Knock~ knock~

  A young boy stood before a large door leading to a study. He has rarely gone in, everyone in the house knows that the study is off limits to most.

  “Come in.” Having been given permission, the young boy pushed the door open and walked into the study.

  “I heard you were in here, father.” The boy spoke softly. He approached the middle-aged man seated at the very end of the study.

  “Yes, I had a few documents to review.” He had reading glasses on, and in front of him were stacks of documents. He didn't raise his head, even as he replied to his son.

  “Documents…” the boy muttered, glancing at the pile on his father's desk. He nodded his head, a slight frown on his face. “You missed it.” He added. The father looked up at his son, he removed his glasses, eerie purple pupils staring at his son.

  “How was your graduation?” he sighed as he asked, the tiredness in his voice evident.

  “You didn't come.” the boy replied curtly, his voice low.

  “I was bu-”

  “I've been the perfect son,” he interrupted, "I did everything you wanted, when you wanted them and how you wanted them. I'm the best amongst all of your children, and I've never once asked for one thing from you. One would think you would at least have the decency to show for my graduation.” The boy's voice gradually increased until he was yelling. His fist was clenched by his side, his body trembled as he tried but failed to rein in his anger.

  The father smiled, a sad smile, “My presence wouldn't have changed anything.”

  “What did I do wrong? Why won't you acknowledge me? Is it because of my moth-”

  “Don't speak about your mother that way.” the father cut off, a seething fury in his voice, “I loved your mother…” There was a sudden change in the atmosphere. The father was now standing, his eyes were cold, and the next words that came out of his mouth sharp as blades.

  “Let me ask you a question, boy,” the father began, walking towards his son, “If I place all five of my children in a forest, who do you think will come out first?”

  “That depends on what you ask us to do.” the boy replied without hesitation.

  “Wrong. I may not be sure as to who will come out first, but I know one thing for sure, you wouldn't come out at all.” Now, the father was looming over the boy, staring him down.

  The boy furrowed his brows, confused. A pang of sadness coursed through the father's eyes. His voice softened, “You heard that I wanted a valedictorian child, so you studied hard, you heard I loved your musical prodigy sister, so you devoted your spare time to music, same thing with archery, and martial arts and business studies.”

  “What's wrong with wanting to please my father?” The boy glared at his father with reddened, tear-filled eyes.

  “I DON'T NEED AN EMPTY HUSK TO DO MY BIDDINGS; I DON'T WANT A PUPPET! I WANT A SON,” the father yelled, “my son.” He said softly. “I want you to be you, do things that you love, act out, anything that shows you have a soul.”

  The father turned around, “You wouldn't understand. Your mother is the most beautiful woman I've ever met. Every time I look at you, you tarnish the memories I have of her.” The father returned back to the chair by the window, “this little tantrum you threw is more than anything you've ever done.”

  The boy stood, speechless. He wanted to say something, his mouth opened and closed many times, but words wouldn't come out. ‘It's not my fault; it's not something I can control.’ He wanted to say, but instead, he stood there, tears were streaming down his face. His heart ached, and he was angry and furious and absolutely livid, but most of all, he was heartbroken. All he wanted to hear were the words “I'm proud of you.”

  The boy sniffed, wiping his tears. He burned the image of his father seated by the window l, going through documents like his son wasn't having an emotional breakdown, then he turned around and walked out of the room. He walked out of the room, the House, the Compound, not once did he look back. He was scared that if he did, he might forgive him.

  It just so happened that it poured heavily on that day, drenched in the rain, he kept on walking.

  Thunderstruck…

  …

  Rumble~

  Ephron's eyes snapped open, purple orbs staring at white ceiling, tears streaming down one side of his face. He registered the sadness in his heart long before he heard the sound of his alarm. He sat up, staring blankly for a while before sighing,

  ‘It's been a while since I dreamt of that day.’ he thought. It had been eighteen months since he left home. He thought he would be over that day by now, but he wasn't. He dreamt of it, he thought of it, sometimes, he hallucinated that his father was standing at a corner, watching his every move, and judging him whenever he didn't make decisions of his own. He was scarred.

