Reality overload Chapter 1: RELEASE DATE

Read chapter 1 of Reality overload by Namizou on NovelPedia.

Today was the day. The day I've been waiting for. The release of Divine Law Online. I had pre‑ordered the game and full dive pod almost six months ago. It had drained my savings account to nothing but pennies, but it was totally worth it knowing that I would be one of the first players to enter DLO, and it was happening today. I couldn't sit still, my excitement over waiting for the delivery truck to arrive making me giddy with anticipation. "Kris, quit pacing in front of the door. You're making me nervous." My older sister Charlie called from the kitchen. Her voice reaching my ears along with the mouth‑watering smell of Alfredo and garlic bread, making me pause in my ADHD‑induced destruction of our carpet with my feet. "Yea yea, I hear you," I complained. "But I can't help it. The sheer audacity of afternoon deliveries escapes me. Why can't it just arrive in the morning." "Hahaha" The chuckle I heard from the kitchen making me slightly embarrassed at my antics. I walked to the kitchen, peering around the corner at my sister, her tall figure standing in front of the stove, one hand holding a wooden spoon, the other busy with spices. She had her long blonde hair in a high messy bun. Her bright blue eyes focused intently on the pasta, a small bead of sweat on her forehead. I admired my older sister. She had been the one to step up and keep everything afloat after our parents died in a severe car crash two years ago. It had taken a toll on both of us, especially me, since I had been in the car at the time of the accident but couldn't remember anything. Charlie had told me that I had been in a coma for almost a year and that it had been touch and go there for a while. Both legs broken, hip fractured, punctured lung, and many cuts and bruises, as well as a hairline fracture of the spine. I had almost bled to death on the way to the hospital. She had told me about our parents a week later after waking up. I had wanted to ask multiple times but couldn't bring myself to do so. After learning what had happened something had broken inside me. I had cried for hours, my sister the only solid thing in that moment, hugging me close the entire time. Her own tears falling silently. I was sixteen at the time. My sister just turning eighteen. It was a long and difficult process for my recovery. All the while my sister and the rehabilitation nurses helping me learn how to human again, and behind the scenes my sister struggled with the courts to allow her to keep me and the house unbeknownst to the slowly recovering me. "Need any help, Char?" I asked already knowing the answer. "No, Mr. ants in my pants," half laughing at me. "I'm almost done anyways," she quipped. "And I don't need you muckin' it up." "Riiiiiiight, like the last time you tried to make Alfredo. I DUB THEE MASTER OF PASTA BRICK, MY LADYY!!!" In my best upper‑crust accent as I dodged a bottle of parsley launched at my head. Not quite noticing it in time as it thwacked against my forehead. ʱªʱªʱª ( ᕑᗢᓫ ∗) ˒ "Hey! Careful not to ruin my face, sis," laughing as she gave me a deadpan look. As we made jokes and laughed the doorbell rang, making my brain go into overdrive. "IT'S HEEEEREEEE OMGOMGOMGOMG!" I blurted out, sprinting to the door. Ripping it open and almost off the hinges in my excitement, I greeted the DLO delivery man. The waves of excitement rolling off of me, making him pause for a moment and chuckle. "Been waiting for me, I see," saying as he held out a clipboard. "Two full dive DLO pods." Pausing as I took the paper from him to sign. "EH!? Two? But I only ordered one?" I stammered. "Huh." Looking over the delivery manifest in confusion. "Says here two pods to be delivered to this address. Is this 101 Bellview Drive?" he asked. "Y‑yeah, that's the right address," I responded full of confusion. "But still I only ordered one. "Well, my manifest says two, so I'll be delivering them both. Where would you like them set up?" he asked. Exasperated and reeling about the second po