An alarm clock rings, making it's owner jolt up from bed. A nightmare was keeping his slumber busy and he silently thanked the alarm from cutting it short.

As he taps it lightly to make the noise go away a shuffling by his side takes his attention.

His husband simply turns in bed, signaling that he is not yet ready to start waking up as early as him. He chuckles to himself and gets up.

It's a beautiful spring morning. The beginning of a new year. His crops have barely had any time to grow up yet, but that's expected. He still has some of the last harvest to sell, so money will not be a problem.

Still, he should buy more seeds. Turned out that the ones he stocked up last year weren't enough to fill his field. There are some hours left before the general store opens so he decides to prepare the soil.

"When the seeds are here I'll be way ahead of it." He smiles to himself, hands on his hips as he admires the empty field.

Farm work was never meant to be easy, but he has been doing it for so long now that everything just comes naturally. It has been 7 years since he moved to the little town.

At first the residents were nervous about the outsider, but his warm smile and disposition to help everybody quickly got him a place among them. On his second year living there he got married to one of the residents. A simple man with nothing really going for him, but what can he say? Love is a strange thing.

As he tills the soil, he notices movement inside their house. His husband is finally awake.

Distracted by work, he doesn't notice when his husband sits by their house veranda, sipping a cup of coffee. He waves at the farmer, that finally takes notice of him and waves back.

The soil was ready and the store was probably open by now. The farmer gives his husband a quick kiss and heads to town.

The path leading to down is empty as always. The sun beams brightly and birds are singing. It's a beautiful day.

Arriving at the main street, he notices a small commotion. Some residents are standing by the plaza's billboard, where they usually leave requests for anyone willing to help.

Stepping closer to the crowd, one of the residents spots him and exclaims happily "here he is! The man we were talking about!".

The crowd parts in half, on it's center, a vision that sent shivers down the farmer's spine.

A woman stands there, a confused smile on her face. She approaches him and extends her hand.

"She is an outsider like you!" One of the residents exclaims excitedly.

The farmer gulps, eyes wide and glued at the woman. She grabs his hand and shakes it forcefully, a crooked smile on her face.

"Nice to meet you!" She says, still holding his hand. "May we talk? From one outsider to another?".

He can barely answer, astonishment on his face. She pulls him aside one of the nearby buildings, the residents just watching. As they are away from prying eyes, her smile vanishes and is replaced by a look of surprise.

- wtf is going on?

He just stares at her.

- hellooo? Wth is going on here?

He slowly blinks at her, still trying to process what was happening. After some seconds staring at her, his face distorts into anger.

- what... How did you get here? What are you doing here? No one is supposed to have access to this zone! What are you doing here!?

She steps away from him and raises her hand in a defensive manner.

- woah dude, chill! I was messing with some buggy areas in one of the forest zones and clipped out in here. What is this place anyway? I never heard of it before.

He shakes his head and turns his back at her.

- you need to leave. This is no place for you.

He then turns back to look at her, shouting.

- and you better not tell anyone about this place, you hear me!?

She recoils, a concerned expression on her face. He turns his back at her again and crosses his arms.

- ... You need to leave...

As she quickly recovers from the shock, she steps closer to him.

- you... You are the only player here?

He remains quiet, back turned at her. She steps a little closer.

- I don't think anyone else knows about this zone. You really are the only one here... None of this NPCs have ever seen other players?

The farmer quickly snaps back at her, eyes slightly filled with tears.

- you need to leave. Leave me and my town alone. Never speak of us and leave!

She frowns at him and closes the distance between them, placing a hand on his shoulder.

- how long have you been playing here?

His expression softens a little, but he is still teary eyed.

- ... Around a year for us, which has been 7 years in game...

She gasps. The game has been released for only two years so this guy has spent half of it's existence on this little zone.

- 7 years? You must have made lots of progress on this zone.

He looks at his feet, a faint blush creeping on his cheeks.

- my farm is quite profitable... The town has been basically restored to it's former glory... The residents are happy... I have married and we are expecting a child...

She tilts her head.

- you... Know none of this is real, right? None of this people are real -

- I KNOW THAT! I'M WELL AWARE OF THAT!

Tears fall from his eyes and he desperately reaches to his face, wiping them away. She remains silently watching him. As he seems to calm down a little, she reaches out and pats his shoulder again.

- it's okay man. After this kind of games came out, we all got carried away with something or another. I know how you feel. It's all... So real...

She looks down, a sudden sadness fills her heart. This games... It gave people a chance to live out their fantasies. Most people dreamed of having daring adventures and fierce battles and she could relate to that. It never occurred to her that some people would come to this world seeking just... Calm and peace...

A little town, tucked away in a hidden passage in the forest. A small paradise for a person who seemed to be just tired of interacting with "real people". She smiles at him.

- I'll leave. It was a pleasure meeting you and your little paradise.

He looks at her in surprise, tears streaming down his face. She wipes one away.

- sorry for reminding you... About this world...

He sighs and looks away, shame showing on his face. She steps away from him and looks at the sky.

- it's okay! Sometimes I also forget that none of this is real. But... Sometimes it does makes me feel better to forget...

She waves at him and walks towards the way she came from. As she sees herself back at the forest she first came from, she looks back. The path she took there was gone, like it never existed. She walked away, a single thought in her head.

"How lucky was that guy. To find his own paradise."

As the sun starts to set, the farmer stands by his field admiring his work. The new seeds were planted and watered. Everything was ready for today. He steps inside his house, the smell of food beckoning him to the kitchen.

Even though the food won't really fill his stomach, just the sight of his husband cooking him a meal makes him satisfied.

They eat and talk for hours, until tiredness catches up to him. His husband gives him a warm smile and tells him to go to bed. The farmer lies down in bed, looking at the ceiling. He wonders to himself

"how long will I live this... Lie?".

His husband finally lies by his side, tangling him in his arms. A light kiss on the cheek and a quiet "good night, I love you" throws the farmer in tears again.

He removes the helmet from his head. The faint street light coming from the windows of his tiny apartment slowly brings him back to reality. As he sits in his small bed, tears come for him once again.

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