  “I'm fine… I'm okay…” he muttered. He glanced at the time; a few minutes past seven. “I better head to work.”

  He wiped his face and headed to the bathroom. It took all but five minutes for him to brush, bath and get dressed. He wore a pair of black slacks, white shirt, a black-emerald hoodie with the words ‘Red Kite’ on it, and a khaki jacket. It's cold outside, and his job entails he spends most time on the road.

  Ephron stood before his mirror, he brushed his hair with his hand, tapped it down before pressing on it with his face cap. He took a quick glance around, the apartment was small, two rooms, one that served as a bedroom and living room mesh, and the other as a kitchen and dining area which he never used, and a bathroom.

  He opened his refrigerator in the kitchen area, grabbed a premade sandwich along with his keys and his mobile phone before heading out. The door beeped behind him, a sign that it locked just fine.

  It took twenty minutes to get to the Depo he worked at on the office Moped; Ephron ate his sandwich while driving. When he arrived, the place was packed, as usual. Red Kite is a well-known delivery company, they had close to five hundred couriers, possibly more. Ephron was one too.

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  He parked his Moped and headed towards the packaging area to pick up a few deliveries. Package, tracking documents and recording tablet, those were the three essentials. Ephron adjusted his cap as he walked through the place, eighty percent of the workers here were above thirty, hence he barely spoke to anyone.

  “Hey! Ron!” He turned around to see a familiar face rushing toward him, neat dorky hair, hazy brown eyes behind glasses that could have been binoculars, and one of the few people close to Ephron’s age that worked at the depo. He was also Ephron's best friend, Elliott.

  Ephron rolled his eyes, his lips curling into a small smile as he waited for the boy to catch up.

  “Hey, you're later than usual, I normally only see you when you are about to leave, and you pretend like you don't hear me calling you.” Elliott rambled on.

  “I have deliveries to get to.” Ephron shrugged.

  “What route are you taking today? I know you always try not to repeat routes.” Ephron has the habit of trying to run through every part of the city possible and Elliott has a habit of following him around and trying to make everything a contest.

  “I don't know, the old man always surprises us.” They arrived at the pickup station. There were different stations and while most people just go to random stations, Ephron and Elliott had a particular station they frequented, manned by old man Frederick.

  Frederick knew about the boys' habit, well, Ephron's habit, so he would gather packages along close routes and help the boys plan their deliveries efficiently. This way, they delivered more packages than most other couriers and his station receives extra bonus too.

  “Hey! My favourite courier!” Old man Frederick smiled the moment he spotted the duo, contrary to his nickname, he was a man in his early forties. Elliott perked up and rushed forward, the old man's smile vanished. “I wasn't talking to you, Elliott. Didn't you notice the singularity of my sentence?”

  ‘Is that correct?’ Elliott thought even as a whole different set of words left his mouth, “Gosh, old man, would it kill you to be nice for once? I mean, I'm at least second…” There was a pause, Elliott had a proud smile on his face. “I'm second, right?” His smile was replaced with desperation as he begged. Frederick ignored him.

  “Come back when you receive a better rating than Ron.”

  “Tsk, like anyone could have better ratings than Ron.” Elliott scowled.

  “I planned your routes around fifth avenue; this means you have to be extra punctual and extra careful. Most packages from that area are fragile, and very very expensive.”

  “I know.” Ephron said. There was a slight change in his tone, one that almost went but unnoticed, but was noticed.

  “Is something wrong?” Frederick asked.

  ‘Nope, nothing’s wrong, absolutely nothing. Well, except you count the fact that I might accidentally bump into a sibling of mine seeing as the fifth avenue is where my family house is located.’ Ephron stared at Frederick for a while before sighing, “No, it's perfect.”

