The constant buzzing of incoming messages roused Casey up. Her job may have paid her well but she was always busy and was expected to be on call twenty four seven. She knew her parents were proud of her career but sometimes, she just wanted to give it all up for a slow life.
She shook her head and gave herself a rueful smile. She’d been reading far too many web novels of that genre recently… with a sigh, she reluctantly got out of bed. It wasn’t often that she could sleep in but it was best if she didn’t overdo it.
Actually, looking at the time, she would bet that she was the last one out of bed. Not good. If she had gotten up earlier, maybe they could have gone out for breakfast.
“Good afternoon, princess.”
Their father greeted her with a smile. Casey looked at the clock and pouted.
“It’s ten minutes to noon, dad.”
“Close enough. What were you and your brother doing last night? I’m pretty sure I heard the TV downstairs.”
“Oh, Derek was gaming and I was watching.”
Their father shook his head. He didn’t really approve of his children still playing video games but they were adults who paid for it themselves. Aside from this gaming addiction, the two of them were surprisingly wholesome. They never stayed out late or smoked or drank.
“What time will you be leaving later?”
“Around three thirty, I think. I want to make it back before nightfall.”
It was a two to three hour drive back, depending on the traffic. Casey normally didn’t stay for dinner but her mother might make her a thermos of food.
“Let’s go out for lunch and then you can pack your things.”
The family normally ate out. Mrs Thran didn’t have the energy to spend long hours in the kitchen and the food wasn’t too expensive anyway.
They sat in the hawker centre and waited for their orders. Casey was checking her phone.
“Work?” her mother asked.
“Nothing too urgent. Just what I need to start on tomorrow.”
“You can do it.”
“I know. Thanks”
Derek who was sitting next to her saw her press a colourful app.
“Work?” he raised his eyebrow.
“That was earlier. Now it’s playtime.”
Derek shook his head. If she wasn’t reading web novels in spades, she was playing casual games seriously. If he had not seen her business card before, he would have thought that his sister was a NEET who was living off some secret inheritance.
“Stop playing games and talk to me. Will you be back for the holidays next month?”
Mrs Thran interrupted them. Casey turned off the game app and checked her calendar.
“I think so… I should be able to take an additional day or two as well. Then I can spend more time with you guys.”
Mrs Thran smiled and nodded. She loved it when her children were with her.
The food arrived and they had their meal. They later stopped at a nearby supermarket, where Mrs Thran bought some groceries for dinner. Casey agreed to take the soup her mother would stew, along with some braised meat. When she got home, all she would need to do was cook a pot of rice, heat everything up and dinner would be settled.
By the time they got home, it was a little after two. Casey went upstairs to pack her laptop, and other things. She could be a complete scatter brain sometimes so it was better to pack everything in advance. There had been a time when she actually left her phone behind and had to drive all the way back home to get it. Derek had teased her for a month. And spammed her group chat with another good friend of theirs.
Once done, she laid on her bed and took out her phone again.
“Hmmm?” she frowned when she looked at the screen. There was an app there that she had not seen before.
“Shift? What sort of app is this?”
Before she could click on it, Derek knocked on her open door.
“Are you done packing? Mum told me to tell you to take a nap if you’re still tired. She doesn’t want you drowsing behind the wheel.”
“I don’t think I’m tired…” Casey spoke too soon and a yawn broke out. She looked sheepishly at her brother.
“Take a nap. We’ll wake you up when it’s time to go.” Derek rolled his eyes at her. He turned to go before he stopped and walked in. Reaching over, he took the phone out of his sister’s hands.
“Hey!”
“If I leave this here, you’re more likely to play with your phone than to sleep. You know why you’ve got those eye bags. And it’s not from overtime either.”
Casey pouted but did not deny it either. She did have a serious phone addiction and it was wreaking havoc with her sleep. Sighing, she laid down and closed her eyes for a nap.
