D. MacHale - The Reality Bug

It did. When I stepped into the room, I was thrilled to see all my teammates from junior high. But they weren’t getting dressed in the yellow jerseys of the Stony Brook Wildcats. They were putting on the crimson jerseys of the Davis Gregory Cardinals. I had always dreamed about playing for the Cardinals. My dream was about to come true. Sort of.

The guys all greeted me, but didn’t act like anything was out of the ordinary. I wanted to grab them all and hug them and tell them how psyched I was to be back, but I played it cool. For some reason I knew which locker was mine. Hanging up inside was a Cardinal jersey with my number: 15. Any doubt I had about being in the right place went away when I picked up that jersey, turned it around, and saw the stitched lettering over my number. It read: pendragon.

As I look back and analyze what happened, I can figure out why Lifelight did what it did. But at the time, I was totally taken up with the illusion. Even though I knew what was going on, it didn’t matter. I’m not sure if it was Lifelight doing it to me, or it was my own brain guiding things, but it was like I had forgotten that I was lying in a vast pyramid and mind tripping through a computer. As far as I knew, I was really there.

And the game was awesome. The stands were full, and rocking like it was a championship. The band pounded out a war rhythm. The cheerleaders fired up the home side. Our opponents were the crosstown rival Black Knights of Easthill High. Our starting five were the same as back in junior high: me, Jimmy Jag, Crutch, Petey Boy, and Joe Zip. Man, I missed those guys. Coach Darula was on the bench looking confident, the same as always. As we came out of the locker room and headed for the court, I got that old familiar feeling in my stomach. The butter flies. They always started dancing right before tip-off. It meant I was ready to play.

And man, did I play.

From the opening tip-off, I was on fire. Being a point guard, I was used to shooting and scoring, but what happened in that game was nothing short of phenomenal. Everything clicked. We played together like a dream team. Most every shot I took found nothing but the bottom of the net. I didn’t gun the ball, though. Oh no. I dished it around. I shot no-look passes to Joe Zip, who laid it in. I alley-ooped a few to Crutch, who could leap high enough to jam it home. I stole the ball a bunch of times and generally ran the offense like a pro. It was a dream game. Yeah, that’s exactly what it was.

We didn’t win by a hundred points either. The game was close, which made it that much more exciting. With only a few seconds left to go, we were actually down by two points.

Jimmy Jag passed me a give-and-go, I drove the lane, and as I went in for the lay-up, I got hammered by their center. Yeah, you guessed it. Two points down, seconds on the clock, and I was on the foul line. It doesn’t get any sweeter than that. I stood at the line with my hands on my hips, totally exhausted and sweating. It was awesome.

I looked around at the crowd. Everyone was on their feet, cheering for me. The ref bounced me the ball. I dribbled once, bent my knees, lined up my shot and… swish. All net. The crowd went nuts. I took another second to soak it all in before my next shot. I gazed around at all the excited faces. Some I recognized, others were people I had never seen before. But they were all cheering for me.

Then I saw something that made a great moment even greater. Sitting on the bleachers behind our bench was my family. Mom, Dad, and Shannon. But that’s not all. Sitting behind them was you, Mark. Next to you was Courtney. You were all waving and cheering. It was the best moment I could imagine.

The ref bounced me the ball; the crowd grew silent; I put up the shot and… oh yeah, it was good. The buzzer sounded. We were going to overtime. I jogged over to our bench while looking up at you guys. You were going nuts. I couldn’t have imagined a better scenario. Come to think of it, from what I learned about Lifelight, it was the exact scenario I imagined.

The team manager threw me a towel and I sat down on the bench to catch my breath. I wiped the sweat from my face and did my best not to smile too broadly. That’s when I heard a voice I didn’t want to hear.

“Having fun?” asked the intruder.

I looked up and saw Aja sitting next to me on the bench. It actually took me a second, again, to remember who she was.

But I did, and I didn’t like it. I didn’t want her there, no way. Not then. She was going to ruin it.

Aja looked around at the screaming crowd and added, “Wow, you really like to get the old adrenaline pumping, don’t you?”

“Yeah, so?” I shot back. “It’s my fantasy. I can do what I want, right?”

“Absolutely,” Aja continued. “Only one problem. Your jump’s over.”

“What?” I shouted. “It can’t be over, we’re going into OT!”

“Sorry,” Aja shrugged. “I told you, the jump was timed.”

“Give me twenty more minutes,” I begged.

“Sorry. Besides, it’s good to end like this,” Aja said. “It’s the perfect demonstration.”

“There’s nothing perfect about ending this now,” I complained. I then noticed that the silver band had returned to my wrist. The button on the right was blinking red. I didn’t like the looks of that.

Aja picked up another towel and threw it at me. “Wipe your face. You’re all sweaty,” she ordered.

I caught the towel and wiped my face. But when I dropped it, I realized with horror that I had gone blind. At least that’s what it seemed like because the gym had gone black. Worse, I had gone deaf, too. A moment before, the place was rocking with the sound of hundreds of frenzied fans. Now it was like somebody had pulled the plug on the TV. Everything had gone dark and silent. I was totally disoriented, until I heard a voice. It was a calm, familiar voice that brought me back to reality.

“Relax, Pendragon,” Aja said. “Nothing is wrong. You’re coming out of the jump.”

I then realized the truth. I wasn’t deaf or blind. I was lying in a dark, silent tube.

“Just lie still for a few minutes,” Aja said.”I’ll be right there to bring you out.”

I was filled with all sorts of emotions. First off, I was angry. Lifelight had just given me the most incredible gift I could imagine, only to snatch it right back. But I was also still high from the excitement of the game. I wasn’t physically tired because I hadn’t actually done anything. But the emotions were still there. I could remember the thrill of sinking those foul shots. But most of all, I felt sad. I had been given a small taste of being back with my family. It all seemed so real, and it made me miss them even more.

I heard a slight hum as light entered the tube. The silver disk behind my head was sliding into the wall. It was now official. I hadn’t moved an inch since I was first sealed in. I had “jumped” into a computer simulation. I felt a slight movement and the table slid out of the tube. The first thing I saw was Aja. She stood at the control panel looking down at me.

“How do you feel?” she asked.

“Like I need another twenty minutes in there, thank you very much.”

“I’m glad it ended that way, because it only helps illustrate the point I need to make.” “What point?”

Before she could answer, an alarm sounded. At least I thought it was an alarm. It was a loud, persistent horn that sliced through the quiet pyramid. Aja quickly glanced at her wrist band.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Medical call,” she said, suddenly sounding all official. “It’s in this sector.”

Without another word of explanation, she bolted for the door. I was still a little dazed after coming out of my jump, but

I wanted to know what was going on, so I threw my legs over the side of the table and stood up. I was a little wobbly at first, but a second later I was running after Aja.