The Afterlife of a Gamer

Chapter 20

"....You saw that, too?" 

"Yes, I did! What the hell was it?!"

Lewis had stood back up from falling on the ground, and stood sheepishly in the Hatfilms office. Smith looked to be a mixture of fear and anger. 

"Okay....For some time now, I've been seeing...things." 

"Things like that?!" 

"Yeah. It's been happening when I see people, too. It started out small, like just seeing small burns or ashes. But then....Scenes like that happen. I don't know what to do, Smith." Lewis turned and leaned against the wall. 

Smith relaxed and sighed. Any anger he had left disappeared, but he was still afraid. What could it mean?

"Have you told anyone else?" Smith asked. 

"No," Lewis looked like he was about to say more, but trailed off. 

"We have to," Smith said. "You said anyone who knows about you is at E3, right? We'll just tell them when they come back." 

"It's not that easy, Alex. I feel like we don't have much time left. That vision, we just saw? That was the most intense one, yet. I'm afraid it might be too late," Lewis' shoulders sunk, and he suddenly looked very much alive again. Not because he was transparent, because it looked like he had been working late and got frustrated over lost footage or audio. A defeated expression. 

"It's not too late," Smith reassurred. "They'll be back tomorrow. I can tell them. We'll cancel work for the rest of the week! Simon knows about you, right? Well, he's the boss, so he can cancel it for the week." 

"Then what would we tell the editors? What about Sparkles*? Strippin? Sjin, Ross, Trott? Any idea what to tell them to explain why they can't work for a week?" Lewis countered. "The point is, we can't tell them to get the hell away from here without revealing the real reason why. I have this bad feeling, Smith. I don't even want anyone in Yogtowers at this point." 

Smith thought for a moment. "Then why don't we do that? We'll tell them about you, get everyone gathered in one room, and show you to them. Then we'll cancel for the rest of the week. No worries." 

Lewis was silent for a moment. Smith raised his eyebrows as he waited an answer, tapping his fingers on his desk he was leaning on. Then Lewis sighed. 

"Okay. That only seems to be the best option we have left, so okay." 

Smith grinned and nodded, heading out the door with a goodbye leaving his lips. Lewis called out after him before he was out of sight. 

"Oh, and you still owe me that walk!"

***

The others had gotten back from E3 the next day, looking exhausted. Simon had given himself and the others a couple days off to rest, but this only added to prolonged ominous feeling in Lewis' chest. Even the thought of the firey visions made him want to scream at everyone to get the hell out of the office, since it seemed the place was going to be like that, anyway. Him and Smith decided that they probably mean the death of anyone inside Yogtowers, and since it was so fierce in the last vision, it was soon. 

Smith was also the one to tell the others who were aware of Lewis' presence of his own knowledge; but he wasn't going to tell them about the vision. Lewis was going to do that, at the time he was going to tell everyone else in Yogtowers of him even still existing. 

Smith had been wandering the halls after the E3 group had gotten back. Their couple days off ended quickly, it seemed, but did not lessen the feeling that soon a lot of people were going to be dead. 

The whole of Yogtowers, wherever you went, smelled either like pine or the ocean or whatever the label on the air fresheners said. Febreeze was being sprayed everywhere and offices covered with air fresheners. A strange, horrible smell had leaked into Yogtowers, and everyone was trying to cover it up. The reason, they thought an animal crawled somewhere in the walls and died. Others said someone spilled milk in the carpet and didn't clean it up. Whatever the reason, Simon phoned a person to come check it out, but they won't be coming until a week later. It didn't seem urgent, so they didn't think much of it at the time. 

Lewis had been getting anxious. Smith still needed to talk to everyone, and it's been days! It feels like he was just sitting out and not doing anything, when he needed to be doing something! 

So when he saw Hannah and Kim in the halls, he was relieved. They could actually get a move on with their plan!

Smith had also seen them and were planning on catching up to them. Lewis watched with a smile before drifting off. 

Smith had jogged up to the two girls and put his hands on their shoulders suddenly. They both squealed and turned to glare at him, while he gave them his best grin. 

"Hey there, ladies. I think I need to talk to you for a second," He gestured to Kim's office, and the other two exchanged glances then walked in, Smith following. 

"And what's this about?" Hannah asked. 

"It's about Lewis," Smith said, and the other two looked panicked for a second. "Don't worry, he explained it, I'm not about to call authorities." 

"Is that what he was doing while we were gone?" Kim asked. Smith nodded. 

"Did he give you a heart attack?" Hannah asked with a smirk. 

"I think I almost gave him one," Smith chuckled. "I walked in on him doing something with Simon's computer. He leaped about a foot and a half and disappeared almost immediatly. I'm pretty sure I was just as surprised as he was." 

"...How did you know that we know?" Kim asked. 

"He told me. He also told me that Simon, Duncan, and Martyn knows, too," Smith said. 

They nodded at his answer. "Yeah, that's right. So you wanted to come and tell us that?" Hannah replied. 

"Yes. Oh, and did you know he can possess people?" Smith asked. 

Kim's jaw dropped and she looked over at Hannah accusingly. "He can still?!"

"I didn't think he could...still....do it," Hannah said. 

"What do you mean?" Smith asked. 

Hannah sighed before she started the story of the Snatcher. Kim was already told the story, and put in her own input or opinion. Smith listened to every word carefully, raising an eyebrow at the story. 

"Whoa," Smith said after Hannah finished the tale. "He never told me that. In fact, he told me he had never possessed someone before." 

"He probably doesn't even remember it," Hannah shook her head. "But when you brought it up....Smiffy?" She narrowed her eyes accusingly at the ginger. 

"It wasn't even that long, I swear!" Smith said, holding his hands up jokingly. "We only did it for a few minutes!" He deliberately turned the answer into something inappropriate. 

Kim laughed while Hannah glared jokingly at the Sir. Smith winked while walking out of the office, Hannah calling out after him. 

"You stay out of my boyfriend, you hear?" She said jokingly. 

Kim poked her side. "I think you mean your boyfriend to stay out of him." 

"Oh, whatever, Kim. It sounds better my way."

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Hey! Just a heads-up, I won't be online for the next week and possibly this weekend due to camping! So that means no updates until I get back. :( I will be writing and thinking on ideas, though! So hopefully by the time I'm back, I'll have a chapter ready to type up! 

~L