Screen Time

Chapter 11: Game Over

"Can I open my eyes now?"

"No, not yet."

"Ok....how about now?"

"Dude be patient. You've asked me that 20 times now."

"Can you blame me? I feel like we've been walking for 3 years."

"It hasn't even been 3 minutes!"

"Fine. This 'surprise' better be worth it."

"Oh, it will be.", as me and Simon continue to walk down the path, the 'surprise' finally comes into full view. "Okay you can open your eyes now"

As he opens his eyes he stares in confusion for a bit at the massive building with glass windows and colorful neon lights shining from the inside.

"An arcade?", Simon questions.

"Not JUST an arcade. It also has laser tag, go-karts, bumper cars, a bowling alley, and whatever else I can think of if we somehow get bored of that."

"You're really taking this whole main character situation in stride huh?"

"Race you to the air hockey table.", I say paying no mind to his usual gloomy remarks.

As we enter the Arcade, it feels as though we've walked into an entirely new dimension. It was already huge from the outside but the inside is even bigger. It seems as though this world makes up for the stuff I didn't think about which is why there's a bathroom and a snack bar here as well. I take a bag of chips and a couple other snacks before meeting Simon at the air hockey table.

"Don't get me wrong this is cool and all but why did you bring me here?"

"Wow...I can't believe my only friend doesn't want to hang out with me.", I begin to sniffle and fake cry, "I really am a loser."

"That's not what I meant it's just-", he hesitates for a bit before continuing, "Wouldn't you rather be here Jessica?"

"Nah it's cool I have a date with her planned next week. Besides, I like hanging out with you more.", when I say this, Simon immediately turns away as a red hue begins to paint his cheeks.

"Speaking of Jessica...how have things been going with her?"

"Wouldn't you already know? You can see everything I do in the cabin right?", a little while after I woke up, Simon showed me this cabin he found while he was in the woods. It looked old and dingy from the outside but on the inside, it was super futuristic and stuff. There was this huge TV inside too that seemed to show my every move.

"I mean it's not like I'm at the cabin all the time. Speaking of the cabin, something weird happened recently.", he says as he slides the puck to my side of the table.

"Oh yeah? What?"

"Ever since you and Jessica started officially dating the TV just...stopped?"

"Stopped? What do you mean stopped? I thought there was no way to turn it off?"

"I thought so too but it did. And now that it's off it looks like there's no way to turn it back on again either. Trust me, I've tried. Although maybe if you tried it might work?"

"Nah I doubt it. That TV and cabin seem to be two of the three things I can't change in this world."

"...what's the third thing?", he asks as I lock eyes with the very same thing he's asking about.

"You."

"What?", I take advantage of his confusion and score a point. "Hey!"

"Not my fault you were paying attention", I chuckle.