It is currently April 23, 2084, I’m just about ready to land on Mars when out the corner of my eyes I see E.T. riding his bicycle and to my left, I see Howard the alien dancing. Then very faintly I hear my mother and my father, calling me saying “breakfast is ready, come downstairs” I abruptly take off the VR machine and unplug the cable that's connected to my head and proceed to make my way downstairs. As I’m sitting down at the dinner table, I look out the window and see the red atmosphere, reminding me of the game I played of the Mars landing. After having breakfast with the family I head down to my room and lay down, as my parents are getting ready to go to bed I suddenly realize something. I forgot to save my progress and turn off the VR machine, so I quietly tip-toe up the stairs making very little noise. Once I reach the machine I begin to save my progress and look at the display, the estimated time to save is 1 hour! I then think to myself, “I can go for another round, I’m pretty sure I’ll be done before the 1 hour is up.” So I arrange myself onto the chair, grab the cable and plug-in to the machine. I can’t see anything, the screen is black, then all of a sudden the pixels light up around me and begin to warp as I’m entering a new simulated world. 

I am now walking in the downtown part of the city, the enormous sun that spans across the horizon is slowly starting to set, I proceed to continue and upon walking I witness a robbery at a jewelry store. I attempt to hide so that the robbers don't catch me, as I listen I hear the sirens way off in the distance while the flashing lights get brighter from the reflection of the surrounding buildings. I peek out of the alleyway and see that the two robbers are aliens from another planet, with spikes protruding out from their four arms and three legs. In that instance I received a notification on my phone, the robbers had heard me and were beginning to run towards my direction, but luckily I had remembered that I purchased a new plasma saber online. So with a simple command, I pulled the saber out from my backpack and quickly swung it, in shock both of the aliens had been amputated from the waist down. As they went down, I could smell the blood that was dripping down my arm until one of the aliens stuttered under his last breath “Nice one, kid.” Then out the corner of my eye, I see the cops pulling up to the scene and I rapidly continue down the alleyway away from the scene and called for an Uber. An hour later and I arrived home late, my mom waiting at the doorstep asked, “what took you so long?” I replied, “just had to deal with some bullies on the street.” I get inside the house, all exhausted, take off my backpack and head to my room to get some rest.

As I’m going to bed, I start to become lightheaded, my senses start acting up and my mind goes completely blank. I reach for the back of my head and as I unplug from the simulation, I hear my mother and father calling me for dinner. I sluggishly go downstairs feeling exhausted from what happened in the simulation, as I begin to sit at the dinner table and sit down my father responds “You gotta stop playing those games, that VR machine isn't a joke and you'll end up getting addicted to it. Just like your brother who’s still to this day stuck in that VR machine.” “Now go to bed it's getting late, I don't want to catch you on that machine, understand?” I replied, “Yes, father,” and went to bed. In bed, I continue to think and wonder about what my dad had said earlier about how my brother is stuck in a virtual world. It had been the first time my parents had told me about my older brother, and I was only told as a child that he is living on another planet, and doesn't plan on coming back home either. It somehow stuck with me for so long that I never had thought about my brother up until now. It then came to my realization, that if my brother was stuck in a virtual world on his own, then maybe the answer to finding him is in the VR machine that he used to enter his own world. But how, virtual reality is practically endless and with several trillion terabytes of information stored, it is almost impossible to find him.

The next day, I decided to set out for a long journey into the VR machine to find my brother that has been stuck in there since I was 8 years old. So without letting my parents know I begin to sneak upstairs, to the machine and turn it on. It's now or never, I thought to myself and began to sit down on the chair. I’m now filled with emotions and my heart is racing, while I’m going for the cable I could make out noise from downstairs. It's my parents, they just have woken up from their sleep and are now calling out my name. In spite of getting caught I quickly connect the cable to my head and warp out of reality as the pixels start to form upon entering virtual reality. I am back from where I left off walking around the downtown streets of the city, then out of nowhere, I hear police sirens wailing nearby. Out of curiosity I pick up the pace and run towards the scene, as I cross the street I realize that I was witnessing the aftermath of the same incident I had yesterday with the two alien robbers. I closely inspect the aliens and see that one of the aliens had been wearing a mask, as the police try to oppose me into staying out of the investigation, I imply “I was at the scene, and I was a witness to this robbery.” As the cops are questioning me I proceed to closely inspect the gruesome scene that I committed, with the scent of blood left in the air I crumble in shock and tears begin to flow down my face. At that moment, I had recognized that individual, dressed up as an alien, as my brother who I had killed with my own hands. I could not believe it, I began to search his pockets to confirm his ID that it was him and it read “Daxter Clark.” This wasn't how it was supposed to end, seeing my brother laying on the ground lifeless, I couldn't bear it anymore. I quickly unplug and disconnect the cable from my head and turn off the machine, as I’m waking up into reality, I see my parents next to me. They ask “ Hey Jak, Jak... are you okay, answer me!” “Two days had passed since you’ve been in that machine, we were so worried that you wouldn't wake up.” I still feel the tears flowing down my cheeks, the smell of sweat on my face, I mutter to my parents “I-I saw him… I saw my brother... Daxter.” My parents out of disbelief, yell out to me “THAT'S NOT TRUE, HOW?” As I wipe my tears I begin to say “He’s fine, Daxter is safe and is in a good place right now… let's just have a good dinner tonight and not worry about it.” In relief, my mother calmly responds “Alright, what would you like for dinner… Does lasagna and garlic bread sound good?” I responded, “yes, that would be good.”  THE END.