Fear

"Forgetting the past" , "Overcoming your fears" , "How to overcome Anxiety", "Acting for dummies". These self-help books were being put away, into a bookshelf. This was Joseph's room, brightly lit, with a window that looks out to a serene scenery. Is he still affected? He opened a cupboard, it was in a corner where it seems like many secrets were hidden away, 'DarkSpeed Logical', 'X50 HeavyLoad', 'HackSpeed', '...' ,'...'. Gaming Mouses? It filled up the entire cupboard, it was just a game, an FPS game. How ironic, a game? Can you still call it a game? He picked up one of the mouse, he dared not probe into his past when he took him in, so he did not check his belongings. The mouse have traces of multiple scratches, even red smudges, there were also spots which he assumed it was just his sweat?

"Joseph? Joseph?" Oliver voice snapped Joseph out of a daze. "Sorry I was thinking of something." Joseph gave an explanation. Oliver did not buy into it at all, Joseph was visibly shaking after he told him to prepare, this is not just being nervous, it was full on fear. "This is called AimPro, it contains many aim training exercises , pros would regularly use this to warm up." "You start off wit-" before Oliver could continue, "100 times Grid Flick , accuracy 99% or above, if reaction time is more than 150ms, I can-" Joseph muttered suddenly, Oliver was shocked by his self-talk . "Hey hey, are you okay?" Oliver asked out of concern, Joseph realized what he just said and became flustered immediately. "Oh that was errr, my friend's routine" giving an explanation with a rare smile. Oliver felt that something was off with Joseph, its almost as if he is in his own world. "This mouse is the X60 HeavyLoad, a decent gaming mouse, do take your time to adjust the settings before the test." Oliver chose to ignore whatever had happened and helped Joseph get started. "No need, lets do it right away." Joseph said confidently, acting in stark contrast to how he was earlier.

Do people change their feelings this fast? Oliver questioned himself. "Whatever just start." Oliver had enough of Joseph's antics and just chose to go along with him. Ellie finished adjusting her settings for 'All Fight' and came over just as Joseph started, she was curious to see how good Joseph was. "Start!" The game gave the signal to go and Joseph began flicking, the goal of the game was to hit as much circles before time runs out. The circles would keep appearing randomly at random points in front of the player for 60 seconds.

Joseph's aim was shockingly horrible at the start, he kept over-shooting or under-shooting the targets. Oliver thought to himself that this must be because of his sensitivity, he chose not to adjust his sensitivity and this led to flicks that were full of errors. He was however surprised at the sheer confidence of Joseph's mouse movement, he did not hesitate and maintained his speed despite the misses. "Isn't this too fast for him? You can't be accurate being this careless." Ellie remarked after seeing this display. After 5 seconds, Joseph's aim became scarily accurate, his muscle memory seemed to have fully adjusted to the sensitivity and from then on, he never missed a single shot.

Oliver did not believe it, he glanced over to his mouse and noticed an eccentric grip where Joseph's palm was covering the base of the mouse and his fingers were all gripping the outsides of the mouse. "Is he a pro player?" Ellie questioned, Oliver replied with : "No, apparently he just started playing 'All Fight' yesterday." They both remained silent after the exchange, they were entranced by the speed of his flicks. His aim was like a robot , mechanical , sharp and precise. Normal players would be hesitant or even lack the stamina to continue at this speed. "No way no way, this is going below 150ms for every target!" Ellie exclaimed excitedly.

"Wow, who is this monster?" A man suddenly appeared behind the both of them. "Flare?" Oliver asked in total surprise, "Yes it is I! Hahahaha, the one and only DPSfor the Winged Ranger" Flare boasted. The trio watched on as Joseph proceeded to glide his mouse along the mousepad, his right hand dancing to each target , impressing even a professional player. "Beautiful!" Flare said with tears in his eyes, Oliver thought that he might even be weirder than Joseph upon seeing this.

The last 10 seconds would be Joseph's downfall after the highs, his wrist started shaking and losing concentration, he slowed down substantially and began to hit targets slowly. His facial expression was full of fear, and he seemed like he is about to breakdown. Ellie noticed this faster than the guys and quickly alerted them "He does not seem right! Stop the test right away!". Oliver and Flare also began to notice such a change in emotions, from a fully concentrated face to such a frightful expression, almost as if he committed a major crime. "You can stop Joseph!" Oliver shouted, Joseph snapped out of his trance and immediately changed his facial expression to his default nonchalant expression.

"So I'm done?" Joseph asked.