Screentime - Full Story

Section Three

6 AM, the early morning hours had just broken out. Name's Remi. I'm just like every other girl in New York City, only apart from my dad being a game developer. His job was so cool, and I wanted to follow in his footsteps. Right now, he was working on an RPG called Jester's Cave, where you took on the role of a lonely jester trying to go through various levels and take on the King, who was named Leonard the Great. It was similar to Super Mario Bros but much more fun than some plumbers saving a princess from a fire-breathing turtle. In the RPG game, you even have a multiplayer option, which is really cool. However, you needed an account on my father's game developer site in order to do multiplayer. Not many people had accounts and the game was free for everyone to download, whether you had an account or not. My father had told me that that feature would soon be changing, however, since people tend to download multiple copies of the game and reproduce it for their own good and copy his works.

A few months had gone by and every day, I had watched my dad test play the multiplayer feature. Until, my dad found a player in the lobby with the screen name of XxNoobHackerxX. He brushed it off, as it was most likely one of those edgy emo kids trying to troll people for laughs. He kicked the person from the lobby so they would do no harm. My little screen name was RemiTheMuffinGal because my favorite food is muffins. My dad had an option in the lobby where you can edit your jester's color. Mine was purple and green, since I liked those colors. They were flashy. My dad and I began playing before we noticed the game was a bit buggy. My dad had updated the game and test played it without any issues just moments prior to the multiplayer room being open. He was confused, as he had no idea who could have done this, other than that noob hacker guy from earlier, but there was no way it could be them. My dad and I continued playing on until another player popped into the game. It was XxNoobHackerxX again. My dad kicked him from the party once more but he stayed there. NoobHacker's jester's mouth opened wide, revealing pointy teeth as it began eating everything on screen. My dad's computer began melting as he began screaming and crying because all of his work was gone. I tried yelling at the computer, only realizing that it was of no use. I tried to stop the computer from melting but nothing worked. The number 4092 popped up on screen. We had no clue what this meant, but whatever it meant, it needed to be stopped.

A few months had gone by. My dad got a new computer for Christmas from my aunt. She knew how much his work meant to him. I had gotten a plushie of DanTDM, as he was my favorite YouTuber. My mom smiled when I hugged it after getting it. My mother is disabled, she's got metal all in her and can't walk well, so I help her with things. Her and dad were in a bad car accident a few days before she was supposed to give birth to a baby boy, but he was killed in the accident. This year, I got my mother a plush of a dog. My mom loves dogs, so I made the wrapping paper have little paw prints on it. My dad had told me that if I could figure out how to fix his old computer, I could have it. So I researched how to fix it and began working on it. When it was done, I had a perfectly working PC that I could use for gaming.

My dad and I began working on projects together. He and I did many collaborative works together, but I mainly prioritized on fixing bugs and updating Jester's Cave. I had quite loved that game a bit too much. When testing for bugs in multiplayer, a gamer appeared with the name of Screentime. I thought it was cool, and then remembered I had read that Creepypasta before. I jumped out of my seat, joined the voice chat and began talking to them. They told me what they knew about this guy named Luxury and asked if he was making bugs appear on my computer. I told him what happened to my dad and he froze in his seat. He said that Luxury was back, and had escaped the scientists lab after undergoing research he couldn't handle. I nodded, knowing that something had to be done. Screentime warped into my computer, then through my screen, grabbing my arm and pulling me in. I had taken on a role that I could handle. I had become my jester. I was wearing a crown and had black hair. I also had a cape but still had a humanoid look. Screentime and I were ready. I looked at my screen name and it changed to RPG_Maker. Screentime told me I was becoming one with my new self. I nodded and smiled. We knew something had to be done, and fast, so we hurried through the levels. It was fun being in the internet with my new friend.

Jumping, dodging and sliding past obstacles was easy, but our main obstacle in this situation was Luxury. A level had appeared in front of us. Screentime nodded, acknowledging that this was it. We both looked at each other and then walked into the level. Inside, Luxury had taken on some sort of werewolf appearance, holding a trident. At his sides were scientists who were being controlled by him. Snarling and looking at us, Luxury jumped down and laughed. He explained how he was the new king of the game and would be making the game unplayable for everyone. Throwing a few hits at him, Screentime and I began fighting him, wanting him to stop. My dad joined the fight and realized what was going on. My dad's project was being sabotaged by a grown ass man who wanted to murder his own child just to take over a stupid video game he created. My dad wanted to delete the game but didn't know if that would delete us as well. Screentime explained that, if a computer game is removed the character's legacy is remembered as either good or bad, depending on the character's backstory. Not only that, but the character is also deleted as well. My dad told us to get out of the game. Screentime and I exchanged Discord users quickly to keep in contact, and my dad finished beating up Luxury, screaming at him to leave us children alone. Screentime and I left the game as my dad left and he deleted the game from the internet, deleting Luxury as we know it.

Screentime and I decided that we would type up a blogpost about what had happened to hopefully raise awareness about what happened. People began coming forward about their experiences with Luxury. They were happy that Luxury no longer exists, as their childhoods have been toyed with by this nightmare figure Carly called her "father".

That's about it. That's all.

As for the games that my father created, they were taken down as well and my dad retired at working. My mom suggested that I take on my dad's legacy in game development, so I did.

Screentime and I work together now, and we're happy to be work partners together.