Nina used to love playing games with her friends on the street and in the park. But it was not so. Now, she remained sitting inside her room, playing video games all the time.
“Nina, your friends are waiting for you!”
“Nina, go out and play for some time!”
However hard her parents tried, Nina never stopped playing her video games. Sometimes she thought about going outside, but then there would always be some game that she really wanted to play. And then, she would forget about going outside!
One night, Nina found a new game. It was called ‘The Monster’. ‘This looks like fun!’ she thought, ‘I’ll just play it for a little while and then I’ll go to bed.’
The minute she clicked ‘Download’ on the game, the screen turned all blue and then red. And a giant monster appeared on the screen.
Nina jumped back in fear because the monster looked directly at her with his red-green eyes. Just then, a giant snake-like bluish-black arm came out of the screen and dragged Nina inside.
“Stop!” she cried. But now, she was part of the game too. From outside, she looked like a character of the game. Everything was normal in her room; but Nina was not there in it!
“You must play the game to win; otherwise, you will die! You can never go back to your parents!” bellowed the monster terribly.
Nina pleaded and begged the monster to let her go. But he paid no attention to her.
It was a dangerous game. Nina had to swim through rivers filled with alligators, jump over lava-filled pits, climb steep, rocky, mountains, swarming with wild animals and poisonous snakes. She had to win!
‘If I lose any of these challenges and die, I will never be able to see mom and dad again,’ she thought sadly. So, she played hard. Nina was tired and hungry, but there was no stopping.
The very last stage was her battle with the monster. ‘I have to kill the monster. But I don’t know the way!’ she wondered. Just then, a little squirrel ran across to her, “The only way to kill him is by cutting off his nose. The knife is in his pocket,” it said before running away.
Nina fought with the monster bravely. She was able to get the knife and cut off his nose. She was finally free!
