--Sunday, May 8th, 2019, Greenbrooke City, America--
--Day 0--
I stared up at the moon, and the moon stared back at me.
For once the night sky was completely clear, void of clouds and smoke that drowned out the stars. I was sitting on my friend’s front lawn, my back laying against the large boulder beside his front porch. When I was a kid, all I wanted to stare down at was a game screen, but as the years went by, I found myself appreciating the things around me much more.
It would all be gone soon enough.
My friends were inside the house, most of them having not paid attention to my attempt at slipping out. The noise and shouting had gotten a bit much for me, and I needed to take a few minutes to calm down. As one might say, anxiety is a muffinsack. Actually, muffinsack is a word I made up, so I'd be the only one saying it.
At a time like this, I would normally feel pretty happy. Got a bunch of friends, most of them chill, a nice family, and only a few months to go until I was free from the prison that some call high school. But one thing was troubling me, invading every thought and forcing it to the front of my mind whenever I tried to be optimistic and hopeful.
"God... why can't the world just give me a break from this," I muttered under my breath.
I laid down on the grass and sighed, thinking to myself quietly, “I screwed up… I screwed up and I can’t do a thing about it. I couldn’t ask Quinn for help, nor could I ask Spencer to cheat on my exams."
“22 credits is all I needed, and I had 21.5,” I spoke in my head as I twirled a pen from my pocket in my hands, “and now I had to find a way to explain to all my friends, family and comrades that I wasn’t graduating on time.”
I looked down at my phone, eyeing a series of text messages towards my group chat from my online friends. My annoying Canadian friend Isaac, my weeb friend Addison, and then her; the one I dreaded telling the most. Lydia.
Lydia, my amazing, adorable, and somewhat confusing best friend. I met her at a young age, eventually being torn apart from her when her family moved to New York and mine to California. We spoke nearly every day, sharing stories both happy and sad. She came to visit from time to time but had not come to see me since last December. I missed her warm hugs, and sometimes I wish I never had to let go.
I sighed, reaching down and picking up a small rock off the ground that I had taken outside for comfort. He had two googly eyes glued to the front, giving it a goofy sort of like.
“What do you think I should do Pablo?” I asked the rock.
"Well if you’re talking about screwing that pink haired chick you like then wrap it up with a piece of rubber."
I turned my head, eyeing another boy leaning against the front door. Hunter smirked at me, smoke puffing out of the plain white cigar in the corner of his mouth.
"Shut up," I told him, standing up and crossing my arms, preparing to walk past him. He put his arm out to stop me, shaking his head.
"Look, I wouldn't suggest going in there just yet. Andrew and Spencer are still at each other's throats," he advised me.
I shrugged, "I can take it. Can’t be as bad as the science lab incident."
And then a shout from inside proved me wrong, "just die already you scrawny little- “
The sound of a broken glass followed, and another girl shouted back, "Andrew calm down already! It’s just a game!"
Taking his advice, I stepped back and walked back onto the lawn. This guy wasn't somewhat I was particularly close to, and honestly, he intimidated me sometimes. His humor was always a bit off, and his mental health wasn't the best either, but we were all a little messed up too.
His look gave off a redneck-like vibe that told teachers he was trouble. And boy was he. The high school senior spent a majority of his time hitting on girls and skipping class, usually spending it with another one of our friends for their usual pastime, drug dealing.
Him and another friend of ours, Luis, had started their own little "business" around the school and local community. Just weed and opioids, never anything serious that’d get them in the stony lonesome for very long.
After the shouting quieted down, the door opened and a young girl with short brown hair, pale skin, and green eyes walked outside; our friend Maddie. Hunter and I turned to see her looking a bit worried, and she gestured us inside.
"You two should probably get in here just in case if you have to hold them back,” she said to us with a frown.
Hunter scoffed, "hold them back? Spencer can’t even lift a textbook without breaking a sweat.”
"No but you know how they are. Andrew’s gonna try and fight him, Spencer’s gonna try and stand up to him and well… I don’t want it getting ugly. Especially tonight," she said as we followed her inside the house.
The two of us walked behind her, taking off our shoes and tossing them beside the others in the dimly lit hallway. We then entered the living room, illuminated by only the big screen TV displaying the video game from Spencer's Px3 sitting on the floor beside a bucket of spilled popcorn.
