Lying on his bed, scrolling up and down on the loading screen of the core system, the core system is still stuck on the loading screen. He wondered how long it would remain like this.
Of course, Winston is now relying on the system; to be honest, anyone would rely on this system that tracks your stats and sees progress. Now bored, this is his first time since he touched the ball. He never got the chance to unwired. He has always either training or at the playground playing football with local children, and this became his hobby, or rather, his life.
And his sister used to tease him for it, coming home to eat, sleep, repeat. Winston, naturally, saw no issue with it. While tossing on his right side, the sun coming from the window blinded him, when he tried to toss on his left side, a buzzing noise jolted by this noise, he raised his head and analyze his room and saw that it was his phone.
Bzzzz!
He hoped the coach was calling him back to training, and disappointment crossed his face. It also quickly turned into annoyance, it was his sisters who had been texting him one word texts—dragging his body from his bed, he sighed and started massaging his temple and swiped open his phone as if his sister had the superpower of telepathy, a long message popped up. He sat up and rapidly went over the critical sections of the message. Reading the message, her sister and her friend were on their way to the theme convention that was downtown. Winston wrote back to her, asking what happened to her friend who was here earlier this morning.
She went on about how—her friend had a family emergency on their way there, now she's at the bus station; Winston sighed and texted back telling her she is on his way. Grabbing his sneakers that were neatly placed next to his door, the summer sun was now on the cooling side, chilly wind made him tighten his tracksuit jacket and pulled his zip. Completing his body stretches, this was an opportunity to jog.
His parents lectured him when they fetched him from the club hospital. To be fair, Winston's mother was enraged, as she hadn't recovered from the initial accident, and his two recent reckless occurrences weren't reassuring her. Winston had to reassure them he would not be reckless.
A huge, relieved smile spread across her face as she turned her head. She thought she would have to pester her big brother with messages. Anita understood her brother's disinterest in activities outside of football or training. Since playing with the seniors and acquiring the system, his dedication to training had intensified.
"Whew, thank God you came, big brother. I was worried that I'd have to drag you here."
"But you did, with those hundred messages; I was trying to sleep."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I just texted Mom that you're with me."
Yawning and stretching, bones popped so loud that his sister gave him a furrowed brow. "How long are we going to be there?" Judging from the backpack, I hope it won't be long."
"Well, the theme convention is enormous this year, and my favorite shows are hosting a meet and greet, and I bought all my stuff for them to sign."
"Jeez, sounds like this will take long."
Lucky for Winston, jogging here was the best idea because the bus arrived just in time. Excited that he will not wait around for God knows how long. Sitting on the empty seats, his sister sat on the window seat. Winston took out his phone and performed the same trick he has been doing for a while: by pretending to be texting, but in fact he is opening the core system.
Disappointment plastered on his face, the system still stuck on the loading screen. This time it was on a seventy-five percentage loading bar. Hoping he will not suffer from being bored, being dragged along at the theme convention by his sister. Looking up at the bus ceiling, he started to doze off.
Disoriented, he glanced over his shoulder and saw his sister, who tugged his arm. With a beam on her face, Winston guessed they were close, leaning into his sister's side. The billboard sign shows how far the theme convention is.
Seeing his sister's excitement, Winston felt depletion of his energy from all this, longing to be in the training ground or doing something. But seeing this excitement from her sister, he doesn't recall spending time with her sister. The last time they played together was when they were younger. Done stretching himself and asked, "So what are we starting with?"
Going through her backpack, her sister took out her phone. "Oh, let's see; the group I want to see will start late, so we will start with some games. I recall a rollercoaster I wished to ride during our last visit to this location, but I was deemed too young.
"What is the closing time for this theme convention?"
"I don't know properly eleven or midnight, don't worry, it's one o'clock right now. I don't think it will be full, usually, people start coming in around six pm."
Arriving at the theme convention—parking lot, seeing his sister was right. The area was full of youths; some were his sister's age, and some were younger with their parents, and some as group of friends. His sister took out two tickets and handed them to Winston. Taken aback, he thought these things were free; the only things you pay for are the games and food. He turned to his sister, who was crouching down organizing her backpack stuff.
"I thought these theme conventions were free."
"They were not now, some people crashed the theme convention last year, and some people got injured. Wait, you didn't see that on the news… know what, don't answer that. I already know the answer." Her sister shook her head in disappointment; she knew she was lucky that she got her brother on the phone. Yes, Winston has a phone, but him answering was one of those things that goes by luck bases. The reason was Winston is always training and him having time for social media was one of those particular things that he doesn't particularly partake in.
"Did this happen after you were home or you were still here?"
"Oh," taken aback by his brother's question, their relationship was one of those where they were once close, still close, but there are too many things happening in their lives that they don't get time to hang out. She added, "No, it happened around six pm, and we were long gone by then."
"And it took me time to convince mom to let me go out, you should have seen the videos on the news and social media. The scene was like one of those big zombie films: chaos, they were even bonfires in some areas."
"Glad you were safe, you know, Mom—she doesn't like violence. And how did you convince her, anyway?"
"I am not telling, you just have to find your own way." Smirking at her brother who was giving the ticket to the security guard, who was wearing the theme convention uniform, as they passed through the rotating gate and checking their backpack. Finally relieved that they didn't wait too long to enter the theme convention. The loud noise he heard from outside was deafening when he entered: children yelling, running around, jolly songs blasted over the tall poles. His sisters yanked his arms into some games she wanted to play.
It's a dual-purpose theme convention, featuring both a theme park and a popular entertainment convention.
The first game his sister wanted to play was Ring Toss, stretching his arms and preparing to toss rings over bottles. His sister wanted those popular, small, fuzzy animal dolls for her collection. Lucky for him—before it was his turn, he saw a person before him using a trick. Whereby he twisted his arm before throwing the ring. Using those tricks, he won those popular small, fuzzy animal dolls. Brushing and petting his sister's head, who was beaming with excitement. And at this moment Winston was actually glad he didn't skip this. Seeing his sisters happy made him happy. He asked, "What's next?"
His sister surveyed the surroundings, seeing how well his brother was at the first game. He wanted to play more challenging games; "oh let's go on that one, it looks interesting."
She yanked Winston again; this time he was prepared for it. Instead, he ran at the same pace she was bolting in. Now they are both beaming with excitement.
Wow, this was actually exciting. It's been a long time since I did something outside of training. Perhaps this is what Mom or Coach wanted me to do.