The Game (unfinished)

Chapter One

         It was morning, that much Addison knew. Everything else was a little bit fuzzy. Where she was, how she got there - these were things she didn’t know. But she did know it was morning.

         She sat up in the bed she was in and looked around her. It was a small bed with almost white sheets and a faded blue blanket. The room also contained a little bedside table that had an old windup clock on it and a lamp. There was a small closet not completely closed to her right and near her feet was another door which she guessed led to the rest of the house. At the head of the bed there was a small rectangular window with sheer blue curtains over it. She stood and peered into the closet, hoping to find something that would fit her. She saw several pairs of plain black pants and blue tops. The owner of t he room must really like the color blue.

         Since there was nothing else in the room for her to wear, she pulled the clothes out of the closet to try them on. They fit perfectly. Addison found this odd and wondered if they were her clothes. She also began to wonder if it was her room. She didn’t have any memories of this being her room … but now that she thought about it she didn’t have any memories of anything being her room. She wasn’t sure she had a room. But she didn’t have memories of being homeless either, at least that was somewhat comforting. Addison found a canvas tote bag slung over a hook on the back of the door and decided it couldn’t hurt to take that with her too. She grabbed the bag and opened the door.

         The door opened onto a small landing, with the only option on which way to go being down the stairs, which went around a corner so she couldn’t see to the bottom. “Hello?” Addison called, a bit reluctantly, down the stairs. She had fleeting thoughts that she didn’t want to draw attention to herself in case this was a trap of some sort, but considering she woke up alone and she definitely didn’t feel threatened she called out again. “Anyone home?”

      When no reply came she proceeded down the stairs. When she reached the bottom she saw a small living room and kitchen, with a few other doors that she guessed led to a bathroom and another bedroom. There was still no sign of anyone else in the house. “Where is everyone?” Addison muttered to herself and then went into the kitchen and started rummaging through the cupboards for something to eat. She normally would have felt uncomfortable doing this, but since she was almost sure that she lived here she didn’t let it get to her. There were empty dishes in the cupboards but there was no food to be found and there was no refrigerator to speak of. Upon further examination of her own mood Addison realized she wasn’t really hungry anyway, so she stopped her search for food and began to look for any sign of the occupants of the house she was in.

    There was no mail or identifying documents in the house. In fact the only paper that Addison found at all was a folded map on a table that was pushed up against the wall next to the kitchen area. She sat one of the three chairs and opened up the map.

         Addison was a bit surprised at the contents of the map. Even though it was a large piece of paper with lots of space on it, most of that space was blank. In fact, the only thing on the map at all was a small town that was to the lower left of the middle. There was enough detail in the map that she could see specific houses – there were 4 of them – and other places of interest, including a town hall and a tavern. Also, in the bottom right hand corner of the map was a small box containing the following:

                   Addison
                   Life: 3/3
                   Health: 10/10
                   Magic:  1/10
                   Strength: 0/10
                   Fighting skills: 0/10
                   Items: Magic Ring, Lamp

         Addison wasn’t really sure what to make of the whole thing. The more she thought about everything the less she knew. She had no idea where she was other than it was a house in a small town. She didn’t really remember this as her own house. And as she continued to think of her own memories she realized she couldn’t remember anything before waking up that morning. She didn’t know what her parents were like or if they were still married or if there were still alive. She didn’t know where she grew up or even how old she was. How could this happen? How could she have woken up in the morning and not know anything about herself?

         She began to worry about her own mental health. Did she have some sort of amnesia? And why was it that she could remember what amnesia was and not her own life. She knew her first name – she didn’t even know her last name - and she knew that the stats on the map were about her. Other than that she knew nothing of her own life.

    She thought about the word magic on the map and began to wonder if she was under some sort of spell. She wasn’t sure she even believed in magic and yet here she was, being told she had at least some magical skills and even a magical ring. She looked at the ring on her thumb and wondered the story behind it. Where did she get it? Why was it magic? More importantly, what kind of magic?

