Snippet: On Being Alone

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I didn't spend much time alone these days. That comes with the territory, what with having two fiancées and all. I shared my bedroom with Amy and Fiona. I shared my study with my teacher Brianna. I shared my home with all of the members of House Myrddhin. It was crowded. Not that I wasn't used to sharing a space. I had lived in the girl's academic dormitory before I entered the world of Moonlight Hearts. 

I stood on the balcony staring out at the pre-dawn light. In the room behind me, Fiona and Amy slept in our bed. The breeze chilled me as I stared out at the Boro Sea. This was my home now. Forget college and studying fashion design. Forget my broken toxic family history. Forget everything about my old life. This was my home now. This was my life now. 

Since Lynn and I had arrived, we had forged lives for ourselves in this fantasy video game world. It occurred to me, though, that we hadn't made any attempt to find our way back to our own world. I didn't even think of Earth as my home anymore. I'd been here six months, and this was home. I looked back to the bedroom. I had a family here now. I'd never had a family before. My parents were never family. But here I had Amy and her parents. I had Fiona and House Myrddhin. 

I didn't spend much time alone these days. But that was okay. For the last sixteen years, I'd either been alone or I'd been with Lynn. But now? Now I didn't have to be alone. Now I had a place where I belonged. 

The door opened and Amy stepped onto the balcony clad in a large housecoat that she bundled against the cold.

"Dearest? Is anything wrong?" She asked. 

I smiled. "Nothing is wrong. Everything is right."

She smiled. "Oh?"

"I spent so much time alone," I said. "And now I'm not alone anymore. And it feels amazing."

She sauntered up behind me and wrapped her arms around my waist. "You'll never be alone again, dearest."

I clasped her hands and leaned back against her with a sigh. We clung to each other and watched as the sun began to crest the ocean in the east. I heard the creak of the door again.

"I woke to discover that I had been abandoned." Fiona said as she tied her housecoat. "I trust that I may join you?"

"Absolutely," I said.

She stepped beside us and leaned against the two of us. 

"What has brought you out to the balcony so early?"

"Ren was feeling wistful." Amy said.

"Oh? What had our beloved feeling wistful?"

"I was reflecting on the fact that I was no longer alone. And finding that I liked it."

Fiona looked out across the sea and nodded, "I was alone much of the time before this as well. The end of my courtship to Vincent marked the last time that I shared my life in so intimate a manner. I would not give this up."

I reached out and put an arm around Fiona. 

"Never again." I said. "Never again."


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