One round of Space Invaders and a few more minutes of walking later, Michelle found herself back at the Pac-Man and TurboTime machines. Both were occupied, but just as she was going to walk away, the latter freed itself up. "Are you kidding me?" shouted whoever was just playing it. "I did too make that turn!" And he walked away, again leaving Michelle alone with the vacant machine.

"Must be having a slow day," she figured. Though she'd decided before that she didn't want to play, for some reason, she couldn't bring herself to leave. From all that had happened before, it was as if the game wanted her to play it. It was available, after all.

She threw her hands up. "Fine! I'll play your game! Sheesh." And she reached into her wallet, pulled out a quarter, and dropped it in. "Here I go."

Again came the scene with Turbo. "Turbo tastic!" he said once more.

"Glad I finally decided to play, aren't you?"

Before she could watch Turbo for a response, the cars were on the racetrack. She held onto the steering wheel, ready to give it her all.

She was not ready, however, for one of the blue cars to go spiraling out of control, which it did as soon as the "Go!" came on the screen.

"What the heck?" she said to herself. Thankfully, she could race just fine; she just had one less opponent. But after the first lap and a half, she felt the machine vibrate a bit, and the other blue car left the track at well.

"Again, what the heck?" This wasn't even a racing game anymore. It was a "driving around in circles" game. "Maybe I should report–"

"NO! DON'T!"

"Who said that?"

"Me, okay?"

No matter how much she pressed the buttons or turned the steering wheel, she couldn't make her car move. And inside the car she was no longer controlling, a tiny figure was raising his arm.

It was Turbo.

Turbo could hear her.

And he could talk back.

"I knew it!" she exclaimed. Okay, she hadn't been sure, but looking back, it was obvious what was going on. "But just to be sure…"

"I know, I know, you want proof, right?"

"Well, the idea that a little character made of squares–"

"They're pixels."

"–fine, pixels, can talk is a little out there."

"Maybe it'll help if I say you were watching some other kid play earlier. He asked you if you wanted to play, but you said I creeped you out. Remember?"

"Yeah…sorry about that," she said. "Anyway, now that I know you're alive, I gotta ask you something. If you don't want me to tell Mr….whatever his name is, the arcade owner about this, what's going on?"

"Don't look at me," Turbo replied. He pointed at the two blue spots on the screen, on in the shape of a car, the other just a circle. "Look at–."

Another arcadegoer quietly placed his quarter near the screen, and Turbo went silent. Michelle grabbed the steering wheel again and pretended to play the game, actually sending Turbo forward in the process. Once the kid was gone, she let go and leaned closer to the screen, realizing she should probably be quieter. "Those two?" she asked.

She could barely see that Turbo nodded. "Yep. Something just happened with them."

"Mostly him," said the one in the car."

The one on his own looked up at Michelle and waved. "Hi!"

Michelle lifted her hand back. "Hello."

The car-bound character spun around and explained, "My brother here was hoping you would come back. He was talking about giving you some kind of signal."

"It was supposed to be a lot more subtle," the brother added. "But then he'd just won, and there was another quarter alert, and then the game started, and boom! There you were. It was so sudden, and I kinda got distracted. Heh heh."

"Really? But…people play your game all the time. How come I'm so special?"

"'Cause people hardly even notice us! I'm just glad you do!" that same brother answered, smiling. "Always nice to make new friends!"

"You mean you want to talk again sometime?"

"Sure! Are you gonna come back to the arcade?"

"Well, I DO live around here, so–"

Turbo cut in. "If I may interrupt…"

"Yeah?" Michelle said.

"It's best we pretend this never happened. For the good of the arcade."

"But how? I already know you guys are alive."

"Yes, but nobody else does," Turbo explained. "And if someone catches you talking to us, and hears us talking back…well, we don't know what would happen, but this kind of talk is against the rules as it is."

Michelle sighed. "I understand…I guess. But it's too bad. I've never been friends with a video game character before."

"Not many people have," Turbo said. "But hey. You can have it on record that you talked to the greatest racer ever. So that's something."

Michelle laughed. "You know, Turbo? You're not so bad."

The two blue racers waved their arms frantically, as if trying to tell Michelle something, but she couldn't tell what it was.

"A bit of an understatement, but thanks," Turbo said. "Neither are you."

"Thank you. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna leave this machine and never speak of this again. As requested."

"Not so fast!"

Michelle, who had already started to leave, turned back and leaned toward the machine again. "What is it?"

"You still gotta finish your game!"

"Oh, right." She grabbed the steering wheel.

"You know what? I'll finish it, so you can be outta here ASAP."

"Okay." A second later, she felt the wheel being turned for her, and she pretended to focus on the game as it finished itself. And as soon as the ending scene came, she gave the machine a small wave. "See you, guys. I mean…wow, that sure was a fun game!" And she turned and left as if nothing had ever happened.

And she didn't even notice that twin's sad wave in return. "But I never even got her name..."