The Anthologies Saga Volume 1-Pixelations

Fireflies

When they unpaused the game, the first thing they noticed was that it turned dark. The sun had set and the countdown was now at four days and two hours.
The second thing they noticed was that Keaton was gone.
Gary grabbed at his hair and groaned. JJ started to go one direction in the woods, and that's how the group split up. They knew that in horror games, that's the last thing they wanted to do. But "Memento Morí" wasn't that type of video game. It was an indie RPG. The graphics were mostly 8-bit, for goodness sake. While "FEAR" was a very sad and tragic exception, all of the beta testers knew that if they split up in a Sullen Starz video game, they would not have any consequences besides adding to their maps.
Anna headed northeast and starting walking. She was nervous to scream into the woods, so she just called out in a very calm voice, "Keaton?"
No response.
"Keet?" She called out again, softer this time. And that's when she saw them- the fireflies. She looked around as the bugs lit up her screen.
"Beautiful, aren't they?" Anna heard from right behind her. She turned around and saw Keaton, but his eyes weren't locked on her. They were watching the bugs in the atmosphere. Finally, his eyes fell down and locked with hers, and he smiled. "Recently, this spot has been more comforting to me than the tavern. Come on." He reached his hand out to Anna. "Take my hand. I wanna show you something."
Anna looked down at his soft hand and took it. Squeezing gently, Keaton turned and began jogging deeper into the thicket. The fireflies grew in numbers as they journeyed farther, but suddenly, there were no longer any fireflies in sight. Keet sat down on a log and cleaned up the spot next to him as best as he could. Flattered, Anna sat down next to him.
"Where are the-?" She began to ask, but she heard Keaton shush her softly and she stopped. Suddenly, all of the fireflies gathered in one single place. Anna's breath was taken away. The bugs lit the place up, and their patterns seemed to put on a show. Anastasia had a fear of bugs, but these little guys were not given too much detail to make them scary. In fact, she thought that they were cute.
Keaton brought a finger to his lips as he slowly stood up. Quickly, he snatched a bug out of the sky and cupped it into his hands. He peeked in and smiled before turning to Anna and said "Take a look."
Anna peeked into Keet's hand and saw his palms illuminate with lime green light. A smile crept up on her face. Finally, Keet showed it the outside world and the firefly took to the sky again. Keaton leaned back and was silent for a moment. Anna almost said something before Keaton beat her to the punch.
"I know that you guys don't want me to come along," he started. "It doesn't really matter to me. Well, it does, but..." Keaton trailed off before sighing and starting again. "I have never seen anything outside of Murklins Grove. I went to school, I work at the tavern, and at night I lock up and head upstairs to my room. I never ventured this far into the woods before this week." He turned to Anna and asked, "Do you know what I'm missing?"
Anastasia was at a loss for words. What was he missing? Rising gas prices? NFTs? None of that mattered in this place. None of it. Anna shook her head and looked up, but before she could say anything, she caught Keaton looking from her eyes to her lips. And without warning, Keet leaned in for a kiss. Keaton's lips connected with Anna's, and Anastasia could just watch in awe, and perhaps disgust, too. Keaton could feel the fireworks in his head and heart. His blood stayed liquid, but when he realized what he did, he pulled back. He covered his mouth with his hand, as though he was a child who said a nasty word.
Anastasia was turning completely red when she finally told him, "I have to go."
"Gotcha gotcha," Keet murmured, breath shaking. There was no Dust Blood, but he was having trouble thinking and feeling. He had no idea what he was feeling, but he seemed to be embarrassed.
Anna pulled up the map that she had in her pocket, and in a flash, she was gone.

Keet walked down the shore of Ashie Beach, his hands in his pockets. Finally, he stopped and sat in the sand. He looked up at the waves and wondered how much water it took to flow in the Mississippi River. He looked over at the urn that sat over on the far side, right under the docks. It was a golden jar with a lace ribbon wrapped around the lid. He pretended for a moment he was still a little kid, and Mama was sitting right beside him, smiling as he pretended to be a fish. Sighing, he stood up and gently lifted the urn from the sand. He knelt down and rolled up his pant sleeves and then walked into the water. With tears in his eyes and a lump in his throat, he removed the lid and began to dump the chalky ashes into the river. When the urn was completely empty, he put his hand in the water and swished the ashes around. He raised his hand out of the water and looked at it. A bit of Mama clung in between his fingers.
He wished he didn't find out he wasn't real. He wished that he felt numb, like he would've felt had this happened a week ago.
He wished he was there for her.
"Lovely resting place, eh, lad?"
Keaton didn't have to turn around to know that Dorothea Brixby was now standing right next to him. And even if he did, their eyes would not meet. At the moment, they were just watching the horizon.
"Yeah, now she can see the world..." he began. "Just like she always wanted."
Dorothea looked at him and smiled. "There's the perky laddie we know."
Keaton looked at her and their eyes met for a moment before his began to water. He quickly looked down. The small smile that was creeping on Mrs Brixby's face was squashed.
"Oi, Keet, what's got you down?"
Keaton tried to find the right words to describe what happened, but how does one describe what had been happening this past week? His lip quivered and a sob escaped him. Mrs. Brixby's face softened and she outstretched her arms. Keet threw himself into the hug, praying that her shawl was thick enough to make the sobs sound more like screaming underwater.
When he calmed himself down, Mrs Brixby patted Keaton on the shoulder. As they released from the hug, Mrs Brixby nodded her head forward. "Hold out yer hand, lad."
He did, and Mrs Brixby placed a piece of candy in his palm. A Hershey's Kiss. His favorite candy. She remembered?
"I'm here if you need anything, okay, Keet?"
Keaton nodded. And with that, Mrs Brixby walked away, off the beach.
Well, good golly gracious, Keaton thought to himself. She stole my job.