Uncertainty
by Phantasy Star
--------------------
Part Three: Fall
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
It was amazing how fast time went. Before I knew it, fall had rolled in, and the
leaves were changing colour. It had almost been a year since Serena had invited
herself into the apartment.
Over the past week, Serena helped me work on the music in my game.
At first, I had thought she would help me _find_ music, but she had something else
in mind. She said she wanted to compose the music herself, and that she already had
some tunes worked out, just needed a place to use them.
I insisted on paying her, but she said she'd do it for me, as a payment for all the
months she's stayed in the apartment for free.
Of course, the rent for all the months I've let her stay here is no where near
the few hundred dollars I needed to hire a musician.
"So when does the whole thing have to be done?"
"End of October," I said automatically.
She paused.
"Isn't that a week from now?"
"No," I said, "That's..."
I glanced at the calender at the fridge.
Then I froze.
And I stared.
And I gasped in horror.
Was today really October 21st?
Andrew leaving and Jordan coming and Serena coming back had made me completely lose track
of time! I had less than ten days to finish a half-done project that decides whether
I get a big raise or stay at this minimum wage income for the next few years!
"Are you okay, Darien?" Serena asked, "You look pale."
I turned to look at her.
"I'm fine," I said shakily, "But we need to get to work."
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
"Okay," I said, "What should we start with?"
"The main theme, obviously," she said, "So, the whole point of the story is..."
"About a hero," I said, "Saving the world, killing bad guys, while protecting a girl."
"Hmm," she said, "I have just the right thing. I've been working on a piece, called
'For the Princess'."
"Let's hear it."
To my surprise, she looked down at the floor, "You really have to?"
When I finally understood what she meant, I sighed.
"Okay, look, Serena," I said as if I was talking to a child, "If I'm going to use your
music in the game, I'm going to need to _hear_ it before I put it in."
"Okay, okay," she said, "You don't have to be mean."
I crossed my arms as she went into her room to get her violin.
"Anytime you're ready," I said, having lost the little faith I had in her.
She nodded, and began.
It really wasn't that bad.
I watched her, mesmorized, as she moved the bow over the strings gracefully, her eyes
closed as if in a trance.
The music was beautiful.
Soon, I found myself enchanted by the sad, almost depressing melody.
When she was done, I didn't know what to say.
She looked at me worriedly, "Well? I've really worked hard on this. If you're not
going to say anything nice, don't say anything at all."
For some reason, no words came to mind.
"It wasn't _that_ bad, was it?" she said uncertainly.
"Wow," I said, letting out a deep breath, "That was... really good, actually."
"Seriously?" she asked.
"Yeah."
"Thanks!" she squealed, beaming, then put her arms around me to give me a quick hug.
I think my body went stiff, not knowing how to react.
Fortunately, she didn't notice, "Okay, I'm going to my room to work on new material!"
And she skipped happily off.
And left me just standing there.
I quickly shook the feeling off.
I was discovering a whole new side to Serena, and I wasn't sure if I was ready for it
or not.
Hmm.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
"Coffee?"
I looked up, or woke up, rather, from where I was sleeping in front of the computer.
"Please," I replied.
Serena sat down beside me, her hair undone, wearing glasses instead of contacts, in
pajamas and her usual Garfield slippers.
Despite her lack of sleep and usual grooming, she somehow managed to stay looking
great, one of the greatest mysterious in the universe. She always seemed presentable
in her comfortable, charming kind of way.
"Okay, we're done with that part," I said, my head throbbing.
"Uh-huh," she mumbled, taking a sip from her cup, "Now we move on to part three."
"Right," I said, "This is where the hero protects the girl from the evil guy who's
trying to kill everyone."
"Uh-huh," she said again, barely audible, "So, some cool battle music there."
"Yeah," I said, "And then afterwards, a little bit of happy music, as a
celebration."
"Right," she said, resting her head on the table top, "Don't know if I can do happy
music at the moment... How much time've we got?"
