Three Players Required

The world had gone quiet.

Streets that were normally crowded were empty. Schools had closed their doors. Restaurants sat dark behind handwritten signs promising they would reopen soon. People crossed the street to avoid strangers, and families learned to recognize one another through phone screens.

For most people, isolation was something new.

For Cletus Whitlock, it wasn’t.

At nineteen years old, Cletus had already spent most of his life feeling as though everyone else had been given instructions for being human that somehow never reached him.

He didn’t have friends from school checking on him. There were no missed calls waiting on his phone. No group chat exploding with messages asking when everyone could finally see each other again.

There was only his computer.

And Maddie and Scott.

He had never actually met either of them.

They’d found each other through gaming long before the pandemic forced everyone else online. Night after night, the three of them disappeared into another world together. They strategized. They fought. They laughed until two in the morning over jokes that wouldn’t have made sense to anyone outside their little group.

Online, Cletus wasn’t the strange kid people avoided.

He was funny.

Smart.

Useful.

Sometimes even charming.

Maddie knew that version of him.

Scott did too.

Neither of them had seen what happened when Cletus lost.

His family had.

A controller thrown hard enough to crack against a wall. Screaming that carried through the house. Cruel words delivered with frightening precision, followed hours later by apologies that somehow made everyone else feel guilty for being upset.

Eventually, his family stopped arguing with him.

Then they stopped inviting him places.

Cletus told Maddie and Scott a different version of that story.

His family had abandoned him.

People had always abandoned him.

And when you’ve known someone only through a headset, it’s surprisingly easy to believe whatever version of their life they choose to show you.

That night, Maddie logged on first.

MADDIE_94 has joined the party.

Cletus smiled.

A few seconds later, another notification appeared.

SCOTT17 has joined the party.

“There he is,” Scott said through Cletus’s headset. “We thought you died.”

Cletus leaned back in his chair.

“You’d care if I did?”

Scott laughed.

Maddie didn’t.

There was a brief silence.

Then she said, “Why would you say that?”

Cletus stared at her username glowing on his monitor.

He hadn’t meant it as a joke.

But she didn’t need to know that.

Not yet.

Cletus looked forward to those nights more than he would ever admit.

Most days during quarantine felt exactly the same. Wake up, eat something, scroll through his phone, listen to the television playing somewhere in the house, and wait for night to come.

But nighttime was different.

Nighttime belonged to them.

At almost exactly eight o’clock every evening, Cletus would put on his headset and wait.

Usually Maddie was first.

“Hello, losers,” her voice said through his headphones one evening.

Cletus smiled immediately.

“You’re the first one here. Who are you calling a loser?”

“You.”

“That’s rude.”

“It’s accurate.”

Cletus laughed and leaned back in his chair.

Maddie lived several states away. Cletus had seen pictures of her, of course, and they had FaceTimed a few times, but they had never actually stood in the same room together.

She was eighteen, had long brown hair, and seemed to always have some kind of oversized sweatshirt on. She was outgoing in a way that Cletus wasn’t. She could talk to almost anyone.

Scott joined a few minutes later.

“There he is,” Maddie said.

“The king has arrived,” Scott announced.

“No one calls you that,” Cletus replied.

“I call myself that.”

“That doesn’t count.”

“It absolutely counts.”

Maddie laughed.

This was normal for them.

Most conversations started with somebody insulting somebody else and ended with all three laughing so hard that one of them couldn’t breathe.

For several hours, they played.

They traveled across a large digital world together, gathering supplies, defeating enemies, and arguing about who was supposed to do what.

“Cletus, behind you!” Maddie shouted.

“I know!”

“You clearly don’t!”

Something attacked Cletus’s character from behind.

His health bar dropped.

Scott started laughing.

“Help me!” Cletus yelled.

“I would, but apparently you know what you’re doing.”

“Scott!”

Scott finally ran over and defeated the creature.

Cletus stared at the screen.

“You waited on purpose.”

“Maybe.”

“You’re terrible.”

“You’re alive.”

“Barely.”

Maddie was still laughing.

For a moment, Cletus forgot everything else.

He forgot how lonely his house felt.

He forgot about the people he didn’t speak to anymore.

He forgot that somewhere outside his bedroom, the entire world was afraid.

For those few hours, the three of them existed inside their own little world.

And Cletus liked it there.

Around midnight, Scott suddenly stopped moving.

His character stood completely still in the middle of a field.

“Scott?” Maddie asked.

Nothing.

“Scott?”

Still nothing.

Cletus moved his character closer.

“His internet probably died.”

Then Scott screamed into his microphone.

Maddie screamed too.

Cletus nearly threw his headset.

“What is wrong with you?!”

Scott burst out laughing.

“I got both of you!”

“You’re an idiot!” Maddie shouted.

Cletus wasn’t laughing.

His heart was pounding.

“Seriously, Scott.”

“Oh, come on.”

“That wasn’t funny.”

“It was a little funny.”

“No, it wasn’t.”

The joking tone disappeared from Cletus’s voice.

For several seconds, nobody said anything.

Scott finally spoke.

“Okay. Sorry.”

Cletus stared at his monitor.

He knew he’d gotten too angry.

It happened sometimes.

A joke would stop feeling like a joke, and suddenly he couldn’t understand why everybody else was still laughing.

Maddie broke the silence.

“Okay, before you two start fighting, I have something.”

“What?” Scott asked.

“I found another game.”

Cletus relaxed slightly.

“Is it free?”

“Of course that’s your first question.”

“I don’t have money to waste.”

Scott laughed.

“Neither do I.”

Maddie sighed.

“Yes. It’s free.”

