Game Over

Game Over

He turned into the driveway and walked down the concrete path. He took in a breath of fresh air and then swung his rucksack off of his shoulder; grazing his leather jacket and placed it on his front step. As he knelt down and unzipped his rucksack pocket, he thought to himself, Thank goodness no one was home.

James Emott didn’t have much of a social life as his gaming addiction had taken over any social skills he’d gained over previous years. This seventeen year old boy spent the best of his days neglecting education and taking trips down to ‘Gaming Generation’; a gaming shop situated in an alleyway in town which provided gamers with the opportunity to experience games from older generations. His parents were oblivious to the scale of the addiction; believing he served his time in school and saved his gaming until the evenings. Unfortunately; this was not the case. James would take days off of school at a time to wait in the park across the road or take a trip into town until he felt the family car had left the driveway and would then proceed to stroll back to the house to spend hours glued to the television playing his latest game.

James twisted the key in the lock and the door flew open. Silence. Just; as James had suspected. With everyone at work; he could try out his new game. He took a look at the watch clasping his wrist. 9:30am; he had hours to spare. James slumped onto the couch and chucked his bag on the floor next to him. As he did this; he held onto the arm of the couch; supported his body as he stood up and took both his phone and his wallet out of his slack jean back pocket and then placed himself back onto the sofa. He unzipped the main pocket and pulled out a ‘Gaming Generation’ carrier bag. He tenderly unfolded the bag and tipped the contents gently into a space on the sofa next to him. It appealed to him now more than it had done in the shop. The word ‘Reality’ stared at him menacingly. Unlike most of the games he chose; ‘Reality’ was not one he had previously been familiar with. No one touched it; no one even seemed to know it existed. Maybe these factors had provided him with the thrill for the game; making his addiction thrive. He tore open the clear seal, opened the packaging and stared at the game in amazement. The sunlight reflected off of the metallic CD as it cried out for attention. In awe; James moved across the room towards the TV and as he did this he read the words ‘Playstation’ on the cover. James hesitated for a moment as he paused for thought and then proceeded to excavate behind his television. He rummaged around for a while through DVDs and CDs until he reappeared with his playstation.

“Haven’t needed this for a while” he muttered to himself; but his anticipation for the game was still present in both his voice and actions. He pottered around the room; pacing backwards and forwards with exhilaration until the game finally loaded. Eerie music filled the spacious living room as the game loaded. The graphics were old but this was expected as technology had advanced over the years. Instructions began to appear on the screen reading;

“How real can a game become? Part of your challenge is to find out. To complete the game…” The screen froze. As James began to become frustrated; the screen lost all signal. James jumped from the sofa and approached the television. He began to fiddle with the aerial and kept doing this until he created signal. At that moment; for one short second the vision on the screen became clear and James vanished.

James squinted; trying to get a better glimpse of his surroundings. Everything had become a blur; what had happened in the last couple of minutes, his vision generally and where he was at that defined moment. James felt a motion sickness swarm over his frozen body as his vision improved slightly. To him it felt the world was gyrating but he was in fact reaching a conscious state. When he regained consciousness fully; he found himself sprawled on the floor in a wooded area which was unfamiliar to him. All that bordered him seemed to be trees. Trees of all shapes and sizes; from skeletal to chubby, from tall to stumpy. The whole scene seemed somewhat unreal to James. The ground seemed to have once been a dirt track; tractor lines dented the grime. Grass was trying tremendously hard to show its existence; however it did not seem to be doing well on the dusty path. He looked down at his jeans and wiped them down; as the filth had conjured a great mess on his jeans.

Where was he? He contemplated to himself. He was nowhere near home. How did he get there? Slowly; he stood up and tried to find any probable clue as to where he was or how he arrived in such a place; nothing. Not even a person in view. A flood of panic washed over him and his heart began to race. He wanted to find someone; anyone.

“Hello?” he called as loud as he could. “Is anybody there?” At that very moment; music flooded his ears. It was the same eerie music that he had heard before the game. “It can’t be…can it?” James stared up to the sky and noticed a volume icon appear. He bent his legs as much as he could and at that moment; he shot into the air.

“Woahhhhhh!” he shouted. He outstretched his arms as if he was flying and his head hit the icon. As he landed; the music stopped. He shuddered and shook his head. How had he got into his game? James wandered over to a tree, leant against it and eventually slid down the bark until he hit the ground.

What was he going to do? How did he get there? The last thing he remembered was the reception playing up on the television…wandering over to it and…

“Hi!” yelled a voice from up close as a young girl appeared from behind a tree. ‘Hi’ she repeated as she shuffled towards him.

“Hello?” James muttered; questioning the figure at the same time.

“Ask me a question!” she yelled.

James looked her up and down. This short, young and attractive figure was giving him the time of day. Her hair was long and cascaded down her shoulders; waves of brunette surrounding her body down to her elbows. She had the most striking smile James had ever witnessed; her teeth in perfect condition minus the tiniest gap between her front teeth. Her lips glistened as she stood there; smiling at him with content. The one thing that caught his eye was the heart shaped pendant made of crystal that seemed to be sparkling so bright; it was almost hypnotising. For a second; he believed that maybe living a life in a fictional world wouldn’t be as bad as he thought. Or was he in a fictional world? He began to doubt his existence in his previous life. What if he’d always been part of a game? It would explain such an addiction to games in the other life he had lead. Maybe he had always lived inside this game type life, had a dream and that was how he’d found himself in the reality world of gaming and him controlling the actions of the figures locked in his television set. Was that so bizarre? James began to feel more and more confused as to what was real and what was not and felt that he was possibly becoming brainwashed so he decided to promise himself not to reflect too much into the detail of his existence and let things become more apparent to him as more action occurred.

“Ask me a question”. The present interrupted James’s thoughts and he realised that she could be a considerable help to him.

