She stood atop a grim, decaying structure of a pagan temple. A storm spread itself against the sky, showering ice upon the old ruin, violently washing away the ancient dust off the runic inscriptions engraved on the stones by worshippers of long-forgotten gods. Lightnings rendered the sky from nearly pitch black to indigo. Her opponent was lurking somewhere below, among the debris of broken monuments, walls and altars, hiding in the temple’s senile glory.
It was only for the visor that she could see through the hail and darkness. Amanda loved storms, they thrilled her and reminded her of the unrestrained power that nature possessed. This storm made no impression upon her, she had seen it a countless number of times, she had fought so many battles in the temple that she learned to ignore it completely. The opponent. Only he was important. He and the Lascannon she wielded.
Her hand flicked. Amanda smiled.
“head shot” she typed and then saw a pillar of light for a brief moment. Her opponent was being reborn within Amanda’s sight. Her hand flicked again.
“head shot” she repeated and leapt down to where she thought he might regain life. They met around the corner of a tight hallway. He had anticipated the girl’s move and came at her with a Chaingun he had picked up. Too late, too slow.
“haha, head shot”
“four!”
“five”
“six…”
Amanda made her through the shrine with fearsome speed. The only breather her victim had was the moment when she was typing or when he got spawned in a really distant point.
“seven” typed the aggressor when she inflicted another consecutive hit. This time her opponent was saved from death by an Armour he had managed to pick up. He didn’t wait for the girl to stop typing and fired a rocket at her feet. Amanda made a swiping motion in her left light cube and evaded the projectile into a dark corner with the elegance of a balet dancer. The Lascannon was not ready to fire again yet and the second rocket was smoking its way to kill her. Amanda realised that she would not leap away this time. She paced forward so that the blast would be directly under her feet and then jumped. Blazing like a fireball, she was flung with enourmous speed into the air and over the enemy. Before he could turn around, she fired the Lascannon.
“eight…………” the girl landed. Her Combat Armour was nearly desintegrated. She picked up the Rocket Launcher by the remains of the decapitated and ripped them apart with a laser beam. Dark blood was sprayed over the temple’s cold stone. Amanda was invincible. Always. Whenever she got close enough to someone’s virtual face, she could tell that terror is hiding behind it. She loved to be feared, that was what she enjoyed most. She felt that nobody in this world could challenge her. She was a god. Those arcane inscriptions in the temple were carved to worship her. And they have always been there, as if divinity was destined to her.
Amanda stopped. She watched the hail smashing against her shoulder plates, bouncing off and falling down to her feet ever so calmly. The storm was quiet and tranquil. Lightning struck nearby. The game ended.
“haha.”
“get a fucking life or something man.”
“what was that supposed to mean?” asked Amanda.
“you heard me” came the reply.
“no no, explain” retorted the girl, aliasing as Thresh again.
“what is there to explain? what time is it? you live in this fucking server. go get a girlfriend or something.”
This kind of behaviour always got Amanda aggravated. Someone’s 30 to -3 loss had nothing to do with her social life, such excuses were of the most idiotic kind. Nobody ever cried that footballers trained too much. Why? Why the hell should he care about her personal life? He should stick to his own business and his own boring life…
“better go practise. and bring your friends to this server, let them taste my rockets too!”
“i think i’ll rather go and get laid man. do you ever get laid?”
After a pause Amanda terminated the game and conteplated for a brief moment. Then she lit a cigarette. The girl drew on it quickly and without pleasure. She was pushed off balance. Amanda put out her fag impatiently, tossed her headphones against the floor and stood up to leave the room. As she turned around, she almost tripped over her armchair. In revenge, she gave it a mighty kick. The seat did not fall over but the girl collapsed onto the floor. Defeated, she started weeping. It sounded like the most miserable cry in her entire life.
“You’re not in Stockholm then?”
“No, I’m visiting friends in Malmoe, partying and all.” Emma’s voice on the phone sounded cheerful, a mood of not even a remote resemblance to what Amanda was feeling.
“Oh, I thought we could go out or something.”
“No, sorry dear. Maybe when I come back I’ll call you and we’ll get together or something” said Emma. “Hey, go away, I am on the phone with my friend. No, go away, go away… I’m sorry, are you still there?”
“Yea, I’m here.” Amanda paused for a moment and sighed. “So how are you, having fun?”
“Yeees! Listen, there is this very cute guy here with us, I mean he’s gorgeous. I think I am getting a crush on him. He looks like… You remember our chemistry teacher from high school?”
“Listen, Em, I have to go” she said, distantly.
“Hey, is everything alright?”
“Yes, goodbye.”
The girl tossed her phone onto her bed and went digging in her drawers. Among a ton of gadgets, old postcards and picture albums she found her old optical mouse and the good, trusty Raindrop pad. Amanda stopped searching for a moment and smiled in reminiscence. Then she found what she wanted. The webcam. After she had assembled it, the girl looked around her room and realised that it needed to be tidied up.
