Disclaimer: I do not own Minecraft. I do not own the YouTubers either.
Constructive criticism is welcomed!
"Oh! Oh! I remember that place!" A bacca in a suit exclaimed. He gestured his fluffy hand to a picture of a vast scenery on the wall. "That was where Mitch and I won the Hunger Games last month. You remember, right, Mitch?"
Mitch hummed a "yeah" between large bites of his cooked chicken. He and his furry friend, Jerome, were at Mitch's house: a large shelter made out of oak planks with a cobblestone floor. The BajanCanadian was sitting on a wooden chair, finishing his meal, while Jerome was looking at the several pictures of Mitch and his friends' adventures on the wall. At the opposite wall, Sky was lounging on the couch, snoring. Mitch had invited them both to his house after a successful PVP event for a victory dinner.
"I have a photo album in the bookshelf over there." Mitch mumbled after swallowing some of the chicken, gesturing his head to a corner of bookshelves. "There's more things to look at." With that, Jerome headed towards the bookshelves and reached out for a fat, brown book. The bacca flipped to a section in the middle of the book. Mitch could identify the colorful squares on the pale brown pages.
After finishing his chicken, Mitch licked the grease of his rectangular fingers and got up. As he headed to Jerome, he heard another person entering the room. Mitch turned and nodded to the new person. It was Seto, cleaning a glass battle with a cloth. He was not with Mitch, Jerome, and Adam's PVPing today. But yesterday, Mitch saved Seto's life in the Nether from a swarm of Ghasts chasing him. Seto owed Mitch one, and today, he decided the best way to show gratitude was to brew a pack of potions to aid Mitch in the future.
"Done." Seto said with a relaxed sigh. "I put the potions in that empty chest near the crafting table."
"Thanks, Seto." Mitch replied. The BajanCanadian was now at Jerome's side, looking at the various pictures of him and his friends, giving a remark or two every now and then.
"Good times, biggums. Good times." Jerome chuckled, looking at a group picture of Team Crafted.
"Yup." Mitch replied with a smile. All those times he spent with his friends…Fun times.
Mitch looked up from the photo book and quickly gazed at the window. He was slightly blown back by the dark blue gnawing at the orange of the sky.
"Almost night already?" Mitch murmured outloud. His furry friend peeked at the window as well. He shut the photo album closed and placed it back on the bookshelf.
"Well, I guess I need to head back home." Jerome said. "Thanks again for the food, Mitch."
"You can stay here if you want." Mitch offered. "I have spare beds."
"Nah. Betty's gonna be all alone without me." Jerome replied. "I'll get home before the monsters spawn. Don't worry."
"I better get going too." Seto added. Mitch turned to see the sorcerer, who was stretching his arms. "It's been a long day."
"Alright." Mitch replied. "Sounds cool." He walked up to Sky, who was still dozed off on the couch. "Adam, wake up." He gave his friend a nudge.
"Huh, whoa, huh! What, huh, squids? Butter?" Sky jerked up with a lazy surprise. When he sighed in realization. "Oh, yeah. It's getting late." He got up from the couch, adjusting his sunglasses.
"See ya later, Mitch." Jerome said with a wave of his hand. "New Hunger Games tomorrow!"
"I'll be there." Mitch replied with playfulness. "So make sure you get some niiiice sleep, Jerome." Of course, players did not need to sleep for energy. But Mitch was just having some fun. And with that, Jerome gave a nod and headed to the door. He opened it, stepped outside to the forest wilderness, and walked away. Seto and Sky then said their goodbyes; and Seto added another "thank you" for saving his life. They followed Jerome away from Mitch's house. When they disappeared into the forest's shadows, Mitch closed his own doors and headed to his bedroom. He had no other plans for tonight, so might as well sleep the rest of the day off.
