Offline

Forward

I didn't intend to write a forward here, but the system isn't letting me post my story because it thinks it was created by AI. I'm not sure if I should be flattered or not.

But no, I didn't use Ai to create this story. This story sprung out of a time I was playing with my son just before Christmas. My son and I are very close, but he struggled that day to have fun. Then we put on some capes and started to pretend and play The Floor Is Lava. Suddenly, everything turned around.

I saw the chance for a story there, so I started to write it. It took me a few months to get things right. After a few readers suggested some changes, I went back and rewrote large portions of the writing and even changed some of the emotional journey the main character goes through.

I did use some tools to help me write, namely Grammarly, but I used it for finding and fixing grammar mistakes.

With that said, I present to you Offline, a story of a son trying to show his son how important he is, even if work steals him away more often than not.

Offline

Trent looked around his computer at the battlefield of discarded action figures. A smorgasbord of characters, trucks, and colorful bricks covered most of the off-white carpet and colorful alphabet rug. Usually the sight wouldn’t bother him, but something about it struck fear into his heart.

Trent had worked so much lately that it felt like he and his son, Tyler, were almost strangers. So, when Trent’s wife needed to go to the dentist, he took a day off to spend time with the person he missed the most. However, a work phone call before breakfast brought his plans crashing down.

He hesitated as his fingers pushed the final buttons to send his finished work. His stomach churned as he thought about what to do next. He wanted to play with his son but worried his son wouldn’t want him.

Trent’s work kept him away from the boy he idolized for months. Since he had worked all day, he hadn’t spent much time with Tyler and feared he had created a rift that couldn’t be repaired. He worried that Tyler thought he favored work over spending time with his son. He didn’t know how to explain that he wasn’t there as much anymore because he was trying to provide for everyone. The words sounded like excuses in his own ears.

Tyler had been eating breakfast and watching cartoons on the couch. Trent had figured that his son would grow tired of the PBS Kids channel and start playing with his toys.

Instead, Tyler lay on his back, looking at the big screen TV. An older computer-animated cartoon espoused the virtues of recycling. Trent knew their relationship wouldn’t mend if he never took the steps to heal it.

Trent tiptoed around the toys in the playroom and looked for something to interest his son. He found different color capes from when Tyler hit his superhero phase. Trent's wife bought a selection of capes in varying colors. The boy had worn them every day for months. Those capes went everywhere, from the playground to the doctor’s office.

Trent moved his attention to the abandoned collection of dog action figures, one for each element. His kids hadn't touched them in weeks. He wondered how much money had gone into these unused toys. How many hours had he worked to bring thirty minutes of fun to his son?

He didn’t want to think about it, so he freed himself from the confines of the playroom and marched into the living room. Tyler didn't even look away from the TV.

He knew he needed to make his move. They would never grow that bond if he sat there, fearful of his son.

"Okay, time’s up," Trent started.

"Huh?" The four-year-old asked from his prone position.

"Time to turn the TV off," Trent said. He grabbed the remote from the coffee table and flicked the power off.

"Hey, I was watching that," Tyler shouted.

Trent cocked his head to the side, warning his son of the tone he’d just used. "Yeah, but I didn't take the day off to watch you watch TV. Let's go play."

"Can I play on my tablet?" he whined.

"No, let's play in the playroom," Trent said. Tyler melted into the couch and dripped down to the floor, flipping on his way so that he landed on all fours.

"Please, can I get my tablet?" Tyler's eyebrows lifted while his eyes moistened. The corners of his lips started to slope downward. The boy used it to guilt him every time something didn't go the boy's way.

"Tell you what, you play with me for thirty minutes. I'll let you play on your tablet for thirty minutes." He didn’t like the deal he offered, but he needed a way in.

"Okay, tablet first."

"I don't run on credit, dude." Trent walked to the playroom. A loud, fake cry followed him from behind.

Trent dropped his forty-year-old self to the floor and grabbed one of the dog superheroes. He bumped it around a few steps, making sounds with his mouth. Tyler meandered into the room. He watched from the doorway before moving to sit near his father.

Trent brimmed with hope that this day would be good for both of them. While he had long ago realized how mind-numbing playing with a toddler could be, he couldn’t think of anything he’d rather do.

The boy grabbed a toy and half-heartedly engaged with his father. He looked like he wanted to be anywhere but in the playroom. He pushed the toy across the floor but Trent could tell the boy needed something more exciting.

"Where's Dr. Badoom? He stole the money. We have to get it back," Trent invented a story hoping to engage his son.

"That's not what they do," Tyler said. He laid his head down and sighed.

