Hey guys! I didn't really want to leave author notes for this story because I didn't want to mess with the flow (sorry if it did but, this is the official last chapter for this story and this is a good a time as any.
First I'd like to thank every one of you readers, followers, favoriters, and reviewers for supporting this story. I honestly was dubious as to how it would be taken and thought I would get flamed hardcore. But, I didn't and I thank you all immensely!
Secondly, after you've finished reading, I'd like it if you helped me decide on something. I've been thinking about maybe a sequel? It would be a bit different from this format but, I can't really explain without giving the ending away. So, review or PM me about your opinion on my writing a sort of sequel to this! I'd really appreciate it!
But, for now, enjoy the grande finale of The Save File is OK!
The leaves are painted hues of red, orange, and brown in a chilly autumn day in a quaint neighborhood. A leaf breaks from its branch and floats gently down to the ground until a gust of wind picks it up.
It flies above the crinkled leaves below it and settles just outside of a high window of a quaint house. Inside the window, boxes are stacked atop each other in a room that is almost barren of any belongings.
A young man lies with his back on his bed, stroking the head of an old dog sleeping beside him. After a moment the dog yawns before it slowly pulls itself up, the young man's hand slipping onto the bed.
"Nature calls, huh?" the young man jokes glancing at the dog.
With a soft sneeze it walks to the side of the bed and jumps deftly onto the floor, barely making a sound. It slowly walks over to the open door and slinks down the hallway to the stairs.
Once the clinking of the dog's tags fade away, the young man looks around at his room and sighs.
Posters of his favorite movies that used to line the wall are rolled up and packed away, clothes that would often not make the hamper were cleaned and tucked into a suitcase, and his desk was wiped clear except for his cell-phone that lay charging in the wall.
Everything is all neatly packed, his bed being the only exception. Even that will be stripped of its sheets the next day, though.
A thought seems to occur to him and he bolts up from his bed and heads over to his closet.
A layer of junk he doesn't need and didn't bother to sort through lies at the bottom. He pushes it all to the side and his expression softens when his eyes rest upon a small cardboard box. Carefully, he removes it from underneath everything and sits back on the floor, holding the box in his lap.
"Can't believe I almost forgot about this," he whispers opening the box. Inside is everything that he thought was cool and a great collectable as a kid. He picks out things one at a time, reminiscing about the time when he put each item into the box.
Finally, he reaches the thing that was the most important item. A small device that was set beside an even smaller cartridge. It's worn but only from use, not from neglect to take care of it.
He smiles sadly, thinking about what he is about to do.
He stands up and leaves his room, heading for the one just down the hallway.
"Hey, sis," he says as he knocks on his sister's door-frame. She sits at her desk, writing in a notebook, and turns to her older brother.
"What?"
"What are you doing?" he asks casually.
The teen girl taps her notebook with the end of her pencil. "Homework."
"Jeez, don't you have any fun?" he jokes.
"Not when I have an essay due next week," she counters.
"Wow, you're teacher must hate your class. Weren't you working on an essay just last week?"
It's silent for a moment as she shifts in her seat. "Yeah, this is the one."
"What one?"
She doesn't answer and her brother's eyes widen in surprise as he realizes what she means.
"This is the same essay? That essay from last week had almost six pages!"
"I want to work on it some more, okay? Can't a girl write in peace and solitude?"
"You got it," he says with a snap of his fingers. She's about to thank him for leaving when he quickly adds, "You won't even know I'm here!"
She rolls her eyes and turns back to her essay.
As she writes, her brother strolls around her room. He picks up a textbook and leafs noisily through the pages before slamming it shut. He moves over to her bed and grabs her pillow, fluffing it violently and punching it into shape. His sister cringes and finally whips back around as he's about to pick up her trashcan.
"Can I help you with something or did you just come in here to annoy me?"
Setting down the trashcan, he raises his hands up in defense. He notices an old doll sitting on a shelf beside him and he grabs it, holding it in front of his face.
"Don't be such a meanie to your brother, now," he chastises with a high-pitched voice. The girl rolls her eyes again and turns back to her work.
"You're impossible," she murmurs.
"And you're no fun," he counters, returning to his normal voice. Setting the doll on the shelf he reaches into his pocket and pulls out something. "That's why I'm bringing the fun to you."
