Episode 7-Ender's Game (2)

I didn't know when it happened, but I was within the story of "Ender's Game." When I grabbed the book, I saw a flash of light, and I entered the novel. These were the last system messages I saw before I was completely absorbed into the story:

[You are entering a story simulation!]

[Make it to the end of the story to receive a Legendary Fable!]

[You are entering the body of Asa Butterfield!]

(Wait, I thought this was a book.... why am I the starring actor of the movie?)

I saw new messages.

[Due to the difference of the story and movie, assets from the movie have been ported into the story simulation!]

[The simulation will still proceed with the original storyline and source material!]

[All characters will appear as the actors from the 2013 movie "Ender's Game," starring Asa Butterfield!]

[Time Dilation is in effect! Time will move quickly within the novel compared to outside standard time!]

[Please have a fun journey in your respective novel!]

(Oh, god, what the hell did I get myself into....)

These were the last coherent thoughts I had when I entered the book.

***

It was sudden. I was in the young body of Asa Butterfield.

(He was in the movie, "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas." He was quite young in that movie. Perhaps the Dokkaebi recreated a model of his body, and used it for this simulation,) I thought.

[Constellation "Secretive Plotter" is interested in the simulation of this book.]

[Constellation "Egyptian Thought" is interested in the simulation of this book.]

[Constellations that are interested in Earth literature are watching your scenario.]

When I read Ender's Game, I was very interested in how it was written, and how it differed from the movie. If my memory served me correctly, Ender was a younger sibling of Peter and Valentine Wiggin; Peter is described as psychopathic and brutal, while Valentine is described as benevolent and caring.

(Where am I currently?)

Right now, I was standing in the middle of a hallway.

[Please move to where the pointed arrows are!]

This system message flashed before my eyes. The novel and movie was bound to be different. If the novel was the source material, then I just had my monitor removed by the authorities, after having it a year longer than everyone else.

Right now, I was a six-year-old child at school. I was walking through the hallways, and saw people look at me, and whisper to their friends.

"It's Ender...."

"That crappy little Third...."

[It is the end of the school day! Please enter the bus, and go back home!]

(It seems that I already bested that kid at the space-battle game.... I'm glad that I read the book. This is a trap.)

If I was right, then my class bullies would be surrounding me after I left the school. They would be tempted to hurt me because I had my monitor removed.

I exited my school. Stilson, and his group of cowards began to corner me.

(I don't want to be here.)

When I read "Ender's Game," I actually related a lot to Andrew "Ender" Wiggin. When I was still an elementary student, I went to three different schools, and the last one was the worst. I was bullied a lot through my childhood, and was ostracized in my own way.

Mainly, it was due to being different. It was due to being Asian, and acting with a degree of intelligence. I was bullied for the clothes I wore, and the way I sounded. I was bullied in my schools, and in my neighborhood as well. Especially in my neighborhood. I was jeered at, made fun of, and harassed for being a "snitch."

So, I could understand Ender Wiggin and his pain. He was alone, and he was surrounded by petty, idiotic people who didn't understand him.

I could never be Ender Wiggin. Even if I read a novel that detailed his suffering, it wasn't mine in the first place. Still, it didn't mean I couldn't understand. I think understanding was the least I could do.

The time was now. Stilson and his goons; they were mere children on a power trip. They reminded me of all of the bullies in my neighborhood, who inflated their ego by bullying me, or others. Stilson was just a character in a novel, but he represented a lot of the children I encountered.

He reminded me of a kid named Brandon, who bullied me in the 1st grade at the second elementary school I attended, which was called Blix. He also reminded me of my classmates at Lister Elementary, who thought I was a simple troublemaker, and labeled me as such. Stilson reminded me of another kid I knew; his name was CJ. That kid mercilessly bullied me as well.

I clenched my fists. All of that happened in the past. Still, the past was like flakes of ash; they would stack and pile, until they choked the person who possessed it. That past would darken their soul, and burn them from within.

(But why? Why do I have to be choked by my own past? Burned out, and hollowed by it?)

What was the key to stop that from happening? The answer was simple. The key is to release the ashes of your past, and have others choke on it. It is to dispense of it, and relight a new fire within yourself.

(If I'm going to burn, and fall....)

I looked at Stilson.

(Then you'll burn with me.)

It was time to proceed with the original novel. I will beat Stilson - a fellow six-year-old child - to death. It happened in the original novel.

***

"Pl-ease!! Ender! Stop!!"

I stomped on Stilson's mouth; I kicked him in the back of his head, and I stomped on his puny chest, until I heard cracking. I used the heel of my shoes, and crushed his small fingers. I kicked him in the throat, until he couldn't scream anymore. Tears leaked from his eyes, but I kicked his face until it was smeared with dirt.

"P-please.... stop...."

He devolved to illiterate sobbing and begging.

I slowed down to catch my bearings, but I quickly resumed with my beating, until Stilson was nothing but a mess of bruises and broken flesh. He continued to cry, but I continued to beat him until he stopped.

"Stop! Hey!"

It was one of Stilson's friends. They finally decided to step in. But... there was a look on all of their faces. It was fear. A universal feeling that was felt by all humans with normal brain development.

"You're finally stepping in, now of all times?" I asked clearly. "After I beat him black and blue?"

I casted my eyes to Stilson's limp body.

(This... reminds me of something,) I thought.

All of sudden, the memories of the 7th Apostle flicked into my mind. I saw Kim Namwoon's broken body.

(Perhaps I went too far....) I thought.

It was time to deliver the finishing blow. I was sick of being bullied and judged. I made sure to look at all of the children; I made sure to look directly in their eyes. They flinched.

"Don't ever do this again," I said to them. "Unless you want to end up like him."

They all stared at Stilson, who was barely breathing. I turned my back to all of them. The children that were blocking my path moved out of my way. Even they could understand their place in this simple hierarchy.

I walked towards the bus that sat in front of the school. It was time to head home.

***

I was riding the bus home. I looked out the window. Within the novel, Ender actually cried because of what he did. He was afraid of what he had done to Stilson, and feared he was becoming like his brother, Peter.

No tears leaked from my eyes. Instead, I felt a numbness in one of my cheeks. I pressed a hand to my face. All of a sudden, another memory flashed into my mind.

(STOP! Crying!! Shut up!!)

-SLAP!!-

I recoiled from this recollection. I remembered when I was child, and how my mother would slap me in the face, and how I would cry, and how she would slap me again because I cried. It only happened when she was angry and irritated.... but I remembered the ferocity behind each hit.

I brought my hand away from face. The fingertips were wet.

(Am I actually crying? Is it for Stilson? Or myself?)

I sighed. It didn't matter.

(I'm a monster anyways...)

The bus continued to move, and I saw a house come within my view, along with a new system message.

[Please exit the bus and enter your house!]

It was time to meet the rest of Ender Wiggin's family.