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It is the summer of 2005, Toby is laying on his bed, throwing a blue and pink rubber ball at the ceiling. He’s bored, why wouldn't he be, he had nothing to do, but then he got an idea. What if he went and explored the basement?
Toby stands up and drops the rubber ball, running down the stairs through the kitchen and living room. He yells out, “Mom, I'm going to the basement!”
“Ok, but we're going to your grandparents house in two hours,” she calls back. He opens the door and walks down the old creaky stairs. It's dark and dusty. The door slams shut behind him, startling him and making him jump.
“Jeez,” he mumbles. Toby reaches up and pulls the string, making it click and the light flicker on.There are hundreds of different boxes and shelves filled with books, photos, old gadgets and toys, jackets and hats, and some tools like hammers and nails as well as fishing rods that used to be his dads.
But one thing in particular got his attention: a computer. He walks to it and turns it on. A yellow sticky note sits next to it and a plastic blue chair is pushed up to the desk. He sits in the chair and picks up the sticky note. It has a short number and letter code on it.
“Woah,” he whispers, then hesitantly puts in the password. Suddenly, all different colors flash before his eyes: reds, blues, greens, pinks and indigos, then everything goes blank.
Toby wakes up in a white, slightly pixely place with nothing but him in it. His ears are ringing and his mouth is dry. He stands up and his legs feel like jello, making it so he can barely stand. “Hello!?” he shouts into the void.
“Oh! Hello there, hi, uh welcome!” a flustered and surprised voice greets him.
“Who are you? Where am I?” Toby muses.
“My name is Sindy! And you are on, or more in, the great webs, the internet!” Sindy says happily. She looks like a computer game character, pixely and colorful with long blonde hair, a pink dress and a text box that appears above her as she talks.
“I shouldn't be here, should I?” Toby asks quietly.
“Yes, that you are right, you need to go like now.” Sindy agrees.
“But how do I leave?” he questions.
“On each website, there is a door that leads to the next website. If you go through all of them, then you can leave, but you have to be quick. If you’re too slow, Clippy will find you and you’ll have to fight him,” she explains.
“Who's Clippy?” he asks.
“Clippy the Paperclip. If you do end up fighting him and you win, then you can leave but I highly suggest you not do that.” she says.
“It doesn't sound that hard,” he says optimistically.
“Trust me, it is,” she replies coldly. “You should leave now.” She pushes him out the first door which was covered in snow.
“Ok, ok,” he said, before he stumbled to his feet and stepped away..
He falls into the snow. It's cold and uncomfortable. He quickly stands up to see colorful penguins wearing clothes. One of them drops a sharp wooden sword. Toby quickly picks it up, looking around. “Hello?” he says with no replies. “Why did I try talking to some penguins?” he starts walking aimlessly.
After ten minutes of walking in and out of buildings and through groups of penguins he finds a neon, pink, and purple door booming with color and music and shapes.
He reaches out for the doorknob and takes a deep breath preparing to fall like he did last time. Instead he floats; he walks around hearing all different kinds of music and sees different blinking colors and shapes and words. He walks looking for the door. “How many more of these are there gonna be?” he complains, finally finding a new door. This time, it's blue. He opens it, stepping into the door with a scowl.
Looking around, he hears a voice come from above. “It is I, the great Clippy the Paperclip,” the voice echoes.
“Yeah, yeah I know.” Toby says impatiently.
“How?” Clippy asks.
“The lady at the beginning told me. I think her name was Sindy,” Toby says
“Of course she did,” Clippy groans. A paperclip with eyes and eyebrows comes down from above in front of him. “Ok, well you have to fight me if you want to leave,” Clippy says.
“Do I have to?”
“Yes.” Clippy says bluntly.
“Fine whatever,” Toby rolls his eyes and holds up the wooden sword. Sheets of yellow paper with blue lines are floating next to Clippy and come flying at Toby, most of them missing him but one hitting his arm giving him a large paper cut.
“Ow, what was that for?” Toby mutters.
“What do you mean? You know this was gonna happen, we’re fighting you know, so you can leave!” Clippy says.
“Still man, not cool!” Toby grumbles.
“I don't care!” Clippy says annoyed. Toby hits him, making a dent in Clippy’s side. Clippy quickly moves away from him as more papers fly at Toby, most missing but some hitting his arms or legs.
“Have you had enough, kid?” Clippy chuckles. Toby looks up at him.
“Not even close,” he starts to walk backwards and then he sprints forward, holding the sword above his head, stabbing Clippy in the eye and landing on the ground.
Clippy falls to the ground but not before one final paper flies at him. as he lifts his head, cutting his neck. He drops his sword, grabbing at his neck attempting to breathe but choking on his own blood. He closes his eyes and when he opens them he is in front of the computer. Still bleeding, he stands up and immediately falls to the ground. His ears are ringing, blood pooling in his throat and his body feels numb. The last thing he heard is the basement door opening and his mom’s blood curdling scream before everything goes dark.