Too Good for this World (4 page)

Her mum didn’t
even flinch at her use of the present tense. ‘I think he probably
would want you to, Gennie, yes. Jonny and I both believe people
should make the most of their gifts, and you have a gift for
teaching. It’s time you shared that gift again, I think.’

Imogen looked
down at the desk and blinked away some tears. ‘The thing is, mum,
I’m… I’m scared. I’m scared… of… everything.’

Jonny
disappeared in the middle of the night. She slept right through him
leaving, and when she woke the next morning she simply assumed he’d
left for work early.

She found out
he was dead that lunchtime, when the police came to talk to her at
the school.

After that,
the days were a blur. Her mum came to stay with her, and the only
thing Imogen could clearly remember was how desperate she had been
to have a moment to herself. It took ages to convince her mum that
she wouldn’t do anything crazy if she was left alone for a brief
time. Finally her mum relented and went out for five minutes to get
some bread and milk. In those five minutes, Imogen smashed nearly
every single thing in the flat, pulled her hair out from the roots
in clumps, and drew blood from her arms and face with her nails.
When her mum found her she was in the middle of the living room, on
her knees, screaming. Her outburst had made so much noise it had
scared one of the neighbours into calling the police.

After a long,
long talk with her mum that went on into the night, Imogen was
finally alone. She’d told her mum that she knew it was time to move
on now, but as soon as the bedroom door was closed she picked up
Jonny’s picture again and hugged it to her. ‘Talk to me again,
Jonny,’ she whispered, ‘talk to me, please.’

She made sure
her laptop was on and tried again. ‘Please Jonny. If you ever cared
about me, talk to me. Talk to me
now
.’

She waited a
long time, but there was nothing. It was hopeless. She was about to
give up and go to bed, but then, finally, the screen changed. Her
heart began to race. The message appeared in stages rather than all
at once, and as each word appeared Imogen held her breath, barely
believing what she saw.

I’m not dead,
Gennie. I’m not “alive” but I’m not dead. I still love you, and I
still remember you.

Gennie took
great gulps of air. Her heart was pounding and her eyes prickled
with tears, which soon began to spill down her cheeks.
Where are
you?
she asked him.

I’m in a new
place. A different place. We all are.

What
place?
She asked. Her tears were heavy now, but silent,
dropping down to the desk unheeded. She wiped her eyes so that she
could see the screen, rubbing her tears away impatiently. She began
to feel scared that Jonny had gone. More agonising seconds passed,
and in her head she said, ‘please reply, please reply, please
reply.’ She began to give up hope. He was gone. He must have gone-
it was taking too long. She almost cried out in frustration, but
then suddenly there it was, clear as day. Four words. Four bizarre,
incomprehensible words. She stared at them for a long time, trying
to understand, trying to think over things he’d previously said.
Nothing fitted. Nothing could explain them. She gazed at the
sentence, forcing herself to think, but she couldn’t. She simply
had no idea what it meant.

I’m in the
network.

Networked by
LK Chapman

They thought
it was just a video game, but it’s not. Someone is out there.
Watching.

Nick is
somebody who needs his life to change. Exhausted, broke, and
cracking under the pressure of trying to hold everything together,
it begins to seem like there is no end in sight. Until the video
game he’s spent two years developing alongside his best friend Dan
mysteriously disappears to be replaced with something new,
something better, something finished.

Initially
unsure whether to release the game, Nick makes a snap decision when
he learns of the impact his struggles finishing the game are having
on his wife, Lily, who has a history of depression. Before long,
positive reviews and sales come rolling in, but Nick finds himself
in a worse position than ever before. Because the game is not
content to simply be played. It wants to change, it wants to grow,
and most disturbing of all, it seems to want something from
them.

Networked is
the full length sequel to Too Good for this World.

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