Pandora's Box

Chapter 2: Clara

2 days until The Sealing

***

Upon hanging up on August, Clara looked up from her phone to see that she still had a ways before she would reach her house. Most days, she would take her time heading home from school; she'd stop to grab a snack from a local convenience store or take a scenic route through the woods near her house. However, today was different.

Although Clara and the other high schoolers had been mostly hands-off in regards to Pandora's Box since the previous summer, they had been asked to assist with the launch this weekend. Between testing server connections and performing last minute maintenances on various in-game textures, Clara was going to have her hands full. Just thinking about the long list of tasks awaiting her caused her to pick up her pace a little bit.

Lost in her own thoughts, Clara nearly missed the sound of someone shouting her name from behind her. She quickly whirled around to see Thomas running towards her from down the street. Upon reaching her, Thomas enveloped her in an embrace, lifting her off her feet. This wasn't too difficult, as Thomas was nearly 6 feet tall. With short brown hair and brown eyes that peered through wire-framed glasses, Thomas had a sweet-dorky vibe about him. They didn't seem like the type that Clara would end up with, but they had been dating for nearly a year now, and we're largely regarded as the "mom and dad" of their friend group.

Clara let out a small squeak, which she would mainly attribute to surprise, and a small bit of fear. She then embraced him back, still a foot off the ground. Upon returning to Earth, Clara looked up at Thomas with a puzzled look on her face.

"Wait, how are you here? Did you not have school today? And are you the only one that came?-" Clara bombarded them with one question after another, not bothering to get an answer to her previous questions before moving on.

Tyler laughed as Clara took an exasperated breath, clearly gearing up for another round of questions. He put a finger to her lips, as if to pause her, and began explaining.

"I finished school last week, but I told you that I was still in classes this week so that I could surprise you. I caught a flight this morning and got in about an hour ago," Removing his finger from her lips, he continued. "Your brother picked me up and dropped me off here so that I could wait for you to get out of school and walk you home. And I'm the only one that could make it. The rest of the homies still had school stuff going on."

Grinning from ear to ear, Clara hugged them once more. "Well I loved the surprise, and I'm so happy that I get to see you in person again," Clara said. "Are you staying for the weekend?"

"Yup, which means we'll get to experience the launch of Pandora's Box together!" Tyler exclaimed.

Clara had met Tyler the previous summer through the game design internship at FCC. Kids from all over the United States were invited to submit an essay explaining why they thought that they would be a great fit for the internship, with only a handful being selected to participate. For those who were outside of the area, flights were covered and housing was provided so that the students could stay and work on the game throughout the summer. Tyler was one of the kids lucky enough to come in from outside the area.

Although Clara met others through the program, such as Sam and Jasper, she immediately hit it off with Thomas, and they began dating soon after meeting. Despite the long distance, they made the relationship work throughout the school year, meeting up with each other during holiday breaks. When they couldn't be together physically, they used Encore to chat for hours on end, play video games, and help each other with homework.

Encore became the basis for the friend group in a way. It functioned as a social media platform of sorts, where gamers could join groups of players that played different games. Thomas created a group for all of the members of  the internship to join, in order to keep in contact with everyone after the internship ended. Over time, people within the group began to invite their friends from home in, and it quickly became its' own community. After about a year, the group had dwindled somewhat, and some of the more "problematic" members had been removed. However, the remaining members stayed close, and they all anxiously awaited for the release of Pandora's Box.

"Well as much as I would love to stay here and hug you in the middle of the street, we have work to do," Clara chided. "We want this launch to be perfect, and we have very little time to make sure that happens."

Thomas smirked at her and let out an exaggerated sigh. "Ughhhh, it's always work, work, work with you. It's your first day of summer vacation. I think you deserve at least a little bit of rest."

Clucking her tongue, Clara shook her head in disagreement. "I'll rest after the launch. There's work to be done."

Clara took Thomas by the hand and began leading him towards her house. Despite the impending deadline, Clara couldn't help feeling like she was on top of the world. She got to see her boyfriend in person for the first time in months and the game that they had helped work on was nearly ready to play. She felt as though there wasn't a thing in the world that could bring her down. Quickening their pace, the two made there way back towards Clara's house, unaware of the future in store for them.