Liam Barette:
For once in my life, I can finally say I wasn't scrolling through my video's empty comment section, but that I was scrolling and savoring it.
"Dude, this is hilarious," I read, "Subbed! Yesss!"
I shout and shoot my fist into the air, laughing and crying.
"Oh, thank you, RandyUser473! You are one awesome son of a--"
As my smile grows bigger and bigger, I scroll down even further and read.
"That goblin punched into the tree savage, lol," another comment says.
"Bro, SkyGlimmer carried you," a third comment reads.
"Okay. Rude, but yeah, that is kind of the truth."
"EpicFailGamer94 is the content we need, not the content we deserve."
"Yes! Yes, I am!"
Tears literally form in my eyes as I cry with joy while reading. However, those tears of joy turn into real tears when I start to notice something.
As I keep scrolling down, I see the related video.
"Game Cube thumbnails Everywhere."
The oxygen runs out of my lungs, and I almost fade. Slapping myself awake before my head can hit the floor, I check the related videos again.
One video shows a full dungeon raid with a party of three people, two warriors and one mage. Another video is titled "How I beat the Forest Troll Solo (Level 5 Build Guide)." The video below it is called "LEVEL 10 SPEEDRUN - First Dragon Kill!" and has a thumbnail of an armored warrior with a giant sword standing on top of a dead dragon.
Seeing this, I choke on my spit and almost drop my phone.
"Level 10? I'm still over here celebrating level 2, and this guy is already at level 10!"
Panic hits me like a bus.
"My momentum is slipping! If I don't keep uploading, the wave will pass me by, and my channel will die again."
Breathing in and out, in and out, almost fading again, I slap myself awake and then turn to Jordan. Sitting next to me on our sofa, Jordan looks up from his phone and stops eating his grilled ham and cheese sandwich.
"Can I help you?" Jordan asks with bright-yellow teeth.
"Jordan, I need quarters!"
"Get a job," Jordan answers.
"I'm serious," I scream, grabbing Jordan's shirt and shaking him back and forth. "The Cube only takes quarters. Please! This is life or death! Well--channel of death, but still the same thing!"
"Okay, okay! Liam, let me go! Let me go!"
Reaching into his pocket, Jordan pulls out his wallet and slams it down.
"Now leave me alone, you parasite. Oh, but you are paying me back."
"Deal," I say, grabbing and going through Jordan's wallet. Ignoring the bills, I go to the back and pull out all the quarters Jordan has.
"Don't worry, man. When I'm YouTube famous and have sponsors, I'll pay you back. And also buy you those burritos you really like. Thank you again."
With that said, I run to my room, grab my backpack, shove some food and drinks inside, and then run to the Gaming Cube as fast as I can.
"Also, sorry about choking you!"
Sprinting as fast as I can go, with crossed fingers on both my hands, I keep telling myself one thing and one thing only.
"You got this! Liam, you got this! This is your chance! This. Is. Your. Shot! All you have to do is just wait in line for a little bit----"
Back at the Gaming Cube, I skid to a stop, my sneakers burning as they rub against the hot sidewalk. The confident voice in my head stops talking. It stops cheering me on.
"Oohhhh boyyyy," the voice says. "That is.....a lot of people."
The line isn't just long anymore. It's not even astronomical. It's...It's....is there even a word beyond astronomical? Maybe biblical?
I shake my head and start running to the end of the line. However, the line does more than bend. I follow the line around the corner and to the end of the street. Thinking I reach the end, I'm proven wrong when someone across the street yells at me.
"Hey," the person yells, cupping his mouth. "You're not at the end of the line!"
"What!"
The man isn't lying. The first half of the line stops at the end of the street, then keeps going onto the next street.
"Oh come on," I say in between gasps of breath. Wiping my shining, sweating forehead, I swallow some spit to help with my dry throat and push the button. Watching as the red hand turns into a person walking, I sprint across the street and toward the end of the second half.
As I keep running, I see dozens of tents already set up, folding chairs, and even a handful of vendors walking up and down the line.
"Hot dogs," one vendor yells, holding up a steaming hot dog. "Get your hot dogs here! Hot hot dogs!"
"Hey, you," a teenage girl with a plastic sword stripped to her hip shouts. "Give me three!"
Sweatbeads now flowing down my forehead and onto my face, almost blinding me, I wipe them away and keep going, but after still seeing no end in sight, I regret not letting the sweatbeads blind me for a few seconds.
"Oh come on! And people complain about the lines at Disneyland."
By the time I finally reach the end of the line, my throat is drier than desert sand, and I am drenched in sweat. Honestly, I can't run or even walk anymore. I have to drag my foot against the sidewalk. Dropping like a bag of rocks onto the sidewalk, I pull out the quarters Jordan has given me.
"This is it," I tell myself. "Two hours of goblin-smashing, sword-swinging, and leveling up. I'll be back on top. Nobody will out-level EpicFailGamer94!"
Clutching the four quarters in my hand, I look at everyone else in front of me and see dozens of people with either rolls of quarters in their hands or even giant bags of them.
"Except maybe all those people. Ohhhh man, look at that. That must be like, fifty dollars in quarters right there."
I sigh and prepare myself for what could be the hardest grind of my life: waiting in this very, very, very long line.