Oblivion-continued

"Jim...we need to call the police first, to let them know our child is missing, it's late and he can't be out alone all night. Jim, he's just a boy." Claire was beside herself with grief, and confusion at not understanding what Jesse was going through, or what he was doing even now, "...where was our son?" She cried.

The radio had been on low during all of this, and for the most part, no one was paying much attention to it, but as I picked up the phone to call Sara or the police, an interesting news alert was being broadcast repetitively. "Claire, come down here, quickly, there is something on the news we should listen to; KNBC News Alert...for the past 12 hours, there have been some unusual reports about missing teens, mostly boys between the age of 13 to 19 years of age. There has been a warning issued by the local authorities pertaining to a new game called Oblivion. This game is said to have played a key role in the absence and subsequent violent behavior of many teens around the city and other parts of the country. If you notice any unusual behavior with your teenage children, you are to contact the police immediately. At present, the phone lines to all police and fire departments are over-ran with phone calls, please be patient as we know this is an unprecedented event.

"Well, it looks like we are anything but alone in this crisis. I'm going to call Sara," Jim declared as his wife had crumpled down on the couch, weeping uncontrollably. "Claire, try to pull it together. You need to be stable." That just seemed to make it worse, perhaps she felt I wasn't being concerned enough emotionally. Someone had to take control of this situation, and it didn't look like the local 'authorities' had any intentions of grabbing this thing by the horns. The phone was still in my hand when it rang, causing me to drop it to the floor as it continued to ring. "Hello, hello? Who is this?" I said nearing impatient anger, still fumbling with the wireless phone. I hate these blasted things, there too small, and the buttons are always in the wrong place.

"Hello?" I said again, hearing at first only static and some yelling in the back ground. "Hey? Who's there? This better not be some prank call, I don't have the time for it. Hello? Jesse...is that you? Jess, Jim?" The voice on the other end, though un-mistakenly belonging to Larry, was considerably stressed. "Jim, this is Larry, Sara's husband. Can you hear me alright Jim? It's this cell phone...they never work well in hospitals, too much electronics and steel." I could hear the pain and anxiety in his voice, but I needed to calm him down and get some answers. "Larry, listen to me. You say you're at the hospital, is your son still there with Sara?" again, a lot of excess noise could be heard, with crackling in the phone. "Jim, our son is gone...he just disappeared, I don't understand it, he just..."

Someone was trying to either use Jim's cell phone, or he was being pushed around by a great number of people swarming the Hospital. "Jim, you say your son disappeared, what do you mean he disappeared, did he vanish into thin air? Jim what happened?" Sara could be heard in the background calling to her husband, I knew time was not on my side, before long Jim would be caught up in the fray of hysteria. "Larry, if you can still hear me..." then, "Jim, sorry about that, it's absolutely crazy down here. Sara called me from the hospital earlier, saying she called the police because of some weird behavior brought on by a game? I'm not sure that's for real, anyway, he was here...right here on the bed. The doctor wanted to talk with Sara and me so we left, probably for less than ten minutes. My son was calm enough to be left alone, but when we returned to Eric's room...he was gone. Just like that. Jim I really don't know what to make about all this."

"Larry, we need to meet somewhere, away from the public. Maybe we can come up with something, other than bringing the police into it. Larry, Jesse took off also. After attacking me he jumped out the window. Frankly, I think there is more we can learn with a little digging. We just need to calmly figure out where to start. Can you break away from there in about an hour?" I could tell he was struggling with the idea of leaving his wife in such a tormented condition, but this would be the only way to solve such a mystery and hopefully find our boys.

Agreeing to meet soon after our conversation, I waited for him outside of a small coffee shop, telling Claire I needed to find some things out on my own. I don't think she bought the idea, but she didn't try to stop me either. "Jim," Said Larry, pushing his hand out to me while taking a seat. "So what do you make of this craziness? I swear, for as long I've lived, I have never seen anything quite like this before." A petite young lady in black pants and a matching apron approached our table. "Would you boy's like some coffee, or something off the menu?" She said winking at Larry. Larry ordered a beer, but thinking it might impair my concentration, I ordered a strong espresso. "Jim, I would think a beer would be more to your liking, especially after today, I should've ordered a shot with that beer." The waitress had returned quickly, setting down our drinks and quickly scampering off. "Larry," I said, keeping a low voice. "I saw that game disc, taking it out of the machine soon after being tackled by Jesse. It looked fine, like any other game. But there was nothing on the screen, except blue. A blue screen was all I could see, but Jesse...I dunno, he was seeing something."

