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It took less time for my front door to slam shut behind me than for the tears to stream down my reddened cheeks. Everything had come to a head so quickly. I wasn’t even given a chance to defend myself or try to clear my name before being kicked back home. I wanted to find relief in the fact that I didn’t actually lose my job, but being forced to take time off was nothing small. It was the principle of it all that really choked me up.
It was all so unfair and I felt powerless to do anything about it. I turned on the television and sure enough, the trailer for Mind Lash took up one of the commercial break slots. I clenched my teeth.
“It won’t stay like this,” I mumbled under my breath, angrily muting the television and reaching for my laptop.
Impatiently, I waited for my computer to boot up, but as soon as it did I opened up my browser and typed in the name of the game into the search bar. Unsurprisingly, the search turned up millions of hits, the top of which were news articles from within the past few hours all abuzz with figures, images, and links to the official trailer and gameplay clips.
“Not helpful,” I muttered in annoyance, tapping my finger lightly on the space bar as I thought of ways to narrow down my search. The person responsible for all this had to be the creator of the game and I figured that should be easy enough to find. After all, someone whose game was met with such immense scandal and success even prior to release was unlikely to remain anonymous.
After another quick search I came up with the name Hayden Dunn, listed as the game’s creator. He was the lead of an exhaustive team that made his vision come to life, only to invade mine and seemingly ruin it.
Something about the search threw me into gear. The tears had stopped along with the feeling of hopelessness. I wasn’t going to just sit back and allow this to go on. Even in just the span of one morning I had come to the conclusion that this couldn’t go on. Enough was enough. I had to find out everything there was to know about Hayden Dunn and get to the bottom of this. I was going to put a stop to all of this before it actually did ruin my life.
Typing his name into the search bar produced a short interview clip from a gaming news website. I looked at it carefully and was pleased to notice it had been uploaded less than two hours ago. It was about Mind Lash and Via Mace so it was definitely a good starting point. I clicked on it with a nervous sigh.
“Here with us we have the mastermind behind a game that is taking the world by storm, in both good and bad ways, Mr. Hayden Dunn. Congratulations by the way! Mind Lash is really hitting it big before it’s even out of the gates.” The reporter was friendly and easy going, but it was clear that she was smitten by him.
Hayden chuckled and rubbed his hand behind his head. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to play it cool or modest but either way, it bothered me. There was a lot about him that bothered me—the way he confidently sat in the chair, his handsome smirk, and his light blue eyes nestled under dark eyebrows. He was a handsome bastard and he knew it. That only fueled the fire for me to hate him even more.
“Thanks,” he responded casually.
“So how does it feel, Mr. Dunn?”
“Oh, please, call me Hayden.” He paused briefly and pursed his lips. “I’m elated but at the same time I’m lost.”
“Lost?”
“Yes. I’m lost in a wonderland.” He laughed as he lightly scratched his sharp jaw line and five o’clock shadow. “It’s all so fantastic, but there is just no way my mind is catching up and taking it as reality.”
“So is this literally a dream come true for you?”
“If it is really true then, yes. It is totally and completely a dream come true.”
“That’s really something, just like your game! Tell us a little something about it or its lovely heroine that isn’t already out on all the circuits.”
This was the first time Hayden looked directly at the camera and I couldn’t figure out for the life of me if those baby-blue eyes were honest or not. The only thing I could figure out was that looking into his eyes, even through the screen of my laptop, was pissing me off more with every passing second. I wanted to meet him in person and really stare him down.
“Now,” Hayden finally replied. He turned back to look at the woman interviewing him and went on, “I love what everyone is already saying about the game, it’s flattering really, but I can’t give much away before the release!”
The woman made a noise of disappointment, but quickly followed it with a chuckle and nod of her head. “I understand and I’m sure our viewers do too. I’m sure you had a careful hand in selecting what clips have been released to the public already?”
“Oh, definitely. I’m not one to take a backseat, ever. I don’t take things lightly and I’m passionate about what I do. So I handpicked every one of those clips. I really wanted to give a good glimpse into the game, give people out there an idea of what Via Mace is all about, but not really ruin any of the great elements or surprises in the game.”