“Where am I?” he asked her. He stared at her as he waited for an answer. She was a petite figure and had dark hair that grew far longer than her shoulders; however, most of it was covered by a large black beanie type hat which stood on end. She was also dressed in a black tank top, matching black shorts and ked type shoes covered her feet. She certainly looked like an action figure, yet she seemed so attractive in a strange and surreal way.

“Ask me the right question’” she chanted. James stared in amazement. The right question? How could he ask the right question? He didn’t even know what he was doing in the game. He didn’t even know if he existed. How was he expected to know what the right question would entail? He began to try to think logically. Was it something to do with where he was? Was it something to do with the game, his existence, a person he hadn’t even met yet? He began to feel more and more perplexed and he felt that he couldn’t breathe. Before he knew it; everything went dark.

“Hey…wake up…wake up please?” he heard a young lady whisper. When he regained vision; he realised it was the same girl who he’d met previously, although she seemed to have more vocabulary and seemed more realistic; her voice so soothing. He gazed into her eyes for several moments. They seemed to draw him in. A dark green; entwining with the colour of the leaves on the trees nearby. He felt his heart skip a beat. “Oh good, there you are. I’m sorry about earlier. I didn’t want him to see I’m not under his spell. You can’t let him know you’re not under his spell”. James was baffled. He had no clue as to what the girl standing in front of him was talking about. He looked around. Everything seemed duller than before; giving the woodland an eerie feeling. He heard an owl in the distance as he sat up to dust off his jeans.

“What? Who? Who are you talking about?” asked James, puzzled.

“The master” the girl whispered. “The controller. You’re under control now. Almost like a spell. If you can’t control your addictions; your addictions eventually control you. We all have to learn the hard way and now; someone has to prove that you’re a good gamer otherwise you have no future in the outside world. The real world”.

“What? Who does this? I don’t understand” James said.

“The master is the controller of the game. Let me guess; you bought ‘Reality’?”

“How did you know?”

“We all bought it. Anyone who looks like a human in this game is guaranteed to have bought ‘Reality’. That’s how this game chooses its players. They are usually people who are really into gaming and want to experience new challenges. The real world doesn’t know what this game does because no one has ever gone back to tell the story. Once you’re sucked into the game, you’re not allowed to leave until the person controlling us finishes the game and if they don’t; we have no future. All we can do is hope that the person controlling us has good gaming skills; or we can say goodbye to our families”. James thought to himself for a moment. This was a nightmare, it had to be. How could he prove to himself it was? How could he wake himself up? What if he tried pinching himself, see if it physically hurt him; like they did in films…

“I know it must seem confusing. I felt exactly the same way a couple of days ago when all of this was explained to me but when a new character is needed; someone is chosen and that person this time was you. The controller does not realise that you are actually human and we are not allowed to let them know. It’s all part of the rules. If the controller finds out; we suffer serious consequences. People play games everyday and feel that they are playing something that is not real but in reality, everything is real in the world of gaming. We gamers at the time just don’t realise it. Do you understand me?”. James just stared at the girl in disbelief. He didn’t know what to do and he didn’t know what to say. “Here, have this”. The young girl handed a leaflet to James entitled ‘Rules and Regulations’. James flicked through it and then looked back up at the young girl.

“If we have to keep all of this so quiet, then why are you talking about it so openly now?” James asked out of curiosity.

“Look around you. Have you noticed how everything is darker? It’s not the night time that makes things like this; our world is controlled by the levels on the game and amount of use of the game. At the moment; the controller is not playing the game; therefore we are left to our own devices. Once the controller logs back into the game; we have to act like we are under their power and if we don’t, this is when we get given consequences to our actions and the rules state that if we act like we let the controller control us; they will complete the game quicker and we can return to our normal lives”. She gazed at James; as if expecting some kind of approval about the whole situation from him. They both stood there in silence for a couple of minutes whilst James processed the new information.

‘I think I understand; as surreal as it is. So when the lights become brighter; we play the game but when the lights become duller; the controller’s television set is switched off or tuned into something else and we are free to act as human beings?’ James asked slowly, as if partly still processing the thought as he said it.

‘Got it in one’ the girl chimed. ‘My name’s Susie by the way’.

‘Hello Susie…’

‘And don’t worry; everything will become clearer as the days go on’.

From then on, Susie realised how vulnerable James may have felt and took it upon herself to take James under her wing. She decided that she would help him to settle in and understand what was happening as much as she could and hoped that they could become friends in the process.

Time was not an issue in ‘Reality’. The parallel world was not controlled by time like it would be on Earth; but it was controlled by the amount of time the gamer from the real world would spend with their addiction and once they’d stopped playing the game for a period of time; the time would stop in the world of the game. Here; there was no such thing as night or day. People slept but whenever they wanted. They lived the life of luxury when they were not serving time for the controller. Susie decided to show James around the location in which he would be staying until the game was completed; if ever completed. She felt that James was warming up to his surroundings and was starting to ease down a little and James found his life in the game extraordinary. He felt that he would settle in quicker than he had initially expected.

As the pair of them took a walk; James noticed that when the game was switched off; it felt like he was back on Earth. Most aspects of his nature and life were the same; except that the graphics were poorer quality. Trees still existed and the nature that came with these and houses looked better as they were little thatched cottages. Susie explained to James that part of his life beyond the game would be to find a house that was empty so that he could set up a life in his own accommodation but told him there was no rush as he could live with her until he found his own place. The pair got on like a house on fire and found that they had a lot in common.

Another thing that amazed James was that fact that money was not an issue in ‘Reality’. Not only was it not an issue; but it didn’t even exist in ‘Reality’. Susie explained to him that if you wanted something so much you tended to think about that one thing long and hard; and eventually it would just appear in front of you. In ‘Reality’; your imagination was more important than money. James knew he would learn to like this world; but of course he would miss home and his family. He wondered whether his family had even noticed he was gone and he wondered how long he had been gone for. Seems as there was no sense of time in ‘Reality’, James didn’t know whether he’d been gone for minutes, days, hours. He wondered if he’d ever know. How would his parents take his disappearance? Would he be famous if he ever returned back to normal life? He had so many questions in his mind but at the same time; he knew that Susie would not be able to answer these questions as he remembered that no one to her knowledge had ever returned back to the normal world once becoming part of the game.

