FREDERICKSONBURGVILLE, SC — "Sometimes - sometimes I just wish I could go back." Greg Fellman looks out the window as the morning drizzle slowly comes down, blanketing the grass with a gray sheen. He's 37 years old. He has a wife and kids and a steady career; by all accounts, he's been successful in life.
But Fellman says he's never been able to replicate the feeling he had in 2001 throwing back Mountain Dews with the fellas as they played Halo: Combat Evolved all night long.
"I mean, I'm happy in life. I am," he says as he slowly sips a coffee - black, no cream or sugar. "But, you know, 16 guys, 4 Xboxes, 4 giant CRT televisions, no sleep: if I'm being honest with myself, everything I do is just trying to get that feeling back." Fellman's taken up hobbies like golf and barbecuing meat. He joined a local softball league for the fun, camaraderie, and exercise. From time to time, he even boots up his Xbox and tries to get the guys together for one last hurrah - online only, of course. But it's not the same. It'll never be the same, according to Fellman.
He chuckles and runs his fingers across his stubble: a far cry from the baby-faced little dweeb he was in high school. "There was that one time, Steve kept blowing himself up with the rocket launcher on Blood Gulch. Classic Steve. Wonder what he's up to nowadays."
Steve died in 2017.
Citing concerns about stiff competition from Amazon and an impossible-to-please Gen Z, Santa has announced he's hanging up the hat for good.