Day Three

The kids all awoke to the sound of their alarms going off. They were exhausted by their dream, but they had had enough rest to function. They rushed to their computers and booted up the game, forgetting the previous day’s warning. They all had hoped to talk about the dreams before everyone logged on, but the game started immediately.

Jake took stock of the cell in which his avatar awoke. The huge metal door of the empty room was wide open, but Jake could not make the character leave the room; it only shook its head and breathed faster in response to his attempts. Jake took out his phone to try to email Gary, but his phone screen was all black with the white text: “Do not wake up.” He dropped the device and leapt to his feet, beginning to hyperventilate. He shook his head and tried futilely to calm down.

C’mon! What’s going on?? he growled internally. It was probably just a hallucination, pick the phone back up!

“‘Just a hallucination?’” a gruff, masculine disembodied voice mocked. “Maybe so, but is that normal?”

I’m sick, so yeah.

“No it’s not, Jakey boy. Think about it.”

“Man, can you really be this stupid?” a silky feminine voice laughed.

“Awww!” a grating voice whose gender was more difficult to determine cried. “He’s all alone! Can’t text his boyfriend--”

“He’s not my boyfriend!” Jake shouted aloud.

“Right. Can’t text his ‘not-boyfriend’ and can’t even remember what he forgot!”

“What’d I forget then, geniuses.”

“It starts with the first letter in massacre,” the gruff voice offered.

“And ends with the first letter in disappointment,” the female finished.

“My meds!” Jake exclaimed.

“Good boy!” the silky voice extolled patronizingly. “Now go fetch your pills!”

“That is, if you can trust ‘em,” chuckled the grating voice.

“Shush!”

“What? I’m just being fair. I thought we were trying to keep him alive.”

“I guess we are now. Y’know, one pill’d only make him sick.”

“What do you mean?” Jake asked.

“The poison.”

“No… it’s not poison.” Jake started hyperventilating again.

“Sure it is. I mean, everyone’s out to get you anyway--”

“Shut up!!” the first voice rasped.

Jake’s father appeared in his doorway with a glass of water and a small pill. Jake stared at the little capsule with terror and relief.

“You forgot to take this,” his dad’s smooth voice soothed.

It’s a trap! the grating voice rasped as Jake took the water and the pill.

You idiot! the gruff one whispered as Jake swallowed.

Jake’s phone buzzed on the table as it lit up with an email from Gary.

“Gary? I guess you two have been having fun this summer?”

“Yeah.” Jake took a deep breath and tried more successfully to calm himself. “We’ve been playing an online game with some other friends.”

“That’s great! Is that what you’ve been doing up here these past few days?”

“Yes! It is!” Jake smiled.

“And you said some other friends? You mean to say you were afraid you’d lose Gary only to find you’ve made still more friends?”

Jake chuckled. He turned slightly red but was happier than he was embarrassed.

See? Boyfriend… the female voice sang.

“It looks that way.” Jake smiled, ignoring the voice.

“Are you busy with your friends at the moment?”

“Uh… let me email Gary back first, and then I’ll be yours.”

Jake grabbed his phone and glanced at the computer. Seeing his player character still rocking back and forth in his cell, he opened his phone’s email app and read his message from Gary.

“What does your cell look like?”

“nothing. my avatar is just sitting on the floor, scared out of his mind. if you’d excuse me a moment, my dad wants to talk to me.”

“Yeah! Thats all right! Go talk to your dad. Ill have this figured out when you come back, okay?”

“thanks!”

Jake walked back over to his dad. “OK. I’m free now.”

He’s going to tell you he hates you, spoke the grating voice.

He’s so disappointed in you, said the silky voice.

It’s because you’re gay, the gruff voice scoffed.

But I’m not gay… Jake thought at them.

Sure. Whatever.

“I just wanted to tell you how proud I am of you,” Dad said.

Jake gasped and looked at his dad with surprise.

“I know your life is hard. Heck, harder than I can imagine, I’d say. But you’ve been strong. You’ve made good friends. You function better than many healthy people! I’m proud of you, son.”

“Thanks… but what if I mess up?” Jake said as tears rolled down his cheek. “You say all these good things I’m doing, but what if I fail?”

“Then you’d be a human,” Dad chuckled. “It’s okay, Jake. Just be yourself. Now go play a game with your friends.”

Jake sniffled as he walked back to his computer, smiling.

“Oh! And Jake?”

“Yeah, Dad?”

“You’re going to do something great some day.” Dad smiled and then left the room.

