey?”
“You heard that?” Sarah said in a hiss.
Daphne giggled. “Yeah, I can hear pretty much any conversation. I just have to focus. It can be pretty distracting.”
“I didn’t know how to respond. It was such a detailed story. Do you think it was true?”
“Yes, I do. I had a friend in the real world, it was part of her therapy to be honest about her experiences so she could move on. She found that it gave other people hope and resilience in dealing with their own trauma,” Daphne said quietly.
“Makes sense,” Sarah whispered.
“Say ‘hi’ to your mom for me,” Daphne muttered as she rolled over, closed her eyes and fell promptly to sleep. Sarah shook her head. She envied Daphne’s ability to sleep so quickly and deeply.
“Goodnight Sarah, I will work on your outfit tomorrow, OK?”
“Thanks Betty, good night.”
Sarah logged out of the game and entered the meeting room to wait for her mother. Several minutes passed before she received a notification.
Sorry Sarah. I’m out for a walk with a friend. I didn’t expect you to meet me so soon. Everything OK?
Sarah messaged back; Yes Mom. I just wanted to check in on you. Enjoy your walk.
Sarah logged back into the game, maybe her mom was doing better than she thought.
Sarah used the time to allocate her points.
She tried to work on her night vision until she got too tired and eventually went to sleep.