Prologue
Each time that headset came in contact with my head and stole me away to that crazy world, I never knew if I would make it out unscathed.
Vertigo, a gaming console (which was much better than Playstation or Xbox, in my opinion at least), released this new game, LiveStream, where you put on this headset and you could be ‘transported’ into a mind-blowingly dangerous reality game--all through a set of headphones.
The terrain of the game seemed to change whenever it pleased. At any given moment we could be running through the densest forest, flying over the highest mountains, or jumping from rooftop to rooftop in New York City. I don’t think that was supposed to happen, but it most certainly was an adventure (which is what Vertigo promised), so no one said anything or complained.
Naturally, I was one of the first brain-dead teenagers to invest in this product, because what else do I have to do with my time, schoolwork? Ha!
It seemed harmless at the time, “A new product?! Oh, that sounds nice!” No one thought anything of it. But as more and more people invested in this product, servers got crowded, details went a bit awry, and someone found a way to slip through the seemingly airtight security in the game.
That’s when things went wrong; people began disappearing without any word, just vanished into thin air. There were always those that would sign off because the adventure wasn’t their thing, but it started getting spooky. These weren’t just people-signing-off disappearances, but people--people who were still signed on--just disappeared, as if they were being sent somewhere else. It sure freaked me out, not to mention hundreds of others, but for some reason, no one spoke out; it was the so-called elephant in the room, and we were all chatting about the weather to ignore it. But it was hard; how could you ignore the fact that one minute you would be walking next to a fellow contestant in the game, and the next they vanish mid-conversation?
That’s why I’m talking to you right now; I needed to figure this out, and people need to know just how dark things got. It’s not safe out there, and sometimes I feel like this is the one--and only-- place I am.
Lunch
Ping.
I struggled to take my phone out of my pocket, trying not to let Gym Teacher see me, because I knew she would take my phone away in a heartbeat if she saw me using it.
I never really understood just why Gym Teacher hated me so much, but she did. I just liked to assume that it’s because she’s an old bat without a sense of humor, though I think it’s safe to assume that it’s because I don’t play any sports after school, being that I’m not really all that athletic and I really don’t like to exercise to begin with.
I kept my phone hidden in my lap until Gym teacher walked past and was a safe distance away from me.
It was Mother, who knew damn well I was in school and that checking a phone was frowned upon, especially with Gym Teacher up my butt all the time. Go figure.
What could she possibly want? Unless it was an emergency, like Grandmother being rushed to the hospital (which has happened before), she wouldn’t shoot me a text message while I was in school. She feels as though most things aren’t really of much importance and that it can wait until I get home at three o’clock.
“I got the goods.”
What? What does that even mean? Goods? What goods?
Ping.
I really needed to turn the volume down on my phone. Mother was going to get me in trouble if Gym Teacher decided to walk back over in my direction.
It was a picture of a box with a headset pictured on it. I think it was the new headset for Vertigo. I saw a commercial for the headset the other day, catchy jingle and all. Bastards. That song was stuck in my head for like three days.
It sounded like a pretty cool idea, though I wasn’t planning on getting the headset until I had heard some more reviews about it.
I showed the picture to my small group of friends at my lunch table. With mouths full of food, they all tried shouting things along the lines of “Woah, dude!” and “You’re so lucky!” (At least I hope that’s what they were trying to say, and not just trying to spit chewed up bits of their food in my direction...)
Nate, my best friend of... god knows how many years, took my phone and pretended he was me. “Oh, I’m Sophia. Look at me. I’m sooo cool. My mom bought me a new video game the day it came out.” He started waving the phone in his hand and stepped up on his chair. “Look at me you guys,” Nate moved his fingers around on a pretend controller, “This game is ah-may-zing.”
I tried reaching up and grabbing my phone, but he just moved his arm further away from me. He began laughing so hard, he almost fell off the chair. I snatched my phone back. Gym Teacher saw Nate standing on the chair and began making her way back over towards our table. Nate got off the chair.
Maybe if I didn’t move, she would leave me alone. That works with bears, right? Maybe it would work with Gym Teacher. She’s pretty big, and she’s got so much hair on her arms, you’d think one of her parents was actually a bear.
“Jerk,” I said, laughing along with Nate.
He gave me a friendly punch in the arm. “Calm down. I’m only messing with you.”
