The Witch Game
Chapter 1
I closed my eyes as tightly as I could and then, for good measure, I covered them with my hands.
“Okay,” I said, “I'm ready.”
“Are you sure?” Mom asked. “No peeking.”
“I can't see anything, Mom, honest!”
I didn't know it at the time, but my best friend, Reggie, was waving his hand in front of my face. From his seat beside me, he wiggled and jabbed his fingers in the air, just inches from my covered eyes. He was trying to make me flinch.
“He can't see anything, Mrs. Wright,” Reggie said, satisfied that I really couldn't see anything.
So there I was, sitting at the kitchen table with my eyes closed, waiting to see what Mom and Dad had gotten me for my twelfth birthday. I really had no idea what it might be, but they were making such a big production out of it that I was starting to think it might be something pretty special.
I could hear the rustling sounds of people and things moving around.
“Keep those eyes closed,” my dad called out.
“I am.”
I took a deep breath and waited. After a few seconds, I noticed that I no longer heard any movement. I turned my head left, then right, straining to hear anything at all. I could hear the low hum of the refrigerator and...
And that was pretty much it.
“You guys still here?” I called out.
Nobody answered.
I waited a few seconds more, but the seconds were starting to feel like hours.
“Mom? Dad?”
It was driving me crazy. Something just felt wrong.
“Should I open my eyes now?”
Still nothing. I suddenly felt very alone in the kitchen. I reached to my right, where Reggie had been sitting, and waved my hand around.
Reggie wasn't there.
With my other hand I felt to my left. Just a few minutes ago, Margaret Landon had been sitting next to me. Her family moved in next door over the summer and she goes to school with me and Reggie. She's actually pretty cool for a girl and I didn't mind at all when Mom invited her to the party.
But she wasn't there either.
“Guys?”
Now I finally could hear something besides the droning refrigerator: my own heartbeat.
“If somebody doesn't say something, I'm counting to three and then I'm opening my eyes.”
Nothing.
“One... two... three!”
I opened my eyes and looked around. I was completely alone in the kitchen. Not only that, but the lights had been turned off. It wasn't quite dark outside, but it was getting close. Pale, pinkish-orange light barely spilled in through the kitchen windows. What had been a festive party atmosphere just minutes before now seemed like a graveyard at dusk.
“Where is everybody?” I called out.
In the dim light I could see what was left of my birthday cake sitting in the middle of the kitchen table. It stood there in the gloom like a miniature headstone.
I was about to get up and start looking for everybody when I heard something that made my blood run cold.
Cackling.
It was soft and low. It came from the family room that opened off of the kitchen directly across from where I sat. The cackling was getting louder.
Someone - or something - was coming toward me. I could just make out its shape now in the family room doorway. It seemed to be wearing a dark, baggy cloak of some kind.
And a tall, crooked hat.
It moved toward me, stepping into the failing light of evening. Now I could see its gnarled face, its bulging left eye, its sharp and twisted teeth.
It was a witch and it was whispering my name.
“Joshuaaaa... Joshuaaaa...” she chanted slowly.
The witch was getting closer. She reached out to me and grinned a wide, carnivorous grin.
I was frozen in my seat. In an instant, her bony hands would be on me, but I couldn't move. I couldn't even breathe.
“Joshuaaaa...”
Her dry and brittle fingers clamped down on my shoulders. I could smell her breath. It smelled like sewage. I wanted to scream but couldn't. Her grip on my shoulders tightened. She began to shake me and sing out my name in her ancient, raspy voice.
“Joshuaaaa... Joshuaaaa... Joshuaaaa...”
Chapter 2
“Joshua!”
Suddenly the witch was gone and my eyes were closed again.
“Joshua,” my dad repeated, “you can open your eyes now.”
I gladly did so and was relieved to see that the kitchen was as it should be. Mom and Dad stood on the other side of the table. Next to Mom was my little sister, Jenny. The lights were all on and Reggie and Margaret were once again sitting to either side of me. I blinked a couple of times, adjusting to the light. The way my heart pounded, I felt like a rabbit who had just escaped being caught and eaten by a hawk.
