Hiraeth #3: Archive
Sarah meant a lot to me. She, being my girlfriend, really helped me through the times when I’m around in BoonRP. Even though we live away from each other—she’s from Hong Kong while I’m from Australia—we still are strong with our relationship, and it was going to be our second month together.
I groggily woke up, and with that, my UI rebooted, which was weird since the UI doesn’t disappear after a concussion.
In my UI, there was a message above saying “Paralyzed,” meaning I couldn’t move, so I decided to look around with my eyes. I was in a room, and in my right, there’s a huge glass pane like those things in interrogation rooms.
The door opens, and in came Kazzan and the “Paralyzed” came off, and I was happy to see someone, especially a good friend.
“KAZ!” I went up and hugged him tightly, he returned the favor.
“I’m sorry for what they did.”
“It’s okay.”
We both sat down.
“What happened there?” Kazzan gave me a worried look.
I told Kazzan everything that happened, and when I told him about the people that were burning or that were experiencing those things, his face turned to disgust.
“Have you screen recorded it? Since you still have admin privileges, right?”
“N-no, I haven’t,” and that whacked me on how stupid I was not to record that event.
Kaz gave me an empathetic face “It’s okay Joel, I’m sorry you have to go through that.”
“How’s Sarah? Is she okay?” and Kaz tensed up, like the feeling of when you’ve fucked something up.
“Joel, we didn’t see Sarah, nor the other Game Admins.”
“You’re making a mistake. Maybe your Medical Team took her and forgot to report you.”
“The only person the medical team treated was you, and the guy that you judo-ed.”
I gave him a stern look, but he consistently stayed with an empathetic face.
“It’s been 3 days since your anniversary, right?” Kaz sighed.
“Yeah, it was.”
“Joel.” Kazzan leans in.
“Sarah is dead.” And the whole atmosphere of the room became sad and sour.
“Kazzan, if you’re joking, it’s a bad time for your pran-“
“I’M NOT JOKING JOEL.” And I paused.
Water came down rushing from my eyes, and I started crying.
“It can’t be possible, right? She’s going to respawn, I know.”
“Joel, for the past few hours, no one has respawned. Not even NPCs or Bots.”
“Oh, God.” Tears went out from my eyes, they weren’t stopping.
Kazzan did a gulp, and he smiled.
“Joel, do you want to eat?”
I looked at him, and I wiped my tears.
“Sure.”
We arrived in the cafeteria. It was definitely huge, bigger than the Hogwart’s canteen. It had various amenities: a gun stall, items stall, and lots of stalls.
“Joel, I’m really sorry about everything,” and Kazzan gave me his handkerchief
“No, it’s okay, dude. I just need to process everything.”
I was eating ramen, which tastes like the one I usually eat in real life, and Kazzan was eating a steak sandwich.
“Was there anything said about anything, like a way out?” Kazzan asked.
“No, I’ve said everything,” and Kazzan tapped me on the shoulder.
“It’s gonna be alright Joel. We’ll find that guy who’s responsible for all of this, and he’ll pay,” and he gave me a smile, which I smiled back.
“Thanks, Kaz. You’ve been a good help.”
And we ate our foods, and suddenly…
“Hey, fuckwit.” Kazzan and I looked at the same direction. It was a girl that shouted.
“Lemong dum-dum,” Kazzan said.
A short blonde girl with the FIB uniform came in. When I looked at her, she looked cool. Brown-shaded safety glasses, mini earpiece, and a skull mask in her neck. She had the Korean Character, the second rarest item for girls in the game.
“Hey, it’s that douchebag.”
“Excuse me?” I told her sternly.
“Yeah, thanks to your judo skills, I dislocated my elbow. Good thing this was a game. Sheesh, can you men take it easy against a woman?”
“You were the person… I’m sorry.” I gave her a short bow.
“Your sorries don’t heal anything, you—WHAT THE HELL?” Kazzan pinched the rude lady.
“I’m sorry for her manners. This is Kimberly, just call her Kim.”
“I see.”
“Oy, what’s going on with him? Did he cry?” She looked at me, and she started laughing.
“What a pussy.” And Kazzan didn’t take lightly of it. I was so pissed I wanted to punch this bitch.
“I’ll go to your office, Kazzan” I gave them a smile, and I walked.
She pissed me off. I get it why she’s mad and all, but that’s too much. I can’t be insulted. Sarah died, and she dares to piss me off, but I guess she doesn’t know.
I walked into the elevator when the familiar voice shouted at me.
“Hey, wait up!” It was Kim, running into the elevator.
As a sign of revenge, I pressed the close button, but Kim used her sprint skill, and she managed to go inside of the elevator.
“So, how may I help?”
“Erm, I would like to apologize what I said earlier. I just learned Sarah was your girlfriend. I’m sorry.”
I felt tears coming out from my eyes, but I try to hold them back.
I turned to look at her: her eyes looking at her feet, her face full of sorrow and melancholy. I guess she was really sincere about that apology.
“Look.” I turn to look at her in her eyes. She looked at mine also, and with the sudden stare, her beautiful pixel eyes captivated me. I loved this character. Because it was the same model as Sarah’s. Only Sarah’s was the rarest of them all.
“I accept your apology, but on one condition,” I decided to have a little fun.
“What is it?” Her eyes looking around, like a lost puppy.
“Kneel down and beg.”
“WHAT? I WON’T KNEEL DOWN TO A LOWLIFE LIKE YOU” she shouted.
“I’m kidding. Treat me to some ramen, and we’ll be all right.”
“Sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure.”
She did a short “yay!” and she gave a smile.
“I’m Joel, by the way.” I stretched out my hand
“Kim,” and the both of us shook hands.
By the time we let go the elevator dinged signaling that the doors were open, and to our surprise, a girl wearing a leather jacket, long hair, jeans, and she gave us a smirk.
“Hello, Mr. Joel. It’s a pleasure to bump into you today. It’s been hours since you were in my building, and you have new friends,” she said in a British Indian accent.
“Who are you? And it’s nice to meet you as well.”
“Just call me…” She grins.
“Kanika.”