A Virtual World Turned Real (An Unofficial Minecraft Adventure)

chapter nineteen: Epilogue

Darkness. That was the first thing I became aware of. Pitch blackness. Then, a warm feeling. Like that of being in a cozy bed. I became aware of voices. Indistinguishable at first, but soon they became familiar. I knew them. Sluggishly, light filtered in, my eyes opening. When my eyes finally focused, I found myself in a gray room, surrounded by multiple people: my class and the test guys, I realized. It all clicked into place from there.

I sat up on the bed I was laying on. I glanced at the machine that sat next to it. It looked inert and the humming noise I remember it making was gone. I swung my legs over the side of the bed, feeling suddenly wobbly.
"Are you okay?" A tart voice asked. I looked in the direction of the voice, of which belonged to the testing woman, Veronica. Next to Veronica was David, the other test guide. 
"Fine." I finally said.
Through the crowd pushed London. After spending so much time in Minecraft with her, I was used to her being square-ish. She looked even prettier in the real world. She smiled when she saw me, and I smiled back.
"We're home." She said.
"We're home." I repeated, nodding.

David got up from the swivel chair he was in. "Well, now that you're all awake, I think it's time for the reward ceremony." He said. And then he left the room. I stood, unsteady at first on my feet but quickly regained balance. London came to my side, still smiling. Just having her next to me made my heart flutter, something I had come to be used to.

David shortly returned, pushing a cart with a crate on it. He stopped and part the cart in the middle of the room. Everyone gathered around it.
"You all played extremely well," David said, "Far better than we could ever hope for." He gestured to the chest with a hand. "Inside is your reward."

I made my way to the front of the crowd, crouched down and popped the lid off the crate. I gasped.
Inside was likely the largest amount of cash I had ever seen in one place. There had to be thousands of dollars in the box, made entirely up of twenties. A loud murmur of approval swept through the crowd behind me.
"The money will be divided up equally amongst you." Veronica said.

Soon the money was divvied up to our class, each person pocketing a thousand dollars each. Just when we thought it was over, David made another announcement. "And Jace,"
I turned.
"This is for you, for being the best Minecrafter we've ever seen."
He held up an dark green zippered hoodie, the word 'Minecraft' written across the front accompanying a black creeper face. He turned it around. On the back, the word 'Dekk' and the number 15 dominated the back. My last name... I thought, confused. David, as if reading my thoughts, elaborated.
"We had it custom made. The name of whoever was the best at the test would get their name stenciled on as well as their bed number, in your case 15."

I looked at the bed I had used. Sure enough, on the helmet that I had plugged into, was the number 15. I walked up to David and took the hoodie from him respectfully. I glanced at the name of the back. Dekk, I thought, Jace Dekk. I tried it on. It was a perfect fit, and remarkably comfortable. "It's amazing," I said, "I love it."
David smiled. "I'm glad you do."

Veronica clapped her hands together and said, "Now, after everything, we would like to thank you all again for coming and trying out our new equipment." She turned and looked towards the door. "I believe that your bus is outside waiting. You can, with your teacher's permission, go and board it."

"What do we say class?" Our teacher asked.
"Thank you!" We all said unanimously. And we all began to file out of the room and to the bus. As I walked, London joined me on my left, and Kelly, Ally and Petra on my right. They admired my new hoodie. "It looks good on you." Ally commented.
"Very good!" Kelly added.
Petra nodded in agreement. "It's super cool."

I turned to London. She smiled again.
"I think that the guy wearing it is even cooler." She held my hand and I smiled.
"Let's go home." I said to our little posse, and with that, we walked to the bus and boarded it. We took the seats we had before, except I got the window side of the seat instead of London this time, who sat next to me again on the isle side. Once everyone was on and situated, our bus driver started up the bus and shortly we were off.

London turned to face me. "Today was awesome." She said.
"It totally was." I replied. The bus hit a bump and London bumped into me. She laughed at it, and I chuckled.
Her face grew serious. "I don't care what others think of us. If we like each other, we like each other."
"Nothing will separate us," I said, "I promise."

Her face lit up with joy, and she smiled, her maroon red hair adding to the radiance of her smile. "I love you." She whispered, leaned over, and kissed me on the cheek. My heart fluttered and I could swear it skipped a beat. I smiled, the happiest I had ever been. "I love you too."

I looked out my window, and I thought to myself, My name is Jace Dekk, and today... was the best day of my life.