‘Ah, I’m here.’
As I walked to the park near my school, I let out a quiet yawn.
‘Why do I feel tired when I get too much sleep?! Can’t my body just work correctly?’
With this thought, I sat down on one of the benches in the park.
Since Aurora and I couldn’t hang out on Friday, we decided to hang out on the next day, which was why I was at the park.
We decided it was going to be our meeting point once again.
For a few minutes, I scrolled on my phone.
Until I got a notification.
Bing!
Checking my messages, I saw it was from Aurora.
— Girlfriend: I won’t be able to hang out today
Looking at the phone, I felt a small tinge of annoyance.
‘Is this some kind of payback for not hanging out with her yesterday? She should’ve told me beforehand if she couldn’t make it!!’
Taking a deep breath, I cleared my head and then I thought rationally.
‘It’s fine. Something important probably came up last minute. And I didn’t hang out with her yesterday so I can’t really complain.’
Now calm, I replied to Aurora’s message.
— Me: Ok
Shutting off my phone, I looked up into the sky.
‘What do I do now?’
**
“Hey Elliot!” I heard a voice exclaim.
Looking to where the voice came from, I noticed it was Soriel approaching me.
She was wearing a bright yellow sweater, a sharp contrast to the black one I had on.
“Hey Soriel,” I replied.
You see, since I was already dressed and prepared, I decided it’d be a waste to go back home. So instead, I texted Soriel and asked her to meet up with me at an arcade.
When Soriel reached me, we entered the arcade building together.
Inside, it was dark and the walls were painted black completely. But the lights from the arcade games brightened up the area, giving it a fun and energetic atmosphere.
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“Soriel, wanna do a competition to see who can win the most games?” I suggested.
In response to my suggestion, a smile appeared on Soriel’s face.
I recognized that smile. It was the same smile from when we played Uno.
It was a wicked smile.
‘Oh no.’
“Yeah! I’ll destroy you!” she replied, full of enthusiasm.
My eyebrow twitched.
“I’m gonna crush you,” I responded.
We went over to the counter near the entrance of the building and bought game cards from the employees.
Once we did that, we rushed over to the nearest game and began to play.
The first game we played was a claw machine game. A game known for annoying everyone who played it.
And I decided to try it first.
‘It’s fine, I’ll just try my best. Hopefully, Soriel loses when it’s her turn.’
I grasped the joystick for controlling the claw and started the game.
I tried to pick up one of the plushies inside by going for one that was stacked on top of another plushie, but I ultimately failed and ended up with nothing.
“Dang it. It’s your turn Soriel,” I said as I backed away from the machine.
“Time to win,” Soriel said with her creepy smile as she grasped the joystick.
She slowly and methodically looked for the perfect angle, and when she found it, she pressed the button that let down the claw.
“Nice!” she exclaimed as she picked up the cat plushie she got from the game.
‘She won?!’
I felt my face take on a wicked expression.
“This’ll be the last win you get,” I spat.
Bam!
Suddenly, Soriel and I were butting heads.
“Eh? I’ll demolish you in the next game too!” She yelled with her wicked smile.
“Oh yeah? Hell will freeze over before I let that happen!” I retorted with a wicked smile of my own.
From there, Soriel and I began to play a multitude of different games together.
Basketball, bowling, spin the wheel, Basketball connect four, guitar hero, you name it. We played all of them.
And every single time she used hand sanitizer after each game.
Regardless of that, it was a delightful experience. And a competitive one.
I won a few games and so did Soriel, leaving us in a tie.
“What should we play as a tie breaker?” I asked after my recent victory.
We had been playing for a while at that point so our competition was soon coming to an end.
“Hmm,” Soriel mused as she looked around the arcade.
Her eyes eventually landed on a certain game, causing her face to brighten up.
“This one!” Soriel exclaimed as she ran towards a zombie shooter game.
‘Ah crap, her specialty.’
With a heavy heart, I joined her at the game.
We both picked up the toy guns provided and pointed them at the screen.
“Whoever gets the most kills wins?” Soriel suggested.
“Yeah,” I confirmed.
Choosing the two-player game mode, we began the final stage in our competition.
Once we began to shoot down the zombies, I couldn’t resist and took a small glance at Soriel’s face.
She had a despicable expression.
An expression so vile, so horrid, so evil, it couldn’t be explained with words.
Her smile seemed to resemble the abyss itself.
Perhaps it was seeing her with a weapon or maybe it was hearing the zombies being gunned down. Whatever it was, I felt that Soriel’s smile was infinitely more corrupted than her previous ones.
At that very moment, I knew…my life was coming to an end.
**
“I win!” Soriel exclaimed with a giddy laugh.
My shoulders drooped down.
‘Dang it. I really wanted to win.’
After seeing Soriel’s unworldly smile, I somehow survived and focused back on the game. However, my shooting skills seemed to be inadequate for the task of beating Soriel.
So basically, I lost.
“I told you I’d win! You’ll never beat me!” Soriel said, puffing her chest out proudly.
Then, her facial expression changed into one of guilt.
“Sorry, I didn’t rub it into your face,” Soriel said apologetically.
I looked at her with a confused expression before letting out a small chuckle.
“It’s fine! Don’t worry about it. I’ll buy you ice cream as an award,” I replied.
Soriel’s face lit up and she puffed her arms into the air.
“Nice!” She exclaimed.
On her face, I saw a smile, not a wicked one like before, instead it was a happy one. A smile full of joy.
‘Now that’s the smile I’m looking for.’
With that thought, I felt a smile come onto my face as well.
