Friday, November 5th Chesapeake , Virginia
"The homework for tonight is to look at the different science safety symbols and write the rules for each one. Also, you can use your notes. Have a nice weekend. Class dismissed." Mr. Nigel said as the final bell of the day rang. I walked up to my lockers and opened it so I can begin to put my stuff in my book bag so I could finally leave. I have always loved science, but dang did Mr. Nigel drone on about science safety. "Hey, Mason!" Adam said as he ran up to me. Hold on a second, it seems that I have not formally introduced myself.

My name is Mason Hudson Parker and I am an 8th grader that goes to George Washington Middle School or GWMS when abbreviated in the honors program. Here are five things you should know about me:
1) I have a brother named Jason who is always pulling pranks on me.
2) My favorite subjects are ELA, Science, and Band.
3) I am a little ball of anxiety at times
4) I will always protect my friends and family no matter what
and finally,
5) I can work fast under stressful situations
Okay so now that introductions are done, let's continue with my life.

  "Adam! How's it going?" I said giving him a high five. I picked up my guitar and walked down the stairs with him towards the bus. My friends Cameron and Jarrett came towards us and asked if they wanted to play some video games at my house. "Sure. What time do you want to come over?" I said and Jarrett responded with, "3:30 is fine." With those plans set I went on the bus and got home around 2:30. "Mom I'm home!" Jason and I both yelled out as we put away our book bags and jackets.

Our mom came rushing down the stairs in her scrubs and said, "I'm sorry that I have to leave when you guys have just come home. There is an emergency at the ER and my help is needed with a patient due to a lack of nurses available." As soon as she was there, she was gone and we went upstairs to do our ELA and Science homework so we had no work to do for the rest of the night. We got done in an hour and Mommom left the house leaving us by ourselves. "Oh, crap." Jason said all of the sudden and then I turned toward him and said, "What the matters Jayce?"

"I just realized that we never asked mom or Mommom Shelly if Adam, Cameron, and Jarrett can come over." I just looked at him not 100% understanding why it mattered. "We shouldn't let them over if we didn't ask mom or Mommom, but they will only be here an hour and a half tops. So, maybe we could just let them over." I said and just a second after that the doorbell rang. I got up and open it to see Adam, Cameron, and Jarrett standing there. "How's it going my dude's?" said Jarrett with a grin on his face.

"Good!" Jason and I said as Adam, Cameron, and Jarrett walked in. We walked up the stairs into the bedroom and they placed their bags on Jason's bed. "So, what do you guys want to do?" I said as I plopped onto the bed. Cameron chuckled and pulled out a medium-sized box, "How about we play some Classic Nintendo?" he said with a grin on his face. I was incredibly pumped to be able to play some video games since Cameron usually brought amazing games that he made sure always allowed at least 2 players,

He opened up the case and we all starred at awe at what was before us. Super Mario Bros 3, Battletoads, Kirby Superstar, Super Mario Kart, Smash 64, Mario Party, and so much more. Jason turned to Cameron with an impressed look and said, "You're a real aficionado when it comes to snatching great games off Amazon Cam." I looked at the many games that were in his collection when one game caught my eye. "What's this game?" was the question I asked about a black NES style game cartridge as I picked it up.

  Cameron turned to me with a confused look, but then said with a grin, "Oh! I snatched that game off of eBay. It had an asking price of only $49.99. I couldn't believe what a steal it was!" I was skeptical of the suspicious nature of the cartridge, and it left a bad taste in my mouth when Cameron brought the cartridge towards his now plugged in NES. I forced my hand on top of Cameron's hand and said with a look of discontent, "I seriously think we should consider this Creepypasta tier game. Strange and tampered with cartridges are ubiquitous on websites like eBay. Don't you think it might be a tad bit dangerous to use it?" Cameron began to ponder on that thought for a moment, but I already knew what his answer was going to be. Even though Cameron was one of the smartest students in George Washington Middle Honors, his curiosity tends to get the better of him.

  I knew he was going to want to play the game, and then he confirmed my guess. Cameron shifted his eyes back to me and said, "That is all the more reason to play it. Who could know whats on this cartridge? It could be an antigravity Super Mario Bros, The Legend of Zelda with new locations that didn't exist in the regular game, and so much more.  The sky is the limit, Mason." I turned towards Adam, Jarrett, and Jason with an uneasy look, and they didn't know what to say. All of the sudden though, Jarrett said, "It could be fun. Although I'd love to kick some butt in Smash 64, we have no idea what this could be, and that would be the fun part of it." I still felt a tinge of worry, but I could see that Jarrett and Cameron genuinely thought that it would be fun.

