LA Project

“Oh, that was amazing! Victory for the Raptors! I bet I can kick your butts again-” “FRITZ.” “Jeez mom, what-” “DIDN’T I TELL YOU TO PICK YOUR SISTER UP FROM THE BIRTHDAY PARTY AT 4?!” “Mom, that's two hours away-” He groaned, ripping off his headset. At that very moment, his wristwatch beeped as the hour hand reached six. His mother shook her head. “You’ll be getting no VR till tomorrow. Dinner’s in one hour. Make sure to be there.” Fritz groaned but handed the glasses to his mom anyways. I’ll just play during recess so I’ll stay in diamond rank, he thought to himself bitterly as he flopped onto his bed. Finally! It was break time! Fritz bounced up and down on the bench in the canteen that he was sitting on, holding his coveted VR glasses in his hands. “Yes! FREEDOM!” He whisper-shouted. He slipped the straps over his head and ducked his head down. The controls in his hands buzzed as he entered the world of virtual reality. Minutes passed with him swinging his and pressing his controls like his life depended on it. In this moment, he felt absolutely invincible. Even as the chatter around him subsided, he stayed hooked on his VR glasses. “...Fritz? Are you there? Fritz! Do you hear me?” Someone tapped on his headset. “Leave me alone...” He muttered under his breath instinctively. “I don’t think so.” His VR headset was ripped off mercilessly by... Oh no. Ms Janice loomed in front of him, his headset dangling from her finger. “The bell has rung.” She pointed to the clock at the very front of the canteen. 9.22am. He was a whole period late! His focus was averted when she rattled the VR glasses. He hissed. No one treated them like that. He reached towards the strap hungrily but it was ripped from his grasp once again. “You’re not getting this till you give an explanation to why you’re late.” Fritz opened his mouth. Nothing. “So you don’t have an explanation?” Ms Janice said sweetly. “Well, this’ll be mine till school ends.” Fritz’s hands clenched his controls as the pressure on his eyes increased tenfold. His rank... His rewards... There was no way he’d be able to join ranked battle if he didn’t have the glasses for lunch! It was only open from 12.15pm to 1pm... But it was too late. Ms Janice wasn’t one to let students off the hook. He was doomed... “Oh, and you’ll be getting detention till 4pm as well.” The cherry on top of his horrendous cake. Just perfect. Now he’d have to miss part of finale too! He knew the big guys were going expect him to be there too. Now they’d think he was too wuss to battle them! Ms Janice simply shrugged in response to his pleading gaze. ”Your fault.” She said, following him as he stomped out of the canteen huffing. He gave her his sharpest glare he could muster as she gestured to the controls in his hands. He walked slowly back to class, shooting her one last glare as they reached his classroom. “Attitude like that gets you detention till 6!” Ms Janice chirped. He didn’t need her putting icing on his cake as well. “You’ll regret that,” he muttered to himself spitefully. Back in his bedroom, Fritz was in heaven. “Gold Machete acquired, Molten Scythe, here I come!” He hollered. As he focused back onto his game, the controls in his hands buzzed in warning again, his gameplay disturbed by the red drained battery sign. He half-heartedly grabbed the charging wire and plugged it into the VR while playing, completely forgetting the warning not to play while charging the VR. He could see the temple ahead where the scythe was being kept. He rushed towards the opening of the temple. “Yes...” he murmured, his avatar shooting towards it at full speed. “Yes...” He readied his thumb on the equip button. As he got closer, the game seemed to freeze. “No...come on...” The screen started to glitch. Heat radiated from where his hands gripped the controls. A pungent smell stung his eyes. He continued pressing the buttons, not paying any mind to his watering eyes. “Just...start...working!” He yelled to the headset. The screen lit up with a blinding white light. Fritz ripped off his glasses, watching the final burst of energy fade away into black. A loose wire popped out from the headset. “No...COME BACK!!” He wailed to the impassive black screen. He begged, but the screen stayed in its unchanging state. His controls sat silent and unmoving in his hands, letting out a sad gargled beep only when Fritz smashed them into the floor. “T-this can’t be...” He sank to the cold hard floor, his hands gripping onto his blanket that had fallen onto the floor, his mind now nothing but a raging sea of despair. He simply couldn’t face the world without his VR glasses with him. The next few days Fritz spent was in his bedroom. It had been only three days without his VR glasses, but he felt like he was drowning. ‘Dramatic’, his dad had called him. But he hadn’t had to experience feeling his limbs and throat turning into stone imagining that scythe in someone’s else’s inventory. The news from his friends telling him that the scythe came with a special emote based off his favourite show that HE would’ve rocked didn’t help either. But even if he knew how to hack it back, he couldn’t do anything. After his meltdown, his parents had sent his VR headset to a technician to fix, but it would take a week. His description of his pain didn’t seem to faze the psychiatrist that he’d been scheduled to meet though. “Why aren’t you telling me I’m dramatic?” He’d asked half-heartedly. “This is a normal reaction for... kids like you.” His mother squeezed his hand tighter beside him. Her knuckles were white. When they got home, he finally asked the question that had been on his mind the whole way back. “Do you know why I’m...” His mother hadn’t said a word, and simply sent him back to his room. For the next few hours, he thought about what was wrong with him that had made him this way. He felt at peace now, after he’d eaten the pills his psychiatrist had prescribed to him for the next few days. But the question continued to nag at him. It was answered, but not in a way he’d liked. He hadn’t expected a piece of paper to explain so much. Printed in bolded letters, the words ‘Gaming Disorder’ and ‘Anxiety’ told him that this was also the reason why mom had reacted so strongly. The diagnosis had also stated something about obsession with games and escapism as well. He looked up from the paper, a strange calmness settling around him as his mom smiled back encouragingly. Of course, that was before his eyes landed on a side note stating that he wouldn’t be able to touch his VR glasses for the next few months. It was only when he swallowed the pill, now given as long term medication, did he feel the sense of eerie yet comforting feeling. It felt almost empty. Like the cupboard where his VR glasses used to reside. But there were new things. Neatly labelled bottles with medication sat on his dresser. His phone was now replaced with a book. He hadn’t read it since he’d gotten addicted. He’d missed it. It was still hard to admit that he was addicted, but he’d gotten better at it. A neatly planned timetable for him to follow helped with his anxiety too. Sometimes his family still made comments on his ‘childish’ behaviour. But less. And the most recent change of all. One that changed the lens he used to view the world. Literally. The shining black frame of his new and first pair of glasses sat on his nose now. There was a slight bruise from where the VR glasses used to be, but it was healing now. Like him. He still regretted passing by that new gadget shop that fateful day, but hey, it’s not about his past, but his future. And maybe it isn’t filled with quite as many Molten scythes or dancing emotes, but at least it was clearer.