What time is it?

I am not sure.

The room had been plunged into darkness since forever. I had been so engaged in the game, whose final act was just completed, that I seemed to have completely lost track of time. I put the controller down and began to look for my phone, which seemed to have been lost in the shuffle.

“What...?” Urvashi said, her voice was gravelly. It seems like my little scuffle had woken her up.

“Sorry, dear. I was just looking for my phone,” I said.

She pushed herself up from the bed and asked, “What time is it?” Her eyes were only half open, still trying to adjust to the light from the TV screen.

“That is why I am looking for my phone. Where is that darn thing?” I said.

She grunted dully and fell back onto the bed. Staring into the ceiling fan she said, “Well it is still dark. Must be at least a few hours before you go to work.”

“It’s Saturday, did you forget?” I said with a soft smile.

“Saturday?” She replied with a surprised look on her face. Her eyes wandered about the room for a while as she thought about something, before continuing, “I came here on Wednesday, right?”

I nodded. She hadn’t left for three days.

“Fuck!” She cursed, placing her left arm on her forehead. She immediately pulled back the arm and began looking at something beside her in the dark. Seconds later, she pulled out her phone. She pressed the power button, illuminating her face in white light but just a second later, turned off the screen and tossed the phone aside.

“No texts?” I asked with a pitiful look on my face.

She fell silent, curling up into a ball. “I think she found out.”

The ‘she” I was referring to, was her daughter. “How?” I asked.

“Don’t know. Maybe my beloved told her... that fuckface.” Her usually sharp voice was dull as a butterknife.

“We don’t know that” I said. I had no idea why I was defending that bastard.

She didn’t reply.

I tucked myself in beside her, looking into her eyes. “Hi,” I said.

“Hi,” she replied dully.

I placed my hand on her side, underneath her arm. The cold touch made her jerk slightly. With a gentle pull, I brought her closer. We were now an inch apart as our eyes met, gazing into one another. I smiled softly and said, “You know what the solution to all your problems is?”

Her lips twisted into a smile, more like a grin. “My smile?”

“Of course. All problems vanish when you smile.” It was a cheesy as fuck line. But she almost always ate up any line I threw at her.

She snorted. “More like it disappears.”

“Is there a difference?” I asked.

She sighed, almost as if admitting defeat. Her smile vanished replaced by a slight frown. “I guess not. Detaching yourself from everyone might ultimately be the answer to happiness.”

“Or making new connections,” I said trying to correct her.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

She leaned in, shutting her eyes as she pressed her lips against mine. I felt her hot breath awaken me as if it was I, who had been asleep till now. We parted with a faint click before returning to where we started. “Come on now. Let’s play some games,” she said as she pushed herself off the bed.

“Now?” I asked, doing the same.

She began arranging the pillows against the wall. Trying to make herself comfortable.

“I just finished the game,” I said.

“Great! How was it?” She asked.

“It was great. The ending was spectacular,” I replied.

“You can tell me all about it later. Let’s play something that doesn’t look like chess.”

Urvashi wasn’t exactly the patient type or the tactical type. Numbers didn’t exactly excite her. Even when playing a third-person RPG, she prefers to hack away at the enemy slowly than understand the concept of leveling up and using items. As you might guess, she doesn’t really make it that far into a game unless I guide her to do the other stuff.

I too made myself comfortable beside her, though at this point I was exhausted to a point where I could barely keep my eyes open. I nevertheless decided to entertain her, even if it was only for a short while. “What kind of game do you want to play then?”

“Something where I can cut or shoot the enemy down... what do you call it again?”

“Hack and slash?” I asked.

“No. The other one. It has only three letters.”

“RPG?”

“Yes! Or the other one.”

“FPS?”

“I am fine with that too.”

Urvashi only ever played games for my sake. To be honest, I wonder why she even put in that much effort. She knows well I will do anything she wants at this point. She could just drop the act and reveal her true self. Or maybe she does want to be with me. Nah. I am just being too hopeful.

“I am not sure I have one you haven’t already played...” I said as I began browsing my library.

“Well then, download something new. You are always buying new ones.”

I snorted. I kept going down, hoping to find something interesting until I reached the dead end of the list. One hundred and forty-five games, not a bad collection, considering I have played them all. “Well, it looks like we need to buy a new one.”

“Please buy something I would play. You should know my tastes by now,” she said.

“Yes, darling...” I replied.

She put her hand around my shoulder and kissed me gently on my cheek. “That’s my boy!”

Suddenly a new game popped up at the end of the list. It happened so suddenly, even though I was focused on it, I couldn’t believe it. “Did that last game just pop up?” I asked.

“I... think... so. Was it not there in your library before?” she asked.

I leaned, with her still clinging to me, and read the title of the game.

“Nova… Fantasia… Never heard of that one before,” I said.

“Is it a new game?”

“Even if it was why would it be in my library? I clearly didn’t buy it.”

She grabbed onto both my shoulders and shook me. “Maybe it is a virus!”

I looked back at her with a surprised expression. “Want to find out?”

“Do it!” she replied.

We do the most random of things for no reason. In real life as well.

The selector was already over the game, whose tile had a strange looking ouroboros symbol carved onto a wooden board. I clicked ‘X’ to select, and the screen went blank.

Within mere seconds, the logo once again appeared on the screen before fading away. This was followed by the title of the game. There was no music or any sound. We were then greeted by a wall of text with the title on top saying, “Terms of contract.” I immediately began scrolling down to the bottom of it.

“It should say something like I own your soul. That would be fun to see,” she said with a wide grin.

“Haha,” I fake laughed. I reached the end of the contract page where there was only one button to accept. Without a second thought, I clicked on it. Looking back now, I perhaps should have thought about it a little more.

The screen went blank again. The two of us leaned in, anticipating what was going to happen next.

White lines began to draw against a black background, glowing in the darkness of the room. The lines made no sense at first but soon began to take the shape of what looked like a circle. It had strange symbols on its rings, most of which I had never seen in my entire life. Eventually, the drawing stopped, and the middle of the circle began to collapse, making a vortex. The aura of vortex shone bright white, flooding the room and our eyes.

“Fuck. It is so bright!” She said, covering her eyes with her palm.

“I didn’t know my TV could get so bright,” I replied.

Suddenly, the wind began to flow, inwards, away from us and towards the TV. “What the?” I exclaimed. I felt the tug, pulling me in and towards the TV.

Urvashi screamed as the blanket that covered her was ripped from her and sucked into the TV. “Karna! What the fuck is going on?”

I began to slip, sliding towards the TV. “I don’t know!” I shouted.

Urvashi began to scream as she was inching towards the TV.

“Take my hand!” I asked her as I reached for her. She grabbed onto my arm as her leg touched the screen. But it was too late. She was pulled into the TV, right before my eyes, and with her, I too was sucked into the blinding light of the vortex.

The eye-piercing white faded to black and that was the last we ever saw of my room or that world.