Game__On

Chapter Five

I'm more shaken up now because of the man's unnecassary announcement.  I suddenly start to think about Brian again.

     "Brian!"  I scream.  "He must be in the game too,"  I think, and start pacing back and forth until I think of someting awful.

     "What if he didn't make it?"  I start to panic, but then a jumble of words appear in front of me.  I realize that they're a messege to the player, but to me the letters are backwards.  The only thing is--  there isn't a player.

     So I have to uncode the messege.  "Next level, Start."  It says, I think about about pressing the  "no"  button, but then I think of Brian, if he's still out there.

     I suck in a deep breath and then try to press the  "continue"  button.  But I can't because I'm not on the other side of the screen.

     "Ugh!"  I say.  "I hate video games!"  I can't believe I just said that.  I slump down on the fake ground and look at the fake  flowers.

     I feel like crying, but I'm not even sure if I can because now I'm just a blob of pixels.  "Continue."  I say.  Maybe that's how I do it.

     Nothing.  Dead silence except for the electrical buzzing sound that fills the air.  "Continue!"  I shout.

     "LEVEL TWO, START!"  He screams.  I narrow my stiff eyebrows at him, which takes a lot more energy than it would in the real world, where we actually have  eyebrows that can move.

     More swirls fly around me, and I'm in another level.  I haven't even taken into consideration yet how hard this level really is.  There are these hawks that fly around, shooting lasers at you.

     I'm starting to think that this was all a huge mistake.  Brian's probably gone, and I'm only going to kill myself doing this.

     Really, what is the point?  If he is dead, than I'm doing this for nothing, if he is alive, than what if I can't do it?  What if I let him down?   I think to myself.

                                                           "THREE....  TWO....  ONE!"

     But what if I can?    I think, but I don't have enough time to make a decision, because I start seeing the silouhettes of hawks coming towards me.

     "First, I have to find the Reflector Sheild,"  I remind myself.  I look around for a sheild.  It moves somewhere different every time you play this level, so no matter how many times I had played, it wouldn't help me locate it.

     I spot a feild of non-deadly flowers and run toward it.  I see something glint in the feild.  "It must be the sheild,"  I say.

     And it is.  As I lift up the sheild, I hear a strange noise.  "What?"  I say, and then I see it--  another digital character.

     He was brown curly hair, I think.  It's hard to tell since his hair is made out of hundreds of little brown squares.

     "Brian?"  I say.  He looks up at me and stops shivering.  "Oh, Jamie!"  He says, clearly releived.  "I thought you were a bird or something."

     He stands up and I take his hand in mine, the sheild hanging from my other hand.