Anything was better than going home to a house where I am not wanted.

The best place to be happens to be in the arcade.

Win It was my second home. I spent every free time I had outside of school here having the highest score in most of the games and even befriending the employees.

They would have hired me already if I wasn’t 14.

“Child labor is not cool, Layla.” Hudson the owner said as if he wasn’t a 28 year old who skates. I’ve always wondered how he owned this place so young and I have realized he repaired most of the games here on his own , buying them from other arcades about to throw them away. Practically free money. Something about classics never die.

As much as they refuse my attempts at employment they can’t refuse me as their loyal customer. I earn money by winning games for other people. It could be the guy trying to impress the girl he likes by winning the stuffed toy she wanted. The trick with the crane is to angle it before hand and make nano movements so its just right. Simple math really. It could be a random boy trying to get to a higher level. I could do it with my eyes closed. Even cheat codes make for great moneymaking schemes but Hudson always comes over and fixes the code so the games won’t get boring.

“Layla, you better get out I’m closing up.” Hudson called over to me as I was busy with the new machine he recently fixed up from an old warehouse of discontinued games. Arcade machines are too big to properly disassemble to throw away the parts ethically so they usually end up in warehouses to rot or in some random basement. Pretty creepy.

This new one is called Eat The Game. Its unique as it features popular arcade characters that are so familiar to me they are practically my friends. You win by selecting the right power to counter their own when choosing. Thing is most of the character are so overpowered if you happen to choose the wrong one its over for you. Its weird you need to have knowledge of other games to win this one. Normally the people making these things make it so simplistic so everyone would understand and win.

“One last game!” I beg to Hudson as I am trying to win my final round.

“You always say that. You know what to do, lock the place up or you’re banned kid!” Hudson said to me before going out the door.

This is the level of trust you gain when you frequent a place for years.

A sudden black out came no more than 5 seconds. When the power came back the screen said game over.

“NOOOO!!!” I complained, slapping the stupid thing.

Oddly enough when I looked around all the other machines said game over too. Did Hudson program this to happen after a black out? Normally he’d unplug everything except the one I was playing with.

More work for me I guess. Hudson would kill me if he finds out I slept here again. I don’t want to go home.

“Hey.” Somebody said.

I look around. There’s nobody here.

“On the screen.” Turns out there was a curly haired boy on the screen.

Naturally, I screamed. I’m not religious but I made a cross sign in front of me.

“Unfortunately, not even God can help you out on this one kid.” The boy looked sad.

“What are you?”

“I was just like you playing games late in the night when this thing forced me to play for my life. Clearly I lost and was trapped here for years. Its your turn now.”

“I think the fuck not.”

“If you try to escape they’ll just trap you and force you to play anyways.”

“Who?”

“The games.”

Like clockwork the machines started flashing and things came out of them. The teddy bears started moving. Characters came out smiling threateningly at me. Okay message received, no escape.

“I’m sorry, you have to live here now.” The boy tried to empathize.

“Who says that?” I asked, not sure what he meant.

“No one’s ever won before.”

“Well I haven’t met a game I couldn’t conquer since I was 10.” I glared back at all the creepy motherfuckers that came to life. “Bring it.”

————-

“So what happens now, after I win?” I ask lying on the ground, tired as hell.

“You get to live.” The boy said, smiling for me.

“And you?”

“I’ll be around for the next unlucky kid.”

“No, we’ll be.” The boy widened his eyes.

Apparently he was a boy found lifeless at an arcade 50 years ago. All the games in that arcade were discarded. Or so they thought.