I hope you all enjoy this one as much as I enjoyed writing it.
If ever I win a prize please give it to: mardavaar
You again
Halloween, October 17th. What would be an ordinary Friday became a day I'll never forget. I was just sitting behind my computer, thinking what competition to enter to win a Cubecraft rank. Too slow to stand a chance at the Twitter Giveaway I really wanted to win a rank this time. But buying one was not an option right now.
Clang, clang. From the outside, metallic sounds were pounding my windows. Bang, bang, a small headache started to form. Until twenty minutes ago, the sounds had been annoying, but tolerable. Now they no longer seemed like ordinary background noises. They had become part of my life, beating in the same rhythm as my heart. And every heartbeat intensified my headache. Again I walked to my window, to take a look outside. The railway company was doing an urgent maintenance job on the old railway bridge close to my apartment. Not that it had been used by trains for several years now, but a large crack had appeared in the middle of it. The bridge threatened to collapse and damage the road and waterway below. For pedestrians the old railway bridge was still an important means of getting quickly from one part of the city towards the other. A big crane hovered over my neighborhood, like a bird of prey above its victims. Now and then it dove down to catch bundles of metal bars and other heavy packages.
I took a virtual jump in the 'I give up hole'. Maybe a Sky Wars game on Cubecraft would distract me. Maybe the maintenance would be over tomorrow. Tomorrow everything would look brighter. At least, that was what I thought at that time. I put on my headphones. Lets see what game to play. Ah, Tron still had some places left. Not that I'm good at it, but I really like that one. Just quick enough to enter and select the bow kit during countdown, the game starts. I hurry through my first chest. Ugh, messing up my inventory. Okay, now put on my armor or check the second one? Ouch, what was that, arrow or egg? Two more hits and the respawn screen. That was … short. I couldn't even bring myself into typing 'gg' though my opponent should deserve it. Maybe a slower map this time. I see a Flowers. Better. That map gives me more time to sort out my chests, because of its save spots. The game has barely begun when my neighbor to the right just falls to his death. Maybe he didn't explore the chest in the clay flower. I might go for it later on. A quick glance to the left. A girl skin but I can't read the name tag. When she goes down in her island I decide to go for the bigger island in front of me. I really need some diamond armor to win this one. Halfway making a bridge a quick peek at my left neighbor. Still underground. Meanwhile only seven players left. Good, maybe I'll survive this one. As quick as possible for me I finish the wooden bridge. I need some more time so I pour two buckets of lava on it. It feels like it takes forever before the wooden planks start catching fire. I go up one floor, break the diamond ores and the hidden diamond block, craft full diamond armor, then hurry back to my bridge. Five players left. I bet some of them are already in the middle. I refill my buckets with the lava now hanging in the air. While getting my diamond gear my neighbor had started to build towards my island. But now another player closes in on her and they start to fight. Bare handed it looks to me. I see the girl finally has a sword in her hand. It must be the iron one from the kit. But she is too late. I see the girl fall. I almost feel sorry my bridge was gone. I could have easily defeated the figure on the other side. I aim my bow, but he's already gone. I hurry back into the building, break some melons just in case, and get to the top floor. I need to localize the other players. Looking up I suddenly see a face hovering above me. It's the girl skin. I thought it wasn't possible to see dead players when you're still alive. I can read the name tag. It's 'AnnLynn1924'. I type: “Am I the only one seeing the dead players?”. I start to look around me. Three name tags in the middle. No response. Then a private message from AnnLynn: “He pushed me”. “He pushed me from the bridge for no reason. I was only playing”. Private message back from me: “Sure, hmm, but isn't that the goal of the game? Btw, how is it possible I can see you?”. I put the cam on.“Hyena, killing people is not a game”. “Stay away from the bridge!” I hear a high screeching sound and she's gone. At the place where she floated I see a her face flicker two more times. Then nothing. It must be a bug. I see an iron sword lying on the ground. It looks enchanted. Strange, the hilt is decorated with rubies that have the deepest red I have ever seen. I take it from the ground. It has a name tag ' dnim llort' on it. Maybe that digging ability gave someone a name tag. Someone who likes Fantasy names I think and I cant suppress a grin. But then, that person should also have had the anvil kit. Seems like too much coincidence. I don't understand. And sharpness V? I'll think about it later. Now I must try to win this game.
