Game On

GAME ON

Prologue.

Sunday 12:30 pm

A tirade of random profanities , nonsensical and non stop , echos throughout the house . It sounds like a tourette's sufferer experiencing their worse day ever .

      The sound of breaking , like the breaking of bones in an old B-movie.

" Ahh fuck , no no no no "

A door slams unnecessarily loudly , heavy footfalls , stamping down the staircase.

"i need to go into town for another controller , do you want to come ? " says he

" have you broken another one ? , we can't afford for you to keep doing this. it has to stop ". says she .

"It's not my fault" says he " the fucking games fucking cheat and it pisses me off , they do it on purpose just to fuck the end user and make you feel all shitty and worthless . And it's not my fault that the controllers aren't strong enough.  It's the fucking game , it does it to me on purpose and it makes me angry then before you know it i have half a controller in each hand .... It's not my fucking fault .

But she had heard it all before , so many times that she didn't even listen anymore.

"For god's sake" she says " You are forty two not fourteen , when are you going to grow up ?. I've put up with this shit for over five years now and you have cost us a small fortune in controllers and consoles , you even smashed a thousand pound telly last year . When does it end "?.

He looks blankly at her . "What?" he says , not comprehending anything she has said . Her face softens , she is close to tears . "I love you" she says " I really do and i want to spend the rest of my life with you but I can't live like this , It has to stop ".

She is crying openly now but it has no effect on him , he just stands there staring sullenly in her direction.

"So are you coming into town or not ?" he says

She looks at him through tear filled eyes , it is like looking at a stranger , she doesn't understand how they got to this point but she knows she is not happy anymore . she has had enough .

"If you leave this house before we sort this out I won't be here when you get back " she hissed at him " you'll never see me again " she adds in a low whisper.

"Fine " he yells " in fact i'll go you one better . If you are still here when i get back I'll pack you up and fuck you off myself"

She looks stunned " what ?" she says

" what ? " he says " fucking what ? are you hard of hearing ? do i fucking stutter ? Get out , leave , fuck off , i don't need you , i don't want you here anymore , you don't get it , you don't care , now just fuck off "

He slams the door behind him and heads off on foot towards his beloved gaming shops . After less than a minute he is already feeling calmer , happier in the knowlege that he would soon have his new controller and be back in front of his screen , back in his own private world where he is 'the man' .

She would still be there but she would say nothing , they had been here many times now and he knew how it played out . In a few days he would buy her some cheap flowers and he would say he was sorry for his outburst, She would forgive him on the condition that he sought proffessional help for his 'rage' problem . He would promise to make the appointment tomorrow on the condition that they had sex , now , before she cooked dinner and everything would be 'normal' for another week . until the weekend when she doesn't go to work , then it would all start again.

New controller in hand he browses the pre-owned games section , games that other people don't want or can't play . These people aren't gamers they are pretenders , real gamers never sell a game or a console , he knew this to be true , he still had every game and console he had ever owned . so many that he had taken over two rooms in the house just to store it all . It was like a gamers museum spanning over thirty years of gaming technology and evolution .

He sees a game in the pre owned box and cannot believe his eyes or his luck . 'Total war - Modern Weapons' when it was released it was tagged as 'the most true to life FPS ever' 10 out of 10 !. This game had been banned worldwide 24 hours after its release due to its intensely realistic and graphic violence . He had tried everything in his power to procure a copy of this game to no avail , he had even tried contacting the makers directly requesting a copy at any cost but they had informed him that due to legal restraints they could not supply the game to anyone in any country . Yet here it was priced at £9.99. he paid for it and the new controller and left the shop smiling .

He got back home to find she was not there but this was no cause for concern , she would return later , of this he was certain . He went up stairs to his 'games room' with an air of excitement . "finally" he said aloud " a game that wont fuck me over , true to life it says , finally a game worthy of my time "

Some six hours later he ventured down to the kitchen in search of food , He hadn't heard her come in yet but equally he wasn't watching the clock , the game had not lived up to his expectations and his temper was fraying fast . Then he found the note on the table .

Dear John

today was the final straw . i have loved you for over five years but your mental state due to all these stupid games has broken us beyond repair . I have transfered half of our joint savings to your account and half to my own . i will arrange to collect my stuff on a day when you are not there. I'm sorry it has come to this but i won't see you like this so i won't see you at all

goodbye

Maggie

He just sat there reading and re-reading . He took the note upstairs and showed it to the T.V. screen " Have you seen this ?." he growled , the freeze frame of a battlefield on pause stared back at him silently , mockingly , a warning flashed up on screen telling him that the battery in controller one was low . The rage was building within him and he stamped the heel of his boot down hard on the new controller , again it sounded like bones breaking . " how about now ?" he screamed " have you fucking seen this ? " the silent screen now displayed a new message . ' a controller has been disconnected , please reconnect controller 1 to continue ' he snatched up the console and smashed it into the screen over and over , all the time screaming " you did this, you fucking did this to me , you cunting motherfuckers you fucking did this to me . i will kill all of you fucking cunts , every last one of you cunts . you will all pay . you fucking fucked my life i'm gonna fuck all of you you'll see , you're all gonna pay .

Silence now . the only sound is his breathing , ragged from the fury of his rage . His gaze falls on the T.V. set blank now with a console embedded through the screen but there is no emotion in his eyes, his gaze moves to the 'cause ' of all his pain "the most true to life " he says aloud " 10 out of 10 " .

Something in his mind went 'SNAP!' and what little light was left in his eyes went out . the merest hint of a smile played across his mouth . " I'll show you true to life " he muttered . An idea was forming in a very broken mind ........ GAME ON !