Wow that's . . . Actually a good idea
2650 Words
“First things first . . . We have to destroy the game,” Arthur said and Blake gasped as inside a sharp pain came to her chest, she felt like her heart had just been ripped right out.
“Dude come on. Let me just finish it and I’ll never play it again I promise,” Blake pleadingly said. She couldn’t bear to not finish the game; leaving the story hanging like that was not only going to shoot her anxiety to the roof, but it was also going to create an emptiness inside her that was going to consume her to the point of driving her mad, because once a game was started, it had to be finished, that was the rule, and so The Golden Quintessence had to be finished. And this was the best game she had ever played and so her desire to finish it was even graver.
“No, I’m destroying it right now.”
“Arthur!”
She was desperate to get through to him but like a brick wall he stood his ground, and as she pleaded on for him to at least let her finish the game so that she could see how it ended, he walked up to her gaming console and removed the disc.
“I know you’ve enjoyed playing this game,” he said. “It’s all you’ve been talking about since the first day I met you but I can’t let you continue playing it. I can’t let you continue indulging in something that I know is bad for you, I can’t. As Christians we have been called to be the light of the world, to shine the light of Jesus to all men so that they may know the truth and no longer walk in darkness.”
“Dude come on,” she said, pleading on.
“And just as Jesus called us out of the darkness and into the light, it is now our job to call others out of the darkness so that they too can walk in the light of life; 1 Peter Chapter 2 Verse 9, ‘But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His Marvellous Light.’ God is calling you into His Marvellous Light Blake, but you can’t enter it holding onto the things of this world, you have to let them go. You have to let go of the lusts of the world so that the gift of eternal life can begin to abide within you.”
Blake stood like a statue; there was so much she wanted to say but she just held back her words because she knew they weren’t going to change anything. Nothing she said was going to convince him to let her finish playing the game and so she had no other choice but to give in. She didn’t want to though, the thought of never playing The Golden Quintessence again and never knowing how it ended was like a knife to her chest. It made her feel like her whole world was ending and it sucked big time.
Still, she had to accept it because what Arthur was doing was for her own good and so though it ached her to her bones to have such a massive chunk of her life brutally taken away, she knew that in the long run it was something she was going to come to appreciate and so she just stood back and let him do it.
Arthur snapped the disc in four and threw the pieces into the bin, and when that was done, they delved into how they were going to manage her glowing eyes and hair.
“O.k. so how are we dealing with this?” Blake asked. “These are not particularly features that I can hide.”
“No they are not,” he responded. “O.k. so um . . . Can you like . . . Not glow?”
“No I can’t, I have zero control over what’s happening to me right now.”
“And how are you feeling?”
“I feel fine, despite this, I feel great,” she answered.
“O.k. and are you seeing normal or gold?”
“Normal.”
“And mom doesn’t know?” Arthur asked.
“No she doesn’t, and I would like it to stay that way or else she’s going to flip. I was worried about her banning me from playing video games for the rest of my life if she saw me like this but no need, Arthur Francis to the rescue.”
“I’m just looking out for you, you know that right?”
Blake hopelessly sighed. “I know,” she said.
Just then, her phone started ringing. It was on her bed and when Arthur leaned forward and saw who was calling, he smilingly grabbed it and extended it to her.
“It’s Alexander,” he said.
“What are you giving the phone to me for? It’s not like I’m going to answer it,” Blake said.
“What do you mean you’re not going to answer it?”
“Dude we’re in the middle of a crisis here, I’m not answering the call.”
“Yeah I know but this is not just anybody calling, it’s your future boyfriend calling, you have to answer it,” Arthur said.
“Hello we’re kind of in the middle of something really important right now, I’ll call him back later. Besides, he’s probably going to ask me if we can hang out and I’m still on the fence about that.”
“Weren’t you supposed to be thinking about that?”
“I am,” Blake answered.
“And?”
“And I’m still thinking about it,” she said and Arthur gave her a look. “What? Dude you said I could take my time.”
“Yeah but not too long.”
“What are you talking about too long? It’s literally been three days since I said I was going to think about it.”
“I know but the guy clearly wants to hang out with you and you keep turning him down and it’s not cool,” he said, continuing to look out for not just her best interest but for his too.
“Ugh! I can’t talk right now I’m too jittery.”
“Just keep it cool, you’ll be fine.”
Arthur went and stood next to her and answered the call, putting it on loudspeaker, and as she began to converse with Alexander, he stood listening in whilst looking up at her hair, pulling it down and watching it go back up again as he wondered on how what was happening to her was actually happening.
He knew it was connected to the game but she didn’t exude anything remotely close to the evilness the game did, what she exuded was rather quite pleasant and divine, and so he knew that though something evil had provoked her transformation, it was an act that had been specially orchestrated by the Hand of God. Question was why? What did it mean?
“Hey?” she greeted.
“Hi,” Alexander responded. He was sitting on the edge of his bed, about to go and have a shower. “How are you?”
“I’m good, how are you?”
“I’m good too.” He smiled; her voice was sweet like jam on toast. “I hope I didn’t call at a bad time.”
“No you didn’t, I was just in bed watching TV,” Blake said.
“Cool.”
Suddenly, a knock came to the door and quickly Blake muted the call.
“Here’s your breakfast honey,” mom said as she placed the tray with her food on it on the floor right by the door.
“Oh uh thanks mom,” Blake responded.
“You’re welcome.”
