It was nearing the end of the day on a quiet summer afternoon. It was the middle of July and as the sun started to set the air lost its humidity and cooled town to a nice, bearable temperature. The downtown was nice, with old-looking buildings, lights strung up and tourist traps. This town was known for its older, more colonial architecture. There was a sizable flow of people throughout the area but one girl in particular walked through with her bike. She occasionally ran over a tourist's foot and caught a few rude looks, but she didn't mind much. She was a native to this town and firmly believed that if tourists had a problem with her and her bike, they could go screw themselves.
This girl headed through the downtown to a small, older looking store. The wooden sign above it read OLD AND USED VIDEOGAMES and she could see through the slightly dirty glass that it was empty. Truth be told, the store was on its last legs. It would probably be closed soon to make way for another Cold Stone Creamery or Forever 21.
She left her bike outside and opened the door. As she walked in, the tiny little bell above the doorway rang and the middle-aged man at the counter gave her a weary look.
"Hey Sam! Nice day outside, isn't it?" asked the girl, walking up to him. The tired man looked at her for a moment before answering. His hair was a mix of brown and grey, although he had noticed quite a few more grey hairs lately. His eyes were a jaded color of brown and his face was covered in stubble.
"It's just another July day." he responded unenthusiastically.
"Well, it's a nice one. Do you have any recommendations? Has anything new come in?" she asked, the usual pep in her voice.
"No. You know there hasn't been anything new here in a while. This store's closing down soon, Ella. You know that." he answered, the tiniest hint of sadness in his town. He was the son of the first owner, who had since died. The store came into his possession and as the years went by, less and less people came in. He could remember a time when the store was filled with people, both young and old. The store was similar to a Blockbuster, before they all closed down.
"I know. I'd buy every game in here if it'd keep you open. I've been coming here for seventeen years. Do you remember how he used to carry me in as a baby?" she laughed softly, her blue eyes filled with nostalgia.
"I know, I was there. Your father was a good man." he said respectfully.
"That he was, my friend. That he was." she said quietly. After a moment of brief silence, she looked at him again. "So, do you have anything for me?"
Sam thought for a moment and seemed to be contemplating some kind of big decision. After a minute, he sighed heavily.
"Here. You have a Nintendo 64, right?" he grumbled, disappearing behind the counter to dig in an old box. The games in the box were either too damaged to sell or too old to work. After a minute of searching, he found the cartridge he was looking for. He blew on it to remove the dust and placed it on the counter.
Ella eyed it suspiciously. It was old and grey with a fraying label. It was barely legible but she could make out the words Majora's Mask. The cartridge was so ancient it looked like it had seen a few things.
"And what is this? You know I've already played Majora's Mask. On two different consoles. What's so different about the 64?" she asked. Sam held out a hand to stop her.
"You haven't played on like this. Some guy dropped it off to me years ago. It was dark and raining like hell, so I was going to close the shop but he threw himself through the door. He begged me to take the game off his hands, saying that it was making him crazy. He made me promise not to resell it and left crying. You know I never break a promise so that's why I'm giving it to you for free and not selling it." said Sam. "I probably should have ended it years ago, but I couldn't bring myself to. Something about that man's face stuck with me. I was young then, so it could have been a trick of the light but he looked dead. For a minute after he handed it to me, he looked ninety years old. When I looked back at him, he was just another normal guy. I don't know, man." he sighed.
"Cool." Ella remarked, studying the game.
"Honestly, I wouldn't play it. You had to have been there, seen his face. That game is bad news, I don't even know why I'm giving it to you." said Sam, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Awesome! You know I love trouble!" laughed Ella. Sam watched her play with the game in her hands nostalgically. It reminded him of a better, simpler time. Ella was like a daughter to him. To him, she was still that same smiling ten year old walking in holding her father's hand. She cleared her throat, faking seriousness.
"You drive a hard bargain, my friend. But who am I to refuse? I'll play it tonight and I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow." said Ella. She looked outside. The sun was setting now, it was almost time for her to leave. The orange rays shone through the window, illuminating all the dust particles floating off the old games that hadn't been touched in months. She waved goodbye, placed the cartridge in her bag, grabbed her bike and left.
Her house wasn't far at all, only about ten minutes away. By the time she reached her house and went through the door, the sun had almost disappeared. She waved hello to her mother, who was sitting in the living room. Her mother was beautiful, but her features were stuck in a sort of perpetual tiredness that comes from working late shifts and multiple jobs to support a family. After her father passed away, Ella began to see her mother less and less, losing her to long days and night shifts. She never minded much because when she had the time, her mother tried her absolute best to spend time and connect with her daughter.
She waved hello back and was about to ask how her day went and how Sam was, but Ella headed upstairs to her room.
