​Chapter 1. Exciting Birthday!

It’s not fun when the first thing that wakes you up in the morning is a fire alarm, I know from experience... I got up slowly, "Dad is making breakfast again," I thought.

 I begrudgingly walked into the hallway to find my Dad, saw me, and said, “Good morning kiddo, Happy Birthday,” As he was quickly fanning the fire alarm to get the loud machine to stop screeching.

“Thank you, Dad,” I said smiling but still a little grim at the same time since he woke me up from my beautiful dream. Just then my Mom had walked inside.

“Oh, sweetheart good morning!” she said happily.

“Morning Momma,” I said kindly as my grudge of not sleeping late had faded. 

My Mom came close to me and hugged me tightly, “You're getting too big, stop growing” she pouted.

“Momma you know I can’t help it, maybe you should stop feeding me,” I joked and Mom rolled her eyes smiling.

“Happy birthday my baby,” Mom looked up at me with love and admiration, then gently kissed my cheek.

We sat down at the table as my father had served breakfast, chocolate chip pancakes, bacon, sausage, and a fruit bowl. I grabbed the butter container as my father started another conversation, “So Jisoo what do you want for your birthday?” my father asked.

I looked at him and smiled, “Dad you know what I’ve wanted, I have been saying it for so long now”.

Dad looked at my mother smiling, “let me guess,” he said. “Was it...a concert ticket,” dad smiled knowingly.

“No dad, remember the new VR game ‘Life In Seoul’. It's supposed to be so real life that if something happens to you, like getting a cut, you will also get a cut in real life,” I explained happily.

Mom looked at me, “You will have to promise to be careful.”

“I promise momma,” I said as I stuff a pancake into my mouth. “Plus this game could also teach me how to take care of a house when I’m on my own! It’s just like a life simulator, you customize your avatar to look just like you or whatever your preference is and play that character. You can also choose the job that you want to do! So that means I can customize myself to be a CEO! It’s supposed to be how you are right now, living life.” I explained.

Mom and Dad looked at each other bored since I explained again for the 100th time.

“Well…” my Dad let out a breath.

“You might want to check downstairs,” my Mom said smiling. “But after you clear the table and get the dishes done.”

I nodded to my mom and started clearing the table of the amounts of food and putting any leftovers in small baggies, except for the pancakes since they were the size of my face. After I got the dishes done, I hurriedly went downstairs and saw the pod in the corner of the room, brightly lit, and the name of the game displayed on the screen of the television. I screamed happily and jumped around for a good five minutes. Then jumped on my parents who were innocently sitting on the couch watching me being a lunatic. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” I screamed over my parents' yelps of pain.

After a little while of cuddling my parents to death, I got up and inspected the pod carefully, smiling, and slowly began to climb into the pod and sit down. “Wow it's so pretty” I admired all of the paddings in the pod and the speakers that were near my ears.

“Are you ready to play sweetheart?” my Mom asked.

I got out of the pod and hugged my parents once more, especially my Mom, I’ve always had a special connection with my Mom since it had been mostly her and I when I was little. Going back I remember when I was five, my Mom was working for my school as the librarian. As my class was reading, my Mom always walked around giving out stickers and saying how good we were. Thinking about that memory makes me smile and I feel mom hold my face gently and lean her head against mine, Which brings me to another memory. When I was 7, I got my ear surgery. I woke up groggy and the doctors rolled me out of the operation room, my Mom walked into my room immediately to cuddle and comfort. A couple of minutes later a nurse came in and asked, “Would you like anything soft to eat?” then started stating what they had. I hoarsely asked if I could have cherry shaved ice, but since I was inaudible to the nurse the Mom translated what I wanted, when the treat came my mom fed it to me. Coming back into reality I heard my Mom whisper, “Happy birthday my baby girl''.

That one sentence broke the dam and the tears became flowing out, and I hugged my Mom tightly. My Dad wrapped his arms around me and my Mom and squeezed gently reassuring me and my mom. As we hugged I remember when I was 11, Dad was working for a trucking company that always kept him on the road, allowing me to see him for only two weeks each or every other month. One night both my parents came up with a plan while I slept, that my father would sneak into the big bed that I was sleeping in at my grandparent's house. My mother was an early riser so she greeted my father first while I was sleeping since I tended to sleep late. When I was waking up I felt a heavy breath on my neck and I knew that it wasn’t my mom so I turned around to be greeted by my father. I yelped with glee and immediately started hugging him as my Mom watched smiling at how happy her child was at seeing her Dad. A couple of minutes after the excited reunion of father and daughter, Mom joined in, Dad then wrapped his arms around his wife as well and held both of his most prized beings.

I was the first one to pull away, “I love you both so much!” My parents smiled as I wiped my tears.

My Dad then said, “What are we crying for! Go play with your gift Jisoo we will watch your game from here”.

I nodded and got back into the pod.

I pressed the start button and the pod slowly closed and I closed my eyes but I ripped my eyes wide open to the sound of electrical static, and the pod shaking, I heard my mom and dad start screaming my name. I screamed for them, but it didn’t seem like they heard me so I tried to open the pod but nothing worked. While I tried getting the door open, a piece of metal from the interior roof of the pod came loose and hit me right in the face knocking me out cold.