Morning Hijinx

Beep, beep, beep!

The microwave had stopped and Allen opened the door and grabbed the small foam cup. He peeled the thin paper top and released the bliss aroma of ramen and beef into the room. He reached for the nearest fork and stirred the noodles around as he walked over to his sofa. He took a seat and turned the TV on to listen to the news. He slurped up the soft and warm noodles and felt like his life was complete.

Then his phone rang nearby with Jericho as the caller. He answered, "Sup? What happened?"

"Ahhh!!!" Jericho shrieked and made Allen choke on his noodles. He coughed heavily and listened as Jericho cried for help, "I need help, Allen! Erika's trying to kill me right now! Oh, God!"

Shoes, clothes, stuffed animals, and a knife flew across the room as a half-naked Jericho and Erika were running around their house. Erika chased Jericho wearing only the bedsheet as well as a knife she conveniently found. Jericho was hurdling over all their furniture as the chase had made its way into the living room where the cause of the problem had begun.

Allen was completely lost but was still enjoying his cup of ramen with a smile across his face.

"Relax, Erika. Honey, listen to me. I didn't do anything. You did it all yourself. You came into the house, pushed me away, and started to undress. I was trying to stop you but then you jumped on me and one thing led to another and we had sex."

Erika had reddened like a tomato, but not from embarrassment, but from anger, as he said all that with Allen on the phone. She then threw the knife that had barely missed and tackled him to the ground. She sat atop him, raising a fist, and threw a fast one. Jericho dodged it and used the momentum to throw her over and held her down. She struggled to free herself and Jericho kept trying to talk her down.

"Hahaha! I'm sorry guys, but I can't take it anymore," a muffled laugh came from the phone that landed next to them, "I'm sorry Erika but I gotta take Jericho's side on this one. He didn't have any choice, you know? You're pretty strong and I bet you dragged him into the room."

Erika finally felt embarrassed and slowly stopped struggling. Allen continued to explain and soon Jericho let go of her and she immediately shoved him over and sat up.

"See? I was telling the truth. I didn't do it so can you calm down, please?"

Erika crawled back against the sofa and fixed the sheet around her. Jericho took a huge sigh of relief and sat against the other end staring at Erika. She immediately turned away as she crossed her arms, looked at the phone, and asked Allen how he knew everything.

"You know you did it before when I was over there a few months back, right? You got drunk and started flirting with Jericho and then started making out with him and then started to--" 

"Alright, alright! I know what happens after. Please stop." She said as she started to sulk quietly. She started to cry and Jericho came over and hugged her.

"I'm sorry, babe. I should've listened to you," she said.

"It's okay. You didn't know. It's fine." Jericho accepted her apology and they sat quietly soon after.

Allen then broke the sudden silence and asked, "Was that all you needed? I want to get back to my news."

Jericho shook his head and chuckled as he answered him, "you're such a buzzkill. By the way, I want to see you log into PR. It's about time you came back."

Erika joined in, "yeah, you should join us. We want to see if the infamous champion still has what it takes to fight."

Allen sat silently as they spoke. The room was quiet with his eyes staring toward the computer that was in the corner covered in darkness. He then heard Jericho calling him and he broke his trance and answered their question, "I don't know if I should do that just yet. I have no reason to play right now so I don't see myself playing it any time soon."

"Well, that doesn't matter. You can play just to play. That's what games were made for so just hop on this one time and play alright?"

"But I don't have my character anymore. I'm just a newbie now." Allen rebutted.

"Like that'll stop you!" Jericho and Erika said at the same time.

They all laughed for a few seconds and Allen then agreed while he shook his head in disapproval. He said goodbye and hung up the call. 

He felt a chill across his body soon after when the thought of walking over to the PC came to mind. He stood up and threw the cup away while also switching the channel to the PR news channel. As it made noise in the background, he walked over toward the computer and reached for the chair. Before his hand could touch it, the memory of him and Elizabeth popped into his head. He grabbed his head and grunted in pain as his head started to hurt. He stepped back and rested atop the bed right quick before trying again. 

He rubbed his head, took a deep breath, and touched the chair. He slowly moved it toward him and turned it to face him. He stared at it before standing back up and then he sat down. A big relief was lifted off his shoulder and he sat quietly with the feeling of the chair starting to get comfortable. He then reached for the lamp switch and clicked it on with the smooth wooden top shimmer in the light. The keyboard and mouse were neatly placed under the monitor with dust that had accumulated over the years. He pulled them out and brushed his fingers across the keyboard as the familiar sensation of the keys had overwhelmed him. The dust fluttered in the air as he brushed it off. He continued to clean most of it off as well as the monitor and desk as he grabbed a wet towel.

