In 198X, a time not too long from the present, it came upon many of my comrades
and me that a confederation to link the towns of Onett, Twoson, and Threed would
be beneficial for the towns, if not vital. I took it upon myself to make this,
for it would be for the best, but a massive barrier sat betwixt me and these
necessary goals.
On a cool October afternoon I decided to convene with the other masterminds that
reigned from Twoson and Threed. They were my close friends: Nico was from Twoson
and Leonard from Threed. Our location was Burglin Park, and we began the
important intercourse here, slightly in front of an older woman selling bananas.
“Friends,” Nico started warmly opening his arms wide as puffs of steam poured from
his mouth, “the time since we have last met was far too long ago. It is my hope
that this will work to our betterment. So let’s begin after warm tidings, for it
has been an epoch since we last saw an opportunity as such we have now.”
“Times have been good for me as well,” I responded with a smile brightening my
face, “I have had a prodigious amount of achievement in beginning a good
following. I can only see a success in our goals.”
“I’m well,” Leonard said dolorously, “however, I am not having any providence with
getting what I need.” He let out a deep sigh and looked down to the ground, but
his glass eye remained staring at Nico, and a thick cloud flew up.
He had to take on a glass eye after a violent altercation with Phil, who is now in
a state prison. In that fight Phil had brought a bloodied knife, and at one point
Leonard had him where he was most vulnerable; he would surely have to concede the
fight. Being a coward, Phil unsheathed the knife from his pants pocket, and he
gashed Leonard’s left eye. Although Leonard was rushed to hospital he couldn’t
save his eye; the grimy knife had caused infection to consume his eye beyond
return.
“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Nico replied calmly, “We can help you cover that.”
“Yeah, we can establish a strong and popular arcade for you,” I said reassuringly,
“I am making pounds of money at the arcade in Onett. Once we have a strong chain
established between ourselves it should all work out. My popularity is growing to
such a great degree that a small group has clung to me. These kids are amazing
gamers; I think I’ll call them sharks.”
“It’s splendid and all to see your success Frank,” Leonard said in a contrasting
tone with a drained look on his face, “but I still have yet to do anything. I
don’t think I’ll have such opulence as you have experienced.”
“Come on now, Leo, chipper up,” Nico said lightly, “it’ll all fix out in the end.
It always does. We have nothing in our way. We’ll be rich in no time.”
Anger quickly pulsed on Leonard’s face, then grief. His shoulders fell slack and
he let out a drawn sigh that pushed out a puff of steam. His head shot around the
vista and forced a grimace to strain his countenance. Slowly, he turned so that
he could leave. He began to amble toward the gate, and he hunched his back, and
walked with a stoop; a shade was cast upon his face, and that shade penetrated his
eye in an eerie way; it seemed to become hollow and a hole that fell straight to
the back of his skull.
“See you soon,” Nico cried across the park. Nico’s face couldn’t support any
false bliss. He waved, but Leo didn’t notice, and that caused his hand to drop to
his side. “Listen, Frank,” he whispered to me under the breeze, “We’ll meet again
soon. I don’t know how, but we’ll meet again. It seems that Leo’s mental state
is decaying. You don’t fret ‘bout that now; I can help him. You just have to
stay out of my curing way.”
“Gotcha,” I said back, but it was hard to do so, and I know my face didn’t feign
anything; I was open like a book. Nico lumbered over towards the banana stand as
I began to leave. We waved to each other; then I was off to return home.
As I walked back to my arcade, which is now my humble abode, I couldn’t help
myself from dwelling over what had occurred. I know that Leonard had been through
quite some trauma, with Phil, and that he was having little luck. Since our youth
he had always been the one to cower when situations fled our favor. Could he
handle this?
Then it hit me as I passed on the unnatural path between Onett and Twoson. It
really shocked me. He thought I was gloating. Just the sound of any
accomplishment of mine would be bitter in his ears. It wasn’t the past or his
lack of luck that enfeebled him; it was I, who had unknowingly crushed his hope.
A small creek passed me in the dirt path; it had a fallen bough in it collecting
moss and mushrooms of various kinds. With the Sun setting the dense tree-tops cut
out all light that may have penetrated; however, the majestic array of colors was
visible in the sky through the opening at the end of the path, which meant to me
that I was closing on the completion of my trek back home.
How could I spread my opulence with Leonard? I would need to lend him assistance;
Nico was fine on his own, he always did stuff well alone. How could I help him
though? Nico didn’t want me to intervene, and he would surely reprimand me if I
became an interloper when he didn’t call for it. He would swell up, and then he
would get my head.