Only two people left. I check the chat and see two got killed and a third just died. Great! I see a name tag below to the left on the island of my neighbor. Great, the bare handed man is my final opponent. I feel a rush of adrenalin. This might finally be a game I can win. It has been for so long. I press
and see it's a player called 'JohnZwamp'. No golden apples, but full health and the mysterious iron sword in my hand. Somehow I feel invincible while holding it. Maybe I'll win PVP if I can overrun him. I rush down and … JohnZwamp stands a few blocks away from me, close to the edge. Strange, how did he come here that quick. “Please, give me the sword” he says. I type: “Lol”. He repeats: “Please give me the sword. We must end this”. I type: “Sure, let's end this” He steps forward, his bare hands reaching out to me. I run jump towards him and stab him with the iron sword. The little knock is enough to push him back. It looks like he's going to fall. Yes! There he goes down into the void. In my headphones I hear a scream that's beyond anything a human ever produced. It reminds me to buy new headphones soon. I check the chat. Oh yes, I won. I type: “gg”. After a few seconds JohnZwamp writes “Nooo! You again!”. I don't understand, but I should just ignore it. It is creepy though. Red digits? Ah yes, my cam is still on. I put it off. I really want to watch the clip.
I try to look up the part where I am told “Hyena, killing people is no game” and “Stay away from the bridge!”. I don't find it. It's just me, standing still on the top of the building for more than twenty seconds. Then I hurry down the building. I move to the edge and wait for another ten seconds. Then I get the win scene, just out of nowhere. I see myself typing 'gg' and get teleported back to the lobby. No messages, no AnnLynn1924, no JohnZwamp. Confused I open my browser and type 'JohnZwamp minecraft cubecraft'. No results. I change it in ' JohnZwamp'. Too many results. Another try 'JohnZwamp AnnLynn 1924' Only two pages. Three quarters of the results I can ignore directly. There's one result that directs me too a section of scanned newspapers by the local library. Using 'find' for John Zwamp, a thirty years old article, called 'The railway bridge: murders, suicides or both?', appears. That title alone is enough to send shivers down my spine. It's an interview with a woman named SueLynn Zwamp. She was John's oldest daughter, and, at the time of the interview, far in her seventies.
“John Zwamp slowly became crazy the last years of his life. I am an old woman now. At that time, I was convinced committing suicide was the best solution for him, and for us. I think it started after the death of my little sister AnnLynn. The police told us she slipped while playing on the bridge and drowned in the river below. My mother was devastated and cried for days. My father just stayed silent, and looked paler than normal. I myself had not much time to mourn, being too busy taking care off eight siblings. Now I think of it, at that time John started to skip dinner. First I thought doing extra work was his way to deal with the situation, but it didn't pass, but became worse. John started to drink. And when I say drink I mean load. In fact he was committing a slow suicide, poisoning his liver. More often than not he came home after midnight, carrying his working tools with him. And when at home he was always busy rummaging through the house, especially the room where AnnLynn and I used to sleep, frantically looking for something, checking the floors and walls. Neighbors told me they often saw him near the bridge where AnnLynn died. Knocking with hammers, twisting screws for hours sometimes crying and screaming aloud. Some days he was just running from one end of the bridge to the other and sometimes he was sneaking the whole distance.
One day my mother asked me to look for him. Not because she missed him. She had stopped loving him ages ago, but in those days you just didn't break up. No, she send me to grab some money from him to pay the rent for the house, before he could spent it all to alcohol. I first went to the pub. In those days, October meant the beginning of the smog season. Thick greyish air, filled with little parts sticking in your clothes and lungs. John wasn't in the pub. My second guess was the bridge. The vicinity or water seamed to clean the air a bit, but the smog became a heavy fog. Near the bridge I heard a soft moaning. Quickly I hurried to where the sound came from. Father was lying between some rocks, under the bridge, next to the water. The smell of beer made the air thick. His neck was twisted in a deadly way. An iron sword, with a beautiful decorated hilt, was stuck in his body, bloody, but shining brightly. I wanted to run away, but he grabbed my hand and asked me to stay and come closer. Close to my ear he whispered: “I'm so sorry. I thought she would steal the sword. We had an argument It was an accident. And then the sword was gone. Today it was back on the same place where I left it. I don't understand why” I felt a hot anger rush through my veins. I grabbed the sword, not by the hilt, but above it and started to pull. “Don't pull the sword out of me! Please, it's, it's… cursed, I should have known. I should never have brought it to this world. Let me take it with me. Please!”. All those years I had suppressed my suspicions, giving him the benefit of my doubts. No, I wouldn't grant his last wish and with a last big effort I pulled out the sword. With his last breath John whispered: “Not again” and closed his eyes. I ran away and hid the sword. The police didn't bother my family with too much questions.
