SWNOVELXO Chapter 1: Static Reality
A world of stagnation, a time where it feels like nothing changes. Although you yearn for more, there is something you desire to be more than what you are. It is always just an inch out of your grasp, this is how I feel, or at least how I feel for now. I know that eventually things are gonna change, I just know it. I'll show everyone I'm more than just a.. Housewife. There was an alarm that would go off, not one that was audible, or one that actually existed in reality, but it was one that June Whitaker, our protagonist of the story, had seemed to program within her own head to be able to get up as soon as she needed. When she shot up to a sitting up position from her bed she would look to her right seeing her husband George still asleep, and to her left her vision would catch her two children a girl Marie and a boy Benothy. They had run into her room last night because of a thunderstorm that spooked them so of course she had to calm them down, gladly now she could see those cute faces of theirs peacefully asleep as well. June would swiftly and quietly as possible get herself out of the bed so as to not disturb the others of her family and allow them to peacefully get some more sleep. Her eyes would drift over to the alarm clock seeing that the time denoted onto it had been 5:00 AM which was later than she usually woke up, but she could still make some good time with this. With an utmost urgency she would quickly put on her usual casual attire. A white button down shirt with stark black jeans, adorned on her messy twin bun hair would be a green cap with the words "Purity" denoted onto them and something that really added to her look was a pink apron and black gloves. Even if she wasn't cooking she always wanted to be clean, she could not have the kids getting sick! June would take a once over of herself in the mirror looking at herself with a small smile that wavered quickly into a neutral expression. She swiftly left the room and wandered downstairs to do the first of her duties, and by duties it was simply tasks she had given herself. June went outside with a watering can watering the small farm she had started in their backyard filled with various fruits and vegetables with decorational flowers. The atmosphere she had created seemed to be utmost elegant with nothing but the greatest care and time being utilized almost as if it had been touched by the divine itself. She would analyze the area with a watchful eye and shooed off some bugs that were trying to eat at her plants, spraying them down with the hose. "Stay back, stay back! Go eat someone else's plants, you freeloaders." She would have a slightly disappointed pout seeing that some of her strawberries were now eaten, but oh well she could just plant some more later. She would check her watch seeing how much time had passed and quickly went inside, it was 5:30 now! And she wanted everything to look perfect before they woke up, she didn't know how exactly she picked up this perfectionist attitude, but it's not something that she minded. And swiftly she had gone back into her house making sure everything was nice and tidy, even arranging the furniture in a certain way to make sure that the feng shui of the house was optimal. In June's time she had picked up on even obscure mystical arts and conspiracies, she was a bit gullible but she also found them to be quite interesting. 6:30 Now she would just be finishing up making breakfast for everyone, setting up the table perfectly and removing any obscenities from the immediate area to give her family nothing but the best. Now she would stare at all of her work with her hands on her hips and a great smile on her face as she releases a sigh of relief finally being done, and of course of pride. She would quickly run upstairs at about 6:50 and wake up everybody in the room, of course, which would erupt in groans and an exchange of good mornings between all of them. "Kids go in your room and get dressed for school, George hurry up and get dressed too you've got work soon it's monday. And I've made breakfast for you all downstairs!" She would say this but before a response could even be made she was walking away back downstairs, faintly in the background a "Alright thanks mom!" and a "Oh goodness I almost forgot! Thanks honey." in the background. How she loved having the whole house in order. She would be sitting down eating her breakfast before shortly her husband and kids would walk down too. George would look around seeing that there appeared to have been a lot done and just the udder cleanliness of the place which made him give a slight side eye to June as he walked over and took a seat next to her taking his plate and starting to eat, though engaging in a conversation seemingly concerned. "Dear, please you've got to stop doing all this. You wake up far too early and go to sleep far too late, you are really gonna wear yourself out one of these days. And I'm really worried about you, you weren't always like this. Is there something you'd like to tell me?" June would look at him with a slightly dejected look seeing his expression and hearing him speak. "I'm sorry honey I just like making sure everythings alright around here, but maybe you're right I shouldn't be working myself like this. Though to tell you the truth it's really because-" Before she could finish the ever growing noise in the background of Marie and Benothy messing around with their food and each other would begin to be too much as she suddenly slammed her hands on the table evoking a