lost in the labyrinth of my mind

Chapter 11

Max could still feel the grasping hands of her undead friends: cold, withered, and violent. They pulled and ripped at her. Overwhelming her until death came for her. But it wasn't real. It was just a game. So she opens her eyes and finds herself in front of that rundown game console in the cursed Arcade. She backs away in shaly legs and ragged breaths and trips. She falls on her ass. She looks at what she tripped over and cannot voice her despair.

He's there.

His dead body is there.

A stain of blood drying at his centre. Max's hands dance as they check over him, but it's no use: he is dead. Lucas is dead. And it's her fault.

She cries in bellowing sounds. Tears and snot slithered down her face. Catching in her clavicles. She claws at him: begging him to come back. She is pitiful and alone. Her cheeks are rubbed raw from wiping her tears away. Pleads and apologies stutter out of her lips.

There must be something she could do.

It's all her fault.

She goes back to the game console, looking for answers. If it killed Lucas: it had to bring Lucas back. But all she saw was a glowing Out Of Order on the screen, and no amount of hitting the buttons or kicking the machine changed it.

She slid down, her back against the silent machine. Devoid of its telltale hum and buzz. She sat in silence, no songs playing in the background, no more mournful sounds from her. Just misery and death. She stared vacantly at the wall, dark and musty: her eyes burned. She couldn't look away: she would only see his body. If she looked down, she would see blood stuck in her nailbed.

She could stay here forever: sitting in silent tears by the cooling body of her ex-boyfriend.

She should've been faster. She shouldn't have asked Lucas to join her stupid game, and she should've killed the villain long ago. It was all her fault. What does she have now? Nothing. No way to get him back. No way to get her revenge. No way out. Just this decrepit Arcade with its busted and ghastly light: Its chilling music: Its foul smell.

That beeping light better stop! How can she fade away when that fucking light in the periphery won't stop annoying her?

She hauled herself from her prone position and wandered to the blinking light. Mockingly it said: Ready To Play. Max knew she shouldn't. These demented games were the reason Lucas was gone to her. But maybe it was the old game. Maybe, this was her chance for revenge, for redemption.

She nervously tapped her console, swallowing down her apprehension and clicked the button to play.

It was sterile air. It is such a weird thing to notice at first. But after fake weeks of being in forest areas and then in musty indoors, it really is something to be in a climate control clean air. Second, it is flat. Width-wise: it's barely bigger than both arms extended from Max's side. The grey and beige walls stretched upwards, only green platforms littering the walls. Max bounces on her feet. This is not her game. Just a distraction.

This is a platform game. Easy. Just gets to the top, but if Max wants to lose, she has to let the aggressive sprites get her, and that will be that. The only way out for her has been death, so she'll play the game until her hearts are gone: she can begin her search anew.

She starts bouncing.

She remembers watching the moon landing for science class months ago, and the astronauts seemed to float away. She imagines this is how they felt. Unencumbered, light, and terribly shocked when landing back onto the solid ground.

Her first enemy was a pixelated girl in green and white; she held up a tube and shouted through it, and the blast nearly took Max off her feet. It was a blaring sound, like the sounds of ferries telling of their arrival.