The article continues with a statement: “The old lady, overwhelmed by emotions, wasn't able to continue the interview. We made an appointment for a sequel. Two days before the second interview, local police officers were called to a place under the bridge where they found SueLynn. She was dead. One stab right though her heart. It looked like she was murdered, but she wasn't robbed. The killer was never found. A lugubrious fact, her hands were frozen in the air above her heart, as if they were holding a stick, pointing down.
With a deep sigh, I take off my headphones and get up, wishing I wouldn't have read that article. My ears. There's something with my hearing. I realize the sounds are gone. A quick glance through the window tells me the work on the bridge has stopped for now. My stomach roars, I look at the clock and realize in half an hour it will be dinner time. Did I stick behind the computer that long again? A quick look in the refrigerator. I really need to do some shopping at the supermarket. I guess some normal, healthy stuff for tomorrow, but this evening it will be a quick and easy meal. I put on a thick coat, take an old plastic bag and walk out. The evening is depressing and cold, so normal for the time of the year.
The supermarket is only a few streets away on the other side of the bridge. Luckily pedestrians are still allowed to cross it. All the railway company equipment is still there. It looks like the job is still far from done. Funny. With the crane in that position, the bridge looks like a sad smiley. Quickly I take two pictures with my phone. People will like to see it. I draw a bit closer to the bridge. Not only does it look like a sad smiley, it also feels sad. As a heavenly joke, it starts to rain.
I walk over the bridge. I feel as if I've walked a thousand times over that bridge. The rain is now pouring down. It becomes hard to look more than a few hands in front of me. Ten steps, there is the first small chain, leading to the bridge's canopy, ten more steps a second chain, then the third large chain. Now the mid with the secret hiding place. Strange, why was I thinking that? The mid part of the bridge was a massive iron block, standing on a stone base, deeply anchored in the river. Past the mid, the chains in reverse order. No need to look. I feel the cold wind touching my head with it's cold wet fingers. I stop, turn around to look. Wind in my back now. I see a lot of wooden planks covering the middle part of the bridge. They probably want to make sure no one falls through the crack. I turn my face back into the wind again and continue walking. I see something glistening at the end of the bridge, near the lantern. I brace myself. Walking has become a real struggle against the elements. The large chain, I now have to push hard to keep in motion, the second chain, the wind and rain start to diminish. The first chain. The rain has stopped completely. The moment I start turning my head to look behind me, I stumble over one of the chests of the railway company. I can barely control my fall. The contact opens the chest. Inside is a pickaxe, a shiny stone axe, a bow, three arrows, a gold apple and some bottles. A setting sun starts to shine, but it doesn't warm me. I don't believe my eyes. I take the gold apple too take a close look at it. It's real gold, but at the same time it looks very tasty. I turn around, still holding it in my hands. The bridge is gone. Most of the sky is bright blue, but there are some colored and dark patches in it. And everywhere I look, the sky is filled with thousands of islands, sorted in circles.
I close my eyes. This.Can't.Be.True. TCBT. Funny, I think by myself, funny how I play with the letters, in a half failed attempt to keep my sanity. I don't want to open my eyes until everything has returned to normal. I'm probably lying on the floor in my apartment, suffering hallucinations from high fever. Carefully I open one eye. As I already expected, sniffing the fresh scent of grass, I'm still on what looks like one of the larger islands in the sky. I open my other eye and take a better look around. There's a ruin on the island, half collapsed. I see some lava boiling between stone bricks. The island that's closest to me is a desert. Someone's head appears above the edge. The person jumps up. I see a purple sparkling bow in his hands. Woosh! An arrow whizzes through my hair. I drop flat on the ground. What the … ! TCBT TCBT I repeat in my head. Please tell me this is not true. Cautious I lift my head up. What? No. That person, looking like a blocky hulk is placing blocks in the air that somehow seem to stick to each other. He's actually making a bridge to my island. I yell as hard as I can: “Hello! Friend?”. He stands still, turns around and starts shooting arrows again at me. I quickly lower my head again. “Stop shooting! Who are you? Why do you shoot at me?” For a moment he stops. I carefully lift my head again. He grins at me. Then he yells something to me. It sounds like 'bussy'. He stops building. A pickaxe, glowing a bright light blue, appears in his hand. He walks back a bit and then starts running towards me. With a hoarse scream he lands on the edge of my islands and pulls back his arm. Terrified I try to get up as fast as possible. I raise my hands to protect my head. I hear a soft thump the moment the gold apple hits him on his chin. The golden impact pushes him backwards. He's stumbling towards the edge. For a moment everything is frozen. He's hanging above the deep, an astonished look on his face. He just manages to whisper “cheater” before gravity pulls in.