Jake smiled and opened up his email again.

“okay, Gary, i’m back.”

“Have a good talk with your dad?”

“yeah. i had a psychotic episode and he brought me my meds.”

“Right. You were freaked out by the dream like everybody else, right?”

“so we did all share it.”

“Yep. Now were all stuck in cells apparently tailored to ourselves.”

“that’s weird. discovered any way out yet?”

“Nope. It seems were all just stuck, waiting for some event to free us.” Then a few more messages came in succession. “Woah.” “I can see, suddenly.” “Stand by.”

Jake stared at his email in confusion.

“I can see everything! Only the present, though. The aliens are keeping us in here. I hear them saying something about some ‘trial.’ Still no knowledge on how to escape, though.”

“Gary?”

“Yeah?”

“you used your power to know that, right?”

“Yes…?”

“if you can use your power in the game, can i too?”

“Maybe! You mean warp reality to free us?”

“yeah. i threw open the doors next to me. you see it?”

“Yes! I do! Well done! But we still cant move…”

“right. and I can’t affect you with my power, correct?”

“Right. Well, mostly. Actually, I think you can affect a being of a higher power tier if you have their permission.”

“oh! that’s cool. but i probably shouldn’t. nobody needs my mental crap affecting them like that.”

“Too bad. You have my permission, Jake. You will always have my permission, no matter what you do with your Power.”

“right. well, here goes…”

As Jake wiped a fresh tear from his eye, he envisioned his friend. He imagined him sitting in a dank dungeon cell, petrified. He took a deep breath and made the person stand up. His phone buzzed again.

“Ive got control again! Whatever you did worked!”

“fantastic! can you get me out of my trance?”

Gary’s character walked into Jake’s cell and put a hand on his shoulder, waking up the avatar. The two then went to all the cells and freed the others.

⁂

Directly after waking up, Constantina grabbed her phone. She opened the chat client and sent a message to Frank, as per her promise, saying she had woken. She then rushed to her computer and booted up the game. Frank replied, acknowledging the message and giving encouragement. When she looked back at her computer, she saw her avatar sitting in a locked cell, rocking back and forth. All around her were NPCs poking her face. She was tied up, unable to react in any way. She shuddered at the feeling and moved her arms around in real life.

“Is your guy stuck in a cell too” she messaged Frank.

“Yeah. What does yours look like?”

“A bunch of people are poking my face, and I’m tied up in the middle. There’s also a big locked door”

“Yeah, I got the big door too. And I’ve got a bunch of random junk flying all over my vision. It’s really irritating.”

“No kidding. So... do you have any ideas on how to get out of this”

“Not one.” “Hold on, I’m getting a text from Gary…”

A pause.

“Welp, looks like we’re all in the same predicament.” Frank sent.

“Frank… there’s something weird going on here…”

“You mean the dream?”

“Yes. We all shared that, right? That was no coincidence?”

“Not a chance.”

“I think there’s something bad out there. Something very powerful. Man, I sound crazy…”

“Normally I’d agree, but you’re not wrong. There is definitely something big out there. I don’t know if it’s evil, but it’s big and powerful.”

“It hijacked my mind. I suddenly got angry for no reason! I freaked and hurricaned a wall into oblivion! And then I don’t know what happened… and then we were on the roof. The room was ravaged. I’m afraid it was me”

“It wasn’t you, CH.”

“How do you know?! You were in another room! I’m just spiralling out of control. There’s no hope for me anymore. I’m just too sick”

“Stop it, Constantina! You’re not too sick. You will *never* be too sick, okay? How do I know? Gary and I found a weird ball of light thing. In it, we could literally see everything. I watched what happened in your room… Alexis is the one who destroyed the room.”

“That doesn’t even make sense. Sure, the girl tried to tell me she doesn’t have a power, but there’s no way she could do something like that”

“She has something dark in her past. *Very* dark.”

“Wait… what is it”

“I don’t think I should go around talking too much about it. Besides, I don’t even know for sure.” “I just got another text from Gary. They’ve found a way to free us and they’re coming.”

Gary and Jake freed them shortly thereafter and the team regrouped in the corridor.

