One-shots

Press Play

Jack's PoV:
I grab some popcorn while the game's downloading and sit down on the couch while I wait. I had preordered the game since it sounded interesting. The game finishes downloading and I open it up. I immediately see a man with a (look at the picture above, that's the description). I press 'new game' and watch the beginning cutscene. Once it ended I took control, I died within the first ten minutes and slapped myself.

"Jeez Jack, in the first ten minutes, really?" I say as I respawn. The man I'm playing as, which I had found out his name is Mark, looked around when I said that. Did he hear me? Don't be stupid, that's impossible. I continue to play the game and keep dying. I groan in anger and lean back in the couch, stuffing my mouth full of popcorn.

Mark looks around again, and starts moving around on his own. I stare, my mouth gaping open, dropping a few pieces of popcorn. I've never seen a game where the character does this. I decide to watch what he does and see him looking around in confusion.

"Hello?" He says, almost like he's talking to me. "Who's there?"

"Um..." I say, wondering if I should respond or if he's talking to someone in the game.

"I'm talking to the disembodied voice that seems to control me," he says, looking around.

"Um... hi. The name's Sean, or Jack."

"Well, now I have your name, no doubt you have mine, so I don't need to introduce myself."

"Yeah, I do."

"When is this game over?"

"Wh-How do you know it's a game, characters usually aren't self-aware that their in a game."

"Because I got trapped in here. How do I get out of here?"

"Um..."

"Let me guess, you don't know."

"No, sorry."

Mark sighs and looks around again. He starts walking somewhere, the camera following him as he walks. I put the controller down and continue eating the popcorn, like I'm watching a movie. I watch as he moves around, his striped coat-tail waving behind him as he runs.

He takes his hat off, and tosses it forward. It hits something like a barrier and bounces off, right back onto his head, as if by magic. He sighs and pokes the barrier. I see a button I can click that makes him do a weird thing and press it. The barrier suddenly disappears and Mark jumps in surprise.

"What did you do?" He asks, surprised by what I did.

"I pressed a button and a thing happened," I respond, shoving a handful of popcorn in my mouth.

"What are you eating?"

"Popcorn."

"Oh man, I want some popcorn now..." He sighs again. "The sooner I get out of here the sooner I can have popcorn and any other snack or beverage I want."

He continues running and I use the camera to look around, not bothering with the controls. I see something in the distance.

"Hey, there's a house behind you and to the right," I say. He looks around before nodding. He runs to the house and knocks on the door. The door creaks open as soon as his hand touches it. He opens the door widely and looks inside the house.

"What happened here?" He asks.

"I have no idea."

He walks inside, looking around. I vaguely recognize some stuff, but it's too dark to see anything in detail. Mark walks around and enters a room that I recognize.

"Turn on the lights," I say, putting my popcorn on the table. Mark turns on the lights and I gasp. "It's my place."

"Why is your place in the game?" Mark asks.

"I don't know, this is too weird."

Mark stays silent as we both look at my place in the game. He looks around some more.

"I think I just thought of a way to get out of here," Mark finally says.

"How?" I ask.

"I'm not telling you."

The screen goes black and I jump up from my seat and walk over to the tv. I examine both the tv and the console to see if anything's wrong but don't see anything. I sigh and walk back to my seat as I internally panic. I grab my popcorn and start stuffing my mouth with popcorn nervously. The screen comes back on, showing the main menu, only Mark isn't there. I tilt my head to the side in confusion.

I feel arms wrap around me in a hug and I jump in surprise, dropping popcorn as I do. I look at the person hugging me and see it's Mark, only in normal clothes rather than the dress clothes that he wore in the game.

"Thanks for helping me out of the game." He says, smiling. "By the way, where am I?"

"Ireland," I say, grabbing a handful of popcorn.

"What year?"

"2016," I stuff the popcorn in my mouth, tasting as the butter on the popcorn spreads across my tongue, reaching every tastebud.

"Huh..."

"What?"

"I'm supposed to be dying right now," he says, looking at his hands. "I don't know when I was taken, but I do know that my friend had left in search of a cure for me. I was put to sleep, then I woke up in that game."

"What were you dying from?"

"I don't know, no one was able to identify it."

"Maybe when you were in the game and then got out it cured you."

"That is possible. But if that's so then I owe you my life because you got me out and if you hadn't got me out I don't know if I would have been cured."

I nod as I stuff another handful of popcorn in my mouth. I hold the bowl of popcorn out to him so he can have some. He smiles and takes some, stuffing it in his mouth.

"Do you need a place to live?" I ask.

"Yeah, I do," he says.

"You could stay with me, I have plenty of room here."

"That would be great, thank you," he says, smiling widely.

"Anything you need."

A/N
HAHAHA! Finally finishes it! I have been working on this for SO long! I hope you enjoyed, even though it was probably really bad... ANYWAYS! I'm entering this in tybntybn123 's one-shot contest. I decided to, instead of copy and paste it into a comment I would just publish it and let her copy and paste it if she decides to use it. I wouldn't put it against her if she chose someone else's though. This one isn't really that good. Anyways, I'll see all y'all in the next one!