Jane sat at her computer desk, her cursor blinking back at me. Her window was open, and the sun was blazing in her eyes and caramel skin. She got up to close it. Don’t let the sun fool you, it was actually freezing outside. If you left a cup out there for more than 20 minutes, it would freeze up. Jane looked at her computer, and ran a hand through her red, curly hair. She wanted to code something. But what? She didn’t want to do a platformer. She’d done tons of those. She didn’t want to do a dress up game, either, those got boring after a while if you don’t put much time into it, and she didn’t want to devote that much time to that. She hefted a heavy sigh, running a hand over her freckles. Maybe she needed a change of scenery. She hopped from her tab where she was coding in HTML, and onto Scratch. Scratch was a coding website made for new coders, it was a sort of drag and drop system. That was how she’d first learned to code. She opened up a new project, and Scratch Cat, the default sprite- or, character-, was staring at her. Well, not really staring at her, it just felt that way. Like he was daring Jane to start something. She clicked the first block, “When Green Flag Clicked,” and dragged it over to the center. Whatever she was coding, she’d need that. Suddenly her computer started to shake, and her desk rattled. Jane felt a pang of worry. What was going on? Then, as far as she knew, she was sucked into her computer! Jane fell flat on the empty backdrop. She got up and rubbed her nose where she’d hit. Confusion flooded her. How did she get here?
“Heya!” Jane spun around, and punched something square in the face. Then she gasped. She’d just hit a walking cat! “Hey…” said a muffled voice, rubbing his nose like she’d done before. “That’s not very nice!” “I- sorry!” Jane blurted. Who was this guy? She debated whether she should run away or not. He didn’t seem menacing, but most bad guys didn’t. “It’s okay,” the cat chirped. He stood up straight, and Jane noticed for the first time that she recognized him. “You’re- you’re Scratch Cat!” she said in awe, taking a step back. “Yeah right I am!” the cat said, shaking out its fur. A million questions whirled in her mind. How was he talking? Wasn’t he just a bunch of pixels? Was this AI, or did he have real emotions? Why was she inside her computer? But she knew one question was more important than the others. “How did I get here?” she demanded. Scratch Cat’s eyes widened. “Hey there, calm down!” Jane would not calm down. Not until she could get back home! Scratch cat licked his lips. “It’s simple. When someone can’t think of what to code on Scratch, they get transported into their computer- or tablet, or whatever- and it’s my job,” He wiggled a finger at himself. “To help them!” “I don’t want your help. I want to go back home,” Jane pleaded. Scratch Cat’s face fell. “Well, sorry, kid. The only way to get back to your home is to code a game.” Jane looked around. She saw the blocks. A simple game. A simple platformer. That was all she needed to get back home. Nothing complicated. “Hey there, I know what you’re thinking!” Scratch Cat said with a mischievous grin. “You have to code something that’ll satisfy you- you can’t cheat at this!” Jane groaned. She was never going to get out of here. Might as well draw a bed and sleep in it. She took the pen tool and drew a bed. Simple, with covers and a blanket, and slumped down in it, defeated. Scratch Cat thought for a moment. “I see you’re having a really bad case of coding block-” Jane ignored him. This walking cat was not what she needed. She needed something to get back home. “- so I’ll give you an idea. Or, a prompt.” Jane stared at him from out of the covers, intrigued. Maybe this would help her. “You know, I’ve always wanted to live in a castle,” Scratch Cat said with a smile. Jane stared at him angrily. Was she some kind of servant? “I’m not going to just draw a castle for you.” “No no, don’t get the wrong idea. Maybe make a game with a castle in it. That’s all I’m saying. Really.” Scratch Cat threw up his hands innocently. Jane heaved herself out of the bed and erased it. She started drawing a castle, brick walls, a moat, a bridge, windows. She finished, and Scratch Cat looked at it in awe. “Now the inside!” he chirped excitedly.” Jane sighed, made a new backdrop, and drew the inside of the castle. “Every castle needs a dungeon,” Scratch Cat said excitedly. She drew a dungeon. “And a watch tower.” She drew a watch tower. “And a grand hall.” She drew a grand hall. “And maybe a-” Jane snapped. “What’s the point of all this? I’m just drawing- I’m not even coding!” Scratch Cat laughed, gasoline to Jane’s angry fire. “You need good art to make a good game!” Scratch Cat’s eyes widened. “Hey! I’ve got an idea. Why don’t you make a game where you have to do tasks for people around the castle? Like maids, the queen or king, beggars?” Jane bit her lip, trying to hide a smile. That did sound fun. She drew the characters in on sprites, and got to work coding. Block after block, test after test, bug after bug, and drawing after drawing, she was done. Scratch Cat marveled. “Can I play test?” he asked. Jane nodded. Scratch Cat clicked the green flag, and went from milking a cow for the maid, to chasing after a thief for the king, laughing and smiling the whole time. When he finished, he looked at Jane, his eyes sparkling. “This is an awesome game.” Jane blushed. “Thanks.” She has to admit, this had been fun. Making a game with Scratch Cat as her helper. It all seemed so surreal. Suddenly the castle started shaking. Scratch Cat giggled, and jumped around. “What’s going on?” Jane yelled over the rattling. “You’re going home!” Scratch Cat yelled with a huge smile. Jane fell back into her desk chair, and then promptly on the floor. She scrambled up quickly and looked at her computer screen. The game was there. She clicked the “Save” button quickly, and gave the game a quick name: “Kingdom Quest.” Suddenly she heard steps coming downstairs. “Sweetheart, you’ve been down here for hours! What’ve you been up to?” Jane’s mother came over and looked at the computer screen. “Coding?” her mother asked with a smile. Jane smiled, and looked at the Scratch Cat smiling back at her on the screen. She replied, “Something like that.”
