Steelz

I have been writing a lot more recently thanks to sprints I have been doing with another author, so much so that I've prepared 3 chapters within a span of 2 days, totalling the remaining stockpile of chapters to 8 (14 in total). I have held back on posting them due to my reluctance to editing them but from here onwards, I will try and post/schedule chapters daily till we all catch up to the remaining stockpile of chapters.

The bus soon arrived. Despite how my family comforted me, the nervousness soon returned when I thought about it more realistically. When has the world ever been kind to me?

The windy breeze swept past me as I ruminate about the past events I had been through. My body shivered. I wasn’t sure whether it was because of the chilly winter morning or the ever-consuming dread, but as I grew anxious, a warm hand latched around my palm.

It was lukewarm, like the coming heat from spring. My eyes turned to Dolores, happily chiming beside me. She carried a cheerful smile, which melted my worries away. ‘It will be fine’, I told myself. But I knew it was simply a delusion. What was to come would surely not be good, but these thoughts gave me the strength to move on further.

“Let’s go Dolores,” I smiled back at her.

“Alright brother,” she happily replied, before snaking her arms around mine. If anyone were to see us, they’d think of us as a couple; if there were any people that is.

We continued our way through the town. Dozens of broken and decrepit houses pass us by, reminding me of the world’s grim setting. They were all abandoned houses, yet for some reason, I could feel something staring back at us.

After walking down for 15 minutes, we reached a bus stop. I had never travelled this far on foot before, so I took my time surveying the surroundings. Despite how gloomy everything looked, the town still had a certain indescribable charm to it. Like a sense of mystery and searching for the unknown, similar to an isolated town where disaster had struck.

Dolores and I just stood there, spending our time with some idle chatter. As the conversation became interesting, the drumming sound of the engine came beyond the horizon. It was deafening almost. The rattling dissonance reminded me of old unmaintained diesel engines.

As the choppy sound grew louder, I could make out the bus heading at us. It was like the one I used before, except somehow in an even worse condition. A smashed windshield with missing shards of glass, a rusted metal which jutted out into sharp edges, even dozens of holes which riddled it; some bigger than my head.

I looked at it cautiously as it came to a stuttering halt in front of us. With caution, I headed into the ramshackle bus. It was a wonder how it was still working, but the world made little sense in the first place. I looked back to see my sister still standing there at the bus stop.

“Won’t you get on the bus?” I asked her. She smiled back helplessly.

“This bus isn’t for me. I will come after you a bit later.”

Yet again, it was just going to be alone, but I wasn’t as concerned this time, since she promised that she will soon follow suit. The bus drove away as we still maintained our gazes connected, only to be broken away from the following turn. I sighed helplessly before sitting down on the squeaky seat. This would be the start of my new life soon.

---

After a half-hour journey, we finally reached my new school. If I were to explain it, it would be an inexplicable scenery. Unlike the dreary theme the entire world was riddled with, it was surprisingly lively. The trees looked flushed with a properly paved pathway between them; the colours didn’t look as bleak as before. It was as if I entered my old world again.

I would’ve thought I indeed did return to my old world if it weren’t for the young girls heading into the building. Their features were too pristine and perfect to be deemed human. It would be a lie if it did not remind me of my time in kindergarten. The crowd of women just made me rethink those days.

Another thing to take note of was the lack of the bulb headed people. There were none of them here except for the driver. It looked like the place was just a normal girl’s high school, but I had known better than to judge things just from the cover.

Warily, I made my way out of the bus. A few of the girls glanced at me before getting back to their own business. It didn’t seem I had caught anyone’s attention yet. I crept up to the enormous gate. It had a welcoming feeling, one which comforted my nerves.

The rustling leaves and strong wind felt like they were greeting me. The atmosphere filled me with positivity. This would be a new chapter in my story, a new beginning. Taking a deep breath, I took my first step into the school grounds.

My steps came to a grinding halt. It was the first time I ever saw this message. This panel… yes, this was a game world, wasn’t it? The pure black obelisk screen reminded me of the interface of the game’s menu screen, the one which ruined my life.

But I couldn’t help but wonder, why did it come now, why not earlier? There was no other indication, no status or settings, just a single line that told me very little. I foolishly tried to call out names, like a gesture or keyword to have it react somehow, yet nothing happened.

As I kept staring at the bone-white text, I noticed an even eerier pop up in the corner of my eye. It was something hazy and all blurred out. As I put my attention towards it, the words and bar became clearly distinct. In bold white font, it wrote the word “suicide”. I audibly gulped.

I looked left and right. No one seemed to be able to notice the floating panel. Before I drew any more attention, I headed towards the side of the school, hoping to find a quiet place. After running around for a minute, I was dead tired. My body wasn’t able to put up with the physical load due to lack of exercise.

I returned my attention back to the new pop-up. Should I try touching it? No, despite how miserable I felt, I wasn’t willing to die just yet. Hoping I could get something more out of this ‘system’, I tried other actions.

It was like talking to a brick wall, or at least a black glass pane. The welcome message had long since disappeared. Only the ominous words remained floating in the corner of the eye.

I could infer one thing from it at least, the message it was sending. The game was likely to drive me to the brink of suicide. I couldn’t help but shiver at that thought. This might just all be the calm before the storm, it could potentially mean the real pain was about to begin.

A loud bang roared from the top of the school as the clanging sound of the brass bell broke me out of my train of thought. It was probably time for classes to start. I didn’t know what to do, I even thought of running away, but I had a feeling if I ran now, something bad would surely happen.

My indecisiveness got the better of me. In the end, I took a look at the classes, at least to scout for more information. It said the tutorial had started after all. If we were to see the situation from the perspective of a player, I just needed to progress through the tutorial stages for now, at least until I could figure out what was going on.

Taking a deep breath, I readied myself for what was about to come...