The BajanCanadian flopped onto his red bed with a sigh. He felt great and was eager for tomorrow's Hunger Games. He recalled the last game, giggling about one goof Jerome did in the fight. Life was really fun in Minecraft for him. With a final sigh, Mitch closed his brown eyes and waited for his mind to fade to black.
But instead, it blinked white.
Mitch's vision was turning gray. What he expected next is for it to become completely black and wake up to a bright morning. However, by the time it got dark enough to barely see anything, Mitch swore he saw a flash of white. It was a quick blinding moment that was immediately replaced with darkness, the proper aspect of sleep. But Mitch did not felt himself falling asleep quickly, but he could not wake up. Even when he attempted to, the result was just a groan. His curiosity about the white flash soon disappeared when he felt something warm form in his body. It started in the upper part of his left arm. Later, it spread to his entire body. The warmth was like the heat of humiliation, only without the emotion.
Mitch sensed something strange. He tried to wake himself up again, but then suddenly relaxed. Another sigh escaped his lips and everything but sleep did not matter.
Like a normal wake-up, Mitch rose up on a new day. As he stretched his arms, he recalled the strange feelings he felt last night. What were those feelings? What happened? Was that a glitch in Minecraft? It did not felt like a mistake. It was like it had a purpose to irritate Mitch's sleep. But Mitch's mind felt deflated, like he forgotten something very vital. His brain did not want to cooperate.
"Hmm…" Mitch hummed, using the lack of energy in his mind to think of a theory. He was still brainstorming as he ate breakfast. What was that flash he saw last night?
The BajanCanadian was brought out of his weary thoughts by the sound of Jeffery's honks. He looked out of a window to search for the pig, and realized something. He had the Hunger Games with Jerome! He jumped out of his chair and speed-walked outside. After shutting the door, he sprinted out of the forest biome. He had to reach the urban area to meet Jerome outside the Hunger Games arena. He decided to worry about last night later. The Games would probably strengthen his mind anyways.
His sprint reduced into a trot when he arrived to a familiar urban lobby. He saw several other players walking on the gravel pathways, exchanging words. Some gave him quick glances, then returned to their business. Usually, players would greet Mitch instead of just look at him. But Mitch did not concern over that. The behavior was not too strange to be suspicious about.
Mitch slowed his walk when he saw the Hunger Games arena in front of him. It stretched halfway across the sky and casted its large shadow over the players outside. Mitch gazed at the structure for a moment before withdrawing his attention. The player then looked at the entrance of the arena. Near it were Jerome and Ian. Jerome had an iron sword clenched in his right hand. The bacca was discussing something with Ian. Mitch did not expect SSundee to be here. It was also strange for Jerome to not hold Betty. Mitch walked closer. With every step, Ian and Jerome's conversation grew clearer and clearer.
"Is something wrong Jerome?" SSundee asked. "You kinda look a bit down."
"No, I'm fine." Jerome replied flatly. "It's just that I feel like something is missing. The Hunger Games just don't feel really fun sometimes." Jerome did not like the Hunger Games? Mitch raised an eyebrow. His friend never gave any hints of grievances about the Games. What was wrong?
As he walked closer to Jerome and SSundee, he chimed out:
"Hey doods. What's happening?" He gave a smile. Jerome and Ian both perk up and slowly turned their gazes to Mitch. There were no smiles that greeted him back. There was no hate or sadness in either faces though.
"…oh, umm, hi." Jerome began awkwardly. The bacca looked at Mitch's shoes and slowly brought his gaze upwards to Mitch's head. "…Umm, your name is Mitch, right?"
Mitch took a step back. His smile turned into a confused, straight lip to match his bewildered eyes. His best friend was asking for his name. His best friend…asking for his name.
"Umm…yeah. My name is Mitch." The BajanCanadian replied slowly. He decided just to reply, to see what Jerome would do next.
"Oh, ok. Glad I got that right." Jerome replied back. Then he and Ian exchanged glances. Their expressions still were awkward. Then Ian looked back at Mitch.
