“Hey John, John, wait up!” as soon as the class ended I called to the black-haired young man that I befriended in the first year of university. The poor guy didn’t even have time to rise from his chair and while I was already at his desk.

“Hmm?” he stopped packing up his stuff and turned his head towards me “Heeey, what’s up man, why so happy in the morning?”. John smiled at me and extended his right hand for a handshake.

I put the laptop that I was carrying on his desk and shook his hand in greeting.

“Dude, do you know the game that I was talking about yesterday?” A smile involuntarily appeared on my face since I already knew what kind of reaction I will get from him.

Sure enough, John just rolled his eyes at my question. “Don’t ‘cha ‘yesterday’ me now, you are always rambling about your game. So why so happy now, found another bug?”

“Better, I actually finished a workable prototype and I want to give you the honor of being the first one to try it out.” the smile on my face turned more genuine since I couldn’t hide the pride and excitement of creating for the first time of a working prototype of a game more complicated than your average ‘snake’ or ‘Tetris’.

“Oh my, that’s quite an honor, indeed, Sir. Wannabe Game Dev. This lowly one is deeply humbled and honored by the offer.” John then made some exaggerated hand gestures followed by a bow.

I followed along with his improvisation. “In that case, pleb, leave your boring databases for now and follow your majesty to the canteen where you’ll have a free feast and witness the results of my hard work,” I said with as much haughtiness as I could manage.

“Ugh,” a rather awkward smile appeared on John's face.

“Hmm, what is it? Did it came out to cringy?”

“No, it’s not that.” John looked somewhat troubled as he scratched the back of his head. “Man, sorry, I will probably sound like a dick right now considering how much you care about that game, but I already have plans for this break. How about another time?”

“Oh…” there goes my new found enthusiasm. “Well, damn, that sucks. How about after today’s classes thou? You free?”

“Hmm…” John made the thoughtful expression “I actually was thinking more in the lines of… Never. Are you OK with this?”

What? I felt my cheerful expression change to a dumbfounded one. “What?” I voiced out my confusion.

Meanwhile, as I was staring unbelievingly at John, a beauty approached him and pecked my friend on the check.

“Hey dear, you coming for lunch or not?” she asked with a coquettish voice.

“Ah, sorry, sorry.” John apologized while beamed at her his most charming smile. “I was just hinting this guy here that his game is trash and I never want to see it.”

“Eeeh? You can say such mean words while knowing very clearly how much he cares about this game? You are so evil.” She put a hand on his chest while raising her head to look John in the eyes. “You are so mean and I really like it.” she then imitated a scratching motion with her hand.

John put a mask of fake indignation on his face.“How can you call me evil when you kiss me right in front of him while also knowing very clearly that he has a crush on you? It’s you who’s the truly evil one.”

“He-he, I am such a bad girl, do you wanna punish me?” she smiled inquisitively at John.

“I will be punishing you plenty tonight.” John looked at her meaningfully and lowered his hand to her ass. “Now let’s have an evil laugh together.”

“Sure, but let me prepare for a moment.” She coughed two times and cleared her throat. “I am ready,” she said after a few seconds of preparation.

John nodded in acknowledgment. “Good, at 3, 2, 1…”

“Ke-ke-ke-ke”

“Mwa-ha-ha-ha”

“Eh, dear what’s with that laugh of yours? You sound like an old witch! Try something cuter, it suits you more. And also, you need to look him in the eyes while pointing your finger at his face for maximum effect, got it?” John instructed her with the air of a carrying teacher.

She nodded her head cutely with an “Uh-huh” sound.

“Good, at 3, 2, 1,...”

“Mwa-ha-ha-ha-…”

“U-fu-fu-fu-fu-...”

“MWAA-HA-HA-HA-...”

“UUU-FU-FU-FU-FU-...”

John approached me, put his hands on my shoulders and started to shake me violently.

“MWAAAAAAAA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-...”

“UUUUUUU-FU-FU-FU-FU-FU-FU-”

“NOOOOO-” *Slam*

“Argh” I heard someone exclaim in pain

What the-?

 

Startled, I opened my eyes. Sitting on a bed on my ass and dripped in sweat, I looked around in confusion.

I was in some kind of unknown for me room with basic furniture and minimal illumination. In front of me, sitting on the edge of my bed was a blond young man that seems to be in his early 20’s. He had his left hand on my shoulder while his right was massaging his nose; judging by the expression on his face, he was clearly in pain.

If the pain on my forehead is an indicator of anything, then it seems like I just unintentionally headbutted this poor fella in front of me.

“Emm, are you ok?” I asked first since the guy since the guy didn’t seem in a hurry to speak.

The guy stopped massaging his nose and waved his hand at me indicating that he is all right.

“S-sorry for that, I just, uh, had a-- nightmare. A very stupid nightmare.”

After ignoring me for a couple more seconds, he finally removed his hand from the nose and I saw some blood on his fingers and nose. Damn, I smacked him hard.

“Please remind me not to wake you up in the future,” he said with an accusing tone. Or at least he tried to. Since his nose was stuffed with blood, he sounded somewhat comical. Thankfully thou, I managed to hold in my chuckle. The guy got up from my bed and looked around.

“Deal… and, uh, you have a nosebleed.”

The guy didn’t say anything back, he just turned his head towards me, raised one eyebrow and gave me a stare as if saying ‘No shit Sherlock’.

I at least had the presence of mind to look sheepish and smiled at him awkwardly. Definitely not my best first impression.

The guy took a piece of clothing from the single wooden table in the room and wiped with it the splotches of blood from his fingers and then used it to stop his nosebleed. Finished with that, he went and sat on his own bed, just like me, and looked straight in my eyes.

“So, what was your name again?” he asked me.

‘Again’? Did we meet be-... right. I was hit by a truck then… ugh, what then? There was a big room with people and a sparkly guy then… an old man? Yeeeaaa, an old man that took us through some corridors to our rooms then… now? Shit, my memory is quite fucked and the damn headache still didn’t completely disappear. Is my memory so spotty because that truck hit me way too hard on the head?

“Just call me Ed.”I said and extended my hand towards him “And you were…?”.

“Arthur. Nice to meet you… again” smiling, he extended his own arm and we shook hands.

I smile involuntarily slipped on my face too. “Yea, nice to meet you again Arthur and sorry for the nose-- I had a really bad nightmare.”

“Figured that much. I didn't sleep that well myself either.” Arthur nodded in acknowledgment.

“I doubt that there is someone who slept good tonight or-” I did a fast sweep of the room with my eyes for any indicators of the time of the day like a window of a clock, but found nothing “- or whatever time is now”

At the mention of time, Arthur instinctively reached for his back pocket with his hand-- only to find out that his phone is not there, nor does he have a back pocket-- or any other pockets to begin with

I knew this because just like me, he is wearing a pair of white-ish trousers without any pockets or any other decorations and, as if to match the trousers, a short-sleeved shirt, likewise, without any decorations or imperfection in the fabric. Our outfits are pretty much the definition of ‘basic’.

“Hey,” I called out to Arthur and he, as if sensing that I want to speak about serious stuff, tensed up somewhat and gave me his full attention “just to make sure that I am not going crazy and that we are on the same page…yesterday’s events-- or should I say, the events before we went to sleep since I don’t know how much time passed-- they were real right? It’s not my mind playing tricks on me right?” I asked just to confirm that I am not going crazy.