It was morning.
The sleeping sleepy moon went back to sleep again.
Most people had to get ready to go to work.
Most people had to get ready to die.
Most people had to get ready to do something.
But our boy Greg he was going to get out of bed and play a video game.
GOX...
The face that rots - the Face that likes watching you..
-----------------"My eyes. I have eyes 👁️👁️ too, like you. And I am watching you."
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"Can you see me watching? ~~~
~~~Watching?
O I am watching.~~~
~~~I must just be a doll but I like to watch things too!"
--------------👁️👁️-------V
Greg met Pete at his place. He had a few things he needed to say...
But then there was that dog...
Darn that dog!
Pete had this pet, a huge woolly Komondor. There was nothing particularly special about the creature except for his head which was all messed up. There was no hair growing on its head and its eyes were all strange and warped - a real weird looking dog indeed. The animal would just stand or sit there starring at you from a darkened corner all uncanny valley like. Not a nice looking dog. Pete said the dog looked all messed up because it drank a whole bottle of tequila to itself one day and Greg fully believed the story.
'Let's go outside,' said Greg to his portly video game playing friend.
Greg needed to get away from the eyes of that mad looking dog...
So the two friends removed themself outside - luckily the dog did not follow...
Once outside the conversation began.
Greg started:
'Pete! Listen! I need to talk to you about that box of games you gave me the other day. Well one game in particular that caught my attention.'
'O aye? Do you mean paperboy?' said Pete.
'NO! Not that one. Another one. There was a disc in the box and it played this really weird game called GOX. There was only one copy of the disc. I played it all last night and this morning as well,' said Greg. 'Real mad game. Seemingly pointless. But after an hour of playing it (And yeah I played it for an hour! What else have I got to do?) trippy things started happening. I mean it mate. It was really weird. And then this morning the game just deleted itself! No joke! I put the disc in and nothing happens anymore! But there was this real weird picture in the game it popped up out of nowhere - I don't know if it was meant to be a jump scare or something like that - but I manged to take a shot of it real quick. Here look! What do you make of that mate? WEIRD or what hey?'
'That is weird yeah!' Pete replied drowsily.
'What does it look like to you?' Greg went on.
'I don't know mate, if I am honest. Looks like... someone's face I guess? But it looks all of a mess - all those weird colours. Yep! Looks... I don't know...'
'Demonic?'
'Like someone possessed, right,' said Pete.
'I want to know more but the game doesn't work no more,' Greg pushed on. 'Have you got another copy of it somewhere? Say that you do please!'
'To be honest I didn't even know about the game before you started talking about it just now!' Pete returned honestly. 'It was just a random bunch of games - I scrounged most of them from that shop across the road. If there is another copy of the game I guess that is where it will be, in that old shop. A lot of the games they sell are indie titles, budget games and a few games that were programmed locally by the local lads. If GOX is going to exist anywhere it will be in that shop I swear. It is the only place it can be.'
'There is a really weird mystery going on here I am sure of it,' Greg bumbled on. 'Just look at the shot of that face again, Pete.'
'It looks like a terrible nightmare I had the other day!'
'And you said that the shop sells games that have been programmed locally? That means someone down the road could have built GOX! How mad is that?' said Greg and he was looking at the shot of the creepy face again. 'What if this is the face of someone who was murdered?' he said. 'This could be a game programmed by a serial killer you know? It could contain a record of ALL of their killings. We could be looking at the face of a dead person right now. It is up to us Pete to solve the mystery. NOW. Do you have any money? We need money to buy the game!'
'I have got a couple of quid, nothing much,' Pete replied. 'The games are super cheap! Maybe I could do a swap? But listen up Greg mate if you really want to get into that shop and get this GOX game it is not going to be easy!'
'How do you mean?'
'Well you see we have got a problem. A BIG BIG problem.'
'O aye. I am listening! What's the BIG problem? The killer who built the game is going to try and stop us!'
Greg laughed but Pete was deadly serious about what he was saying.
'Worse than that mate,' said Pete. 'The shop is being managed by that crazy woman, you know the one? That dragon who threatened us the other day for loitering beside the stone corner.'
'O no! Not her!' Greg cried. 'She is BEYOND a dragon. O I can't stand her! Why does there always have to be a problem in life?' Greg moaned and sighed and shook his head. 'Here we are trying to solve a great mystery and we have that dragon woman to contend with,' he went on. 'You know who she reminds me of? That old Hollywood actress from back in the day - the one that married Richard Burton on and off... Uh Elizabeth Taylor! That is who the shop owner remind me of.'
'Elizabeth Taylor? O yeah! I know who she is! She was in Coronation Street wasn't she?' said Pete.
Greg had to quickly shut his podgy friend down before he got even more muddled. Pete wasn't into classic movies or classic actors either. No. Anything older than two days was lost to the young man. Indeed it can be said that the only thing classic about Pete were his socks which he had been wearing from the age of eight.
'?????? Okay forget about it it for now, Pete,' said Greg. 'We must focus on the task at hand! We need a strategy! Should we go into the shop all cool, or maybe we should sneak in grab the game and make a run for it?'
Pete, never subtle, suggested thievery:
'Maybe we could sneak in through the back entrance?' he said. 'That has got to be a way to do that!'
'Nah! If that witch catches us sneaking in through the back we will be done for. NO. We need to do this legit. I am going to play it cool - go in, normal customer, grab the game pay and walk out. But I am going to need to have a drink first. I am too nervous right now. Do you have any beers at home?'
