Picking up my sister

I watch the T.V. and go through my favorite channels. Nothing good is on, which means there is no reason to continue sitting here. I stand up and walk over to my garage door and open it. My car is fully charged and ready to go. I unplug it and press the button on my key, so it powers up. The door opens as I get closer, and I hop in. I put my hands on the wheel as it notifies me of the weather outside. It's sunny and a nice 79 degrees. Before I put it in reverse, my phone goes off. I take it out, and I transfer the call to my holo-caller in my car. "What were you trying to get a hold of me for? You know I'm working right now." My hardworking sister Jessica has decided to call me back.

I smile and prepare my attempt to convince her to come. "Mom has invited us to come over and have spaghetti dinner. I was wanting to know if you are interested in coming. I can pick you up from your apartment on my way there if you want?" She looks at me with criticism and turns the holo-call off. I guess that's a no. She must be working extra today. I spent an hour and 20 minutes watching T.V., so I have 40 minutes to get to Mom and Dad's. I put my car in reverse and pull it out of the garage as it begins to open. I reverse it out of the driveway and onto the street. Right before I put it in drive, I get another call. I link it to the holo-call, and my sister pops up again. "I take it you changed your mind?" She sighs and nods her head. "I'll be there in 15 minutes." I turn it off and put my car in drive.

I think about what that email said. That the grade on the special mission I'll get will be important. A feature of the game has been revealed to me. Quests, or at least some of them, will be graded. The developers have done an excellent job keeping information from leaking. With the release date being so close, why would they slip up now? Maybe it was on purpose? Gaia's Awakening currently has the highest player count, and Lost world is right behind it. Genesis Rebirth has been gaining traction lately with its DLC's, but now that The Aeternus Universe is coming out, it'll burn to a halt. I've been playing Gaia's Awakening since I was 15 years old. It's been out much longer than that, though. I find the game to be a staple in DDVR and VRMMORPG's history.

All good things must come to an end, though. All three of those games are over 70 years old. Gaia's Awakening is the oldest at 122 years. It's been very hard for other games to become relevant with the domination that Gaia's Awakening has shown. Things don't usually last long in the world of gaming, but when DDVR technology was created, that changed. In 2145 the world had access to new realities in the virtual space. The gaming world was forever changed, and company's that refused to change with it perished. Electronic Arts were among the titans that fell since the incorporation of loot boxes and pay to win mechanics were banned for DDVR's. This makes me question the action that The Aeternus Universe took by having tiered pre-orders.

If anything, they exploited a loophole they found. I can only guess what is going through their heads. I stop thinking about all that and enjoy the relaxing ride. After 10 or so minutes, I pull up in front of a crappy apartment complex and see my sister talking to a guy as she waits outside for me. They are arguing, and it only looks to get worse. I pull up and get out of my car. Jessica sees this and goes for the passenger side door and hops in. "Let's leave, Scott. I don't want to be here right now." I look at the man and notice he is around Jessica's age. He looks at me angrily and is getting ready to fight. He walks up and gets in my face. I'm several inches taller than he is. As I stand at 6'3, it does not deter this man.

He points at me and takes a breath. "THIS IS THE GUY YOU HAVE BEEN SEEING BEHIND MY BACK, YOU WHORE!?!" This guy doesn't even know I'm Jessica's little brother. We have the same blue eyes and dirty blonde hair. He must be blinded by rage. "YOU THINK YOU CAN FUCK MY GIRL AND GET AWAY WITH IT!? I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU REGRET EVER MEETING THIS BITCH!!" I've had enough of him calling my sister so many untrue things. I ball my fist and land two fast and hard strikes to his left cheekbone. He stumbles back and puts up his hands, but he tilts from side to side. I kick him in the gut, and he kneels over. He is trying to catch his breath, but it doesn't sound like he is doing such a good job at that.

I quickly land two more strikes to the left side of his temple, and now he is on the sidewalk, barely conscious. I stand over his head as he tries to stay conscious. "Don't ever come near my sister again, or I'll do a lot worse than knocking you out." He slowly nods his head up and down, and I make it back to the driver's seat of my car. I hop in and leave the scene. I look at my sister as I see her makeup smear from her tears. She tries to avoid eye contact with me, but the more I stare at her, the more she breaks down. "Ex-boyfriend, I take it. Sorry I had to do that." She shakes her head and wipes the tears away. "You're coming to stay with me. I don't want you living in this part of LA. I won't take no for an answer." She stays quiet as she tries to stop crying.

I reach my hand over and rub the back of her neck. Dad would do this for us when we were stressed out. "I thought he was different, you know... It turns out he is an abusive jerk who has a jealous streak..." I continue to rub the back of her neck as I drive us to Moms. "It'll only be a couple of day's alright. I can't be somewhere he knows about. I'll find a new place and move my stuff there in a few days." I'll let her say whatever will make her feel better, but I have a feeling she'll be staying at my nice house with a city view for longer than a few days. We ride in silence all the way to our parent's house. I look, and I see that dad is already home. It is around the time he gets off the day shift. Jessica is finally smiling as we pull up to the house.

I park the car and get out with my sister. We slowly walk up to the door and open it. "We're here, Mom!" Jessica yells out to mom before I can find her to help me hide dad's gift. They both turn the corner, and I watch his face light up seeing the coffee. I sigh and give up. One day early isn't bad, they walk up to us, and I hand the coffee to dad and hug mom. "I'm sorry I missed all your calls, mom. I was working, and we were swamped when you called." Mom waves her off and gives a bright smile. They both head into the living room, immediately find something to talk about. I look at dad, and he sighs. We smile and follow them into the living room after dad puts away the coffee. "Scott took care of him, though. I thought he could have been different..." Dad and I sit down as the conversation ends.

I look at Jessica, and she seems to be doing a lot better than earlier. "What were you two talking about?" Dad asks, seeing the messed up makeup on my sister's face, and Jessica shakes her head no at mom. Mom proceeds to explain the story's details she just heard from Jessica. I watch my 6'4 father's face morphs in anger and rage. "I'll KILL THAT LITTLE INSECT!!" Mom quickly gets up and calms dad down. "LILY, YOU HEARD WHAT HAPPENED!!" I sigh and look at my sister with sympathy. "C'MON, SCOTT!! I'LL NEED A WITNESS ON MY SIDE TO LIE FOR ME!!" I crack a smile at the seething rage of my father. Nobody ever messes with his baby girl. I stand up and head into the kitchen to let mom calm him down.

Jessica decides to join me so her makeup smeared and teary-eyed face doesn't upset dad anymore. "It's okay, James. She is okay. Scott already took care of him." We both hear mom quietly and calmly bring down dad's rage. I around the kitchen and notice that everything is ready to start cooking. I walk over to the sauce mixes wrapped from being pre-prepared in the fridge. I bring my finger down to it and almost get a taste. "Scott, save your appetite for dinner." How does she know... She can't even see me. Jessica laughs at the confused look on my face. Mom has a sixth sense about this stuff.