Waka-waka

 "Man, how you can play this game, it creeps the hell out of me" - Giorgio peered over Rod's shoulder. It was hard to say how much mockery was hiding in his solemn tone. "Come on, dude" - Rod replied. "It's Pac-Man!"

Ever since his dad put the arcade machines in the lobby of the movie theater, working the ticket booth was no longer a dreaded chore for Rod. It became his favorite pastime. Whenever there was no one around, all the games were his to play with. Sure, as the kid of the theater owner he would still see all the movies, most of them multiple times. But even the best ones would inevitably bore him sooner or later. Video games were different. And the complex, yet simple gameplay of Pac-Man made it his favorite.

"No, really man" - Giorgio wasn't letting it go. "Think about it. What is the game really about? Think about the ghosts. They are human ghosts, I don't think there's any other kind, right? So they would be more or less human-sized. Pac-Man is big enough to swallow-whole a human-sized ghost. And what is a ghost? It's basically a tormented, lost soul. So there you have it!" - he looked at Rod triumphantly. 

"There I have what?" - Rod knew his friend was setting up his scene to deliver a joke. He thought the sooner he'll let him have his punchline, the sooner he'll be able to focus on the game. And he was almost at his high-score. "Please, enlighten me." - he didn't even bother not to sound annoyed. Giorgio was beaming. 

"Pac-Man is a horror game where tormented spirits roam an inescapable maze just to get devoured by a giant soul-eater creature!" - Giorgio burst into infectious laughter. Rod had to give it to him, that was funny. As he giggled, the ghosts on the screen managed to corner him, ending his score attack run prematurely. Rod turned around to punch Giorgio in the arm. "Shit, man. I was so close to beating my high-score!" "It's not like you won't get another shot, right? Knowing you, you'll be here playing games until you drop." Rod smirked. "Yeah, that's the plan. You with me?" Rod's dad was out of town, so it was up to him to close off after the last seance and he could stick around for as long as he'd like. "Naw man, I gotta split." Giorgio held his hand up. They high-fived and he was on his way.

The last movie wrapped up before midnight. A small crowd poured into the lobby in a great mood suggesting some beer was smuggled into the theater. Nothing Rod could do about it. They hung around the lobby playing the machines, but at quarter past midnight the theater was clear and closed for the night. Rod grabbed a huge soda cup from the bar, and eagerly returned to Pac-Man.

His score was no longer the highest on the board. Letters AJJ replaced ROD on the very top, with a score just marginally better than his all-time best.

AJJ. AJ Johnson. That jock? Rod was furious. He never saw AJ playing before. Tonight could have been the very first time he played, and it had to be no more than one game. He beat Rod's score at first try.

Rod came down on that machine with fury. It was very personal. He cleared stage after stage, after stage. His palms were sweaty. Eyes fixed on the screen. He was on his last life. He barely noticed as he beat his own personal high-score, but as he was just about to pass AJ’s score as well, he took a wrong turn. The boy let out an angry scream and punched the screen with his full teenage nerd force.

The screen went out. The lights in the lobby flickered. Rod felt weird, dizzy, and scared. Had he broken the cabinet? Dad would kill him if he did. 

“Waka!” - the sudden, booming  sound echoing in the lobby made him turn towards the dark corridor leading to the projection room. “Waka! Waka!” A huge, yellow, round mass emerged from the shadows. Ron’s body felt light. He looked at his hands. His skin was shimmering, flashing white and blue. “Waka! Waka! Waka!” The giant soul-eater opened its huge, toothy maw, and rushed forward, to devour Ron’s exposed, shining spirit.