'My Dad has got the wine in...'
'Then grab the wine. We'll have a quick glug and then we will set out!'
Pete got the wine and the two wacky lads had a quick glug each (enough to get the juice jumping up and down the veins and the brains...).
It didn't ever take long for Greg to get drunk.
Pete though, wow. He was a proper Richard Burton - a whiskey and vodka a day kind of guy, put it away like it was all made of pure water and nothing else. A real madman was Pete when he had a drink at hand. And Pete was one of those lucky fellows who never had a hangover the next day!
Greg on the other hand he was a few sips in and was as drunk as a cat on spiked milk!
Already Greg was babbling out drunken nonsense words - such words as follows:
'I wonder why an Elizabeth Taylor style woman would want to run a video game shop. You think it would be a goofy guy - someone like us. Someone who gets it. But instead it's this crazy dragon woman who appears, by my eye, to have ZERO interest in video games. What is she doing running the place? Madness I tell you!'
Pete heard this and chuckled lightly. The wine always put Pete in a good mood! 'Are you trying to say Elizabeth Taylor can't run a video game shop? You saying it HAS to be a goofy man, like women don't get video games? Well I say, Greg, how very politically incorrect of you!'
Pete was only having a laugh of course and Greg jokingly jabbed his friend back with his elbow.
After a few more glugs of the good stuff Greg felt or thought that he felt drunk enough to face the dragon across the road.
'Right Pete! Let's do this! Gosh...' Greg started to moan and to wobble about like a clown on a unicycle. 'There is something crazy about that wine!' he said holding his head. 'It doesn't taste normal... like... weird... do you think someone put something in it mate?'
'I think my Dad might have put some of his special spice in it a few days ago...' said Pete.
'Good Lord...' Greg exclaimed. 'O well! There is nothing else for it now I guess than to press on with the quest!. We have a mission to accomplish. We have to face the dragon!'
So it was time to face the dragon.
Fully drunk our boy Greg walked right up to the counter and ordered a copy of GOX.
Greg was so drunk at the time he didn't realise that he was staring at the dragon lady... Maybe starring a bit too much than was healthy. It was mighty weird but behind the mist of his wine hazed mind the woman almost resembled...
??? A vulture ???
She looked like a vulture!
O the horror!
'What are you staring at me like that for, boy?' scowled the dragon lady.
'O sorry! I mean no offence! I just thought you looked like... a species of... uh. Well basically you look like a bird!'
The dragon lady was offended! You could see it in her fierce green eyes. She turned full force against Greg and bellowed out these frightful words:
'How dare you objectify me you beast! Damn you! All you men are the same - walking in here and leering at me like I am an object on show, like I am piece of meat! You bastard! I am a human being, not something for you and your dirty friend over there to lust over!'
Greg was so flabbergasted by her words he literally did not know what to say, so instead he just stood there, drunk, stupid, and staring...
My gosh! She does really look like a vulture!
Dragon Lady bellows on - her foul tongue lashing like a whip against the dry air:
'You lusty pig!' she roared. 'How dare you keep looking at me like that! What do you want me to do? Do a little dance for you, eh? You dirty little bastard. Filth! My husband works in the police forces! I am going to have him arrest you and your friend for sexual assault, do you hear me? You scumbags! How dare you harass me like this!'
Just then a morsel of common sense kindled in Greg's wine soaked brain.
Greg slammed the cash down on the counter grabbed the game and screamed: 'Run for it Pete mate!' And they ran out of the shop like they were both on the set of Jurassic Park being chased by a T Rex. The voice of the dragon lady haunted them in the distance. She was screaming at the hilt of her lungs: 'My husband is going to get you! He is with the police! Do you hear me boys! You are going to be locked up with the best, do you hear? Locked up the best!'
The two lads kept running.
Eventually the voice of dragon lady faded into the distance...
It was a wonderful moment.
It was now time to enjoy their prize...
Their copy of the illusive video game called GOX.
'What do you think GOX actually means?' said Greg to his podgy and puffy friend.
'I was thinking about that a second ago,' said Pete. 'I think it might be named after that advert from years ago - remember that one with that scarecrow dancing about? I think it is the name of the scarecrow.'
'Could be I guess,' said Greg. Greg was so drunk during that moment he would have accepted any answer his friend had given him.
Back in his room Greg slipped the disc out and stabbed it into his computer.
It was time to play some GOX.
Greg was not looking forward to it. It was an awful game...
But then there was that mystery he had to solve!
Greg was determined he was going to solve it - even if he had to do it fully drunk!
The game fired into action and Greg played.
And played.
And played...
And just when he was about to turn the sodding thing off a message was displayed on the screen - clear clean and green the words the read:
'Thanks for playing my game! I hope to meet you one day. Guess my name go on guess what my name is! Keep playing and maybe you will find out what my name is... What's your name by the way? Type it in. Ah Greg! Keep playing Greg and you will find my name - and me - eventually. I want us to be friends, Greg. I am waiting for you to find me!'
'Greg kept playing of course.
Another message popped up:
'I have seen you Greg. I will visit you tonight! Then I want you to visit me...'
That spooky face crackled back onto the screen again and remained floating there for half a second (literally).
The face disappeared and in its place are these words:
'One day you will know my name - but first you must play my game... Keep playing Greg. Keep Playing...'
KEEP PLAYING.
To Read GOX part 1 click here.
For more adventures set in the town of Fenwick check out:
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