“Happy birthday!” my parents cried out in unison. Everyone else chimed in with birthday wishes as well and they all started cheering and clapping. I looked down and saw for the first time the gift that my folks had put in front of me: a laptop computer.
“Well,” my mom said, “what do you think?”
I swallowed dryly. “It's awesome!” I replied.
My head was spinning. On the one hand, the computer in front of me was the perfect birthday gift. It was exactly what I'd been hoping for. On the other hand, I wasn't sure what had just happened to me. Had I fallen asleep and had a weird dream? The vision of the witch was already fading and I didn't want to seem ungrateful – especially since I had wanted my own laptop for so long – so I pushed it out of my mind and focused on the present.
“Thanks!” I said, mustering all the enthusiasm I could.
My parents either hadn't noticed anything strange about the way I was acting or, if they had noticed, they were chalking it up to birthday excitement. Either way worked for me, as long as they knew how much I appreciated their gift.
“This is the best present ever!” I added to drive the point home. I was beginning to feel normal again.
The laptop was open and my parents had turned it on. It was silver and black and the LCD screen displayed the words “Happy Birthday, Joshua!” in big, colorful letters.
Dad reached around and hit the F1 key and the birthday message, which had been taking up the whole screen, shrank down to about half its size, revealing the computer desktop in the process.
“This is a used computer,” he said. There was a discernible note of pride in his voice. “I got a really good deal on it down at Computer Corner in town.”
Dad was always on the lookout for a “really good deal.”
“I think it'll be more than adequate for your first computer,” he added.
“Oh, absolutely,” I replied. “It's perfect!”
I placed my index finger on the touch pad and dragged the cursor in a celebratory lap around the screen.
“It's really nice,” Margaret said.
“Does it have any games?” asked Reggie.
“Sure,” Dad answered. “Click on the Programs button.”
I did so and a menu of other buttons popped up. One was called “Games” and when I positioned the mouse cursor over it, a menu of games appeared. Each item in the game menu consisted of a small picture or icon followed by the name of the game itself. The first game was Black Jack, a card game, so its icon was a small picture of playing cards. After that was a small picture of a pawn for the game of Chess, and so on, in alphabetical order.
I scanned down the list to see what other games were included. My heart stopped when I reached the last one in the menu. It was a game called Witch Way, but it wasn't the name of the game that gave me the scare. It was the icon. The picture was small and crude, as icons usually are, but there was no mistaking what it was.
It was the witch.
Chapter 3
My hand recoiled from the laptop. Once again, I was afraid my parents would get the wrong impression and think that I didn't like the computer. I made myself say something positive.
“Yeah, looks like several fun games on here,” I said. I hoped it didn't sound as weak as I felt.
“Ha! These games are old school!” Reggie said.
“Well,” my mom chimed in, “we didn't really buy it just so you could play games.”
“That's right,” Dad said. “We got it so you could use it for your school work and we want you to use it responsibly. You have to follow some basic guidelines, especially when you get on the internet, just like you have to follow the rules when you ride your bike.”
I was grateful for the subject change. It helped calm my nerves.
“Yeah, I know, Dad,” I replied. “We covered that in my computer club at school.”
My school has clubs that meet every Friday after lunch. The clubs are a way for us kids to do something just for the pure fun of it, outside of regular classes. For instance, Reggie is really good at drawing stuff, so he joined the art club. For his club project, he's making his own comic book.
I, on the other hand, have no artistic talent at all, but I do like computers, so I joined the computer club. For our project we're learning how to build a web site from scratch. Until today, I was the only club member who didn't have his own laptop. Now I'd be able to save my work on my computer like everybody else.
“Well,” Dad continued, “just be sure you follow the guidelines they gave you. Unfortunately, the internet can sometimes be a little spooky.”
“I will, Dad.”
I didn't have the heart to tell my parents that, when it came to spooky, the internet couldn't hold a candle to the thought of that witch somehow being in my computer.
I resolved right then to delete the Witch Way game the first chance I got. I knew the idea seemed a little crazy. I mean, what could a computer witch do to me, right? It was just a game, after all.
If I'd had any idea of the things that were about to happen, I wouldn't have waited. In fact, I probably would have thrown that whole computer into the garbage right then and there.
* * * * * *
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