Lost In The Metaverse

Don't touch that Mini Fridge

"Is this the only bus that was left in the depot?" A man argues with the driver who shrugs his shoulders and nods his head. "But I specifically told your company to come with a small vehicle. We're only expecting six kids – this bus will cost me an arm and a leg!"

"Sorry sir, it's Crypto Week. All our fleet of buses got pre-booked by Voxel X Network."

Lola is first to jump out of the car. Dad pops the trunk open. Lola walks around the car, opens Tobby's door, and drags him out of his seat. "We're here, we're here!" she shouts in his face.

"Let go of ME!" he chokes with his seatbelt wrapped around his neck.

"And I can see that we're too early. Where's everybody else?" Tobby pokes his head over Lola's shoulder to scan the area.

"No, this is everyone. They've been waiting for us." Lola informs him.

"What? But there are only four other kids here."

"That's right. With us, that makes six."

"Lola! What kind of dry summer tech camp are you taking me on? This is not a vacation, this is a detention. Just look at them!" Tobby points at the kids.

One child takes out his inhaler, shakes it hard, and breathes it in as he adjusts his thick, milk-bottle glasses. A tiny girl sits on her colorful four-wheeled suitcase as she facetimes her parents who seem to be living abroad, resting on a hammock between two swinging palm trees in front of a tropical beach. Another child dressed in a suit jacket struggles to carry his over-the-shoulder bag. The straps snap and the bag hits the ground, revealing a ton of calculators. "You can never have enough calculators!" The boy nervously giggles to himself as he bumps into a frail boy whose parents are smothering him.

"Johnny, you don't have to do this," his mum pleads with him as she frantically pets his hair and fixes invisible wrinkles in his clothes.

The boy, Johnny, tries dodging her questions and hands, unsuccessfully slapping away her hands as she begins fixing his buttons and wetting down his hair with her saliva. "Would you stop it already? We've been discussing this for months! I need to go to this summer Web3 camp."

His dad now joins in. "But you have all that you need at home! We just imported that new science lab from Oxford University, built you a brand new computer suit, and gave you an exact replica of the Pentagon's control chambers. You have your own tech support assistant on stand-by. Please son, these summer camps can be dangerous, I..."

"I know what you've been through as a kid, dad, but that was decades ago! You both need to let me do this."

His mom bolts up, waving her hands at her sides in defeat. "You see, Jeremy?! We should have never stopped homeschooling him. Now, he wants to socialize with other kids. We've created... a monster!" Johnny's mum throws herself in her husband's arms, crying hysterically.

Johnny's father fixes him with an accusatory gaze. "See what you're doing to your poor mum? Come on son, she doesn't deserve this." He sets her down slowly where she cries into her hands before he leans in to whisper in Jeremy's ears...                                      

                                  "Youcan'tleavemewithherforthewholesummershe'sgoingtoddrivemenutssonIBEGofyou!" his dad speed whispers in his ear.

 "Dad, I cannot continue to be your hostage just because you won't have simple conversations with mum!"

"You don't get it, son!" His dad grabbed his shoulders, his crazed eyes digging into Johnny's own. Johnny could feel his neck disappear into his shoulders as he tried shrinking back. His dad continued on. "She will make me knit or do some other new five-minute TikTok craft! I can't even fit the car in our garage, and she had promised to turn that into a man cave for us. All I have is a pathetic man's corner which she uses to hang her Eastern European mug collections. You can't do this to me, son."