the game

Amy

Katie and I lay across from eachother on the floor staring up at the bland white ceiling.

"what do you want to do?" I ask, turning to face her.

"study in the library," she responds shortly.

"i want to know how to divide the soldiers successfully into smaller divisions that are easy to communicate with. They have the jail raiders, and jail guards. I'm sure there's more to the system in the game. It feels so bland right now, there has to be more to it," and so we make our way to the library.

she scours the rows upon rows of books, picking out a few to scan into her watch.

"what are you doing?" i ask as she continues to broaden her library inside her watch.

"For future reference," and then she piles the actual books in her arms, finally sitting down at a desk with the heap of literature.

I could never.

One after one she scans them for anything that will give her insight. at first I'm skeptical that she'll find anything until her brows begin to twist together. she places books half open next to eachother in a strange nonchalant order. it looks like she's building a venn diagram of similarities and differences. I am completely entranced. If I had half the will power she did to study, I'd easily be able to get my grades up. I sigh and shake my head just as she speaks for the first time in an hour. i fall out of my chair from fright. I didn't realize how focused I was, trying to dig through the meaning of her research.

"look, here and here and here, it all talks about the game being made to test someone's abilities as a citizen. it looks like there's always been two teams raging against each other. but it seems almost like friendly competition.

she projects her watch screen into the air, displaying a large black writing board. she pulls out her collapsible pen situated on the bottom of the watch and begins scrawling notes.

it almost looks like a family tree.

"look at this Amy, the boss is on top, under them is the command team. Under them is four divisions of overseers. each team of overseers is over several groups representing more and more specific tasks. within each team there is a leader, a second in command, and a person to manage and keep the higher ups posted. And that's only the tip of the ice berg, Amy. this game is meant to build a nation of truly independent workers. it's like a mini country of its' own so why does it feel so much like we're soldiers preparing for war? have of the subjects I'm digging into haven't been discussed in years. it's like the game is deteriorating, but how? and why is it becoming so minimalistic," her eyes are on fire with burning curiosity.

It probably isn't a good thing she's this smart, it's going to get her killed.