Pepper tried to go back to sleep but only found himself tossing and turning. The anger he had as a result of the early wakeup call kept grinding away on him. He kept replaying his conversation with Marcus over and over within his mind.

  He felt there was no point in even trying to sleep and the idea crossed his mind to watch an old golem league match. But, that sent him back into his cycle of anger. His mind reminding him that he couldn’t even go do that in the living room due to it being filled with strangers.

  It was then that he remembered that he had not gone for a run in a few days and he decided to do that. Pepper started to get changed and ready to go and looked over to see Amprage was laying on his back with his legs sprawled out in every direction. “Amp, you want to go for a…”

  Pepper couldn’t even finish his statement. Amprage immediately came to life and sprang upwards. “Let’s go! Let’s go! Let’s go!” His familiar rushed to the bedroom door and started spinning in circles. “Come on, hurry up, hurry up!”

  “Okay, chill out.” Pepper finished with a sigh while he finishing tying his shoes. I should have called you Slowpoke and had you download the personality of a sloth. He thought to himself.

  The early morning breeze felt amazing as they started out. It was nice and quiet throughout the neighborhood and Pepper appreciated the time away from the house. By the time he slowed his pace to a walk he was soaked in sweat.

  He and Amprage had just made it to the top of the hill and he reached up to wipe the sweat from his face. He lowered the edge of his shirt just in time to see a familiar dog rushing towards them. Isn’t that…

  He didn’t even had time to end his thought when he heard the familiar voice call out. “Not again Tank…”

  The massive Rottweiler came charging towards Amprage and Pepper was thankful that Amprage didn’t go into a protective mode, but rather a playful one. Pepper then changed his voice into a slightly higher pitch tone to try and be less threatening to the guard dog. “Hey Tank, haven’t seen you in a while buddy.”

  Pepper lowered his hand down and Tank cautiously leaned towards him and took a sniff. The dog and familiar began to spin around in circles and certainly looked to be excited to see each other once again. Once he saw that the two didn’t act like there would be any drama he turned and greeted Tank’s owner.

  “Hey, long time no see. It’s…” Pepper dragged out his statement and made a cringe expression as he nervously asked. “Elowen… right?”

  She formed a smile on her face which seemed to counter the embarrassed expression which was there just a second prior. “Yeah hi, again. Good to see you Pepper.” She came to a stop and appeared relieved that Tank was actually behaving himself. “Gosh, this guy makes me so nervous every time he takes off. I swear our mailman wears body armor every time he delivers a package to the house.”

  The two laughed and Pepper saw the relief quickly come over her. She lifted her maroon sweatshirt up and wiped her face while simultaneously catching her breath. “How are things with you?”

  “Good, things are…” He paused and felt bad for not telling the full story. For some reason he felt like he just needed to get everything off his chest and without asking for her permission, he worded vomited his situation. “Actually, things are okay except for my two roommates. I have one who thinks its perfectly normal to play this digital card game late into the night, early morning hours. Then just screams out in bloody murder every time he loses and is starting to destroy the house by throwing his computer parts, literally through the wall.”

  Pepper shook his head and was completely oblivious to Elowen’s non-verbal cues. “And for some reason, he has no ability to cook for himself and is always asking me to cook meals for us. But then, there’s Marcus… who decided that we are apparently a frat house for him and all his buddies to constantly crash at. I swear I can’t walk through the house without tripping on someone new, or someone who thinks that by them hanging out in the house, allows for them to help themselves to whatever they want. Did you know that they drank cases, literally cases worth of my energy drinks?”

  His hands were now waving around throughout the air while his head shifted back and forth while continuing on his tirade. “And then… Marcus thinks its totally fine to do these live streams and show off all my work, to the world I should say, without asking my permission or how I feel about it. Now my golem chat is filled with private messages from random strangers who are either asking me basic questions that could be answered at any local club match, or are sharing their desperate wish of my utter demise for being able to make it this far into the Golem League.”

  Pepper stopped and took a deep breath, “So yeah… that’s how things are going.”