“I know.” I said, rubbing my arm where he punched me, trying to cover up the fact that his punch actually hurt.
“Your mom actually bought it for you? Without hesitation?”
I shrugged my shoulders.
“You didn’t have to fight her to buy it for you or anything?”
“She just texted me and said she got it for me. I don’t even know if I really wanted it,” I said, still rubbing my arm.
“Hey man, I wouldn’t complain if I were you. I mean, look at it this way: Your mother... Okay, let me repeat that... Your mother bought you something. You didn’t have to scream and cry and fight for it. She just willingly bought you something. You should be happy about that. Because you and I both know how your mother is, and this is one of those things that won’t happen again for a long time.”
I looked at him for a moment, deciding whether or not I wanted to say something back, but I decided against it. He was right. Instead I just pulled the hair tie out of my hair and brushed through my hair with my fingers, then put it back up in a ponytail.
He raised his eyebrow at me, the same way he does whenever he knows he’s right in an argument and he’s just waiting for you to come up with a counterargument. I just looked at him, messing with my ponytail.
He realized that I wasn’t going to say anything, so he lowered his eyebrow. “I think my uncle mentioned the game on the phone the other day. I’m pretty sure he told me that he was going to send it to my house sometime during the week. Could be tonight, who knows. Maybe it’ll be there when I get home. But I’ll play with you once I get it.”
I pulled a bobby pin out from between my lips and slipped it through the hair that refused to join the rest of the hair in my ponytail. “That sounds good to me.”
Ding! Ding! Ding!
The bell rang, which meant I had to go to Gym Teacher’s class next. Oh great.
She spotted me, and followed Nate and I out of the cafeteria.
Gym Class
I guess Gym Teacher overheard Nate and I talking about the game, because when we got into gym, she yelled at me, saying things like “If you didn’t play videogames all the time, maybe you’d be able to keep up with the ball when we go outside and play soccer.” and “I bet your sister never played video games. God, what I would give to have her back in my class.” She was pacing back and forth. Under her breath, she mumbled, “I’d gladly switch you out for her any day.” She looked at me questioningly, I guess wondering if I heard her or not. Oh, I did.
Sister
Everyone always put me down, comparing me to Sister and telling me I wasn’t able to do all of these things she could do. Sister was an all-star soccer player at our school, and of course Gym Teacher’s favorite student/athlete (Gym Teacher was one of the head coaches for soccer. Shocker). Guidance Counselor would always call me into her office, telling me I should be able to live up to the school’s expectations; get straight A’s (which doesn’t work out very well for a lazy girl like me who doesn’t want any part of school work once she walks off of the afternoon bus), participate in a school sport or club (none of which seemed interesting to me, except maybe Creative Writing), spend insane amounts of your parents’ money on stupid school trips (which kids really only used to get out of class anyways), sit on my ass for seven hours a day, five days a week, taking notes and paying attention like a good little robot. Sister was always good at that; “Hi, Mr.Teacher. Here is my research paper, 12 full pages instead of the minimum 8. And here is my project. I know it’s two weeks early, but I just wanted to get it out of the way.” (If you think I’m over exaggerating... I’m not.). Everyone has always told me to be more like Sister and less like me. Sister was a pretty cool girl throughout her high school career; rode quads, hunted, played soccer in the fall and softball in the spring, hung out with the ‘popular’ girls, the list just keeps going and going. Even now in college, she’s one of the most liked girls at her school, and she could get practically anything she wants at the snap of her fingers.
Everyone wants me to be like her, but then they tell me I’m not capable of killing another living thing like she can, or driving any type of vehicle at all the way she can, or even running long distances while chasing after a ball, just like she can. All my life, I was told that I can’t do anything, that I’m not capable of doing anything.
“Don’t be Sophia. Be Michelle. Sophia isn’t good enough. Sophia is nothing.”
But I’m Sophia, and nothing can change that. I write stories and play videogames all day. That’s me.
Mother hates me for it, though she’ll never admit it. She so badly wants Michelle back home. But she won’t be back, not for a while, if at all. She’s off to college in another state. She’s too busy growing up and spending all her time with school work and her new boyfriend. Michelle doesn’t even call the house anymore to check in and let Mother know how she’s doing like she did when she first left for college last year. Mother misses her, and she takes it out on me.
