The Arcade

By William Barry

Every game has a winner and a loser—but with Joey's life hanging in the balance, will Time Hunter claim its ultimate prize?

Thirty-five years have gone by since he left. Now, Joey is returning to his hometown after purchasing the house where he grew up and the old arcade business he loved as a kid. But returning means facing the memories of a childhood tragedy that he tried to leave behind so many years ago.

Among the dust-covered arcade games in the abandoned business he now owns, there lies a game cabinet that has haunted him since his youth: Time Hunter.

Could defeating the mysterious arcade game turn back the clock and give him one more chance to save his childhood friend? Or will it send him on a quest that will take his life as well?

The future is yours … If you can survive.

• Language: English
• Publisher: William Barry
• Release date: Oct 31, 2023
• ISBN: 9781962071376

Book preview

The moment wasn’t lost on me…

A disappointed feeling welled up from the pit of my stomach as I drove by the ‘Welcome to August’ sign. August, in this case, was not the month, but a town; to be specific, the town where I grew up. And the disappointment, by the way, was in myself.

As much as I’d tried to get away from this place, I knew I’d be back here one day. It was as if this town had some kind of eventual gravity, that took its sweet time to suck you back in. It’d taken most of my life, but at long last, I was back within its atmosphere. But to be fair, this place had plenty of mystical talents. I mean, where else could you have both the best and the worst moments of your entire life on the same day? The town of August was just remarkable like that.

This route channeled travelers down the main street through town. So much had changed; there was a new hospital in the place where a K-Mart had once stood. But that was a long time ago. It was the same department store where my father had braved the shopping madness of the holidays to buy our family’s first VHS player one Christmas Eve. I was there that night; I found three dollars on the floor that someone had dropped. To my kid-mind, that night was filled with Christmas magic. The only blue light specials seen these days are the ones I get when speeding on the interstate.

But some things in town hadn’t changed, like the Pizza Hut where I’d worked my first job at sixteen years old. The building remained, albeit scruffy now, but still proud, in its signature architectural red hat. And hey, it even looked busy.

Did it still have the old silver jukebox that used to be in the front-left corner of the main room? There was an annoying waitress who used to always play Bob Seger’s ‘Old Time Rock & Roll’ on it and dance around the dining room floor, her substantial legs kicking up to the tune as we cleaned at the end of the night shift.

She was my age and had an unfortunate crush on me. It seemed that her bad taste extended beyond music selection. I was damaged goods, still am, to an extent, but I was severely broken when she met me. Her feelings for me were never reciprocated, and to this day, I found the song brought back plenty of unwelcome memories of her.

I’d only just arrived, but was already being bombarded by bits and pieces of a life I hadn’t known in… well, a lifetime. But that’s all part of returning somewhere, isn’t it? You face both the angels and demons that you left behind. It seems like they’ve been waiting an eternity to say hello.

Before long, the business district gave way to homes and neighborhoods with green lawns and towering pecan trees. Some adults used to say this whole area was a pecan orchard at one time. I don’t know about all that, but there were plenty of those trees. When I was a kid, we’d often gather pecans by the bag-full from neighborhood yards and sell them to supplement our allowances. What can I say? Transformers were expensive.

It was then that I noticed a road looming to the right. It was Ruby Drive. The entrance to the street still looked the same as I’d remembered, and it still turned my stomach.

I’d stopped traveling down that road a long time ago, even as far back as when my bicycle was my primary mode of transportation. It would have been the quickest way to get to my destination, but like I said, I didn’t go down Ruby Drive anymore, so I continued straight. It’d be no more than a three-minute detour anyway. It was a small price to pay.

Moments later, I took the turn onto Franklin Drive. Quaint old homes lined both sides of the street. When I was young, it was a nice and quiet neighborhood, and by initial appearances, those qualities may have remained.

A smile grew on my face when my eyes caught sight of a house on the left. That’s where my friend, Adrien Kenner, used to live. There were countless days spent playing video games in his basement or basketball in the backyard.

Adrien’s dad had cemented him a small court back behind the house with two hoops…literally two; one on both sides. Whose dad does that? Maybe a dad with professional sports aspirations for his son that never panned out? If that was the case, Adrien never knew. But looking back, it seems suspicious.

Speaking of suspicious, there were plenty of fun times on the little court in Adrien’s backyard, except for when a large neighborhood dog would show up. We didn’t know his name, but we called him ‘Humphrey’. He would appear out of nowhere, and before we knew it, he was jumping on us and trying to hump us as we played. It sounds ridiculous, but it’s true. I mean, really, what was that dog’s deal? He should have been on some registered list to warn the neighborhood.

In time, Adrien’s parents put up a fence, so that helped with the problem. His parents were cool, as far as parents went, but they didn’t live there anymore.

Sometimes I used to greet my friend Yo, Adrien, in my best Sylvester Stallone voice; a joke I seemed to think never got old as a kid. Though looking back, it was pretty exhausted after the first time.

He would promptly tell me to Shut up. I think he wanted to like the Rocky movies, but the badgering about his name prevented a full embrace.

