Zuri was sitting on the couch shivering.
Steve said “Zuri, what happened? Did you see something scary?”
Tristan said “You know how your fridge is so big you can walk into it?”
“Yeah. How did you not realize she was trapped in there?! How long was she trapped in there?!”
“A few hours”
Zuri said “Noor shoved me in there and taped the door shut so I couldn't get out”
Steve yelled “Noor! Now Zuri gets to shove you in the fridge for a few hours!”
Noor came down and said “You should have been home five days ago!”
Steve said “Fridge now!”
Zuri said “It’s all good. Your friends already punished him. Noor is banned from all tech for a month”
Steve said “Zuri, want to get to a nice warm bed?”
Tristan said “Umm we had to carry her here. She can’t move easily. We had to carry her over here.”
Steve scooped Zuri up and carried her to his bed and said “Here you go.” and tucked her in
Zuri said “Still cold”
Steve then went to his closet and pulled out his coat. He helped Zuri put it on and said “cocoa is on the way.”
Alex came up and said “Here’s your coat Zuri.”
Steve helped Zuri get it on and Zuri said “Can I please huddle up against you Steve?”
Steve said “Yeah” and got close to Zuri.
Steve turned his head toward Alex and said “Cocoa and soup for Zuri!”
Alex ran downstairs and quickly made soup, cookies and cocoa. She carefully brought them all up to Zuri and slowly gave them to Zuri.
Steve said “Umm Zuri, did you have any meetings with the council while I was out?”
“Nope.”
When Zuri was done with her cookies, she said “Can I sleep in here for the night?”
Steve said “Yeah.”
That night, Zuri was still shivering.
After Zuri went to sleep, Alex said “Let me feel her hand.
Alex carefully took the mittens off Zuri’s hands and felt her hand.
Alex said “Steve, I’m sorry to say I think her PvP days are over.”
“So soon?!”
“Yes. Tomorrow, feel her hands.”
Steve quickly took off one of her mittens and felt the hand.
He said “You’re right. We did all we could!”
Steve then went to sleep with Alex and the next morning, Zuri was just laying there. Cold, lifeless.
Steve said “Zuri?”
Zuri didn’t respond.
Alex came up and said “She’s dead Steve. She’s dead.”
Steve wailed “No! How could I have been so selfish!?”
Alex said “What do you mean? This isn’t your fault. It’s both of our’s.” and lovingly patted Steve on the back.
Steve said “If only we would have taken her to a medic yesterday!”
Noor then came in and said “I’ve made breakfast for Zuri as an apology for yesterday.”
Alex said “You should be apologizing to me and Steve! Zuri is dead and it’s all thanks to you! Steve is falling apart and needs some special breakfast.”
Steve then came out and said “Zuri’s dead Noor. Too late now.”
Noor dropped the tray and everything that was on it broke and Steve said “Noor, from now on, you’re making all the meals!”
“Even on my birthday? Which by the way is in three days.”
Steve pushed Noor against the wall and yelled “You listen to me mister! You should be happy I’m still letting you live here! Zuri is dead and can’t be respawned! We won’t do anything for your birthday ever again!”
Alex said “Now Steve, you know that’s unfair”
Noor said “Great Alex will help lessen the punishment”
Alex said “Nope! I will call your school and tell them to give you the extra hard assignments and tests every day, plus what Steve said”
Noor slid down to the floor and said “No, it was just a prank I played on her”
Zuri then came out of the room and said “What’s going on?”
Steve said “Noor, you’re lucky she’s still alive.”
Zuri said “I’m still very cold. Steve, would you mind taking me to a medic today?”
Alex said “Yes. And Noor, you have to pay for it!”
Alex rushed Zuri to the car with Steve and said “Noor, you’re coming with us everywhere we go.”
Steve said “Alex, I think Noor will have to live with us forever. He still hasn’t learned what’s acceptable.”
Noor said “But, Zuri called you a PvP fraud!”
Steve looked at Zuri and said “Is that true”
Zuri said “No” weakly.
Steve said “You are grounded from tech for life! You’re also grounded for life!”
Noor said “You can’t control if I use tech or hang out with friends when I move out!”
Alex yelled “You will never move out!”
Noor said “Fine, the truth is Zuri called you a worthless blob of blobbyness”
Steve sighed and looked at Zuri who was shaking her head no.
Steve said “Noor! If you don’t tell the truth, we won’t ever let you move out of the house. If you tell the truth, we may let you leave the house as long as you stay within the confines of the village!”
Zuri said “All I can remember from before he shoved me in was I was getting some chocolate from the fridge and then he shoved me in there!”
Steve said “Were you in there overnight?!”
Noor said “Yeah, she was, just over 24 hours in there for Zuri”
Zuri cried and said “Why’d you bring him?!”
Alex said “We can’t trust him alone anymore. Maybe Ghast’s lodge wasn’t effective enough! We’re going to try Wither roost!”
Steve said “Yeah!”
Noor said “No anywhere but there! There they make people who break any of their rules wear a dress!”
Steve said “Alex, that gave me an idea for his punishment!”
Alex said “I had the same idea! How long were you thinking?”
“A week and a half.”
Alex said “A week is good enough! When we get home, we’ll pick out the seven girliest dresses we have and you have to wear them for a week.”
Then they arrived.
Zuri got rushed in and the medic said “Tsk tsk tsk. This is bad! We’re afraid she only has a few minutes left to live.”
Steve started to cry and said “Goodbye. If you respawn, we will be even closer than now.”
Then Zuri died.
Alex cried and said “I didn’t even get to say goodbye!”
The medics said “She won’t respawn.”
Steve lifted up Zuri; tears streaming down his face and carried Zuri back to the car with Noor and Alex following. By the time they got home, Steve’s eyes were red like the fires of the nether.
Alex said “Noor, this time you’ve gone too far! I’m going to do something I never thought I’d do to you. You have to read all Steve’s PvP books all the way through!”
Steve said “I don’t want my books to get destroyed!”
Then Kathy came in and said “Steve, I heard Zuri died. Would you like a special dinner with the whole village?”
Steve nodded slowly and said “That may help. None of my family will come though!”
“Deal”
