Ghost Hunter: CyberNerf (Alternative Draft)

Chapter 5

Ned sat down at the computer and typed:

continue. Listening

Hello! CyberNerf Ned, we are pleased to hear from you

He replied: pleased to hear from you, too. Thanks for mentioning the combat session with Shadow-breather. Who are you, really? You've got a funny name for a gamer.

The words from the other side flashed for him to read:

We are counting on your razor-sharp survival instinct, Cyber Ned. We need your help to stop the impending ghost invasion IRL. It's going to start any day now and we don't have much time. Can you seriously handle dread? Or would you simply be seized and torn?

For a fleeting moment, the tip of a cold finger touched the flesh at the base of his spine.

He typed: I'm good at survival. My house has been under attack ever since we moved here. I have never backed down from my duty as a loyal CyberNerf.

We have been watching you

Ned's eyes narrowed. Watching me? Ned thought with a shudder, as he continued to read.

Your actions confirm what you say

We think you are someone who realizes the potential dangers that are coming

He started pacing the room nervously. Feeling undecided he sat down again to see the sender was now offline. He absently scratched his arm. Suddenly, the messenger blinked the mysterious sender online.

Ned read: Fellowship Member typing. Then it appeared: CyberNerf Ned, you are a wise boy

Ned grated his fingers through his hair and blew out a ball of breath through his mouth.

Why do you say that?

You are being cautious, that's why. It's definitely not advisable to jump at the slightest chance one gets to talk to strangers online. You are wondering if you should continue replying to these messages because we are strangers to each other. Yet, what you are seeing is authentic communication directed to your screen from the Fellowship Center

The cursor halted, blinking. He typed: you're a gamer, aren't you?

Of course, CyberNerf Ned. Just like you. But not like anyone you ever met before. Others play for the thrill of a virtual world. We know, while we're playing, that the world others call cyberspace also bleeds into the world you are in, at the moment. We know that there is a link between events. It's okay as long as the border between what we're taught is real and what constantly wants to become real holds. But when the link grows, and the border wears thin and is finally breached, it's only a few like you who realize the danger

I've been trying to explain to people that there are ghosts around us and they're closing in. No one wants to listen. But that doesn't make me stop worrying about their safety.

You are true to your purpose, CyberNerf. Looking at you move through the realm we know it will not be a mistake to offer you membership in an elite ghost-hunting team. Members of this team fight inside cyberspace but they must track down the creatures that take refuge outside virtual boundaries. Of course, you wouldn't need explaining as to what that means

His heart thumped with the blinking of the cursor as he read the last words. Just then, he heard a sound outside his room like a loud scraping. As if a giant piece of sandpaper was brushing against the wall in the hallway.

Ned sprang like taut string from his place, the next moment yanking the door and hanging his head around the doorway to see what was happening. Nothing moved in the pale light drooling from the single urn on the ceiling.

Back at his desk, with the door ajar, he typed: Tell me your name. You know mine.

Fen. Can we count on you?

Ned threw himself on his bed and stared up at the ceiling. Had Ned been another ten years older or even five, he would have no trouble laughing at the messages sent to him. But he was still nine and still in love with his family with a heart that hadn't been dragged away by the demands of the adult world. You would not hear him phrase it thus, but he inevitably believed that purity had a special place in the order of things. Right now, his confusion was also a pure one. It was plain and simple and that is why it tangled him.

He thought about calling up his friend Davy for advice. Davy, though he always enjoyed hearing the latest story about Ned hunting down a ghost in the old house, did not go as far as Ned in actually believing that the house was haunted. He did not question whether ghosts existed. But actually coming face to face with such misty and silently powerful entities inside the neighborhood was a distant possibility to him.

He always told Ned that if he wanted to find a real ghost it had to be done deep in the woods, away from houses and streets and people. Ned understood Davy was more into aliens that ghosts. He would certainly tell Ned to beware of the person who sent him messages about an elite force to fight ghosts eating their way out of cyberspace.

Even so, his confusion did not quell his delight that someone finally recognized his special skills. He bolted up from the ticking. He looked at the computer screen then turned his gaze to the open door of his room. Of course, they would blame him for devoting more hours to his gaming fantasies. What mattered was someone had reached out to tell him they needed his specialty to solve a problem.

He shoved the confusion aside and typed into the still open chat window:

I'm ready.