Chapter Text
“Hey nerd, whatcha up to?” My friend, Nuru asked me, bumping my shoulder before I scoffed, rolling my eyes at her snarky remark.
“You got a mansion and money.. but yet you decide to spend your time picking on me? Cruel... I’m hurt. Questionable decision of yours...but should I be offended? Maybe.” I teased, making my tone of voice sound sad before we both roared with laughter.
“So I don’t know if you wanna go, buuuuut me and Yong are gonna go to the mall later. Wanna join?”
“And waste my time window shopping? Hard pass.”
“Oh come on, Hugo. It’s fun! Plus we’ll let you visit the gaming store…” she taunted, waving her hand in front of my face enthusiastically. I swear to god, Nuru gets on my nerves a majority of the time. I know she means the absolute best for me and our friend group... but her way of kindness was sometimes overbearing. If she wasn't so nice, I would've bitch-slapped her.
I stepped back, turning my face so she wouldn’t touch my glasses as I pushed them up with my index finger, “Even if i wanted to… my mom wouldn’t want me to. All she cares about is academics.. work.. academics..”
“Lemme guess the last part. Work?”
“No. Are you fucking thick-skulled?! It’s actually studying to get into a prestigious school after I graduate and making a lot of money for her. So she could live rich and luxurious, while I live in a shack for the rest of my cold, miserable life," I explained before letting my hands hit my sides, grabbing a fist-full of my hair before groaning from stress.
Nuru seemed taken aback, putting a hand over her chest, “well excuse me, mister smart-ass-who-spends-his-time-being-a-dick. That’s rude. And here I was, trying to be the good, nice friend.”
I sighed before shaking my head, “I’m sorry. But… she doesn’t care that I’m always tired, exhausted, lacking energy.. It's why I play video games sometimes. But once she sees it, she takes it away until the weekend. Even THEN, she puts a time limit of 15 minutes because she doesn’t want my quote en quote, ‘Brain to rot and then I die faster’ Ugh. What a drag. LIT-RA-LEE.” I explained, enunciating at the last part while clapping my hands.
“I’d say. My parents are like that… well, I don’t have to work, of course but I understand. A little.” Nuru reassured before putting a hand on my shoulder, obviously trying to show that she cares. It didn't really help MY case per say... but whatever. It's either deal with her rambles or deal with a very mad Nuru.
I don't wanna deal with an angry Nuru AGAIN.
I looked at her. I knew that she was only trying to help. But she couldn’t understand some things. Since she was rich, everything came to her immediately or almost immediately. I was jealous of her, hardcore. She takes part time jobs for fun… yes, FOR FUN- in the summer while I’m stuck at a ghastly, run-down gas station with no AC for about 4 to 9 hours.
3 hours if nobody comes in for 2 hours. And throughout my 2 years of working there, only 30 people have been actually INSIDE the store where I worked mainly. It sucked working there because all I did was restock when necessary, clean up the aisles from drunken bastards, and clean the toilets.
“Well.. thank you Nuru, I appreciate it.” I thanked her before she took her hand off, noticing my discomfort.
“No problem. Hey.. if you want, There’s a garage sale up the street. I have to go the other way.. but I heard they’re selling retro video games and books.”
My eyes widened with excitement for just a quick second, before my face went back to its no-expression-blank-slate face, “oh.. okay. I’ll keep an eye out. Thank you Nuru. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“No problem. See you in class. I’ll text you tonight.” She smiled, before turning around and walking the other direction, her hands on the straps of her backpack, looking more confident than a lot of the girls at school.
“Alright….” I huffed, waving my hand dismissively before I walked straight, looking all over for the garage sale sign. My feet kept dragging against the concrete, lazily looking at the surrounding houses and buildings that I passed by while looking for this proclaimed "Garage Sale".
Man… I love Nuru, but she doesn’t exactly understand what’s going on. Part of that is me because I don’t tell her…but I don’t want people to find out and give me sympathy. I don’t do that. I don’t know feelings as well as Nuru, Yong… damn- I really need to get better friends.
I stepped onto an unfamiliar lawn accidentally, glancing up to see broken glass and a sign that said:
“YARD SALE: $5 for clothes, $4 for shoes, $10 for furniture (depends on what), and $2 for video games.”
Huh.. I wonder why video games are $2… is it for a certain reason??
“Hey kid. You gonna buy something or just stand there gawking at the sign?”
I immediately flinched, turning around to see a large, buff man with several tattoos looking down. I probably even looked like an ant to him, even though I’m like five foot eight… and a half.
“Kid. Go home if you ain’t buying.” The man boomed again as my eyes shifted from the fear.
“I’m sorry. I’ll buy something. I’m just interested in your-“
“Video games?”
“GaH-how- How did you know?” I stuttered nervously, backing away nervously.