She left and as Blake continued talking to Alexander, Arthur went and got her breakfast; placing the tray on the floor and locking the door again, and then picking it up and putting it on the bedside. Mom had made her a full English breakfast and it was beautifully presented.
“So um . . . Are you free this afternoon? I was hoping maybe you could come over and we could hang out a little bit. I know you said it would be best if we didn’t hang because it’ll be like we’re together and you don’t want to go behind your mother’s back but . . . I really want to hang out with you. And we don’t have to do anything, we could just sit and talk,” he said as the entire time Arthur shook his head; he was all for them hanging out but not at his place where they could get carried away and one thing could lead to another.
Blake unmuted the call. “Oh um, gosh I uh, I can’t. I’ve got a thing with my mom,” she said, continuing to beat herself up inside. Even though she hadn’t yet decided on whether she was going to say yes or no to them hanging out, she really wanted to, and turning him down again, didn’t make her feel good inside at all.
“Oh o.k.”
“Sorry.”
“No, no it’s cool,” Alexander said as the light in his face went so dim it was off. He really wanted to hang out with her and get to know her but she kept shooting him down. Yes he said that he was going to wait for her but he didn’t think that meant them never hanging out ever.
Silence swept as Blake thought about what she was going to do. He said that he was going to wait until after graduation to be with her but it was a long wait and she didn’t want to not hang out with him until then because she didn’t want to push him away. She had turned him down easy the first time because she was only thinking about herself but after Arthur made her see things from Alexander’s point of view, turning him down wasn’t so easy because she didn’t want to hurt his feelings.
“How about Wednesday?” she said.
“Wednesday?” he repeated cautiously, not wanting to get his hopes up.
“Yeah, we can go somewhere and . . . Talk,” she said and Alexander’s face immediately brightened back up.
“Oh uh yeah sure. Wednesday’s perfect.”
“Cool.”
“Any specific preferences?” he asked and quickly Arthur pulled his phone out of his pocket and began to type something in his memo.
“Um . . .” He finished typing and showed her. “The Lake House?” she said wondering and Arthur nodded.
“Oh wow, sweet, good choice. Alright I will call them up and make a reservation for Wednesday.”
“Cool.”
“Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow then,” Alexander said beaming.
“Yeah you too.”
“Bye.”
“Bye,” Blake said and cut the call, as she immediately turned to Arthur and gave him a fierce gaze. “Dude, what in the heck did I just agree to? Call them up and make reservations, that sounds like a date, Arthur!”
“You said you wanted somewhere nice to talk, that’s somewhere nice to talk. It has good food and a great view,” he said.
“Oh my gosh good food and a great view, dude that’s a date!”
“It is not a date, there are a lot of just friends I know that hang out there all the time, stop thinking too much.”
“What if people see us together?” she asked worried.
“It’s a public place, of course they’re going to see you together.”
“Dude!”
“I’m kidding,” Arthur laughingly said. “It has high booths and so even though there are going to be a billion people there, not a single one of them is going to see you so don’t worry you’re good.”
Blake sighed in relief. “O.k. cool. I mean it still feels a lot like a date but, much better,” she said. “Right, back to the elephant in the room, how are we going to fix this? Coz I can’t go to school looking like this.”
“Of course you can’t, you’re going to scare everybody away.”
“What do we do?”
“We need to find a way to cover them up,” he answered. “Do you have contacts?”
“No I don’t.”
“Ugh nuts.”
“What about sunglasses? I can wear one of my mom’s super dark pairs and tell the class that I have a nasty eye infection,” she suggested.
“That’s not going to work, sunglasses are against the rules.”
“What else am I going to do? I can’t go like this and I can’t miss the test. I have to write that test.”
“Well, Mr. Martin is cool, maybe you could talk to him nicely and convince him to let you write the test and when you’re done, you can go and hideout in the library until it’s time to knock off,” he said.
“Wow that’s . . . Actually a good idea.”
“You’re welcome.”
“O.k. awesome, so that’s the eyes covered, what about the hair?” Blake asked.
“Well, I was going to suggest a head sock but I don’t think a head sock will effectively contain the situation.”
“A hat?”
“Hats aren’t allowed either,” Arthur said.
“Oh my gosh!”
“Hey eat, your food’s getting cold.”
“I’m not hungry anymore,” she said like a spoiled brat.
“No you have to eat, sit.”
“Ugh fine.”
She went and sat down on the bed next to the food and started eating as they both went on thinking about what they were going to use to hide her hair. Head socks and bandanas were too small, hats, caps and bonnets were not allowed, headscarves were too out of character and a hoodie was going to glow gold on the inside; all the options were coming short.
“We need something that’s going to completely hide your hair in a way that’s not going to make you stand out,” he said and thought on. “Ha! What about those things women wear under their wigs?”
“Oh my gosh yes,” Blake said with a mouthful. “Wig caps.”
“Yeah those, you can put one of those on and when your hair’s nicely tucked in, you can wear a head sock over it, problem solved.”
“Problem solved? Dark shades and a head sock, I’m going to look like a blind hobo. What happened to me not standing out?”
“I admit it’s not a very glamourous look but I’m afraid it’s the best option we’ve got right now,” he said. “It’s either you wear the head sock or the headscarf?”
“Oh gosh, are those the only options I’ve got?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“Dark shades and a headscarf? I’m going to look like a rich housewife,” she said.
“Well, it’s either you wear the headscarf and look like a rich housewife or you wear the head sock and look like a blind hobo, the choice is yours.”
“Ugh, great.”
- Writer
