Night One (Gary + Tabitha)

Gary, Tabitha, wake up.

Gary Lake woke up in a bed. This bed and bedroom were white. By the time he had crawled out of bed, Mr. Slick was already there.

“Hello, Mr. Lake,” Slick said.

“Hello, Mr. Slick. Why?”

“You are--”

“Here to be trained in the use of my Power and Element. Why though?”

“Right. I forgot--”

“I know. What I do not know is what my friends are doing and for what I am training. In fact, I only know something huge is about to happen, but nothing about it.”

“You will understand in time. I have a question for you.”

“Yes, I am aware that this is not a dream.”

“And?”

“I know that the game is somehow connected to the aforementioned ‘huge thing.’”

“Good. Now, you know what to do.”

With that, Mr. Slick disappeared. Gary knew mostly everything now. He could see the past, present, and future with perfect clarity. He could see everything except for a few dark spots which waxed frequent in the future. He could read the mind of Alexander Hamilton as he wrote the Federalist Papers, but he could not read the mind of Mr. Slick, the minds of his friends, or most disturbingly, his own mind at any point. Throughout the interview, he only saw himself giving the answers he gave and so he repeated it. The whole ordeal made Gary wonder about temporal paradoxes. Anyway, he was already in a pink room and facing an alien with triangular tendril pads and small cuts all over. He could not read this being’s thoughts either, though he could see its past up to a certain point.

“Your name is Alya, and you are from a planet without a proper name, correct?”

“Uh… yeah. Oh! Right. You’re the Lightcommander.”

“Right. That’s what you call me. I also understand that Powers with ‘commanding’ in the name are intensely emotional and difficult to control, but I am not having any problems?”

“Then stop seeing everything.”

“Now I understand, but I’m not emotional.”

“That’s all right. Maybe emotions aren’t as important as Durk said they were.”

“I do have a few questions that have nothing to do with my Power, if I may ask.”

“Shoot. I can’t promise that I can answer, though.”

“I can see from where many of these cuts came -- I’m very sorry, by the way -- but not all of them. Where did the others come from?”

“Well… I don’t know how much I’m allowed to say. Shortly before you came here, there was some infighting among my species. I found myself on the wrong side of it and suffered some injuries before escaping.”

“Fair enough. Last thing: you have the same Element as me but not the same Power. What is your Power? Despite not knowing what it is, I can sense that it will play some impossible role in what’s coming. Not even Slick can see what is to come.”

“I don’t think I have one. I was mocked for being without a Power since I was young. I fear that even my friends thought me rather useless throughout this… fiasco.”

“I’m sorry. I’m sure your friends love you very much.”

“They do. Much more than I deserve…”

“They never thought you useless, Alya, I’m sure--”

“Just please move on. Our game is over, and yours is beginning. Go through that door.”

Gary nodded and went through the door. Everything beyond the door frame was soft. The fluffy walls were red, and the white chairs were covered in soft material. Gary looked straight at the puffy, red bed, lay on it, and fell asleep.

⁂

Tabitha Overton got up from a blue bed onto a blue floor. The appearance of Mr. Slick’s black ball interrupted her silent judgement of the room’s color, so she began to judge its color.

“Good evening,” Mr. Slick said.

“Hi.”

A long, awkward silence ensued during which Tabitha pulled out her phone.

“How did you--”

“It’s a dream, right?”

“Well… I mean… don’t you wonder where you are?”

“Meh. Not really. I’ll just chill ‘til the dream’s over.”

“I can tell you are quite the adventurer.”

“Nah. My friends are more the adventurous types.” She held up her phone. “Then they tell me all about their adventures. They’re pretty cool.”

“This time, you get to have an adventure! Go forth!” Slick snapped his fingers, and a door opened to the next room. “Through the door!” Tabitha did not budge. “Miss Overton, please go through the door. Miss Overton, the room is olive green; you can judge the color. Tabitha, just go and talk to the alien girl. You’ll get along well! Just walk…” Mr. Slick took her phone. “Go talk to the alien girl!”

“Fine,” Tabitha sighed. “You don’t gotta be so pushy…”

Tabitha walked into the next room and gasped upon seeing the alien before she got the chance to judge the burnt orange room. It, or she rather, had triangular pads, and severe gashes covered her body. Tabitha put her hands to her cheeks and shivered.

“What? You never seen a vet before?” the alien sighed.

“I’m… so sorry…” Tears fell from Tabitha’s eyes, surprising both herself and the alien girl.

“Woah… I didn’t mean to scare you or nothin’. I’m sorry.”

“No, I just… suddenly feel really sad. Like I just lost someone really close to me. Oh my gosh! Where’s Alex?! Is she OK?!”

“I don’t know no Alex, but so long as she played the game with the rest of you, she’s safe. I can shed a little light on your feelin’s dilemma, though, I think.”

“What’s going on? I haven’t cried like this in forever! Are you doing some alien psychic crap to me?”

“No, don’t worry. The reason you’re in this place is to learn about your Power and Element. I’ve been told your Power is Empathybending. It means you can feel what other people feel, but to the extreme that you even seem to feel my injuries. Sorry ‘bout that.”

“Oh… who did you lose?”

“Don’t worry about me. I’m a tough girl. Heck, I’m the king’s bodyguard! Well, I was… before we was all overthrown…”

“Overthrown?”

“Apparently a race of violent warrior-conquerors didn’t care much for havin’ a softie like Alecris lead them. They threatened his life, so he had to escape. I helped ‘im, of course. Managed to keep ‘im from gettin’ a scratch! That is… until we was separated. Not sure where he got to. I just hope he’s safe.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what to say. I’ll help however I can.”

“You’re all right! Just go through that next door over there. It’s a doozy of a puzzle, so you’d better get the tears outta your eyes!” The alien’s mouth made a shape that was most likely a smile.

“Oh. I’m Tabitha, by the way. I’ll pry into your personal life, but apparently not tell you my name.” She laughed for the first time in far too long.

“My name’s Aleinya. Good to meet you, Tabitha!”

Tabitha replied likewise and walked into the next room, wiping her eyes. The next room was filled with beds that all looked identical. Assuming she was supposed to sleep on one of them, she tried to lie down on one. Instead of resting her head on a soft pillow, however, she found herself falling to the floor. She scrambled back to her feet and stared a the bed annoyedly. She systematically tried to touch each bed, but succeeded only in proving that none of them were real. She walked back towards the door to try and reassess the situation. When she reached the empty spot a few feet in front of the portal, she tripped over some unseen, soft thing. After understanding that she was lying on an invisible bed and determining where the headboard was, she fell asleep. Mr. Slick entered the room, which to him contained only a single bed inconveniently placed near the door, and placed her phone under her pillow.

End Night One (Gary + Tabitha)