I need to sit down. I'm terribly confused and breathing heavily. I am in a Sky Wars map. Slowly my mind starts adapting to the new reality. I am playing real life Sky Wars and I just killed someone looking like the good old hulk. I must get back to the real world, fast. As loud as possible I scream: “Does anyone know how to get back to the real world?” Someone starts to laugh out loud. Another person tells me to jump off the island. For a second I wonder if that would work, but I don't feel like trying it out right away. “How did I get into this world?” I ask loudly. Silence for a few seconds. Then someone says: “You went on the server to Sky Wars and chose Biomes?” From some islands muffled laughs rise. I didn't think I was trying to be funny. If this is Sky Wars I need to protect myself to stay alive, and quick too. I hear a girl's voice. “Winning might get you back to the real world”. Some others react angrily to her. “Why did you tell him? It will make it harder for us” Meanwhile I get up and start to collect all possible useful stuff from the chests. I am especially happy with the diamond chestplate. I ask the girl where she is. “You see the mushroom island in the middle ring she asks?” I do. “Yes”. “Okay, come to me when possible.” And then, inside my head the voice asks “Team?” I think “yes, I can use a good teammate right now.” Again the voice in my head “Okay then, no tricks, we'll team till the end”.
I get up and this time I take a longer look around me. The island on the other side of the outer ring looks promising. It seems abandoned and has trees on it. I'll need it's wood to build to the mushroom island. I take a stone block in my hand. Surprisingly I can lift it easily with one hand. I take another one. It just disappears into the first one, but instinctively I know I now have two of them in my hand. I collect some more and then crouch to the edge of my island. I hold the stone block close to the edge. It gets stuck. I try pushing it, but it feels quite solid. Now I put the other one next to it. Suddenly a bright white cold splash. I get knocked back diagonally onto my island, balancing on the edge. I move away from it. Just in time to get missed by a second one. I shiver, but not because of the temperature. That was close. I look in the direction from where the snowballs came. I see someone yellow-red skinned on an inner ring island holding a snowball in his hand. If he has no armor and this is Sky Wars… I know what to do. I grab my bow, pull it back as far as possible and aim at my downside neighbor. I miss. With only two arrows left I realize I can't kill him directly anymore. I must knock him off. To the right of mister snowball, his neighbor starts to build a bridge towards him from the top of a tree. Mister snowball quickly stacks some wood, climbs on his trees and then starts to build a bridge too. Now they are fighting. It's a very even match. Mister snowball misses armor, but has a diamond sword. His opponent is full iron, but waving an enchanted stone axe. I know what I must do and feel just slightly ashamed. Finally lack of armor kills mister snowball. The other figure stands still for a moment between the dropped stuff. This time I aim more carefully. Cloink, I recognize that sound and was never happier to hear it. The straight hit knocks mister snowball's killer from the bridge, into the void.
For a second I close my eyes. In my closed right eye appears the number 3/36. I think about the girl and wonder if she is still alive”. “I am”, I hear in my head. “One other person left on the middle island. Are you finally coming?”. In the knowledge I'm more or less save I take more risks. I collect the necessary wood and start building to her island. From a distance her skin looks quite familiar, but my brain is too busy to recollect. “Hurry, hurry, get me some blocks”, she shouts and starts making a bridge that will lead diagonally to the castle roof in the middle. I turn and climb back to the outer ring to chop two types of trees on several islands. I even replant some, just in case. The three and a bit stacks I collect should be enough to finish her bridge and make some protection on the side of it. On the edge of the building a dark shape is already waiting for us. I hurry to her. When I read her name tag I hesitate. She looks at me. Her face looks quite familiar but slightly different. “Come on, hurry, give me some blocks”. Automatically I drop two of the wood stacks. She quickly takes them and continues building. I only manage to whisper “Just be careful”, but she's not paying attention to me anymore.
