The sun was searing through the glass window of my mom's car. I held my hand up to the glass. It was hot to the touch. I quickly pulled my hand away and put my head to the car door, closing my eyes for a few seconds.
"Okay, one last stop before we head up North again," my mom said. "Bring in all the meds."
It was going to be a long day.
I put on my backpack and put my larger bag on my shoulder. In the bag was various medication, my contact lenses, and extraneous things.
Outside I could see why my mom wanted us to bring everything in. The Atlanta air was hot and dry, with the sun beating down on the back of my head. I hadn't been here in so long, and it's taken me forever to get used to the heat again.
In front of us was an average, white house. The door opened before we could even ring the doorbell, and my brother's friend, Matt, and his mom came out. The mom smiled warmly and my brother's friend looked at us indifferently, which meant, in his own weird way, that he was glad to see us. Well, at least he was glad to see my brother. The boys quickly ran inside and my parents and I walked into the house.
Their dog greeted us, jumping onto my dad then onto me. We all sat down and chatted for a little bit while the dog begged for us each to pet him.
"So, Gemma," Matt's mom suddenly looked at me, "how's college coming along?"
"It's going pretty well," I replied. "I had to take a semester off, though. I'm working now."
"Oh!" She exclaimed. "Then how's work, then?"
We continued to talk about my mundane, boring life. Matt's mom then changed the subject, so I got up to go to the bathroom. I passed the room Matt and my brother were in, and they were playing Call of Duty on the Xbox. I walked in and looked at Matt's stack of games, and picked up a Redbox case with the Walking Dead inside it.
"Oh! I LOVED this game," I said.
"Yeah, I haven't started it yet," Matt replied, not looking at me but instead stared intensely at the TV screen. "I just got it today."
"It's different from any other game I've played," I said, playing with the case in my hands. "It's not like a regular first person shooter."
"Yeah," Matt replied absently. "D'you wanna try it?" Matt pressed the eject button on the Xbox and took out Call of Duty.
"It was okay," my brother, Sam, said. "But Gemma hogged the game the whole time."
"I let you play!" I cried.
"Only like, the ending."
"You always finish the games I want to play before I even get a chance to try them out."
"No I don't!"
"Fuck you," I said, jokingly.
"Yeah, screw you too." Sam smiled. We always pulled this shit, just for fun.
"What's going on?" My mom called out from the living room.
"Nothing!" Sam cried. We ceased our fighting.
The game's screen was already loaded. "Do you guys wanna try?" Matt asked.
"Nah, we've already played it, you try," I said.
Matt pressed start and the game began. The scene where Lee is in the back of the cop's car went on for minutes, with Matt still getting used to the gameplay.
"It's kind of boring," Matt said.
"Yeah," I responded, "the first part is, but it gets better."
Matt then paused the game when his dog ran into the room and sat on the floor, wagging his tail. From the other room, his mom cried: "Matt! Can you take the dog out to go potty?"
Matt absently handed me the controller and walked out, with Sam and the dog following suit. It had been a while since I played the game. I continued to press the buttons, feeling a tiny wave of nostalgia pass through me.
Then the lights in the house abruptly turned off, and then back on again after a few seconds. All electricity ceased and everything was silent for a few short moments, the television screen turning dark and the Xbox powering down. Then, the electricity surged back on again along with the Xbox, bringing my game back to the title screen.
"Whoah!" I head Matt's mom cry. Then my parents murmuring with her.
I left the Xbox and walked into the living room. "What happened?" I asked.
"I think the power went out from the heat," my dad said.
"God, this heat wave, I swear…" Matt's mom said.
"Let me turn off the Xbox," I said. I went back into the room and the game was still at the title screen. I pressed the eject button on the Xbox when the power suddenly went out again, but this time everything was pitch black, even though it was the middle of the day. The last I heard was a thump and murmur, then I saw a green glow. My eyes closed.