“I’m home!” Michael shouted as he entered his parent’s apartment on the third floor.

“Welcome back!”

A woman’s voice yelled back in reply from the kitchen.

Michael took off his shoes, and headed inside, he passed by the kitchen where Alice is currently preparing the table for dinner, then towards the living room where he saw Tom lying on the sofa while wearing the virtual helmet from Mine Tech.

“I’m gonna go get myself clean first” Michael said he passed by and headed towards his room at the corner, passed the living room.

“Alright, do it fast, we’re gonna have dinner soon” replied Alice, as she put a jar of orange juice on the table.

“Yes~”

Micheal then arrived inside his room here, the room is around twelve feet by twelve feet, and in one corner, there is a full size bed or also called double bed, and in another corner, opposite from the bed is a long desk, filled with different kinds of books, and a desktop at the corner part of the desk, near the window.

And there’s a medium sized drawer beside his desk, where Michael took a towel out from it and left his room, and headed towards the bathroom just outside of his room.

And a few moments later, the sound of running water is heard coming from inside the bathroom.

*****

“Ahh..so good” Michael said with satisfaction as he leaned on his chair.

“You must be really hungry dear” Alice said a bit shocked, seeing Michael devour at more or less half of the food served for dinner.

“Yeah, sorry. I really needed that, my body was really tired from earlier” Michael laughed as he downed a glass of orange juice.

“Hahaha..a young man should eat a lot!” Tom laughed, while drinking a can of alcohol as Michael stared at the can on his hands with envy.

‘Now that I think about it, I never drank any kind of alcohol since then’ Michael thought, referring to the time he ran away with Amanda.

“Want some, kid?” Tom offered when he noticed Michael’s gaze lingering at the can of alcohol in his hand.

“Nahh” Michael rejected, as he felt like abstaining as much as possible from alcohol is better.

“Suit yourself kid” Tom shrugged his shoulders as he downed the alcohol in one go, as he tried to ignore that glaring look that his wife is sending him.

The Alice stood up and started cleaning up the table, while Michael also followed suit and started helping her.

“Thanks dear” Alice smiled.

“No worries” Michael smiled back at her, after that, Michael and Tom started talking to each other about the game, on what they did inside or what quest they are currently doing.

“I just remembered, isn’t Shadow your name inside the game?” Tom suddenly asked.

“Yes, why?” Michael replied, as the scene from earlier at the park replayed in his mind.

“Then does that mean you’re that guy who soloed a boss by himself from earlier!?” Tom yelped in disbelief as he looked at Michael like some kind of a monster, and at the same time, he was also looking at him with eyes full of approval.

“Ahh..yes that’s me alright” Michael said like it was no big deal at all.

“Good job, kid! It seems not only can you fight for real in the real world, you’re also good at playing the game, it seems you’re able to apply some of your abilities inside the game world?” Tom’s expression immediately returned to normal as he asked.

“Yes..the game is really great, it could actually let players apply their real life skills inside” Michael said, thinking that the developers behind the game really have awesome skills!

Tom just nodded at him, his face looks somewhat satisfied for some unknown reason to Micheal.

Michael and Tom talked with each for almost two hours, mostly related to the game, as Michael shared what he discovered inside the game to Tom, while Alice busied herself on watching her favorite shows for the night.

After a long talk, Michael went back to his room, as he planned to spend the night here because he was too lazy to go back to his own apartment.

He went inside his room, and immediately opened his desktop, as he sat on the chair in front of it as he waited for the desktop to boot up.

…

“Haa..I should go to sleep” after an hour, Michael said as he turned off his computer and stood up from his chair as he went and plopped himself down on his bed.

And not even five seconds later, he was already snoring, asleep.

Deep into the night, the wind is blowing hard as the curtain on the window is fluttering wildly along the wind.

“Uhmm” Michael, lying on his bed moaned like he was in some kind of pain, and his head is shaking from side to side, as he’s covered in cold sweat, especially his face.

Michael’s eyes suddenly snapped open, his eyes were mixed with anger and fear as he started breathing raggedly, like he had just run a hundred meter sprint.

“Damn..so it was just a nightmare” Michael slowly sat up and leaned at the head of his bed, feeling a bit worked up from suddenly waking up from a nightmare.

His mind…keeps replaying on a particular scene that he saw in his nightmare. It was the vivid memory when Amanda died on his arms under the disdainful gazes of his enemies, under a rainy night.

Michael held his face and mumbled something softly under his breath.

“No mercy to my enemies, like an assassin should” his eyes flickered with coldness, as the faces of multiple people flashed inside his mind.

Michael then got out of his bed, as he doesn’t feel sleepy anymore, he washed himself and changed into an athletic wear, and left the apartment and went for a long jog around the neighborhood until the sun had risen from the distant horizon, and only then did he make his way back.