She sent them the link.

Cletus clicked it.

A dark webpage opened.

There was no company name.

No advertisements.

No reviews.

In fact, there wasn’t much of anything.

In the center of the page was a picture of a forest.

The trees were enormous.

Blue mist drifted between them, and strange glowing flowers covered the ground.

Far in the distance stood a castle surrounded by mountains.

Two moons hung above it.

Cletus leaned toward the screen.

“What’s this called?”

“That’s the weird part,” Maddie said.

“There isn’t a name?”

“I can’t find one.”

Scott laughed.

“Definitely sounds trustworthy.”

“Where did you find this?” Cletus asked.

“It popped up as an ad.”

“That’s how viruses happen,” Scott said.

“Then don’t download it.”

Scott immediately answered, “I’m downloading it.”

Maddie laughed.

Cletus continued looking at the picture.

Something about it felt different from screenshots of other games.

It almost looked like a photograph.

He zoomed in.

There were tiny lights between the trees.

Fireflies, maybe.

And near the bottom of the picture stood three small figures.

Cletus squinted.

“Do you guys see the people?”

“What people?” Maddie asked.

He pointed at his screen before remembering neither of them could see him.

“At the bottom. By the trees.”

There was a pause.

“Oh,” Maddie said. “Yeah.”

Scott zoomed in too.

“Three characters.”

One was taller than the others.

Another seemed to have long hair.

The third stood slightly in front.

“You pick between them?” Scott asked.

“Maybe,” Maddie said.

Cletus moved his mouse over the image.

The screen changed.

Black replaced the forest.

Three words appeared.

THREE PLAYERS REQUIRED

Nobody spoke for a moment.

Then Scott said, “Well, that’s convenient.”

Cletus laughed.

“It’s probably multiplayer.”

“Obviously.”

Another message appeared beneath the first.

ENTER TOGETHER.

Maddie made an uneasy sound.

“Okay. That’s kind of creepy.”

“It’s a fantasy game,” Cletus said. “It’s supposed to sound dramatic.”

“Download it,” Scott said.

“You download it.”

“I already did.”

“What?”

A few seconds later Scott said, “Guys…”

His voice had changed.

“What?” Maddie asked.

“The download finished.”

“That fast?”

“Yeah.”

Cletus checked the file.

His was already finished too.

“That doesn’t make sense,” he said.

The game was huge.

It should have taken at least an hour with his internet.

Instead, it had taken less than a minute.

Maddie went quiet.

“Mine’s done too.”

Scott laughed nervously.

“Well. Great servers.”

Cletus hovered his mouse over the game icon.

It showed the same forest.

The same two moons.

But something was different now.

The three people were gone.

He looked closer.

“Guys.”

“What?” Maddie said.

“The picture changed.”

Scott stopped laughing.

Cletus stared at the forest.

Where the three figures had been standing before, there was now only empty grass.

Then he noticed something deeper between the trees.

Something tall.

At first he thought it was another tree trunk.

Until it moved.

Cletus leaned closer to the monitor.

Two pale dots appeared in the darkness.

Eyes.

His stomach tightened.

“Do you see that?”

“See what?”

“In the trees.”

Maddie didn’t answer.

Then she whispered,

“Yeah.”

Scott said nothing.

The creature was far away, barely visible.

Its body was thin and unnaturally tall.

Its arms seemed almost long enough to touch the ground.

And even though Cletus knew it was just an image—

he couldn’t shake the feeling that it was looking directly at him.

Suddenly the screen went black.

Cletus jumped.

“What happened?” Maddie asked.

“My screen went out.”

“Mine too,” Scott said.

Cletus moved his mouse.

Nothing happened.

He pressed a key.

Nothing.

Then white letters slowly appeared across the screen.

WELCOME, CLETUS.

His hand froze over the keyboard.

Maddie’s voice came through his headset.

“Guys…”

Cletus swallowed.

“What?”

“My screen just said my name.”

Scott spoke quietly.

“Mine too.”

Nobody laughed this time.

Cletus stared at the message.

He had never entered his name.

He hadn’t made an account.

He hadn’t even opened the game.

Another sentence appeared.

WE HAVE BEEN WAITING.

Then the computer shut itself off.

The room became completely dark.

For several seconds, Cletus didn’t move.

“Cletus?” Maddie whispered through the headset.

“Yeah?”

“You’re still there?”

“Yeah.”

Scott tried to laugh.

“Okay. I’m deleting that tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” Maddie said. “Delete it now!”

“My computer turned off!”

Despite himself, Cletus laughed.

Maddie started laughing too.

Within seconds, even Scott joined in.

Maybe it was just some weird game advertisement.

Maybe the website had pulled their usernames somehow.

There had to be an explanation.

There was always an explanation.

Cletus reached beneath his desk and pressed the power button.

Nothing happened.

He pressed it again.

Still nothing.

Then, from somewhere behind him, came a quiet sound.

Tap.

Cletus stopped.

“Did you guys hear that?”

“Hear what?” Scott asked.

Cletus slowly turned toward his bedroom window.

Tap.

Something had touched the glass.

His room was on the second floor.

“Cletus?” Maddie said.

He didn’t answer.

He stood and approached the window.

Outside, the neighborhood was almost completely dark.

Empty street.

Parked cars.

Trees moving gently in the wind.

Nothing unusual.

He leaned closer.

His breath fogged the glass.

Then lightning flashed somewhere far in the distance.

And for less than a second, Cletus saw something standing beneath the tree across the street.

Something tall.

Something thin.

Something with arms hanging almost to the ground.

Then the darkness returned.

And it was gone.