As I came upon the arcade a youth approached me, and he said this, “Hello, mister,
my name is Mike and I want to join the arcade. I want to join because it is like
a club, and I’m hoping I could become a top-notch gamer like so many.” I gazed
back at him with a smile. I couldn’t help but smile at his cute antics, and I
certainly wouldn’t reject him as well. He had made my day as bright as it could
be. I said back to him, with fervor puling both me and the sound of my voice,
“sure, but not right now, it’s way too late. You should scoot on home and go to
bed like me. I promise you, my little amigo, you can join, and you will be
top-notch.”
After yelling out of pure childish happiness he ran off, hopping as he went down
the side walk, whistling. I unlocked the door and proceeded upstairs to my room.
It may have been rather plain, but it was warm and comforting to me. I ran over
to my bed, and, after flipping my sneakers off, hopped into bed.
I slowly fell into a heavy sleep, laden with the thoughts of that day. They
pounded me from all angles, but slowly I drifted off as the sandman graced my eyes
to peaceful rest.
That very night while I was asleep I had a more than average dream. Nico’s
jugular was pouring out blood; it must have been stabbed fifteen times by a small
knife. Not far off there was Leonard, but he was doing something strange, it
crossed the stars. He was side-by-side with that beast, Phil. Phil’ head was
shaved and bore a scar that he probably acquired in jail. Leonard, next to Phil,
held his knife in his right hand, and his jacket had many fine tears with blood
stains accompanying the tears. A small group of brash, rough looking adolescent
boys stood behind them, yelling. The other group across from them was larger, but
they were also quite odd.
The other group had attire that gave them the appearance of sharks. To extenuate
this peculiarity some were on pogo-sticks, others had hoola-hoops, and the others
rode skate-boards. Near the front center of this group was a gigantic robot or
machine that was producing a thick smoke. It was a pale tannish-green color, and
a triangular flag was erected upon its head, and then it let out a piercing din.
The sound aroused that odd bunch, and they, along with the machine, charged
forward starting a ferocious brawl. Knives flew threw the air as screams of agony
were echoing about. Painful thuds sounded off as people crashed to the ground,
some of them dead. After an hour of this blood-lusting furor began, it ended.
The few that were miraculously left unscathed fled instantly. Leonard and Phil
both were supine on the ground, they had been malevolently killed. Both of them
now had maculate garments, and their armaments had been pilfered.
A siren’ screech rang powerfully. It came closer and closer. I, in the dream,
began to panic. I started to dash off, but the coppers caught up to me. One was
only a meter behind me; he leaped. His arms plowed me to the ground, and my face
hit the black rock below; the crack it made resonated throughout the area.
I shot up in my bed, gasping out of fear. My right hand covered my heart as my
left felt around my face for blood and the damage done to the bone underneath my
skin. I sensed nothing. My heart was racing about, and a light flickered causing
me to jump and yelp in timidity.
After surveying my room with the aid of a light having been turned on I saw that I
was safe, and I returned under my flannel sheets and fell back to sleep; this time
unhindered by scares of my dreams, and woke the next morning feeling rejuvenated.
Around seven-thirty in the morning I opened up the arcade as I had become
accustomed to doing so: first make sure all the machines were powered up and
functioning; I unlocked the public latrines; finally I opened the main doors and
placed my “OPEN” sign for reasons that are self-explanatory. The young boy Mike
was waiting outside before I had opened it (I don’t know how long he waited), and
he skipped in with a radiant glow from his face emanating from a wide smile.
“Hello, sir, thank you,” he said to me with his voice slightly squeaking from
happiness, and I responded with all due respectful salutations to him.
Out of the dark woods came Nico hunched in a way that cast umbrage on his face,
but I could still see his eyes burning at me. He pointed at me sluggishly, and
bellowed with deep distaste, “Listen, Frank, I don’t want any crap from you. I’m
the one to help Leonard; don’t get involved, you’ll only screw matters up and make
them worse. Don’t- don’t you even dare talk to him. We don’t need you haughtily
flaunting your accomplishment that you have here. Just stay out.” The last three
words were said with soul-numbing coldness. I knew he would seek true vengeance;
he wasn’t patient anymore. I decided then and there to alienate myself from all
matters that would deviate me from the wants of Nico, which basically meant that I
would be alone in Onett for a decent elapse of time.
Nico skulked off back into the woods toward Twoson with the sun gleaming on his
blue vest. As I gazed at the sky Mike came up to me and tugged my shirt, and he
asked with pure innocence, “Sir, can you help me with something.” I nodded to him
and went back into the arcade knowing that I had a true friend.