Dule 1
Andrew Dule
Effective Writing
Professor Stiles
A Game to Remember
When I was around six years old my dad moved to Drums. He bought a nice sized two floor house with an enormous backyard. I was glad to have the backyard but I had no one to play with. After a year neighbors arrived and a twelve year friendship began. My neighbors had a son who was the same age as me, his name was Bernie. Bernie at the time had two younger brothers. Over time he welcomed two more brothers into his family for a total of four brothers. Growing up me and Bernie were rivals at everything you can think of. Sports, sprinting, video games, card games, target shooting, anything we could find to do in our adventurous surroundings we competed in. To my dismay I always ended up losing every time. Eventually it led to my belief that he was in a different league than I was. It was a hard realization for me to come to, knowing that I’ll never be as good my best friend.
So time went on and ten years later the same can’t be said about my good friend. Soon after starting high school in Hazelton he developed anxiety. This anxiety completely changed his outlook on things, making him a secluded individual. He no longer cared about or ventured into the world outside of his house. He became almost obsessed with video games and only video games. He no longer wished to be good at any of the other activities he once participated in. He might as well have never done them. His only interest in life is video games now. The anxiety has forced him out of school and he lost contact with his friends. Many of them changed in a way that he doesn’t even want to be associated with them. His only real friend he stays in contact is none other than me. I only come over once a week and really am about the only interaction with people he gets.
I came over one Saturday to find out that there were some of his brothers friends over. His brother’s two friends didn’t look like much of a threat at first glance. One was tall and skinny with brown hair, the other small with blonde hair and glasses. I however knew these two were gamers of a high caliber. Many times these two paired together and went undefeated. Tonight Bernie was determined to take them down once and for all. When I realized his intent I got nervous. I had faced these two one on one and was severely beaten by each of them, but here I was with a chance to team up with someone and truly test my skills. I began to feel antsy, my adrenaline was beginning to pump ferociously.
The battle was to take place in Bernie’s living room. We decided to do it there because all of the other rooms in Bernie’s house were too small. The only two decent sized rooms were the living room and the kitchen and we definitely were not going to be playing vide games in there. His living room was a good choice considering it had a variety of chairs and couches to sit on.
The first team to challenge them was a team of Bernie’s two oldest brothers. The match began with surprising results, Bernie’s brother started out strong. The game was simple, a two on two brawl, each player has five lives. Bernie’s brothers started out by knocking out three of the other team’s lives quickly. Unfortunately for them there early success did not last long at all. Shortly after attaining their minimal lead the opposing juggernauts decided to start trying. In the following minutes I witnessed a video game massacre like none I had ever seen. The three lives that the team of brothers were able to take would be their only achievement during the match. I stood in pure awe, in utter disbelief that I witnessed the event.
After that a realization hit me, Bernie and I were next. We decided to take a break so that our opponents could rest their hands. It was their way of taunting us, and it was working. My nerves reached an all time high. I had never been close to Bernie’s level of play, and now I was to be his counter part in one of the toughest game I would ever play. During our break I spent the whole time deciding on which character I would use. my choice was between a strong swordsman and a speedy martial artist. After watching the last battle I decided to go with the speed. The opposing team was all speed, their play was so fast they were basically untouchable. In past games my weakness was that I reacted slowly in critical moments of battle. To make matters worse the opposing team knew my weakness, and was probably the best at exploiting it. As I stood in Bernie’s living room time seemed to fly by. Before I could even blink it felt like the match was already about to start.
Bernie and I took our seats on the right side of the television, our opponents took their opposite us. By this time my choice of character was as clear as day, I was going with the speedy character. The rest of the players chose their usual players. Now the time had come, my chance to prove that I could play on Bernie’s level and to prove that I was just as good as he is. The epic battle began and my nerves shot to dangerous levels. I quickly found myself paired against the same character I was. I quickly was put in my place by being killed all most immediately. Bernie, however, was faring better since he was able to critically damage his opponent before losing one of his lives. When I came back into the battle I quickly took out his opponent and began to stage a comeback. My play became more refined. I focused on keeping a level head and not allowing the others to rattle me as they usually do. Bernie stayed calm as usual and helped to give me warnings about things I didn’t notice. Since our field of battle was very small knowing what was going on at all points on the field was a necessity. Bernie and I began to develop a system of team work that allowed us to remain even with the other team.
Then disaster struck for our team. Bernie’s controller slipped from his hand and we paid the price as we were now both down to our last lives. Our opponents had two a piece making this all but impossible. Now backed in to a corner the way we were, there was nothing to do but to fight with all we had. Under harsh odds Bernie and I were able to narrow their lead to make us all even. It was basically sudden death. With a last ditch effort I was able to take a suicide attack and take one opponent out with me. Bernie and his opponent traded strikes for a few minutes and I watched with pure awe. The match was decided by one single strike, which came from Bernie. We had won an amazing victory. I was in shock. After the match it was time for me to head back home. As I walked to the door Bernie came to say good bye.
“Good game Andrew. I always knew you could play up to par with me and you proved it. See you next weekend and maybe soon you’ll be beating me,” Bernie said.
With those words I went home a happier person. I have never beaten Bernie one on one nor have we had a rematch with our excellent opponents. That night and those words will stay with me for a long time. It truly was a game to remember.