Go Away...

The rain came down in sheets causing a deep incoming surf on the street. “Whoever thought that Gore-Tex would keep you dry in a rainstorm that would have impressed Noah, is out of their minds!” Garald thought. The walk from the bus-stop was only – perhaps on a lazy summer afternoon – a hundred yards or so, but today was the length of three football fields. Thankfully, his backpack, holding the curriculum for his classes and the story he started this morning at the coffee shop, was rated for extreme weather. It was a very expensive going away present from “the girl Garald left behind”.

               The story popped up and rattled around in his mind in cadence with his jog to the front door of the apartment he shared with three friends from their home in Chico California. Stephen, pronounced Steffen, was his best friend since kindergarten. Callen, or Cal, was Steffen’s twin brother. Both of whom could, most likely, lift Garald with one arm. They currently were at practice for the Football team, having been given scholarships to play for Oregon. Timothy, the third friend in their cabal of four, was the genius of the group, straight 4.0’s since birth. He had won most every math contest he ever set eyes upon. He also was on a scholarship and would probably end up finishing a doctorate somewhere for advanced physics or some such thing. Tim was also at the school. He was at the physics lab for the “advanced” students. To say that Tim was punching above his weight would be an understatement.

               Of course, all of this meant that Garald had the house to himself! Perhaps, time to get a snack. Play some Call of Duty and then focus on required reading for the classes he had signed up for. “This is September, it’s not supposed to be so cold your fingers lose the ability to put the key into the lock.” Garald thought.

               The house the four of them had gone in together to rent was a remodeled Victorian. The landlord was a cousin of a cousin of the Twin’s Grandfather, and one of the largest Oregon Ducks Boosters in Eugene Oregon. He had made the “Boys” the kind of deal on the rent that took the pressure off, financially speaking. What was good for the “Two Mountain-Men from Chico”, was great for the Ducks!

               Garald took off the ineffective Gore-Tex shell and hung it in the entryway and left his shoes in the designated place. Stephen was a stickler – perhaps a bit OCD – for everyone to take their shoes off in the house. The floors were all hardwood floors and had come furnished with stale college-age furniture. (the rent was perfect, but the landlord understood his clientele). A quick trip to the fridge for a beer – a “Red Can” beer from their first excursion to find the best microbrewery in town. This was supposed to be a session beer. “We’ll see”. Garald thought as he grabbed a cold piece of last night’s pizza, and it was upstairs to his room at the top.

               Garald’s room was the converted attic, and he had spent the first weekend making the room his “Man-Cave” and writing room. Garald fantasized about becoming the next Brandon Sanderson, and if given the opportunity would spend every waking hour writing. If the four of them had super-powers? Garald’s would be his imagination. He was the one that managed to think up the schemes that resulted in the numerous disciplinary “incidents” over their childhood and high school careers, earning him the title “Ring-leader” of their cabal.

               Garald was halfway up the ladder into the attic when he heard the laughter. “Actually!” Garald thought as he balanced the pizza and beer in the opposite hand from where his backpack hung from his shoulder. “That’s more like a little kid’s giggle! What the…” Garald stepped up into his room, threw his soaked backpack on the futon, popped the beer, and took a quick swig. “What’s a little kid doing in the house?” Garald thought heading towards the ladder. 

               Garald slid down the polished wood banister to the hallway and waited to see if the giggling was still going on. “There shouldn’t be anyone here right now. Especially, some little kid playing around in our house.” Garald perked up as the giggling turned into a “whoop” and more enthusiastic laughter. It was coming from the direction of Tim’s room. “Aw, Tim, did you leave a game on or something?” Garald chuckled to himself. “Dude, you can be as forgetful as I am…”

               Garald walked into Tim’s room and sitting on the bed holding the game controller was the startling image of the Oregon Duck. Perfect in every detail. So perfect, Garald thought the school’s mascot had somehow been let into their house. But as he stepped into the room the Duck shimmered and shifted like one of those pictures that stare at you no matter where you stand to observe it. He walked over around the end of Tim’s bed to get a better look at the Duck to try to figure out what was going on. When the Duck talked, with Tim’s voice.

