the cartridge

The air in the tiny thrift shop was imbued with the smell of old mothballs, long-faded and somewhat musty laundry detergent, dust and the sort of perfume that middle-aged and elderly women tend to fancy. Sundries that otherwise hadn’t been touched in years, covered in attic dust and constantly-regenerating cobwebs, sat on what seemed like a dizzying number of tightly packed shelves. Clothes that might have been in fashion in 1985 hung on overstuffed shelves. A bored young woman stood at the counter, constantly brushing back hair that might have been dyed at one point, but the dye had long been washed out and left behind slightly bluish bleach-blond with the roots showing.

The perfect place for a washed up mess to be, that was for sure. At least, she thought so. Alone, in a near-stupor, thrown away alongside racks and racks of shirts that looked like upholstery and entire shelves’ worth of Saved By The Bell: The Board Game. Hell, she didn’t even really belong here, did she? She was broke. She had spent most of her spare money on more drinks to keep the demon of withdrawal away. Ever since that dream she was painfully aware of what a problem she had developed.

But what could she do about it now, with exactly two friends, no health insurance, and no family? She could cut back slowly, sure. Gently bring herself back to sobriety, because withdrawal could kill her. And she wasn’t ready to join her mother in the ground yet. Not when it could still send her stupid, dumb asshole sister over the edge.

… Sister.

She growled unconsciously from the throat. Stupid bitch. Bet she never even called their mom. Bet that’s why she killed herself. Her fault… no. No that’s fucking dumb. She loved her as much as you did, asshole. Does she even know yet? No, probably not. And it’s staying that way, as far as you’re concerned.

Passing by a mirror that looked like once upon a time it had been hand-painted, she couldn’t help but take a look at herself. Doing… better, today. Still pale. Still got the bags under her eyes. Really needed to wash her hair sometime but that took forever and she just didn’t much have the energy to do that these days. More than anything she couldn’t bare to even talk to her sister at length because the second she saw her like this it would be time for all the invasive questions and cold turkey-ing. She couldn’t handle that, physically or emotionally.

No, just… look away.

In looking for something else to look at, other than the shambling corpse she had become, she found herself transfixed by a woman carrying a box labeled ‘video games’ out from the back room where she assumed they sorted their various donations. The worker threw the box haphazardly on the front counter by the other girl, stirring some dust out of the box, and wrote ‘$5 Each” on the front of the cardboard, before walking away. Well, a look at whatever that was couldn’t hurt, right? Couldn’t be more than a bunch of old licensed games and things that everyone had back in the day.

It was clear that the collection, full of cartridges from the early 90’s, was a haphazard assembly of games already bought second-hand. Some sat there in terrible quality, well-loved by small children with all the marks to show it, and others were nearly pristine, maybe even mispriced for their condition. She shook her head. Shame, whoever was in charge of pricing could be getting so much more out of a box like this-

No.

No fucking way.

Her hands trembled as she pulled a near-mint condition cartridge out of the box, a poignant, implacable emotion cutting through the haze induced by the alcohol and overwhelming her entire brain. Time had treated this relic well. Completely unmarred by the hands of children or the yellowing of heavy use or smoke in the air. The only thing imperfect about this treasure were the remnants of a marker on the back, faded by the twenty-six years that this game had been in the wild. Once upon a time, it had probably been somebody’s name, but now it was illegible, a simple reminder of this find’s history. The label, simple, featuring some alien-looking space suit prominently in its background, displayed its title prominently.

EarthBound.

Did that woman even go through this box?! Even the clerk at the counter looked shocked and surprised to see the game there. In this condition, any store who knew what they had just been delivered would have locked this behind the glass and priced it over a hundred dollars.

For a few moments, she held it in her hands and admired it. Her heart raced, her eyes wetted with tears. She had been hunting for this game for years and years. Ever since her own cartridge was lost. Now here it was. And she could afford it! Surely she had five dollars left in her coat pocket somewhere, right? Please, Gaia, have mercy on her. Let her not have spent her last five dollars on alcohol. She would try harder to stop drinking, she promised, just let her have this one treasure to call her own.

… Bingo, exactly enough. Thank you, earth mom.

For the few moments it took to get herself rung up, she relished the look of deep envy in the clerk’s eyes as she was forced to ring up a rare and valuable piece of gaming history for five dollars. It felt like her facial muscles physically creaked as an earnest and beaming smile split her face for what felt like the first time in months. She genuinely couldn’t wait to get home and play it, see if it still worked. If it looked like this, it definitely should. Wow.

On the way out the door, and as she trotted through the cold air down the street at an impressive clip for her current state, she began to think to herself. As the adrenaline of finding a real live copy of this game began to fade away, she couldn’t help but notice that the cartridge felt a little… strange. But by all rights, it didn’t feel like Wyrm at all. It just felt kind of weird, in a way she couldn’t really place. Ethereal, maybe. But maybe it was in her head, after all, she was still running on nothing but a glass of scotch today.

Yeah, it was probably in her head. She needed to get home, have some real food, have another drink and pop this thing in the console.

It was gonna be fine.

Right?