Emily

There's another brilliant blue tunnel fused with codes and lines before I'm spat out on the other side. However, this time there's daylight and. . . colour. Only it's blocky and pixelated. Scrutinising the scenery, there's shards of grass, thick pavements, and a few brick-like plants on the sides. There's something blue at the end, but I can't see it.

If I can just. . .

My heart is in my throat when I'm jerked back and a force whoosh past my face, causing my hair to billow around me. Swivelling in his arms, I look up to see his green eyes clouded with worry and then relief after they give me a quick scan.

"Blondie, you must be careful. . ." He scrutinises the surroundings before he flicks through his Reader, a huff coming from him. "Has your Reader Synced your device yet?"

Copying his action, there's a small dial still. Shaking my head with a sigh of my own, I let him know it's still Syncing. Watching closely, Pixel's gaze is everywhere all at once, and when I try to imagine what he's seeing, it doesn't click straight away. He must be searching for all sorts of routes and patterns, but how his brain can process all the information boggles me.

I'm about to ask what he's thinking when he carefully manoeuvres around me to the cute tree on our left. There's a bunch of forest green triangles overlapping and circling each other, and I swear it lets out a small hum upon our approach. Sensing my gaze on the back of his head, Pixel angles his body for me to look at him and the strange shape.

"This is a Hint, you get them in certain games, but in here. . . you will have plenty on the"—he air-quotes— "fun things. Just to make sure you play by the rules and don't use up one of your lives." Scrolling through, his eyes light up and then his brows crease as a grunt comes from him. "It's Crossy Road, ever played before?"

I shake my head.

"Alright," he starts. "Basically, cross the roads until you reach the end, and don't get hit by cars or fall into the water, and you should be fine." Catching my nervous fretting, his hand carefully rubs my upper arm like last time as he sports one of his reassuring smiles. "I'll be there with you the entire way; I won't leave you alone."

Hesitating for a moment, I finally nod my head and smile up at him to show I'm ready, and that I trust him. Beaming back at me, he scans the road each way, and bolts across with me. We keep going until a car whizzes past, leaving us to find the pattern they move in. One section pulls the vehicles to the left whilst the other brings them to the right. There are short bursts, a few pauses between, and then we find ourselves weaving in and out of them, one narrowly missing my foot if it weren't for Pixel tugging me into his side.

It's strange to think it's made of blocks because the grass has definition of shape and angles, but they're just as flat as the concrete with a bit of a prick if you catch it wrong. Hissing after grazing my palm on the shrub, Pixel shifts his attention to me, and my eyes widen. My fingers latch onto his jacket and haul him closer to me as a train zooms close behind him. Panting, I struggle to smile up at him as the onslaught of traffic picks up.

"Is this ever going to end?" I mutter, still barely seeing the blue horizon.

Patting my shoulder in that comforting way, I sigh, knowing what he will say, but he simply smiles and nudges me in the direction we need to go.

Nerves wriggle in my stomach, but every time Pixel makes a dash for it, I'm close on his heels, feeling the brush of exhilarated air with each passing of the cars. The concrete is starting to numb my feet, and each jab of the grass has a whimper coming from me, but I push on. I'm not letting this game stop me, not when the thought of my mum losing me is stronger.

Gritting my teeth, I jump across the last patch of adhesive, falling to my knees in the process. Huffing out an exhausted breath, Pixel drops to his knees beside me and drapes an arm around my shoulders.

"Look, Blondie. . . we're almost there," he murmurs, and there's a note of joy lacing the words, and it brings a boost of confidence.

Nodding, I stand up on wobbly legs, but he rests a hand on my shoulder, and says, "Don't push yourself, we have some time to breathe. It's best to take a minute than make a mistake."

Relaxing against the tree, its prickly edges don't bother me much now, and having a mini pause does feel good. Pixel stretches and continues to inspect the area like he did earlier, and I'm curious to see whether the water is solid like the rest of the elements.

Picking up a small stick, I drop it, seeing the blue separate and spit up smaller cubes. Cringing at the thought of drowning in a mass of cubes has me taking a step back, but my feet inch closer, knowing there's nowhere for me to go if I head the way we came.

Sucking in a needed breath, I give Pixel a reassuring nod as I ready myself for the next phase. Brown rectangular blocks drift toward us from each direction, and the hints of green on the tips evident they're logs, and I'm prepared to hop on the first one when it abruptly bobs under the surface.

"Don't stand on them for too long," Pixel warns, and then gentle ushers me to go first so he can keep an eye on me better.