“Guys c’mon!” Maddie shouted to the two, “take a break from the game and let’s calm down. Andrew, you go into the bedroom and Spencer, you go into the- “
“Sorry, not sorry Maddie! I’m in the lead and I’m not giving up!” Spencer shouted at his girlfriend.
She groaned, turning to the two of us. Hunter scoffed, stepping past her rudely, “look, I’ll keep Andrew from beating his ass but I’m not babysitting them 24/7.”
Maddie then turned to me and I replied by walking behind Hunter, “I may be a guy but Andrew still scares me.”
“Glad to hear,” Andrew replied, “now Spencer put down the controller and let me beat your ass into the ground!”
"Kiss my thumbstick! Now get over here and deepthroat my sword!" Spencer shouted.
"Shove it up your-" Andrew retorted before Maddie interrupted.
"Language you two! Honestly you two are the most immature boys I’ve ever met,” she shouted at the two before stomping away in a huff.
The two rolled their eyes at her and continued playing, their avatars on the screen mimicking their controller movements. Spencer was leading the game, his fast reflexes and video game prowess giving him an advantage over Andrew.
Andrew and Spencer were both similar, yet very different. Andrew had short unkempt brown hair and wore a black hoodie and jeans, his emo attire he wore on a daily basis. Spencer had messy brown hair and a blue hoodie along with a pair of black and yellow sweatpants. However Spencer had bright emerald eyes, while Andrew had dark red eyes.
“Actually Maddie,” commented Quinn sitting at the kitchen table, “I believe you fit that role quite accurately as well, judging by the amount of cartoons you watch.”
Quinn had tan skin, short black hair, and piercing black eyes that he used to stare into your soul and unravel your darkest secrets. His appearance showed off his intelligence as well, the boy wearing a white button up and black jeans.
“They are not cartoons, they are anime,” Maddie retorted, sitting down at the kitchen table with him and another girl.
I sat down on the couch beside Hunter, scooting a few inches away so we weren’t as close. I then looked into the kitchen, watching as Maddie began to watch two of our other friends who were in the midst of an intense card game.
"Um... checkmate?" the girl said with a confused look.
The other one sighed in disappointment, "we are not playing chess Sarah. I thought you were supposed to be the smart one. Well, besides me of course."
"Yeah I know I know! Sorry I'm just really tired. I'm not used to staying up this late," Sarah answered.
"It's only nine o'clock," I chimed in.
"And on a school night no less! I should be home in bed right now," she said as she flipped one of her cards over.
Maddie gave Sarah a hug from behind and smiled, "oh relax Space! We have a half day tomorrow, so we can leave early and do whatever we want!"
“I-I was planning on staying after to study for exams. We only have a month y’know,” Space muttered.
"I vote we stay after school and hack into the school's mainframe and set the schools fire alarms to all go off at the same time," the other boy said with an excited smile.
"Why in hell's name would we do that?" Hunter asked as he slammed a bottle of soda down on the table.
"Senior prank? Is that not good enough for you?" he said, his smile fading.
Hunter smirked, "now now Quinn, if you wanna screw with the school, you gotta go big. Hook up the intercom to a cell phone, lock the cell phone in a locker, and blast memes on a playlist for five hours straight."
"Sounds good, but I can do better. Glue all the doors shut, so then nobody can get inside any of the classes," Maddie replied.
"But then we won't be able to take our final exams!" Space exclaimed, "then we'll fail... and I'll have to work at McDonalds!"
"Relax Sarah. Your grades are so high you could fail the final exam and still pass with all A's," Quinn replied.
She pouted, "I guess..."
“Now that that is taken care of, shall I deal us another deck Sarah?” Quinn asked as he picked up the deck of black and red cards.
“Sure, but stop calling me Sarah. It’s Ace or Space,” Space told him.
I smiled at Space, admiring her cute attire. Unlike the rest of us, she took her time to choose her outfits. She wore a cute white t-shirt with an owl on the front and a cat beanie.
"Come on just die!" Andrew shouted at the screen as he spammed the attack button, beating Spencer's avatar's body with his own severed limb. However, Spencer's avatar quickly retaliated, grabbing onto the other end of the severed limb and flinging Andrew's avatar across the map.
“Haha! Beat that muffinsack!” Spencer exclaimed with a big grin. Andrew looked angrily at him, cursing beneath his breath.
Quinn sighed and stood up, "I will settle this. Madeline, you take over for me."
