Secure Connection

             ''The following are the accounts of a Mr.Bass given November 25th, 2013. ''

 November 22nd was upon us, finally after trading in all of my old X-Box 360 gear I was moments away from getting my hands on the newest console on the market the much anticipated X-box one (Or the X-Bone one according to all my PlayStation loving buddies). I was standing in line at Best Buy with my receipt in hand waiting for the stroke of midnight for the midnight launch party to begin, my heart was pounding with anticipation, I have been console-less for months now. The employee at the door began to open the doors and the massive line began to shuffle into the store and for a major launch like this I was pleasantly surprised how organized the process was, you go inside show them your receipt stamped and get your console, I suppose prepaying has its advantages.

             About ninety minutes pass, which felt like an eternity, and I finally get my new console home. My muscles are very shaky due to lack of sleep but I was determined to break this bad boy open tonight and see what upgrades they made since the 360 days. To my surprise, besides the bulky console, there wasn’t too much of a “wow” factor to this new system at least from a cosmetic standpoint. I got the system plugged in and let it run its initial updates and signed back in to my ancient Xbox live account. After all was said and done I was too exhausted to really explore what the console had to offer, it was coming up on 3am and I had to work in 5 hours so I popped in a DVD and passed out on my couch.

             I awoke the next morning to the “Mortal Kombat” techno song which was my usual routine. The console went into standby mode so I decided to try out some of the voice commands while I got my coffee ready. “Xbox on” I shouted and the console responded fairly quickly and woke itself up. “Xbox play DvD” and without a hesitation the console loaded up “Undercover Blues”. This new console was already impressing me more than I thought it would, but unfortunately I was running late for work and had to leave it for later that day. “Xbox Off” I declared as I shut the door behind me, and the obedient system powered down and awaited my return. I had an internet and home security upgrade scheduled for next week so I could really take advantage of the live features then.

             After a grueling day at work I get a call from my cable provider asking me if they could change my upgrade date from next weekend to today due to a scheduling conflict. As upsetting as it was, and certainly not uncommon for them to do this, it happened to work out in my favor so I told them they could send a technician out today, little did they know I had my new console to occupy my time while they worked. I popped in “Ryse: Son of Rome” and decided to play some “Next Generation” quality games but you know when you’re just about to get into something you always get that unexpected (Or in this case, expected) knock on your door? This time was no exception, my provider had arrived. “Hello Mr…. (A long pause as he had to look up my last name, he really did his homework) Mr.Bass, so were doing a home security upgrade and a internet upgrade for you today are we?” I confirmed his work order and he got to work, scouting out his workspace and taking measurements for the cabling. “So you got the new xbox one did ya? How are you liking it so far?”

 “I am enjoying it, so far I suppose.” I said with a clear tone of “Hurry up so I can play it” in my voice.

 “Ya I was going to get my kid one but everyone was sold out, it is his birthday today” Does this guy really think I care about his life’s story? I watch him work and can see him looking over at my console every time he gets a chance and I have to say he is making me extremely uncomfortable and after what seems like forever, he finally ran the new wires and tied the cameras and modem into the existing lines and now that I have wasted half my night I can finally get on to playing.

 “Sign here” He says shoving a tablet in my hands, I catch him glancing at my console once again.

 “Have a good night and hey, you enjoy that new console.” And with a smile he left my building, kind of awkward if you ask me but alas he was gone and I could finally enjoy my new console. “Xbox On” I shouted in excitement, and the console obeyed displaying a pleasant “Welcome back, Mason” on the screen when it recognized me. “Xbox Play Ryse: Son of Rome” The console didn’t seem to understand that one, but of course it won’t be perfect at launch so I just manually loaded the game with my controller.

             The night drew on and so did my progress in the game. I could feel myself falling asleep in my chair so I Shut down the console and headed to bed. It must have only been a few hours since my eyes shut when I had a very strange feeling come over me, my body went into a sense of alert and I sat up in my bed, I was being watched. I shuffled over to the window next to my bed and pulled back the curtain to look outside and in the distance I saw a pair of headlights which quickly cut off as I peered in their direction. A loud banging sound quickly drew my attention towards my bedroom door, then I remembered I left the damn Ice maker on in the freezer. I stepped out of my bed, went into the kitchen and flipped the switch to “Off position” AKA “Don’t scare the living crap out of me at night position”. During all this, I still couldn’t shake the feeling as if I was being watched, I walked over to the door and double checked that the automated locks were set to 21:00 hours, everything was set correctly but it didn’t do a thing to shake the feeling I had. I looked into the living room and saw my Xbox sitting there, so I decided to watch a movie to calm my nerves. “Xbox on” and as usual the Xbox greeted me with “Welcome Back, Mason”.

 “Xbox, watch Netflix” My obedient console loaded that familiar red screen and I decided to watch some “Jackass” to calm my nerves because people doing stupid things for entertainment sake is rather enjoyable. As I saw the actors on screen try and slingshot a shopping cart something caught my eye. Another set of headlights appeared in my living room window only this time they were accompanied by a silhouette on the neighbor’s house.

  “Xbox Pause movie” I ordered as I stood up from the couch. My obedient console stopped my movie. With the sound of senseless injury now paused I got to listen to the sound that increased my fear tenfold; the sound of footsteps around my house. The walls were getting very close, my heart begins to pound and I begin to feel sweat trickle down my back. The footsteps were getting louder, the headlights in the street slowly began to light up my living room as the vehicle moved closer to my house. I ran to the front door to double check the lock, my sweaty hands began fumbling around the keypad the sound of random buttons being pressed filled my living room, and then all at once everything became silent. I heard the worst gut wrenching noise imaginable, the sound of the deadbolt being unhitched. I froze, every muscle in my body was to tense to make a motion. My heart was pounding out of my chest, the adrenaline was making my head light. I could feel my knees give out as I began to fall to the floor from sheer exhaustion, everything went black.

             I woke up. The lights were gone, there was no sounds outside of my door, no headlights down the road. The Television and my Xbox turned off due to inactivity. I slowly made my way to my feet, I could feel my head throbbing and as I placed my hand on my head I noticed a small gash on my forehead, some small drops of blood stained the carpet where I landed. I quickly remembered why I fell in the first place, the door. I turned around as fast as a recovering man could to inspect the door. The automated deadbolt was secure, the system was armed. Did I dream all of this? I went to the sink in the kitchen and splashed some cool water on my face, I tended to my gash which had clotted but I put a bandage on it to last the night. Exhausted and weak, I made my way to the couch. “Maybe some senseless antics from the Jackass team to calm my nerves will do the trick”.

 “Xbox on” I said, and the system responded by powering up, I was almost anxiously awaiting the friendly message I had grown accustomed to by now.

 “Welcome back Mason, we will always be watching.”

 The familiar, heart stopping sound of the automated deadbolt unlocking my front door rang through my ears. My heart began to pound adrenaline through my system, the door’s deadbolt locked securely one last time before I blacked out.