      She started at the map for a few moments, pondering what to do and then she noticed a small question mark in the bottom left hand corner of the map. She almost thought it was a piece of lint or something and she tried to brush it away. As soon as she touched it words appeared at the bottom of the map saying:
'Welcome to the Village of Bayley. Since you are new here you should walk around and figure things out. Don’t forget to talk to your neighbours to get to know how things work.'

      Addison sat at the table stunned for a few moments. “Did the map really just talk to me?”

    More words appeared at the bottom of the map: 'As you go along your journey this map will help you by keeping track of your progress and giving your helpful tips along the way. Whenever you need a tip just touch the question mark in the bottom corner and hints will appear at the bottom.'

         “Oh.” Addison said out loud as if she was talking to someone. “Well that is nice I guess. I wonder if this can tell me anything else.” She touched the question mark again.

    'Welcome to the Village of Bayley. Since you are new here you should walk around and figure things out. Don’t forget to talk to your neighbours to get to know how things work.'

    “Fine, I guess I should go walk around the town.” Addison said to herself. “I hope this talking to myself thing doesn’t become a habit because if it does I am going to start looking seriously a little bit crazy.” Addison laughed at herself for saying that out loud as well and stood to go outside. She found some boots by the door and put them on. She stuffed the map in her bag and headed out the door.

    Outside the house was a small yard surrounded by a picket fence. Past the fence was an old dirt road. She walked out onto the old road and turned and headed into town. She remembered from the map that her house was on the edge of town. She decided she was more likely to run into people if she headed in the direction of the town hall and the tavern than if she headed toward the outer edge of town. Also, from what it had looked like on the map there was a wall surrounding the edge of town anyway.

    As she walked toward the Town Hall she saw a woman. She took the counsel of the map and decided to talk to the woman.

    “Hello,” Addison said in what she thought was a polite voice.

    “How are you Addison?” the woman asked.

    Addison was confused about how the woman knew her name, but didn’t want to freak the woman out so she didn’t say anything. “Good thank you. How are you?”

    “Busy. Just getting ready for the troops to get to town tomorrow. I heard there will be several good looking young boys among them. You should make sure you wear a nicer outfit than that!” the woman said and before Addison responded she turned and began walking away.

    “What?” Addison muttered to herself. She couldn’t believe that a woman she didn’t even know would have the gall to say that to her! Ridiculous. And what did she mean that the troops were getting to town tomorrow? What troops?

      She was baffled by her conversation. The map made it seem like having conversations with people around her would help her figure out what was going on, not confuse her more. She continued walking towards the Town Hall and ran into a man. This time she didn’t have to initiate the conversation, he did it for her.

    “Ho there Addison!”

      “Hi,” she said skeptically.

      “Can you believe they are bringing troops here tomorrow? Of all the ridiculous things for them to do. They think that this new government can force us to cooperate after he took over like that! I only wish there was something we could do about it.”

      “I guess …” Addison said, not really knowing what else to say.

      “If you can you should leave before they get here. I heard a rumor that they are going to take all the townspeople to the nearby city of Arnel and you know what that place is like!” He said disgustedly and walked away.

      She was stunned. Would this new government really take a whole village of people and move them to a city just so they could keep better watch on them?
Addison kept walking and soon got to the Town Hall. She wasn’t really sure why she wanted to go there. She partially hoped that her parents would be there. Or at least someone she recognized.

    She entered the Town Hall to find it was more like a library. The woman sitting at the desk said “Oh Addison! I found those articles you were looking for the other day. Here you go,” she handed Addison a stack of old newspapers. “Just don’t take them anywhere – you know how expensive paper can be!”

    Addison was so excited (although she wasn’t sure why, she sure didn’t remember looking for any articles) that she didn’t ask the woman any questions, she just sat down at the nearest desk and began to read.

  New King Crowned
  Today a new King was crowned for the entire world. After a bit of a rocky campaign the King was finally crowned in his new palace – built by the people of 7 surrounding cities – and hailed as a revolutionary. King Akuma plans to change a lot of things in the world, starting with outlawing small towns. All small towns will now have to group together with other small towns to become cities. Any town not following this ordinance will be burned.
Other new ordinances will follow.