"Sure thing," Maddie said with a smile before sitting down in Quinn's spot and starting a conversation with Space on anime.
Quinn approached Andrew and Spencer and sat down in between the two, picking up the third controller laying on top of Maddie's hoodie. He joined the game in seconds and began playing, his avatar levitating across the screen towards the two.
Andrew scoffed, "Pshh, Quinn as smart as you are, there is no possible way you stand any chance against-"
Within two minutes Quinn had taken out all three of their lives, losing only fifteen health points in the process. Andrew and Spencer were sweating from the intensity by the end of it and Quinn simply smiled in satisfaction.
"Dude... we gotta enter a tournament at some point! There’s a huge tourney in Los Angeles next month and we could totally dominate!" Spencer exclaimed in astonishment.
Quinn chuckled lightly and stood up, "I do not have time for frivolous things such as gaming tournaments. Though the extra cash would be nice though."
"How’d you even beat us? You’ve never played this game in your life have you?" Andrew asked him in shock.
"Simple, I analyzed your movies and countered them with my own, while making sure to dodge each and every one of your attacks in order to take the least amount of damage possible. It is really quite simple, once you do the math," he said before walking away and leaving the controller behind.
"Screw math, I'm glad I finished that last semester," Andrew said as he went back to playing, fighting a CPU due to Spencer turning his controller off. The young boy stood up, taking a drink of the energetic drink sitting on the couch beside him: Lemon Ripple.
I came up behind Spencer and glanced at him as he opened his laptop, logging into an unknown browser on his desktop and typing in a web page.
"Guys! Spencer is buying illegal firearms off the dark web!" I shouted in a somewhat sarcastic tone.
"Gimme a bazooka and I won't tell the cops," Hunter said as he walked up beside me.
Maddie and Space joined us, crowding around Spencer's couch as he began scrolling through the internet. He scoffed at my claims before giving his own answer, "I don't buy illegal firearms. However, this is the dark web I'm looking at."
"Spencer why are you on the dark web?" Madeline asked curiously.
"Probably trying to buy some of those anime pornos for cheap," Hunter commented.
“For one, it's called hentai,” he said in a condescending tone, “And two, nobody downloads porn, they stream it."
Ignoring his somewhat questionable comment, we watched as he navigated onto an unfamiliar forum site chocked full of weird posts. Claims, theories, and news reports. Nothing you'd ever see on the morning news, but more or less things that navigate under the radar. Things you wouldn't want releasing to the public.
"What are you looking at? New trailer for DragonLight Online being released next week?" Space asked, reading over one of the posts.
Andrew looked a bit closer, "hey hey that post is labeled from last week. The trailer just came out yesterday. How'd they know?"
"It’s the dark web, it does what it wants,” Spencer said with a goofy smile.
"I can't tell if that's scary or comforting," I said, crossing my arms and staring at the screen.
"What's that new one?" Maddie asked, pointing out a post towards the top of the screen labeled "URGENT".
Spencer shrugged and clicked on it with the touchpad, bringing up a news article written by the site itself. It was long with several photos attached.
"What's it say?" Space asked.
He didn't answer.
Andrew swore under his breath and snatched the computer out of his hands, setting it down on the back of the couch and showing it to the rest of us. As we read through, our smiles seemed to wilt away and our faces just dropped.
"Spencer… what the hell are you reading? This shit can’t be real can it?" Andrew muttered as he read it over.
"There is absolutely no way this is possible. An attack at this level would certainly have been detected already," Quinn said.
Spencer gulped, "no no no... that's real. It's the truth. Anonymous#0099... he's the real deal. The first, the leader, the owner of this entire operation. If he says something, it's the truth."
"Then... how do we go about this?" Maddie asked, unsure of what to do for once.
Andrew scoffed, "we ignore it. Look, this is the most absurd claim anyone could make. The world is ending? That's a joke. If the world was gonna end, it'd be by global warming or nuclear fallout or something."
"Um, that's exactly what this is," Space told him as Andrew marched towards the front door.
"Believe what you want, and I'll do the same. We're meeting at two tomorrow for the movie, right?" Andrew asked as he slipped on his shoes.
Maddie tried to stop him, "um yeah but where-"
Before she could get another word out he walked out and slammed the door behind us, leaving us in the dark. I looked towards the others, who were all confused and worried.
I couldn't stop thinking about what we read. Was it all real, or was it a lie?
The next day answered my question in ways I never could have imagined...
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