"What's that?" Andrea asked, as her roommate Kelly walked into the dorm room.
"It's a present for Chris. It's his birthday in a few days, you know."
"Yeah, but what is it? What did you buy?"
"It's a computer."
"A computer? Kelly, that's too much for a birthday present. I know Chris is into that sort of thing, but why not just get him a game? How much did you shell out for it?"
"Five hundred bucks. But that was the most I was willing to pay. Look," she said, turning the box around to show Andrea. There was a picture on the side of it, depicting the computer. "It's a laptop. He doesn't have one."
"So? He doesn't have a Ferrari either. Are you gonna buy him one of those too?" She sighed. "You spend way too much on that guy. He must really be the one. Or at least a good fuck."
"Andrea!"
"Sorry. But I'm right. What has Chris done for you?"
"Well, we go out to eat and we've seen some movies, that he paid for."
"That's small fries. I'm talking about big things. Like five hundred dollar things."
Kelly looked down. "I just like him, okay? Maybe you can't understand what's that like. To like someone. To love someone."
Andrea shrugged. "There's nothing wrong with being a little loose. You should try it sometime. You might like it."
"I'll just stick with Chris, if you don't mind."
"Suit yourself. I will be out tonight having fun," Andrea said, walking to the door. "You're welcome to join me."
"I'm fine."
Andrea shrugged again, then left to go out partying, just like she did almost every night. Kelly just didn't know how she did it. Being a tad nerdy, she tended to focus on school more than fun (other than the times she spent with Chris, of course), but Andrea, on the other hand, focused more on partying. It was hard to understand how that girl was even making it through college.
Kelly looked at the box, and began to wonder if maybe it was too much for a birthday gift. Now that she thought about it, five hundred dollars did seem to be too much. But it was a computer, afterall. And computers don't come cheap.
She turned the box over and found a way to open it without tearing it. She wanted a glimpse at the gift she bought her boyfriend (although now, she wasn't quite sure whether or not to give it to him, after Andrea's advice). The laptop computer looked exactly the same as it did in the display case at the shop. Biting her lip, she opened the laptop and turned it on. A message immediately came up on the screen:
"Thank you for choosing the MasterPC XD350, a new hardware product from MasterPC industries. While the MasterPC software is compatible with all home computers, the XD350 is the ideal machine for all of your reality writing needs."
Kelly read it and reread it. "What the heck? Reality writing? What does that mean?" she muttered to herself.
Finally, the main screen loaded. It looked similar to a Windows desktop, but there were a few differences. There was only one icon on the screen, labeled "Command Center". Oh, this must be how I set up the computer, Kelly thought. For a moment, she wondered if maybe she was going too far. She was just curious about the computer. She didn't actually want to use it. It was a gift for her boyfriend, afterall. But after some consideration, she clicked on the icon, and a new window came up. She read a message on the screen, as the program loaded:
"Welcome to Master Command Center, your own personal command center. The Master allows you to become a virtual god to the people around you. You now possess the power to bend their reality to your specifications. You are the Master."
Kelly stared at it, thinking that it must have been some sort of joke. A virtual god? Bend reality? What was this?
The screen went blank for a moment, then suddenly a window popped up with a text field, saying "Enter User Name:". Thinking nothing would happen, she typed in her name "Kelly Brown" and pressed enter. Then another window popped up, this one saying "Enter Name of Subject:". Was this really happening? Was this computer program for real? Nothing could change reality. That was just fantasy ... or was it?
Kelly looked at that window for a long time, before shrugging. "What the hell," she muttered, and typed in the name ...