"Oh, we should introduce ourselves now." Ian began. "I'm SSundee. This is Jerome. We're waiting for the Hunger Games to start."
Mitch was hit by another wave of confusion. Ian treated him like they never met before.
"I'm surprised you're here, Mitch." Jerome added. "I thought you wouldn't show for PVP events like the Hunger Games. I thought you would avoid those."
I do PVP all the time! Mitch exclaimed to himself. Why would I avoid them? What the hell was going on? Were Jerome and Ian pretending to not know Mitch just to prank him? No, they could not be. If they were, they would not ask for clarification of Mitch's name and mention a false relationship with him and PVPing. Was it something Mitch said to upset his friends? Mitch did nothing bad to Jerome yesterday. And pretending not to know Mitch did not seem the best revenge-like action.
"…Umm, guys." Mitch slowly began. He knew that what he was about to ask them was going to sound stupid; but he needed to know. "Do you guys…know who I am?" Ian and Jerome glanced at each other once again, more confusion written into their faces.
"Well, we know you." Jerome answered. "We know you, and…we don't know you."
"What Jerome's trying to say is," Ian added. "That we heard of you, but, we never got to know you personally."
Mitch tilted his head to his right in confusion. He was now positive that this was neither a prank nor a change of behavior. Did…something happened to SSundee and Jerome's memories? Whatever that was, it caused them to think that Mitch was not their friend. What else did they forgot? Mitch recalled the absence of a certain diamond axe.
"Well, umm." Mitch began, trying to talk his way out of the crazy conversation. "It's been nice talking to you two. But I need to get going now. Nice knowing you two…Oh! And, take good care of Betty when you find her." The last statement was added last minute. If Ian and Jerome's memories were truly altered, then maybe mentioning something familiar would hopefully refresh their memories. However, both players looked at Mitch with no change of expression.
"Who's Betty?" Jerome asked with a shrug.
"…Umm, nevermind. Goodbye." Mitch concluded. He finally turned around. He began to walk away from the arena, looking down at the gravel path. Later, an alarm went off, announcing that the Hunger Games was about to start.
"Oh, let's get in!" Jerome shouted, suddenly excited.
"Whoo!" Ian added. Mitch heard them run into the arena.
A storm of confusion was driving Mitch's mind insane. What was going on? What happened to Ian and Jerome's memories? Then, Mitch's head suddenly jerked up. An idea had struggled out of the confusing mass in his brain. Maybe it was not Ian and Jerome. Maybe it was something else that knocked down order in Mitch's view. He needed to investigate, and he knew a place to start.
The BajanCanadian began to sprint out of the urban city and back to the forest biome. He arrived back to his home. The photo album! The pictures Mitch and his friends had taken! If there were still there, then his friend's memories must be the problem. If the pictures were not present, then Mitch's problem was bigger than he could handle.
He slammed the door open and ran inside. He did not bother to close the door. He immediately skimmed through his book collection to find the photo album he shared to Jerome yesterday. He looked through the bookshelves three times, each time more careful than the previous one. But he could not find the familiar, thick binding of the album. It was like it never existed.
Then Mitch turned. He had to see the pictures that hung on his wall. When he did, he gasped. The picture frames were still there, but they did not hold the same pictures. One showed Mitch alone, feeding a sheep wheat. Another had Mitch looking over a cliff. The third one still had Mitch alone. Mitch, Mitch, Mitch. There was no photo that showed Jerome, or any of his other friends.
Mitch turned around again, his back against the wall of photos. He took deep breaths. Everything was too much to handle. He needed to organize himself. He rounded up everything he learned today. Jerome did not expect Mitch for the Hunger Games. Jerome and Ian did not know him enough to consider Mitch as a friend. And Jerome did not have Betty with him. Did he even use an axe at all?
Chaotic puzzle pieces they were. But they all had one thing in common: Mitch was forgotten by Jerome and SSundee. And they were not acting like their normal selves.
Something was wrong.