After some time of walking around the area; Susie took James back to her cottage. As they approached the building; James felt mesmerised in the beauty of such a building. Separating the garden from the road was a little iron fence that squeaked when Susie opened it. As they both entered the garden; they were hit by a strong sense of lavender over powering their nostrils. James looked down and saw the narrow pebble dash path that lead to the cottage in which Susie lived and on either side of the path was neatly trimmed grass. Around the edges of the garden sat nests for flowers to grow; such as lilies, daffodils, sunflowers and roses, adding vibrant colours to the well kept garden. The pair of them began to walk up the pathway and it didn’t take long before they had to cross the petite brick bridge that sat above a river that flowed through the centre of her garden. James had never seen anything so beautiful in his life. Once they crossed the bridge; they had few steps before they reached Susie’s front door. The cottage was chuffing miniature balls of smoke out of the chimney; and the roof was thatched. Everything about the destination in which Susie lived was perfect. James began to realise that; for at least the next couple of days; this would also be his home.

Susie pulled her key out of her pocket and turned the device in the lock. The door swung open and both James and Susie were welcomed with the warmth of the house invading their bodies. Susie gestured for James to walk in first and then she followed; slamming the door behind her. James kicked off his shoes by the fireplace and placed them neatly in front of it; keeping the neatness of the house in order. Susie had told James previously that he was welcome to make himself at home in any way possible and if he wanted to explore the house; he was allowed to do so. The more James proceeded in exploring the house; the more he found the general theme for the building which was; like the woods itself. Everything seemed to be made out of wood; other than the cosier furniture such as the sofas; which were leather. Most things in the house were brown; chocolate leather sofas; coffee walls; bronzed bedding. The whole house seemed to hold a look of sophistication. After searching in every other room in the house; James finally found the spare room; which was the place he would call his bedroom until further notice. As he threw himself on the bed; he heard the same familiar noise in which he’d heard in his first moments in this surreal town. He heard the music. At that moment when it dawned to him what was happening; Susie burst through the door with a look of panic on her face.

“Outside! Get outside now!” she screeched. James jumped up from the bed instantly; grabbed a hold of Susie’s hand and off they ran together until they were out of the cottage. “Don’t worry James. Just be brave”.

“You too Susie. You too” James said and at that moment; Susie was snatched from James’s reach.

“Susie!” James cried. “Susie!” Silence. Just like when he originally entered the game. He fell to the floor; his head in his hands. At that very moment; James realised he’d never felt so alone. He felt like a whole part of his life had been ripped from his body. To him; losing Susie felt like losing a limb. He’d hadn’t realised how much his affection for her had grown over the days that he’d been locked there; undisturbed from the game. He hadn’t realised the devotion he felt for her; and how much his heart felt alive whilst they were together but for now; he felt like he was back in reality; back into the world of gaming which he had found himself in for years. His heart felt like it had been torn from his chest, squeezed to the point of absolute pain and then sewn back in; just so that he could feel how much damage had been made. He lay there; his whole body shaking with upset; floods of tears flowing down his cheeks. His head was a mess of several questions; where was she? Was she coming back? Why had she even been taken? At that moment; James lost all control and promised himself that; whether the controller saw him or not; he would make it his mission to find Susie and if the consequences arose; no punishment could compare to the sheer pain he felt of not knowing whether she was safe.

He wiped his eyes; picked himself up from the ground and ran back into Susie’s house. For some reason; she’d managed to leave the door open in the utter panic of the game. First thing was first; James needed to make sure he had the key with him; otherwise he wouldn’t even have a home whilst being kept under his will in this horrific game. He sprinted over to the table; caught sight of the key, clutched onto it, grabbed the table cloth unexpectedly in the rush and it fell to the floor. As James bent down to retrieve it; he thought of a good use for it and after pulling himself back up he raced out of the front door; slamming it behind him. He scanned Susie’s garden for the nearest tree and bolted towards it. Once the tree was within grabbing distance; he clutched onto one of the thinnest branches; snapping it with the weight of him; which sent him tumbling back to the ground. He lay still for a second and then began attaching the table cloth to the branch; making a supportive bag for any useful possessions he may need for the capturing of Susie and the finding of her whereabouts. He began to make a mental note of necessities for the journey. Food, water, rope.

It seemed that James had been searching for hours before he was finally so drained of energy that he needed sleep. He threw the homemade bag to the ground, perched next to a tree and looked up. The sky was a royal blue; darkening as the day drew to a close. He breathed in a breath of fresh air and then exhaled; causing a cloud in front of him. The temperature was plummeting dramatically. James emptied the contents of his bag, untied the table cloth from the stick and then threw it over himself. He grabbed a bottle of his bottled water, took a single sip and then progressed on to tearing some bread apart and shoving a single chunk into his mouth; biting slowly to savour the taste. The thought occurred to him that he’d best ration the food and water that he had as he didn’t know when he’d next find the opportunity to gather more necessities for himself. He was becoming restless and at this rate; he would not find Susie, especially with the night being so dark. He told himself he should catch some sleep for now and would continue his search at sunrise. That night, his last thought was when he would be needed for the game and would he find Susie beforehand?

James was blinded as he awoke from his deep sleep by the light of the sun streaming over his body. Although the sun was as bright as he’d ever seen; the woods remained dark and gloomy. He lay there for a while, allowing himself to think of any possible places he could find Susie but he came to the conclusion that he didn’t know the woods, he didn’t know anything about where he was, so all he could do was hope that he was going the right way. So far, James had been given no clues as to where Susie had been swept off to yesterday afternoon and this worried him immensely. Was he even walking the right way? The possibilities as to where she was were endless. Could the controller have even created a passageway which he’d then closed off to hide Susie from the other characters in the game? James felt helpless and he felt sick. What if he was actually being controlled at that very moment by the controller? What if the controller was creating this love that James seemed to have for Susie? He’d never felt this way after all so it could explain a lot.

