Who's the Genius Now? (Reboot)

It started innocently enough, just another stroll into my local game store, hi-tech, for a look over the used game shelf. I needed to save money with school cutting into my work hours, so my game budget fell too. I scanned the shelf methodically; own it, own it, hate it, too expensive, own- wait. Batman Arkham city, only $15! No creepy packaging, no scared or creepy employees, all normal. I bought the game and ran home to play.

I had borrowed the game from a friend a while back, and started up my old save file. But somemthing caught my eye. No, not a gory batman, or a disfigured civillian, just...white. Before the game finished loading the screen flashed bright white, hurting my eyes. You know when you stare at a bright light and for the next few moments you see a sort of after image, almost like a silhouette? Well that was blocking my vision, a white square flashing with every blink.

"Stupid tv.." I muttered to myself in frustration and continued to play, when I checked my stats. No riddler trophies found, no riddles solved. What the hell? I clearly remember going into the last Riddler mission before giving back the game. I sighed and started playing, wandering around for the trophies. They were gone, removed from the game. Broken disk? Probably, I never bothered to check, just went to bed.

Then the dream. I rarely remember my dreams, but this will never leave my memory. Mist everywhere, green lights flashing, and that voice. Sickly and worn like the person had been yelling for hours. "Idiots, all of them! No one can understand my genius! They're all lost in their meaningless little minds! Just like you!" It shouted at me, slower getting louder until I felt deafened. The shape of a curved blade came into view, slamming down and jolting me awake. Sweating and panting I sat at the edge of my bed. School was starting soon, and I'd be able to forget the dream.

Of course I couldn't forget it, and school was no sanctuary. I managed to calm down in period 3, resting my eyes for a moment. "Idiot!" The voice jolted me awake, causing a stir in class. I shrugged it off, that is, until I looked over at my arm. "What the hell Brian?" I turned to my friend, brandishing my arm. A long question mark ran down in black ink. I kept asking Brian, but each time he only denied it. Not only that, he kept insisting I see the nurse, that I'm "wounded". It's ink, not a fucking cut. I just rolled down my sleeve and went back to work.

I didn't stop to run back home and turn on my xbox. I just felt the urge to put the game back in, like something had changed. Another flash of white, shrugged off as a bug, and I went through the menu. Checking the stats once again, I was ecstatic. My trophies were back! But I only had 90% completion. I swapped back and forth through the menu until I found a blank white page littered with text. It was a quiz..multiple choice by x, y, a or b. I decided why not and rubbed my sleeve, taking the bizarre test. Must of been added by some experienced hacker, and I wasn't angry.

It was fun while it lasted. The last few questions seemed to be broken though. It would mark me wrong on answers I knew I had gotten right, I even went on my phone to look up the questions. Then the insults. Every wrong question would bring up words in the jumbled text, and they varied from idiot to moron to dumb ass or even degenerate.

"You're the idiot!" I found myself shouting at the game now, feeling flustered. Why was I so upset? It's just a game, but I felt humiliated. I took a breath and tried to calm down "It's just a dumb game.." Then I looked back up.

"Who are YOU calling an idiot?!" The text flickered on the screen, exclamation marks starting to trail behind, followed shortly by another bright white flash. It was now that I noticed more than white and in that second I made out the shape of a person, almost like a front mugshot. I accidentally knocked over my xbox in my confusion, and a loud grinding noise echoed in my room.

I walked over and went to eject the disk, but as I neared the box, the noises became irregular, the disk speeding slowing before i pulled it out. Great, the disk was being carved up by the reader. No scratches...not even a smudge on the disk. I dropped it on the floor and walked out, trying to regain composure. I headed back upstairs and tried to sleep off this whole thing, again greeted by the same nightmare.

I needed a witness, so I brought Brian over. I had him play through the game for a bit, then asked him to scroll through the menus. Nothing....absolutely nothing. This game was fucking with me! It insults me, flashes that same image at me, and now it's making me look insane! I snapped at Brian suddenly. "You don't have to insult me!" Brian gave me a blank stare, but he's playing dumb. I know what he called me, and I'm not the idiot, he is!

Brian almost bolted out of the door, oh well. I don't need people like him. I looked back at the screen, kicking my controller away. "Oh come on! You piece of shit!" I ripped through my sleeve in my anger, slamming my fist against the tv repeatedly. Suddenly the screen barraged my eyes with that damn picture, my eyes burning. I looked back only to be face to face with an ugly old man. Ragged hair lead down to a face carved with wrinkles, cold dead eyes complimented by a fucked up grin. It looked like a page of concept art, something done in careful detail. Again, it was mocking me!

I ripped out the cords to the xbox, left with my reflection in the tv screen. Sneering, I decided to forgo sleep and just wait for morning. I picked up a pen and sketched more question marks into my arm to pass the time. Why not? It would fit the one Brian gave me.

That day I lost it, on them- on all those idiots! I could hear them mocking, insulting, shouting at me! They all deny it, act like I'M the bad guy! They're all useless, every last one of them. Brian asks me why I haven't seen the nurse, why my arm isn't healing. How could he be so dense? It's just ink! All he does is talk about my goddamn arm! So what if there's ink staining my sleeve? So what if I only had that cheap ass pen with me? Only an idiot gets this upset over a drawing.

The constant insults, the ignorance, it was all too much! I walked out, I just couldn't deal with these idiots! Don't they know they'll never be better than me? I'M the genius here! I hid away in a broken down house, only my phone on me. If I have to live alone to get away from them then so be it! I felt my hair falling out these past few days, probably from stress, or lack of sleep, or living on table scraps. Who knows? Ha, why would I ask you?

I can still see that image, that decrepit old man has found a way into my new home. I see him in the bathroom, his face framed above the sink. His arm is cut up bad.

KingInYellow (talk) 03:32, November 6, 2013 (UTC)King In Yellow