  He looked over to see Elowen’s eyes were wide in shock. “Well okay then… so there’s…. there’s that.”

  Pepper shook his head and now felt embarrassed for unloading everything on to her. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have…”

  She reached her hand up to stop him. “No, don’t apologize. It’s totally fine. You needed to get all that off your chest.” She paused and chuckled. “Clearly, but… I get it.”

  He huffed, “You do?”

  She formed a forced smile and then her face scrunched with a sense of pent up frustration. “Hi, I’m Elowen Gambel. Daughter of the famous Colonel Lawrence Gambel. The same Colonel Gambel who seems hell bent on knowing every where I go and everything I do. I can’t go anywhere without a security detail or a guard dog that seems hell bent on attacking any little thing that comes near us.”

  She sighed and took a deep breath. “Not only am I being tracked.” She lifted up her wrist and motioned towards her holodex. “But Tank also has to have a tracker on him. All my online activity is tracked and monitored by people I have never met, and every friends account is also secretly monitored…”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  She immediately stopped and her face froze with her mouth open. A quick blink of her eyes and she broke into a slight panic. “Shit…. I, I can’t believe I told you that. I’m not supposed to say…”

  Pepper reached his hand out. “Hey it’s okay. Your secret is safe with me.” He brought his hands close together to formed a small ball with his fingers. “Circle of trust here. I won’t say anything.”

  A relieved look came over her but she still cleared her throat. “Thanks. It can be stressful and frustrating for me also. Like, you’re already living in a tin can and then there’s this immense pressure that keeps compressing on everything with no sign of relief in sight. Heck, I can’t even have a conversation with a guy or even make a new girlfriend without the volley of questions. Where did you meet them? Who are their parents? What did you tell them about us and our family?”

  Elowen reached up and wiped her face again. “It’s like we’re constantly living with the threat off something, but I didn’t sign up for this… No one came and asked me if I was okay with living under 24/7 surveillance and having a lifestyle which makes me feel as if I am living in a damn prison.”

  It was now Pepper’s turn to have a surprised look on his face and he felt as if his situation was so small compared to hers. “Well… thanks.”

  A surprised look came over her face. “Thanks? For what?”

  “I now don’t feel so bad about my situation. Yours sounds way worse.” He ended with a chuckle but turned to a laugh when he saw Elowen’s face brighten up.

  She finally cracked and laughed alongside him. “Sure, you’re welcome. Hey Pepper, welcome to my shitty life, want me to dump all my crap onto your rainy day?” She sarcastically joked.

  “Well, in all seriousness. Thanks for this. I… I needed it. I needed to get away and just have someone to talk to.”

  She smiled. “Yeah me too. We should do this again.” She turned and looked at the side of the road where they were standing. “Have our hillside vent sessions.”

  Pepper chuckled, “I’d like that. You know… Marcus did mention having a campfire in the backyard. You’re welcome to come down and hang out if you need to get away.”

  She had a hesitant look but then seemed to ignore whatever it was that caused the concern. “Sure… why not?” They brought their holodex’s near each other. The wireless function of adding each other’s contact information transferred over and the process finished with a small chime. “Okay, time for me to get this beast back home. It was great to see you again Pepper.”

  “Yeah, I’m glad we ran into each other again. We’ll link up again soon.”

  They both went their separate ways and Pepper couldn’t help but feel like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He and Amprage got back to the house and he went about getting cleaned up. There was still the sense of a thick tension within the house and his mind still didn’t feel grounded.

  Well, guess today is a day we’ll fill with nothing but adventure. He flicked open his holodex and ordered a Buzz Podz. The transportation vehicle arrived a short time later and Pepper navigated the map and finally dropped a pin on where he and Amprage would be taken.

  The vehicle pulled up in front of the store front and Pepper looked at the subtle sign on the front door. Full Throttle Sound Guitar Shop. He opened the door and found Amprage trotted inside and immediately discovered another familiar. He watched as the two bonded golems acted out their personality profiles.

