The Game Nobody Asked For

The Game No One Asked For

It was around April when I found out that my best friend on the Internet had been up to no good. At first I didn’t notice anything, I looked back on it thoroughly several times in fact, I couldn’t find any connection between her and the others. Every detail I left on here is going to go unnoticed, nobody is going to read this with a straight face. Not even I can contain myself, I’m losing faith in myself.

April 26th 1997 – I found out that my research into Sonic the Hedgehog has been hijacked, stolen from me by some internet parasites, they just stole my work like it was their own. At first I didn’t mind it, I even told them that they can have access to all my resources. I shared them via Hotmail, giving them my email for them to use. A few hours from giving them my address, I was told that my email has been terminated. Shocking me like no other, I didn’t even know what to do in this situation. Yes, I did give access to my email. Yes, I did give them a few hints towards what my password could be. I was never expecting this:

“Dear User, your email has been terminated due to detected on the system as suspicious behavior”.

Just like that? Yeah, they really did just leave me with a simple email stating why I can’t use my account. Alice called me not long after telling me that she found out through her trying to log on. She went on with her rambling mouth on how the password she changed it to didn’t work. I asked her what she even meant by that, I didn’t give her permission to do that.

“Ha, yeah I changed the password after finding out last week that you were hacked”.

I questioned what she had just told me, like it was some kind of practical joke or something. She continued on telling me that my account was being hijacked. She even had several screenshots to prove her point, I started to believe her. Doing what my father had recommend for me to do whenever I was to find a fault with computing, he told me that I should contact them by phone as by email don’t seem to work out very well. Whatever that means. . . Alice interrupted me as I was typing a short email, I kind of wanted to do both, I guess my own father taught me that too. Not to always follow through with what he tells me. Her voice on the phone sounding a little low toned than usual:

“Alex, I’ve taken your old password, I’m no longer using your account. There’s no reason for me to, I think you’ll understand why, but if not- well no hard feelings brother.”

Just like that she ended the call, I had nothing to follow up on, I tried writing an email to her asking for her to call me again. The urge for me to call her was stronger, and I gave in to my selfish side. Picking up the phone, calling her right away as she didn’t answer the first three times I tried. Finally, I got through to her and she didn’t sound very pleased to hear my voice again.

“Alex, I told you that I’m not using your old password, no more, and I don’t want you calling me, goodbye.” Ends the call on me again.

 June 1st 1996 – Through some weird emails I had received on my new account that I set up during Spring Time, it’s like I had to literally decipher every single message that I had received. I looked through them, they dated all the way back to end of April up to June. Some of them had weird titles with strange images showing up (just random ones) a cat with no face, a fish with no fins, and some kind of image of me scribbled over in a thick black paint. What the heck? Did- something started to cook up in my mind, a strange theory developed in the back of my brain. There it was as clear as day, this random emailer must have been Alice. There was nothing pointing towards it being her, I doubted her ever since she ended what I thought we once had together. A happy friendship, I spent months developing that shit.

Trying to take my mind off things, I focused on the more important parts in my life, feeding my pets. Taking care of my family owned dog, just making sure that everything is up to scratch. And there it was, Alice calling me for the first time in what felt like forever. I answered It the moment it first rung out, my voice dropped into a shallow void, sounding like I was nervous.

“Alice? A-Alice? Oh, Oh, I am so happy you called me!” My mouth ran away from the room.

“I called you to tell you to stop harassing me, stop annoying me with your constant calls”.

She sounded more than a little pissed, she sounds full-on mad, I was trembling a little whilst holding the phone near my frozen ear. I could just about hear her voice as it felt like the entire room was zooming in on me, sucking me into the walls. Just as I left the phone on the hook, she told me that I was a real shit-starter. I had no idea what she was going on about, no idea what all this ranting was.

“If you call me one more time I’ll make sure it’s your last call”.

I gulped as I sat back in my chair feeling sorry for myself, I looked at the ceiling like it was now this empty space that had just hit me with realization. That this one moment in my life was now taken away from me, and it all started with some fake-hacker story, some story about how my account was stolen. Did she even know what I was trying to do that night? I was making amends with those that received explicit images, I had no idea what else to say to them. Alice had ended the call on me for what felt like a second before I gulped, it had actually been several hours since she put the phone down on me. I didn’t call her for the next three weeks, I made a promise that I wouldn’t.  July 19th 1996 – My birthday had arrived as it was time to blow out the candles. The flames went out after two blows, my face dim thanks to the sudden loss of light. Alice didn’t even show up to my own birthday party, she’d never ever miss a day like this, I always went to hers. More time passed, and I was given something in the mail, a short note that had an address written on the end of it.

'' Dear Alex,

I don’t wish to concern you, I don’t wish to change your life, I wish to change your fortune.''

Whoever had sent me this was asking for a meetup, the address made that very specific. On my way back to the house, I found another note that I had missed whilst cleaning up the room. There were five guests that I invited round to my house party, nobody really showed much interest in it. I was selfish again, just trying to be the one in the spotlight for the whole twenty-four hours that I had wished would have lasted forever. Just like that I was given the silent treatment, none of my friends spoke to me. The birthday party was over in a mere five minutes, nobody danced. Nobody did anything as they all just wandered off into their own little crowds. I found myself alone with this note at the back of the room. I read it as the others were talking in muttered whispers.

''Dear Alex,

I’ve taken your account back for repairs, I actually now know who is to blame for all this shit that my family can’t seem to put an end to. - Alice''

This message was not linked to the other one, the handwriting was different. The message itself was clear as Alice had sent me this, although I had never ever taken much notice in her handwriting. There’s me thinking that she couldn’t have her own handwriting, ha, ha.

Showing up towards the end of my party parked outside my house was a vehicle with blacked out windows. Nobody went out to see who it was, they all just continued mumbling to each other. One kid from the groups stood out as he watched me open the door, I turned round to see that same kid giving me two dead staring eyes on me. A slight grin crept up on his face as I answered the door thinking it was a surprise for me. My own birthday, what could they have gotten me?

Standing out of the vehicle dressed like some sweet princess, her white clothing with a dark cloak attached to her back. Not much to be said about the fine print on her legs, copyrighted for sure. Even the arms were real sweet, I loved the look of them- every little detail put into that dress. So many key details that I had missed before. It all exploded right in my face, the girl, the voice, the sounds, and the final note to finish what I had started.

''You’ve been playing this game for way too long, I’ve been sitting here planning several crimes while all you’ve been doing is sitting there expecting someone to show up. ''

That final note was the last piece of evidence that I needed to prove something to them all, Alice didn’t say a word- no sounds as the text came up on the screen.  Game Over