Her room was medium sized, leaning towards small. On her back wall, she had a small tv on her back wall with all of her consoles beneath it. In his free time, her dad was somewhat of a video-game collector. On her immediate right was a small nightstand which she kept some small personal items and her bed on the wall above and next to her bed, she had posters of different video games and old vinyls. Her closet was on her left wall and in the middle of her room, she had two small beanbag chairs. Besides a ceiling light and nightstand lamp, her room was illuminated by a medium sized window on the wall next to the tv, the one which her bed was up against. She had a bigger room in her old house, but she never complained. Her mother did the best she could and Ella appreciated that.
She sat down in one of the chairs and turned on her Nintendo 64, put in the game and started to play.
In the beginning, everything was normal. So normal, in fact, that Ella started to wonder if the warning Sam gave her was fake and only meant to scare her. Then the screen turned black.
A warped-looking statue of link started flashing on the screen. Ella wondered if the game was broken and considered turning it off but ultimately decided to continue playing. She had nothing better to do and wanted to see what would happen. She continued playing until the music started to play backwards. Her heartbeat began to accelerate and she felt uncomfortable, which was rare because Ella never felt uncomfortable. She felt so uncomfortable, in fact, that she felt compelled to shut off the game. She clicked the off switch multiple times and even tried shutting off the tv, but the game still continued. Ella realized what stupid and terrible idea it was for her to play this game and now she was going to die for her idiotic curiosity. She almost called for help before the screen shut off.
After a minute, a boy appeared on the screen. He looked to be about her age and bore a striking resemblance to Link. His hair was blonde, his skin pale and he was dressed in a Link costume. The only thing different was that his eyes were black and his retinas were blood red. For a moment, Ella thought he was Link. Or some kind of twisted version of him anyway.
"You shouldn't have done that"
Ella would have been terrified if she wasn't so perplexed at exactly just what the fuck was going on.
"Huh?" Ella said suddenly, a stupid expression on her face. The tone in which she said it made her sound like a fool but for a split-second, the boy looked surprised. Obviously, he was used to being met with fear, not foolishness.
"You shouldn't have done that." repeated the boy.
"Done what?" Ella responded, confused. The boy was getting noticeably aggravated.
"That!" shouted the boy. He was both pissed off and confused at the fact that she wasn't screaming and/or crying out of terror.
"Shut up! My mom is downstairs and she'll hear you!" she hissed. She paused for a moment. "Oh, I'm sorry. Was that rude of me? I don't mean to be rude."
He only stared at her and considered turning the game off and never coming out again but he was interested in the girl in front of the screen.
"I'm not scaring you?" he said, quieter this time.
"Scaring me? No, not really. I don't get scared very easily. Although when the game wouldn't turn off and that weird music was playing I started to get really uncomfortable. I wasn't scared though." she said. "However, I am creeped out. So you've done a really good job at that."
"Oh. Well that's okay. I guess." he said simply. He seemed comfortable and Ella started to relax. He wasn't so scary. He was actually kind of cute, in a horrifying ghost way.
"Cool." she nodded. They sat there in awkward silence for a few minutes. "So, what's your name?" she said jokingly.
"Ben. Ben Drowned."
"Ben Drowned? Is Drowned your last name? Oh, that sucks. I'm so sorry, that's gotta suck." she shook her head. "I'm Ella. Ella Wilson. Can I call you Ben?" she said. He waited patiently for her to shut up and quit her rambling.
"Yeah, you can call me Ben." he sighed. "Wait. You're really not scared?"
"Nope."
"Okay, just checking."
"So, what else can you do? Or do you just haunt 64 games? What about PlayStation or Xbox?" she asked. He smiled, happy that he was able to show off his skills for someone who actually gave a shit.
"Yeah, sure. Check your computer." he said and disappeared. Ella watched the black screen for a second and then climbed onto her bed to get her laptop. When she opened it, she saw Ben waving at her.
"Oh that's so cool! Genuinely, that's so cool." she grinned, staring at him. He stared back with a smile. He didn't look like a creepy ghost anymore, just a teenage boy. "You know, you're kind of cute in a creepy ghost kind of way." she joked. Bold of her to make a comment like that after the first ten minutes of meeting someone. He was surprised but hid it with a mischievous smile.
"You're king of cute in an annoying teenage girl kind of way."
She smiled and was about to say something else, probably something stupid, but her mother called her down for dinner.
"Well, I've got to go. We can talk later, I guess?" she told him, closed the laptop and walked downstairs. She didn't hear from him again that night.
The next morning she rode her bike as fast as she could through the downtown and to the OLD AND USED VIDEOGAMES store. She wanted to find Sam and tell him about her new and interesting experience she had the night before. When she got there, she found the store closed down. There was no trace of the games or Sam.