silence from everyone, especially since she usually didn't do this, she never got angry. And when she did, there was something so scary about the seemingly kind and dedicated mother. Without her even needing to say any words they stopped messing around and continued eating. June put a hand on her head and leaned back in the chair, a sudden feeling of exhaustion seeming to come over her. This would only seek to feed the concern of George. "Honey, are you alright? And what was it you were going to say?" And another inconvenience happened as he heard a beep from his watch looking down at it, it was the alarm for him to start heading to work. Sadly he wouldn't get his answer now, but he thought he'd ask again when he got home, and they could have some "alone time" wanting to make her feel better. Quickly he got up and started speaking as he left quickly putting his shoes on at the doorway trying not to fall. "Sorry honey, let's finish this talk later alright. Just take the kids to school and try to get some rest please. Ack-!" He tripped over himself as he was hopping on one foot to try and put his other shoe on as quickly as possible, but he got right back up and sprinted out the door. June would look back to her children and put a smile back on her face. "I'm sorry kids, that was rude of me. I guess I really am going a little crazy aren't I." There was a slight odd chuckle that escaped her lips as she stood up and walked over to the kitchen counter getting ready to take some tea with her. As she stood there she would feel two little impacts on her behind that wrapped around her, she would look back only to see that she was being hugged by Benthony and Marie. "It's okay mom, we love you, and we won't do it again!" This is something she knew was probably a lie, but at the same time she appreciated it. "Yeah what Marie said ma. Now c'mon before we miss school!" She would wave them to back off from her. "Alright alright just give me a second." She would pick up her cup of tea and begin to head to the car with the kids and had a nice and surprisingly silent drive to their kindergarten. And she would give them hugs and kisses before going to leave. "Have a nice day kiddos, behave and don't get in trouble." "Of course mama you too! I won't get in trouble but.." She turned to Benthony smugly and would speak in a matching manner. "I think he's a troublemaker." Benthony furrowed his eyebrows and looked grouchy back at Marie "Am not!" He would grab onto Marie and start shaking her. "Mama look he is!" This would only brighten a smile on her face. "Leave your sister alone, Benthony, now love you both." Now finally she would be about to listen to her husband and go home, but then she remembered.. They don't have any more milk! The kids wouldn't be able to have cereal tomorrow and everything would be ruined! She quickly stepped on the gas to head to the store and came to a screeching halt. As she came out from the car and walked to the store she would get a lot of waves and greetings that she quickly responded to. It seemed she had become somewhat notorious in their small town. An old man sitting outside feeding some birds would seem happy to see her. "Thank you so much for helping me cross the road, we need more kind young people like you." He would speak in a hoarse voice showing his age, but he still had some enthusiasm in him. In an outstretched hand he gave her a jawbreaker which she would gladly take. "No problem Mister Peterson, have a wonderful day." With that small interaction over she went into the store grabbing some milk and quickly going to go back home and get some sleep, but then something caught her eye. It was lasagna. "The kids would probably love it if I treated them to some of that, they all like lasagna." She would think to herself, but of course she could not just get store bought lasagna. She went around to pick up all the ingredients she needed to make her own special kind she had learned from her grandma and tweaked a bit. Now after taking an egregiously long time picking out all of the finest ingredients she finally went to the counter to make her purchase. And the cashier was one of her longtime friends Samantha who greeted her when she put her items in the checkout. "Hey Miss Dishwasher, how are you.." There was a slight pause as she looked at her. "Jees Junie you got some real eyebags go get some sleep when you get back." She slightly rolled her eyes at the nickname, but it's one that had been attached to her for a while and she seemed not to mind it, besides it wasn't really wrong. "My husband says the same, but I just want to make sure I get everything done on time." A few beeps could be heard as the items were checked out. Samantha stopped for a moment putting both of her palms outwards as a stopping motion and then proudly onto her hips. "Relax girlfriend, you know I can always have you covered if you need anything. That's what friends are for right?" June would reply with a simple nod before taking her groceries and seemingly leaving without another word as Samantha waved her away. Hours Later… It had been many hours since that interaction and she still had not fallen asleep, what was she doing now? She was warding off evil spirits from the house of course. She had talismans everywhere including on her body and one on a stick she was waving around. "Begone foul spirits and leave me and my family alone. Do not come back! And I'll give you a cookie if you go quietly." She continued waving around the stick until she felt like she couldn't anymore, she felt different which