When I come to, I’m sprawled on my back amongst the video game packages and Ryder has his face smooshed into my stomach. I can feel his pulse ricocheting into my gut. I’m not that gentle when I push him off and realize that I have the RPG game still clutched in my other hand. I have to physically pull my fingers free before it clatters onto the ground, and then I take stock of what just happened.
I have all my fingers and toes. My body seems to still work. My hair is a little static, but nothing seems out of place. Still, there’s a fuzziness in my sight that I can’t quite rub out.
Ryder groans from beside me, slowly coming up onto his knees before looking over at me.
The fuzziness in my eyes disappears everywhere except right where Ryder is, framed by a thin white border that feels superimposed on my sight. I blink a few times but it doesn’t go away, until a line of text appears over his head.
PARTY MEMBER: RYDER
I look away and the white-framed box vanishes, but the fuzziness creeps back in. The ground gives another rumble, smaller than the others, and I don’t give it more than a cursory thought.
“Whoa,” Ryder says, awe in his voice. “My head’s like a video game!”
“What?” I reply before I can help it, turning back to him.
He’s looking down at his hands but turns back up to me. “And we’re in a party together!”
The box came back when I faced him, and this time the rest of the fuzziness starts to ebb. I notice a small red dot in the corner of my vision. When I turn my head towards it, the red dot moves too and stays in the same corner. I grab my head, a little dizzy. “What is happening?”
At my question, another box springs into my vision, this time a mostly solid grey space. I stick my hand out and it passes right through the discolouration. Words begin to form in the space.
Welcome to the Game! Thank you for asking a prompt. If you’d like a more thorough Help menu, please say “Help.”
Ryder gives a little yelp, glances at me, and then says, very clearly, “Help!”
The words on the grey box disappear in a scattering of pixels and new words take their place. Ryder lets out a little giggle.
Congrats! Your world has suffered an apocalyptic event and magic is surging through your land. You’ve been struck by a surge of magic. This has given you access to our Game.
I rake my hands through my hair, still lifting with static. When the ground rumbled—that must have been one of these magic surges. And it, what, transferred the video game in my hand into my head?
The words “apocalyptic event” burn into my retinas.
Ryder is chirping off words with alarming speed, his eyes flicking back and forth as he reads the text in front of him. The “Party Member: Ryder” note appears over his head again.
I focus my eyes back on the grey square and direct my thought to it. Show me information about party members.
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The Game in my head understands me and new words start populating the grey box. From the way Ryder is still reading and chirping, I know that he’s not seeing what I’m seeing anymore.
Your Party is formed at the moment of entry into the Game. Each Party must be a minimum of two Players. Every Player needs to be a member of a Party, or else they are not able to play.
Party Members can easily transfer items between their Inventories. Party Members can always see each other on their Maps. Any gained experience is shared between Party Members.
Would you like to see your Party Information?
Why not. I think Yes at the grey box.
You: Jane
Race: Human
Level: 27
Party Member: Ryder
Race: Human
Level: 9
Fantastic. I’ve been saddled with a kid that I can’t get rid of because of a magic surge that turned my head into a video game.
I never wanted kids. That was one of the things Alex and I used to fight about. Something Mom and I used to fight about, as well.
Thinking of Mom gives me a flash of sadness, of that moment that I realized I was alone in her car. The fight we were having at the time seems so silly now. I think the last thing I said to her was “Just drive and don’t talk to me.”
Well, she did one of those things, I guess.
What I read about the Parties catches up to me. Inventory? Map?
I turn my attention back to the red dot in the corner of my vision. This time when I try to look at it, I look at it with my mind more than my eyes. And a map appears in my line of sight. It’s like a transparent Google Maps in the corner of my view, and I can make out the aisles of the Wal-Mart. Two fat white dots crowd together in the middle of the map, and I realize it’s me and Ryder. Party Members can always see each other on their Maps.
This is insane.
I push up to my feet. “I’m not doing this,” I say, suddenly over it. The Game, the kid, the magic. No thank you. I’m out of the aisle and walking back to my buggy full of non-perishable items when Ryder catches up to me.
“Wait, Jane! We have to stick together. We’re Party Members!”
“I’m not playing some weird video game in my head, kid. I’m sorry your family is dead. If it helps, mine’s dead too. I’m going to take my groceries, go back home, and wait until I can also be dead.”
Ryder’s footsteps stop as I keep moving away. And though I’m yelling at myself to not, I can’t help it. I stop, too, and look back at him.
He’s got those sad, wide eyes on me again. I can see them sparkle with unshed tears. There’s another small pulse of magic through the ground and I throw my hands up, not wanting to be touching something else if there’s another surge. Who knows what else could happen.
“The magic won’t hurt you,” Ryder says. The kid read my expressions better than I gave him credit for. “It’s just the world settling. Because of the apopca—apopcee—apuuhhh—”
“Apocalypse.”
It’s the first time I’ve said the word out loud. I look away from Ryder at the rush of warmth across my face, at the way the back of my nose burns with the threat of tears. I swallow it down.
Ryder’s voice is small. “Yeah. That.”
I close my eyes, take a deep breath through my nose. My three-day attempt at meditation a few years ago was an epic fail, though, and I am not able to centre myself at all.
“That first bit of magic was a present to everyone who is left,” Ryder says. I glance back over at him. His face scrunches up a bit. “That’s what the game says. That it’ll—” he pauses, and I wonder if he’s bringing it back up to read it to me. “It’ll redo—redestroy, no—redis—”
Oh for goodness sake. The kid can barely read. “Redistribute?” I guess.
His face smooths out, brightens. “Redistribute! It’ll redistribute the magic that’s been asleep in the earth.”
I think the word Help! in my head and the grey box pops up. What did you tell him? I ask the Game, hoping that it’ll be able to answer me. Party Members can share a search history, right?
Magic has always existed in this world. Due to overpopulation and mining of the Earth’s natural resources, it has been dormant for eons. With today’s apocalyptic event, the magic inherent in the earth is being released. Magic Surges will not hurt you—they will leave you small gifts to allow you a better chance to succeed in this new world.
“Huh,” I say.
“Aren’t we lucky?” Ryder exclaims.
“Not everyone gets this video game in their head, then?” I ask, partially to the Game, partially to Ryder, partially to just think out loud.
“Nope!” Ryder answers. “We’re so lucky!”
I think about the map. Inventory. Maybe it could be worse. I start walking again, and Ryder takes a few running strides to catch up to me. He starts rambling on about video games and magic, but I don’t listen. We reach the cart I had abandoned and I touch it, delicately, with one finger. And I think about my Inventory.
The whole cart disappears with a pop!
Ryder stops talking mid-word. “Whoa!” he says instead.
“Whoa is right,” I say. And with another thought, the cart re-materializes. But it’s now empty. And somewhere in a magical portal that exists only in my mind, I have a year’s worth of non-perishable food.
Maybe Ryder is right. Maybe we are lucky.
