AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Something tugs on my sleeve...
I still have my degree. I could start applying for corporate tech jobs. At this rate, I'd make more money.
Ching! Ching! Ching!
Although, that may prove difficult with a hole in my resume.
Another tug, more aggressive this time.
I'd have to erase all evidence of my indie background. Companies don't value candidates with entrepreneurial roots.
CHINGCHINGCHINGCHING—
"JULIANA!"
I wrench from my trance at the sound of Mei's bark. "Huh?" I look around.
"Look—look!" She holds up a phone.
Meghan groans. "Would you silence that nuisance? It's giving me and the rest of the customers a migraine."
I squint, realizing it's mine. Banners pop up on the lock screen, one after another, overlapping so quickly I can hardly read them. Until it hits me—and I'm weightless. I sink back into my chair, tears welling in my eyes.
And listen.
CHA-CHING!
CHA-CHING!
CHA-CHING!
CHA-CHING...
"Hellooooo, yoo-hoo." Meghan comes up behind me, lowering her head just above my shoulder, squinting just as I did. "What're you waiting for?!" she booms in my ear. "Turn it off. What even are all those?"
"Orders," I whisper.
She goes. Fucking. Silent.
Until…
"That can't be right—give me that." She snatches my phone from Mei's grasp, clacking on the screen frantically. "See?" She huffs when it goes silent. "It's just a glitch." She taps some more. "Now there are only chat messages. No orders. Oops... Shit," she curses beneath her breath. "One had a link. Wait, what the—"
A feminine voice blares through the phone's speakers. "NO, MABEL, NO!!"
I snap to attention, my posture straightening like a steel pole. Is that...? No... It can't be—
"MY KITTY!" Laughter erupts from the device. "Ha! Gotcha. Sorry, alien boy, my tom cat's not coming aboard your spacecraft."
IT IS HER.
Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.
I bolt from my chair, sending it toppling behind me, without a care in the world if the ruckus draws attention or not. Invading Meghan's space, my heart clammers as I witness the last person I'd expect on this entire planet playing my game.
"No way..." I breathe.
Sporting a glittery tube top, sweatpants, and a pink headset, a girl with flaming red hair lounges across the armrests of a matching-pink gamer chair, burying her head into her phone. She takes up about a fourth of the screen, but the rest of it... is my game.