He let out a chortle, “Hmm...Scrawny arms, obvious shirt from one of those newfangled games, it’s obvious you’re one of those kid gamers. Not a lot of your generation plays the real classics.”
I didn’t know whether to be offended or not. But coming from a really intimidating man, I guess it was a back-handed compliment, then. I was biting my tongue to avoid giving him a snarky comment. Or maybe even give him a piece of my damned mind.
“Well.. yeah. I wanted to check out some of these games. I wanna try something new, you know?” I responded, trying to calm myself by putting a hand on my chest.
“Ah. I see. Well come with me, child. I’ll show you the collection,” he offered as he started to walk towards his driveway, “You have money, dontcha?”
I nodded, quickly following him down his driveway, eyeing the different clothing and run-down furniture in the front yard. To the corner of my eye, I saw a mother and her son together, clearly bonding with each other. The mother brought her arms around her son, embracing the little guy. My heart twisted from the affection, forcing myself to look away, immediately running right next to the man. He looked a little startled when I suddenly appeared next to him outta nowhere.
“So what made you start playing video games? I can tell it was because someone either forced you, or it was your mental-slash-emotional outlet.”
My jaw dropped, raising an eyebrow, “Goddamn. You must be a psychic! Well.. it’s my outlet, i guess. From my mother and school academics. She’s always pushing so hard and doesn’t even care about my mental state anymore. If I don’t get the correct percentage, she gets mad. Games really help me bring my mind back to sanity.. Y’know?!” I explained before I bit my lip in embarrassment, placing a palm on my face, “I’m sorry. You wouldn’t understand.”
The man gave me a look of pity before reaching up and grabbing a disk, placing it in a box.
“Kid. I may not understand your hoinky-doinky new technology, but I understand the feeling completely. It’s an outlet for many people. So here, I’ll let you borrow this game. It doesn’t work with my system at all. I still have the old video game system from when the first game system came out.”
My eyes widened when he reached for a small disk in a clear, plastic case. I couldn’t even tell what the mysterious scribbles were on the disk case.
“What kind of game is it?” I asked, raising an eyebrow, “I think it can go through my laptop or my set player.”
He suddenly laughed, “kid… I wish I could tell you, believe me. But the last thing I remember, is that it’s a game that will get your mind off of reality. If you like it, fantastic. If not, then… well, give it back. Just play one game, and tell me how it went.”
I nodded in agreement, a bright smile on my face, “you got it.”
I held the plastic case in my hands for a while, staring at the content inside it.
What must be this game? I hope it isn’t another cutesy-animal loving game or something horrible…
Once I glanced back up to where the man originally stood, he was gone.
“Hello…? Hello-“ I whisper-yelled harshly, looking around the eerily quiet garage.
And then I left. With only a plastic case with an unknowing disk inside, I went home.
______________________
I finally slumped down in my chair, taking my jacket off once I spun around in my chair once.
“Now.. to find what this game really is. I hope it isn’t one of those children’s games with the dentist or pregnant ones.”
I carefully took the disk out of the plastic covering, eying the foreign writing on the disk.
“Cor…corneas da..daring adventure? Cornea's daring adventure? Well, that sounds like a weird game name for... that time. Huh. No wonder the guy gave it to me for free. Well fuck it, I got nothing else to do...” I said to myself, rolling my eyes as I put the disk in the computer disk-opening.
With a shaky, and uncertain hand, I moved the mouse frantically, waking my computer up. My computer usually took a while to wake up, which was indeed, frustrating. Once my computer woke up, the monitor started to heat the room up.
Really REALLY quickly.
“What the-“ I scoffed, reaching down to touch the monitor, immediately jerking my hand back in shock from the burning monitor.
“SHITSHITSHIT- I need to get this disk out! How the hell am I supposed to do this?!” I exclaimed, trying to get the disk out of the laptop with my shirt sleeve.
The heat singed my hand, making me screech in pain, bringing my hand to my chest, blowing on it as if it was a dandelion flower rapidly. This would’ve been the most painful thing I’ve ever experienced if I didn’t accidentally shut the door on my fingers last week with full force.
Is this supposed to happen?
Suddenly, the monitor shut off, making my eyebrow raise a little in suspicion.
Well.. I guess now it would be safe to get the disk out without burning my hand. Ouch.
When I finally reached the disk player, a white screen with black letters read, “Welcome to the game, Hugo.”
How does it know my name?
With uncertainty crossing my mind, I still had the urge to take the disk out.
Rookie mistake.
When I finally got to the disk and touched it, I felt a huge jolt of electricity, and my entire body started shaking from the shock value. God, the feeling was indescribable. Suddenly, the chair underneath me went under my legs as I fell to the ground, making my head hit the metal of the legs and my eyes fluttered shut from the impact. My head was spinning like crazy for a few seconds, and it all went still.
“Round one has officially started. Welcome to the game.”
“....Don’t even try to escape, Hugo.”