Mr. Litwak's arcade had always been a long-standing icon in his small town. It was a place for children and adults alike to let go of the troublesome world outside the glass double-doors in favor of virtual one, a world where with a pocket stuffed with quarters, they could escape for an hour or so and just be free. For over thirty years the bright lights and neon signs of this small-town getaway shone like a beacon, guiding the way for both the old and young of heart, leading them to a simpler place where the most one had to worry about was if the arcade's kindhearted owner would run out of quarters today. When Mr. Litwak opened his arcade doors to allow his awaiting customers inside, he became a symbol of sanctuary for wandering and troubled souls, a knight in shining armor ready to lend an ear for listening, or a shoulder to cry on, or even just an extra quarter so you could play that one game you had been looking foreword to all day.

But, as strong and everlasting a symbol Mr. Litwak may have appeared to be, he could not forever fight against time. His hair had begun to turn gray and then white until finally it had started to disappear completely. His wrinkled hands had begun to shake as he handed out change and his old bones could no longer last through a day of playing sentry. And so appeared in the window of Litwak's Arcade something no one had ever thought to see: a Help Wanted sign.

Interviews came and went as applicant after applicant was turned down by the arcade's owner. Mr. Litwak had watched many of those turned away grow up in his arcade, but no matter how close he had been to them in their youth, people changed over time. Though Mt. Litwak had watched Michael Kingston transition from boyhood into his teenage years, he also knew that he stole his father's cigarettes and booze, and Mr. Litwak just could not trust him to keep his pockets empty, nor his head clear. Little Suzie Meyer was known to be horrible with kids, if one were to believe the children she had babysat, and her brother Kevin was hardly passing school as it was, heaven forbid if he were to add work on top of everything else. Jonathan Walker was out, and Casey Hudson, and Jessica Stewart, and Daniela Jones, and just about every other kid in town. For a while it seemed as if Mr. Litwak would never find an employee, and the Help Wanted sign continued to become sun bleached in its spot in the window, slowly gathering dust as a week, and then two weeks, and then finally a month had passed with no luck whatsoever until the day a new name appeared in the dwindling pile of résumés on Mr. Litwak's desk.

Mr. Litwak had never heard of the girl whose smiling face shone up at him from the attached headshot, but a couple of calls to her previous employers offered a bit of insight. She was a college graduate apparently looking for a job to hold down while she worked on a portfolio that might help her secure a future in game design. Though she had not personally lived in the town, she apparently had extended family living there, and a short conversation with them as well as her college professors and previous employers via email led Mr. Litwak to believe that she was hard working, trustworthy, and most definitely the right girl for the job.

And so the Help Wanted sign was finally allowed to retire from its resting place in the window and a few days later Mr. Litwak's customers were greeted at the door by a new face, one that over time Mr. Litwak hoped they would grow to love and trust as much as the town did him.

"Audrey!"

"Coming Mr. Litwak!"

"Well hurry, it's almost time to open!"

"Hold your horses old man, I said I'm coming!"

With a laugh, Audrey slipped on her uniform orange vest and jogged over to where Mr. Litwak stood impatiently in front of the arcade's doors. The elderly man threw his hands up in mock exasperation, eyes smiling kindly through the action.

"It's not my fault you're slower than molasses today," he chuckled, wagging a finger at the younger girl good naturedly.

Audrey smiled, pulling back her flaming red hair back into a messy bun as she did so. "So sorry to have kept you waiting, my king," she answered jokingly, giving her employer a small bow.

"Did you remember to stock the concessions," asked Mr. Litwak, eyeing the girl in front of him.

Audrey rolled her pale blue eyes in response. "Yes, Mr. Litwak," she droned.

"Did you check the bathrooms?"

Another eye roll. "Yes, Mr. Litwak."

"And the change machines?"

Audrey sighed heavily before placing a comforting hand on the hold man's shoulder. "Mr. Litwak," she said, looking him in the eyes. "How long have I been working here?"

He thought for a moment before replying, "Almost a year."

Audrey nodded absentmindedly. "That's right. And out of all that time, has anything ever gone wrong during opening?"

The arcade owner cast a sheepish glance to the floor. "No," he mumbled, feeling childish for his worries.

"Then stop worrying," cried the girl, removing her hand from its place on his shoulder. "Everything will be fine," she said. "Just like it is everyday. I promise."

With a kind smile, Audrey raised one of her hands to Mr. Litwak, who in turn hooked his fingers around hers in the standard thumb-war pose. But instead of battling with their digits, the two pumped their hands downwards once with the practice ease that often came with not-so-secret handshakes.

Laughing, the girl removed her hand from his and turned towards the arcade's front doors, smiling kindly at the few people standing on the other side, waiting for the moment the doors would open.

"Come on, old man," said Audrey, smile still stuck to her face, showing off the dimples on either side of her mouth. "Let's get these doors open before they start a riot."

With a chuckle, Mr. Litwak unlocked the glass doors and pulled one open, letting in the cool outside air. Audrey took the other door, mirroring his actions as they let in the day's first customers. Holding the door open, the two greeted the people as they entered. Mr. Litwak cracked jokes as always and Audrey's warm smile left a few of the teenage boys blushing as they hurried inside. The day had barely begun, but Audrey's enthusiasm was as palpable as ever. Working at the arcade had its downsides, sure, but she really had no complaints.

No, that was wrong.

If Audrey Wilson was perfectly honest with herself, working at a local arcade was not where she had imagined herself being at age 28. In her dreams she had always figured she would be part of a successful company by now. She would have a good, steady job designing and working on new video games, maybe even engaged, or at least in a serious relationship. Her life was supposed to be at its high point right now, a plateau of contentment that would last well into her 50s and 60s.

Instead, she was working full time at an arcade in some little no name town full of people she barely knew, even after living there for almost a year.

Not that Audrey was unhappy, per say. Mr. Litwak was like family to her, and with her mother dead and her dad off with his horrible new second wife, he was all she really had besides a distant pair of cousins living in town. Her pay was good and her apartment could definitely be worse, and she very rarely had to struggle to make ends meet. She was doing a couple of side jobs with interested parties, sending digital art here, mailing originals there, and earning some extra cash on the side. Her portfolio was coming along nicely and her skills increasing every day. She was starting to flesh out some of her characters and concepts and maybe in a year or so she might be able to try approaching a bigger company than those she used to work with.

But as cliché as it seemed, Audrey kept wondering if maybe there was something more to her life than what it was now.