38. Chase
38
Chase
Sunday
T he perfect day.
It was going to be today. I thought I could leave without spending any time with them. If I could distance myself, cut off any ties, it would be easier for all of us. Part of me wished I had done it that day back at the bridge, before school had even started, but I had pushed and pushed until the deadline was imminent.
My father’s texts were getting more and more aggressive as my birthday drew closer. You’ll be nobody. You’ll have nothing. On the streets. Homeless. Though he never said it directly, I felt driven toward this being my only option.
It started off at midnight. Lachlan and I were already thrown into our game. The house all around me was silent, empty as always. The glow from my computer was my only light.
“Owned!” Lachlan shouted into the mic, talking in our private chat. I laughed. I fought alongside him as we battled a group of ravenous banshees. They were level fifties but still no match for us.
“Shit. Heal, heal, heal!”
“I got you,” he said, fixing my quickly depleting health.
“My trigger finger is cramping.”
Lachlan burst out laughing again. As the last banshee fell and the golden scepter of Ichmar was revealed, we burst out into a round of whoops and ahhhh yeahs .
“That only took, what? Four hours?” I shook my head.
“Yep. All for an imaginary scepter,” he said.
“A golden imaginary scepter.” We wandered around for a bit. Lachlan was looking for another quest, but I figured now was the time. “Hey, Lach…we’ve been playing this game for a long time.”
There was a stretch of silence, and I could almost picture Lachlan’s mind churning as he computed what I had said. That I hadn’t called him by his gamer tag. But, really, it came as no surprise to me when he responded, as if he had known all along. “We have, Chase… When did you find out?”
I smiled. “From the beginning. I found out that they allowed some inmates to play online games as rewards, so I just kept cycling through random games until I…heard your voice.”
“All this time? Why didn’t you say something?”
I was afraid. I had lost Ethan and Bailey, and this seemed like the only way I could keep him. How did I tell him that, though? I had no hold over him. Who was I to him but an old friend? “How long have you known? Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Would you believe me if I told you I was afraid?” I smiled in disbelief. Of course, Lachlan would be the one to tell me how he actually felt, instead of being like me and refusing to admit it. “When I was first put into juvie… Imagine everything being stripped from you. You are nobody. I felt like I was screaming my story, trying to tell my truth, and no one was listening. It was nice, hearing your voice. Playing this game. It was nice just to have an hour of normalcy. And when I got out, I thought I would tell you, but…everyone had changed in a year. Before I knew it, it had been three.”
“It’s crazy how people can change in a day. In an instant.”
“You’re not mad?” he asked.
I…had no more room to be mad. No more reason. Today, today would be a good day. “No. Not mad. I have regrets, but don’t we all? Are you busy today?”
“No. No plans.”
“Can you do me a favor?”
“Yeah, man, whatever you like.”
“Today…is going to be a good day.”