“Sounds like you were curating the perfect exhibit,” the interviewer chimed. Hayden chuckled and gave shrug of his broad shoulders. “Well, now, you mentioned you’re passionate about what you do. Tell us more on that. Have you always worked in the gaming realm?”
“No, actually,” Hayden responded quickly. The interviewer seemed briefly thrown for a loop by his answer. “I used to work for a rather large and well known company. It was my first great job but, unfortunately, I lost it a few years back. After that I went through a rather arduous bout of unemployment, but I suppose I owe my success in large part to that. That was the catalyst that really made me decide to turn my life around. From then on I was going to follow my passion.”
The interviewer ended the segment shortly after that with some generic closing words. I felt gypped. I wanted to know more about the first job he had lost and why. Somehow it felt important but, then again, I was in a mode where everything about this man seemed important to know.
“Surely there’s something else out there,” I muttered as I clicked around and entered different searches until an interview, about a year old, turned up. It was a panel style interview rather than Hayden Dunn in the spotlight by himself, but he was there and that was what mattered to me. He looked pretty much the same only he had a bit more scruff on his face.
“We’re here with the main creative team of Twin Groove, an interesting interactive game with a minimalistic approach. We’re going to have a quick interview with the team followed by a short one or two question segment with each member.”
I skipped ahead until I saw Hayden’s isolated face against a solid royal blue background, just the background to make his eyes pop. “As the newest member, we’re curious to know, how did you get on the team?”
“It was a stroke of luck, I suppose. I ran into an old friend of mine who works in print. I had been down on my luck, particularly in the employment department, for quite some time. I’ve always been a creator and was known in my circle of friends as the gaming nerd. Well, turns out that kind of passion can pay off.”
“So you weren’t working in the industry prior to that—right place, right time sort of moment?”
“Not at all. Don’t get me wrong, my old job was great and I did like it, but it didn’t compare to this. Working in the video game industry is everything to me. It’s what I love so it doesn’t even feel like work.”
I paused the video as it faded into the next team member’s face. At that point in time he worked for a company called Innovate Tomorrow. I wondered if he would still be listed on their website. I found the link to it and clicked on to the homepage, my eyes skimming over the content until I located a navigation bar.
“Our team,” I read aloud before clicking on it, but Hayden’s photo was nowhere to be found. That meant he had broken away from them at most a year ago, despite the fact that he was the new member of the team.
“That doesn’t make you look too good,” I smirked with slight satisfaction. Somehow the thought of Hayden Dunn being a slime ball who was too invested in his own greedy ambition to discern right from wrong made me feel like he could fall from grace. But that smirk quickly turned upside down when I realized that was who I would be dealing with if I did in fact get a hold of him.
I went to the home page for Mind Lash, but there was nothing more than a photo of Via Mace, a counter, and a link for a pre-order form. I let out a heavy sigh. There had to be some sort of current website for Hayden Dunn but I was quickly realizing that that he kept a lot of things about himself and his company secret. It seemed impossible for someone who worked with computers and game consoles not to have a web page but, for some reason, a domain for him didn’t come up.
I had no clue of his current company and no way to contact him. I took a deep breath before standing up and walking to my kitchen for a glass of water. I leaned against the cool metal door of my refrigerator, sipping slowly and staring out my window. There had to be some way to find contact information on him. People were getting him for interviews and statements. I was sure he wouldn’t close off the opportunity for some kind of business partnership either. So why could I not seem to locate any of this elusive information?
I figured there was some piece of the puzzle I was missing. I drew in a deep breath as I resisted the urge to call my brother and bounce ideas off of him. I set my glass of water down on the kitchen counter and walked back to the living room where I plopped back down on the couch with my laptop.
Clicking my tongue and lightly tapping my finger on the space bar went on for a couple minutes before I decided to check out the Twin Groove home page. That was where I found a link to a fan-run forum.
“Bingo,” I whispered excitedly.
