Jacob

[FEB 8th, 2015]

Thirteen year old Jacob Russo was very excited indeed, so much so that he was kneeling on the sidewalk outside of his towns arcade well past closing time, watching the dimly lit silhouettes of a few people in shirts with "NERV" written on the chest install one of the fabled simulators.

Jacob's breath fogged up the glass as he tried to make out as much as he could, but the dim lighting allowed for only small sections of view at a time. The machine was shaped like a sort of squished egg with a flat side to keep it from rolling. It was light gray in color with no identifying markers except it's supremely unique shape and size compared to the arcade cabinets and racing games around it.

One of the workers crouched down behind the simulator and plugged it in, then slid open the door on the side to poke his head in. He emerged and gave a nod and a brief word to his companion and they went on their way to the back of the building.

Jacob sat and waited for a moment to make sure they were gone, then stood up to get a better view.

It was still very dark inside, so he couldn't make out much more, but he still didn't want to stop looking at it.

Jacob pulled out his cell phone and looked at the time, 11:15. With a sigh he went to take another look at the machine before heading home, only to see the owner of the arcade looking back at him from his office door.

Jacob's eyes went wide and he bolted, taking off down the street towards his house with a huge smile on his face.

His life would start tomorrow.