The betrayal.

Jake kept his gaze fixed at his computer screens which were staircased in front of him in what he called Mygrind World. It was his usual favorite man-cave room where he usually spent days playing different kinds of games.

However, today, he was there for a different reason.

He had been there since morning trying to upgrade some of his game points and now, his eyes were kept on scanning the lines of code and design in his documents. His new game, "The Eternal Realms," was finally complete after years of hard work.

He had poured his heart and soul into it, and this was his ticket to success in the gaming industry in MAW (Mexico award winners)

He has been in the contest for years now, and each year, he kept on losing on points. He was this loner kind of person, and he always tried to do stuff his own way. However, he kept on failing year after year despite his struggles and commitment in the contest.

But this game. This game was different. He so much believed he was a topnotch this year because he had rubbed minds with other talented gamers like himself–his friends. For the first time in years, he combined hands-on-deck like other gamers do in the industry and he was so sure he would win this time.

Its just for him now to wait and get his game uploaded in the program and then, boom! He will be in the Contest again–to kick their ass!

But just as he was about to upload the final version to the company's server, his colleagues, Alex and Ryan, suddenly walked into the room as if they planned it. They haven't come in simultaneously like this before. Is either Alex comes first or the other way round.

They had actually been working alongside with Jake on the new game, or so he thought.

"Hey, Jake, we need to talk," Alex said, his voice laced with an unsettling tone as he foam up himself into Jake's sofa.

Jakes, who was a bit suspicious of something odd, paused his system and spun around his office-like-chair to face their direction.

He noticed that their faces were….kind of etch with worried lines even though Ryan seems to be smiling, he always did that by the way. And it's weird.

"What's up?" Jake finally asked, a sense of unease creeping over him as he gazed at them.

Ryan smiled again, but it wasn't a friendly smile, it was obvious. "Umm…. Umm…"

"Ryan, Ummm…what?"

"Okay….Jake, The thing is, we….we've been working on some changes to the game. We think it's for the best Jake."

Jake's eyes narrowed as he heard that. "Wait, what kind of changes?"

Alex leaned forward from the sofa, his eyes gleaming with nervous excitement but it wasn't real. You could tell from the expressions on his face. "We've modified the game's engine, added some new features, and... well, we've decided to release it under our own company name."

Jake felt like he had been punched in the gut. Where these guy's kidding? They better be, because this is so hilarious.

"But you….you can't do that! I mean, this is my game, my intellectual property and you guys know that!"

Ryan shrugged as he slipped out a letter from his pocket and fling it towards Jake's open arms. "We've done what's best for the company, Jake. It's approved already. You're just not a team player."

"And besides, you were taking too long to finish it, more like hundreds of years to me. We couldn't wait any longer lest we get disqualified or something. Plus it's no big deal bro, we just adapted your ideas that's all!" Alex added as he rolled his eyes, sitting back at the sofa.

"Wait… No big deal? Really! They're my ideas dude! The game is mine. It's my life work! How could you even do that to me?"

"You left the manual with us, remember?" Ryan added smiling awkwardly as he sat close to Alex.

"So what? Does leaving you with the manual give you permission to steal my game? Does…" Jake's anger boiled over as he looked at them in disbelief.

He couldn't even find more words to say. He was so disappointed and devastated, how could his trusted friends do this to him.

He thought of slapping Alex for saying that crab! And kicking Ryan towards the shelf with his useless and shameless smile that he wore always while even in a serious matter like this. He hated that!

He couldn't bear to look at their ugly faces anymore, he stormed out of his man cave, leaving his friends behind who sat comfortably at his sofa. They didn't seem sympathetic at all.

Maybe they have been waiting for this moment to happen right? More like they planned it or something. But he didn't mind either! They could get to hell!

Although he was the one that brought the man cave with his money but his friends–old friends now actually–contributed to the development of his gaming stuff when he ran out of materials, he teamed up with them last year. He really didn't mind leaving his whole shit behind–including his damn projects!

What remained was the installation of the game!

Actually, he didn't care about how they would go about the game installation. He was probably the smartest among them on how to go about installation. Perhaps, they could go to hell and figure out how installation is done!

Crabs!

He got into his car and began driving home, his mind kept on racing with thoughts of the betrayal from his trusted friends and how he will get back his revenge on them. He doesn't easily forget stuff. Especially stuff like this!

He picked a bottle of alcohol that he usually keeps behind his car seat. He opens it and pour it like a flowing stream into his mouth.

Blo….

Blo…..

Blo….

Blo…..

After reducing it to a half bottle, he flings it through his side mirror out of anger and it crashes on a roseraies store while on full speed. He even fired the more, even when his car system was now giving warnings of "over-speed"

"-Please slow down. The vehicle is out of range and it might cause you an unlikely catastrophe. Please slow down"

The system announced severally, but it fell on deaf ears to Jake. It actually got him annoyed the more and he punched the damn life out of it…and it squelched!

Shiiiii!!!

He accelerated the vehicle the more out of anger and sped down the highway, his emotions were obviously clouding his judgment.

He didn't notice the red light ahead, and he suddenly ran through the intersection lane just as a truck was passing through.

The sound of screeching tires and crunching metal filled the atmosphere in a matter of seconds. His car suddenly collided with the truck.

The car flipped upward and twisted backward again, rolling sideways on the dusty road. It finally landed upside down and almost all his side mirrors were chartered already. Everywhere went completely dusty and miraged.

Jake's world went dark.