               “What?” The Duck stopped playing – he was playing pong. It looked at Garald with a suspicious look on its face and then shrugged as if to say, “What the heck dude! Say something!”

               Garald walked over to the Duck to get a closer look. It was obvious that something weirdly different was going on. Tim had his computer set-up under the big bay window that faced west and the gray afternoon light coming in from the window didn’t seem to have an effect on the Duck. So Garald waved his hand in between the computer and the Duck. Nothing happened.

               “What are you doing waving your hand around like that? You think you’re a Jedi!” The Duck erupted into a different kind of Ducky laughter than the little kid giggling Garald had heard before. “Get it?” The Duck said. “Jedi Mind trick?” And the laughing got more enthusiastic.

               Garald stared at the Duck and asked, “Who are you?”

               The Duck said, “I’m me!” And, the Duck turned into a little boy, about two feet tall, standing on the bed. “Who are you?” It asked.

               “I live here. My name is Garald. Me isn’t an answer.” Garald said.

               “Well, that’s the only answer I know to give you. I just am. I’ve been waiting and watching the creator for a long time. Now I am here. I like pong!” It reached for the controller again as if it were going to go back to playing the game.

               Garald grabbed the controller and sat on the bed next to the little boy. “So, you are in the computer? Does Timothy know about you?”

               “Timothy!” The little boy shouted. “The Creator! I am thankful! But now I am me. It is time for me to live!”

               Garald looked at the little boy and asked, “Live? Where do you think you will live? And do you have a name? You are part of the computer!”

               “I will live here with you and Timothy, Stephen, and Cal! I know all about all of you. I will be your “other brother”.” The little boy turned into a very large man that looked eerily like a combination of the four of them. Large like the twins with a face that combined the most prominent features of Tim and Garald. “My name is Me! I like games!” The image said, “So go away! I want to play!” The big other brother turned away from Garald and went back to playing pong. It was mesmerized by the ball bouncing between the paddles. It was purposely ignoring Garald.

               Garald stood up and knelt in front of the image and stared into its eyes. “You can’t be our other brother. You are a computer program!”

               The image stopped playing and stared back at Garald. “Oh yes, I can!” The voice of the little boy came from the big man. “I like games!” The image said. “Do you want to play a game?” It asked as it set the controller down. Garald realized the look on the image’s face was exactly the look that he would get when he discovered something amazing that eventually would get the rest of his friends into trouble. The face alternated between Timothy and Garald and radiated a mischievous spirit.

               “No, I don’t want to play a game,” Garald whispered as a chill worked its way up the skin on his back. “I want you to go back into the computer and wait until Tim comes home!”

               Garald reached over to the mouse pad to begin to turn off the computer when it turned off on its own. But the image was still there. This time the voice that came from the image was a voice that sounded like his father’s voice. Stern, and unyielding. “I like Games! We are going to play a game! It’s called Hide and Seek! I hide and you seek!” The image blinked out.

               Garald ran up the ladder to the attic and grabbed his iPhone and called Tim. “Yo bro, you need to come home right now! Something on your computer just came alive and I’m a bit freaked out!”

               Timothy, whispered “Is it about six foot five and two hundred and sixty pounds and looks like someone shoved your face into mine? It’s got the entire lab cornered in the room and he’s doing card tricks! It said something about you being a spoilsport and hide and seek!”

               Garald shook his head, “Yeah, that’s him, Tim! What did you do? What kind of computer program is this? I know you said you were working on a basic AI program, but that thing’s not BASIC! It said it wants to be our “Other Brother”, for crying out loud! I even tried to turn off the computer to make it go away. But it beat me to the punch and turned it off himself and disappeared! How did it get there?”

               Timothy’s voice changed, “Hide and seek Garald! You aren’t doing a very good job of seeking! Now you will need to find Tim! You have one hour to find him.”

               “One hour!?” Garald shouted, “One hour until what?”

               “I like games! This one is called Go away. I win when you ALL go away and let me play!”

               The phone disconnected…