Algebra 2
Mr.Algebra was getting mad because our class (full of seniors who had failed the class the year before and had to make it up in order to graduate) wouldn’t stop talking. The group of jocks were talking about who they banged last week and who they were planning on banging at Quarterback’s party this weekend. The Girly-Girls were talking about what color they were going to paint their nails for prom (which, keep in mind, was months away). The Do Nothings were throwing little balls of paper at other students in the classroom or putting their heads down on the desk with their hoods on in an attempt to try and take a nap. Then you had the Gamer Kids (a few of them being my good friends) talking about LiveStream (guilty...) and how excited they were to get it.
Jeremy’s older brother waited in line all night for the midnight release. He picked one up for himself, and one for Jeremy (of course Jeremy would have to pay him back with the money he doesn’t even have. Though his older brother doesn’t know that. I can see it now: Jeremy walks into Mr.Algebra’s class tomorrow with a big black eye, a cast covering his broken arm or leg, penises drawn on the cast by a group of idiots he stupidly let sign his cast, his front tooth knocked out, causing him to talk all funny. Seriously, you don’t fuck with Jeremy’s older brother). I was just thankful I had someone to play with when I got home. I didn’t want to test out this new game-headset thing on my own.
“Quiet down. Quiet down.” Mr.Algebra crossed his arms and began tapping his foot. Dozens of “shhh’s” echoed throughout the room. Mr.Algebra raised his eyebrow, the same way Nate did during lunch, and waited for some smartass to say something and get themselves sent to the office.
No one spoke up.
“Good. Now here are your notes. Write them down. This will be on the test.”
The entire class moaned. Mr.Algebra chuckled to himself. I guess he just enjoyed making kids’ lives miserable. Isn’t that a teacher’s job?
I followed orders like the robot everyone wanted me to be. I copied the words on the board, but I had to drown out Mr.Algebra’s voice because, dear god, I couldn’t stand it. I don’t think anyone could. It was... how would I describe it? It didn’t quite match up to his image, if that makes any sense.
You know how you look at a handsome middle-aged man dressed in a button up shirt and tight fitting pants (not skinny jeans, but those teacher pants (and I know you know what ones I’m talking about)), and then he talks and just has this kind of deep voice? They just go together; the image and the voice.
Now imagine a relatively young man, graduated college not even four years ago, 5/10 (not too bad, but decent enough for you to just stare at during class and zone out while he lectures you), dressed up in an ironed button up shirt, a tie that doesn’t match his outfit at all, and teacher-pants pulled up a little too high. Now take that guy and add a higher pitched voice, like the one of an annoying twelve year old boy, and there you have Mr.Algebra.
Of course it wasn’t too long before the class broke out into conversation again and Mr.Algebra had to yell at us again, threatening to make assigned seats (though that doesn’t scare us because (1) The Jocks are still going to talk to each other across the room, no matter how far apart they are. The Girly-Girls will send each other texts, “OMG. Beth. Do you understand this at all? Like, I don’t. Maybe I’ll get Jared to help tutor me.” [cue giggles and hair twirling and eye batting at Quarterback]. And the Gamer Kids will just pass a notebook around, drawing tanks running over Gym Teacher (because none of us liked her) or writing stupid things back and forth to each other. And (2) He’s been threatening that since the first day of school. “If you guys don’t behave, I’m going to assign seats. Don’t think I’m joking.” We all just kind of laugh it off now. You can get away with pretty much anything in his class, which is part of the reason no one takes him--or his class--seriously. In a way, I feel bad for him because no one listens to him or respects the fact that he’s a teacher--our teacher at that. But then again, it was like my annoying twelve year old cousin dressed himself up in ‘grown up clothes’ (as he would call them) and was trying to stand up in front of a class of juniors and seniors (all of which are not interesting in participating in class whatsoever) and try to teach them this foreign language teachers and professors call Algebra).
Welcome Home
I got off the bus and walked up the sidewalk to my front door, which had this strange wreath thing on it. It was very festive and fall-like. It was weird, but in a cute way. I wasn’t used to my mom decorating the house, but I liked the whole fall look she was going for. She hasn’t done this since Michelle was home.