"Okay, should we play with something else?" Trent asked.

"My tablet?"

"No," Trent said firmly. Tyler could be relentless when he wanted something, but Trent knew he needed to stay strong. He knew giving Tyler the tablet would make him happy, but it wouldn’t help mend the rift.

Tyler dropped the dog action hero and rolled onto his back. Then he let out a big sigh. “Where’s Mom?”

“She’s at the dentist,” Trent said as he looked for another toy that might grab his kid's interest.

“Oh,” he said as he seemed to deflate even more.

Trent’s eyes landed on the capes, and an idea emerged. Tyler used to spend hours in them. He had only been knee-high then but stood much taller when he wore a cape. He would jump around the house, screaming out the power of his cape as each colored cape brought a different power.

Trent grabbed the blue one and slung it over his shoulders. The cape felt silky in his hands. The child’s cape clasped tight around his neck, just enough to make him feel like he was slowly getting choked.

He jumped and spun around to face his son, the cape flowing behind him. "It's me, Ice Guy," he shouted.

For the first time in a while, Tyler perked up. The boy sat up and smiled, a twinkle in his eye that hadn't been there before.

"Tyler, won't you come join me?"

Tyler got to his feet and made his way over to the capes. He snatched the red one and held it up to his dad. Trent couldn't hide his smile as he put the cape around his son's neck.

"I'm Fire Guy," Tyler shouted. He raised his open hand as if conjuring a flame before launching it at an imaginary foe.

"Fire Guy, we need to find the bad guys," Ice Guy said as he launched toward the other side of the room. "An evil wizard took all the bread in the land."

"We have to stop him," Fire Guy said. He dashed towards his partner in blue. "Wait, there's bad guys." Tyler started to build more fireballs in his palms and launch them at the imaginary bad guys who dared to stop the duo from getting to the living room. "Use your ice powers!"

"Ice Power,” Ice Guy shouted as he fired his ice beams. Trent ran into the living room and jumped over the couch, which had just housed his son moments before. He ducked down, hiding from the bad guys. Fire Guy came around the other side, hunched down. He rolled over onto his dad's side.

"They're going to get us," the smaller hero shouted. He sprang up and fired two blasts from his hands.

"You got them," Ice Guy said, raising his open hand for a high five. Tyler responded with enthusiasm. "Wait!” he leaned up to see. “Ah! Laser! Duck!”

Ice Guy threw himself to the couch. Fire Guy hesitated and then did the same. The laser beam barely missed. Ice Guy followed the beam's path with his entire head as it struck their fireplace.

"That was close," he said, prepping his ice beam to blast back. "My turn."

"I got this one," Fire Guy primed his hands. Ice Guy raised one finger, then two, and then three. They both popped up. Tyler fired at the evil robot that had been closing in.

"You got him," Ice Guy cheered. Trent watched as his son smiled at him. They were both enjoying the moment, but he knew he needed to keep things going. “Oh no,” Ice Guy said, staring at the melted robot.

“What’s wrong Da-Ice Guy?” Tyler said, forgetting for a second that they were pretending. Trent’s heart skipped a beat with the slip up.

“The robot is still melting,” he said.

"Oh no." Ice Guy said.

"I think it had a fail-safe," Fire Guy tilted his head at the taller hero, his left eyebrow raised in question. "When we hit it, the robot tripped a boobytrap. Now, he's turning everything into lava."

"You mean, THE FLOOR IS LAVA?” Ice Guy shouted.

"What should we do?"

Ice Guy scratched his chin. "We need to get to the evil wizard, but he's all the way up there," he pointed to the upstairs playroom, which quickly became an intimidating mountain they’d have to climb. "How are we going to get there if the floor is lava?"

Fire Guy took his turn scratching his chin, a mirror image of his father. "What if we used the pillows to get to the stairs?"

“I never would have thought of that,” Ice Guy said but couldn’t hide the smile from his face. “Where should we place the first one?”

Fire Guy looked out at what had just been the living room. It was now a battlefield filled with lava. The boy grabbed a throw pillow, which seemed both out of place and perfectly normal, and threw it on the ground with enough space to get them a step away from the couch and towards the stairs.

Fire Guy looked back to check with his dad. Ice Guy nodded and grabbed two pillows. The boy jumped on the pillow, and Dad handed him one of his. They passed pillows around so they could step on two at a time and have a third to move with.

"Brilliant strategy, Fire Guy," Ice Guy said, still brimming with pride.

They reached the bottom of the stairs faster than he had imagined. Fire Guy looked back, "What do we do?"

