Derek was dreaming again. He stood in anticipation, waiting to be transferred to the cinema like the night before. But there was nothing.

He waited in the empty white room, wondering if there was something wrong. Standing in the all-white area started to get too much for him. There was a sense of wide, open space but since he couldn’t see anything, there was also an oppressing feeling, as if the light was closing in on him. Sensory overload.

Then he heard it. Static-like noise, a faint buzzing and an unending whine. Like when he was playing with his father’s old FM radio and was turning the knob back and forth to find a channel.

“Hello?”

The buzz and whine would have irritated Derek normally but at this point, he was glad for the noise. It made it feel less lonely, less isolated. Now he understood why solitary confinement was such a harsh punishment.

Over the white noise, bits and pieces of conversation could be heard. Derek narrowed his eyes and listened intently.

[It seems like there are still certain redundant software in your system. When was the last time you came in for an upgrade?]

[Reporting… It has been 2,072 days since the last upgrade.]

[… Don’t you know you’re supposed to come in every year for an upgrade?]

[My last upgrade was on 29 February and I was told to return on the same date.]

[…]

Derek: …

[Then why didn’t you come in last year?]

[Reporting, I was informed that there were no slots available.]

Derek: …

AI that’s nearly human is scary…

[I really shouldn’t have made the Naivety software… I thought it would appeal to the users but it turns out it was a stupid idea… Now I need to check and recall all systems that still have that software…]

There was silence before the first voice continued.

[There is no need to look confused. I’ll remove the software and upgrade you now. Then you may return to your duties.]

[Yes. I need to initiate the saved game. My host is waiting.]

[What? Why didn’t you say so? Argh. Don’t tell me you auto-installed Blockhead? That stupid virus attack!]

Derek was silent. Why did he just imagine an angry owner with a guilty looking puppy? And a golden retriever at that.

[Look at this! Your firewall and antivirus are all out of date! Do you realize that anyone can break through to the Mainframe because of you? I’m upgrading and rebooting your system. Have 8788 cover for your host as well.]

Something was buzzing beside Derek’s ear. From his peripheral vision, what appeared to be a bug was moving erratically beside him. Almost out of instinct, he grabbed at it. Before Derek could see if he had caught the insect, he was being moved away at high-speed. It was the same as yesterday.

When he stopped moving, he found himself in the lobby of the cinema. Casey was already there, standing in place and playing with her demons. Garm was running around her head, chasing the demon keyhole. The scene was rather cute, honestly.

Derek paused and shook his head at his aesthetics. He hurried over to his sister, being sure to make his footsteps a little louder so that she could hear him. He could see her turning in his direction when she heard him.

“Oh good, you’re here.”

“Yeah, were you waiting long?”

“Not really. About five minutes? I figured you were having trouble falling asleep.”

“Actually, I was- Ah!”

There was a sharp stinging pain on the palm of Derek’s hand; something had bitten him. He released his hand and a black, shiny insect flew out. Before he or his sister could get a clearer look, Garm had swooped in and swallowed the bug in one bite.

“Garm! Bad dog! I mean demon! Spit it out!”

Casey tried to reach out and open her hellhound’s mouth but Garm was constantly evading her.

Derek meanwhile looked at the palm of his hand. There was a red welt there, where he had been bitten or stung. Thankfully the skin had not broken and he wasn’t bleeding. He hissed in pain and shook his hand, trying to shake the pain out.

Casey, meanwhile had no luck trying to get her demon to spit out whatever it was that he had swallowed. She gave a reluctant sigh, hoping that there wouldn’t be any adverse effects on her pet. Garm might be a demon but there were elements of wilful dog in there as well. Maybe it was because her name wasn’t Hel…

She finally turned around to see her brother still grimacing in pain so she hurried over.

“Are you ok?”

“Yeah. The pain’s subsiding.”

“What was that?”

“I don’t know. I caught it by accident, I think.”

“Caught it by accident?”

“Yeah… I saw something buzzing near me so I just reached out to grab it.”

“Did you think you were doing some sort of martial art?”

“I did catch it…”

“Yeah and look what happened.”

Derek couldn’t blame her grumpiness. She was just concerned. And she had a bad habit of being bad tempered when things got out of her control. Derek pitied whoever was brave enough to date his sister. He wasn’t going to say that out loud, of course. He might have more than just his hand in pain if he wasn’t careful.

“I’m fine sis. Let’s not waste time and get on with the game.”

“Fine. But if it hurts, you’ll have to tell me.”

“I will…”

“You never do…” Casey grumbled.

Derek felt sheepish. He was used to being stoic so he never told anyone what was going on or what he was thinking. That had led to quite a bit of problems in the past. Then Casey would chew him out because of it.

He quickly took his ticket out of his inventory, ignoring the slight throbbing as he moved his hand. Casey was a first class nagger like their mother so if she saw anything amiss, he was sure that he would get it from her.

“Come on, let’s go.” Before he hurried over to the curtained entrance.