made her believe that she had vanquished them all! And so she finally went to her room to drop down on her bed.. Ring, Ring! It was the doorbell sounding off as she would let out a groan quickly getting up to answer it. And would see that the kids had gotten back home from the bus, she would open up the door for them as they suddenly tackled her jumping on her and hugging her as she gave weak laughter. But Marie.. Only held on with one arm. In her other arm had been her Teddy bear which she had noticed was quite muddy. She would crouch down and place them both down. Marie would seem to have a slightly teary face which made her seem somewhat concerned. "M-momma, there was a mean boy today who put my bear in the mud." "Yeah ma, I tried to stop him, but he was bigger than me and a real bully." Benthony followed up after Marie June would put a calm hand onto the shoulder of Marie and give her a glorious bright shining smile. "Don't worry Marie, I'll get him all cleaned up c'mon. And I'll have a talk with that boy and his parents and show them a piece of my mind." She slightly balled up a fist with anger, but she could not let that slip out. She would pick up the bear and go over to the washing machine gently placing him in there along with a tide pod on top of him to make him extra clean.. That's when she realized she was stuck. "M-marie, Benthony. Can you pull me out? I can't move." She didn't know how, was she really just that tired or.. Something else? The kids tried to pull her out but she didn't move. Then it sounded like the machine had turned on and there was a loud noise and foaming bubbles, before suddenly a flash. When vision returned within the washing machine there was no bear, and there was no mother either. "M-mama?" The two said in unison. They seemed to wait for a response, but they got none, just an eerie silence that hung over the air. The two children now had devastated and sunken hearts with both trying to scramble in as well. "Give our mom back!" "What did you do you stupid thing!" They both shouted at the washing machine as if it was alive and started banging on it as if it were a living thing with a mind and will. Elsewhere. Now falling through the sky at about 500 meters was June with the Teddy bear falling by her side, she would reach out and grab it holding it close to herself. At least if she was going to die falling through the sky.. It would be with something that was precious and connected to her family. She would close her eyes and then.. THUD. Although there was not only a thud from her fall, there was a thud from things going on around her, there was a lot of noise as if she was in an active conflict. And this made her realize something. She was not dead. She would sit up seemingly okay, this would greatly confuse her and she would swing her head around to the left and to the right. To her left would seemingly be other humans like her dressed up in military attire, but it was definitely not a kind that she had seen before. And to her right.. Well that is actually what would put some sort of shock into her. There were grotesque monsters all around there, seeming to mostly be green and slimy creatures of all shapes and sizes.. They were just so grotesque. She felt herself suddenly falling back and out to sleep, not because of fear or something like that, she was just so tired. When she woke up there would only be more oddities displayed to the girl. There was a cushioning feeling beneath her visage that was more comfortable than any bed she had ever felt, she would begin to scan the room she was currently in, it looked like some sort of medical center, one of those humans in the war had probably taken her when she had become unconscious. She would shake her head around to try and get rid of the dizzy feeling that seemed to linger there. When she looked straight once more she would see something peculiar.. It was a blue screen which stared back at her, there was a loading bar in front of her displaying different messages under it as it reached 100% saying things such as "Collecting data." "Identifying characteristics" "Optimizing system." And then it quickly reached 100%. "Greetings master, I am your Ethossys, welcome to this new world." "Ethossys?" June would reply to the system sort of confused. "Ethossys is a short term for Ethos System, or rather character system. In this world everyone has one of these and they get them around their teen years, since you're obviously far past that you have one too." June would put her hand on her head as she was trying to get an understanding now. "Alright then, so what exactly do you do?" Ethossys would clear its nonexistent throat "We help out our users in any way we can, and provide a simpler way to help them grow and evolve using statistical points, and special skills like a video game." June's eyes would suddenly light up, unlike most who would be utterly in panic or spiraling or something of the like. She seemed to be very happy in her situation… It was something new. And not only that it sounded kind of like this could be a nice place, if this thing functioned like a game. Although she had a more serious expression thinking about the situation she saw as soon as she got here. "Wait, system. This is like a game, then do I get some sort of starting class?" The system would stop for a moment as something appeared on its screen "Determining class." June would wait with anticipation hoping it would be something awesome.. And then when it popped on the screen she was surely shocked. "Class Selected: Ultimate Housewife."