On the north side of the highway that divided the town across the middle, a red, two door, 1990 Dodge Shadow, weaved its way through a neighborhood under the guidance of a phone in a window mounted cradle. The driver, Brandon Lassiter, tapped the screen to stop the voice that had guided him that far, once he saw his stepfather's pickup truck in a driveway half a block ahead.

He parked the car in the driveway beside the truck and inspected the front of the house through the hazy film coating the windshield. He had barely swung the car's door open when his brother, Tim, rushed out of the house to greet him, followed close behind by a well-groomed west highland terrier.

"Mom's coming. She's just in the bathroom taking a leak," the young brother said.

"We gotta work on the details you don't need to share," Brandon said as he wrapped his brother in a hug. "The outside looks nice. How's it inside?"

"Nice... Oh, this is Suzie," Tim said as he picked up the dog.

"I go away for a couple years and everything changes. You move, get a dog... What's the girl situation like?"

"I'm keeping my option open. I'm ten, I got time before I need to settle on just one," Tim said with the voice of a cool lady's man. "I'm focusing on my gaming skills at the moment."

"In other words, you're just like me... a loser."

"I wouldn't say I'm that bad. One of my gamer friends is a girl."

"Dude, just so you know, just 'cause someone online says they're a girl, doesn't mean they are. For all you know she could be a forty-year-old guy sitting alone in his mom's basement in his underwear."

"Dude, just so YOU know, this friend isn't online, and WE were sitting together in my mom's basement. Not in our underwear... but, I've seen her in a bathing suit and she definitely isn't a forty-year-old guy."

"You're ten and you actually talk to a real girl? Wow, you have surpassed me young grasshopper. You must teach me your ways," Brandon said as his mother wrapped her arms around him.

"This old thing actually made it," his mother said as she patted the side of the car, "Let's get you in. Your dad is on his way home from work."

"Yup, it's still running! Dad's not here?" he asked as he pointed at the truck in the driveway.

"Oh, he has a company car. You found the place alright?" his mother asked.

"Yeah. So, how far is dad's work from here?"

"Oh, it's just a couple miles up the highway. He's got you setup to meet with the owner. He has another shop in town that's being renovated. Your dad told him you could do the wiring for the network and the phones. He's sure they'll be looking for an architect soon, so remember, first impressions..."

"That sounds great," Brandon said as he followed his mother through the house to the door of a bedroom.

"This is your room," she said. "You'll love this town. We've met some really nice people. Apparently, there's a carnival in town. I think it starts on Thursday. Your brother wants to go, so I told him you can take him. It might be a good chance for you to get out and meet people."

"But I'm going with Jill!" Tim shouted as he walked down the hall.

"Jill? Is that your gamer friend or do you have a couple on the go?" Brandon asked.

Tim stepped into Brandon's bedroom and said, "Same girl. Her older sister is taking us."

"Older sister?" Brandon said with a cocky smile.

"She's fifteen. And she has a boyfriend, or at least had a boyfriend."

Brandon's smile faded, "Oh..."

"Brandon can still take you. You can hang out with Jill all you like, but I would feel better if your brother got you there and got you home."

"Fine. I guess it's better than having your mom drive you around on your date."

"Oh, it's a date then?" Brandon asked before making a kissy face.

"Shut up!" Tim said, "At least I got a girlfriend, and she's not a computer generated one."

"So, she IS your girlfriend?"

"What was the name of yours? Electra? She had some big DLC's," Tim said with his hands cupped at his chest.

"Timothy!"

"DLC means downloadable content, mom."

"I better not find out it mean something like... Delicious Lady... Cones, or you're in big trouble. Now, let Brandon unpack his things. He's not even here ten minutes and you're pushing buttons. He's taking you to the carnival and that's final."

Tim left the room with his mother pushing him from behind. Before Brandon closed the door, his mother whispered, "Don't let him get to you. He doesn't know... you know... Get yourself settled in while I get the lasagna ready for dinner."

"Okay, I've been wearing these clothes for a couple days so I'm just going to change."

Through the closed door he could hear his mother reprimanding Tim, "You know he's shy around girls. Stop—"

Brandon dropped onto the bed. He sat with his shoulders and back rounded inward, his forearms rested on his legs with his elbows pulled in tight against his stomach. His conversation with Tim and his mother's words before she left his room had rattled the cage where he kept certain parts of his past locked away. He was afraid he might peer in through the bars and wake the creature if he didn't busy himself. He started to unpack his things.

During his first year of college, he stumbled upon a way to hook up with a girl and loose his virginity. While attending a house party he took part in a drinking game. He isn't sure if he won the game or lost. If getting blind drunk made a participant the winner, he was the champion. He doesn't recall much of what happened after the game ended but it seemed his prize package included a bruised shin, a splitting headache and a brunette that he hadn't met before and hasn't seen since. He holds hazy memories of looking up at the mystery woman and fondling her naked breasts, but that's all he remembered of the act.

He managed to repeat this process with even better results at the second party of that year. The fragmented memories from that event included two ladies. The third and every other drunken outing since had ended with far less favorable memories. He abandoned the method before the start of second year, after he woke up in the dog run two houses away from where he had been partying. The homeowner was kind enough to wake him up and let him out of the run.

He was different in the fantasy story games he played alone on his game console as a teenager. The women were different. There was no fear of rejection. No fear of doing harm if the cage were opened and the creature poked its head out. As he wielded his mighty sword and fought off beasts and enemies in the game, Royal Quest, he didn't fear losing the affections of Electra, the female character he tailored to his desire. He brought her gold and gemstones from his adventures. If he defeated the enemy or protected her from some savage hounds or lost his life trying, she fawned over him without hesitation. He had left his console at home when he left for college, and with it, he left her behind.

He recalled how he created his own character's appearance to match his own, with a few notable exceptions. The dark brown hair style was as close to a match for his own hair as possible with the limited selection provided by the game. He chose an eye colour that matched his, and even added a scar to the character's left leg to match the one he got while riding his bike. The muscle tone of the character was more than a slight exaggeration of his body shape at fifteen. He had grown and filled in considerably over the next seven years but was still not quite the Herculean sized character of the game. And, of course, the game's character had no trouble scooping up women on his escapades. Electra was the main object of his affection, but that didn't stop him from flirting with other computer-generated ladies offered up by the game. And best of all, she didn't mind a threesome now and then. Somehow, despite the content of the game, the cage remained intact, the creature contained.

He found the box in which the console and games had been packed when his parents moved. It was time to get reacquainted with an old flame.

AN - Thanks again for reading. Did you know that magical things happen if you click that star thingy. Yeah... it brings a smile to an author's face.