Prologue: Game or Shame?

Belle's P.O.V

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"I'm going now..", I tiptoed placing a light kiss on Mum's left cheek. It wasn't like I was starting a new class or something, but the somewhat 'goodbye kiss' was a habit.

"Ohh dear, should I walk you to school?", Monica yawned obviously fighting to keep her eyes open, as the gentle breeze pushed pass her tangled hair.

"I'm in highschool mum!", I unconsciously rolled my eyes at her words, a light smile at my lips. With the increased murder cases in town, it sounded pretty sensible at least. Every night, one or two civilian lose their lives. And from what the media had announced, all the victims seem to be missing one or two body parts!

Oakbay was a peaceful town. From the time I was born I'd only ever heard of small shop robberies and petty criminals. Now missing people and murder cases was becoming so common....

Like something from the serial killer movies I could spend my whole night watching.

But school was just five minutes away...

"Don't fall asleep, okay!", Mum waved. We'd both stayed up last night watching the last few episode of our favorite series, 'Anonymous killer'.

Monica was a single mother and also a writer. Attimes when business wasn't going well, she worked part-time at a coffee shop or other places.

"Right back at you!", I called out without looking back. There wasn't really any point in replying that,  since I was 99% sure she was gonna fall asleep right after shutting the door!

Truthfully, she worked to hard.

"Yo!.. Blondie", Beverly waved with a wide grin while I managed to cross the road. She was brown skinned with matching brown eyes and also typically my closest friend. Although I wouldn't really say 'best friend'.

We were actually a trio of friends from elementary. But you know what they say about growing up....

Laura was our third member, but these days. She seemed to be somewhat distant from us. And whenever she was asked she always said she had something important to take care of...

"Tchhh..", I mumbled.

She hardly even attended classes these days!... And her house was always locked...

I'd already tried to convince Bev to cut ties with her. People grow up... And not all friendships last forever.

But Bev is such a softie. And she's always saying Laura might have a problem she can't tell us. Well, we're friends so that shouldn't be the case.

"Hey..", I replied dully.

"Huh?!", Bev swung her arms around my shoulders, literally squishing me!!... "Don't say it that way!". She was a few inches taller too.

"Sorry..", I managed a smile. "I just don't think this town is safe anymore... And it's not safe for my mum to work at night"

"Is that it?". We both keep walking.

I'd always been a bad liar.

"I talked to my dad and it seems they still have some space for new workers at his place", she winked.

"Really?!", My eyes lit up at those words. Beverly Philips actually came from quite a wealthy family, but she still loved to walk to school with the gang.

"Now..", she pinched my cheeks. "Smile unless Trevor won't fall for you.."

"What..?", I felt my face flushed up. "I don't know what you're talking about!". Seeing the school gate up ahead, "We should better hurry up", she managed to say as she ran off ahead.

Bev just smiled behind her. What she'd planned was for both their single parents to get married so we could be siblings.

The first time she'd mentioned it to my hearing , I'd laughed so hard...

But I couldn't help but wonder if she'd meant what she said.

Laura had always been the juvenile type, but even a blind person could tell something was wrong somewhere. But unlike Beverly, I really had no patience with people.

***********

A period till the end of school, my phone pinged. I'd set special ringtones for some contacts... And that sound was Laura's!

I had to wait till the end of the period before checking it out. It was a message from Laura!

A link to something.

"What's wrong?", Bev came up beside me. "Everyone is leaving..".

"Laura just texted me!"

Bev's eyes widened. "What did she say?", Her tone was surprisingly serious.

Raising the phone up to Bev's face. "Just a link.."

"Tha' hell's wrong with her?", She hissed before pulling me out of my seat. "It's probably some spammers. Let's go.."

"But what if... She was kidnapped?!"

"Ohh really?... And they'll send a link?", there was a tone of amusement in her words.

I sighed before putting the phone away. Bev entwined her arm with mine as we gradually began to take our leave.

Back at home... I could sense the link was important. The idea of Laura being in danger kept me up that night.

It was already around 2am and I couldn't get any sleep, I just had to check it out!!

I sat up, hurriedly gripping the phone from under my pillow...... Within seconds I was in Laura's Dm.

I tapped the link..

It led to a game, The Harvest. It sounded like some lame farm game.

"Start game", I hesitated a bit before finally selecting that option.

"Howdy!", The game's mascot appeared at her screen. "What would you like your player name to be?"

"Tch!... I just wanna find Laura!", I yelled at the phone.

"Name too long, sorry..."

"Arghhh!... Stupid game!.. my name is Belle, Belle Franchester!"

"Name saved", i watched the farmer mascot give me a thumbs up. "Choose your weapon"

Weapon?... For farming?

"This is stupid". I was already bored so I attempted to remove the game, it didn't work.

"Choose your weapon, Belle!", I watched a list of weapons appear beside him. Why the hell was a gun in a farming game?

Once again, I tried to remove the game again. "Choose your weapon unless you'll be weaponless!..Belle!", The virtual farmer screamed with a frown on his face.

"You're getting quite bossy aren't you. Just gimme a hoe or something!". Letting out a deep sigh, while trying hard not to toss the phone out the window. I was really frustrated!!

"Permanent weapon chosen. First harvest has begun, you have twenty-four hours to collect the item", the mascot disappeared and a pair of eyes appeared. The game closed by itself after a twenty-four hour count down appeared.

That night, I slept believing what Bev had told me. It was probably spammers....

Or so I thought...