James felt a sudden urge to find Susie at that moment. More than he had ever felt since she’d gone missing. He gathered his belongings together and grabbed the table cloth from the floor; folding it appropriately to make his home made bag again; chucking the contents in before fixing it back to the stick he had retrieved from Susie’s garden previously. He perched the stick over his shoulder; causing the contents to hang level with his shoulders and before he knew it; he was running through the woods; dodging trees and jumping over the stumps as if they were hurdles in a horse race. As he ran; mist began to replace the sun. As James sprinted; he shuddered at such a haunting sight. His surroundings were becoming a dark blur; yet his vision was in perfect condition. The mist was attempting to attack him from left, right and centre. He began to slow down; the mist was making him feel uncomfortable. Not only did he not know where he was, but now he couldn’t even see where he was going. Was he going to pass her? Had he already passed her? He didn’t know. The cold air was stabbing at his chest; making his heart race and his breathing was becoming heavier. Putting his hands into his pockets; he tried to protect them from such temperatures but as he did so, his hand hit a solid object. What had he put into his pocket before all of this happened. He didn’t remember. His hands grabbed the solid; slowly pulled it out of his pocket and began gradually taking it up to his eye level. Once there; James squinted, trying to catch a glimpse of the object in the severe weather conditions. As he did so; he felt a button like device on the side and pushed it; hesitating at first as he was unsure whether or not the object was going to cause great danger for him. At that moment; a beam of light shot out in front of him.

“A torch!” he cried but as he did so; something flew into him, sending him hurtling to the floor. He shone the torch above him; capturing the face of a figure; his eyes pools of darkness; staring blankly at him. The figure opened his mouth and stated;

“Your torch will help you to see in these weather conditions. However, use it wisely. You are given limited power. Look for batteries on the ground to gain battery life for your torch but remember these are not the only objects you are looking for” and at that moment; he darted off through the mist and it was not long before evidence of his presence was non existent.

James switched off the torch, shoved it back into his pocket, jumped to his feet and stretched for a moment. He needed some kind of game plan; some way of finding these batteries. After all; he didn’t know how long he’d be locked in this hell hole and he didn’t know how far it stretched but most of all; he had no idea where the batteries were placed. Was he going to have to look for them, possibly climb for them? Or were they just going to be on the floor in front of him. After all; before he bought this game, he hadn’t even known of its existence. He didn’t have any background information on the game and certainly didn’t know whether the game was made for the intellectual gamers or the ones who just had the thrill for such a sport. Maybe just to simply keep an open mind and just pace up and down the mist ridden surroundings was his best bet; at least for now until the game began to unfold more.

He outstretched his arms in a zombie like manor and walked forwards; trying to feel for anything in front of him. He did this until his palms scraped across a tree; which forced him to come to a halt. James delved into his pocket; pulled out the torch and pushed the button on the side; causing the light to flood for metres. He scanned around him and saw he was by a cluster of trees. Deciding at that moment that this would be the destination in which he was begin his search; he turned 180 degrees and took in a breath of fresh air; his shoulders rising as he did so and then let it out with ease; letting his shoulders hunch gradually. He gazed at the floor; facing the beam of light in the same direction. Once the light was focusing on the ground, James began to take large strides; keeping an eye out for anything on the ground.

It wasn’t long until James had found himself at least twenty batteries and as he was doing this; at the same time the fog was fading. Maybe he was getting somewhere. Maybe he was getting closer but as he began to think this; the scenery seemed to freeze and James was no longer finding possessions he could collect; only autumn leaves in beautiful shades of oranges, browns and greens sprinkled in his path. Everywhere looked the same to him now. Every tree looked the same; every grain of grass. Although in one sense James was feeling optimistic; at the same time he was feeling such a pessimist and he couldn’t seem to think straight and this feeling progressed with each step he took. Just as he felt hopeless and his searching became half hearted with sheer of energy; James spotted something by his feet; sparkling so bright it was almost hypnotising. His own heart pounded as he slowly bent down and held the heart shaped crystal pendant which Susie had once owned and as he did so; he heard an eerie sound coming not too far from where he stood that was echoed vociferously which sounded like a standard ring tone on a mobile phone, but it couldn’t be, could it? He stood motionless and began scanning the neighbouring area until, almost like magic; he captured sight of a mobile phone with his torch light; glowing in the centre of the mist. Within a second he was towering above the phone and staring at it in suspense. Gradually he lowered his knees to the ground, picked up the phone and let it slide up so he could take the call before placing the phone between his shoulder and his head; tilting his neck to the side slightly. With his free hands; he pressed the button on the torch and shoved it back into the pocket of his leather jacket. No point in wasting battery life he may need later.

“Hello. So you have found Susie’s necklace! Well done” a voice announced down the phone. “This must mean that you are on the right track! Keep up the good work! Remember, anything you find may help you find Susie; so don’t let anything pass you by!” and at that, the line died. James stood at a standstill, staring at the ground below him. Who was that he had just spoken to? Was it someone helping him to find Susie? Did this person know where Susie was? He didn’t know. He’d just wished that he’d had time to answer the questions. He lowered the phone and put it back into his hand and began searching through recent calls but as he did so; he realised that the number was unknown. He had no way of contacting this person; finding out more information. It was no time at all before he realised that the person he’d spoken to probably wasn’t even a real person but was merely an answer phone message; a robot like character possibly. He supposed he would never quite know the answer.

James stood there momentarily and thought about what the person on the phone had said to him;

“Remember, anything you find may help you find Susie; so don’t let anything pass you by!” He clung onto those words. Almost as if it was a hidden message; and something inside him was telling him to think logically about what that could have possibly meant. It occurred to him that the message could have been something about keeping the phone with him; that way he may be given more clues as to where Susie was and with that; he took the torch back out of his jacket and replaced the empty space with the mobile phone.

