11***Life Outside (Part 1)

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Darn it all! Why did I have to die there of all places?! And what makes it worse, the thing that killed me was the recoil from that last attack!!!! Oh man Angus is gonna have my head for breakfast over this. Speaking of which.... It's almost noon!!!

Wow, we spent way more time with those gremlins than I thought.

I looked to my side to see that mom wasn't there, and that I ended up in my bed somehow.

'She must have put me in my bed.' I deduced, seeing our blankets folded and to one side. I felt a little saddened at the thought that she might not want to join back the game.

*Slap* A slap echoed around my room as I clapped my hands on my cheeks.

'What am I getting all depressed over!' I reprimanded myself, 'I made her play the game and she didn't like it, so what?! All I have to do is find another way to get her happy!'

I was really getting into it when my stomach growled, alerting me that the sandwich from this morning has run its course.

"Mom, is lunch ready yet?" I call out to my mother as I straightened my tousled bed sheets. The headgear we use in the game doesn't redirect all movement out-of-game to in-game, so movement in-game can still be transmitted to the muscles out-of-game. As a result, reports of people's muscle memory retaining the game's automated systems - though rare as they be - haven't been unheard of.

I let a small smile slip out when I realized that she switched my sheets back to the Golden edition for me.

'Just how much attention were you paying to me?' I wondered to myself. It also made me wonder why she never found out that I was trying to save up for the game for her...

"Mom, are you here?" I ask after not hearing anything from her.

I went to her office to see if she was there. It was a small area, made even smaller by the ridiculous amounts of books present that were as old as my grandmother if not older, lined on the three bookshelves that overtook the wall! There were many more packed in towering stacks next to the shelves! The only lighting was provided by a single window, which was open, letting in a gentle stream of wind in.

'Geeze, why must mom be so weird and have all of these shelves of books.' I thought as I idly took up one and read its cover, 'Everything is is electricized now, she could keep many more and not have some massive mess to deal with.' I continued as I placed the book back.

Frankly the amount of old semi musky books in this room make me nauseous, but I couldn't possibly ask mom to do something about it! And why would I? She seems the most at peace with her books. "It's her own personal treasure." she said to me once when I asked. I never understood her then, still don't really understand even now, but if it's like how I am with BMO, then I can relate a bit at least.

I walked to her desk feeling weird at how neat the place is. There wasn't a single day when I could look into her room and see the floor through all the clutter, but now I'm finding out that the tiles in this room were brown and patterned, much unlike the straight white tiles that cover every other floor in the house.

Shaking off the feeling, I went to her desk and felt the laptop on it. It was ice cold, not a trace of warmth indicating that she turned it on at all over the course of a day!

"So she was not here, huh." I mumbled to myself, stepping back out of the room and closing the door.

I walked around the house to her usual places looking for her, but turning up with nothing! She wasn't at the window looking over the roses in our backyard, she wasn't sleeping in the living room couch, she wasn't in the kitchen, pantry, or basement, she wasn't even in the bathroom!

'Where could she be?!' I thought, feeling frantic! I'd have thought she went out for something, but her only pair of outdoor shoes where still by the front door!

'Wait, she couldn't be...' I thought to myself as I remember one room I didn't check yet, 'But that can't be, could it?'. I weighed my options and figured that if it wasn't here, then I'd have to call the police!

'But how can that be?! She hasn't been in that room in at least a year!!! What happened?!' Worry crept in as my brain started denying the possibility of it being the case.

I reached up the stairs and was on my way to my mom's room when I heard something from it! I sounded, strangely enough, a lot like,

'Mumbling?!' I thought in shock!

For those of you who haven't figured it out yet, my mom avoids her room like the plague! If I wouldn't dare set foot in it, then she wouldn't even want to set eyes on the place! Every time she goes in there, she comes back out the next morning with puffy eyes and a pained expression on her face! She started with spending a night a week on the couch, then a few more, then weeks, then before I knew it, she already had a set up out on the couch!

I went to her room and silently opened the door, so as not to disturb her sleep, only to find that she was in the game. Looks like she went on after all!

I felt a grin plaster itself on my face as I went to take her more comfortable, seeing as she was on the floor.

'It seems that she still can't sleep on the bed huh?' I thought to myself, finding it cute and a little sad that she willing went foetal position on the floor even with a king size bed beside her.

After I was done I felt her stir under the sheet that I tucked her under, and heard her mumble something under her breath that was along the lines of 'stupid', a small blush appearing on her cheek and an even smaller smile showing up on her lips!

I couldn't keep my grin in check after that. . .

After that I went down to the kitchen to make both of us some sandwiches. I then headed for the fridge to have a nice glass of milk...

Well that was the idea but the milk was done...

Oh well, I'll go get some after I play some more. I finished eating mine in record time and practically ran back to the game.

"Time to jump back in." I put back on my gear, started up the terminal, and jumped back in-game.