  He grabbed the bag of orders, documents and headed for his Moped. The old man glanced at Elliott, who shrugged in reply that he knew nothing of nothing of what was going on. He picked up his bag and rushed after Ephron.

  Wanna race?” Elliott asked as he placed the bag into the Moped box.

  “No.” Ephron replied. He placed his deliveries in the box, locked them and got on his bike.

  “Why?” Elliott asked even while knowing the answer.

  “It's a waste of time, you always lose.” Ephron replied.

  “Well, I'll win this time.” Elliott blew raspberries as he zoomed off, “it's on!” he yelled, not ashamed of the cheating headstart he just gave himself.

  Ephron watched his back, a small smile on his face. He shook his head before starting his bike and zooming off.

  …

  ‘He looks like a kitsune…’

  “You just have to sign here, here and here.” Ephron handed the documents and tab over to a fox looking youth, trying his best not to stare. He glanced around the mall he was in, but it wasn't anything he had not already seen. The fox boy was casually dressed and the apron he donned on made it obvious he was the mall attendant.

  Ephron waited patiently for the fox boy to sign, then he handed him his parcel and began to head out when the words of a group of youths caught his attention.

  “Hey, did you hear, a world event is about to begin in metanoia. I heard it's gonna be so lit!”

  “I can't even begin to imagine how much it will affect the internet. It has had a monopoly over attention all over the world for the past six months.”

  Ephron slowed down as he approached the door, trying not to make it obvious he was listening to the conversation among them. This wasn't the first time he's heard of metanoia, this game was all over the place, in adverts, on vehicles, business buildings etc. Also, people who are popular in the game are stars in real life and it's changing the trends.

  Due to this game, more than seventy percent of youths don't have jobs, at least not active jobs in the real world. They are however employed in the game world and are earning good money that can be converted into real life money, and it's no small wage either. But it's not easy, it's said that it's just like an alternate world, that's why only youths mostly go for the game.

  “I honestly can't wait, it will be the first time people in the game truly gather around. We'll get to see so many stars.”

  “I hope I see Annissa, she's my queen.” The infatuation in the voice was palpable, Ephron shook his head in pity.

  “Are you interested?” Ephron turned around, a bit startled to see the fox looking youth standing behind him with a cunning, unnerving smile on his face. It was obvious he didn't intend to look that way, he probably wasn't used to interacting much. “The game, I mean.” He added, mistaking Ephron's shock for confusion.

  “I don't know. I've heard nice things about it, but… I don't know if it's worth diverting my attention to. I have a job already.” Ephron said, failing to totally hide the curiosity in his voice. He wanted to see it, to experience the game too, but he didn't. He was scared of making a decision that will affect what he had now and inevitably prove to his family if they saw him that he wasn't capable of making decisions on his own.

  “It is.” This time, he has a genuine smile, “This isn't just any game, it's Metanoia. You should try it.” The fox boy pulled out his phone, unlocked it and handed it over. “Your number.”

  Ephron paused for a second, then shrugged as he received the phone and inputted his number. “Ron.” He said his name. The fox boy called it immediately,

  Brr~

  Ephron felt his phone vibrate, so he picked it up to see an unknown number calling, no doubt the boy before him. He showed the boy before hanging up. “Shōji,” he said his name.

  “I know,” Ephron replied. He then pointed at the tag on the fox boy’s chest after seeing his confused look.

  The boy chuckled in embarrassment, before adding, “Give me a call if you have any questions.” he turned around to leave, but Ephron called him back.

  “Why?” He asked.

  “I'm about to start my journey to self-discovery too, but I don't want to walk it alone. I'm… scared. Like you said, it's a pretty big gamble leaving everything behind for a dream. I think I'll feel better knowing I'm not alone.”

  Ephron watched the boy return to the counter, he understood the boy more than he thought he would.

  ‘I should get back to my orders.’ Ephron walked out of the mall.