With his remaining hand; James rubbed his eyes. He was feeling tired again which was unusual as he was a gamer and was often used to spending days at a time awake; sitting in front of his television playing the latest gaming interest but it seemed that now he was part of a game; he was becoming exhausted at a faster pace, although he had been running around trying to find someone who now had a place in his heart; so James shouldn’t have really been surprised. However; he felt uneasy about spending the night sleeping in a pool of mist and therefore promised himself that he would not rest until he was able to see his surroundings without his torch so that he felt safer and with that, he flicked the light of his torch back on.

As time did not exist in ‘Reality’; James didn’t know how long it had taken him before he found himself in a place where the mist separated and the atmosphere was clear. As soon as he’d found his way out of the eerie woods; he found himself by a lake where the sun was shining immensely vivid; rays showering over the lakes waters that lay still under a blanket of the bluest skies. There were limited clouds in the sky; as fluffy looking as the woolliest sheep. He gawped in amazement at the spectacular view in front of him; bewildered as to how something so bogus could appear so authentic. Two trees with a minor distance from one another caught James’s eye and he strolled towards them; studying their potential. Standing in-between them both; he outstretched his arms and felt both trees with one hand each. Both seemed strong and as he realised this; he placed his bag on the ground; squatted next to it and began to untie the table cloth once again from the stick of his bag. He unfolded the cloth and held it out in front of both him and the trees; estimating the distance between the two before then proceeding in tying each end of the cloth to the trees; creating a hammock like feature. To test it; he simply put his hands inside and pushed with all his might into the hammock. Excellent. Not a fault in sight. He scooped the remaining contents from his bag into the hammock, jumped and hooked one of his feet into the middle of the cloth as he clambered inside. He pushed his belongings onto one of the ends of the hammock and then lay still; watching the world go by. He lay there for ages just looking at the sky and trying to concentrate on his breathing to create the sense of relaxation but still; he could not get the image of Susie out of his mind; the way her hair had cascaded down her upper body; and her smile. That smile would remain in his memory for as long as his conscious remained a part of him. This image of perfection must have done him justice because before he knew it; he was drifting off into a deep sleep.

He awoke and rose to his feet; feeling slightly disorientated in the process. Everything seemed hazy; his surroundings of a blurred nature. He rubbed his eyes and as he did so; a light appeared in front of him; almost a resemblance of the light that reflected from his own torch. Who was this? Where was this light coming from? These were all questions that were running through James head. Without acknowledgement; James felt himself being drawn to the light like a moth to a flame and before he knew it; the strength became somewhat blinding. He sheltered his eyes with one hand and tried to adjust them to the light however, gradually it began to become dimmer until what lay behind came into a clear view. Amazed, James ran with arms wide open and he was so content everything felt almost as if it ran in slow motion. Susie’s smile widened; that smile that had haunted his dreams ever since she’d become of existence to him. She outstretched her arms but her body was glued to the spot. She tried to shake free, but her legs buckled and she dropped to the ground with a thud. When James reached her, he crouched down beside her and touched her arm. She grabbed hold on his hand and bowed her head; as if ashamed of herself. James rested his finger tips on Susie’s cheek and lifted her head slightly; staring into her eyes. A single tear fell from her cheek but James caught it with the tip of his thumb; pressing it into her gentle skin and in that moment, he began to move in closer to her but as he did so; her beauty became only a memory to him.

James opened his eyes. It had all seemed so real to him. He’d been able to touch Susie; to feel her warmth and presence but all of this had just been his imagination becoming victorious. He felt crushed. Would he ever be able to see Susie again? Would he ever be able to hold her in his arms without it just being a thought that arose for a split second, or a vivid dream? He nestled his head into his lap and sheltered his face for a while; trying to force the strong feelings he was feeling out of his system. He turned to face one of the trees that he was hanging from and clenched his fist whilst anger was burning inside him and punched it. A sharp pain shot through his system and he let out a short yelp. He lowered his head to look down at the damage to his hand but as he did so; he was startled at the sight in which he witnessed. In front of his very eyes, he saw a single cut but as he looked closer he noticed that it was healing. He gawped at it until finally; the cut has disappeared from his body without a trace. It was at that point that James wondered if anything was possible in ‘Reality’.

Once he had gathered his belongings; James wandered towards the lake and perched on a rock by the shallow water. He glanced down at his black converse all stars that sat on his feet and began to untie them; handling the laces delicately. Once he had taken his socks off; he placed his bare feet into the calm waters, causing a rippling effect as a single toe touched the surface. He swung his feet backwards and forwards, making splashes in the water for some time until the water caused his feet to become prune like. With that, he used the tablecloth as a towel and put his socks and shoes back on. Once he had completed this task, out of the corner of his eye he caught his reflection in the water which caused him to pause. Behind him stood a dark shadow which looked remarkably like the outline of a young lady. Was it Susie? Had they finally managed to find one another? He spun around to find that the shadow that had caught his eye was in fact the shadow of a tree behind him. He slumped his shoulders with disappointment and turned back to his reflection but this time what caught his eye was of more significance and there was no way that he could mistake what he saw for anything other than what he believed he saw. He clambered over to where the reflection lay, damaging the image and stood there in awe. There, stood in front of him, was a boat. He waded through the lake further until he reached the rope that tied the boat to a bridge which he continuously tugged until he reached his new form of transport. To his surprise, he found two oars sat inside and once he flopped into the boat, he tested his ability to guide himself through the lake by rowing back to the rock where this new adventure had began to collect his possessions and then set off to continue his adventure further.