  Once he felt comfortable to let Amprage be on his own, he turned and glanced up on the wall. There was a large collection of guitars which hung from metal hooks. He looked over them and admired the craftsmanship for what it was, but felt bad for not knowing more about the different brands.

  He eventually shifted and scanned the room. There were large maroon leather chairs and couches placed at the center of the store. The opposite side had a small sales counter with other small items for sale. There was a wrack of magazines, guitar books, and music sheets off to the side. One of which caught his eye and he walked over and started to flip through it. So… You Want To Learn Guitar By Kevin J. Way. Yeah… I can see Andrea rolling her eyes now looking at this.

  “Welcome in to FTS. You looking to learn the guitar?”

  Pepper turned and saw a tall and slender bald headed man standing with a coffee mug in his right hand. The man was covered from the head down in tattoos, and Pepper was baffled but fascinated at the same time. Tattoo’s had never really been a trending item where he grew up, but to be fair, he didn’t really get out much.

  The man’s ears had large gauge fitted earrings and wore thin gold framed sunglasses that had soft transparent blue lenses. He had a dark navy blue sweater which had a loose fit on him and hung over a pair of darker colored blue jeans. He took a sip of his beverage and looked to be curiously waiting for Pepper’s response.

  The odd pause brought Pepper out of his curious fascination with the man’s multiple tattoos. “Uhh, not really. It’s kinda not my thing.”

  A playful expression formed on the man’s face. “Music isn’t your thing? Weird thing to say for someone inside a guitar store, don’t you think?” There was a slight pause and then the man chuckled. “Ha! Just messing with you.”

  Pepper let out a nervous chuckle. “I like music. I would just say if there was any instrument I would want to learn, it would probably be the drums.”

  The man grinned and just before he took another sip from his cup chimed. “Says the guy holding a learn how to play guitar book.”

  Pepper sighed, “This… this isn’t for me. It’s for my girlfriend. She loves music, had a passion for it, always wanted to pursue it but never had the chance to get the things needed to start. She is coming down soon and I wanted to surprise her. This store had some pretty good reviews and I figured I would come in and see what I could find.”

  The man grinned, “Right on, well thanks for checking out my place. I’ve worked hard to bring it to life.”

  “No problem. So… what would you recommend for someone starting out?”

  “Hmm… is she right-handed or left-handed?”

  Pepper paused and thought about it for a second. “Right-handed.”

  “What does she like?”

  Pepper glanced off to the side. His mind now full of the moments he spent with Andrea. “Sunsets, summer days spent at the lake, walks through the trees and taking in the beauty of nature.” He shifted his weight. “She loves her dad, and those who served in the military during the rift wars. She loves snuggling up in a hammock. She will fight to defend herself and others. She loves to give back to others, and help those in need, regardless of the cost.”

  He finished and saw the man was smiling. The man reached out his free hand. “Jaymes.”

  He clasped onto the man’s hand in a firm handshake. “Pepper. So… what do you suggest?”

  “A Terry-Ann Custom six string.” He released his grip and then pointed over to the wall while taking another sip. “Follow me.”

  Jaymes guided him over to the far end of the wall and came to a stop by a guitar in a grey ash wood color. The neck was a solid back with each fret being silver in color. The tuning pegs were an Opal green.

  Pepper couldn’t help but smile as Jaymes brought it down and handed it over to him. The musical instrument looked and felt like something that Andrea would immediately fall in love with. He softly strummed on the strings and heard the warm sound greet them both. He imagined Andrea’s voice softly humming along to the guitar and he just knew this was the guitar for her.

  “It’s perfect.”

  “Awesome, now you said she was visiting. Would you like a hardshell travel case for her to take it home with her?”

  He hadn’t even thought that far ahead but was grateful Jaymes had brought it up. “Yeah, that’d be great actually. Also… she has always wanted to make her own music. What exactly would she need to start recording songs?”

  Jaymes smiled and took another sip. He lowered his mug and motioned with his head. “Follow me.”