Click to Start

One simple game. Just a silly computer game. Harmless. No, it actually isn’t. Ever since people have started to download the game, it’s gone all wrong. It’s because everyone’s missing.

About three years ago is when it started. Moji Enterprises had released their newest game. Moji is popular for the addictive games you really can’t put down. I have to admit, most of my devices have been filled up with their apps. Demons Demise, Red Fox, you name it. I have a brother, Gregory, and a mom. My dad is never usually around, business reasons and all. Of course, they have some Moji games, too. But Moji did something different; they released a computer game. They typically only make mobile games, but this one was for the computer.

Yeah, what’s the big deal? It’s great. I can play my games on the computer, too. That’s what I should have been thinking, but I was skeptical. The game was called “Hall Pass.” The goal was to go to different classrooms and collect items. But there are obstacles in the hallway, and the hallway looks like a maze. By day two it had 2,983,297 downloads. I didn’t download it because I didn’t have enough space on my computer. After a month or two, my skepticism subsided, and I decided to clear some space and download it.

Five minutes after beginning the download, an icon that looked like an open book appeared on the desktop. I double-clicked and it opened. It loaded for a while. The graphics looked really funny, pixelated. Funny, Moji’s games are always in HD quality. Something didn’t feel right. What was I so worried about?

My mother’s voice called from downstairs. She set the table and made dinner. Gregory inhaled his meal, and ran upstairs. He was silent the entire meal.
“This new game is really addicting. My own child won’t say a word, too busy thinking about that game,” said my mom with a laugh. My mom hates electronics, or anything that has to do with them. “Aren’t you hungry, or has the gaming virus invaded your head?” she asked.

“No, no. I’m just tired.” I replied. “Can I go to bed?”

“Fine. Only saying okay, because I’m worried you haven’t been getting sleep,” she said. I ran upstairs to my computer. A button graphic had appeared:

CLICK TO START

I clicked the button, expecting instructions, or the game. Instead another “Click to start” button appeared. Then another appeared, and I clicked it again. They kept appearing, as I kept clicking them. The screen glitched up, turned green with lines, and lines of code. I was frustrated. I absolutely HATED viruses. The screen slowly turned white. There was a flash and my picture showed with my brother’s and my mother’s.  My address turned up, and then the computer shut down.

I screamed out of fear. I ran downstairs, looking for my mother, but couldn’t find her. I returned to my room, and hid in the covers.

About 30 minutes later, I heard the front door open, thinking it was my mother. I quietly went down the stairs to look. I was wrong.

A man in a gray suit and white hair stood in the doorway, then started up the stairs after me. Two more men came in with guns and went with him. I ran to Gregory’s room, and locked the two of us inside. The three men knocked it over, and shot us both.
It was a huge blur from there.

I woke up in a white gown in a small, gray room. I tried to scream but nothing came out. A door opened and the same man in the suit comes in. He has my brother by the feet. Gregory’s eyes are wide with fear. He was thrown in with me, and the door was locked. I could talk.

“Don’t worry, momma’s coming.” I said to my brother.  We peered out the room’s only window to see thousands, maybe millions of people in a line. They looked drowsy, and wore plain clothes. And at the end of that never-ending line, was my mother. I thought I was hallucinating. I blinked, and she was gone.

I realized this a sweatshop run by Moji. Anyone who is out of line gets killed, along with his or her family. I stay silent, never saying anything, in fear my brother and I would get killed. My name is no longer the one I had. It is now 6383H. I kept telling myself, “Don’t worry, momma’s coming”, but I very well know that isn’t true.

My job is to put in the batteries of phones. The two women next to me are 4026W and 1952D, but since we’re now friends, I call them Alyson and Kate. About 15 families are killed each week, usually by one individual gone mad. My brother works at the other end of the station with the screens.

Two years have passed. I realize now that most gaming companies have collaborated with Moji, and they’re using this virus. If you ever come across a game that has the exact words, “Click to start”, delete it. Delete it right that very moment. Just do it. It’s not a game. Just please, don’t you dare click that button.