Junebug

Chapter 1

For a few moments the only sound in the room was the sound of the pen scratching against the paper, leaving inky residue in the form of your name and signature. Once you set the pen down, professor Jones took both that and the paper from your possession. She stood up, her chair scraping back a few inches as she reached her hand out and taking yours in a handshake.

"Great! Can you start right now?" She questioned as she led you to the door.

Taken aback, you looked back at her with wide eyes. "I mean uh-" you stuttered out before pulling your phone to check the time. 6:42.

With a last glance you looked back to her blue eyes and nodded firmly. "Sure."

With glee, the professor led you down the hall further towards two double doors you hadn't even noticed beforehand. Ushering you through, you walked into a large white room with rectangle windows near the ceiling, giving a natural light to the room. In one corner of the room were two tables with scattered papers and 3 open laptops with documents that were definitely too complicated for you to understand.

Across the room was a jumble of tech students fiddling with, Professor Jones was right, a VR headset. Wires hung from the top of a cylinder container that was encased in what looked like plexiglass, or maybe clear plastic. At the end of those wires were a bulky headset and a pair of what you assumed to be motion-capturing gloves.

Professor Jones guided you closer to the working students and cleared her throat, garnering their attention immediately. "We finally found someone to test our product." She announced with a grin and a few of the students cheered, or otherwise just looked thankful.

A blonde boy approached you and professor Jones, sticking his hand out for you to shake. "I'm Ben, I'm one of the lead developers for the system." He introduced himself as you shook his hand. You responded with your name before he led you to the cylinder container.

"This is the system. It can take you anywhere you want in online media if it's in our database." He explained and you nodded along, taking a closer look at the headset. On the back you noticed a small logo with an imprinted Operator Co. that watermarked the system.

"Ready to give it a go?" Ben asked, opening a door in the plexiglass. You took a deep breath, nodding and stepping into the cylinder.

"I'll talk you through it for your first time so don't worry," He assured, offering you a little relief. As he closed you in, you took note of the silence. Soundproof, it seemed. That made your nervousness return until you heard a voice on an intercom at the top of the cylinder.

"Testing, testing, can you hear me?" The voice rang out. It was the professor. You nodded, scanning the outside world for a few moments before spotting her behind a desk with a microphone in her hand. You gave a thumbs up and she nodded, bringing the mic back to her mouth.

"Great. So what we're going to do is load up your media. You said Call of Duty, right?"

Another nod.

"Which installment?"

You wasted no time in voicing your request, voice echoing slightly as you spoke. "Modern Warfare 2."

Professor Jones nodded before saying something inaudible to one of the students who scurried over to a computer and typed away. For a few seconds there was the sound of the system powering up with a soft whirring, and then it returned to silence.
"Alright kid, go ahead and put the headset on. Only the headset." Professor Jones instructed. Placing your hands on the equipment, you took note of how hefty it felt in your grasp. Regardless, you placed it on your head and let the visor obscure your vision. From what you could see, it was pitch black.