Chapter Three

Dear Alicia,

We regret to inform you that the position you applied for as software engineer has been filled by a more qualified applicant. We wish you the best in your journey and hope you reapply next year.

With an agitated sigh, I clicked the “delete” button on the email and put it in the trash along with all the others. It was the third email I had gotten that day and they all said the same thing, that my newly received college degree was worth practically nothing in the work force.

I spun my chair around away from the desk. At the same time,Tommy popped in through the door, unannounced.

“Why do you look so upset?” he asked, as he pushed his shaggy hair out of his eyes.

“Because I have a little brother who doesn't know how to knock,” I replied, with a sarcastic smirk.

Completely ignoring me, Tommy strolled in and took a seat on my bed.

“Seriously, Alicia, you've been in here all day,” he said. “You've been home from college for more than a week and I haven't seen you at all.”

“I'm just really trying to find a job and I'm not having any luck,” I said, shaking my head. “It seems like all I get are denial letters.”

“What about that Zephtech job that you were talking about?” he asked. “I thought you had already started the steps to getting hired there.”

“I have started, but there are like twenty steps to their hiring process. I'm on step five, and I haven't heard back from them in two days.” I sighed loudly. “I worked really hard at my resume and cover letter for them. I even had Caroline look over it for me, but I have a feeling that I'm going to get an email from them soon that's just like all the others.”

Tommy didn't really understand the full gravity of my situation. He had just turned thirteen, his world was still small, and his only real concern was how he'd spend his free days during summer vacation. I wished that I could still be that young and carefree. But alas, I was a college graduate and needed to start building my own life. It was time to grow up.

“Look, sis, you need to get out of the house,” he said, standing up from my bed and walking toward me. “I've been playing this game on my phone and it's pretty fun. You should try it with me.”

“A game?” I asked. “You mean the game you were playing at the restaurant the other day? Tommy, I don't have time for this.”

“Why not?”

“I just told you that I need to be looking for work,” I said, with a defeated sigh.

“Are you sure that's all it is?” he asked, with a snarky tone. “Or do you have to call your boyfriend?”

I shot him a dirty look. “I don't have a boyfriend, Tommy. You know that.”

“Then get out of the chair and come play this game with me,” he said, grabbing my hand and jerking me to a standing position. “It'll be fun.”

“Fine,” I said. “I'll go out with you for a half an hour but then I need to get back here.”

“Deal,” he said, leading me downstairs.

We got our dog Athena, leashed up and ready to go with us, then stepped out into the fresh summer air. We made our way straight toward the park in the center of town. As we walked, Tommy explained the game to me.

“It's called MonsterGo,” he said, pulling out his cell phone. “You open up the app and then monsters pop up on your screen. They can show up anywhere, so you have to run all over town to find them.”

Tommy snatched my phone out of my hand and quickly downloaded the game for me.

“There, now you can play too,” he said.

I shrugged, seeing the game as the perfect opportunity to distract myself from the misery that was job hunting. We ran around the park for a bit and it wasn't long before I caught my first monster. It was called a “Stingly.”

“This is actually kind of fun,” I finally admitted.

“Told you,” Tommy said. “Now come on, I want to show you a Monster Gym. It's where we can take the monsters we catch and have them fight other people's monsters.”

“Tommy, I don't have all day,” I said, crossing my arms.

“It's really close,” he said. “Trust me. I'll have you back home soon, but I want you to see this. It's probably my favorite part of the game.”

“Okay, but you have ten minutes and then we have to head back.” As soon as the words came out, I realized that I sounded a bit like my mother.

Luckily, Tommy wasn’t lying when he said this so-called “Monster Gym” was only a block or so away. And when we got to the church on the corner, a huge group of people was standing out in front.

“What’s going on here?” I asked, glancing around at all the people. It seemed like most of the town was there.

“Team Red is getting attacked by Team Blue,” Tommy explained, pulling out his phone and starting to press buttons furiously.

I sighed. “Tommy, I have no clue what you’re talking about.”

“This location is a Monster Gym.” He rolled his eyes as if what he just said made all the sense in the world.

“Looks like a church to me,” I said, trying to walk away.

“It is a church, but it’s also a Monster Gym. It's part of how this game works. It combines the real world with the digital world. Right now, my team is controlling the Gym,” Tommy explained. He stood in my path so I couldn't leave. “Team Blue is trying to take it over, so I’m sending in one of my monsters to defend against the attack.”

“Sounds pretty serious,” I said, sarcastically. I played around on my phone, but there weren't any monsters around currently and I wasn't rated high enough to enter the gym yet.

I looked around, watching everyone play on their phones. At first, I thought it was kind of dumb that everyone was just standing there, but the longer I watched, the more I saw people interacting and being friendly. For being an individually played game, people were being remarkably social.

“No, no, NO, NO!” Tommy suddenly cried, mashing on his phone screen. He looked about ready to throw it on the sidewalk. “This can't be happening!”

“What's wrong, Tommy?” I asked. “Are you losing?”

“My phone locked up right in the middle of my battle.” He frowned and looked like someone had kicked his dog. “I'm letting my team down.”

“It'll be okay,” I promised. “Just restart. I'm sure everyone will understand.”

“I did restart,” Tommy told me. “The game is totally locked up for me. We're going to lose the gym and it's going to be my fault!”

“Team Red?” a man asked, coming up beside Tommy.

“Yep,” Tommy responded, not even looking up. But I stopped and stared. It was the same man who had caught me at the restaurant the other day.