He walks over to her desk and sets a worn device next to her.
"That's why you came in here? To give me an old toy?"
"It's not an old toy!"
She laughs off what she assumes is her brother's take on a joke. "Thanks, but no thanks." She pushes the device away from her and turns back to her notebook again.
"This so called toy was the most fun thing in the whole world when I was a kid, and it still is!"
"Then why don't you just take it to college with you?"
A silence hangs in the air. She didn't mean this in a hurtful way but her brother doesn't respond and she feels like she should take it back somehow. She runs through her head about what to say when she hears her bed springs squeak as he sits. She looks at him and he stares at the floor, seeming to be chewing his words before saying them.
"Because when I leave," he starts, twiddling his thumbs, "I want to be sure you don't work yourself to death. I want you to be a kid for as long as you can and leave the twenty page essays to me," he says with a small chuckle. She rolls her eyes with a slight smile and he clasps his hands together and looks off into the distance.
"You're not a kid forever, you know. And you may say that you're a teenager and that your mature and all that but, you've still got some childhood memories ahead of you. This right here gave me some of my best memories. From when I first got it to when I finally finished my game."
Her eyes fall on the little device as she listens.
He laughs a bit awkwardly and runs a hand through his hair. "I remember this one time," he says and looks up at the ceiling as if the memory was playing on a screen up there. "I was trying to play my game and you came up and started bugging me about it. I remember you wanted to play it but, I said no. You started crying, making me feel bad, so I showed you how to play it. It was the funniest thing watching you try to figure out the controls."
The girl smiles and looks down at her lap.
Her brother continues, glancing at his sister now and then. "You probably don't remember it but, that memory has stuck with me out of all the memories I have with this game." He pauses and turns to look right at his sister. "And now that I think about it, most of those memories have you in it."
Her face has softened and she stares at her hands in her lap. He chuckles and clears his throat, standing up to leave.
"Well, I want you to have it. Start a new game on it, I already beat it and I probably won't have time for it in college anyway," he says with a wave of his hand. The girl nods and clears her throat as well.
"Yeah," she agrees.
She considers if she can get back into her flow of writing again when, just before he's about to leave, the young man stops and turns back around. "Oh, I forgot something." He walks back over to her and places his hand on the desk. She glances over at his hand and when he pulls it back there is a small cartridge in its place.
"Wouldn't be any fun without this." He takes a few steps back before turning around and walking out the door.
She stares at the two things that she can just barely remember seeing her brother play with as a boy. She smiles at the faded memories and turns quickly to the door, calling out her brother's name. He's back in moments with an eyebrow raised in question.
"Yeah?"
"Thanks."
He smiles and winks. "No problem."
She nods absentmindedly as he walks back out the door.
"You'd be surprised what a simple game can do to a person," she hears him say from the hallway.
She sits motionless for a moment before grabbing her pencil and poising it above her paper, ready to write. She pauses in this position though, mulling over in her mind the last words her brother had said.
After a short hesitation she puts her pencil down and picks up the device. She looks it over curiously before picking up the cartridge her brother left with it.
"Can't hurt to try it," she murmurs, inserting the cartridge. She flicks the on switch and the screen comes to life before her eyes. A faded memory of the opening music comes to mind and she laughs to herself.
"Oh, I remember this, now."
The starting sequence plays out and she watches through the whole thing with a smile.
Finally, the menu comes up and she stares at her brother's name under the save file. Underneath, the option of starting a new game is given.
The girl stares at the game for a long while wondering if she really wants to overwrite his profile. She considers asking him if he was sure he wants her to start a new game when a thought occurs to her.
She knows for a fact that he's bringing his other game system with him to college, yet he had said he wouldn't have time to play this old one. Surely, this little game would take up less time than the system.
Then, she remembers her brother's speech and the faraway look he had in his eyes.
"Childhood memories, huh?"
She rolls her eyes at her brother's corniness.
"Gotta love that sentimentalist."
With the push of a button, she selects 'new game' and reads through the opening greeting, a slight smile still written on her face.
There's no color.
But I can think.
Am I in the blackness?
How can I be in the blackness when I don't remember coming back from the darkness?
There's no battle scene, no evolution scene, nothing.
It's just dark.
