Flynn Once More

It's the first day of October and Kevin Flynn is looking out of his window on the top floor of the ENCOM building. His blue office chair is left spinning and the nylon casters are rolling across the floor making a noise that irritates Kevin to no end, but there's nothing he can do about it, theres nothing he really wants to do about it. It's one of the only sounds he can hear while withdrawn in his office, along with the lulling purl of birds and the buzz of his computer. Now he's upset because there's not many birds in the sky, just a pretty nightingale and a disfigured bullfinch that flies like it has a broken wing and made the man grimace, clench his tonic-stained teeth, and turn away from the windows.

"Veronica," Kevin says into the telephone. "Can you send Alan to my office, please?"

From the other side of the line, Veronica sharply draws in her breath. "Mr. Flynn, I've never heard you say 'please' before," she laughs and Kevin can hear her nose whistling from the broken bones collapsed over the nostrils.

"Well, don't get used to it. Did the surgeons put your nose back together yet?" he snickers and Veronica goes silent.

"I'll send Alan up for you." The line clicks and fizzes like sodapop.

Kevin has a seat in his chair and rolls up to the computer that he hasn't yet figured out how to work. He presses the power button and it flashes yellow then green and he cocks an eyebrow while impatiently pounding the CPU before the blue screen flickers and demands a username and password. He curses quietly to himself, rubbing his homespun lips together because they feel like tree bark against one another and Kevin feels strange for liking that feeling.

Username: Kflynn

"What's the Goddamn password?" he whispers. After seven attempts the computer welcomes him and he eagerly pumps his fists into the air. Kevin checks a couple useless emails before he decides to play online solitaire and it takes 97 moves before picturesque fireworks and sparklers explode across the screen. He's angry that Alan still hasn't arrived, but Alan has been unreliable lately and it doesn't bother Kevin because he's only got his newborn son, Sam, to worry about.

Curiously, Kevin clicks on an idled window and it takes a minute to finally pop up. His eyes follow the writing as it scribbles across the screen in an illegible font, it's difficult to read and the brightness on the computer is so high that Kevin is nearly in tears. As the color comes back to the screen and the words and arrows become more distinguishable, he realizes that it's the blueprint for his new video game, similar to the program he had been sucked into a year before.

Before he can exit from the window his skin tingles and as his stubby fingers leave the mouse he begins to pixelate. A blinding glimmer breaks through his sun-tanned skin and it stings and his lips fall apart into his hands, he holds onto the chair but a gaping hole in the computer sucks him in and the screen flashes back to his completed game of solitaire.

Minutes later, the door to his office swings open and Alan hesitantly walks in. "Kevin?" he calls. "Kevin? Kevin are you here? Veronica said that you wanted to see me." He searches behind the filigree hanging from one window and under the desk and inside of his closet but cannot find the man. "Hm, he must have left." Alan flicks the light switch down and closes the door behind himself, leaving the smell of cologne and battery acid in the dark room.

The computer glows and solitaire plays a new game in cyberspace.