The hell that will haunt us forever pt2

His words shocked me a little. Somehow I couldn't imagine that such a small but rather mean guy could have a real girlfriend and love in Virtul, and all that kind of thing.

“Do you miss her?”

I almost punched myself in the mouth. What kind of stupid question was that? Of course she missed her.

But I was so sorry to see a melancholy Circul so sad that I wanted to distract him by talking to him. With stupid questions, yes.

Grant reached into his pocket, pulled out his phone and displayed a picture of a pretty blonde girl with freckles all over her face. She was standing in the middle of a meadow, holding a bouquet of flowers, wearing a light blue dress and smiling happily.

“She's beautiful...” I felt the well-known female envy in my chest. I thought I was pretty, but Grant's girl had an unearthly beauty.

“We got married on the last day I logged into the game,” the guy stared at the picture, admiring every feature of his favourite.

“Why does she have eyes with no pupils here?”

“She's not a living person.”

I almost choked on the air. “So your wife is an NPC too?”

Grant turned his puzzled gaze to me.

“What do you mean ‘too’? Don't tell me that…” he didn't finish, laughed, resting his forehead on his bent knees.

I also laughed at the absurdity of it.

“Two idiots found each other...” I said philosophically. “I thought I was the only one who fell in love with the embodiment of a soulless System, but no, it looks like there will soon be a whole herd of us. We're going to sit in a circle and say: “Hello, my name is Cat, I'm an avid gamer. In the game I fell in love with the Queen of the Cats, well, the one who guards the third boss on the forty-sixth level of the hall, and now we are married, we have six kittens. I start meowing at night and purring when I want to say thank you. Save my soul...”

Grant burst out laughing and looked at me no longer with the boundless sadness in his eyes.

“You know, Siri, I'm kind of glad you happened to be my walking bomb.”

“Yeah, you and I have the same cockroaches running around in our brains.”

“And that too. But imagine if this collar were to be put on a bald, pumped-up man weighing 100 kilos? And he wouldn't even know the word Virtul.”

“Yeah, I can already see you two sleeping in the same bed together...” it was my turn to laugh.

Grant pretended to be nauseous at having to think about that. I sat there for a long time, chuckling to myself, but it was a relief to know that Circul Junior wasn't the worst person to live with for three months. It was a good thing that the president's son didn't look like a bald, pumped-up, 100-kilo man either.

We spent some time sharing our fond memories of Virtul. Talked about our favourite locations and quests. Gossiped about some of the developers, found out we were in the same faction, and gossiped about the faction elders too.

We sat like this until the sun began to slip towards the horizon, and the day passed into the vault of memory.

My life had never been as easy as it was now. Apart from the misunderstanding about the bomb and the destruction of an entire world, albeit a virtual one, my pastime wasn't marred by any worries.

I didn't care about the future, the main concern of the day was whether there would be any treats for dinner and how long Grant would sit in the shower with his bath concert this time, ignoring our Rules of Survivaccommodation.

My life had never been as easy as it was now – yes. And so complicated at the same time. I had a bomb around my neck that could wipe out a small city and another three hundred metres of the earth's crust, I had to think of a decent death for the president, I had to get used to life without Virtul... although I didn't have to get used to it. In less than three months, all my problems would be over.

And I was also worried about the guy sitting next to me, looking up at the sky and sighing. I couldn't even think about feeling sorry for him. Even if it was only human sympathy.

Besides, I shouldn't have fallen in love with him.

No love, Siri. No ‘what if things had worked out like this?’ No ‘ifs’.

There's only you and death. It hides, it plays chase, it amuses itself. But one day you'll look into its eyes and say with a smile: “I've been waiting for you.”

It was all so easy. And so complicated.

“Are you hungry?”

“I'm starving.”

“Then let's go rob the kitchen,” Grant got up, wrapped the chain around his wrist so it wouldn't get in the way when he walked and wouldn't collect the dust of the world.

The first stars had already appeared in the sky, and I froze for a moment, remembering that there were incredible places in Virtul, especially in the mountains, where the beauty of the night scenery brought tears of admiration to my eyes.

I often wandered under the constellations at dusk, watching the scattering of flashing and fast-flying dots on the dark screen until morning. Sometimes I even seemed to have memorised the positions of the planets, the trajectories of tailed comets and the glow of my favourite stars in the game's universe.

“It's so strange to remember Virtul,” Grant said, suddenly detached. “When I was playing, I never had any desire for nostalgia, but now it turns out that so many memories are just begging to come out. And it's a relief to let them come out.”

“Yes,” I smiled.

Only in Virtul did we really live, and now we had only one destiny – to be lost in the past.

The sages were right when they said that memories are a part of paradise from which no one can expel you.

But at the same time, it is also the hell that will haunt us forever.