    Addison read through the other articles she had been looking for and was disgusted. She wasn’t sure how he had become King in the first place if he was going to be instituting ordinances like that. As she started reading the next article the woman at the desk called out to her. “Addison! I forgot to tell you that your father was in the Tavern and wanted to talk to you once you got here.”

    Finally! Her father! Someone she should recognize! She excitedly got up, thrust the articles back to the woman at the desk and rushed out the door.
The Tavern was more like a small restaurant than a bar. The floors and walls were all made of wood and there were several round wooden tables placed around the room. There was a bar as well, that was also made of wood, but had a metal pipe-like thing along the bottom to place your feet on as you sat on the barstools. There were three people total in the Tavern: the barman, Addison and one other man who sat in the back corner, drinking a pint of beer, which Addison thought was odd considering it was still pretty early.

    “Addy!” the barman called out to her before she stood there too long looking ridiculous while trying to decide which man to approach. She was very disheartened by her lack of recognition for this man. She thought that seeing the man who was her father would kick her memory into gear and help her figure things out, but no luck so far. She approached the bar and sat on a barstool.

    “Hi,” she said, sounding a little more unhappy than she planned.
    “Well, you don’t have to be so sad to see your old dad!” he joked.
    “I know …” she wasn’t sure how to explain her disappointment, or even if she wanted to explain, so she finished with a lame sounding “Sorry.”
    “Here honey, eat some breakfast,” he said and set a steaming plate of eggs and sausage in front of her. She smiled gratefully at him and dug in to her eggs.

    “I am going to the town council meeting – can you stay here and keep things in order?”

    She had a feeling that she didn’t really need to ‘keep things in order’ and that was just her father’s way of trying to make her feel useful even though she was just going to be eating. “Sure,” she mumbled around her eggs as he walked out the door.

    She finished her breakfast which didn’t taste like anything, but didn’t seem to make her full. Considering her lack of hunger in the first place this was a bit odd.

    “Don’t recognize him do you?” The man that was in the corner was suddenly standing beside her.

    “What?” she asked, a bit scared by his sudden appearance.

    “Your father. You don’t recognize him at all do you? That’s why you were so sad when you got here?”

    “How did you …?”

    He leaned over and began whispering to her even though there was no one around. “You aren’t the only one who doesn’t know what is going on here. Something is very wrong in this world of ours. I don’t know much, but I can assure you that things are not right. Everyone seems to be saying pre-planned phrases and everyone seems really … mindless.”

      Addison swallowed. He was saying exactly what she was thinking. Everything here was very odd.

    “And that map you have in your bag? Have you looked at it lately?”

    “No,” she whispered. “How do you know about that? Do you have one too?”

    “No, only a few of you have them. Look at it. It changes. What kind of map does that?"

    “None I guess …”

    “I can’t be sure … things are fuzzy for me too … but I think you might be able to save everyone. Put us all back to normal. Please help Addison. I am afraid you are our only hope!” Then the man did the same thing almost everyone else she had talked to today had done, turned and walked away from her without waiting for her to respond.

    Addison didn’t like what the man had said and she didn’t like to think that she was anyone’s only hope. She concluded that he must be crazy and some sort of conspiracy theorist and probably was a drunk so she decided to ignore the man.

    “Well this is boring,” Addison muttered to herself. She was pretty sure she didn’t need to sit here and babysit the Tavern anymore. She probably never needed to in the first place. Addison thought she would go walk around town more. Maybe get a closer look at the stone wall that seemed to be surrounding the town. She thought it was very odd that any place would be fenced in like that. 

    As soon as she exited the Tavern all her intentions of looking at the wall left when she saw a pillar of smoke rising from somewhere in town near where her house was. She began walking towards the smoke and realized it was coming from her house. She broke into a full on sprint towards her house. Although she may not have any specific memories in that house, she was still sure that was where she lived – and that was something she had a bit of inclination to protect.

    She arrived at the house and there were flames rising from the thatched roof. She could tell her room was in flames. When she first saw the smoke she had every intention of doing something to stop the flames, but now that she had arrived she wasn’t really sure what to do. There was no way she could put out the flames by herself and she didn’t even know where to go to get a hold of the fire department. She wasn’t even sure there was a fire department.

