Midnight Movie: A Novel (9 page)

AUTHOR’S NOTE:
Today, if you do a Google search of “The Game” and “virus,” or maybe “The Game” and “symptoms,” you won’t find much of interest. Why? Nobody’s really sure. See, a goodly amount of the Net coverage of the Game evaporated into cyberspace. Much of that, I suspect, was due to personal choice; a lot of the writing about the disease—especially from those who were suffering one of the harsher symptoms—is at once appalling and embarrassing, and if it were me who posted it practically against my will, I’d want it erased, too
.

When the Game was at its worst, a shocking number of websites fell off the map, and this was one area where I was unable to track down any concrete information. Nobody in the government would speak with me, no reputable tech reporters would talk, no nothing. It was the one time during the whole process that I wished I had some honest-to-goodness press credentials
.

But I was able to track down a wonderful hacker who was able to resurrect a number of blogs and chat boards that were thought to have been gone forever, and even though he was unable to offer any answers as to why this stuff disappeared in the first place, we should all be grateful that there’s
something.

http://andidaltrey.blogspot.com

Andi-Licious

The Useless Musings of Sophomoric
Sophomore Andrea Daltrey

APRIL 1, 2009

THE EMPRESSES’ NEW CLOTHES

I don’t have any money, and neither does Janine, but my sister knows how to shop. She’s always trying to buy me new stuff, but I feel guilty accepting her offers because I know how broke she is, plus my feeling has always been, how many outfits does one girl need?

The morning after I spent all that time at the creepy, creepy Cove, I felt so dirty that even after a two-hour bath with multiple refills, I needed something to make me feel pretty again, so I called up sis and said, “Let’s go thrifting!” She squealed like I told her I’d won the lottery or something, and if she’s happy, then I’m happy.

Once we were at the store, I went kind of nuts … but to my credit, I only went nuts at the super sale rack. I ended up walking out of there with four blouses, two skirts, and a pair of what sis called “fuck-me pumps.” I loved it all so much that on the way to the parking lot, I gave her a huge hug and a wet, juicy, silly kiss on the lips. She shoved me away, then wiped off her mouth and got all flushed. It was awkward, but whatever. We’d had a superfun day, so it was all good.

FROM: [email protected]

TO: [email protected]

SUBJECT: Ouch, babe

DATE: April 3, 2009

Hey, Warren—

You know how I always get those headaches? No? You don’t? THAT’S BECAUSE I NEVER GET HEADACHES. And I have a bitch of one now. And four Advils every three hours (which, according to my GP/quack/Dr. Feelgood, is a therapeutic dose) ain’t cuttin’ it. But I’ll survive.

Out of nowhere, I landed what could be an interesting gig. Wes Craven, he of
Scream
and
A Nightmare on Elm Street
fame, is doing a parody filled with horror third and fourth bananas, er, I mean horror character actors. Ironically, I’m playing the fourth banana, making me the lowest banana in the bunch. But when you’ve got bills to pay, it’s always banana time. Details from the set to come.

Hey, how come I haven’t heard anything about your latest whatzhername? Details, please, Counselor.

Love,
Gary