“Back again?” asked Elle, twirling her pink hair between her fingers.

Val grunted.

Elle sighed and shuffled over to the cash register. “The usual?”

Val nodded.

“Y’know kid,” said Elle, putting her hands on her hips. “You gotta find a different way to let loose. There’s this new game coming out -”

“I don’t care.”

Elle rolled her eyes. “Whatever. It’ll be twenty bucks for two hours.”

Val pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and opened it. He sifted through the mass of receipts stuffed inside, pulling out a ten dollar bill and six ones. Mystified at his impoverished state, Val simply stared at the bills in his hands for the better part of a minute.

Heaving another great sigh, Elle snatched the money out of his hands and slid a card over to Val.

“Booth 77. Your favorite.”

“Oh a great angel has blessed me…”

“Shut up,” snapped Elle. “Remember – two hours only!”

Val took the card from Elle and began trudging into the gaming café. On the first level were the five rows of computers, each row having about twenty machines. In the back of the café was the drink and snack counter, a place where Val had spent many nights. Not drinking or eating of course – instead, he pondered the reason for his existence as such a pitiful soul.

Next to the counter were a set of stairs – in Val’s case, his path to heaven. Val trudged down the wide steps, dimly lit by glowing neon lights wrapped around the railing. Elle had always had an addiction to flamboyance.

Val exited the stairs and entered the basement of Elle’s Gaming Café. Instead of being filled with rows of computers, the center of the room consisted of tables where people mingled and talked. Of course, this was not the reason for Val’s visit.

The walls of the basement were lined with glass booths. Each booth held the devices needed to play Avalon – a special VR headset, a pair of sensor-filled gloves, and a movement pad that players stood on. Many of the booths were filled with players, stomping on their movement pads and swinging their arms in the air.

Val walked to the end of the booths on the left side of the room. On the very last booth was a small sign with “77” scrawled on it. Val tapped the card Elle had given him against the card reader, unlocking the door with a click.

Val slid the door to the booth open and set his backpack on the ground. He walked over to the equipment shelf and pulled on the gloves, flexing his hands in them. Satisfied, he removed his shoes and walked onto the movement pad. A slight smile spread across his lips as the familiar plush yet firm feeling encapsulated his toes. Lastly, Val picked up the headset. He glanced down at the black box of magic, floating in the moment, invigorated by the excitement and slight tinge of nervousness that he felt every time before putting on the headset. In that moment, Val forgot the fact that he was flat broke, a college dropout, and a failure in the eyes of his parents.

This is where I belong.

Val put on the headset and jumped into Avalon.