\u201cMake George jump, Jack! Come on, jump! Come on! You’re so lame! Now we can start all over again…\u201d Gerry was terribly angry with his brother. They were about to do the most difficult level ever in the Purple Line game, the third time they had started, but Jack kept missing something.
\n\u201cGame Over. Again! I can’t believe it! What’s so hard? All you have to do is press that button!\u201d
\n\u201cBut I did, Gerry! I pressed it!\u201d
\nJack was on the verge of tears. As if it wasn\u2019t bad enough that once again it was his fault that the whole thing had been lost, he wouldn\u2019t get his homework done for the next day either, and all because Gerry wanted to start over and over again until they got to the next level. It was always like this.
\n\u201cI wish I could play this stupid game alone! I would have finished all the challenges by now!\u201d Fumed Gerry.
\n\u201cI\u2019m sorry… How about we swap now? Let\u2019s see if that goes better. I’ll be the underground train driver and you’ll be Pop.\u201d
\n\u201cOkay, at least I can jump. Now, come on, get a grip!\u201d” “\u201cGame over. We will never complete this level!\u201d said Gerry, as he threw the console into the corner and stormed out of the room. Jack was really crying now. It was always his fault.
\nThe Purple Line game was a huge hit at school, and almost every morning the kids would start by comparing how many points they had scored the day before, and who had finished which level. A purple metro carriage was used to get around, and the object of the game was to get the little character named Pop to school. But it wasn\u2019t that easy, since a big guy in a leather jacket called George was doing everything, he could to make sure it didn’t happen!
\nOnly two players were allowed to play the game: one player controlled the underground train conductor and the other controlled Pop.
\nThere was a practice track, but you could not score points on that: which was what Jack turned to know. Homework or not, he had to master the tricky jump to get over George’s sneaky obstacle.” “The next morning, Gerry still wasn\u2019t speaking to him. They stood on the underground train platform like two strangers. Jack knew he would have nothing to brag about when they got to school.
\n\u201cWow!\u201d His brother\u2019s cry made Jack turns his head.
\n\u201cWow! A new underground train carriage! Wow, it looks great!\u201d
\n\u201cJust like the one in Purple Line! Completely purple!\u201d Said Jack, shocked.
\n\u201cCool! Come on, let’s get on!\u201d Gerry suggested, after the doors of the underground train opened with a soft hiss. \u2018Stone the crows! It even looks the same on the inside!
\n\u201cShall we go through the carriages? I wonder if they are all the same!\u201d said Jack, enthusiastically. His brother seemed to have forgotten all about sulking.
\n\u201cSure, come on!\u201d The carriage left the station, and the two boys walked from handrail to handrail towards the door between the two carriages. But it was closed.
\n\u201cToo bad, I wanted to look at the others, too.\u201d Gerry said in a resigned voice.
\n\u201cGerry… take a look in the other carriage… that guy sitting there… he looks familiar, doesn’t he?\u201d
\nGerry followed Jack’s gaze, and his blood almost ran cold. From the other subway carriage, a large figure in a leather jacket grinned at them.” “\u201cSomething\u2019s very wrong here,\u201d Jack said.
\n\u201cDidn’t you notice that we haven’t stopped anywhere for about five minutes now?\u201d Gerry was also beginning to lose his usual courage.
\nMeanwhile, the man in the leather jacket in the other subway carriage got up from his seat and approached the door.
\n\u201cRelax, Jack, if we couldn’t get across, he won\u2019t be able to either…\u201d
\n\u201cOr maybe he can!\u201d cried Jack, and alas: George had just punched in a code door, which then opened. The two brothers started running towards the back end of the carriage. George chased after them.
\n\u201cWoah!\u201d Jack exclaimed, as he fell onto his stomach when the train came to a sudden stop. George caught up with him and grabbed his schoolbag.
\n\u201cYou certainly won’t be needing this!\u201d He laughed, and he jumped out of the underground train door with the bag in his hand, which had opened in the meantime.
\n\u201cJack! We can’t let him take your bag, let’s go after him!\u201d Gerry shouted, and lunged after George. Jack just managed to squeeze through the door as it shut and the underground train left the station.
\nThey found themselves at a completely unfamiliar stop, and George had disappeared.” “\u201cWhat the hell is going on?\u201d panted Gerry.
\n\u201cIt’s like… we’re inside the game now. There’s the clock, and the big blue poster on the other side with a tunnel behind it, just like in the game. Everything is exactly as it was on Level 13.\u201d
\nThe brothers looked around in horror. They were right at the stop on the very level from which they had been unable to progress in Purple Line for days.
\n\u201cBut Jack, that\u2019s absolutely impossible! It can\u2019t be real, it\u2019s just a dream!\u201d
\n\u201cOh yeah! Then where did my bag go? Who took that? One of Santa\u2019s elves?\u201d
\n\u201cBut what do we do now then?\u201d Gerry was no longer the tough, dominant guy who had yelled so angrily at his brother the day before. He was also scared.
\n\u201cI don’t know… in the game, you have to go into the tunnel behind the poster for this part. I’d try… well, maybe that’s what we have to do here too.\u201d
\nThe blue poster was indeed very easy to push to one side, and behind it was a dark, narrow and really scary tunnel.
\n\u201cThis should lead to the other station… and if it’s the same as in Purple Line, George will be at the ticket counter with my bag\u201d Jack didn’t hesitate, he was already climbing through the hole.
\n\u201cWhat’s the matter, aren\u2019t you coming? It\u2019s just a tunnel!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1239,"template":"","class_list":["post-1241","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n