Larry took a long draw from his beer, nearly finishing it off. "I knew I should have ordered a shot with that," he said, waving for the waitress again. "Larry, listen to me man. We need to hit the streets here in the city and look around, maybe we'll find something. I can't believe this is a total surprise to everyone." Amazingly, with all the news surrounding these missing, violent teens, involving mostly boys, there were no police on the streets. With only a single passing black and white, I knew we would have to investigate on our own. "Larry, finish up, we gotta get out of here, before it gets dark, and our wives send the police looking for us."

The sun was beginning to set low in the sky, casting longer shadows in alleys and desolate streets. "Jim, are you sure about this? I mean, we don't want to end up on the missing person's list either, and from the looks of these streets," apart from the fear in Larry's voice, I had to agree with him. We had passed under a few over-passes, cautiously steering away from any real dangerous individuals. "You know Larry? I think maybe your right. This is kind of nuts, I don't even know what we're doing out here. I guess I was hoping something would just pop out at us, sort of cut to the chase, but I guess..." turning around toward the direction we had come from, we couldn't help but spot a homeless fellow, that stuck out from the rest of them, and there were many. It might have been the tattered suit and black socks without shoes that caught our attention, or perhaps the way he was staring at us, like he wanted to talk to us. but none the less, the need to approach him grew unbearable.

"Jim..." Larry warned. "This guy doesn't look like he's packen a full deck, if you know what I mean. Let's get out of here and let the cop's do their job. I'm sure our wives are worried by now." I heard Larry's complaint, but it didn't stop me, something attracted me. "Hey...you there, I'd like to talk to you." At first glance, this fellow just appeared to be down on his luck, in a real bad way. But then, with closer inspection, we could see that something was terribly wrong.

"Don't come any closer, I know what you're looking for, I hear the news," he shouted from his small camp site. "You see? I'm not totally without." Picking up a small radio, he held it up so we could hear the news continue the alert. "I know what you're looking for, but you need to throw me your wallets." Larry and I balked with this suggestion, chucking our wallets full of credit cards and money, to a homeless vagrant. "I don't think so, why do you need our wallets, beyond the obvious?" the homeless man, moved closer into his darkened cove. "Because it's the only way I know you're not one of them." Getting our attention, we looked at each other, question written all over us. "Well Jim?" asked Larry. "We don't know this guy." I played a different card. "If you're worried about who we are, then all you really need is our identification, will our drivers license suffice?"

The man moved out into the fading sunlight, though still hiding most of his features. "Yeah, ok...that'll do, but hurry it up, the sun's going down, and I don't want to be out here when it does." Larry gave me a very worried look, letting me know that he wanted to leave, now. "Let's do this Larry, he might know something." Larry was not convinced. "Know something? Jim, who is this clown anyway? Look at him, he needs a new I.D., and you want to give him ours?"

"I know what you're thinking," said the man, but only a few weeks ago, I made more money than the both of you put together, then...just let me see who you are, and I'll tell you more. Believe me friends, you have kids, I can see it in you, you need to hear what I have to tell you...I know what you're looking for, but hurry, it's getting dark." Removing our driver's licenses, we moved closer to the man and laid them on a crate in plain view, then backed away while keeping an eye on the cards, and the homeless man.

Moving with more agility than it looked like he possessed, the man scrutinized our cards while matching them with our faces. "Okay, you look like your pictures, come on up here and grab a seat." His hospitality was unfounded as we looked around and found nothing to sit on. He started laughing hysterically, "I'm messen with you, but we do need to get back here in the shadows, I know I'm being watched. By the way, my name is Jake," He said, holding out his hand for us to shake, we held back considering the time it has probably been since his last shower. "Hey, I can't blame you for not wanting to touch me, don't think I wouldn't rather be in my cozy condo, especially in this cold weather."

It was getting late and our time was about to run out. Gathering our licenses and shoving them into our wallets, we pressed Jake for information. "Jake, you seem to have something to share with us about the recent news, I'm all ears." Larry found a wooden box near-by to sit on, while I remained standing, still too nervous to sit as Jake began. "I'll try to make this quick; two years ago, I became employed with a small group of men and women who claimed they had a superior product; I always found more joy working as an entrepreneur than punching a clock, so with a little haggling I bought into these people.

At first, they were very giving and up front, letting me in on all of their ideas, and let me tell you, not all of their ideas were worth my time in any attempt to move them, except one idea." Larry grew uncomfortable sitting in the dark and started to move into the light, when abruptly halted by Jake. "Hey...if you don't want to hear this, fine then get lost. But beyond me, you will never understand what's going on with your kids and a half a million others that this game will affect, so sit down...and get out of the light." I threw a stern glance in Larry's direction and he took his seat. "Please continue," I said. "As I was saying..." Jake shot a hard stare at Larry, picking up where he left off, "...a game suddenly came on the scene that had real potential, but there was something about it that didn't sit well with me."

