text: CORA level 48 element: fire yesterday The rain poured down onto the street, as if the earth was feeling what I was feeling. I bit my lip and threw my head back to stare at the blinding white clouds. The rain could disguise my tears. No one wanted to see me cry; it would stain my cheeks and make my eyes red and terrible. I wasn’t wearing a jacket or even a sweater, but I didn’t care. It’s not like the clothes I was wearing - a too-big extra uniform from the lost and found - meant anything to me, anyway. My hair was pressed flat; black and heavy with rain. “Kid!” Damn it. “Hey, come here!” I turned around, shuddering to think that my father had returned. My father, who had not come back in five years and left my mother and me, my mother 39, and me 8. But it wasn’t. It was a man standing in his open doorway, in pajamas, waving a newspaper in one hand and a can of ... some drink in the other. I walked over carefully, glancing suspiciously at the can. IPA. My father’s initials - Ian Prince Adams. And India Pale Ale. Which he - my father - couldn’t get enough of. The man shoves the newspaper towards me, into the rain. I reach forward, but when I see the ink running down the paper, I freeze. “Take it!” ordered the man, thrusting it towards me. “ Take it! ” I blinked, shivering, and took the paper. I looked at it, not bothering to read the headlines. “Have you seen it?” “No, sir,” I said. “I don’t receive the newspaper.” He grunted, went back inside, and slammed the door. Before it closed completely, I saw him shake one last drop of IPA into his mouth - and toss it into a trash can. The trash can is full to the top with cans. I looked at the headlines as I continued walking home. The smudged ink made it hard to see, but I was finally able to make out the words: GLITCH FOUND IN SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA. A glitch , I wondered. Glitches happen all the time in technology, but do they mean on Terra? That’s never happened, such a high-tech game as this is. I shook my head, laughing to myself. Fake news, probably. When I got home, I threw the newspaper into the trash. My mother was at work, she worked 24/7 and practically only slept for two hours everyday, and the weekends. I never saw her. Like that mattered, she was a robot. My real mother had no idea I was even on Terra. I went to my room to look up ‘glitches in game terra’. Scrolled down. Nothing. I tried to ignore the paper, which I saw everytime I went downstairs. I tried to forget about the glitch in SF, which was not far from where I was, in Oakland. Damn it! I can’t forget... I didn’t have my mother to tell, so I needed to figure it out myself. I had lots of money, 71,281 coins to be exact. But it wouldn’t be enough to last forever. My mother made the money in our family, and even then it was barely enough. I had to resort in selling things I found or made and keeping on the top of my class. She only gave me a coin a week, though. Kept the rest for herself. I shook my head. I can do just find by myself. I’ll take the - I glanced at my watch. 6:30. I’ll take the 7:00 bus to San Francisco. I didn’t bother leaving a note for my mother; she was a robot, and she wouldn’t care. Robots don’t have feelings. They’re stupid, programmed to be predictable. Unlike real humans, who are never truly understood by anyone. now I wear a cloak that covers my hole body and my head. The shadow falls across my face, so I’m good as invisible. My invisibility is terrible, so I’ll have to pay for the bus. Unless... I could kill everyone on it... no... I don’t want to be hunted by the police or anyone. I will pay. I’m bringing everything I own with me, which will definetely drain my energy, but I will have plenty of time to rest - it’s not like I’m going to do something in San Francisco, just see the so-called glitch. Maybe it’s a one-time thing that’ll boost my level. When I walk out into the rain, I feel a burst of excitement. It almost makes me laugh. I walk down my street, towards the bus stop at the end of the block. “Cora!” Crap - ! “Cora, where are you going?” I whirl around, feeling my eyes widening. Infront of me stands my neighbor, Peter, waving his arm vigorously. He’s soaking. “Peter!” I reply nervously. “What are you doing?” “What are you doing?” he says, laughing. Peter, of all people. First of all, he’s a real guy and my real freaking neighbor, and my classmate, and he’s had a crush on me for for freaking ever! I ignore him, turning back around and looking at my watch. 6:43. “Coooraaaa,” he whines. I hear his feet pattering against the concrete; in synch with the rain. I don’t have time for this. I walk faster, using my weak invisibility at full power. It’ll keep me all the way covered for an hour, at least. Which will be more than enough time to lose Peter. I feel a bit guilty, but he knows I’m not interested in him after the countless times I’ve rejected him. He knows , but he keeps pushing. Heartbreak will be the end of him, he’s desperate. I arrive at the bus stop and can’t hear his footsteps anymore. “Finally,” I whisper under my breath. I release the invisibility, letting out a sigh, as the bus rolls up. The first thing I see in San Francisco is the earth. Of course the earth, it’s everywhere and it’d be impossible not to see it. And then I see the cars, the people, the roads. I can see everything. Having the element of fire isn’t useful at all, and sometimes I think about restarting the whole game just to have something better like air. If I had air or earth or water, I would be able to fly. Which would be nice. Air is the best element, of course, because you can fly but also those with the element of air have the best invisibility. Fire is good in battle, but air, water, and earth can all put it out. “Are you getting off?” The sharp voice of the bus driver snaps me out of my fantasies. I nod and step off the bus. And then I see it. The glitch. It looks just like static, hovering right infront of me. I reach out, but before my hand makes contact with it, I hear my name being called. “Cora!” it’s a familiar voice, one that I know well but hardly ever hear. It’s my mother’s voice. I turn around quickly to see her - my mother - and behind her are a group of at least a dozen soldiers. And next to her is a mage. My mother wears a pink t-shirt and jeans. She’s scowling, her arms are crossed. How does she know I’m here? What... why does she have soldiers - and a mage? She reads my mind. “You didn’t know? I thought you would’ve figured out that I’m not working to desperately gain money, I have all the money I need.” “What?” I say, surprised. I would have never thought that she had lots of money, or even enough money, and I shake my head. “What are you talking about?” My mother laughs. “You can’t escape me, darling Cora, you’d have to go into the glitch and you’re not going to do that. It could destroy your whole computer. It would , probably.” she takes a step forward and her group follows. She reaches her hand out. “Come back. Don’t think you’re not in trouble, but I wouldn’t hurt you, Cora.” Everything in her voice and her face tells me that she would. She’d hurt me. “No,” I whisper. I dive backward, into the glitch. The surprise on my mother’s face causes me to smirk, even though my computer might be destroyed. The things I would do to spite a robot. When I swim deeper into the glitch, I see other players. The deeper I go, the more people there are. No one I know, though, until... “Cora!” “Peter?” the one time I’m glad to see him; when I’m stuck in a glitch and my robot mother is trying to... kidnap me. “Cora, look,” he whispers, spinning me around and pointing. I follow the line his finger points to. Beyond the people swarming by, beyond the blue and purple and white and yellow pixelated colors of the glitch, is the sky. The sun is going down, the clouds are drifting past. It’s the loveliest thing I’ve ever seen. It’s not the world of Terra that I left, though, it’s something bigger than that. It’s the... the world made by... the glitch .