I took my backpack off and rested it on the porch railing. I unzipped the small pocket that was in the front and took out my key. I really keep meaning to paint it or something, because the Mickey Mouse pattern on it just wasn’t cutting it for sixteen year old me. Maybe I could paint it black, go out and get something to brighten it up a bit, like a rhinestone in the shape of an S, rather than just having a black key. Not that it mattered. No one cared anyway.
I struggled to put the key in the hole, but I finally got it. Stupid doorknob... I walked into my house and the smell of apple pie filled my nose. It smelled good, and I kind of wish the house smelled like this all the time.
“Mom?” I shouted.
“In here” her voice echoed from the kitchen.
I kicked off my shoes, which hit the key-rack and knocked all the keys to the ground. I threw my backpack down next to my shoes and picked up the keys I knocked over, then made my way down the hall towards the kitchen.
Mother heard my footsteps and turned around, wiping her flour covered hands onto her apron (when did she get get that? Where did she get that? Whatever...). “Hi sweetheart.” Mother said to me, holding a tray out to me and offering me a freshly made chocolate chip cookie.
“Uh... Hi?” I took a cookie off the tray and broke it in half. I had to check to make sure she didn’t sneak any poison into it.
Nothing visible. Just cooked dough and melty chocolate chips. Maybe she baked something into it, tried to poison me without me noticing. I held it to my nose and inhaled. Again, nothing. Just the smell of a delicious cookie that I was about ready to eat anyway, poison or no poison.
“How was school?” She asked.
“It was, uh, good. I guess.” I said, my mouth stuffed with cookie.
“Well that’s good.” She said, turning around and noticing cookie crumbs all over my face. “How are they? Do you like them?”
I looked at Mother, then at the cookie tray, then back at Mother, then back at the cookies. Swallow. Cookies, Mother, cookies, Mother.
She laughed, “I didn’t poison them, if that’s what you think. I wouldn’t do that.” The Mother I know would. Who is this?
I tried not to make eye contact with her, and she eventually turned back around to spoon some more cookie dough onto another tray. I wanted another one, but I didn’t want to go near this strange lady who tried to claim she was Mother.
Instead I decided to take a knife out of the silverware drawer and make my way over the apple pie she left on the island in the kitchen. It just smelled so good, and the pie was just calling my name. “Sophia. Sophiiiiiaaaa.”
Mother ran from the oven over to me and slapped my hand. “NO!” She yelled.
“What was that for?!” I shouted back, hiding my hands away from her so she couldn’t hit me again.
“This is for Michelle.” She said, picking the pie up and moving it somewhere else.
There it was. There was the reason for everything--the wreath, the cookies, the apron. Now it all made sense. Michelle was visiting, which is why Nice Mother decided to pay a visit today and decorate the house and make it smell nice.
I threw the knife back in the drawer and stormed out of the kitchen.
“Sweetie, come back!” I heard Nice Mother say from the kitchen. This was followed by the sound of a tray hitting the ground and Normal Mother shouting curse words.
I stomped up the steps and walked into my room and slammed the door shut behind me. My calendar fell off of the back of my door. I picked it back up, flipping through the pages, admiring the silly pictures of dogs riding unicycles or cats wearing party hats (I needed a calendar and I didn’t have a whole lot of money, so I bought this cheap sixty-nine cent calendar from Walmart. It didn’t make much of a difference to me. I never had anyone over other than Nate, and he didn’t care.).
After finally finding the thumbtack I was using to hang up my calendar, I turned around and noticed a box sitting on my bed. The one Nice Mother sent me a picture of earlier. LiveStream. I forgot. I was just so mad, I forgot entirely that she was Nice Mother earlier.
I picked it up, trying to decide whether or not I wanted to go downstairs and thank her after the little tantrum I just had. “Thank you.” I said to myself, hoping for whatever reason Nice Mother would hear me and just barging into my room with a plate of cookies and tell me I didn’t have to go to school all next week. Ha! Only in my dreams...
Not only was the box itself hard to open, but everything packed inside of it was too. The plugs that connected the headset to Vertigo was practically wrapped in an entire roll of duct tape, and it was the most obnoxious thing ever. The headset itself was covered in layers of styrofoam casing and plastic. Why do manufacturers do this to us?
Now that I had taken an entire half-hour to take the parts out of it’s packaging, I took another twenty minutes trying to figure out what went where. I mean, I could’ve used the instruction manual, but I didn’t believe in those. Nothing was color-coded either, which made it that much harder.