"Climb! Before the lava reaches us," Ice Guy said. He watched as Fire Guy jumped to the stairs. They sighed with relief as they watched the lava melt at the base of the mountain. They looked at each other and, with a nod, began to climb the terrible cliff. Fire Guy slipped a few times and needed Ice Guy’s hand. Trent felt a warmth in the pit of his stomach grow as his son continued to need his help.

Once at the top, Ice Guy fell to his back to catch his breath. "No one has climbed Mount Stairs and returned alive since the wizard took over. We need to be careful," he huffed.

Fire Guy nodded. "Right, we need to—Magic spell!”Fire Guy tried to point at the incoming spell, but the warning came too late. The magic spell struck Ice Guy, who shook in place and turned toward the ceiling. "Save me," he said between chattering teeth.

Fire Guy rubbed his hands together, his eyebrows lowering. "Fire Healing Magic," he shouted as he put his hands on his father.

"Thanks, Fire Guy. Where did that magic spell come from?"

"The wizard," Fire Guy whispered. "We need to be more careful."

"Agreed," Ice Guy said.

"Which way to the castle?" Fire Guy asked.

Ice Guy motioned to the playroom. "That way. But we have to pass through the slime swamp."

"Shouldn't be a problem with my firepower," Fire Guy claimed.

The two started toward the castle, but the slime swamp oozed before them. Ice Guy put a hand out to stop Fire Guy and gently put his left foot out.

"I'm stuck," Ice Guy said, straining to pull his foot from the ground.

"Let me try," Fire Guy said as he kindled a flame between his hands.

"Wait! Try it on the swamp before my foot. What if the slime reacts?"

"Good idea." Fire Guy shot a small blast of fire at the slime to their right, only to get pushed backward. "Woah, it exploded."

"Glad we tested that. Maybe if I—" Ice Guy rubbed his hands together. "Ice!"

"What are you doing?"

"If I freeze the slime, I can free my foot." For a moment, he struggled. He summoned all the strength he could into his legs. Then, he lashed out with a kick, freeing it.

"You can freeze the ground to get us over to the castle." Fire Guy said, pointing to the towering castle just beyond the swamp.

"Let's do it," Ice Guy nodded. Like with the lava, they made a path through the slime. Step by step, they hopped until they neared the castle.

"Okay, we're here," Fire Guy said. "Let's jump over—"

He stood straight up. The sound of vibrations filled the room. Fire Guy looked around. "What's that sound? Tiny machine bugs?"

Ice Guy looked around. Until he realized the sound came from his pocket.

The slime, castle, and everything vanished. Trent knew it was his phone, but they still needed to vanquish the wizard.

He suspected the call came from his boss. The man probably didn't understand what Trent had sent. It could be a quick call, and they could be right back in the swamp. He knew the phone would ring again if he didn't answer.

"I'm sorry, Tyler. I just need to check—" he didn't want to finish the sentence. Tyler's eyes immediately fell to the ground and then to the living room, where his tablet waited. Trent’s heart sank. He didn’t want the playtime to end.

Trent closed his eyes as he contemplated what to do. "I don't want to take this, but if I don't answer, it will just ring again." He withdrew his phone. His boss's name was emblazoned across the call screen.

"It's okay. Just go." Tyler huffed, shuffling back towards the stairs. He reached up and detached the Velcro from the cape, which drifted to the ground. “Can I play on my tablet?”

Trent felt the phone vibrate in his hand. Each buzz chipped away at the repairs he had made to his relationship with Tyler. He dreaded answering it, but he didn’t know what other options he had. His family needed him to keep this job.

His finger hovered over the answer button as he watched his son begin to melt into the ground again. He looked from his son to the abandoned cape to his phone. The last twenty minutes had brought him more delight than the past month of work.

Finally, he let his finger press the button on the screen.

"Fire Guy, your cape!” he shouted. “And what’s a tablet?”

Tyler spun around, his eyes narrowed towards his father as he processed what his father said.

Trent tossed the phone to the floor a few feet away. It had stopped buzzing. Its screen had gone dark. "Hopefully, the slime will contain the blast." A giant smile formed on his face. He needed the job to support the family, but he needed his son in his life more. Besides, he hadn’t taken the day off just to talk to his boss and do work from home, he did it to spend time with Tyler. Some things were more important than profit margins.

Tyler beamed as he snatched the cape from the ground. He draped the red cape around his neck in a flash and flurry, becoming Fire Guy again. The happy gleam in his eyes meant all the world to his father.

"What about—" Fire Guy started.

"Indeed, what about the wizard?" Ice Guy asked as he turned toward the castle.