What I was afraid for seems to happen. The dark shape moves as close as possible to the edge of the castle's roof while she's concentrating on building the bridge. Every moment now I expect her to get knocked off. To my surprise he seems to reach out for her bare handed. I hear him say: “SueLynn? You came back with the sword SueLynn?” The girl looks up now, whispering “Dad. You need this to get back to our world. And dad?” Tears start filling her eyes now. “Don't push AnnLynn”. Then she's looses her balance and slips from the edge. A silvery sword falls in my direction and almost instinctively I take it in my hand. I recognize the iron sword with the red stones in it's hilt. But this is the first time I experience the feeling of it. A soft sensation of immortality warms my whole body. I look at the dark figure standing there on the roof. He says: “You again?” He looks pathetic. He begs me to return him the sword. I just know the sword doesn't want that. It needs a worthy owner, someone like me. I feel as if I hated that despicable person on the castle's roof throughout my whole life. With a roar I run and then jump. The sword cuts through his diamond armor as if it is made of butter. Dark red blood is spilling all over the place. I pull the sword. I want to stab him all over and over again. But he grabs the hilt, with a strength not possible for a dying human. He has a grim smile on his face and whispers “respawn!”. For a moment his body disappears, then it's back, less solid though. I begin to understand what he is doing. With all my strength I cling to the sword. I hear a loud thunder and see lightning flashing around us. I close my eyes and wait for the things to happen.
I feel rested. I smell the air. There's rain in the air, but for now it's still warm and dry. I smell grass. I open my eyes. I see a bridge. Yes, the bridge. I can't quite remember why I crossed it, but I need to get back over it. I must have fallen asleep at this side. I get up. Ouch, something pointy is pricking my leg. It's a shining iron sword, with a hilt covered by rubies. Is it mine? I take a quick glance around. I grab the hilt. Warm power flows in my veins. I feel so much stronger now. Yes, it must be mine. I get up and start walking over the bridge. I'm half way crossing it. Then I see a little girl. She's playing. She looks up and waves to me. I feel restless. Did she see the sword? Quickly I decide to hide it and make a turn of 180 degrees. I met my wife when I was working for the railroad company on this bridge. I know every place of that bridge by heart. Near the center I drop down on hands and knees, then on my belly, my upper body hanging over the edge. Quickly I shove the sword in an open space, an excellent hiding spot, in which I used to keep my lunch, wallet and tools. The space is not visible from above, so you need to find it with your hands. I jump back up again, wipe the worst dirt from my clothes and look around. The little girl is now close by. I hope she didn't see the hiding place. If she looks one more time in that direction I … I must push her from the bridge. My muscles get tense. I can see how she comes close. I see myself giving her a huge push with both my bare hands. From the bridge into the cleaning river. “Daddy”, she shouts, and with a big warm smile she hugs me and gives me two warm kisses. I feel a warm love surging. I don't know what stopped me from pushing her, but I'll never feel more thankful than right now. I look at her and try to pull a serious face. “AnnLynn, the bridge can be a dangerous place to play on”. She nods fervidly, like only a six year old can do and takes my hand. “Come” she says and leads me to a place near the first chain on the bridge, where an emergency ladder leads down. “I saw something glistening. Can you take it for me daddy?” “Pleeaaase?” It feels like the air suddenly became heavy. It couldn't be, could it? I look at my daughter. She is looking excited and has a big smile on her face. I can't resist that smile. I have to take a look. Carefully I descend the ladder till I reach a place where I can look up at the bottom structure of the bridge. I feel relieved. Nothing to see here. I take some time to wipe the sweat from my face and go back up. “AnnLynn, maybe you saw some glistening of the water below” I start to say. I turn around. AnnLynn is standing there, the iron sword with the dark red rubies in her hand. Her face is twisted in an ugly way. Her voice sounds too deep for a girl of her age when she says “Never mind, I already found it”. I feel a mixture of anger and fear rising in me. That's my sword, I want my sword. “Give it back to me”, I tell her. “With her old, high pitched voice again she says: “Sure daddy”. She walks to me. I can almost touch the sword. Relieved I start to reach out my hands. Then, with a fast jump forward, she stabs me right in the heart. I fall down the ladder. I grab the last rail from the ladder, but it can't hold my weight. A falling sensation, pain, then a liberating darkness surrounding me. Just before I loose consciousness I hear her laugh. It doesn't sound human at all.
