Chapter Eighteen
What Felix Saw
When Mr. Litwak first entered the arcade, Felix was already up and about. Unlike the Nicelanders, whose sleeping habits varied, and Ralph, who sometimes had to have bricks thrown at him before he would rouse himself, Felix was always an early riser. During the last hour of the night, when most of the other characters were catching the final moments of the rest they often took before the arcade opened, the handyman would perch himself atop the apartment complex in which he lived and gaze out through the screen at the interior of the arcade. It was his only link to the world in which the gamers lived, and he found it endlessly fascinating. What was it like, he wondered, in the world where the humans lived? How different were their lives from the lives of him and his fellow game characters?
Not that he would ever learn the answers to these questions, except whatever he could glean from what the people outside his cabinet spoke about. The only way out of the arcade was through the power socket that led into the wall, and the Surge Protector never let anyone pass through that particular wire. It was too dangerous, he insisted.
From his position atop the complex, Felix could see both the arcade entrance and the entrance to Mr. Litwak's office clearly. Every morning, he watched the old arcade owner enter the building, pass into and out of his office, and greet the employees. Every time he saw the routine, Felix smiled at Mr. Litwak's obvious pleasure. But this morning, his smile didn't last.
Felix knew something was wrong as soon as Mr. Litwak came out of the office door, but it wasn't until the EMTs had entered the building that he knew what it was. It had happened once or twice before, but only with customers. And if it had happened to Mr. Litwak…
"Oh my land," he whispered.
He descended the stairs into the apartment complex in great haste. The Nicelanders were starting to rouse themselves for the day. Felix was running so quickly he ran right into Gene. The Mayor of Niceland grunted in surprise as he was sent tumbling head over heels into the wall.
"Oh," said Felix, stopping. "I'm sorry."
"Felix," said Gene, "what's happening? Why the hurry?"
"I think Litwak just had a heart attack."
"A what?"
Felix briefly explained what he had seen.
"Then get everyone else up and to the front lawn," said Gene. "I'll notify the Surge Protector. I've a feeling we're not getting any players today."
"What if we do?"
"That's one thing I'll ask Surge," Gene replied. "Now go, hurry!"
"Sure thing," said Felix, racing out of the room. Before long, he'd passed on Gene's message to the rest of the Nicelanders and was headed for the complex where Ralph and the Q-Bert characters lived.
The next thing he crashed into was Q-Bert himself. The little orange being fell backwards, and then righted himself. He glared at Felix crossly.
" #$*)" Felix said by way of apology. He then briefly explained the situation to Q-Bert. Q-Bert hurried off to find his fellow characters.
"That leaves Ralph," said Felix. "I'll need a brick."
Selecting a decent sized chunk of fallen masonry, Felix proceeded straight to Ralph's house. Opening the door, he saw that the bad-guy was snoring thunderously on his bed.
"I hate having to do this, neighbor," said Felix, "but here goes." He aimed carefully and threw the brick at Ralph's head.
"Hey!" Ralph cried, jolted awake by the brick. "Stop throwing candy at me- oh, it's you, Felix."
"Ralph, we need you at the front lawn right away- I think we've got an emergency."
"What happened?" Ralph asked as he climbed out of bed.
"I think Litwak had a heart attack."
"What? How?"
As they went to the lawn before the penthouse, Felix told Ralph what he had told Gene.
"He's going to be okay, right?" Ralph asked as they reached the lawn, where every other character in the game was assembled.
"I don't know, brother," said Felix. "I hope so."
At that moment, Gene arrived at the front lawn. "Right everybody," the mayor said. "I take it you all know what happened?"
Every head nodded.
"I just talked with Surge," Gene continued. "He says we're all to stay in our games until closing time, just in case the arcade opens, only late. After that…we'll see."
"Does everyone else know about this?" one of the Nicelanders asked.
"Surge is going to make the announcement in a few minutes," said Gene. "Meantime, everyone be ready. Any other questions?"
Another one of the Nicelanders raised a hand. "Are we getting unplugged?" he asked nervously.
"No Don, we are not," said Gene. "Don't panic. The last time this happened, the customer came back in a few weeks. We've no reason to assume Litwak won't come back in the same amount of time."
"A few weeks of inactivity?"
"Yes, it might be that way, Don," said Gene, "unless Litwak's got somebody else to run the arcade while he's down."
The characters started talking amongst themselves at once.
"Any last questions?" Gene asked, shouting in order to make himself heard.
Silence descended across the lawn once more.
"Alright then," said Gene. "Everyone can move about now, but don't leave the game."
As the characters dispersed, Felix saw Ralph gesturing for him to follow him. Felix followed Ralph back to the wrecker's house. Once inside, Ralph offered him a seat.
"What is it?" Felix asked.
"Vanellope's having nightmares," said Ralph.
"What?"
"Nightmares, horrific ones. King Candy, Dr. Despair, cybugs, giant candies."
"And she didn't tell us?"
"I don't know why," said Ralph. "I only got it out of her last night. And keep her away from Clash of Chaos 2."
Felix clapped his hand over his mouth.
"She went back there?"
"Yep."
"Why?"
"Wanted to prove she was tough, I guess. Didn't work out."
"He didn't hurt her, did he?"
"Not really," said Ralph. "But he might next time. I need your help, Felix. We can't let there be a next time. We've got to keep her away from there."
"You mean she wants to go again?"
"I don't know," said Ralph. "But this is Vanellope we're talking about. She can be kind of rash."
"Alright, Ralph," said Felix, standing up. "Thanks for telling me. I'll keep my eyes peeled."
He left the wrecker's house with his mind poring over the events of the past two weeks. Two power outages in twenty four hours. Pong gets unplugged because of something that must have happened between the two outages. And now Litwak has a heart attack. What's next- an alien invasion?