There was no way fans of that game wouldn’t look into the people who had created it and I was right. One of the threads was devoted entirely to the main creative team. The facts listed under Hayden were pretty basic and were far fewer than that of the other team members, but I made note of them anyway.
Painstakingly, I read through the posts and was thrilled to find they had picked back up a few hours ago with a new link– it was a link to another forum dedicated to the upcoming Mind Lash game. One of the top posts on the Mind Lash forum was titled “All About Hayden Dunn.”
I didn’t really find anything new on there. He seemed to be low profile, until I reached the most recent post. It was a link to an article from a gaming web magazine. The link redirected to a brief interview with and a small blip on the man of the hour. The interview was only three questions, all of which were basic.
It was the blip that caught my attention more than anything. At the closing of it there was a statement that made me feel the way I had earlier– helpless as my world came crashing down around me. It turned out there was no way I could just call in to get an appointment with him. His popularity was practically soaring at this point. That explained why I had been hard pressed to find any contact information for him. I figured he was on one of those exclusive lists someone only had access to as a reporter or someone else in the industry. I wasn’t either of those. How could I confront him if it was impossible to even get a meeting with him?
I closed my laptop with a snap and set it aside, proceeding to bury my face in my hands. It wasn’t a time to cry, but the strong feelings swirling in me were undeniable. My stress levels were at an all-time high so there was only one thing to do—I could write a song. Just like the old days back in college.
My job wasn’t what I loved, but what I loved was something that always helped me get through difficult times. It relieved my stress and lifted my spirits so if there ever was a time to call upon that passion, it was now. Unfortunately, as soon as I started writing I realized that I couldn’t focus.
I walked to my living room window and placed my palms open, flat on the sill as I stuck my head outside to draw in a deep breath. The streets were quieter now that it was the middle of the workday. I enjoyed the quiet times and the way the fog still hung on the streets around me. There was definitely a calming effect and even if it wasn’t enough to really get my head on straight, it was enough for me to find it in myself to move forward and try doing something else. Nothing good would come of continuing to look up information on Mind Lash, Via Mace, or Hayden Dunn.
So I threw on my coat, grabbed the book I was reading from the nightstand, and braved the streets outside. I was determined to seek out solace at one of my neighborhood’s many coffee houses. There weren’t many people out and I hoped nobody would pester me. Even though I was weary to step outside my door, I couldn’t stay cooped up all day long.
Ignoring that it felt like a lose-lose situation, I locked my door and stepped out on to the street. I didn’t want to stray too far from home so I walked just down the block to the Blue Café. I laughed under my breath at how appropriate of a choice it was based off the name. I certainly did feel blue as I stepped inside. That feeling quickly changed into something else when I heard someone behind me cry out.
“Via Mace! Via Mace!”
Another voice followed up with, “Hey! Hold up, Via!”
I heard the artificial clicking of cell phone cameras and I instantly found myself wondering why I had been naïve enough to think it would be okay to walk outside without being bothered. Before I knew what was happening, I was surrounded by a small group of avid fans. All of them were trying to get my attention, ask questions, and most importantly take a photo with me. The barista was openly staring the entire time, but I couldn’t figure out if he was annoyed at the scene or gawking at me with the crowd.
It took a long time for the manager to step out and order the crowd to disperse. “This is a place of business,” she called out. “This is not some sort of meet and greet!” The crowd thinned and eventually I was able to nab a corner table shrouded in a small bit of privacy. I let out a heavy sigh into a warm cup of coffee with an espresso shot cradled between my hands.
A young woman stepped inside and went straight to the counter to place an order for a medium iced Americano. It wasn’t until she sat at the table right next to me that I realized this was no ordinary customer. This was a fan that had worked the system and was much more skillful at getting close to me. The sneaky glances from her and the suspicious angle of her phone confirmed my suspicions.
Once my annoyance subsided I had an idea. If I could find out something about Hayden’s company and where it was, perhaps I could stage a run-in with him. If I couldn’t set up an appointment, I would have to force one. I looked up Innovate Tomorrow as a starting point and realized it was actually based out of San Francisco. I gulped.
Maybe, just maybe, Hayden was based out of the city too.