A couple of preteens passed on their bicycles on the other side of the road, headed in the opposite direction.

My vehicle slowed as another familiar house approached on the right. It was a green, two-story home with red-brown trim, and some unique patterning on the windows. Something about its design always seemed to reflect German/Alpine architecture. It was charming, but seemed a little out of place against the backdrop of the other homes in the neighborhood; homes with more unimaginative, mundane designs. As kids, we affectionately dubbed it The Gingerbread House.

That’s where she lived, when we were kids. She was my best friend when I was younger, and also the reason I left town and never ever wanted to return.

Emily; that was her name. And she was my best friend since she moved to the neighborhood in the fourth grade.

Well, one of my best friends. There were three of us amigos: Emily, Adrien, and myself. We were the same age, our birthdays only months apart. We went to the same school and were in the same class, at least in elementary school.

This road, this neighborhood, it was our stomping ground. All three of us were best friends, and somehow, we survived that awkward preteen-to-teen transition and still remained close.

That was until around the age of thirteen and a half, when I broke one of the cardinal rules of friendship and fell in love with Emily. But neither of them noticed, as far as I could tell. From their standpoint, we were all still platonic best friends.

But my easy, carefree friendship with Emily had become a very challenging façade to maintain. Beyond the most enchanting personality in the world and her stunning beauty, I began to notice her bourgeoning curves and hence had to expend that much more energy trying not to notice them. I felt like I did a pretty good job, though every so often, I’d get a funny look from Adrien when he’d catch my gaze lingering on Emily a little too long. He might have been suspicious. But I thought my act was solid, and well after our fifteenth birthdays, I could detect no suspicions from Emily. If she had them, she never let on that she did.

Of course, different scenarios of our epic romance were always running through my mind, borrowed tales from books and movies with happy endings. But I never had the courage to respond ‘as you wish’ to her in real life; she’d get that reference in a heartbeat.

Nothing sounded better in heaven or on earth than taking Emily in my arms and placing my lips on hers, but I was terrified. What if she didn’t feel the same way about me? Imagine the catastrophic rejection that would follow. After that, our friendship would be destroyed, and the next domino would be the friendship between all of us. After all of our years and memories together, it was a risk that I couldn’t bear to take. Especially considering that I didn’t get any signs from her that our friendship was any more than business as usual.

Perhaps it was for the best that I never said anything to Emily, because it seemed as if I wasn’t the only one that had been noticing how amazing she was. Word on the street was… well, alright, it was from Adrien; Adrien told me that Chris Stone had been asking him questions. Yeah, they were questions about Emily.

Chris was one of, if not the, most popular guys at our school. Girls would literally swoon over this kid when he’d speak to them. It was exhausting to watch.

Not only was he confident and dreamy (not my words), but for the less-than-altruistic of crushes, dating him would also guarantee instant popularity and celebrity status at school. And as most people would tell you, if they were being honest, popularity could make certain aspects of high school a lot easier.

Anyway, Chris told Adrien that he intended to ask Emily to the upcoming dance in a couple of weeks. I wasn’t sure if Adrien told me because he knew that I was crushing on Emily, or if it was just an interesting topic of conversation because she was our friend, but when I heard that, I knew that if I’d ever had a chance with her before, it had left the building now.

And to think I was worried that if I confessed my feelings to Emily, it would ruin our friendship. As soon as she would start dating Chris, she’d be whisked away from us to another, more popular group of friends. So, one way or another, our friendship was going to have a time limit. Check the expiration date, time to throw it out. Was it destiny? But things took an even worse turn before that could happen. It was a complicated, horrible time.

Though Emily was intelligent and getting grades much higher than mine, underneath the laser focus, she seemed to have a deep well of random thoughts and observations bubbling just beneath the surface. Most of them were ridiculous. On occasion, I would ask her what she was thinking, and always found her reply entertaining. It was just another one of those quirks that made you fall in love with someone.

Emily’s parents didn’t live in The Gingerbread House anymore, and I don’t blame them for leaving. A deep breath I didn’t realize I was holding escaped my lips; the wheels of my car rolled onward.

Rounding a small bend in the road, I could see it on the left, at last. There was my family’s house; I was finally home.

She must’ve seen my Honda Civic from a window, because my mother was already on the front porch by the time I stopped in the driveway.

As I walked up, she closed the distance halfway across the front lawn, meeting me with the most radiant of smiles and a big hug.

It’s so good to see you, Joey. After another squeeze, she released me.

Good to see you too, Mom.

I’d seen my mother over the holidays, but even now, in the short time since, the lines on her face seemed a little more pronounced, or maybe I was just starting to notice things more. Time, you thief of all.

Look at you. She took another step back to assess me. It’s been a while; you’re looking well. It was a sincere compliment. Not like when someone’s trying too hard to be polite.

Thanks.

With a second glance, my mother’s eyes fixated on the side of my face. I knew what she was looking at. She reached out her hand to touch a small spot between my right cheek and ear.

It looks like you have a little scar here, she said. How’d you do that?

I played it down with a smile. I was getting a frame down from the attic a while back; it slipped, and the edge caught me. I’m lucky it wasn’t any worse.