"Five days, seventeen hours, and twenty two minutes," I said, groaning.
"We'll make it," she said, taking her head off the table for a second to pat me on
the back, then fell right back down.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
"What the heck!?"
I jumped, startled. Where was I?
I glanced up quickly to see Andrew's horrified face, staring at me.
Staring at me and Serena, beside me, still half-asleep with her head on the desk.
"What are you guys doing!?"
I stood up, "Nothing!"
"I," Andrew began, "Wh- Th-... I... Wh- What the...?"
"Serena's helping me with my computer thing and we were working overnight," I explained,
"That's all."
"I come back from my vacation and _this is what I find_? You all sleeping in the
living room!?"
I blinked. That didn't make sense.
Serena finally got up, probably from all the yelling, and mumbled, "Oh, hi Andrew,"
* * *
After several minutes of explaining (my precious project time!), Andrew calmed down a
little. Good thing Serena always has a way with talking to Andrew. Probably a brother-sister
thing.
"So, where are you living now?" Andrew asked her.
Serena's eyes caught mine, and I looked at her nervously.
"Um, Victoria..." she lied, "And, uh... twenty... second."
"Oh, isn't that where Bering park is?" Andrew asked.
"Sure," she said.
"No wait, that's thirty second. What park are _you_ talking about?"
"What park?" she asked.
"You just said there was a park near where you lived."
"No I didn't."
"Yeah you did."
"No... What...?"
"But..." Andrew said, then decided to give up, "Never mind."
Serena looked relieved.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Serena and I had been working four days straight (I took the week off) on the project,
and Andrew helped when he could, though he hasn't been home much lately.
(Serena told Andrew that she wanted to move "back in" with us for a while because she was
tight on money. Don't ask me how she explained why all her stuff was still in her room)
I was beginning to get nervous. Could my game really be better than the ones the other
four or five people working at my office designed?
Somehow, though, even if I didn't get the promotion, I felt I still enjoyed the process of
making the RPG. Who knows, I might try to sell it to a company later on.
"You ever noticed how late Andrew has been coming home lately?" Serena asked me one day
as we were working, "He closes the shop at eight, but comes home near midnight."
"Yeah," I agreed, "Probably hanging out with friends."
Serena nodded, still worried, "Probably..."
"Okay, we're nearly done," I announced, "Just need the music for the ending."
"Great. What happens in the end anyway? I've never played it up to there."
"Well, the good guys win, of course. But in the process, the main characters get into
an argument and they split up."
Serena looked horrified, "They split up?"
"Yeah," I said, hoping that she wouldn't start an argument about that.
It was _my_ game after all. She probably understood that.
No she didn't.
"What do you mean they split up?" she complained, "What kind of an ending is that?"
"A sad one," I said impatiently, "Look, I really don't have time to change it now,
and, you know, that's life. Not everything ends up perfectly."
She still looked displeased, but she got to work anyway.
"I'm going to make a backup of the information we have already," I said, "Just in
case we lose everything."
"Mm-hmm," she said, working on the music composing program on the computer.
"After we're all finished, I'm going to treat you to lunch or something," I said,
trying to sound casual.
She looked surprised, then went back to staring at the computer, "Sure."
* * *
Two days later, we were finally done. The game was finished, but I still needed to
take care of some final details. Like getting a haircut.
The night before my presentation, I went to the hairdresser's and Serena went out to buy
me some slightly more decent clothing than the usual jeans and T-shirt I wore.
"Good luck!" she said as I got into the car the next morning.
I nodded and drove off to the office.
* * *
"Mr. Sheilds?"
I stood up, confidently, with my game CD in hand.
"My project is an RPG. It works under most operating systems, including Windows 95,
98, and NT, as well as Macintosh. It uses a minimal amount of ram..."
I continued to explain the programming behind the game.
Then I popped the CD into the laptop, and the CD contents showed up on the overhead screen.
