I pulled my hood over my face and scrunched over to blend into the crowd. The Food Court was packed with students hanging out with friends or families weaving through the many stores. I could feel my heart race as I could hear the braying laugh of Barry Falcon.

Falcon was six feet tall and looked like he snacked in tires after practice. He had gotten into The Dagobah Institute based off an athletic scholarship and spent most of his time either prancing around on the football field or making my life miserable. I don’t even understand why he targets me specifically. Best guess is that he gets off on tormenting the guy who got an academic scholarship.

Getting through the sludge of patrons, I finally made it to the local GameMaster. The store was lined with hundreds of games for different systems and even a few posters of upcoming games. Fortunately, the only person inside was a bored looking girl.

The girl had black hair cut close to her head and a single stud suck through her nostril. Her chest was emphasized as she leaned against the wall, arms wrapped around herself. Just above her arms was a name tag that read Gwen.

“H-hi.” I stepped forward, my mouth suddenly dry as bone. “I’m here to pick up an order.”

“Name?” The girl asked.

“Doe.” The girl nodded and started pulling open the drawers. Every second stretched on for too long, the noise from the Food Court reminding me of my doom. “Thanks.” I called, leaving the second the game was in my hand. The crowds forced me to duck and weave through the throngs of people. Now, all I needed was to get to the bus stop before…

“Hey, if it isn’t Doe.”

…that happened.

I glanced towards the entryway of the food court. If I could just get home, I’d be safe. The only things I needed to deal with were the sea of people blocking my path, the football team standing behind Falcon, the distance to the bus stop, the time until the next run, and the fact that I spend my days sitting while he spent his running…

I’m screwed.

“…I have maybe thirty bucks on me. It’s yours if you let me through.” I offered.

“Oh come on Doe, we’re friends. What do you have?” He didn’t give me a chance to pull back before he snatched the game from my hand.

“Give it back!” I tried to wrestle the box away, but I was little more than an ant to the guy. Falcon opened the box to reveal the disk.

“Careful. Or you’ll make me–whoops!” Falcon snapped the game between his two meaty hands. And to add insult to injury, the prick ‘dropped’ the discarded disk and dug his toe in. “Look at the good news, maybe now you can get an actual girl instead of jerking it to digital ones.” Falcon started laughing as if he heard the funniest joke ever. He threw his arm over the bimbo of a girlfriend Cindy Coulson.

With long blond hair, big breasts and killer thighs, Cindy was the wet dream of many men…and some women. There were even rumors that she spent her off time modeling or breaking the hearts of millionaires. Others say that she will sleep with anything with a pulse. It didn’t matter which was the truth, but she was going out with Falcon, so it was enough to know she was no good.

I ground my teeth as I walked off, my face twitching from the exertion of maintaining a stoic facade. The game he broke had just come out and it’d be months until I could replace it. By the time I took my seat on the bus, the dam holding back my emotions started leaking. I pounded on my leg to try and force the surge back. A few of the other passengers did glance back, but they didn’t matter.

“Rough day?” A random guy asked. The only response I gave was to turn away. “Maybe this will make things better.” The guy waved a disk in front of my face. A copy of ‘Eternal Kingdom’. The exact game that Falcon destroyed.

“That game just came out and you’re giving it to me? Why?” I couldn’t help but study the disk. It’s picture matched the artwork of the case and the game disk didn’t have a single scratch on the back. I faintly felt the bus stop, but it didn’t matter as long as the game in my hand was legit.

“After everything you’ve been through, you deserve it. Enjoy, John Doe.”

“How do you–?” I started to ask, but the guy was nowhere to be seen. A quick look to the right side showed that a small crowd of people left the bus. I probably met the guy before and didn’t recognize him because I was too deep thought. If this was real, I’d find the guy and thank him until I was blue in the face.

My house was a small building with white paint chipping off the walls and aluminum foil reflected the light of the setting sun. Leading up to the porch was a long wooden board and a few plants weakly clinging to the supports. The narrow driveway was occupied by a dented van.

I slid the game case into my jacket and eased the door open. The door squeaked quietly as I scanned the entry way.

The living room shared space with the kitchen, which left the couch close enough to the refrigerator that someone could grab a drink without having to get up. A small TV was set up near the door leading to our mother’s room. In the opposite direction were two bedrooms and a single bathroom. And as I walked down the narrow hallway, I couldn’t help but touch some of the old photos hanging off the walls.

One in particular was on one of our family vacations. Mom had her arms tangled around Dad’s shoulder while I stood behind my sisters. Terri was rolling her eyes while Yuri held rabbit ears behind Terri’s head. Olivia was standing far from the rest of us, nearly out of frame and her arms crossed over her chest. My own smile was too wide and full of teeth as I stood away from my family. I shook my head, resolved to not let my emotions get the better of me.

My room was tiny, barely big enough for me to walk between my single bed and the TV. I muted the device and forced myself to not pace as the console rendered the starting screen. With a smile, I got up to eject the game. Once my finger tapped the eject button, a current of electricity surged through my body.

Before I lost consciousness, I could almost swear I saw the words ‘YOU DIED’.