You need to be more careful.

I know, I’m clumsy. I felt my statement was best punctuated with a goofy smile, and it seemed to distract her; mission accomplished.

It’s a relief I was wearing long sleeves. I didn’t have the energy for a follow-up question about an injury on my left forearm. My mother never stopped mothering, even at my age. But that was par for mothers, at least the good ones like mine.

Her eyes flitted to my car, the inside loaded to the ceiling with clothes and other personal effects. Is that everything?

I wish! The moving truck is coming later this afternoon with the rest of the stuff.

She turned around toward the house. Our eyes lingered on the place where I’d grown up as a kid.

So, yes, I was moving back home, but it’s not what you’re thinking. I bought the house from my mother. Age was catching up to her, and it was too much for her to look after. She’d found a smaller place to move across town. There was a timidity in her voice when she’d brought up the subject of selling it, but was thrilled when I showed interest in purchasing it. I didn’t know why, but I couldn’t let my childhood home slip away, at least not when I had the means to hold on to it.

There it is. Our eyes were still fixed on the house.

I wasn’t sure if I’d made the right decision, but I nodded in agreement. Sure, I loved the home itself, but it also came with the baggage of some memories I’d rather erase.

Glancing back toward the road, I could envision where Emily, Adrien, and I had set up a folding table near the street. We sold bags of pecans to passing cars, our own version of a lemonade stand. The grin that grew on my face was bittersweet. It was too late to question if I’d made the right decision.

My mother’s words snapped me out of the daydream. The lawyer has all the paperwork in, and the deed is in your name; it should be coming in the mail soon.

Thanks, Mom.

I’m just happy it’s going to stay in the family, there was a hint of wistfulness in her tone. So many good memories here.

And I put so much work into this place, mowing the lawn as a teenager every other week in the summers.

A curious look began to grow on her face. Oh, you mentioned you’re buying the old arcade in town as well?

It’s already bought; no turning back now, I replied. I just need to pick up the keys.

I know you’ve always loved video games, but do you really think that place can make any money?

Don’t know. I shrugged. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it yet.

Mr. Romai has been fighting off buyers for years, even though the arcade’s been closed for a long time. I guess most people just want it for the land. That building is in a prime location.

It was in a good spot, just down a side street off the main road.

She smiled. Maybe he was okay selling it to you because he knows you’d appreciate the place. You used to be there all the time when you were young.

Maybe that’s it.

Mother glanced down at her watch.

Someplace to be? I asked, amused.

Yeah, I’ve got an appointment, she replied. I made it months ago, long before I knew you’d be arriving today. It’s so hard to get an appointment at this place…

My hand went up to say that no explanation was necessary. That’s fine, Mom, really. I have to unload my car, and the moving truck will be here before I know it.

She gave a relieved smile that I wasn’t put off by her quick departure. By the way, your room became a guestroom. And I left it that way. I only have room for so much furniture at the new place. The room has a bed and an empty dresser, so at least you’ve got a place to sleep tonight.

You turned my room into a guest room? I feigned offense.

It actually happened a long time ago. She rolled her eyes at me. Anyway, all the stuff that you abandoned in that room is up in the attic.

I didn’t abandon anything.

She cocked her head to the side. Honey, you left it there for thirty years; that’s not abandoning it?

A grin escaped my lips. I knew it’d be safe at home.

Well, it is safe… in the attic. Do you want me to come back and help unpack stuff tonight?

No, but thanks, I replied.

Oh, I left you a case of cokes in the fridge. I figured you might get thirsty unpacking. Oh, and a little surprise on the kitchen counter.

Thanks, Mom. I was beginning to feel like a broken record, thanking her over and over.

I told you I was leaving the appliances?

Yes, I replied. I appreciate it.

Why don’t we get together for dinner tomorrow?

How about the day after? I asked. I’ve got to go get the arcade keys from Old Man Romai tomorrow afternoon, and I don’t know how long that’ll take. In theory, it could be pretty quick, but you know how much of a talker he can be.

I forgot you kids all called him ‘Old Man Romai,’ Mother said with a nostalgic beam. And yeah, in that case, the day after might be better.

My mother knew how much of a chatterbox Old Man Romai could be at times. As a kid, I didn’t mind. For the most part, our conversations would be about pinball or video games, which were interesting. Hey, he was the one that told me about that old Galaga no-fire cheat. So, it wasn’t all pointless conversation. How he knew about that, I have no idea. But sometimes, all the gabbing wore out its welcome when I was trying to leave the arcade.

Love you. Mother said as she got into her car.

Love you, too, I replied.

Her car pulled away, and she was gone.

A house was just a physical structure until the gathered memories made within turned it into a home. I knew that sentiment was cliché as hell, but it didn’t make it any less true. And this home had memories to spare. Alone with my thoughts, here I was, standing in front of my family’s home, now my home.

Walking into the empty living room, my eyes couldn’t help but look for all the things my mind knew wouldn’t be there. It was odd to see this space without the furniture, some of which had been in the same spot since I could remember. Indentations on the carpet were now the only clues left