And I saw the word "Backup" on the CD label.
INTERLUDE
I rolled my eyes as I put the CDs into the correct cases. Darien never put them back where
they belonged after he'd used them.
Then I came to the CD case marked backup. I opened it to find a CD without the word
"backup" sprawled across. I quickly popped it into the CD drive and loaded it up.
Oh no, this was the final copy of the game!
I put the CD into the case and shoved it into my purse.
Time to go!
* * *
I sped down the street.
Turn right.
Run the red light.
Turn left.
Cut in front of middle-aged man in a distasteful pair of suspenders.
Pretend not to see pregnant lady trying to cross the street.
Okay, time to step on the pedal and cut in front of that girl with an ugly sweater so I
can make my right turn.
To my surprise, the horribly dressed woman sped up and wouldn't let me get in front!
I edged my car closer to her in a threatening manner, but Ms. Lack-of-fashion-sense
wouldn't let get through.
I gritted my teeth and slammed down on the gas pedal harder. I was going to get in
front of her if it killed me!
Ms. Lack-of-fashion-sense's eyes locked on to mine and gave me an intimidating glare.
But I, Serena, would not be intimidated.
Oh shoot, I'm going to have to turn at the next intersection. There was no way I could
turn if I wasn't in the right lane. But I wasn't going to slow down and admit defeat
either.
Ms. Lack-of-fashion-sense, having noticed my right-turn signal, gave me an evil smile as
if to say "Can't turn right, huh? Too bad!"
I began to see red.
Then I noticed that she was turning right as well.
I think it was the adrenaline rush, maybe I wasn't thinking clearly.
But either way, when both cars reached the intersection, and, even though I wasn't at the
rightmost lane, I turned anyway.
Yes! I did it!
I cut into the second lane from the sidewalk, and I was right beside Ms. Lack-of-fashion-sense
again.
She glanced at me in shock, and I smiled back triumphantly.
Then I stepped on the gas pedal.
And round two began.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
"So it's not completed?" Mr. Tin asked me.
"Oh no, it is finished," I answered nervously, "It's just that I brought the backup CD instead."
And I faked a laugh. As if it was funny.
And it _was_ funny, in a sick, twisted kind of way.
Suddenly, Serena burst into the room. It seemed that she forgot to open the door,
because she crashed into something (It was too fast to tell what it was) and landed
on the floor, keeping one hand up holding the CD.
"Here it is!" she gasped.
I opened my mouth but no words came to mind.
"Hurry up!" she said.
I nodded and took the CD from her, while a colleague of mine helped her up, giving
her a polite smile and holding her hand long after she said she was fine.
I replaced the CD and began the presentation.
After an hour of explaining my project, I sat down with a sigh. It was over. I had
given it my best shot.
And after another few agonizing hours of watching the presentations of the other
projects, Mr. Tin told us he had made up his mind.
* * *
"You did it!"
Serena grabbed my hand and jumped up and down, excitedly, "You got the promotion!"
"I know!" I said, grinning, "Thanks to you."
I think it was the first time I've seen her blush, "Well..."
"C'mon, let's go for lunch," I said, "My treat."
* * *
After our little celebration that afternoon, things seemed to change between Serena
and me. I started to ask her out to lunch every once in a while, and she usually said
yes.
We got closer and closer in the few days, and I began to feel differently around her.
And I was happy about it.
Then one night, when we went home at eleven, I made a decision.
Andrew was out, the situation was perfect.
"Long day..." Serena said as she and I walked into the apartment.
"Yeah," I agreed, hanging my green jacket in the closet.
"Wonder where Andrew is..." Serena said worriedly.
"Mm-hmm," I replied, not really paying attention.
I sat down on the couch.
"Well, I'm going to bed," Serena announced, "It's getting late."
She walked to her room, but I stopped her.
"Wait," I called out.
She turned around, "What is it?"
There was a pause. I hesitated.
