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.