The lake seemed somewhat endless and it wasn’t long before James was beginning to feel the sheer shooting pains in both of his arms due to muscle strain however, he knew he needed to carry on as he didn’t know whether or not Susie was in danger, he didn’t know whether or not the amount of stops he was making was affecting Susie’s outcome, so he promised himself he would work through as much pain as he could stomach. As he rowed through the woodland areas; he took in the neighbouring areas as he didn’t know whether or not he would need to find his way to another part of the game through this route in the future. He rowed through swans nestling together on the banks of the lake, crisp leaves of different shades of oranges, greens and browns floating calmly on the water and almost bare trees; hanging above his head like canopies, leaving clear shadows on the water until eventually he felt he could no longer venture and with that; drifted to shore and pulled his boat onto dry land, struggling immensely as he did so. He yanked at the twig holding his bag together and untied the knots of the table cloth with care until the rope he’d picked up previously came into view. He tugged it until he untangled before straightening out the rope and then proceeding to tying two knots into it; one on either end to attach the boat to a tree branch. Once this had been done, he placed himself back into the boat which now lay underneath the tree and pulled out his bread and water, keeping to the small rations as he had done so before. Taking a single bite out of the lump of bread, he held between his thumb and forefinger as his eyes drifted towards the sky towards the clouds which looked almost like balls of cotton wool. He stared at them for moments on end; playing fictional games with his mind; creating images and after finishing his daily dosage of bread and water; he grabbed the table cloth which was laying lifelessly on the floor nearby, made a pillow like heap on the boat flooring and then proceeded to spread himself out in the boat; stretching as he did so until he became comfortable.

It didn’t take long before he was in a position to relax, although he knew he would be unable to unwind properly due to the circumstances. He let his mind wander back to creating shapes in the sky and creating stories with them, images of lions roaring and steam engines chuffing smoke burned through his eyes until eventually he drifted off into what appeared to be an unusual sleep.

His body jolted; causing his lifeless body to create a short and quick form of motion. With his eyes still closed; he wiped the hot perspiration from his brow. He was soaked through with pure sweat and it was obvious he’d awoke from some kind of nightmare. Eventually he began to open his eyes but as he did so, a figures blurred face was staring into his, so close he could feel their breath on him. As his eyes began to focus, he studied each feature at a time. Eyes that his soul could drown in…a smile that showed perfection…

“Susie?” he whispered. “Susie, is that you?” His heart hit his chest tough like a cricket ball hitting a bat.

“No James. No you haven’t. I’m sorry…I’m so sorry” Susie said soothingly as she pulled her face away from his.

“But…but you’re here with me. This is all so real”.

“No James, this isn’t real; this is far from real but look closely James. Look closely around you. You’re not as far as you think you are. Just look around you”.

“Susie, I don’t understand! Please…please just tell me where you are?”.

“Follow the game James. Remember, follow the rules. This is all just a game. Please, just look around. Believe me, I know what I’m talking about and I believe in you! You’ll find me, I know you will. Just don’t give up; just keep on playing. We’ll get through this”. Susie was standing above him by now, backing further away from him. She placed on of her feet out of the boat, then the other, letting her bare feet sink into the soil. When both feet were on land, she began to walk backwards but she did not sway or look behind her. It was as if she knew exactly where she was going.

“Come back Susie!” cried James as he began to clamber to his feet. “Please! Come back! I can’t do this without you!” and with no emotion on Susie’s face, she replied,

“You need to James. You need to do this on your own. You haven’t found me, but you need to. You’re so close, please, don’t give up on me”.

“I won’t! Please, just tell me where you are!”

“I can’t. Please, just capture this moment. You’ll understand when the time is right. Just do as I say. All my faith is with you”. James scrambled out of the boat and began running towards Susie. “Leave me alone James! Don’t follow me!” she cried, and with that, Susie disappeared.

James fell to the floor and buried his head in the mud. He felt his body shudder as he sobbed through the pain he was feeling. Lifting his head, he tried to regain full vision and tried to take in his surroundings but all that he could see was rows beyond rows of trees. He didn’t want to do this anymore. He couldn’t keep feeling like this. He felt a swarm of anger fill his body and with that, he began running. James did not know where he was going, but he just ran where his legs took him; changing directions at the most random points of time until he felt that his last breath could not escape his lungs. He cried out in pain, and through his body to the ground, but as he did so, the ground began to swallow him. He clung onto the surrounding soil with all his might; panic racing through his body. His legs were dangling into a pit of nothing, yet he could see a single light in the distance. He used the remaining part of his strength into his arms, raising his body higher above the hole he’d made in the ground, before throwing himself back onto solid land and rolling away from the hole. At that moment; his vision became slightly impaired with tears but something stood out to him. He could still make out the light shining out of the hole, and he was sure that what he saw propped up inside, was a ladder.

As James awoke, his lungs felt tight and he let out a gasp for air. His hands raced to his head and he could feel the sweat dripping off of his body. He lay there limp for a moment, trying to regain any type of energy that he may have had before he fell asleep. He lay there, viewing the events of his dream through his mind. When he closed his eyes, everything seemed so clear to him still. He started from the beginning…waking up in a hot sweat…seeing Susie…running through the rows of trees…rows of trees. Why did the rows of trees have such significance in the dream for James? Where had he seen these rows and rows of trees before? He opened his eyes and stared at the side of his boat for what seemed like a split second and then gasped, jumping out of the boat. The trees! Right in front of him were the trees; those exact trees from his dream! He didn’t waste time; he didn’t want to. The only thing that mattered to him now was finding Susie. Those possessions that he owned meant nothing to him anymore and it felt like his dream now had more value than the real possessions that he had travelled with. The only thing he’d take with him would be the rope. He untied the rope from the boat and ran to the tree that the rope was clinging onto, before running through the trees and retracing his steps that he’d taken in the dream.