* * *
Derek sat on the living room sofa and whipped out his Shift. As long as his father did not see the new box and accessories, he could pretend that he had this console for a while.
It wasn’t nice to lie but as a person from the older generation, his father would sometimes sniff in disapproval at things that he thought were too expensive or unnecessary.
Derek had a hard time because of this, especially because he was at home and still trying to get a job. He still had his savings and whatever pocket money his sister gave him but their father always seemed affronted at them spending money on little luxuries that he deemed frivolous. As for his job hunting progress, so far nearly all the jobs that he had applied for had not responded. The one that had called him for a second interview was the one that was in the town Casey was in. Derek thought getting out of the family home might be a good idea.
He gave a small sigh and moved his thoughts away from depressing adult life and put them into his new console. Opening the main screen, he found a strange game there.
“Shift?”
Derek frowned. The good thing about the new console was that it would allow him to import games from older generations, as long as he had a Ninja account. This morning while he was waiting for his sister to wake up, he’d downloaded the games that he liked playing into the console. He’d splurged on a 1TB micro SD card after all.
“Was there a game called that? How come I don’t remember?”
He clicked on the game and waited for it to load.
“No saved file? That’s weird”
The words [Start a new game?] appeared.
Derek decisively pressed the cancel button. He was not interested in a game he had not heard of or played before. He assumed that he had downloaded it in a bundle and the game had slipped in without his noticing. He clicked the settings and tried to delete the game.
“Unable to delete? What is this, a bug?”
Derek shrugged. The newer consoles would sometimes have bugs that needed to be worked out. Maybe this was one of them. He exited the settings and chose another game, figuring that he could see if there was any info on this later. He played for nearly an hour before his mother interrupted him and told him to wake his sister up.
Putting his console away, he went upstairs to cajole his sleepy sister up. After giving her a cup of coffee and making sure that she was capable of driving, the family sent her off.
He was going to get back to his game but he was stopped by his mother, who gave him a list of chores to do. By the time he was done, they received a text from Casey saying that she had reached home safe and sound.
Since it was cooler now, Derek went for a jog before dinner. After a shower and dinner, Derek spent some time with his father in front of the TV before he turned in for the night. He had forgotten about the buggy game that his Shift had downloaded.
That night, he had a strange dream.
* * *
Casey was exhausted when she got back. Driving long distance was monotonous and more often than not, made her drowsy. Thankfully she had had her coffee and managed to survive another two hour drive intact. Sometimes sleepy driving was just as dangerous as drunk driving.
She dropped all of her things on the living room sofa and sighed when she looked at her messy apartment. She groaned at the thought of having to tidy the house but she needed to; she was allergic to dust.
So while the rice was cooking, she quickly vacuumed the house and changed her bed sheets. Putting a load of laundry to wash, she went to take a shower.
After exiting the shower, she looked at the mountain of clean clothes in the hamper and opened her cupboard. Yup, there was still enough ironed clothes to last her for the week. She can put it off till next week.
There were times when adulting was too much of a bother.
After dinner, she at the very least did the dishes before getting into bed. It was only 10pm but Casey felt like she’d been on her feet the whole day. When she thought about the fact that she would have to go to work tomorrow, she buried her head under the blankets and started praying to be transmigrated or summoned to another world.
It was wishful thinking of course but it was what got her through the day. She looked at her phone and wondered if she should read or play a game before she went to sleep. That was when she noticed the Shift app from earlier.
Casey really couldn’t remember when she had downloaded that. Perhaps it was one of the pre-installed apps in her phone. She clicked on it to see if it was worth keeping.
“No saved files? Is this a game app?”
Casey was confused. If it was a game, shouldn’t it say [Start new game?]. What a strange app. She didn’t understand what the app wanted so she shut it down. She was prepared to delete it but she gave a loud yawn instead. She blinked, trying to keep her eyes open.
It was not possible. She placed her phone on the bedside table and switched off the lights instead. Deleting it now or later made no difference. She closed her eyes and fell asleep.
