The Security Guard

A security guard puffed out the cold winter air as she walked to Game Co. Video Games and More.

The guard had just finished her night shift; it was half past six in the morning now. She had a daughter who she liked to take care of. They didn’t have much but she did whatever she could for her. Her birthday was today and the mother wanted to get her something.

Just like every year, the mother asked and asked for weeks and weeks what she wanted. And every time the daughter would say things like, “I don’t want anything” and “You really don’t need to get me anything” and “It’s okay”. She knew her daughter though, she was just trying to make her feel better. Of course she wanted something; everyone liked nice things.

She also knew that video games were one of her favorite things and could entertain her for hours a day. She had got so many for her over the course of her childhood and as she grew into an adult her love for them never dwindled.

The woman had seen her daughter watching a playthrough – the daughter called them – of a specific game that had just come out. What was it called again? Life: Epic... something something. All she knew was that it was a game that mimicked life. She didn’t remember the name but she would when she looked in the store.

When she got home she wrapped the gift as quickly as she could before her daughter woke up and set it on the kitchen table. It was white and covered with gold hearts.

Some time later, from her bedroom, the mother heard her daughter enter the kitchen. The mom met her, and when the daughter saw the gift she leveled her with a playful look, “Mom.”

“What? Oh–” the mom feigned confusion, “what is that? Who left that there?”

The girl chuckled, “Thank you.”

Her mother sighed as she opened the gift as slowly and carefully as she could – she liked to keep the wrapping paper intact – and finally saw what it was.

“I thought you would never open it.” The mom joked.

After a profuse amount of thanks, the girl rushed to her room to appreciate her gift.

She was already in the perfect gaming outfit: a too-big, dark blue t-shirt and light-gray polka dot long johns. All she had to do was hunker down in front of her desktop and get cozy under the covers.

Once she situated herself she grabbed the case. “What Makes A Fulfilling Life?” it read on the back. She used the code inside to download the game onto her computer. A multicolored background blinked on and the title of the game slowly faded in. She pressed “start game” and three save files in a row waited for her. The girl started her digital life on the first one.

She was instantly lost in the game. She had spent hours upon hours customizing her character. It looked just like her. She was average height - average in the sense that she put the slider in the middle of the bar - with brown skin and mid-length kinky hair, half pulled into two braided ponytails. She created so many outfits her real life closet would be full and decorated the house the game started her with.

Now she cycled through job after job trying to see everything she wished she could do in real life.

There were so many options. Restaurant owner. Receptionist. Casino dealer. Painter. Computer programmer. Modeling. Salaryman. Then there were the less-honest but still interesting ways to make money like robbing banks and leading gangs. It was hard for the girl to choose so she didn’t.

As the days passed the girl slowly made her way through the most interesting occupations from the A to Z list.

The first job she tried was pet grooming. She washed dogs for a while before progressing to cutting their fur and then unlocking new breeds. The pets progressively got angrier and more difficult to control, but the tips were extremely generous.

She was a barista next. The girl loved that she had to remember how to make smoothies, espressos, iced coffees, juices. The hustle of running around completing tasks and remembering orders was exciting.

Being a clothing designer was one of the most lucrative jobs she worked. She started by making clothes for boutiques, leveling up and starting her own business. She utilised her phone to make connections and began making clothes for all sorts of celebrities. They paid anything to have her make their red carpet outfits.

The girl took breaks from her “traditional” jobs by completing side quests. These were great because the reward money from one was almost equal to working for months. The girl saved almost twenty cats and stopped almost ten thieves by the first day's end.

It was her seventh day and the girl was still having so much fun working and saving up money. She had amassed an exorbitant amount of it. It was all just sitting in her bank waiting for her to use it.

The girl had some debts to pay off but after she paid those she would continue to hoard money. She felt comforted by it since she didn’t have much money in her real life. She aspired to have as much money by the end of her lifetime as she had accumulated in these seven short days. But that all could wait until her next session.

She hadn’t slept and she barely ate and the faint orangey light from the sunrise was starting to seep between the crack of the curtain of the window by her bed and the wall. Her mother would be home in a couple hours and the girl knew she should get some rest before then.

Half asleep, she closed the application and went to her calling bed. As she set her alarm, the blinking time of her computer’s screensaver came to life.