"Serena, I..."
by Phantasy Star
--------------------
Part Three: Fall
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
It was amazing how fast time went. Before I knew it, fall had rolled in, and the
leaves were changing colour. It had almost been a year since Serena had invited
herself into the apartment.
Over the past week, Serena helped me work on the music in my game.
At first, I had thought she would help me _find_ music, but she had something else
in mind. She said she wanted to compose the music herself, and that she already had
some tunes worked out, just needed a place to use them.
I insisted on paying her, but she said she'd do it for me, as a payment for all the
months she's stayed in the apartment for free.
Of course, the rent for all the months I've let her stay here is no where near
the few hundred dollars I needed to hire a musician.
"So when does the whole thing have to be done?"
"End of October," I said automatically.
She paused.
"Isn't that a week from now?"
"No," I said, "That's..."
I glanced at the calender at the fridge.
Then I froze.
And I stared.
And I gasped in horror.
Was today really October 21st?
Andrew leaving and Jordan coming and Serena coming back had made me completely lose track
of time! I had less than ten days to finish a half-done project that decides whether
I get a big raise or stay at this minimum wage income for the next few years!
"Are you okay, Darien?" Serena asked, "You look pale."
I turned to look at her.
"I'm fine," I said shakily, "But we need to get to work."
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
"Okay," I said, "What should we start with?"
"The main theme, obviously," she said, "So, the whole point of the story is..."
"About a hero," I said, "Saving the world, killing bad guys, while protecting a girl."
"Hmm," she said, "I have just the right thing. I've been working on a piece, called
'For the Princess'."
"Let's hear it."
To my surprise, she looked down at the floor, "You really have to?"
When I finally understood what she meant, I sighed.
"Okay, look, Serena," I said as if I was talking to a child, "If I'm going to use your
music in the game, I'm going to need to _hear_ it before I put it in."
"Okay, okay," she said, "You don't have to be mean."
I crossed my arms as she went into her room to get her violin.
"Anytime you're ready," I said, having lost the little faith I had in her.
She nodded, and began.
It really wasn't that bad.
I watched her, mesmorized, as she moved the bow over the strings gracefully, her eyes
closed as if in a trance.
The music was beautiful.
Soon, I found myself enchanted by the sad, almost depressing melody.
When she was done, I didn't know what to say.
She looked at me worriedly, "Well? I've really worked hard on this. If you're not
going to say anything nice, don't say anything at all."
For some reason, no words came to mind.
"It wasn't _that_ bad, was it?" she said uncertainly.
"Wow," I said, letting out a deep breath, "That was... really good, actually."
"Seriously?" she asked.
"Yeah."
"Thanks!" she squealed, beaming, then put her arms around me to give me a quick hug.
I think my body went stiff, not knowing how to react.
Fortunately, she didn't notice, "Okay, I'm going to my room to work on new material!"
And she skipped happily off.
And left me just standing there.
I quickly shook the feeling off.
I was discovering a whole new side to Serena, and I wasn't sure if I was ready for it
or not.
Hmm.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
"Coffee?"
I looked up, or woke up, rather, from where I was sleeping in front of the computer.
"Please," I replied.
Serena sat down beside me, her hair undone, wearing glasses instead of contacts, in
pajamas and her usual Garfield slippers.
Despite her lack of sleep and usual grooming, she somehow managed to stay looking
great, one of the greatest mysterious in the universe. She always seemed presentable
in her comfortable, charming kind of way.
"Okay, we're done with that part," I said, my head throbbing.
"Uh-huh," she mumbled, taking a sip from her cup, "Now we move on to part three."
"Right," I said, "This is where the hero protects the girl from the evil guy who's
trying to kill everyone."
"Uh-huh," she said again, barely audible, "So, some cool battle music there."
"Yeah," I said, "And then afterwards, a little bit of happy music, as a
celebration."
"Right," she said, resting her head on the table top, "Don't know if I can do happy
music at the moment... How much time've we got?"
