•CHAPTER 5
It's hard to forget a tragic experience, they say. But would we be able to define an accident that's put Andrew where he is now as tragic? Maybe not. And as for the day it happened, it started out as a windy evening…
From the grin that sat on his sadistic face, you could tell how genuinely happy Andrew was. It's been stormy since the day flipped its eyelids open, and lectures were canceled. Allen decided to crash back at Andrew's, and Caitlyn …
Well, Caitlyn and Andrew never got to converse since the last time they spoke about the game box. He stares at the now empty streets of Hiddenvail, the wind gracefully taking strolls from our street into the next. The trees set in obeisance to the wind's presence, and the downpour was just as submissive.
Playing Sexcapade turned out to be more gross than he thought - he had expected to see some scenes and sights of overly tuned nude female girls wiggling their booties and shit, but nah, it felt like playing some motherfuckin' pick-a-choice-to-proceed dating simulator game. Somehow, it reminded him of the consistent backbenchers at college; the gothic dressing sisters and co who always act like they are cool with being buddies with all sorts of dark and evil acts, but who the fuck giggles over a dating simulator game?
The answer is obvious. Them.
Andrew sighs softly as he turns around. His gaze falls on Allen who's fast asleep with Axle curled up in his arms, staring back at Andrew. Andrew suddenly develops a feeling he often gets from Maggie especially, whenever they stare at him. It felt like they were clawing through his mind, seeking to know what he was thinking. Sometimes, he feels they manage to understand the gibberish he mumbles when he's high on vodka and the lights are out. He smiled at Axle before turning for the kitchen. The discussion could wait. Maybe until after the rain dies down.
Only that it never did.
* * *
The wind was getting torrential, and he wondered about how tomorrow would be. Mama Pico never missed the chance to discuss with a random stranger the highlights of the local broadcast on television - in her world, the highlights could be about a random pig who was rescued from a mudslide, or the visit of the town's Mayor to a particular school. And Andrew doesn't give a fuck about those, but he still waits to hear her out, nodding and mumbling Ah's and Oh's. If there is anyone who would be talking about the weather forecast tomorrow, it would be her.
Andrew's phone buzzed, and he plucked it out of his pocket.
It was his mother calling.
It was surprising for him to see her make another attempt after four months. He stared long at the scar on his palm, ignoring the ringing phone. He could still remember that day. How it was split open. The blood dripped. Fresh and metallic.
He dropped the phone call and proceeded to his escape room - PUBg mobile.
A few minutes into the game, and he could feel the air choking him. Never had he felt uncomfortable whilst gaming. Not since he acquired Sexcapade. He turns to face the box where it sat hidden and then at Allen. He was going to tell Allen about it anyway. There was no need to bury it under the ice.
Andrew walked up to the box, plucked the game box out and fetched the CD. He glared at it for a while before inserting it into his laptop, wondering why the hell he wanted to play so badly something he despised.
It didn't take long before the game took off from where he had stopped the last time he had played it.
Where he had lost my patience rather.
The main characters stared back at him like some make-believe copy-and-paste graphics, flat and two-dimensional. I
He wouldn't blame the inventor. It was back in the 90's, wasn't it? Andrew kept on with the dialogue, selecting choices to move ahead with the game. Just a lame story of a casanova getting a cute girl who makes him change his ways - he could bet that was what the storyline was about.
Suddenly, Andrew's irritation turned into mockery. A part of him couldn't blame the inventor for the lame storyline, and a bigger part kept comparing recent game applications and PC games that were a million times better. Mockery turned into laughter, and laughter -
"What in the world is that shit?" Allen purrs.
Andrew almost jumped out of his chair, staring at Allen's tired eyes.
Were my ears blocked? How could I not have heard him get up? Or any of my cats purring?
"And what's that stupid box over there?"
"Okay," Andrew got up, "I wanted to tell you about this."
He raised a brow, "Okay?"
"Remember the Sexcapade game thing? The one Bryan Cole had mentioned?"
Allen nods in response. Andrew nods back at him, and they keep going back and forth until Allen gets the message, his mouth forming a wide 'O'. "Man! That's one lucky find! I can't even believe this."
"I wonder why the inventor's family would be paying such a huge amount for this crappy shit," Andrew said, turning for the window. Relief washed over him; Allen was aware, and the feeling washes about half of his worries almost instantly. His eyes caught the blurry view of the outside world. It was still raining.
Allen walks up to him and pats him in the back. He chuckles. "So, when are we going to find these people? The Schells?" He was already on his way to the kitchen. Talk about Allen and eating; two inseparable entities.
"Ah, you know them now? I thought you were on Caitlyn's side."
"Come on, man. How was I supposed to believe motherfuckin' Bryan was serious about this crappy piece of shit?!"
Andrew laughed, and Allen joined in. Andrew crashed back into the chair, staring at his laptop. There was suddenly nothing to worry about. He stretched his hands out to turn off the laptop and felt a sharp sting on his thumb. It felt instantly warm.
Blood.
"Fuck!" he shrieked, a little louder than he'd thought.
"Is everything okay?" Bryan called out.
"Yeah," Andrew responds, getting his hands off his laptop before he smears it with bloodstains. He was about to get up when he felt a force push him back into the chair, his arms stretched out towards the laptop's screen. Andrew yanked my hands free immediately, blaming what had just happened on his wild imaginations.
I was just dizzy, he chuckles.
Again, he felt his hands pull themselves towards the laptop screen, the force greater than the first.
"Bryan!" He yells out, but it was of no use. His entire body was already getting sucked into a white cloud of nothingness, the last sentence on Bryan's announcement flashing through his mind.
* * *
Andrew forced his eyelids open when he felt his consciousness lit back on. Above his head was what looked like a tent, chipped off oakwood and dry twigs serving as its framework. He ran his hands through his hair as a splitting headache announced its presence whilst trying to get up. A fresh scent of nature clouded his nose.
A forest.
Andrew battled his mind in preparation of a new wave of pain as he stood to open the slit in the tent that serves as its entry and exit. Truly, he was in the woods; only that it felt strange. Medieval. Silent.
Where the fuck am I?