Saffiya looked at her handheld console and sighed. She had been stuck on this one level of her video game for about a week now. Yet, she still reminded herself to stay determined. She couldn’t give up now. She fought so many bosses, customized her character to perfection, and trained for weeks.
“Saffiya, your food is getting cold!” Saffiya's mom called out loudly. No, she decided,  she couldn’t stop now. She was mid-battle. If she stopped, she would need to start all over again. No checkpoints or anything. And, adding to that, she was doing better than usual.
“Saffiya, down here now! Or your device will be taken!” Her mother called out in an angry tone. She sighed and gently set the grey console down on her bed. Saffiya was quite hungry, and she needed the energy for the gaming. As she walked down the stairs, she realized she forgot to lock her door.
“Bwah! Icky!” Ian, her little brother shouted, while flinging food onto the floor. The room was soon threatening to knock Saffiya over with the horrendous stench of the crushed green peas and carrots. He started laughing uncontrollably. Their mother walked over and froze. Saffiya thought for sure that her mother would be mad at this. Her mother was usually a huge neat freak.
“Aww, look at Ian! So cute!” Saffiya's mom said. She picked Ian up and put him back in his seat. Saffiya groaned. She couldn’t see what was so impressive about a picky kid being disgusting and rude.
“Uh, mom, I’m finished. Can I go back to my game?” Saffiya asked while giving her the pouty lip. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Ian crawling up the stairs.
“You spend too much time on electronics. Why don’t you go outside or read a book or something?” She said.
“But mom, I-”
“Saffiya, do as your mother says.” Her father chimed in. Saffiya slowly walked outside, and slumped down in the wooden porch swing. She closed her eyes, and visualized her game. She imagined the tall green trees. She imagined the small village at the beginning. She imagined the lovely fountain in the midst of it all. She imagined that sweet sound of the birds singing their little song. She even imagined the melody that played during the beginning of the game. Her fantasy was soon interrupted.
“Hey sissy, look what I found!” Ian shouted. Saffiya looked over at him. To her surprise, he held up a console. Saffiya suddenly became very, very angry. She stood up from the brown porch swing and opened her mouth to scream.
“Ian, give it back! That’s not yours! Mom! Mom!” Saffiya frantically shouted. She ran to her mother, and dragged her over to Ian.
“Oh Saffiya, don’t be so dramatic! Your little brother just wants to play!” Her mother said. Saffiya rolled her eyes
“If he even pushes a button, he’ll be sorry. You all will be.” Saffiya mutters. Saffiya stares at her brother. She saw that mischievous look on his face, and grabbed the controller just in time.
“Waah!” Ian cried. But Saffiya didn’t care one bit. She rushed to her room. She could still hear Ian’s wailing downstairs. Her mother was babying him.
“Saffiya! Come down here.” Her mother said. Oh no. Saffiya kept frantically pressing buttons. Maybe she could just beat this one boss.
“Saffiya! You are pushing it big time!” Her father called. Saffiya began to pace around in her room. She hopped onto her bed.
“I wish I didn’t have to be here. I wish I just lived in my game. Things would be so much easier.” She curled up in a ball. All of the sudden, it gets very, very quiet. So silent, in fact, that Saffiya started to feel weird.
WOOSH! She hears. Probably just a dream or really heavy wind, she thought. She kept her eyes shut tight. She didn’t want to wake up to be in huge trouble. She didn’t want to wake up at all.
WOOSH! She hears again. This time she was suspicious. She slowly pulled the covers off of her head, and is amazed at what she sees…