"Five days, seventeen hours, and twenty two minutes," I said, groaning.
"We'll make it," she said, taking her head off the table for a second to pat me on
the back, then fell right back down.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
"What the heck!?"
I jumped, startled. Where was I?
I glanced up quickly to see Andrew's horrified face, staring at me.
Staring at me and Serena, beside me, still half-asleep with her head on the desk.
"What are you guys doing!?"
I stood up, "Nothing!"
"I," Andrew began, "Wh- Th-... I... Wh- What the...?"
"Serena's helping me with my computer thing and we were working overnight," I explained,
"That's all."
"I come back from my vacation and _this is what I find_? You all sleeping in the
living room!?"
I blinked. That didn't make sense.
Serena finally got up, probably from all the yelling, and mumbled, "Oh, hi Andrew,"
* * *
After several minutes of explaining (my precious project time!), Andrew calmed down a
little. Good thing Serena always has a way with talking to Andrew. Probably a brother-sister
thing.
"So, where are you living now?" Andrew asked her.
Serena's eyes caught mine, and I looked at her nervously.
"Um, Victoria..." she lied, "And, uh... twenty... second."
"Oh, isn't that where Bering park is?" Andrew asked.
"Sure," she said.
"No wait, that's thirty second. What park are _you_ talking about?"
"What park?" she asked.
"You just said there was a park near where you lived."
"No I didn't."
"Yeah you did."
"No... What...?"
"But..." Andrew said, then decided to give up, "Never mind."
Serena looked relieved.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Serena and I had been working four days straight (I took the week off) on the project,
and Andrew helped when he could, though he hasn't been home much lately.
(Serena told Andrew that she wanted to move "back in" with us for a while because she was
tight on money. Don't ask me how she explained why all her stuff was still in her room)
I was beginning to get nervous. Could my game really be better than the ones the other
four or five people working at my office designed?
Somehow, though, even if I didn't get the promotion, I felt I still enjoyed the process of
making the RPG. Who knows, I might try to sell it to a company later on.
"You ever noticed how late Andrew has been coming home lately?" Serena asked me one day
as we were working, "He closes the shop at eight, but comes home near midnight."
"Yeah," I agreed, "Probably hanging out with friends."
Serena nodded, still worried, "Probably..."
"Okay, we're nearly done," I announced, "Just need the music for the ending."
"Great. What happens in the end anyway? I've never played it up to there."
"Well, the good guys win, of course. But in the process, the main characters get into
an argument and they split up."
Serena looked horrified, "They split up?"
"Yeah," I said, hoping that she wouldn't start an argument about that.
It was _my_ game after all. She probably understood that.
No she didn't.
"What do you mean they split up?" she complained, "What kind of an ending is that?"
"A sad one," I said impatiently, "Look, I really don't have time to change it now,
and, you know, that's life. Not everything ends up perfectly."
She still looked displeased, but she got to work anyway.
"I'm going to make a backup of the information we have already," I said, "Just in
case we lose everything."
"Mm-hmm," she said, working on the music composing program on the computer.
"After we're all finished, I'm going to treat you to lunch or something," I said,
trying to sound casual.
She looked surprised, then went back to staring at the computer, "Sure."
* * *
Two days later, we were finally done. The game was finished, but I still needed to
take care of some final details. Like getting a haircut.
The night before my presentation, I went to the hairdresser's and Serena went out to buy
me some slightly more decent clothing than the usual jeans and T-shirt I wore.
"Good luck!" she said as I got into the car the next morning.
I nodded and drove off to the office.
* * *
"Mr. Sheilds?"
I stood up, confidently, with my game CD in hand.
"My project is an RPG. It works under most operating systems, including Windows 95,
98, and NT, as well as Macintosh. It uses a minimal amount of ram..."
I continued to explain the programming behind the game.
Then I popped the CD into the laptop, and the CD contents showed up on the overhead screen.
