"UGH! NO, YOU NIMROD I SAID THERE NOT HERE!"

"NO!NO!NO! FELIX WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! YOU ARE GETTING US KILLED!"

"COLLECT THE GP! I SAID COLLECT THE GP BEFORE WE DI-"

I couldn't even complete my sentence and the screen said {GAME OVER}

I gripped my midnight black hair out of frustration, I had been yelling at my friend Felix for the past two hours, 'Maybe if this guy paid more attention to this rather than in-game flirting we would've won,' I thought. I took off my VR headset, threw my controller and sighed. I went to my room.

My room's floor is covered in black marble and the walls were painted ash-grey, I have a large sleek white desk on which I have a white desktop with a white keyboard and mouse. There is a large white bed in the centre of my room with grey and black sheets and pillows.

When I entered my room I saw a present on my bed which said 'From DAD, Happy Birthday son' 'So he remembered huh,' I thought.

My dad and I well.....we don't have a healthy relationship. Whenever he walks into the room he's always ready to explode. I'm not the only child my parents had, I had an older brother. When I was eight years old I saw something I wasn't supposed to see, I saw my brother getting sucked into a screen and my father standing next to him with a proud grin on his face.

Instead of helping my brother, my dad forced him inside the screen, he then took out a CD from the system and kept ,it in a case.

When I confronted my dad about it, he said that my brother had gone to do some business. I believed him and hoped that my brother would come back but...…he never did.

My dad owns a very successful gaming company called 'Next Level' and is quite famous. I never really had a proper conversation with my dad ever since. I knew that what my dad told me that day wasn't true, but I never had the guts to confront him.

I unwrapped the present and found a black video game case inside there was a CD, on top of the case it said 'CODE X'. 'Code X?' I thought, the name sounded very dubious. I was sceptical about plugging this into my VR system and playing it, something just didn't feel right.

I got my phone from my room and researched the name 'CODE X' it said {NO RESULTS} 'So that means this game hasn't been released yet.' I thought I decided to text Felix about this thinking he might know something I sent him an image of the game >Hey have you ever heard of a VR game called CODE X my dad gave it to me< I texted. I waited for a few minutes until I got a message back >No however if you look closely Ace there's something written on the top left corner< He replied, I closely looked at the game and I saw something at the top left corner there were cyphers.

>So...I found a series of jumbled up letters....they form a sentence from what I can see and I'm trying to decode it right now< I texted, >Don't play the game until I come maybe the letters might be a warning< Felix replied 'A warning?' I thought. >Well...…from all the romance movies I've watched the female protagonist always doesn't listen to the male protagonist and ends up doing something terrible and apologizes...….but you are a guy and not a girl so I don't think-FELIX THIS ISN'T A ROMANCE MOVIE!< I replied >Jeez I was just saying anyway I'm coming to your place< He said, I sighed >OK< I replied.

After ten minutes I heard the doorbell ring "Hey," Felix said "Hey...…" I replied "Okay...…..Ace show me the game," He said. I gestured Felix to follow me to my room. I showed him the game. "Felix looks at the bottom right corner," I said, "Yeah what about that?" "It's another set of jumbled up letters," I said, "Have you plugged in your VR and tried to play it?" He asked "Uh...….no." I replied "Good I thought you would," he said, "Do you think I'm that stupid?" I asked "Uh.....Yes, I mean look whenever someone tells you not to do something you do it." He said. I sighed.

"I think we should try to decode the message first," he said "That's what I've been trying to do'' I said. The first series of letters on the top left corner was 'notdaplyihstmaegaecepales' "Well...….. We better get to it," I said.

I tried to focus on the first four letters while Felix did the other four 'N, O, T and D...….what can I make out of this? Tod, dot...…. Don't?' I thought, "Dude the first word could be Don't." I said "The second word is pal, pay or play that's what I could find," Felix said "Don't Pal, don't pay or don't play...… I think don't play what about you?" I asked, "Makes sense, I mean it is a video game." He said.

"So.....Don't play I think this is a warning," I said "Wait let's decode the rest and then see." Felix said "Yeah" Then I focused on the next four letters while Felix focused on the other four 'I, H, S and T hmm...…. Is? His? This?' I thought I decided to go with the word 'this' "So don't play this," I mumbled, "I think second words game." Felix said "Don't play this game," I said 'Then what do the other letters mean?' I thought "Ace I think I got the message," Felix said, "Yeah then what is it?" I asked "It says 'Don't play this game Ace please," 'My name?' I thought "But why? Why is this one sentence there and who wrote it?" I questioned.

"I think the only way we are going to find out is by plugging in the game," Felix said.