His setup started to look better than before leaving only a photo and a wooden box sitting on the left-hand side. He lifted the photo that leaned against the box and smiled at it. The photo was that of Elizabeth's 16th birthday with all of them in the hospital room laughing. The fond memory was etched into the back of his mind with the gift he gave her. The box. The box was a simple walnut box that he never opened. Even after Elizabeth's passing, he never once touched the box after setting it down. He stared at it, placed the photo back, and clicked a button. A whirl was heard with lights illuminating beneath and around his desk. A light blue was pleasant to the eyes with lights that slowly rose against the wall with a large outline of his logo.

The monitor turned on and he was introduced to the log-in screen. He logged in and then he was at the start-up screen with a landscape from PR as his background and his icons customized to the writing style as well. He hovered over the game's icon and sat silently. His hands were sweating with his heart rate going up slowly. A sudden force of pressure appeared and he pushed himself away back against the bed.

He sat slouched over, foot-tapping, and hand that held his jaw. He took glances at the monitor and looked away as the unsettling feeling was creeping up. He eventually stood up, walked away to his living room, and held the back of his head. The feeling didn't want to go away as well as a headache that suddenly appeared. 

"Damn it!" Allen grunted as he quickly went to the bathroom to grab some aspirin. He drank a handful of water and stared at his pale complexion in the mirror. He shook his head as he took a deep breath and stepped out to lay on the couch.

A sharp pulsating pain kept appearing on his forehead as he tried every method to calm it but the pain kept reappearing. Eventually, it calmed down and he found himself finally at ease. He lay for a few minutes before standing back up and staring at the desk. He stood there for a few seconds before a knock was heard at his door.

"Who is it?" he asked as he walked closer.

He unlocked the door and opened it to Jericho who was standing holding a white box, "mind if I come in?"

Allen was surprised by his sudden visit and was hesitant to say anything before he nodded. Jericho walked in and sat the box at the kitchen table. Allen opened his mouth to ask Jericho about his visit until Jericho walked hurriedly to the computer that hasn't been on for years.

"No way, bro?! You actually turned it on? And you actually cleaned it too? Holy crap!"

Jericho was amazed by Allen's action that he was in awe. Allen quickly waved him down before he snapped out of it to quickly give Allen the box. He had a grin across his face as he gallantly leaped over with it to Allen.

"This for you. Erika and I went ahead and Preemptively bought this for this momentous occasion. This is the new gear that's needed to play PR since it's all virtual now. You can still play with a keyboard but this is a lot more fun. Trust me on this one," Jericho was so excited to hand the headset over to Allen after holding it for so long. "Also this is the latest version so don't worry if it's up-to-date. We got you."

Allen accepted the box and laid it on the bed and walked past Jericho to the kitchen to grab a drink. As Allen did so, Jericho took the liberty to open the box and present the speak white headset to him. Allen raised their brow to an over-enthusiastic Jericho and quietly popped the can open and took a sip. 

"If you're at all curious, this is the newest headset that recently came out called the 'Ocelot 360'. The sleekest, most durable, comfortable, and highest-performing headset on the market. The price doesn't matter but the quality does."

Allen was quietly sipping his drink throughout Jericho's tech rant and was thinking of what he was going to make. After another few minutes of Jericho's monologuing, he had set up the whole headset and even connected Allen's account to it, which soon after Allen just thought about how he knew his password. He was kinda worried and made a mental note to change his passwords.

"And that's everything! You're good to go. Now you just need to start the game on the computer and then click the button on the side of the headset and you're in PR."

"Finally! Thank God," Allen broke his silence and dragged Jericho to the door, "now get out! Go bother Erika or something."

He shoved him out the door and happily locked the door. He let a sigh of relief out as he touched his brow from frustration. He slowly made his way back to the desk and glanced over the cables that lead from the computer to the headset. He stared at the PR menu that was opened due to the efforts of Jericho that had text written over it, "please start the game using your headset."

Allen sat on his bed and then laid back. He took a deep breath and grabbed the headset. He started into it before placing it on. A small screen was inside the visor of the headset with an indicator to press the button on the side. Allen took a second to calm himself before he lifted his finger to the button and slowly pressed it down. As the button was pressed, the text had faded away with new text that covered the screen, "thank you for playing in VR. May your perception of reality be changed forever." In an instant, an image of a forest appeared in his eyes, and soon his consciousness faded away with a faint light encircling his body.