I balled up all the anxiety and worry that was inside of me and said with a slightly wobbly smile, "Well...if you want to play it, then let's play it." Cameron's eyes glimmered with glee as he put the cartridge inside of his NES. He then turned the TV and switched it to the correct HDMI, but it wasn't turning on for some reason. "Huh. I guess it's no dice with this console." said Adam as he looked at the black screen with a perplexed expression. I reached my hand towards the console but was zapped with blue electricity by it.

  This made everyone including me jump in surprise, and I then began to suck on my finger. 'Jeez, that hurts.' I thought in pain as everyone looked at me, and then Adam slowly backed away from the console and spoke. "What the heck happened? We've used your NES dozens of times and it has never done this."  Cameron gazes back and forth between the console and me. "Do you think it could be the cartridge and not the game?" Jason said nervously which made Cameron's eyes narrow. "The chances of a game cartridge making a console zap blue electricity at you is minuscule Jay." said Cameron in a matter of fact tone.

I stand up and take a look around the room then looked at Cameron and said while cradling my finger, "We'll it looks like we can't play the game. We probably shouldn't touch your NES for awhile. Sorry about that buddy." Cameron's eyes widened in concern as he stared at me in bewilderment. "What's the matter? Cameron? Jason? Adam? Jarrett? Why aren't yo-" I said before realizing how my voice sounded. It was as if my Larynx had been mangled to sound like it was fused with another person. "Mason, are you okay bud?" Jarrett said with his voice laced in worry, and him alongside Jason, Adam, Cameron made their way slowly towards me.

Right as they were about to touch me, a migraine formed that felt like I was being repeatedly being banged in the head by a sledgehammer. This made me let out a loud cry in pain which startled all of my friends. "Are you okay Mase?!" cried Jason as I fell  onto my bed grumbling. I slowly lifted my head back up as I said with a still mangled voice, "I think I have a really bad migraine right now. I'm sorry to put a pin in this before it even really started, but I think we should do something besides video games." Jason then put his hand on my shoulder and said reassuringly, "It's okay little bro. We could just talk. How about that?"

  I gave Jason a playful glare and said, "You are older by only a few minutes, but that's kind of you. Let's talk then." We talk for a long time, and the migraine didn't go away and the weird sound of my voice overstayed it's welcome. Eventually they left, and it was now nighttime, and I went to the bathroom before bed and brushed my teeth as well. I attempted to fall asleep, but the migraine made it near impossible to accomplish. For some reason, I didn't want to fall asleep due to feeling a weird sense of dread vibrate through my body.

Eventually, my eyes began to feel heavy, and with that, I finally was knocked out cold. It was a feeling that mixed good and bad, and I wished that it would have lasted forever nonetheless. Rays of light beamed at my eyes through the bedroom curtains, and this caused me to stretch as I sat straight up on the bed while rubbing my eyes with a groggy expression. I patted around on my bed for my phone, but I couldn't find it. 'Well, that's strange. I know that I put it next to my pillow before I went to bed.' I thought while stroking my chin in thought.

  I looked around my room, and my phone was nowhere to be found. I chuckled and said aloud to a sleeping Jason with my hand out, "Very fun Jayce. Hand over my phone please.", but there was no response coming out of him. I tugged at his shoulder, but then he vanished into thin air. I stumbled on my feet with a shocked expression and tumbled onto the bedroom floor. "Holy crap, mom!" I yelled but then I realized that those cries would fall to deaf ears.

  I looked at the digital clock on my dresser and it read, "12:30". 'Mom's not going to be back how for at least another two hours! What am I supposed to do?! Am I supposed to say, "Good morning mom! I hate to tell you this, but Jason Leo Parker vanished out of thin air after I touched him!"' I thought before mentally slapping myself. I then thought with forced confidence, 'Get ahold of yourself, Mason! You can do this!' All of the sudden now, this room no longer felt real to me, and I had no idea. I didn't even take a second glance to truly know if this was my room, but now that I thought about it, it was all that I could think of.

I took a glance at every angle of the room and everything that looked fine when I had first woken now has small differences that differentiated from what was usually in my room. A TV that seemed longer than usual, the wallpapers had different shades of the same color that are just noticeable enough to see, etc. I gasped to myself then had yet another thought, 'This...isn't my room.' I wanted to run, but I knew that I'd look crazy bolting out of my house in the middle of the night. Time suddenly felt slow, then black void began to engulf the room.