The Anthologies Saga Volume 1-Pixelations

Anger

When Keaton woke up, he felt the cold raggedy feeling of a damp rag. His eyes focused on a woman holding it. When she realized he was awake, she smiled. "Morning, Punkin."
Keaton groaned. This was way out of routine. He tried getting up. "What time is it?"
Mama ushered him back into bed. "Now, now. You shouldn't even be out of bed. You scared me real good last night. I almost set out a search party."
Keaton couldn't remember anything that happened last night. That wasn't normal. He had the memory of an elephant, and you know what they say about elephants. He looked over at his alarm clock. It was already 10am. He tried getting up, but Mama kept him down.
"Good golly gracious, I slept in. Mama, let me up. We need to open up the shop-"
Mama shushed him up. "I gave us an off day today. You need some rest."
An off day? Mama doesn't give off off-days. You have to work for that. Something was different, and she seemed...fidgety. "Where did you go, Keet?"
Keaton opened his mouth to answer, but he couldn't force the words out. Something about his memory felt off. What happened last night couldn't've happened, because that would not make any sense. There was just one thing he had to check- "Mama, what happened at the tavern last night?"
Now it was Mama's turn to be speechless. Finally, she sighed and sat on his bed.
"One of the ladies performing...she took some powerful stuff. And she took too much of it."
Keaton ran his fingers through his hair. It actually happened? He grabbed at it to assure himself he was there. Yes, still here. "Do you remember her name?"
"Uh...it was Jacqueline, I think."
Pretty name, Keaton thought. He started getting Dust Blood again, and his breathing went shallow. Mama rubbed his back and tears gathered.
"I saw her," he began. "She-she was following these two people, and I-I followed her. She-she's with them. I tried to bring her back, I tried CPR." The blurry image of the entertainer, his hands stacked on her chest, bouncing up and down, appeared in his brain, and he tried erasing it to no avail. Keaton wiped his eyes and tried steadying his breath. The Dust Blood will pass. And sure enough, the pressure in his lungs was gone. He felt much better.

Out of the game, JJ took a sip of his Slurpee. He asked into his mouthpiece, "Hey, guys, did you see the Takers?"
"Yeah," Anastasia said from the other line. "They were hot, both of them." But Anastasia's mind was still on Keet. Were the NPC's supposed to follow the Takers? She asked the others this question. She knew that Kat worked for Sullen Starz and did a bit of the coding for the game. Not a lot, because she was a bit of an amateur, but enough that she knew the lay of the land.
"The only time that the NPCs follow the Takers is if the Takers...take them."
"Hold up, you mean kill them?"
"The two aren't called Death Itself and The Grimm Reaper for no reason, Anna."
Anastasia got her character to a phone and called Mama's Tavern. Everyone could see this in their chat.
"'Stasia, what are you doing?"
"Calling Keet. I'm not going through a Hermit Kermit situation again."
"Jesus, you're still not over that?" Babi knew better than anyone the depressive episode that Anastasia went through when Hermit Kermit died. Frankly, it was concerning. The dude was just code, and she acted like a pet died.
"Of course I'm not over that. I have to make sure that he's okay." Keet was a character that Anna wanted to know more about. He was very quirky, but he also was kind and courteous. And he probably took a liking to her.
When Mama answered the phone with "We're closed", Anna's heart dropped. But she continued. "Hey, Mama. I'm Anna. I was at your tavern last night."
Mama sighed at the other end. "Oh, I'm not in the mood for complaints right now. You see, my son-"
"Uh, actually, m'am, I was calling for your son."
The silence was so long, Anna could just hope that the line didn't go dead. And then Anna heard a different voice from the line-
"Hello?"
"Hey, Keet. It's Anna."
From the other end of the phone, Keaton blushed. First phone call of the day, and it's her. "Good morning, Anna. H-how'd you sleep?" Seriously? How'd you sleep? Keet brought the side of his fist to his forehead.
"Slept fine. How are you? I saw you go out the back, didn't hear from you the rest of the night."
"Uh, yes. I needed to check something in the back."
Anna nodded. Okay, he's beating 'round the bush. "Are you sure that it wasn't those two hooded people?"
The line got quiet. Got 'em. From the other end, Keet made sure no one else was listening and pulled the receiver away from his mouth to hide the oncoming Dust Blood. When he was ready, he brought the phone back to his face. "You saw them, too?"
It was Anna's turn to be speechless. So he did encounter the Takers...technically it was 'last night'. She nodded before remembering that you can't hear someone nod. "Yeah, I saw them."
"It was a weird night last night. Um, they were taking a distinguished gentlewoman to the back-"
"You mean a hooker?"
Keet paused, trying to rack his brain so he wouldn't say that, but he couldn't find any synonyms at the moment. "Yeah. But they brought her to the back, and they..." he was working hard to find the words to describe it. "They... they took her. I-I-I tried to help her, I really did. I was doing CPR, but it wasn't any use. Next morning Mama tells me she died of an overdose."
Anna could feel him getting sad over the phone. Keet wiped his eyes again.
"Okay, what did they look like, Keet?"
"I don't know. I couldn't see their faces."
Anna nodded. "Okay. Listen, I want to talk to you tonight. Meet me in the woods. I'm gonna bring a friend."
The chat exploded with shouts of denial before she hung up the phone. No one wanted to meet up with Keet. They wanted to explore more of the game. Was Memento Morí like the Sims or like League of Legends?
"Guys, come on. We need to explore the characteristics of the story."
"Amiga, did you forget about Armageddon?" JJ asked.
"Of course I didn't forget about Armageddon," Anastasia snarked back. "I just need to get this over with."
"Well, it's coming in five days." Kat was watching the clock tick down the seconds. She wasn't going to waste this time talking to an NPC.
"I'll go with, 'Stasia." Gary's voice came through the line. There's nothing else to do anyway. How about messing with the NPCs while we're at it?
"Groovy. Thanks a heap, Gare-Bear."
"No. Just no."
"Okay, Gary. I'm sorry." Anastasia knew when not to cross boundaries. The line is very thick.

