When Dani first heard “Firesong” by The Fratelli, she was in RealityXKR and they were running. Running in a full out sprint across the ocean. Yes, ocean. How? Something called the HRS, or hydraulic running shoe. Really, no big deal, not to those in RealityXKR. They blue waves rose and fell with gentle hills of perfect aqua blue.

‘What more can anyone want?’ Dani thought.

‘I know! This is everything! This is awesome!’ Carli thought back as she dove headfirst into the surf. She popped up a few minutes later, splashing Stephi. The song playing in the background wove a majestic tale of smoke and brimstone, passion and consumption all warring with great haste.

Suddenly, as the song rose to the climax, the ocean surf bubbled and frothed. The song turns into a longing for death and destruction. A low rumbling can be heard as a creature long thought to be legend became reality. Fangs dripping, it roared at Dani’s small squadron of three. Lunging like lightning, it fakes toward Dani but dives for Stephi at the last second. Yelling, Dani dove toward her friend as Stephi’s leg is sliced to the bone. Sending out her Dark Balls to explode at the thing’s weak spot, the crease between the neck and head, she swept her friend away from harm as the monster gave ground, snarling in pain. Gritting her teeth, Dani turned back to the fight.

‘I won’t let this happen,’ Dani thought to herself, ‘I will not lose my friends … again.’ Remembering hurt, but it drove Dani harder. Lani had been the best of the best, the ultimate warrior. Now, he was just, gone. No, concentrate! There! An opening! Dani lunged.

***

A thin woman with her hair in a tight bun walked into the room. It was small, with nothing but a hard, wooden chair in the center. The one small window was tightly shut with the blinds pulled down as far as they would go. A girl sat on the chair. Back rigidly straight, feet flat on the floor, the child looked like a masterful statue. Every detail made to look real. However, no sculptor would ever think to make the light brown hair lank and straight, without the slightest hint of a curl. Neither would an artist make his creation sallow skinned, almost white, made even more so with the dark background of the room. Dressed in long, loose black pants and a plain, baggy shirt, the girl could be nothing other than human. Kneeling down by the young girl, the woman’s eyes tightened, as though fighting against some haunting memory. Staring at the girl’s face, the woman could not find her daughter’s eye through the dark lenses that completely encased the upper half of her face, leaving only the unmoving mouth and chin uncovered. The woman tried to remember what the entire face looked like under the thin metal, but could only see the visor. The visor had become part of the face now. It was never going to come off.

“Please, please come home,” whispered the woman. She reached for the girl’s hand, resting on the wide armrests. Hesitating over the small, round birthmark on the right hand of the statue, she sighed. Only an inch in diameter, it caused so many memories. The woman’s arm dropped back to her side. Closing her eyes for a moment, she breathed deep, the lines on her face deepening and making her age ten years. Opening her eyes, she glanced at the machinery behind the chair. Set in the back of the wooden chair was a screen. Words flickered in different boxes as tiny graphs measured blood pressure, heart rate, and other necessary bodily functions that needed to be maintained. Leaving the room and closing the door behind her, the woman slowly walked back down the stairs and went into her kitchen. Mechanically she took down a cup and made some tea. Bringing it to the antique Millennium table, she sat and stared at the steaming liquid. It wasn’t until she tasted salt of her tears in the tea that she realized she was crying.

A man, roughly the same age as the woman, rushed into the room. He was tall and solid, the kind of person one could lean on in the hardest times. Over the years, that quality had come in handy. This had been going on for over a decade.

“Jen,” he said as he pulled her into his arms, “The monitor said you had gone up there again. How is she?” The woman only leaned into his embrace and shook her head, surrendering to her feelings, allowing herself to melt with despair.

“David, why can’t she just come back? We love her, we’ve begged, we’ve pleaded. Why can’t she understand reality?”

***

Lying in the sand, propped up on her own arms, Dani stared at the nighttime expanse. Carli drifted toward her, dropping down by her side.

‘Boop,’ she thought-spoke, tapping the small dark “button” on Dani’s right hand. ‘Great battle today,’ she continued. Indeed, once Dani had slayed the sea creature, the village had feasted merrily, the song that constantly wove the tale of thier lives thrilling with victory and celebration. Dani smiled slightly at her friend’s efforts, but returned to staring at the sea, each wave tipped in silver as the two moons caught them in their light.

‘I miss her,’ Dani whispered, ‘why can’t Mom understand Reality?’

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