The more he ran; the more it felt like he was gaining energy. He knew that he was being controlled by the gamer now and this pleased him greatly. Was his dream controlled by the gamer’s thoughts? With each step that he took, he felt like he could feel Susie’s presence within him and this made him feel more and more alive. Clutching onto the rope, he twisted and turned through rows and rows of trees until he felt his body come to a halt. There he was, in the open space that he’d been in when he found the hole in his dream, but he could not find a trace on uneven ground. Not trace of light and most certainly not a ladder appearing from the inside of a hole. Maybe James needed to throw himself to the ground. He knew that anything was possible in the world of gaming, so maybe if he fell to the ground; he’d create the uneven ground and would re-enact the development of his dream. He threw himself hard against the surface of the ground, but the only development that he felt was the aching of his bones as he hit the floor. He waited for a few seconds, just lay there, hoping that the ground would just open up beneath him and swallow him whole, and as he did this, he felt the majority of his energy slip away into nothing. He lay there, weak, sobbing to himself in a cowardly manner. James used what felt like the last of his energy doing this until his eyes stung with tears and itched with pain. However, as he stopped sobbing, someone else continued in the distance. He could definitely make out a woman’s cry in the distance. James lifted his head from the muddy ground and there, perched in front of him against a mound of rocks…was a ladder! He gawped in amazement at the object. A ladder had never felt so precious to him in his life and at that moment, he could feel a bundle of energy bursting through his body. He lifted himself to his feet and sprinted to the ladder, clambering with all his might to the top until he found a flat surface. James could not believe his eyes when he saw a blinding light, like he had done in his dream and before he could even think about what he was doing, he fell to his knees and began to crawl towards the light, which he found to be a lantern. With one hand, he clasped his fingers around the lantern and carried on the process of crawling through what appeared to be a man made tunnel. As he did so, the tunnel became wider in height and it wasn’t long before James was able to walk through the tunnel. As he ventured further and further through it, the woman’s weeping became louder until the tunnel opened out into a cul-de-sac like shape and at that point, the lament stopped. He shuddered at the eerie feeling of the tunnel and the way that the only light he could see was the one glowing from his lantern. Something inside him wanting to call out to whoever it was in the tunnel but another part didn’t want to create harm to them if someone else was there.

James placed his hand on the wall behind him. It felt as cold as ice but he did not want to remove it as he wanted to stay something that could protect him. He rotated slightly and positioned his back against it, shuddering with the cold. If he kept close to the wall, he knew that nothing could creep up behind him and it would make him feel safer. He began to edge himself around the wall, trying to stop anything that may give him a clue to Susie’s whereabouts and his foot hit what felt like a bulky object on the floor. He froze with fright; his eyes widening. What had he walked into? Once in mid thought, he heard a single sob coming from an area awfully close to him. He slid his back down the wall and placed the lantern above what had hit his foot and noticed that the ‘object’ was in fact a person. He squinted his eyes until they were of a miniscule nature and noticed that the figure was female.

“Susie?” he questioned as he moved backwards. He female began to raise her head slowly; her once curly locks lay limp over her shoulders. Her hair was damp and her eyes were the blackest of blacks; her cheeks drenched with dried mascara.

“James?” she whispered. “James? Is that you?”

“Susie!” he cried and bent down next to her. “Are you ok?”

“Listen to me. We’re not alone James. This is not over…this…”

“So, you found us?” a deep, masculine voice bellowed through the cave and as it did this, another light appeared into view. There, stood on the other side of the cave was a giant of a man, about six foot five inches. His greasy hair was tied back into a ponytail which lay half way down his back and his eyes were pools of darkness. He was dressed all in black and his body was sheltered by a long, black leather jacket and boots that looked as though they’d be as heavy as iron; making noises that echoed through the cave every time he moved his feet. James’s jaw dropped as he stared at him in bewilderment. This man looked like something that would walk out of anyone’s nightmares.

“Y-yes. I did, and who are you?” stuttered James. The man opened his coat and put a hand inside and when it reappeared, it was seizing hold of a sword. He returned his gaze back at James, gazing at him with no emotion on his face and then threw the sword in James direction. James jumped back and let out a yelp of panic as the sword shattered to the ground just inches away from his feet. Still with no emotion on his face, the man stated;

“I am your worst nightmare. I see you chose to come for the girl, and I believe this to be foolish. You could not have just left her here, could you? You had to interfere with the process, and now, well now you must pay. That very sword in front of you will be your only protection. You must fight me to win the girl. There is no escape from this. You HAVE to fight me” and with that, keeping his gaze, he pulled another sword out of his coat pocket and held it out in front of him. James winced with fear and at that moment, the cave filled with light and the whole cave became visible not that it mattered as by this point, James had guessed that they were the only three people in the cave, as remaining people would have obviously shown themselves by now.

At that moment, the man’s gaze changed to a gaze of anger and he began to march towards James. James lost grip of his lantern in sheer terror and it smashed to the floor; the sound booming through the cave. He removed the sword from the ground and placed it into the palms of both of his hands; clenching his fingers round the handle and clasping it as tightly as possible and as the man got closer to him; he swiped the air with the blade of his sword. He man laughed abruptly at him and boomed; “You’ll have to do better than that if you want to become victorious” as he swayed his ponytail, almost like a model in an advert for a hair product and at that moment, he made an effort to jab the sword in James’s direction. However, James felt his body move backwards and realised he was not controlling his own body and that the controller was on his side. He decided not to make an effort to move and let the controller take over his body; as they may already have some knowledge on sword fighting which he found to be the correct option. He’d never felt so alive before as he felt his arms swinging this way and that and watching the blade of the sword catch the light in different directions. As he was finding the fight so easy; he looked across at the giant of a man that he was fighting and noticed that he was going red in the face and noticed that by his temple, as he was getting angrier, a blue varicose vein was pulsing in his head and saw sweat increasingly dripping from his forehead. James found this amusing as he let the controller take over him until finally, before he could defend himself, he felt the sword pierce through his shoulder blade and his sword plummeted to the ground as he grabbed his wound in sheer agony.

“James!” Susie screeched and ran over to him as he fell down to one knee. She stood in front of him and came face to face with the giant. “Leave him alone!”