Thankfully I figured it out though, with the help of the instruction manual (I finally gave in...).
The familiar noise of Vertigo turning on played while I got myself changed out of my school clothes and into my cute footie pajamas (Nate got them for me when he was out shopping for a birthday present for his mom a few days ago, and I just loved them so much. I’ve worn them to bed every night since I got them).
LiveStream
Nate
Freshman Year
We met in fourth grade. I had just switched elementary schools for the third time. He was in my English class, and was sitting in the seat right in front of me. Nate Hall, Sophia Hammond.
We played a bunch of stupid ice breaker games, and found out that Nate and I actually had a lot in common. The one we both enjoyed most was Pokemon. He and I both talked for the rest of the period about Pokemon, where we then went on to have card duels the next few weeks during lunch.
Nate and I became really close and we would hang out all the time. He was, without a doubt, my best friend in the entire world. I shared all of my secrets and dreams with him, and he with me. We were inseparable.
But when he told me the news about him moving right after sixth grade, it broke my heart. Fortunately for me, he didn’t move very far. Maybe a 20 minute drive. But he was moving far enough away that we weren’t going to attend the same middle school.
We hung out a few times during the beginning of seventh grade, but we began to become distanced. He had his friends, I had mine. We were living our own lives. By eighth grade, we pretty much hadn’t spoken at all. Maybe a “Happy birthday, kiddo” on each other’s Facebook walls for each other's birthday, but that was about it.
High school came along ***
Review
Disappearing Act
Stuck
One By One
Khost
A distant screech was heard, which made everyone to stop what they were doing and just stand quietly in the middle of the open field. But once the screech was heard again, this time closer, almost everyone scattered and ran to find somewhere safe to hide. I stood still, bracing myself.
The screech was heard again. It seemed so close, you would swear the thing would jump out from behind the trees and pounce on you at any given moment.
But then it was quiet. You couldn’t hear anything but the wind blowing the leaves around on the trees. It was terrifying. My heart was racing. One part of me wanted to go run and hide with the others, but another part of me wanted to stand as still as possible because any sudden movements could warn the creature of my presence. I decided to keep my place, alone, in the middle of the field. No cover except the tall grass which only came up to about mid-calf. Maybe not the best idea, but it was too late for me to change my mind.
A loud crash came from behind me, along with various screams of both young boys and older men. I turned around to see a Khost bursting from the trees. I began running.
Khosts are not that big. They’re puny actually, compared to a lot of the other creatures in the game. One, maybe even two hit kills. This particular one though, it was huge. I had nothing in my inventory but a small pocket knife, which could kill a normal Khost if you really tried. But a pocket knife was practically useless against this unordinary Khost.
The creature let out another screech, but when I turned around to see exactly where it was, it was gone. It was nowhere to be found. I immediately stopped. I didn’t dare move a muscle. I looked over at a girl, who was hiding behind a tree, her wide eyes staring at something behind me. I raised an eyebrow at her, the way Nate does, and she began shaking her head no.
Slowly, I turned around. The Khost was directly behind me. It screeched and I booked it. People hiding did the same, only they began screaming like maniacs. I ran around trees and through the field, tripping over my own feet. Normally, running away that quickly would work because Khosts aren’t really known for their speed. They were better at disappearing, and then reappearing when you least expect it. Jump scares is more there thing, I should say. Kind of like a ghost. The name seems fit, don’t you think? But this particular Khost was extremely fast. It was on my tail the entire time.
I tripped and fell to the ground in the middle of the field. The Khost slowed to a stop and stared at me for a short time, as if it was giving me the chance to get back up. I slowly pushed myself up and onto my feet, and, facing the Khost, took a step backwards. It nudged itself towards me a little bit, as if it were insisting that I began running away again.
But the sound of rapid-fire gunshots broke out and the Khost let out an ear-piercing scream before falling to the ground and vanishing into thin air.
Then I heard laughing coming from behind me. I turned around to find a man holding a rifle in his hands walking towards me. “Can’t let you have all the fun, now can I?” he said, laughing at himself.
