My fingers danced over the controller, fiddling with the stick and pressing buttons ferociously. “Ugh!” I sat back and ran my hand through my hair, knocking my cat-eared headphones onto my shoulders. The screen in front of me bore the ominous screen of death:
Game over: GameZero died. Restart? Or …Pay five-thousand silver to continue.
Groaning I checked the amount of silver I had. 7,000.
“One more try, then I’ll play somethin’ else.” I clicked the ‘pay five thousand to continue’ and grabbed my headphones to slide them back on.
Just before they slid over my ears Mom’s voice rang out, “Grey? Are you doing homework, or are you available?”
“Um …working?”
“Okay, when you’re done, come help Cecilia clean the livingroom.”
“K’.”
I slid my headphones over my ears and cranked the volume up. Maybe I’ll clean after this. My character came into focus, standing at the top of a ridge, overlooking the dam. Turning away from the well-animated scenery I directed him down the hill. A portal wasn’t far from here and I needed to get to Pirates Ocean. Clearly, I had forgotten to save well I was there. Tac, tac, tac, tac. The buttons clicked fast as I maneuvered myself past the enemies to the portal.
I rolled my eyes and sat back as the screen did its classic —and personally unnecessary— dramatic pan to show the world, now tinted blue from the portal’s flame. A list of options for places I could portal to showed up. I clicked the Pirates Ocean and rubbed my hands with anticipation. The loading bar was really slow this time.
“Come on! Portal me to Pirates Ocean.” I hissed impatiently. The loading bar did not move. I clicked at it. “Portal me!” Nothing happened. “Argh! Teleport to Pirates Ocean!” The loading bar suddenly sped up and hit max. My bedroom lit up blue and I pushed away from my computer rubbing my eyes. The light was painful.
“Grey?” My door cracked open, and Cecilia’s face appeared. I turned toward her but her face and the door seemed to blur and I was standing in a forest colored gold and red with autumn. I swayed dizzily and sat down. The ground was soft and moist. A chill wind whipped through the trees, and I zipped my sweater up. My headphones played the soft music belonging to the forests of Pirates Ocean.
What just …happened?