Split-Screen :: The Game-Geek’s Daily Read

by OZ

Brian opened his eyes, and blinked.

He looked at the stark landscape in front of him. Giant, crumbling blocks of stone lay in front of him, once perhaps beautiful, but decayed now, into twisted shapes and rotted into grotesque colours. The looming stacks of stones, lined up in row after jumbled row like mismatched teeth seemed to leer at him. Where was he? Brian looked around, wondering what had happened to him, where he was, and how he got here.

Since he wasn’t the hero of the story, he didn’t have a chance to go exploring, and have all sorts of wonderful adventures, and discover the true meaning of life, the universe, and mother’s home made apple pie. This wasn’t really that kind of story, and he really wasn’t hero material. Instead, what happened was really rather obvious.

All hell broke loose.

The blocks seemed to spring to life, and large sets of them came crashing down across the mismatched landscape, creating jagged towers and smoothing valleys in thunderous instants. A shower of dust fell on him, as he crouched, deafened by the sound of the giant stone blocks falling. He turned to the left, to leave the single line in which all the blocks were falling, and realised that the black gloom he though was just the night was actually a thick velvety substance that he couldn’t get past. He looked to the right now, for the first time since he’d woken to this horrible nightmare place, and screamed.

It wasn’t particularly heroic, as screams went, but then I did say he wasn’t a hero, didn’t I? What he saw was terrifying, and if he hadn’t screamed there would have been something very wrong with Brian. Because he saw to his side a thick transparent glass, too thick for him to break through, and through it, he saw a terrible sight. A giant face seemed to peer at him, a frightening visage distorted into horrible forms by the glass, and then he heard a block thud next to him.

The sound of the shuddering impact of the giant stone blocks into the ground just feet from where he stood cut through his shock, and he sprang forward, forgetting for now the terrible face that seemed to gloatingly watch his desperate run.

He ran forward, since there were only two sides he could move to, and he ran fast, as one after another block after block of decaying stone fell heavily behind him. He climbed onto a piece that jutted slightly from the rest, and then, with a sickening noise the rocks behind him, which he saw had fallen into a flat line, crumbled, broke, and disappeared into dust. He fell heavily, into what had become a largish valley, about the height of two of the stones in the blocks.

Looking around, he realised something strange. Not compared to the other stuff that was happening, admittedly, but strange nonetheless.

All the blocks were made of four huge, square stones. And there were only a few limited shapes that these formed as they fell. And the blocks moved from side to side in the air, as if some conscious mind was trying to perhaps build something. Brian shuddered, and thought of the hideous face he knew still leered at him, but did not turn his head to the side. The block he was standing on had gone dark.

He looked up, then realised that a stone was rushing down at him. He ducked and dived, rolling as he fell painfully. Thunderously more blocks fell along the space he was stuck in, and he ran, not wanting to stay in one place long. As he neared the edge of one side, and realised that there was a giant wall in front of him, a huge block thudded into place behind him.

He was trapped. To his side were four of the giant stones, each as tall as a man. On the other was the giant wall. There was no way he could leave this tiny slot. And he knew that anytime now, more blocks would fall. He heard a lot of thudding noises, and kept staring up for what he had realised was inevitable. Once or twice blocks appeared above him, but moved off to the side.

Maybe there was some hope yet, he thought. If they have to be four long, then a piece will get hooked on the top before it reaches me, he thought. And then he realised that four together could come in one straight line too. He realised this because that’s exactly what happened. As he looked up he saw a long line of stone, deadly and menacing, moving slowly towards him.

He turned to the face then, and cursed, and cried, and banged against the glass.

And on the other side of the glass, a pretty girl looked at the movement on her screen, and planned and reacted to get to the next level. She had painstakingly lined up four tiles and finally now, the straight piece had come. She lined it up, and thought, “one line… two lines… three lines… fourth line is tetris.”

A dainty hand punched the air, and she said “Yes!” And then she pressed the down key. Funnily enough, she heard a squishy sound. She shook her head. Clearly she had imagined the noise, there was nobody anywhere nearby.