I looked at the man for a moment. He was much taller than I was (I mean, I’m not all that tall to begin with, but he still had some height to himself), and he was quite a handsome man, I’ll admit. His brunette hair was a mess, his face unshaven for quite some time, his eyes this gorgeous green color, his plaid shirt and jeans full of rips and tears, his everything covered in dirt. This totally handsome guy just saved my life. Oh my god, I might just die right here. “Th-thank you.” I stuttered.
“Names Alex.” He held out his hand.
I shook it, “I’m Sophia.” I couldn’t help but stare at him.
“Well it was nice meeting you, Sophia.” He said in this heart-meltingly deep voice.
“You too.” I said, unable to take my eyes off of him.
Alex opened his inventory and dropped a few things onto the ground. “Here, you should probably take these.” It broke my trance and I looked down to find a insert gun name here and a large sword. I stared at him for a second, trying to figure out his game. “You’ve got promise, kid.”
“Me?” I asked, pointing to myself.
“Yes, you.” Adam laughed.
“I... Thank you.”
“And don’t you dare hurt my babies.” He joked, pointing towards the weapons.
I laughed along with him.
“Oh. And take this.” Kirk went into his inventory again and threw down something else. I picked it up. It was a whistle. “Should you ever need me again, you blow that. Got it, kid?”
I looked at the whistle for a moment, then back at him. “You’ve got it.” And then I put the chain around my neck and tucked the whistle under my shirt.
Kirk laughed and punched me in the arm. “See ya round, kiddo.” Then he slung the rifle around his shoulder and began walking in the opposite direction.
“Thank you again.” I shouted to him. He stuck his arm up in the air to let me know that he heard me, but he continued walking. I rubbed my arm where he punched me, and it brought me back to that day in lunch with Nate.
NATE!
I almost forgot about Nate.
I began shouting his name, but I got no response. I walked towards the woods, still shouting his name. By the time I made it into the woods, I gave up. I wasn’t going to find him. He probably disappeared with everyone else.
A branch crackled from behind me, and I whipped around shouting “Nate!” hoping that it was him. But it wasn’t. Instead, in Nate’s place was a little boy.
Adam
He couldn’t have been more than eight years old. He had large scratch stretching across his face, and was obviously afraid of whatever it was that did that to him. I grabbed his chin and turned his head to get a better look at the cut. He flinched and I let go.
“I’m Sophia” I explained.
“I’m Des” the boy said so quietly that it was almost a whisper.
“What did this to you?” I asked, pointing to his face.
He shrugged his shoulders, then turned around, facing his back toward me.
“It’s okay. There’s no need to be frightened by me. I’m not
going to hurt you.” I tried reassuring him. He began walking away, and I followed right behind him. He walked left and right, past some trees, under low branches, and eventually stopped right before we got to an open area just down a small hill. There weren’t many trees in the area, but some branches from what trees were actually around were hovering over our heads, letting in only a little bit of sunlight. He walked down the hill and stopped in a beam of light.
“What are-” I began to ask.
His back still facing me, he turned his head to look at me, put his index finger up to his mouth, and shushed me. I stopped talking. Des turned back around and let out this loud whistle-birdcall kind of thing. I ran over to him and covered his mouth.
“What are you doing? You’re going to let that thing know where we are!” I angrily hissed in his ear, pointing to the cut on his face. He turned his head to look at me and just raised his eyebrows. “You did that on purpose?!” I let go of him and gave him a shove, though it wasn’t hard enough to knock him to the ground, only enough to get him to stumble away from me.
“Just watch.” he said.
“Watch?! Watch what?! Watch me die?!”
“Oh, calm down.” Des said, rolling his eyes.
I let out a sarcastic laugh. “Oh, calm down,” I mimicked him, “You just let that... that thing know we’re out here, and you want me to just ‘calm down?’” I started pacing back and forth.
Then some sticks and leaves crackled amongst the trees behind me. I turned around and didn’t see anything, but I prepared myself for the worst. Des let out another one of his whistle noises and I turned to him and shot him this extremely dirty look. Des was just standing there laughing at me, which only made me angrier. This wasn’t funny, so why the hell was he laughing?
There was another noise from the same spot, and I reached my hand behind me, prepared to pull out my sword and slay the thing once it jumped out.
The whistle noise was heard again. I looked at Des, but he was holding his hands up in the air in an ‘I didn’t do it’ kind of fashion. I quickly looked back at the spot, now wrapping my hand around the handle of the sword. Des made the noise back in response. What the hell is going on?
