Chương 4: BESIDES, I HELPED YOU. YOU’LL SEE.

YOU'LL SEE.

A few minutes later, George leveled-up again. New Achievement: Level Seven +2 Gold +1 Skill Point Would you like to buy anything in the store? Yes or No?

"Yes," George said. It was good to see his double-income bonus was exactly what it said on the label. Store • Food Pellet—2 gold • Upgrade Cradle: Porthole—2 gold • Upgrade Button: Automatic Click Increase—3 gold • Upgrade User Interface: Continuous Store Access—4 gold • Random Memory—4 gold • Familiar—3 gold • Select Amenity—1 gold • Basic Store Upgrade—15 gold • Pain for Gold As George watched, the option that said "Familiar—3 gold" flashed and changed to "Familiar—ERROR."

Then, it flashed again and read "Familiar—???."

"Weird," Geroge said and then made his choice.

"Select amenity." Choose your amenity. Juice box Chinese finger trap Pair of boxer briefs Flight blanket Dreidel Nail file Lace doily Tube of Crest toothpaste He shrugged.

"Flight blanket." Purchased. Flight blanket. A thin fleece blanket fell from the domed ceiling as if it had materialized from the air. George pulled it around his shoulders and instantly felt warmer. The material didn't provide much real warmth, but it was better than the even thinner beige scrubs he was wearing. Would you like to assign any skill points? Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. ARE YOU ENJOYING THE GAME, GEORGE.

"You're back. Good. I have questions," George said. Click. OK, GEORGE. SHOOT. I'M ALL EARS. The message offering the skill menu faded. George wondered if whoever—or whatever—was behind the text had timed the interruption so he would reflexively speak out loud instead of opening the menu.

"Did you mean to interrupt me just then?" Click. TRUTH BE TOLD, I DON'T KNOW. I DID FIND IT SLIGHTLY AMUSING. THAT IS PART OF WHAT THIS IS ALL ABOUT, AFTER ALL.

"What does that mean?" Click. I COULD ANSWER THAT FOR YOU, BUT DOING THAT IS NOT WHAT THIS IS ALL ABOUT.

"So this is about amusing yourself and not answering my questions?" Click. YES. AMONG OTHER THINGS. BESIDES, I ALREADY TOLD YOU IT IS A GAME.

"I'm not having fun." Click. NOT YET. THESE ARE STILL EARLY DAYS, GEORGE. GIVE IT TIME.

"Days? How long does this game last?" Click. PARTLY THAT DEPENDS ON YOU AND THOSE LITTLE BUTTON-CLICKING HANDS OF YOURS.

"Two days? Five?" Click. YOU REALLY DID FORGET A LOT, DIDN'T YOU?

"More?" Click. LISTEN. I STOPPED BY TO HAVE SOME FUN, BUT THESE QUESTIONS AREN'T FUN. THEY ARE JUST "WAAA. WAAA. WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME?" I THINK I'LL GO NOW.

"What is pain for gold?" Click. WELL. NOW THAT IS A FUN QUESTION. Click. BUT ALSO A STUPID ONE. IT IS PAIN FOR GOLD. YOU GET PAIN. YOU GET GOLD. PRETTY STRAIGHTFORWARD.

"How much pain and how much gold?" Click. HOLD OUT YOUR HAND.

"Why?" Click. WE'LL DO A TEST. THEN YOU WILL LEARN THE ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION.

"How much will it hurt?" George asked. Click. TELL YOU WHAT. WE'LL START WITH JUST A LITTLE BIT OF PAIN AND A LITTLE BIT OF GOLD. WHEN YOU WANT TO STOP, YOU PRESS THAT HANDY LITTLE BUTTON AND—PRESTO—IT'S DONE.

"Ok," George said. Purchased: Pain for Gold It felt like his hand had fallen asleep, but the tingling quickly rose to an ache. A notification flashed in his vision. +1 gold George tried to count out the seconds since the pain started. Fifteen. Sixteen. Seventeen. The pain kept rising. He shook his hand and rubbed it, but the pain only climbed higher. His hand felt like it was slowly heating up. +1 gold Suddenly a cramp ripped through his hand and George cried out. +1 gold"Enough!" George said.

He pressed the button to make the pain stop. Click. OH COME ON, GEORGE. TRUST ME. YOU NEED THIS GOLD. Click. Click. Click. YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IS COMING. YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO GET REAL COZY WITH PAIN. THIS AIN'T NOTHING. YOU GOT THIS.

"Shut it off!" George shouted. He held his hand to his chest, and sank to the ground, but the pain didn't let up. He clicked the button again. NO. His gold count kept rising. +1 gold +1 gold +1 gold THINK ABOUT THE BOY. DON'T YOU WANT TO SEE HIM AGAIN? DON'T YOU WANT TO GET OUT OF THIS ROOM? YOU HAVE TO BUY YOUR WAY OUT, GEORGE. THAT IS THE GAME. But George could hardly read the words. The pain had climbed halfway up his arm now.

He kept looking down at his hand, expecting to see that it was on fire or crawling with stinging insects. +1 gold George slammed the button with his other hand. Click. AND WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DO GET OUT, GEORGE? THERE'S BAD STUFF OUT THERE. REALLY BAD. YOU WILL MEET SOME OF THEM SOON. YOU NEED TO GET STRONGER, OR THEY WILL EAT YOU ALIVE. +1 gold Clickclickclick. JUST ANOTHER FEW SECONDS. FIVE. FOUR. THREE. +1 gold His muscles spasmed. His fingers bent inward and his nails dug furrows into his palm. TWO. ONE.

+1 gold And just like that, it was done. The pain vanished instantly. George gasped in a breath and let it out as a ragged sob. Click. THERE, THERE, BUDDY. SEE? IT'S NOT SO BAD.

"You said you would make it stop!" George shouted. TRUE. BUT WHY WOULD YOU TRUST SOMEONE OFFERING TO HURT YOU FOR MONEY? THIS IS NOT NORMAL BEHAVIOR. STREET SMARTS, GEORGE. BESIDES, I HELPED YOU. YOU'LL SEE. George threw the button across the room and covered his face with his hands. The image that came to him then was the sick boy on the couch. Something about the pain made the memory vivid again. He felt the longing for the boy again—the need to put his arms around him and tell him everything was going to be OK.

George wished he could just sit next to the boy while he watched cartoons. He wished he could remember the boy's name. But it was gone. Like the memory of the boy's mother. Like the city they had lived in. Like everything. He drew the blanket around himself and closed his eyes. He lay there for a long time. Just breathing.