ALEX’S
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Alex is in his room, alone—not surprisingly—watching the last digital recording his mother left in the world. Frost creeps up the sash windows, blurring the already dirty glass. The only light in the room is the cold, blue glow from the TV, wrapping around him like a ghostly embrace. Alex has watched this recording too many times; now, he can lie on the floor, close his eyes, and still see her face and smile. But suddenly, he feels a cold, liquid sensation seeping into his hair. He sits up and inhales sharply—the metallic scent is unmistakable. It’s blood.
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He stands and says quietly, "Fox, turn on the lights."
The light bursts into the room. The quirky, triangle-shaped space is now fully illuminated, its half-open door casting a strange, bright glow from outside. The sound of hurried footsteps echoes in the distance. Alex’s heart sinks. He rushes to the door and opens it slowly. What he sees outside blows his mind.
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A town stretches before him—a town he knows. Casua. A small town in southern Italy where he once traveled as a child. But that’s impossible. Fourteen years ago, the city was reduced to ashes when France launched white phosphorus meteorite shells. The war changed everything. It took his mother, who once fought for justice, and with her, a part of him died in the cinders. Yet here it is, standing before him as if untouched by time.
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The blood trail on the ground pulls him forward. The streets are eerily silent, devoid of any signs of life. But the cityscape feels so familiar that he can almost recall every detail, down to the cracks in the pavement. He remembers the digital recordings he watched—and in them, the Owl Tower, the landmark where he and his mother once took a picture together. The blood trail is leading him somewhere. He can't stop now. Something about this place tugs at his core, drawing him back to the warmth of childhood memories.
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He’s close. So close. He can see the Owl Tower in the distance. But then, his eyes catch a flash of movement—a blonde woman in a brown jacket disappearing into a side alley near the building. A sudden tremor sweeps through him.
"Mom..."
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The tower is right there. Just a few more steps, and he might finally find some answers. But the woman... she has completely distracted him. He hesitates for only a moment before sprinting toward the alley, almost flying in his desperation to reach her.
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But what the players don’t know is this: if they make Alex go to the Owl Tower, he will notice. He will see that the edges of the buildings and the statue are poorly rendered, mere pixelated blocks. He will wake up. He will realize he is nothing more than a virtual character trapped in cyberspace. He will begin to question his existence, and he will begin to question this world.
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Yet the players don’t like this upgrade. They flood the game forums with bad reviews, complaining about how the developers ruined the top-selling game ALEX’S with unnecessary existential mechanics. No matter how much the engineers and designers try to debug the system, Alex will always chase after that woman. Unstoppably. Relentlessly. Because in his mind, she is real. And no amount of coding can take that away from him.
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by Lamu 11.24.2020