The World In Which I Am Free

Online, anyone can be everyone and everyone could be anyone. Online, you are no longer Mr. Terminal Illness or Mrs. No Legs, you are a person, equal, free to be what you want.

     The wind was racing through my hair, it felt amazing not having it in my face. I closed my eyes as I enjoyed watching the scenery pass me by, looking forward to see my destination fast approaching. All I could feel was relief through every bone in my body, as if I was pining for this glorious experience. The ground could not come fast enough. All that I could think of was how much everyone would miss me when I'm gone and that they should have paid more attention to me. Either way, I will finally get their attention, that which they had deprived me of.
     Then I woke up. Moment of contact, as if the gods of my dreams were playing jokes on me. It was one of the best dreams I had had lately. Next to me, my alarm clock blinked at me, and blinked at me, and blinked at me. It echoed 12:00 AM over and over.
     "Figures, of course a storm would hit... What time is it..." I whispered to myself. I reached for my phone on my bed post. Once it rest in my hands, I saw the real time. 3:13 AM.
     "Well crap... Now what?" I closed my eyes and tried to continue my dream, but after half an hour I just gave up. Four and a half hours until I have to be at school. I shuffled out of bed and went into my world, the neon glow of it caressing my skin as my computer booted up.
     I activated the center most program, a MMORPG, a world within my computer that exists within the real world. I wondered if any of my guild friends would be online, we could talk and just have fun until I had to leave. They never hated me or mocked me or made fun of me, they did not care about my problems and enjoyed my company.
     As the world opened up to me, the chat box flooded on my screen, all my friends online who wanted to speak to me, here I was popular. The hours flew by quickly and soon I found myself at school.
     Here, I was not welcome.
     "Hey, 'Sthamantha', why did your parents give you a name you couldn't even pronounce?"
     "Can you do me a favor, could you say 'substinence' for us? Me and my friend have a bet on how much you butcher words."
     Everyone here made fun of me. I have a lisp, a speech impediment. In high school, anyone even a little different gets mocked. They isolate us and torment us, no one takes the time to be friend us, all because they fear the same treatment. There has not been a day in at least a month in which I was not made fun of.
     Eventually though, school ended and I went home as soon as possible. Each and every day I hate that hell more and more.
     My parents were not home either, of course, they did not like to talk to me either, they thought I was a failure. Each and everyday they could they spent time with my younger brother, taking him to all their social functions and everything, of course, he could also speak perfectly.
     I sighed as I raided our fridge. With some leftover pasta in a plastic container, I plugged in my headphones and logged back into my world within a world.
     It was now after school for the majority of the server. Now people would spam invitations to everyone who was good at the game to get groups to do instanced dungeons. My character in this world was of the healing class, meaning I usually was the first to get an invite.
     Within seconds of logging in, I get an invite. I decline everything. Usually I only group with my online friends or if I really wanted to go to a certain dungeon to get a monster to drop something I want or need.
     In this world, where the lower level players get made fun of, even with my slight speech impediment, I am treated as an equal. No one mocks me and no one insults me for my problems, here I am free.

Author's Note

unedited, wrote and had to change ending like 5 times >.>