“Says the guy with instant access to voice-to-text translators in his eyeball.” I mocked, hiding the fact that sitting up was harder than I’d expected, “How long until it’s working?”
“You know as well as I do that it’s just gonna be test after test until we get it right. Kathy’s code is hard to comb through, and the fact that she can barely send a ‘K’ without shooting all kinds of red flags isn’t helpin’ our situation any.” Hugo said in as comforting a voice as he could muster, “I know you want better news than that, bu-”
“I know, I know… I guess I just didn’t think it’d be this hard, you know?”
My friend could do little more than nod knowingly at that, it’d been months of me pestering him and he’d run out of nice ways to say ‘Give it time.’
“Alright,” I said after a few seconds of silence and sucking back tears that never quite came, “I’m ready, let’s try.”
“Are you sure?” Hugo asked, reminding me of the time things had gone slightly awry, “I can just let you relax for a while? And I’m sure I can keep doing tests on myself for now.”
“You know that it’s different,” I replied, feeding the serious energy that had filled the room of peace, “she’s different.”
I’d been pushing it, I knew that. I should’ve been focusing on actually fixing my body and mind before letting Hugo tinker with both, but I couldn’t help but force it.
“Okay, alright,” Hugo let out with a broken sigh tapping my left temple twice, “just… make sure you close your eyes this time, try to do your best to clear your thoughts.”
I did as I was told, not wanting a repeat of the flash that blinded me the week beforehand, and breathed through the pain that was slowly working its way up my unsupported back.
“Whisky-whiskey,” Hugo started before pausing for a moment to pull over my chair, “two-sixer, fiver-fiver-nine.”
I listened to Hugo drone on with his code that he’d assured me was necessary to prevent any accidental activation, doing my best not to sigh with boredom as thirty full seconds went by.
“-orange October.” he finally finished, causing a quiet tone to ping in my ears, “Whenever you’re ready…”
While I understood the concern that came through in Hugo’s voice, I couldn’t help but feel slightly annoyed that it made me hesitate.
I wasn’t ready for another mess-up, and I sure as Hell couldn’t handle another week of random twitches and spontaneous bowel movements.
As sad as it made me, I was about ready to call the whole thing off, climb into my wheelchair, and go on living my life as a happy ‘citizen’ of Switzerland.
But then, right as I let out a defeated sigh, I remembered that little chirp in her voice and I knew what I had to do.
“Blue fairy…” I muttered with a flinch, preparing for the worst and hoping to God for the best.
For the longest time there was nothing but silence, just this sort of ringing in my ears that seemed to desperately want to crescendo but lacked the ability to do so.
“Sorry bud,” Hugo practically exhaled as he struggled to get the words out, “I guess I’ll just keep…”
“See? Told you I’d see you soon.” a familiar voice whispered in my ear with a happy little giggle, causing a goofy, toothy grin to spread across my face.
“What took you so long?”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Zachariah Dracoulis is an aficionado of all things geek and spends most of his free time with his wife and daughter absorbing as much content as possible. He is currently working on helping to increase awareness for GameLit, a newly established genre, as well as expanding his catalogue of novels, novellas, and short stories.
He also thinks you’re awesome, and says that you should go out and have a great day, or stay in, or do whatever it is that makes you happy.
LINKS
If you enjoyed this, or just like books based in video games in general, then be sure to check out the Facebook groups below. They’re a great way to meet like-minded people, and maybe even help you get your start in creating your own GameLit story.
GameLit: facebook.com/groups/GameLit/
GameLit Society: facebook.com/groups/GameLitSociety/
Also make sure you check out my Facebook page and sign up to my mailing list, both of which are a great way to stay up to date with what I’m publishing
Facebook: facebook.com/zachariahdracoulis/
Mailing List: eepurl.com/dnwRub
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