Jake had told us about the origin of a game that was developed outside of the United States, somewhere in Brussels by a small group of people, that communicated only by means of cell phone text that could be deleted in a moment's notice. He said that he was hired by two people-a man and women-who represented the 'group', but they were always very nervous when near him, looking around like they were being followed. It started to make him nervous, but the game sold superbly, beyond his highest expectations. Then, he caught wind of the reality of this game, and the true purpose of its development. Worst of all, Jake uncovered an experiment or, research involving a 12 year old boy.

Because the laws of the land were not as strict as that of the United States, the developers restrained the youth in a small ranch like facility just inside the boarders of Brussels, known only as a dairy farm by the locals, but because no one ever investigated, or had a reason to, the youth was at the mercy of the group and the game.

"Do you understand what I am trying to tell you? This boy was a lab rat...exposed to the graphics of the game, which were no graphics at all. They are codes, encrypted, and Placed in a harmonic balance within the rhythm of every human brain wave. These rhythms give off frequencies that interact with behavior, causing violence and in the end, self destruction." I could not believe what I was hearing; it was science fiction at the very least. "What are you saying exactly Jake? Self-annihilation?" Jim asked, unbelieving. Jake looked away, feeling guilty no doubt as having a part in it. "I'm saying, they will eventually kill each other, it's encoded. A bug they haven't quite worked out."

"How is it possible that a game like this could ever hit the market in the first place, isn't there some sort of censorship on those things?" Jake started laughing at the idea. "Tell me something...Jim, when was the last time you ever sat with one of your kids to play a game?" Jim dropped his head, and found something to sit on. "I thought so, just like so many other parents. They just figure it as a great way to keep the kid occupied, out of their way...and of course, it works, until now."

"Jake," Larry said. "How is it, you're camped out under this cold bridge, in an area that could find you dead by morning?" Jim couldn't guess where his friend was going with this, but he listened anyway. "Good question. I discovered the true nature of that game, and threatened to turn the group in to the authorities. They weren't very understanding with my decision and put a contract out on me. I only found that out due to a botched hit, luckily I was in a crowd of people and the shooter missed. But, I know he hasn't given up, too much is at stake."

"I really don't follow the purpose of all this. Why would anyone want to alter a child's mind...with a game, or with anything, for that matter? I mean, to what would it profit?" Jim had been locked away from his family for too long, buried in his own work. Then a thought occurred. "Jake, are you suggesting that this 'experiment' with the game and mind alteration has a grand purpose, and if so, what?" Jake started a small fire deep in the recess of the bridge over pass, using a newspaper and wooden crate. "We all want to believe that terrorism comes from outside the U.S. with an occasional attack from inside our borders. But what we don't know, or...want to believe, is what's going on right next door."

"Jim, we need the get the heck out of here. We've been gone for well over three hours, and now it's dark. Let's go." Jim knew Larry was right, but there was still more Jim needed to understand, and he still had not found a clue to where his son might be. "Jake?" Jim said hurriedly. "We really have to go; do you have any idea where my son could be?" Fanning the small fire, Jake held his hands over the flames rubbing them together vigorously. "Damn this cold. I really need to get back to my condo, but not yet." Larry stood up, looking around suspiciously. "I'm out of here Jim, stay if you want, but I'm done." Jake reached out to Jim, grabbing his arm. "I'm not done yet," he said demandingly. "You have to understand something, gentleman. I may not be here tomorrow, and if I go, so does the mystery to this game."

Larry sat down again, rolling his eyes. "Come on man, what do you take us for? It's a game, nothing more. There is something else happening with our kids," said Larry. "Think about it," Jake began. "If a simple frequency alteration could exist in a game that would alter the behavior of teen age children, what could this do on a larger scale?" "You're talking about military utilization, aren't you?" Jim offered. Jake slapped his own knee loudly, jumping to his feet. "Now...you're getting it. This could be huge in the wrong hands, and believe me it's already in the wrong hands." Jim had finally heard enough. Standing up to leave he waved a hand in front of Larry, suggesting he get up. "Look to the inner city," Jake advised. "That's where you'll find your kids. For some reason, they want to congregate in the darkest and most unwelcome places. Look in abandon buildings, but be careful. These kids are no longer themselves, and you are no longer their parents."

Jim and Larry could not believe what they had just heard, from a man whom they had never met, yet he made sense, possibly, the only person to have made any sense about all of this, but they had not found their kids, and it was much too late at night for further searching. It would have to wait until morning, which meant telling their wives they had no success.

Somewhere in an abandoned warehouse, deep within the industrial section of the city-where no one in their right minds would venture-two very young men huddled in a cold corner apart from each other, moaning and occasionally catching a glimpse of a life they once had.

To be continued.