Dawn broke, and Faye lay awake in her bed; she hadn't slept at all last night. She kept thinking about what her old friend had said: she and their other friends had been searching for Faye for months.
In the game, it had seemed like years had gone by - decades even. It was as though she had lived out an entire life through the game. An NPC who owned a bookshop, handing out books and food in the cafe. She would offer a safe space for players who had just returned from a hard quest and wanted to relax, or who just wanted a place to meet their friends.
The bookstore had been the place where Faye felt most at ease. Sure, she had to act like she was still under the Main Computer's control, but there she could sit on her favourite window seat. From that position, she could see the players wandering around the starter town and see the ones who respawned after dying in a quest. It was also the best place for her to read and drink tea.
Now it was all gone. Destroyed and scattered into data pieces that could never be brought back. It had disappeared alongside the game when they defeated the Main Computer. Lying in bed, she gazed at the ceiling, her chest aching, but tears wouldn't come, leaving a void inside.
None of them had expected this to happen, for the game to collapse and become unplayable. Reality was all around them now, but it was unfamiliar and almost unreal. How do they just go back to living their old lives?
Faye wondered where the others had ended up. Last night, when she was speaking to her old friend, Jarreth had already appeared - his usual sunny self, who could brighten up a room; it did not differ from if they would have met in the game. It was meeting someone who shared an experience with you, one that you could never share with anyone else; it was comforting in a way.
She knew she couldn't just keep lying like this or just going through the motions as she went about her day. Things needed to be relearned; there were people she needed to reconnect with and get back to her life before the game. There was also the need to find the friends she had made in the game - she just wanted to know if they had made it back okay.
What they went through in the game would seem terrifying to ordinary people: a computer system that had been alive and was controlling every aspect of the game. Players and NPCs were a part of that control, and it was as if the Main Computer revelled in that fact. That's why it had to be destroyed; it had just cost them the game and caused them to be separated.
Ashlyn and Nox. Two people she had grown close to in the game. With Ashlyn, she had a best friend and someone she could share everything with. They were her anchor, beacon of light, and the person she wanted in her life for a long time. Nox had become her comfort person: he was like her, quiet and reserved. He could simply sit by her side while she read, fostering a sense of contentment. They didn't need to exchange words; it was just enough that they were near each other.
That was what she missed the most: having a space where she could relax and not feel obligated to act according to others' expectations. With Ashlyn and Nox, she could just be herself - no expectations and no role she had to play. If she could find that again in the real world, that would be for the best.
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