And I saw the word "Backup" on the CD label.
INTERLUDE
I rolled my eyes as I put the CDs into the correct cases. Darien never put them back where
they belonged after he'd used them.
Then I came to the CD case marked backup. I opened it to find a CD without the word
"backup" sprawled across. I quickly popped it into the CD drive and loaded it up.
Oh no, this was the final copy of the game!
I put the CD into the case and shoved it into my purse.
Time to go!
* * *
I sped down the street.
Turn right.
Run the red light.
Turn left.
Cut in front of middle-aged man in a distasteful pair of suspenders.
Pretend not to see pregnant lady trying to cross the street.
Okay, time to step on the pedal and cut in front of that girl with an ugly sweater so I
can make my right turn.
To my surprise, the horribly dressed woman sped up and wouldn't let me get in front!
I edged my car closer to her in a threatening manner, but Ms. Lack-of-fashion-sense
wouldn't let get through.
I gritted my teeth and slammed down on the gas pedal harder. I was going to get in
front of her if it killed me!
Ms. Lack-of-fashion-sense's eyes locked on to mine and gave me an intimidating glare.
But I, Serena, would not be intimidated.
Oh shoot, I'm going to have to turn at the next intersection. There was no way I could
turn if I wasn't in the right lane. But I wasn't going to slow down and admit defeat
either.
Ms. Lack-of-fashion-sense, having noticed my right-turn signal, gave me an evil smile as
if to say "Can't turn right, huh? Too bad!"
I began to see red.
Then I noticed that she was turning right as well.
I think it was the adrenaline rush, maybe I wasn't thinking clearly.
But either way, when both cars reached the intersection, and, even though I wasn't at the
rightmost lane, I turned anyway.
Yes! I did it!
I cut into the second lane from the sidewalk, and I was right beside Ms. Lack-of-fashion-sense
again.
She glanced at me in shock, and I smiled back triumphantly.
Then I stepped on the gas pedal.
And round two began.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
"So it's not completed?" Mr. Tin asked me.
"Oh no, it is finished," I answered nervously, "It's just that I brought the backup CD instead."
And I faked a laugh. As if it was funny.
And it _was_ funny, in a sick, twisted kind of way.
Suddenly, Serena burst into the room. It seemed that she forgot to open the door,
because she crashed into something (It was too fast to tell what it was) and landed
on the floor, keeping one hand up holding the CD.
"Here it is!" she gasped.
I opened my mouth but no words came to mind.
"Hurry up!" she said.
I nodded and took the CD from her, while a colleague of mine helped her up, giving
her a polite smile and holding her hand long after she said she was fine.
I replaced the CD and began the presentation.
After an hour of explaining my project, I sat down with a sigh. It was over. I had
given it my best shot.
And after another few agonizing hours of watching the presentations of the other
projects, Mr. Tin told us he had made up his mind.
* * *
"You did it!"
Serena grabbed my hand and jumped up and down, excitedly, "You got the promotion!"
"I know!" I said, grinning, "Thanks to you."
I think it was the first time I've seen her blush, "Well..."
"C'mon, let's go for lunch," I said, "My treat."
* * *
After our little celebration that afternoon, things seemed to change between Serena
and me. I started to ask her out to lunch every once in a while, and she usually said
yes.
We got closer and closer in the few days, and I began to feel differently around her.
And I was happy about it.
Then one night, when we went home at eleven, I made a decision.
Andrew was out, the situation was perfect.
"Long day..." Serena said as she and I walked into the apartment.
"Yeah," I agreed, hanging my green jacket in the closet.
"Wonder where Andrew is..." Serena said worriedly.
"Mm-hmm," I replied, not really paying attention.
I sat down on the couch.
"Well, I'm going to bed," Serena announced, "It's getting late."
She walked to her room, but I stopped her.
"Wait," I called out.
She turned around, "What is it?"
There was a pause. I hesitated.
"Serena, I..."