You Were In My Dream

I sat on a table eating my dinner, in front of me were my parents. We were talking about things. And next to me, I know it was my sister.

But then I heard a laugh, a sound that is familiar, but definitely not my sister's.

It was Eliza, she sat next to me, her smile was as bright as the daylight. She looked at me and shared the smile to me. I was startled. How did she get here? When did she get so close?

I opened my eyes and another day at home has just begun. I already lost track of how many days I've been at home now. Three weeks? A month?

It was finally time to start another online class… or, I don't even know if I should call it a class.

It wasn't really a class, more like a pop quiz. I had to watch a video about the lesson and work on a quiz, or write down projects, etc. And it ended quick because each day is only one lesson. But it doesn't feel like I have school, I still think I'm on holiday or something.

It was Saturday, or maybe Friday? I already lost count. But apparently today is the weekend. Well, whatever. It was back to the monitor I went.

The news of the virus was on the front page of every popular website. I just ignored it, it isn't really something I must make a big deal out of it. Plus, as long as you're inside, you're basically safe.

But it was another lonely day, it was just me and myself surfing the world wide web. It is a lonely feeling in such a wide virtual world.

I decided to contact Randy once again. And I talked with him about few things, and discussed with him about the situation that is going on today. Of course he and I are somewhat similar, but he's happier to be at home rather than go back to school.

I discussed about the funny people on the internet that started to show up, whether it is the Anti-Mask people, or the "Karens". I told him that the Anti-Mask people are not thinking straight about their actions. It's not that hard to wear a mask and keep it all times when you go outside. Although I do struggle a bit of a problem with my glasses, because it keeps on fogging up the lenses. As for the "Karens", the reason why they are called like that is because their public behavior is so similar, that it has become a stereotype. They never think about the consequences made by their actions and their behavior does not have a valid point. They act like they know better, and they act like they are better.

Randy agreed with my opinion. He says that every year go by, something crazy always shows up. I laughed in response and was about to comment, but I kept my mouth shut to prevent any jinxes.

Then we decided to play something. He wanted to play a good old game of Risk, and I just had to accept it. It's a small board game, and we're probably going to finish fast. The plan is that we are going to team up. He'll start in East Asia, whereas I will start in South America, but I also put some troops in Australia just in case.

Games like this I could read like a book, and I had a fair amount of luck when rolling dices. Although since I couldn't recall the rules of Risk, I wasn't doing well on the first few rounds. But slowly and surely, I got hold of the whole South America, and I expanded my region from Australia up to Indonesia, and stopped there. Because beyond that is Randy's battle ground.

But I noticed that Randy wasn't doing well with his conquest. He kept losing grounds and lost risky plays. And sometimes when it was clear he's the victor of a battle, he lost the dice and lost his troops in return.

My foothold was strong, even though the AI was set to Medium, the pieces placed by them were very hard to come by. I placed my troops strategically so I can fully conquer North America, but also leaving some troops in Brazil so that the enemy in Africa won't cross.

The enemy started to invade Randy's territory from Alaska, and now he has two fronts and three enemies to deal with. But that move from the enemy left his territory in North America with only no more than three troops per regions. I told Randy I am going to blitzkrieg my way up to North America and finish the enemy once and for all so he only needed to focus on the eastern front. But my troops weren't sufficient enough to fully eliminate the enemy and it was their turn. They started to expand to Randy's territory which was already big, but has no reserves inside.

I knew inside that Randy was already finished, he has three enemies and they are not going to give him some mercy. The point of this game is Total Domination. They will risk anything to achieve the victory.

"Ahh, I give up," Randy said. "You can send your troops from Indonesia and take over my territory, there's nothing I can do here,"

What he said was true, he is only able to deploy three troops per turn, and that is not enough to defeat the enemy. As for me, with the help of my cards that I saved up, I can deploy up to fifty troops, and that is already over kill.

So with that said, I traded all my cards for the troops and I have fifty troops ready to deploy. I spent twenty-five in Greenland, ten in Alaska, ten in Indonesia, and five in Brazil. And my operation has begun. I started by finishing the enemy on Randy's western front. Then from there take over his entire territory. Then in Greenland I sent them to Iceland, then the UK, and then slowly take over the whole Europe. And in Brazil I started going to East Africa, and headed South first. My plan is a success; every dice rolls I made was a win. And not long later we won. Or I won.

It was a fun little game, but too easy to play. And then we jumped to another game, and spent our day together.

***

I walked into my old school and found myself in front of a classroom. I sat down and started scribbling words onto my notebook. In front of me was one of my old friend, Jacob. He was talking to the other classmates and I was busy on my work.

Then Eliza sat next to me, her authentic smile which felt different compared to when other people smile. It wasn't exactly the kind of smile that shows she is a happy person, rather a smile that says she is most certainly want to hang out with you.

"You working on your next story?" she asked, her head tilted and her black hair dropped to her shoulder. I looked at her.

"Yeah, but every time I write I always feel like something is off or missing, or something," I said to her. She sat next to me, and then brushed my hair. I had a long hair as long as my hand, and I never really brush my hair. After she was done, I brushed it off again. She laughed a little and brushed it back, but then I brushed it off again.

It felt like she was brushing my hair… as a mother would brush her son's hair to show her love and care to her son. She gently brushed it as if she was patting me.

Then I opened my eyes and realize the sun was up. And I hit my forehead with my fist.

"Damn it," I said, "You showed up again,".

I sat on my study table and opened up my SNS, and the first thing that loaded up was a new video cover of Eliza's music. This time she sang a song I was familiarized with. She must've worked hard on trying to master the song. And I can tell her efforts did not go to waste.

I gave it a like and a little cheering comment. I repeated the video three times while looking at her face. The distinct hair, her authentic smile, her voice…

But wait, what is this feeling? What am I even doing? Am I… but it's impossible, we haven't met each other for more than five years.

I ignored my thoughts and continue browsing SNS, waiting until the time when online school starts.

"Don't think about it again, it's all history of the past. Think of the future ahead" I thought.