REAWAKENED 2: SHE IS LILA

You're giving this to me?

The thirty minutes up, Arthur walked Blake to the detention room and when she entered it, she went and found a seat somewhere in the middle. There were ten students inside and as the teacher was sitting at his desk reading a newspaper, they were seated here and there doing random things.

There was a girl reading a romance novel, a boy studying math, a girl doing her make-up, two boys already asleep with one of them even snoring lightly, a girl reading a fashion magazine, a boy sneakily playing a racing game on his phone as phones weren’t allowed at school, a girl painting her nails, a boy reading a comic book and a girl sketching a flower in her sketchbook.

Digging into her bag and pulling out her biology textbook, Blake was just about to start studying when the door opened and in walked convict number twelve; a familiar face that immediately made her heart brighten up. She smiled. It was Alexander and closing the door behind him, he went and sat down on the desk right next to hers.

“Goodness, what is a beautiful girl like you doing in a dump like this?” he whispered and they quietly chuckled; talking wasn’t allowed.

“I got sentenced,” she answered.

“Why? What did you do? And why are you wearing shades?”

“Congratulations, you just killed two birds with one stone.”

“That’s why you’re in here? For wearing shades?” Alexander asked.

“Yep. Mr. Martin told me to take them off and I said no.”

“Why?”

“Because I have a nasty eye infection and I didn’t want anybody to see it,” Blake said.

“Oh my gosh are you o.k.?” he asked, genuinely concerned.

“Yeah I’m fine, my mom’s bringing some meds for me later so I’m going to be o.k.”

“O.k. good.”

“So, what are you in for?” she asked.

“I forgot to do my math assignment. But no worries, Mrs. Duncan was generous enough to give me three hours of detention so that I can do it and hand it in.”

“O.k. good. What’s the assignment on?”

“Equations,” he answered.

“Sweet, I’m great at equations, I can help you out if you don’t mind.”

“Awesome; the assignment has fifty questions, wanna go halfsies?”

“Let’s do it.”

“Alright.”

Alexander pulled the assignment out of his bag and after he gave her the paper with the first twenty-five questions on it, he gave her five plain papers to solve them on, and as she solved her questions, he solved his.

Three hours later, detention was over and after Alexander went to the maths department and handed in his assignment, he went outside and waited for Blake in the car park. She had gone to the bathroom to pee and freshen up and when she exited the school building and saw him, her mouth couldn’t help but curve into a smile.

“Ay finally out of the big house, how does it feel?” he teased.

“Freedom has never tasted sweeter,” she said and they laughed as he then gave her an endearing look.

“You look cute by the way.”

Blake turned pink. “Thanks.”

“So, what's for the rest of the day?" Alexander asked.

"Nothing much, probably just movies. You?"

"I’ve got football practice.”

“Oh yes you’re on the football team, Arthur told me,” Blake said.

“Uh, you guys talk about me?”

“Maybe,” she adorably said and they chuckled. “You guys have a name?”

“Yeah we do. We’re the King Fishers.”

“Nice.”

“My boys and I are in the under 21 national team and I don't mean to toot but we're pretty good. We’ve won the league three years in a row and we're looking to win our fourth title this year,” Alexander said.

“Sweet.”

"We actually have a game this Saturday, you should swing by.”

"Great, I’ll be there,” Blake said.

"Cool," he said and they smiled. “Oh and you’re going to have to show up looking the part so, you’re going to need this.”

He had parked his car right next to hers and so opening the backdoor, he grabbed something from the backseat and gave it to her. It was his football jersey and when she saw that that was what he was giving her, she quietly gasped as inside her heart skipped a beat; that was the kind of thing that a boyfriend gave his girlfriend, were they boyfriend and girlfriend? She knew that they were kinda sorta boyfriend and girlfriend but him giving her his jersey, that wasn’t kiddie stuff, it was straight up boyfriend and girlfriend stuff.

“You’re giving this to me?" Blake asked stunned.

"Yeah,” he casually responded.

"For the game or like forever?"

“Forever."

“What? No. What about you? What are you going to wear?” she asked concerned.

“Oh don’t worry I have spares. We get a brand new kit every two weeks.”

“Oh o.k. and um . . . It has your name on it?”

“Yes it does. Name and number,” Alexander said and Blake’s heart skipped another beat as he then coyly smiled. “Is that a problem?”

“Well, considering that this is the kind of stuff that a boyfriend does for his girlfriend and we’re not boyfriend and girlfriend, yet, maybe.”

“Yet, that’s cute. You’re so cute.”

“Stop it,” she said and they laughed.

"O.k. well if you’re not comfortable wearing mine, I can get you a plain one.”

“Yes, that would be perfect.”

“O.k.,” he said and wanted to throw his jersey back into the backseat but she stopped him.

“Wait! I will have the other one and I will have this one also. I won’t wear it in public, for obvious reasons, but . . . I would like to have it.”

Alexander smiled and gave it to her and when she grabbed it and warmly hugged it, he almost floated away.

“That’s going to look really good on you,” he flirtingly said.

“I know,” Blake said flirting back.

“Send me a pick?”

“No,” she bluntly said and Alexander threw his head back laughing.

Minutes later, Blake arrived home. She entered the house and went into the kitchen to drink a glass of water and when she was done, she went upstairs to her room where she saw something on her bed that rooted her to the spot in shock. She even removed her glasses to make sure that what she was seeing was really what was there and it was; the disc of The Golden Quintessence game. It was face down but she knew it was the one because it was the only game she had with a golden disc.

