Phantom Frost by Alfred Wurr

Author:Alfred Wurr [Wurr, Alfred]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781999202200
Publisher: Wurreal Games
Published: 2019-10-21T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

Never Heard of Her

I woke standing upright in complete darkness, disoriented, surrounded by a persistent hum and flow of chilly air blowing from unseen fans that rattled somewhere close by. I stumbled forward cautiously, unable to see my hand in front of my face. Something fell over with a crash as I moved. I stumbled over it, shouting. My outstretched hands smacked hard against a cold metal surface. I kept my feet, but my nose hit the obstruction hard enough to make my eyes water. Shaking my head, I ran my hands along the surface, trying to identify it.

A door, I thought, remembering as the last vestiges of sleep washed away.

I leaned against it, but it refused to move. I pounded the stainless steel with sweaty palms, feeling flushed.

I’m locked in, I thought, biting my lip. Easy, Shivurr, I thought, take your time; think it through.

Taking a deep breath, I ran my hands over the surface feeling for a door handle or latch and smiled as my right hand encountered a large rubber knob. I pushed it hard and the door swung wide, revealing a small kitchen.

The kitchen was quiet, illuminated by only the light coming from the round window of a swinging door on my right. A few deep fryers sat cold and empty next to a small stove and oven. I glanced back and saw packages of frozen hamburger buns lying on the floor of the freezer that I’d just left. I picked them up and restacked them, then pushed the door shut with a click. Smacking my hands together, I strode to the nearby door, pushed it open, and walked through.

“What do you mean, you’ve never heard of her?” Scott was saying as I entered. He bobbed his head at me in greeting, then looked away, stretching the long coiled cord behind him.

Fully awake now, I remembered that we were in a video arcade on the other side of town. It was closed to the public for the rest of the month. The proprietor—a friend of Scott’s—had left on vacation days earlier and had entrusted him with the key. His friend did not, as Scott put it, trust his employees to not rob him blind or burn it to the ground while he was away, so he opted to shut it down instead. Apparently, it was a slow time of the year and business wouldn’t pick up again for a few weeks anyway.

Most of the machines were off, as one might expect, but the computer scientist had turned on a few of them so Caleb could occupy himself. The teen was doing just that as I entered, so deeply entranced in a game of Galaga that he didn’t appear to notice my arrival. Rather than disturb him, and wanting some quiet time before engaging in conversation, I shuffled over to the lounge area that lay on my right and sat down to wait.

Complete with comfy sofas and chairs and a few low-lying tables, it was presumably there to allow gamers to relax and recover between games, or to wait for their food to be ready.

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