Feeding the Addiction

This is a short story about a young boy who plays a video game all the time. The game is something his father bought before he went missing. No one knows that it's 'special' in a very dangerous way.

Dylan screamed at the top of his lungs. His mother rushed into the living room, her voice frantic. She stopped in her tracks at the sight before her.

“Dylan, how many times have I warned you that you can’t yell like that unless something is wrong?”

The little boy jerked his head from side to side. “She won’t move.”

The mother sighed. “Abigal, please step away.”

“But Mom, it’s not fair. I want to have a turn.”

Susan threw her hands in the air. “I never should have let your father buy that contraption. I never thought it would be such a headache.”

Abigal stamped her foot. “You should have made him buy two controllers. Now, it’s too late.”

Susan didn’t need the nine year old to remind her that her husband was still a missing person. The police had no leads. Even she couldn’t figure out what had happened. He’d been in the living room when she’d gone to bed. When she woke up the next day, everything looked the same. Except that Robert was gone. There was no trail. It was like he’d dropped off the face of the Earth.

“Abigal, let your brother play until he loses, then you can have a turn.”

“Yeah. Now move.”

“That’s still not fair. He’ll never die. He’s gotten too good at the game.”

Susan sighed. The young girl was right. It seemed like all her five year old did anymore was play that game. She gave a moment’s consideration to destroying it; or at least putting it up for a while. She changed her mind. She couldn’t remove the last remaining connection they had to their father. She would just have to find some ground rules.

“Dylan, ten more minutes. Then your sister gets it, whether you’ve lost or not.”

The rest of the night went by in peace. Susan’s system seemed to work out pretty well. That night, after everyone went to bed, Dylan stuck back onto the machine. He wanted to see his dad one more time. Then, he’d go to sleep.

“You have been chosen!”

The television screen turned to gray static. The boy in the floor disappeared. “Marcus had taken another victim.”

 

 

Author's Note

This is written for a prompt, "You have been chosen!" I tried to write the story around that specific line and had a word count to adhere to. However, I'd like to know what everyone thinks.