Shaking out my hands, I leap onto the first, catching the next, and stumbling onto the third. In my peripheral, there's a darkness, and it sends a fearful shock to my system, urging me to keep jumping to stay away from it. Pixel is landing on them with grace and the fascination is pushed to the back of my mind for another time. Getting distracted is going to lead to a mistake, and I can't afford one when I'm not sure what else lays ahead of us. I'm going to need all the lives I have—

"Blondie, the Gateway!"

Jerking my head in each direction, I narrow my eyes on the irregular shaped ball and pick up my pace, making sure to hop accurately so the logs can carry me toward the exit. I'm about to leap when one rears up and snaps its jaws at me. Squealing, I stagger backward until Pixel grips my upper arms and pushes me toward a real block.

"Keeping going, I'll be right behind you!" he hollers when I catch him hopping in a different direction to me.

Doubting his words for the splittist second, I force myself to hop further ahead.

He will come, he can do it. He won't leave me.

Reaching the Gateway, I launch myself through it and grunt when I crash into a solid surface on the other side. There's no nature, it's plane just like the Wattpad section, only there are images on the floor. Before I can browse my Reader, an echoey voice has me turning around.

"Coming through!"

A groan comes from me when a heavy impact knocks me off my feet. Everything is spinning until I shake my head, and there's a strange smell. Not because it smells bad, but because there's a scent. And it's coming from the man hovering above me. His head is beside mine, and I can hear his soft pants. His body is in between my legs, and his arms are caging me against the floor, and the heat in my body rushes full force to my cheeks where I stammer, pulling my nightshirt down to cover the shorts I'm wearing.

Leaning back, his eyes bore into mine, scanning me from head to toe until his eyes slam shut and he throws himself off me, tripping over in the process. His cheeks have a faint hue layering the surface, and his Adam's apple bobs as he stammers, "I-I'm sorry, I didn't realise, n-nor did I mean to land on you. I didn't hurt you, did I?"

Offering the best smile I can, I shake my head. "No, we're good. I'm curious where we are to be honest." The Reader beeps and I grin. "Finally, I thought this was never going to load."

He chuckles and stands behind me once I'm up. Turning the Reader on, we see the map specialised for the device pop up, and right now, we're in Vinted. I sigh in relief at the notion of it helping me find some new clothes to change into, and as if he's reading my mind, Pixel asks me to close the map and scope out the Vinted page.

"Alright, Blondie, what do you want to wear?"

It's a no brainer. Something that will keep me covered, but stretchy so I'm able to manoeuvre better if we're going to be doing things like Crossy Road in the future.

Hitting the Search Icon, I click on Women, Clothing, then Activewear until I find Tracksuits. Changing the size to a sixteen, I scroll until I find a pair of grey jogging bottoms, a jumper, and then return to repeat the process until I've got some tops, leggings, a pair of trainers, and some undergarments.

"Pixel. . . what outfit do you think is best for our travels? And how do I change into them?"

Fiddling with the hem on my nightshirt, bashfulness sweeps over me at the amount of questions I've asked and the ones I'm sure I'll be asking in the future. But Pixel being Pixel only smiles and shows me what to do without any sign of annoyance.

"Active wear is always good but save them all if you want a change. I'm sure they will look great on you." Clearing his throat, his hand famously rounds to scratch the back of his neck. "If you hold the image, it should pop up with the Reader's profile, just drag it in there."

Doing as I'm told; I nod for him to continue.

"Well done, now that you've done that, there should be a mini clothes icon. If you click on that, you can select what you want to wear, and you can swap it any time you want."

Eagerly selecting the dark blue trainers, I snag the grey pair of joggers, and the white vest I had chosen from the App. At first, it's a pixelated layer, and then they begin to solidify into real fabric. My eyes widen as I begin to fiddle with it, seeing how my old clothing had vanished and I'm in the new set.

This is so cool!

"Has anyone ever told you how cute you are, Blondie?"

My eyes widen as I stare at him, stunned by his openness. My hands cease their playing and go back to twiddling each other as my gaze drops to the floor. "Uh, n-no. . ."

He clears his throat and apologises for the bluntness and thoughtlessness behind his words, and I want to say that it was sweet and nice of him, but my anxiety gets the better of me. It feels awkward, but not in a negative way. It's odd because I've never felt anything like this before, and I want it to stop because it's putting me on edge.

"Where do we need to go next, Blondie?"

Flicking back to my Reader, I slide through the map as we take a steady walk toward the next Gateway, and my fingers tremble.

"What is it?"

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I say, "Temple Run."

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