Never-ending Raid

Good time always goes fast. Before Shae and Summer can explore all of Azeroth, summer break is over. School has gotten longer and unbearable after having spent time with Summer. All Shae thinks about in class, is having Summer and tiger by her side. After just a few days of school, she convinced her dad to move the computer to her room since she wants to "learn English" after homework.

Of course Shae didn't learn English, in fact, she barely did any homework. The second she is allowed to leave school, she doesn't even write down what the homework is anymore. She grabs her backpack and before anyone notices, she is out the door already like a swirling wind.

Shae is so unsettled and restless during the 15 minutes bus ride. She sits on the front seat and constantly looks around. She grinds her teeth and gets a little agitated when stuck at a red light. She has no time to waste...She has been away from Summer for too long.

After getting off the bus, she'd sprint home, grab anything from the kitchen, and get into WOW to be with Summer. Apart from greeting her parents when they come home at 8pm, Shae won't leave her room until the next morning.

The game resets the lockdowns on Tuesdays. As Shae and Summer get better at the game, they have joined the guild' core progression raid and raid everyday from 9pm to midnight except Mondays. At the starting of the semester, Shae can still manage to keep up with school. But as the semester progresses, the lack of sleep and hard core raiding finally caught up.

Whenever it's midnight that the raid is supposed to end, the raid leader would always ask for another pull which normally ends up to be another hour. Shae knows she needs to get up in just a few hours and not to mention she still hasn't done her homework. Strangely enough, she would secretly hope the raid members would stay so she can hang out with them a little longer. Honestly, it is not the gear she cares about. it is about the feeling...of being useful, needed, and instructed.

She feels warm when the raid members calls her "Sheepie" and ask for the fort buff, she feels trusted and strong when she is the one that stands behind the tank, she feels empowered and relived, when she exhausted her last abilities to save the tank. She feels a bonding sense of belonging to the raid as if they have been best friends all their lives and she is part of the big family.

Shae especially enjoys when the raid leader calls her name and explains to her where she needs to stand and what she needs to do...The leader has a very deep masculine voice. That has been the voice Shae follows, and listens to like a good little sheep. To Shae, she thought his voice was firm, convincing, and somehow...unrefusable. Shae had been told what to do all her life, go to the top schools, learn instruments, face the wall...She mostly feel tired, helpless, and slowly, numb. However, Shae somehow finds following raid leader's instructions fulfilling, as if she realized her values, she feels an overwhelming amount of satisfaction when leader says "Good job."

Reality is too plain compared to the intense feelings Shae gets in World of Warcraft. Slowly but surely, she is addicted. Not so much to the game, but the emotions she gets to experience. And in order to feed her crave for these emotions, Shae ends up staying up all night and not doing homework at all. At first, she feels guilty, but the addiction gradually takes over the last bit of guilt left in her. If possible, she rather become her in game character permanently, forever stay in the World of Warcraft, and never leave again.

Only if Shae could indulge in her emerald summer dream forever, a dream too good to be true. Like a rising soap bubble under the sun, so pretty and reflects all the colors in the rainbow. yet when it bursts, it vanishes in the clear sky, only a slight trace of the bubbly scent marking its ephemeral existence.