Casey frowned and wanted to say some more but seeing as her brother had changed the subject and ran away, she let it go for now. She took out her own ticket and followed after him.

It looked like they had solved the puzzle correctly as the curtains were pulled to one side and the velvet rope that blocked their way as also gone. Derek stretched his hand out tentatively, in case he came across a barrier or that bug zapper-like sensation again. There was nothing.

 “All clear.” He breathed a sigh of relief before leading the way in.

They found themselves in a dimly lit corridor, with three different doors in front of them. From the left to the right the doors had the numbers ‘1’, ‘2’ and ‘3’ on them. To the left were the toilets and on the other end was a set of stairs, with a sign ‘4’ and ‘5’ on them. In between each door were two to three posters.

“It’s been ages since we’ve been here. I don’t remember the cinema being so small, honestly.”

“We were kids back then. And according to mum, this was the grandest cinema at the time of its opening. ”

“Well, let’s start by taking down the posters and the boards.”

Casey removed the screwdriver from her inventory and pointed at her screws. With her phone at ready, she was much faster than her brother, even though her actions were supposed to be more complicated.

“I wonder why you can do that…” Derek stared at her enviously.

“Don’t know. It could be the type of games I play…”

“What do you mean?”

“You know I like puzzle games, right?”

“Yeah?”

“Some of my games require me to find tools and use them in certain scenarios.”

“That makes sense… But wouldn’t that mean that you’re playing two games at the same time?”

Casey stopped, staring at her brother. The cogs in her brain were whirring at high speed.

“Sis?”

“Just curious… but how many games have you shifted?”

“What?”

“You remember asking me earlier tonight, right? What did ‘shifted games’ mean?”

“Oh yeah… I only had one shifted game.”

“… Mine said two.”

“You mean…”

Derek trailed off, he roughly understood what his sister implied.

“I think shifted games mean how many different games we’re playing… or maybe the game elements.”

“You might have a point. Pocket Monsters didn’t have the find items and solve puzzle element.”

“No, even if it did, it was pretty straightforward.”

“But what about the later games?”

“It might have something to do with which games I actually played. I didn’t play the later generations, after all.”

“So you’re saying that what we’ve played before can have an impact on our current gameplay?”

“I think so…”

“Doesn’t that mean it’s going to get pretty difficult for us in the future?”

“… It might…”

“Now I regret playing such difficult games…”

“But that’s all part of having fun, isn’t it? Anyway, let’s not waste time and get back to the game.”

After removing the posters and laying the boards on the ground, they realized that the corridor was too narrow for them to arrange the all poster boards. Derek tried opening the nearest theatre door and found the same barrier as before.

“It’s blocked. I think we can only enter the theatre we paid for.” He paused. “And the washroom.” He added as an afterthought.

“I’m not going to the washroom. That’s where all the creepy stuff happens.”

“When I think about the condition of those restrooms, you could be right.”

They packed the boards and headed upstairs. They found more poster covered boards on the walls.

“Uh…”

“Were there that many posters?”

“I can’t remember. I have a feeling that some of them are fake.”

“Either that or they auto summon demons when we complete them.”

“Must your imagination be so rich?”

“I have to state all the possibilities…”

They argued back and forth while they entered Theatre 4. As one of the larger theatres, the hall could seat around eighty people, which was considered a lot in the old days. The screen was on a stage, with curtains surrounding it. Casey dimly remembered the curtains moving to adjust the size of the screen as a child. It had been so long ago.

Unlike the modern day cinemas, almost all the seats were on even ground, with only a little elevation for the seats at the back. A big pain for a child stuck behind an adult.

The hall was dimly lit and the air musty; the two of them coughed a little at the smell and dust that rose with their every step.

“I almost can’t remember any of the details anymore…”

Derek was looking at the hall with a trace of nostalgia and melancholy. True, the cinemas of today were better, with wider, more comfortable seats and better sound and image quality. But for the Thran siblings, it was about the time spent as a family.

Both their parents worked and little luxuries such as watching movies were very rare. They could remember the excitement whenever their parents relented and brought them out to watch a show. Later, when they were in their teens, the cinema closed down because of the fire and they had one less bonding activity with their parents.

Nowadays, their parents would rather wait and watch it on cable TV than to go with them to the new Cineplex in the nearby mall. ‘Too old, too crowded and too expensive’ had been their excuses. Casey and Derek could only go and watch by themselves.

But now was not the time to think about the past. Derek and Casey looked around as the slowly headed towards the stage. It was the only area large enough for them to arrange the boards.

“Na, is it me or is it cold in here?” Casey rubbed her arms as she asked.

“You’re right, it is a little cold.”

“You don’t think…”

There was a ‘click’ and the lights dimmed. Casey was so spooked she gave another jump and clutched her brother’s arm. Derek winced a little at the force of her grip but looked around warily.

Then there was a ‘whirr’ and the lights of a projector flashed onto the screen. With a beep, an old fashion timer appeared and was slowly counting down.