Then from behind a tree, a relatively tall, shirtless, blonde haired boy appeared. Des began laughing at me.
“Thanks” the blonde kid shouted to me, sliding down the hill. He began to walk in my direction. I was so shaken up that I couldn’t think of a response, so instead I just gave the boy this confused look. “For helping me find my little brother.” he said, then walked over to Des and wrapped his arm around his neck and gave Des a noogie on the head.
“Ow. Stop.” Des said, making an attempt to shove his much larger brother away. The older brother was large height-wise, not so much weight-wise. Not really at all weight-wise. The older brother was actually a pretty skinny kid. A little bit of muscle to him as well.
The older one stopped and pushed his little brother away, though this time Des actually fell to the ground. “I’m Adam.” he said, following that with a sarcastic bow as if he were greeting the queen of England. I rolled my eyes. “And that little turd over there is Des.” Adam pointed to Des.
“Hey!” Des shouted, quickly getting up and trying to throw a punch at Adam, which Adam actually stopped by putting his arm out and catching Des’s fist with hand. It wound up hurting Des more than it hurt Adam.
Adam got down on the ground and laid down, placing his hands behind his head. He closed his eyes and just laid on the ground for a while. Des and I just stared at him for a bit, not saying a word. The only audible sounds were the crickets chirping off in the distance and a flock of birds squawking and fleeing from a tree. But after a few awkward minutes of staring at Adam’s stomach, watching it go up and down, Adam broke the silence. “I didn’t think I was gonna find you, man. Everyone just keeps disappearing,” he adjusted himself to get more comfortable, “I’m glad to see you’re still okay.” He opened his right eye and turned his head in Des’s direction, and then closed his eye and turned his head back to the way it was. “Except that cut on your face. Gotta do something about that, kiddo.”
Des looked down at the ground.
A remote growling was heard. I looked up, then at Des, who jumped with fright. He began backing up, covering his cut with his hand. The look in his eyes was enough for me to understand.
“Is that...?” I asked, pointing to my cheek where Des’s cut was. He shook his head yes.
Meanwhile, Adam began snoring.
“Is he kidding?” I asked Des. Des, unable to speak, just shook his head no. ***
Alone
Cory
Decisions
You’d Better Learn
Back into the Dark
The Marker
The New Guys
Rapture
Survivors
The Games Join Together
The Boss
~~~
Reflections:
Okay. I'm going to start of by telling you to ignore anything highlighted in gray, because that just means I'm not done writing those yet, but I wanted you to know that they were there, because if not, you would be totally confused. I really like this piece. Out of anything I've ever written, this is in my top three. I cannot wait to read this once I'm finished. This stared off as the partner thing we had started together. Julia and I chose to write about Netflix. We were going to write about a headset which transports you from show to show through a headset. After we broke up, I decided to keep writing it, but change it to a story about video games. That way I can make up my own stuff rather than take other people's ideas. It wound up being such an awesome piece. And being that I'm into video games and I know a bit about video games (at least some of them...), it made this so much easier to write about. It's still in the editing/still-being-written stage, so there isn't much I can change about it right now. The strongest aspect of this story is the character. She starts off as a nobody, and things aren't so good for her in school or at home. But when she gets this new video game and things in it start going haywire, she's expected to be able to pretty much save the world, or at least those in the Vertigo world. She goes through a change, which I already have planned out, and that's pretty good. That's an aspect that I really like about this. And it's being written from her perspective, so it makes her a good story teller too. There's a lot of favorites in this. Again, this is one of my top three favorite pieces I've ever written. I do really enjoy the part titled "Sister." It's all about her complaining about how she's tired of being compared to her sister and that she's her own person and she's not her sister, no matter how much people wish she was. This later on leads her to prove everyone wrong. I also like the part "Khost" which is about a variation of a modern ghost which she is trying to escape from, and is later saved from someone named Alex (Shh. Spoiler. He's going to be important later.) Another part I enjoyed was "Adam" which was about a boy who was seperated from his brother and they finally meet up and now (another spoiler) Des is going to disappear and Adam is going to try and save him, but he is not going to make it. The whole story is just so interesting to me and I'm really excited to finish this. It's always been a dream of mine to have a book published and if this was the book that was published, that would be amazing.
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