“Leave him alone?!” the giant chuckled with sarcasm. “Why would I leave him alone Susie? He came to look for me!”

“Keep away from us! Please, just stay away!” Susie begged. The giant drew closer to Susie, and held the sword above his head; a grin spreading across his face.

“I’m sorry Susie, I cannot do that and now, well now you’ve interfered, you are also an enemy, do you understand that?”. Susie hung her head with fear and closed her eyes, scrunching her shoulders to her head with fear but as she did this, she heard the giant cry out in pain. She opened her eyes with rapid force and saw the giant sprawled on the floor with James towering over him, the sword held above his head; the tip now drenched with blood.

“Don’t you EVER under estimate me! NO ONE under estimates my strength! Do you hear me?!” he shouted and with that, the giants eyes fluttered to a close and his body lay motionless on the stone cold floor. Susie picked herself up from the floor and raced over James, his arms once again outstretched for her to fill them, however this time, it was not a dream.

“James!” Susie cried as she clung onto him with force. “Thank you. Thank you so much for saving me from this! I don’t know how to thank you! Come on, let’s get out of here!”. She departed from his arms and held her hand out for him to clasp and he did so. Susie knelt down and picked up the lantern and together, they walked and crawled out of the cave until they found themselves at the entrance. James jumped from the mound and held his arms out for Susie to jump into and once she had done so, he placed her lightly back onto the ground but kept his arms around her. “James, I really don’t know how to thank you” she sobbed, still bewildered by the action that had take place. James squeezed Susie’s body tighter and then caught a tear with his forefinger that was trickling down her cheek. At that moment; their eyes locked to one another’s and they found themselves gazing at each other until their lips interlocked and shared their passion for one another through a single kiss and both of their hearts danced. When they pulled away from one another, their eyes met again and they both smiled but as they did so, a hole in the ground opened up between them, causing them both to begin to plummet into the darkness. James grabbed some fresh soil at the edge of the hole and managed to hold on for dear life and stretched out his other hand to grab Susie’s. She clutched it tightly and shouted,

“James. This is the end”.

“It can’t be. I won’t let it be Susie” he called but as he said this, Susie’s hand slipped and she tumbled into the darkness of the hole. He put his strength into raising his body higher above the hole, throwing himself back onto land. He got to his feet and loomed over the hole and as he did so, he saw a single lantern lay smashed at the bottom. Where had Susie gone? He had no time at all to ponder on this thought as he felt a force drag him towards the hole and before he knew it, he was surrounded by a pool of darkness.

When James awoke, he found himself collapsed on his living room floor. Shaking his head in disbelief, he wondered how he’d ended up in such a position. As he sat up, he became conscious of how weak he felt and staggered to his couch where perched himself, putting his head in his hands. Everything was too vague for an explanation, he couldn’t think of a reason as to why he was on his floor. He looked at his watch. 9:30am, the same time it had been before he found himself on the floor so he’d been there for less than a minute.

‘”How bizarre” James thought aloud. “How very bizarre”. He pushed the eject button on the playstation, took out the game, unplugged the playstation at the mains, put everything away and with that, went back to bed.

Epilogue

It was James’s first day back at school after the incident in which he found himself collapsed on the floor. Doctors had diagnosed him with ‘video game addiction’ which is apparently a disorder which involves spending too much time on video games. James’s had been forced to tell his parents about the many days he would hide down the road until they’d left for work to play video games for hours on end once he was at the hospital. His final check up had been the day before and his doctor revealed to James that he’d need no more sessions and would be able to return to school.

He sat there in silence at his desk whilst a number of pupils muttered to one another about the latest rumours as to why James had been off for such a long time which consisted of him being put in prison and going missing. Staring at the door whilst counting down the hours he had until the end of the day, James noticed someone hovering on the other side of the glass pane and it was not long after that she followed his teacher into the room. Her hair was long and cascaded down her shoulders; waves of brunette surrounding her body down to her elbows. She had the most striking smile James had ever witnessed; her teeth in perfect condition minus the tiniest gap between her front teeth. Her lips glistened as she stood there; smiling. She seemed somewhat familiar to James; as if she’d been a large part of his life once. He could not put his finger on where he’d met her before, or even if he’d met her before.

“Morning everyone! This is Susie and she will be joining your class today. I’d like you all to make her feel welcome! Please Susie, if you’d like to go and sit at that empty desk” the teacher yelled as he pointed to the empty desk next to James. She began to wander towards him and then changed direction to the desk that the teacher had pointed to. As she went to sit down, she let her bag slide down her shoulder; caught James’s gaze and they exchanged smiles with one another. Whilst the teacher carried on talking about the lesson, James could not take off of his mind where he’d possibly met Susie before and with that, tore a piece of paper from his pad and proceeded to write;

Hello Susie,

Welcome to our class. I can’t help but think that I’ve met you before somewhere. Could you possibly confirm whether or not we have met?and with that he folded the letter neatly several times and once the teacher turned to write some useless junk about the lesson on the board, leant over and placed the note on her desk. Susie gave James and awkward smile and then stared at the folded letter. After a couple of seconds, she began unfolded the letter and then studied the writing. However, instead of replying, she just simply turned to him, shook her head and whispered,

“I’m sorry, I don’t recognise you” and with that, took her attention back to the lesson.

The rest of the day was eventless and became a drag to James and all he could think about was going home and taking a nap so of course, when he turned the key in the door, he’d never felt quite so happy. He sped into the living room and collapsed on the sofa, but as he did so, the word ‘Reality’ caught his eye from by the television. He picked himself up and strolled over to the game that lay on the floor and crouched down to retrieve it. James opened the case to take a look at the game inside and the metallic game stared back at him. Looking behind his television set; he retrieved his old playstation and plugged it in.

“Why did I never get round to playing this game?” James asked himself aloud as he thought about the doctor mentioning not playing games for a while. “One game won’t hurt” he said as he fixed the game into the playstation. “What can one game do to me?”