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First blooooood! the deafening roar from the video game boomed irately out of Jims headphones

and delivered another blow to both his aching eardrums and his frustrated unshaven visage. It was

the perfect start to his 12th

game of the day. Through the smudged lenses of Jims spectacles the

world that he lived in was unfolding just the way he desired just before his very eyes.

Jim was a vampire lord. By day, he would lie low and acquire gold and experience by feasting off the

blood of weaker opponents. The festering heat of the sun made him weak. When he discovered that

his enemies are nearby, Jim had to swallow his pride and beat a hasty retreat into the foliage of the

cool forests. What choice did he have? A vampire was his weakest in the day and a passing demon-

hunter would have easily sliced him into ribbons and spat disdainfully into his writhing wasted carcass.

Such a death was dishonourable for a vampire lord and Jim knew it. Brows furrowed with

concentration and fingers leaping gracefully over the keyboard, Jim played his character impeccably.

After a whole afternoon of failed games, perhaps his labour will be rewarded with sweet success this

time.

The shadow of the night had engulfed the lands in its gripping embrace. As immense power from themoon sunk into the vampire lords skin and coursed through his every fibre of existence, he leapt out

of hiding with surprising agility and sought his first prey of the night. As Jim navigated the vampire lord

into the open to unleash all his fury onto unsuspecting victims, the screen suddenly froze. Curses!

The computer had hung for the 3rd

time that day. Exasperated that his good game had ended abruptly,

Jim flung his head phones onto a pile of dirty laundry and paced around his room. Furious, his chest

heaved heavily against his Army T-shirt which he had outgrown by several sizes upon ORD. Finally

settling on his sofa, resigned, Jim closed his tired eyes. Was that the sound of birds chirping outside

his window? Surprised that he had never noticed it before, Jim kept his eyes firmly shut and continued

his quiet audience of the birds chatter. A gust of wind swept through the window and onto Jims hefty

belly. As he shivered and tried in vain to pull the T shirt over his gut, he suddenly heard a series of

strange crackling sounds drifting through his window from below. Was it the sound of rustling leaves?Jim struggled to remember if leaves could make such a loud noise. Hell he cannot even recall the last

time he stepped out of the house. Was it last week or the week before that? While contemplating that

question, Jims awareness was suddenly assailed with a cacophony of sounds. In the distance he

could hear the tireless hum of traffic along with myriad of other sounds that he had never noticed. Jim

opened his eyes and to his horror, he found himself sitting in a heap of soiled clothing. Rubbish

comprising takeout boxes, crushed cans of soft drinks, crumpled toilet tissues and of every other

variety are strewn carelessly over the entire flooring of his room. Armies of ants were possibly vying

for food below the carpet of mess.

Mom? Jim implored testily. Which mother could leave such a huge mess accumulated in her sons

room? It was only after a walk about the flat that Jim discovered two things. The first was that he hadplayed his video game through the night and it was now 11am the next day. His parents were

therefore already at work. The second thing Jim realised was the stark contrast in cleanliness

between his room and the rest of the flat. Horrified and upset at the injustice, Jim huffed into the

uncluttered living room and plonked himself on the sofa. Jim switched on the television and picked at

his matted and oily scalp absentmindedly. A particular popular Taiwanese variety show was showing.

Jim stared reproachfully at the screen, condemning the artistes for their perfectly sculpted hairdos and

makeup, run of the mill glamorous celebrity get-up and artificial high-pitched shrieks of delight at

every littlest attempt at a joke by another artiste. Engulfed by all the contrived television programming

and glitzy set up, the artistes seemed to be in a world of their own. Jim could not help but ponder what

the artistes would be like after the show. Would the dizzying hype be part of their private life as well?

As Jim licked his lips and tried to ignore the mounting distaste in his mouth, he had an epiphany. Washe too, caught up in a fake real reality? Albeit the medium is different but like the artistes, Jim

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indulged to no end in a virtual world. Had slaying virtual monsters and living the life of a pseudo-

Vampire Lord taken over his reality?

Enough of this bullshit, Jim rubbed his belly and decided to take a walk to the nearby food centre for

a decent lunch. Weeks of fast food and chips have ruined his gut and hardened his stools into

agonising messes. Jim ordered a serving of dumpling noodles from the hard-faced woman. Therewas something different about her. Jim looked at her intently; the woman wore her hair in a

dishevelled bun, a loose bun laced with streaks of greyed hair. A baby hedgehog it was. Despite her

apparent age, her tanned skin was smooth and stretched taut over her protruding features.

Haiyaaaaaaaaaaaa! Her shrill and resonant voice jolted Jim from his detached musings. A rude

awakening indeed! It all makes sense now. The voice and looks all add up. She hailed from China!

Jim panned the food centre and was astonished to see that every single stall, ranging from those

selling noodles to Japanese ramen to western food were all helmed by her kind. Whatever happened

to the nice gentle lady at the fruit store who loved to pinch his then cherubic and smooth cheeks?

Jim absent-mindedly ordered a dish of noodles from a faceless hawker. Daily bread for the daily

grind, he thought to himself.Jim picked the nearest vacant table and plonked his hulking frame on

one of the four chairs. While tucking mindlessly into his tasteless noodles, Jim suddenly felt memories

trickle into his mind like fresh blood from a broken scab. He remembered the last time he visited this

food centre.