Page 7 of By the Fae

“So,” I began. “What are you working on at the moment?”

He paused. “Maintaining my patience.”

Oh cool, this was going well. Surely, I’d been here two hours already. I looked at my own watch. Black and neon pink with a leopard print, analogue face. Great, only six minutes. Maybe the battery died.

Abruptly, Goldie stood. “I’m gonna take a piss. You . . . do whatever.” And then he left the room, leaving me completely alone in his dark, stuffy office.

I puffed out a long sigh. I should have probably left right then. I mean, I definitely gave him a chance. Instead, I crossed the space and opened his blinds, sending the mid-morning sun belching into the room and igniting a cloud of dust motes. Now that I could properly see, I had a good look around.

On the wall opposite the couch was the biggest screen I’d ever seen outside of a movie theatre,Magic Thief Sixcurrently on pause-screen. In the other corner, a drawing board and a swivel chair, a coffee machine, a mini fridge, a filing cabinet. But no desk, and no PC.

Huh. I cleaned my glasses on the hem of my t-shirt. How did he build the games? Unless . . . he used another room for that, or perhaps he just gave sketches to ‘his team’ and they got on with the rest. Odd.

I walked the perimeter. Out the window, the same stunning view of the city as August’s office. I smiled to myself.Soon Holly, very soon.

I continued to assess his office. Not a square inch of empty space remained on his walls. I looked at each framed poster as though I were in my own private gallery heaven. Until my gaze landed on a small print, postcard size really, near the door.

A stylized 16-bit cartoon girl with curly brown hair and spectacles stood in front of a pixelated forest. Bunny rabbits, and toadstools and little blue birds surrounded her. The game was titled1409, and its concept was simple. You had to traverse the magical terrains, talk to the woodland creatures — the elves, and wizards, and jewel-mining dwarves that were often drunk — solve the mini puzzles and collect ingredients. Ultimately, the goal was to make a potion to turn the main character into a fae before the eve of her birthday.

It was an obscure game. Consigned to the depths of video game history. Eclipsed by the deluge of major RPGs and open world games, with their crystal-clear rendering, and seamless gameplay, and their well-endowed female main characters. Despite this,1409had a loyal, albeit minuscule, online fan club.

I knew this. Because I built it as part of my master’s final. I was pretty sure I forgot how to breathe.

Beyond the door’s distorted glass panel, there was movement. I threw myself back towards the couch area and tried to steady my breaths.

Goldie had a postcard of my game on his wall.

“Amazing,” he drawled, opening the door. “You’re still here.”

“Did you wash your hands?!” I accidentally shouted, my heartbeat skittering all over the place.

He didn’t roll his eyes, not really, but he looked up to the sky as though he were sharing an in-joke with a celestial being.

“Can I get back to my nap yet, or are you going to continue holding me hostage in my own office?” He pushed past me, but instead of heading to the sofa, he walked up to the coffee machine, stuck a mug underneath the spout, and pressed a button on the panel.

‘She has the patience of a saint.’That’s what people used to say about me. I could complete chronically repetitive tasks without complaining, help the kids in my tower block with their maths homework, wait fifteen hours in line to be the first to buy a video game. Yet, in that moment, I realised I’d exhausted all my tolerance for this man, and my saint-like patience had well and truly snapped.

“What’s your problem with me?” I said.

Goldie said nothing, just removed the mug, emptied four packets of sugar in it — four sugars! — and took a noisy sip.

“I don’t get it. None of you will give me the time of day. I graduated cum laude from Bordalis University. For three years in a row, I was the top earner at Human X. My games have won awards. People have written articles about me. And yet, apart from August, it’s like I don’t even exist.”

Wow, where did that come from?

He took another long slurping sip of his drink.

I was officially done here. I grabbed my cardigan from the sofa and turned to leave.

“Wait,” Goldie said, his tone still devoid of warmth. “Sit back down.”

I hesitated, hovered, dropped to the couch, and placed my cardigan on the arm once again.

“Coffee?”

I was so caught off guard I found myself spitting, “No, thanks.”

He shrugged and sat down next to me.

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