    That was when her father called to her from behind “Addy!”

    She turned as he approached her. “What’s going on?” she asked.

    “It’s Akuma’s men. They came today. They heard our discussions about dissenting at the town council meeting and they decided to just burn everything down so that we would have no place to stay if we stayed,” he explained in a rush.

      “What do we do now?” Addison asked, genuinely worried about the answer.

      “Well … we go to the city. Everyone except you that is,” he replied. The look on her face told him how she was feeling about this revelation.

    “Wha…?”

      “Addy honey, I know you can help us find a way out of this mess we are in. I am not sure how, but you have always been different than everyone. I want you to go and try to save us. I’m sorry that I am such a chicken that I can’t go with you.” His sorrow showed on his face and in his voice.

    “Thanks for the confidence,” she replied. She couldn’t bring herself to call him dad since she didn’t really feel like this was her father.

      After her father shooed her to the edge of town and then ditched her Addison decided to take out her map and look at it again. She opened it up and saw that it looked much the same as before, only the area near the town seemed a bit larger than before. She looked closer and saw that there was some forest that she could see and decided to go and explore it.

    She wasn’t sure what else to do and although she didn’t like her father telling her not to come to the city with them, she also knew that he was right. She didn’t feel like she was the same as everyone else. She could tell that she wasn’t under the same spell as the rest of the people. They all seemed … mindless almost. She didn’t feel mindless. She felt fully functional and a little bit angry that someone was taking advantage of everyone like this.

    She saw that the only gap in the fence surrounding the town was guarded by what looked like soldiers. They were wearing army boots, leather armor and helmets and they both carried swords on their belts. She didn’t know if they would just let her walk out of the town, but she wasn’t going to take the chance that they wouldn’t so she began to follow the wall along the outer edge of town to see if there was a gap or a low spot somewhere.

    She ended up following the wall around the entire town without any luck. She realized then that she was going to have to think of something else. She opened the map yet again. This time she looked closely at everyone’s house in the town. More specifically, she looked at their yards.  Eventually she saw a few of what she was looking for. Apple trees.

    She got up again and walked around to every house in town that had had an apple tree in its yard on the map. She was hoping to get lucky that someone had been picking their apples lately and left a ladder out. She had to sneak carefully around to the different houses she went to because many of them were now on fire or in ashes and there were people milling about everywhere waiting to be rounded up by the soldiers.

    She checked the house next to hers and there was nothing. Even the apple tree was burning. She saw the pattern they were burning in – they had began at her house and then proceeded along the street. There were two lonely houses on the opposite side of town from her that seemed to be left alone so far and Addison decided to try those. She approached slowly, trying her hardest to look mindless and yet hurry to her destination.

    Neither of the houses had been burned yet and there was no one around to ask her what she was doing. She sighed in relief at this and began searching through the yards and sheds to try to find a ladder. She was getting more and more desperate. She had a feeling that if she got taken in by the soldiers she would lose her only opportunity to figure out what was going on.

    There was no ladder in sight anywhere. Addison wasn’t sure what else she could do. She thought maybe she could take a shovel and try to dig under the wall. She sat down and leaned against the nearest apple tree and tried to think of another idea. She leaned her head back against the tree and gazed into the branches of the tree, deep in thought. And in those branches she saw her answer. Above her was a child’s tree-house. The tree was perfect for a tree house with the branches forming a natural ladder up the trunk. And the tree-house itself was in the perfect place – right above the stone wall.

      Addison climbed quickly up the rounded tree trunk ladder and scrambled across the branch to the tree-house entrance. She pushed on the door and practically fell into the tree-house. It was a cute little house made for a child about her size.

    “Thank you!” she said out loud to the unknown occupant and owner of the tree house that was helping her escape and she gazed out the window. All she could see was a few tree branches and blackness, which Addison thought was odd since it was still relatively early in the day. “Oh well, here goes nothing,” she said and then she climbed out the window. She lowered herself as much as possible and then dropped herself slightly onto the stone wall below her. Then she lowered herself into the forest beyond.