Her heart shuddered as her blood immediately began to chill. Why was it there? How was it there? Did her mother somehow know that the previous disc broke and go and buy her a new one? If so, why wasn’t it in its cover? If it was new, it should’ve been in a cover but it wasn’t, it was just lying there naked so where did it come from? She wondered.

Maybe it was . . . No it couldn’t be. It couldn’t be the same one Arthur destroyed because that one was broken into four pieces and thrown into the bin, there was no way it could be the one.

Still, as ridiculous of a thought as it was, she went and checked the bin; just so she could prove that what she was thinking was preposterous, and when she did and saw that the pieces of the broken disc weren’t in there, cold shivers ran down her spine as her skin immediately broke out into goose bumps. What she was thinking was not preposterous at all because it was true. It wasn’t a new disc, it was the exact same one Arthur broke and there it was good as new.

“What?” Blake said shook, talk about a bolt from the blue.

Dropping her bag to the floor, she then went and grabbed the very disc, and when she turned it over, there the title was; The Golden Quintessence written in black, with a drawing of a rolled up scroll at the bottom.

“Oh my gosh,” she said, so taken aback she could barely believe her own eyes. Arthur had destroyed the disc and yet there it was, right there in her hand, how?

The answer? The game really was evil and the demons inside it had put it back together so that she could continue playing it. And the craziest thing, was that the thought actually crossed her mind. With how taken by the game she was, playing it and continuing Lila’s journey was all she could think about.

It was only just day two but it felt like a lifetime because she had become so obsessed with the game that she actively had to stop herself from thinking about it. She liked that the main character resembled her and that the story was gripping, but the main thing that drew her in, was the feeling that came over her when she played it.

It was so fulfilling it was like food for her soul and the more she fed on it, the more she felt like she wasn’t playing a game but was walking through an alternate timeline of her own life. She felt a deep connection to Lila and now that she had turned into her, she felt like she was her, and as she stood there looking down at the game that she couldn’t play before because it was broken but could now because it wasn’t broken anymore, playing it and picking up right where she left off was something she was seriously beginning to consider.

There was a huge itch inside her that was desperately crying out to be scratched and it was getting itchier and itchier by the second, and as she stood there contemplating on whether to play or not, she had no idea that there was a war going on inside of her; a battle for her soul between good and evil, the Holy Spirit versus the devil.

The former wanted her to ignore the itch and stay as far away from the game as possible whilst the latter wanted her to scratch and feed her desire, like a drug addict imprisoned by the vicious uncontrollable urge to want to take drugs every time the hunger kicked in; keeping her hooked to the point where she didn’t just want to play but needed to, and so far, it was the side that was winning.

Blake knew not to do it because Arthur made it very clear why she shouldn’t but the game was so captivating she had to know how it ended, she just had to; and that right there, is how the devil gets us. He gets us to the point where we just have to do something because the urge inside us is so strong that it is nearly impossible to ignore.

He finds out what we like and packages it in a way that he knows will grab our attention, and when he has our attention, he gives us a taste of it and makes sure it’s pleasurable so that we keep going back for more. And the more we go back, the more his grip on us tightens and we become slaves to sin.

This is not what God intended for us, for being slaves to sin is an abomination because all have been set free by the Blood of Jesus Christ and therefore, being held back by anything in this world that the Precious Blood of our Lord and Saviour set us free from, is an insult to our existence as joint heirs to the Holy Throne of God.

Romans Chapter 6 Verse 22 ‘But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.’ Everything we do must bear fruit for God because His Will is the foundation on which our lives were formed and so it having been cemented in our DNA to glorify Him, us living lives that don’t do so is a blatant act of disobedience and it is an offense that will be punishable by condemnation.

That was what the devil was trying to do with Blake, he was trying to keep her enslaved so that he could continue feasting on her soul like a lion on a fresh kill, distracting her long enough to be condemned. A plan that the Holy Spirit knew and was trying to warn her against but she wasn’t listening, her flesh was so enthralled by the sweet nothings the devil was whispering to her that she decided to give in.

Devastatingly weakened by her strong desire to want to see how the game ended, Blake walked up to the display and slid the disc into her gaming console, and when it began to load like it wasn’t the very same disc that had been broken to pieces and thrown into the bin just a day ago, she got her gear on and entered the game.

Lila and William had left Brennett Village and were walking down a gravel road through a dense and dark forest; with her holding a napkin to her broken and bleeding nose and with him quietly walking beside her, continuing to beat himself up inside over the incident that just occurred.

"I really am sorry Lila, I didn’t mean to cause all that trouble,” William said. “I didn’t know she was married, had I known, I would never have brought her back to the inn with me. That is not the kind of man I am. She said she mentioned that she was married last night and that I said I didn’t mind it but that sounds nothing like me, I must’ve already been totally hammered by then.”

“Goodness, just how much did you have to drink last night William?” she asked.

“I think I drank every bottle they had.”

“Agreed.”

“Oh I’m so sorry Lila, I promise it’ll never happen again,” William said.

“It most certainly will not because you’re never going to a pub or bar ever again.”

“That is a very reasonable punishment and I accept it willfully. Goodness, I don’t even drink that much; I have no idea what got into me last night. Ugh, and my head’s pounding like a drum.”

“Good, serves you right.”