An hour later, her inner sanctum was a green, well lit, clean place. An ancient Star Wars poster hung next to the door and lots of smaller pictures were over the girl’s bed. The floor bore no trace of pizza boxes, bottles or cans. Opposite the bed there was a set of furniture with a mirror and two cacti, the perfect plants for people with no set habit of watering them. It was cosy and pleasant. That did not look like Amanda’s room.
Satisfied, the host seated herself in the armchair and put the computer out of hybernation with anxiety. She turned on the webcam to see what everything looked like and cursed quietly. Amanda stood up and headed for the drawers again. Gadgets, utensils, old toys even, all tossed onto the floor until the make up box was found. She put it next to the mirror and looked at the mess on the carpet for a moment. She decided to ignore it - the webcam couldn’t show it anyway. “No wonder, small fov” she smiled.
Soon, a good-looking nineteen year-old wearing a nice zebra blouse was sitting in front of the computer. Now, she was ready. Amanda looked towards the drawers again. “Shit…” She sighed, stood up again and put all the gadgets, utensils and toys back into the drawer. Most definitely, she was ready now.
Amanda was in an excellent mood. Wine was rushing in her bloodstream, giving her a pleasant feeling of unsteadiness. She found enjoyment in the very activity of trying not to do anything that would appear stupid. Oskar turned out to be a very polite boy. He was a touch too stiff and dorky for her taste, but she could forgive dorky. She felt she was dorky herself, chasing Doom off her mind all the time. A nice boy. Even walked her home. And a cute one too.
“You wanna come up for a coffee or something?” she asked casually, with effort.
“Sure, why not” he replied, with even more casualty in his voice.
Amanda decided they would take the elevator upstairs. Her flat was two storeys up, a laughable height, yes…
“Second floor? We should have taken the stairs, it’s a little claustrophobic here” remarked Oskar when the girl pressed the right button. Amanda said nothing and just watched him. The young man preoccupied himself with studying the patterns on the elevator’s wall. The girl found herself uncomfortable in the engine’s silence. The more the longer they were there. Soon, the air of awkwardness was shattered by a bell and the doors opened.
Amanda paced a few steps towards her flat’s door and unlocked it. Then she stopped and looked over her shoulder towards her guest.
“Come on” she said and gave an inviting smile.
Oskar ventured forth, with a shade of timidity under his skin. Once he was in, Amanda shut the door and turned the lock with force. It clicked loudly.
“Behave or you will never leave” she said, smiling again.
“Promise!” Oskar smiled back.
After a second of silence, the girl’s hand rested on her guest’s hip, pushing him delicately into her room.
“I’ll be right back, make yourself at home” she said and went straight to the bathroom.
“Yea, I’ll just check my mail if it’s alright.”
Amanda looked in the mirror. Her hair was alright, her makeup was fine. Her butt was as nice as always too.
“What the hell is wrong with that guy?” she thought. She checked her hair again. “Jeeze, he’s just shy. Of course he likes you, he stared at you every time he thought you wouldn’t notice. When there were people around.”
The girl unbuttoned her shirt a little bit.
“Let’s just give him a little push…” she thought, took another look at herself in the mirror and left the bathroom. On the way to her room she unbuttoned her shirt a little bit more.
“Hey” Amanda said as she entered the room. She tied to sound sexy.
“Hey” he replied with anxiety. “I see you have the newest model of Ultra Cubes. Do you know I wanted to buy exactly the same model?” Oskar was staring at her light cubes as if they were Angelina Jolie’s tits. He had started Doom. The girl was rendered speechless for a moment. She froze in terror as her guest entered the game’s menus.
“Jesus, you’re that Thresh guy!”
“Er.. Who?” Amanda gave him the most stupid of looks possible.
“Thresh” Oskar stared at Amanda with amazement.
“Is that wat it says there in the nickname?” she asked. “My brother was here yesterday, he was fooling around with Doom, maybe he did it. I don’t know.”
The young man seemed more dumbfounded than just seconds earlier.
“I think he downloaded the config from the internet or something. You wanna try my cubes out?”
Oskar was so confused that Amanda almost burt out laughing.
“Yea, why not” he replied, with a tone of someone who learned that the UFO he had seen were in fact his grandparents on a baloon trip.
“I’ll be right back. I forgot about the coffee” she said and withdrew from the room. In the kitchen, she exhaled loudly and buttoned her shirt back. Then she got busy with the coffee.
“Query me tomorrow about those movies.”
“Yea, sure. See you, Oskar.”
Amanda closed the door and then sat down in the corridor and leaned on it.
“Well that’s just my fucking luck…” She sighed. And then she smiled. “Where’s my cigarettes?”
Rating: 5 / 5 stars - 1 vote(s).
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