Yu-Gi-OH

Have you ever had that game you loved so dearly as a child, but despise as an adult? Maybe its a video game, or even a board game. I have one of those. I gag whenever i say its name. Its a little card game thats known as Yu-Gi-Oh.

Think back to 2001, while everyone was watching the Pokémon cartoon, i was playing solitaire with my Dad. "Those cartoons will rot your brain, Joseph!" He would say over and over and over again. I'd always try to find a way to watch it, while he was at work or when a babysitter was around. While my parents thought i was asleep, they would watch old soap operas and groan whenever an advert played. I snuck out one night to watch it behind their backs, when an advert came up for a card game called, you guessed it, "Yu-Gi-Oh". The next morning arrived when my Dad called me out to play cards with him. I tried to ignore him, but he came marching into my room and demanded i should play with him. I came down the stairs slowly when i saw that the cards were not the regular cards we usually played with. No, they were Yu-Gi-Oh cards. I was relieved and excited to play. We read the rules and started playing. I don't know how but i used a magic card to win, i think it was along the lines of "Mirror Scorch" or something.

We played it for years, until the accident. We attended his funeral, and i got up to say some things. Now think to the present. I've gotten a well paying job, and live in a nice apartment. I get a phone call from my Mom saying she found some of my old stuff in my room and asked if i wanted to pick it up. The next day, i come and pick it up. Among the pile were some coloring books, some crayons, an old VHS player, but the thing i was most surprised about was our Yu-Gi-Oh decks, mine and my fathers. I took everything to my apartment and called my best friend Todd. Me and him would duel and trade cards all the time back in middle school. He always showed me the new ways to play that came with every new series, like XYZ summoning and pendulum summoning. He came over, and was shocked to see me with my old deck. He immediately asked for a duel, and pulled out his newer deck that he brings everywhere. We were having a good time when out of no-where, Todd asked if we could watch the old cartoon. I eventually found my Apple TV remote and opened Netflix. We watched the first season and half of the second season. We were laughing and having a good time, until Netflix crashed. We were confused at first but opened it back up. We continued watching, when Netflix crashed again. Every time we watch that specific part of that episode, when Yugi summons The Celtic Guardian and attacks, its just crashes. Eventually we just gave up and skipped to the next episode.

I won the duel, and we watched the rest of season two. Todd was preparing to leave when he gave me his best card, his Insect Queen. When he left, i watched some of season 3. All of the sudden, the scene zoomed in on Weevil, and he screamed "Someone has stolen my Insect Queen!" I thought it was hilarious, but yet, quite suspicious. Weevil started to walk closer to the screen and yelled "It was you, wasn't it?" At this moment, i had no idea what to do. "I love that card so much, it's pretty much a part of me!". He grabbed a rock, and hit himself over the head with it, leaving a blood-soaked mark with it. I was creeped out as all hell, but what made the matter worse, was that blood was dripping from the card. I ran to get a tissue and soaked up the blood, but that didn't help. On screen, all the characters were cutting themselves with rocks, and my deck started to leak blood. I un-plugged the tv, and the bleeding stopped. I cleaned up the blood, but there was still a huge stain on the carpet.

Fast forward to 2 weeks later when Todd started laughing. I was at his place, and i told him the story. He thought i was hilarious. No matter how serious i was trying to be, there was no way to convince him. I went back home and decided to binge-watch some Orange is the new Black, but all the options were that episode. The episode with Weevil cutting himself. I was only on the menu when i saw blood leaking from the closet. I unplugged the Apple TV, but that did nothing, i decided to watch the episode. It changed to a loop of a scene from season 1 where Weevil was saying "You've fallen for my trap, again!" each time getting slightly deeper in tone. I punched the TV in fear, and in doing so cut out the power. I threw out the Apple TV, my broken TV, my deck and my father's. I still have nightmares, so frequently in fact that i had no choice but to see a psychiatrist. It still haunts me to this day. I have never touched another card game to this day.