My mind starts to buzz with possibilities of what could be happening when, suddenly, the color begins to slowly take form around me.
I can see that I'm standing on a route, the unchanging trees lining on one side of me with the repetitive waves flanking the other side. Before I know it, the whole route has materialized in front of me except for a large square section, not far off ahead of me.
It's as if a line was drawn just feet away from where I am standing, running all the way to my left and my right, and everything on the opposite side of the line was just cut off and replaced with black.
I can even see some trees missing one side, cut cleanly down the middle.
This has never happened before.
Never.
There must be something wrong.
My heart races and I wish I could run but, my feet are planted to the spot as always.
Is the guider seeing this?
Shouldn't they guide me away from whatever is right here?
My mind stops abruptly when something appears in the black abyss.
A box.
But it isn't the box with words in it.
No, it kind of reminds me of when I'm watching a battle scene.
But there isn't a pokémon in sight.
Inside the scene, there stands a person.
A girl.
In a room.
With a bed.
And belongings.
That's my starting point.
I've never seen her before.
Why is she at my starting point?
I watch with a jumble of mixed emotions as I watch her walk to the stairs.
No.
Don't go down there.
I try to move.
I try to talk.
She needs my help.
I can't let anybody else go through this.
The girl appears downstairs and the horrible memory pushes into the front of my mind.
Don't interact with that woman.
But she has no choice.
She's being guided.
Just like me.
And I can't do anything to stop it.
This is the last thing I wanted.
The boxes appear and the words scroll within it. I can't see the woman's mouth move but I know she's talking. And that person's going to be forced to watch what has haunted me throughout this whole programmed journey.
The box disappears and my heart pines to console her because I know what she must be feeling.
The confusion.
The fear.
The loneliness.
She turns toward the door and the screen disappears within the blackness for a moment before the color comes back.
She stands outside of the house and takes a few steps around before a box appears displaying options. This is the first time I've actually seen a box full on.
My head swirls as the selector shifts through the words, finally resting on the word 'save'.
What's a save?
That one word is selected and the box disappears. Right after another box takes its place along with a smaller option box. An option is selected and, as soon as it is, everything around me flickers an array of different colors before flickering back to normal.
What was that?
I turn my attention back to the scene and I see a new box has replaced the last one.
One word is displayed.
Warning.
Before I can begin to wonder what it means, it's gone and replaced with several other boxes in quick succession, I can't even read what's scrolling in the box.
The last box appears and another option is given.
What's going to happen?
What was that 'warning' for?
When an option is selected, everything that was moving inside the scene stops.
Is that a freeze?
As soon as the thought crosses my mind, the color in my world flickers violently.
I'm rendered thoughtless as I feel the ground beneath me start to warp.
The trees seem to have a mind of their own as they distort into shapes that trees shouldn't be.
The music that has been in the background since the beginning stops suddenly and I stare in silence and horror as the world around me crumbles.
For once, I'm terrified.
Completely terrified.
I have never felt fear like this.
I don't know what to do.
I can feel myself flickering and my heart and mind race even faster as I feel on the brink of a mental breakdown.
Everything around me continues to deteriorate until, as sudden as it started, it stops.
I can't even begin to process what is happening.
Everything around me is slowly breaking apart into millions of tiny squares as they slowly start to rise up and above me, out of my line of vision.
I can feel a tingling sensation all over me as hundreds of my own tiny squares rise in front of my face. They're all different colors and I watch them float straight up and above me.
I can't even think.
This is too much.
I feel like my head is about to explode when my mind suddenly halts and settles on one hard fact.
It doesn't hurt.
Whatever this is.
Whatever is happening right now.
If this is how it all ends.
It doesn't hurt.
I slowly wind down my mind and repeat this in my head.
It doesn't hurt.
The squares continue to rise up and up. I calmly allow my vision to glaze over, blurring everything around me.
It doesn't hurt.
A haze of the colored squares rise up and I take in a deep breath before exhaling slowly.
It doesn't hurt.
My eyes flutter shut.
It doesn't hurt.
My knees buckle underneath me and I kneel to the ground in slow motion, as if I'm floating in water.
It doesn't hurt.
Something warm and rough greets my cheek as my mind succumbs to the darkness...
One last time.
And it doesn't hurt.