When Alfred announced the time with a loud BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG!, Keaton flipped the sign to "OPEN" and said "Come on in!" Of course, it was JJ who got the party really going. First guy who entered, showing off in his lucky flannel and khaki shorts. Big guy with an even bigger personality. He got up on the stage and waited for the crowd to continue filing in. But then he recognized a face in the crowd, and his heart dropped into his stomach.
JJ looked out in the crowd and saw Kat at the bar counter. Keet was nowhere to be found. Pendejo.
"Kat, Marx Triplet, 11 o'clock."
Kat turned around and the bulky man caught their eye. She whimpered. Marxtr!pl3t-47 was a hacker notorious for stealing codes on the games he sneaks into. Some of their code is at risk.
He sat down next to them. Keaton was still in the back. Kat hid her addresses from her screen when they heard "So I see you're not an NPC."
Kat turned to him with wide eyes. Marx Triplet laughed. "How'd I know that? Because you don't have any code. Well, you do, but it's interchangeable. Meaning you can control your actions MEANING you are a real person. So... maybe I could get your name?"
"What do you want, you little spitfire?" Kat muttered behind her screen. Her character signed 'Cat.' Marx Triplet scoffed.
"Oh, you mute! That's fine. I'll get you to make noise. Just wait."
Kat knocked on the counter. Quicker times three, quick times three, quicker times three. Like a genie, Keaton came from the back. He connected eyes with Kat and smiled wearily. "Good evening, friend."
Kat pleaded silently with her eyes and looked over at Marx. Keet looked from him to her. "Is this young man bothering you?"
Marx Triplet laughed at him. He wasn't scared of any NPC, least of all Keaton Douglass from Memento Morí. Intel told him that he was the sweetest kid in the game. Marx grabbed Kat by the shoulders and they flinched. "I'm not bothering anyone. Ain't that right, cutie patootie?"
Keet sighed and leaned forward so he was level with Marx. "Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
Marx laughed and revealed a knife he had in his inventory. Keet could see it in his belt buckle. The sight gave Keet Dust Blood, but it was a different type of Dust Blood. Maybe his blood was boiling. Either way, he was just as shocked as everyone else in the tavern when he told Marx, in a deadpan tone, "Okay, wise guy. There's a sign on the door, and since you obviously can't read, I'll read it for you. It says 'no weapons'." Keet stood up for the second half of his spiel. "If there are two types of people that I despise with all my being, it's rule-breakers and those who mean harm to innocents. She doesn't know you, I don't know you. I don't like you. I'm going to ask you again: Please leave."
Marx pointed the knife to Keet. He had everyone's attention now. "Or what?"
Keet looked down calmly at the knife and then back to Marx. "Well, asking nicely isn't working, so that's off the table." And with quick speed, he grabbed the knife from Marx and threw it behind him. It shattered on impact. Kat quickly stumbled up and JJ rushed off the stage, dropping the microphone. Feedback filled the air. Keet leaned in closer to Marx, his eyes fiery with rage. "Now get out of my tavern."
Marx backed up from him. Keaton jumped over the counter and balled up some of the perps' clothes in his fist. "Did you not hear me?!" Keet pushed him out the door, each push enunciating a word. "I-said-get-OUT!" Keet shoved Marx to the ground. Marx scrambled to his feet.
"Hey, what about my knife?" He called out.
"Don't worry!" Keaton called back. "I'll fix it up for you..." his lowered his tone. "...in case you have the NERVE to come back."
Marx's eyes went wide. To himself, he murmured "That's not the Keaton I was informed of," and he logged off the game.