I wake up, my head on the table next to my keyboard. On my screen is a thirty year old interview with a woman named SueLynn Zwamp. At the time of the interview she must have been far in her seventies. It's about the missing of her father and younger sister when she was just a child. At that time, the police supposed that AnnLynn had slipped from the bridge and her father had done a desperate attempt to save her. In his hand they found an iron rail from the bridge that probably had broken off. AnnLynn's body was never found. A second interview was scheduled to be done in two weeks. But apparently SueLynn had gone missing. She was last seen walking over the bridge, during one of the strongest October storms.
I'm confused, also a bit nervous. So players use names of people that in the past disappeared without a trace? I think that's quite macabre. I feel a stab in my body. Almost as if a sword penetrates me. I realize I didn't eat yet. Time to do some shopping. And I can use some fresh air to clear my troubled mind. While grabbing my thick coat and a bag for the groceries, I take a look outside. I see the bridge with the big crane next to it. I must grin a little bit. It looks like a sad smiley, pierced by an iron sword. Iron sword? For a moment something gnaws at my subconsciousness. Then it's gone. I make two pictures of the stabbed bridge. I hesitate. It looks like it's going to rain. Something tells me not to go out, but to stay home and order pizza.
I restart minecraft. While waiting for my pizza I can play another game of Skywars. I choose flowers again. I wonder if I will ever see AnnLynn1924 or JohnZwamp again. This time I don't bother putting my camera on. The game starts. My right neighbor falls down and dies. I feel something crawl up my spine. I look to my left. A girl skin is waving to me. Breathing becomes harder and sweat starts to appear on my face. “Take that sword” says the girl skin and points to the bigger island in front of us. I see the familiar sword lying in the grass. All my suppressed memories are coming back. Slowly my head becomes clear. I search my chests, just for building blocks and then start to build as quick as I am able to a wood/stone bridge. For a moment I stop to look up. Now I can read her name tag. I smile. I am now sure I'm on the right track. “Hello SueLynn! I understand!” I yell to SueLynn1920” She smiles back. But then an expression of fear starts to form on her face. “Look out Hyena!” Instinctively I drop flat on the ground, just in time to not only avoid one, but even two arrows coming from different directions. I see two shapes and don't need to read their name tags to know who they are. They are now speed building towards me. With a big jump I'm next to the sword. I take it carefully above the hilt. One last time I look around. Then I jump. Falling into the void I hear demonic laughter, high pitched screaming and someone cheering my name. With all my strength I force the point of he sword to the middle of the iron bridge that has appeared at the bottom of the deep.My hands start bleeding. I am aware I'm loosing consciousness.
Sometimes you move from one place to another and can't remember the journey. Like at this moment. A bit dazed I look at my own front door. Confusing and surrealistic memories appear in my head. I open the door and enter the house. My wife smiles at me and gives me a kiss on the cheek. “You badly need a shower” she says. In the main room all of my children are playing, sleeping and doing homework. I'm drawn to AnnLynn and give her an intense look. Her big blue, innocent eyes look back at me. “Daddy” she says with her bright as always smile and gives me a hug. Then I walk to my oldest daughter who is entertaining some of her siblings. She looks up. I look in her eyes. Her eyes seem to be too old and knowing for her age. She does the nod. We silently agree never to talk about it. I embrace her and whisper a sincerest “Thank you!” in her ear. I go upstairs to take a shower. All my worries finally seem to be flushed from my tired body. I still got half an hour before dinner time. I really need to take a power nap and the bed looks inviting
I wake up from the piercing sound of the doorbell. The search area of my browser is filled with random letters. I remember I was looking for 'JohnZwamp AnnLynn 1924' I see there are no results for it. The doorbell rings again. Okay, so I didn't imagine it ringing. Still a bit dazed I open the door. The delivery boy smiles at me. “You fell asleep on your keyboard?” he asks from under his too big baseball cap, and starts laughing. I touch my forehead and start to laugh too. No way denying it. I pay the bill and give him a bigger tip than I planned. I walk back to my computer with the warm pizza box in my hands. I look outside the window. I'm surprised. They must have taken away the big crane during my power nap on the keyboard. I sit down and open the box. Inside the box lies a hot, shining, iron sword, with a hilt, inlaid with the most precious dark rubies one can ever imagine.