Haven Online

Xinya was startled by the abrupt hug, and once again started having flashbacks to the time when he lived with his stepmother. Because of Wei's touch, his heart started beating faster, his hands started shaking and he felt as if he couldn't breathe. He knew he was in the midst of a panic attack.

He quickly pushed her off him, which made Wei fall back hard against the floor. She looked at Xinya from where she was with a mixture of shock and hurt before she realized what was happening. Xinya had his arms around himself rocking back and forth while breathing harshly. 

"I'm so sorry Xinya. I shouldn't have touched you." Wei said in anguished, tears falling from her eyes. She was so angry at herself first she caused Xinya's death in-game and now she caused him to have a panic attack. 

Not knowing how to calm him down she just talked about how sorry she was while kneeling next to him. Hearing Wei's voice helped him snap out of the attack somewhat, after a couple of minutes of doing some breathing exercises he calmed himself down. 

Once he was calm, his mind was a lot clearer, he looked down at the sobbing mess that was Wei, and felt a little irritated at her. Not because she hugged him, he knew that she was too emotional to know what she was doing.

He was irritated because she didn't listen to him in the game. If she did then they would be celebrating their victory, but now he had to wait two hours before he could go back inside of the game and save Christopher.

Xinya really wanted to be mad at her, he truly did, but as he listened to Wei cry and apologize repeatedly so tragically he couldn't stay upset at her. "Stop apologizing Wei."

"No! It's all my fault, if only I listened to you, you wouldn't have died." Wei said troubled.

"Come." Xinya wheeled himself into the living room. There was no point in talking in the middle of the hallway. Once Wei was seated on the couch in front of him, he asked, "Why didn't you listen to me?"

"It was stupid really. I wanted to show off. I'm always relying on you and finally, I could show my worth. You needed me and I got carried away by that knowledge. I shouldn't have and I'm very sorry." Wei told him, her head lowered in regret.

Xinya could understand where Wei was coming from, he had been overprotective of her, far too much it seems, "I forgive you, it's alright. You didn't cause my death, I was the one who ran out to save you. My death is in my own hands."

"But…" Wei started but Xinya interrupted her.

"No buts. You learned your lesson right?" Xinya asked seriously. "No doing your own thing in fights anymore, that will cause people to die."

Looking at Xinya straight in his eyes, Wei said, "I promise I won't. After seeing you die in the game like that… it looked so real. It was like you had died for real."

Seeing the tears start to gather in Wei's eyes again, Xinya knew that his death in-game must of shook Wei up. The graphics in Haven online was very realistic, the body of a player doesn't just disappear once it dies, that only happens if the whole body is destroyed. 

If the body is still in one piece it will stay in the same place, a barrier will surround it until the player logs on again, but for all purposes, it will look like a real-life dead body. For Wei to experience that must have been dreadful.

"Maybe next time you enter the game, you should turn your graphics down. Turn the realistic setting off." Xinya said.

Shaking her head, Wei said, "No, if you can handle it so can I. I'm not some weak person."

"Are you sure?" Xinya asked.

"I am," Wei said.

After talking for a half an hour, Wei's cell phone started ringing, it was her mom asking her to help her with a job. Wei told Xinya that it wouldn't take long and made him promise not to start playing without her before running out the door. 

After saying farewell to her Xinya decided that he might as well make him something to eat while he waited to log back on. Turning on some music, he headed to the kitchen and begin making him something delicious to eat. He couldn't wait to log back in the game and set Christopher free.