GAME OVER

The World Is Watching {Small Pre-Level}

I fight the darkness. Its something I've always been good at. Everything hurts, and the back of my head throbs with an oncoming migraine. A deep red hue meets my gaze as I slowly open my eyes. A groan leaves my lips, and everything in me wants to let the darkness pull me back under.

"Player Three," A deep automatic voice pulls me back, and I slowly sit up. "Six hours and three minutes."

I sit up slowly, the red hue of the room giving this place a daunting and almost scary appearance. I'd been laying on a rotating disc, and can see few others hovering in the air and a high platform connected to a long, thin rail. The rail leads to a large, circular room called the Choosing Room.

Below, I could hear screaming. Monstrous roars, lurching moans and high-pitched screams that came straight from a horror movie. Inky black darkness hid it's contents, and I find myself wondering just how long of a jump it is.

A large holographic television becomes fuzzy, and slowly comes into focus along one of the cavernous walls.

"Hello Abigail Adams," It wasn't the deep booming voice that spoke, but clearly a computer generated one. "Welcome to a new, virtual reality video game called GAME OVER. You were a previous runaway caught by our organization."

A photograph pops up on the television, and I stare at the vaugley familiar people staring back at me. A middle-aged woman no older than thirty nine has pride in her dark green eyes, and the man beside her the same. There were two children - a girl and a boy - and just as soon as I see it, it's taken away again.

It's replaced by a missing poster with the photograph of a girl on it.

"How do you get out of here, you may ask? Get to the end of Level 10 and you will have riches beyond your wildest imagination. You will also be sent home safely to your families. For immediate release, Players must pay off a balance of $1,000 or 25,000 in arcade coins. Lose and consequences may be severe." Three stick figures appear on the screen. "You will have three lives; each time you lose a life, your health decreases by 30%."

A new little box appears hovering over the stick figures. Its glittering white and holds a red cross on each corner. "These boxes will revive your health, and may have an extra life included to keep you in the game." A new box appears on the screen; its glittering gold and red. "Your memories have each been taken from you. Your main objective among many others will be to obtain your memories back from an opposing players. The player that has your memory is Player One: Gold.

"None of the other players know your name or inside the Color Choosing Room, but each can see your Pre-Level. Players will address each other by Color. Welcome to the Pre-Level Player Three, where your current objective is to make it to the Choosing Room or risk falling into the Pit of Monsters below. The world is watching. Good luck."

I gaze down, realizing for the first time that I'm nearly naked aside from a white bra and white panties. My feet are cold, and the spinning platform makes me slightly dizzy.

The world is watching.

A countdown clock appears on the side of the Choosing Room, and it reads 20:00. When an air horn goes of signaling the start of our Pre-Level, I stare up at the next spinning platform with both fear and adrenaline churning through my bones and just lime that I know what to do.

The timer is ticking in my ears, and I can hear my heart beat echo in my chest. Before my thoughts can stop me, I take the running leap and jump straight up onto the next platform. Despite every bone in my body screaming commands at me to stop, I keep going.

The world is watching.

The last platform is slightly higher than the rest of them, and I try to brace myself for the jump. But nothing could prepare me for how high it is, and just my hands manage to catch onto the edge.