I was going to enter this in the Game Jam today but looks like it will be too long. (Writers on NG getting marginalized? Go figure.) Looking for feedback.
It was at Wimbledon 2011. Sitting up in the nosebleeds trying to make out where the ball was and whom the players were; that was when I heard the man sitting next to me exclaim.
"Honey, I thought we bought better seats than these?! I can hardly see Fernando Verdasco's rocket pocket for fuck's sake. And look at the kind people we are sitting with. This guy looks like he might frequent my website."
My heart jumped. Did he see my Newgrounds T-shirt? Before I could even turn my head to see I knew whom I was sitting next to. The ever elusive...
"Tom Fulp?"
The words had escaped from my head through my mouth.
He turned his head slowly towards me and cracked me the biggest smile I had ever seen. I could see his three-day stubble and the glint shining off his teeth.
"Why yes sonny I most certainly am the one and only Tom! Hey, wanna see how I came up with the idea for Newgrounds?"
I didn't have time to answer him. As soon as he had said it he stood up and handed a small infant he had on his back over to the saucy blood that was sitting on the other side of him.
"Hold my baby, baby. And if I don't make it back, tell William I love him. Wade too, but not in that way."
Tom snapped his fingers and pointed to the sky. A strong wind rolled in from every direction and the sky turned black. A vortex ripped open above where Tom was standing. The players down on the court had stopped playing and everyone in the arena turned to look at me and Tom, who held his hand outstretched towards me.
"I'm not sure about this!" I called out over the sound of the thunder and roaring winds, but it seemed like Tom didn't hear me, or maybe he just didn't care.
Tom snatched the collar of my shirt and we were lifted upwards towards the black abyss that loomed above us. It was a horrifying experience and I was filled with an intense feeling of dread. As we passed through the vortex everything around me turned white. I felt the grip of Tom's hand loosen. He was right in front of me yet the light was so bright I could hardly see him. Suddenly, I could no longer breathe.
The light consumed me.
The air rushed back into my lungs so fast that I chocked on it and fell to the ground. I couldn't open my eyes but could feel my hands trembling on what felt like concrete. My ears were buzzing and ringing with a noise I had never heard before. Something bumped my right leg, before I could move out of the way something else bashed into my head. I forced myself to get off the ground so I could try and find Tom. When I opened my eyes I saw that I was suurounded by Asian people. They were dancing and grooving with a intense energy, to the music that was being emitted from the front of a giant stage, upon which stood six Japanese men dressed in flashy red suits playing strange cosmic sounds over the crowd. There was no singing, the music just washed over the people and myself as if the guitars, drums and keyboards sent out a tidal wave of energy in a ever-flowing continuous surge. One of the guitarists, standing more to the front was playing with ferocious electricity with his fingers playing amazing tremolo like nothing I'd seen.
We weren't in Kansas anymore.
I spotted Tom standing towards the front of the crowd, him being easy to spot being with the only non-oriental haircut in the multitude of people around. I pushed my way towards him through the couples holding each other and those grooving to the song until I was standing behind him, I grabbed onto him and yelled into his ear over the music.
"Where are we? We have to get out of here man."
He swung around and looked at me, and I could see that it wasn't Tom at all. It was just some dweeby kid who looked around my age. He looked me up and down.
"Fuck off man, no way I'm leaving here. Terauchi is just warming up! I dig your shirt though, what is that?"
"Oh its just some site off the Internet; Newgrounds."
"Newgrounds... Never heard of them, what's there sound?"
I was about to answer his ignorant question when I felt something grab onto my shoulders, suddenly I was being pulled back through the crowd. I lost sight of the kid. Whatever had me loosened it grip. I turned to see who had pulled me away from the stage.
"Tom!" I shouted. He stood there with a blank expression on his face.
"Where have you been? Where are we?"
"Okinawa, Japan. I've been right here the whole time. Now pay attention; this is where the magic happens"
I looked to the stage. The musicians stopped playing. Two of them went off stage and returned a moment later with a live seal. They placed it on the stage and it was shined upon with a large stoplight. A second spotlight was placed on the main guitarist, and as his guitar was taken away by a roadie, he opened a large black case and pulled out a shiny wooden baseball bat.
"Oh god, they aren't going to?-" Tom nodded his head answering my question before I could ask it. I was sick in the stomach but at the same time I couldn't look away.
The bat came down and the crowd cheered and roared. I could see the kid from before, he just stood there and watched in awe, I didn't even know the guy but I could tell something had just changed inside him. This was the most surreal experience ever. The guitarist strapped his guitar back on and the band resumed playing. The people started dancing and grooving again. I turned to Tom.
"This doesn't tell me anything, this whole thing makes no sense Tom. It's complete mindless shit. Is answers nothing!"
"Doesn't it?" He smiled again and clicked his fingers. Everything went white.
I woke up slumped in my chair in front of my computer, dazed and confused, with my headphones on and my pants half down. One hand was resting on my computer mouse; the other was holding my dick. Ejaculate stained my pants and my keyboard. The lights were out and the room was illuminated only by the white glow of my monitor and my TV screen that was still turned on. The clock said it was 5:23am. I took my headphones off, pulled up my pants and turned my tv off, which was screening some post tennis roundup bullshit. I sat back down at the computer and opened my iTunes. I must have dozed off for hours and just listened through my whole library because I was halfway through some old school Japanese surf rock album from decades ago I don't even remember downloading. I turned that shit off. I shut my computer, cleaned up my pants and keyboard and went for a shower; not before thoroughly checking my Newgrounds shirt for any additional stains. I washed up, cleaned my teeth and went to bed. As I drifted off I could still faintly hear the memorizing buzzing of Terauchi's guitar and in my mind could still see that smile shining at me before I finally went to sleep.
I never told anyone.