⁂

Tabitha felt awful as she booted up the game. The game opened and revealed her player character sitting alone in a huge cell. She felt a vibration in her pocket. Ignoring it, she tried maneuvering her character about the room. The digital entity stood up and walked around, but her shoulders were slumped. When she could see the face, she saw dark circles below the eyes. Her face was tired and wrinkled. After walking for a few seconds, she would automatically sit down. Tabitha would regain control momentarily, but it caused a sad pang in her heart. Her phone vibrated again, but she was captivated by the sad version of herself on the screen. A tear ran down her cheek. Her phone vibrated a third time. She mechanically took her phone from her pocket and set it on the table. What finally broke her stupor was a single word: “help.” She snatched up her device and opened her conversation with Alexis.

“I saw that you were with Jake. Did you talk to him?” “Woah… are you in this super creepy dungeon cell thing too?” “Tabitha, I… need your help.”

“What’s ip?” Tabitha replied.

“He’s here… that MONSTER is in my cell with me. Tabitha, he should be dead! How does this… game know he exists? How does it know what he looks like?”

“Alex, he’s not real, okay? There’s obviously something sinister going on here. Remember the dreams.”

“Hell no!! I don’t want to waste another thought on that horror show of a dream!”

“Okay. Sorry… I don’t know what to say. Just hang in there. I’d bet Frank and Gary are working to get us out of here as we text.”

“I͙̜̝̟̿ͮͬ̽̀�"̺t̩͇̙ͪ͛̈̊̌'̣ͪ̅͛̐ͭ�™͙̪̪̻ͅs�"ͤ̉�- �'ͥ̓ͪ�'�"̰�-̯͈̣̣h̋ͭͧaͥ͌�'̭͎̮̞̫̭̤ͫͯp�"̊�'̥ṕ̄ͮ̂̆̚�"e̯̫ͯn͇̰͕ͧ̾ȉ̐ͤ�-ͤ̈́n̤͋ͣ�™̣̠̺ĝ͇̟̝̭ ͉̩̜̯̮̃ͮ̈̌̋ͫ̓�"͍ã̝̣ͦͩ̃g̱̱̞á͉͎̞̎̊̌�™̻͙�™i̟̠͍͐̅͊̂͌�"͎̘n̼͉ͪ̾!͉ͤ̀!͇͈̖͎̳̓ͩ̽” Yes. This is the exact message Tabitha received. I can also tell you that at the same time, that dark fog began to fill her cell and bedroom.

“Ah! What’s going on, Alex?! What’s happening again? Are you okay?”

“N͚̞͈͚̬̙ͨͯ̅o͊̏�"́�'ͤͦ!̭̳̞͎̥̩̼́ ̻̖͆�™̺̮̤͖I̟̼͈̼̺̖͍'͆̃m̃̀ͣͮ�'͖ ͐n͕͙̦̋̍͐ͯ�-o̞̬̻̬͙̥̭͌̐tͤ ̀�'ͧ͐�'̮ͮ͢�"̺f͛ͭ̆̎̾̆̚�'̰̻͜űͫ́ͮ�'̅͋̿҉̧̧̖̯̱c͂�'̷͉̯̱͉̞̂͆̓ͧ̇͜k̄�"̼͚̘̠̯̮̯ͣ̿̎ͤ̾̈́͐͞i͚̖̤̰̦̭̞̽̈̽̆ͣ͌ͬ̀̿́n̫ͤ̈̄̀̍̕ͅgͨ̍�'̮̄͝ ̩̠̟̳ͅó̇̽�"̝̦̾kͭͪ͌�'̯͙̜͇̜̃�"aͨͅy̩̪̞͖!̩͋̌�-̘”

“All right, Alex. We can do this, okay? Just talk to me. Let’s talk about Gary, yeah?”

“I̹͍̖ͪ�"̜͈͈ṣ͌ͫ̚ ̍̈́�'͕̱̝͉̯̻̝̃ͧ́ͣt̖̣͙̖̪ͩ͆ͪ͆h̩̃̍ͦ̚a�-͐ͮ̾�'̍�"̝̪̼ť̰̙̈́̚�"̣̬̫ �'̅ͭ̿ͮͅ�™̰�™̹�™a̠̅ͮ̉͌̾l̮̣̻̾�™l̜͋̍ ͤ́̓̉͆̃Ī̚ ̠̮͍̖̠̍ͬͧͅ�"aͩͨͤ̍̋̽̂�"͎m̓?͍ͩ̾͐̈̋ ͤ�'̇A͉̫̪m̮͍̣ ̃�"̱͆̐̈́̆̆Iͮ̈́ͯͦ�'ͤ�'�"͇ �'�'̥͇̱̾�"̺̥͈j͙̄̍̏ũ͐͋�'̫̻͍ͬs̄ͧ�"̬t̃�'͐�"�"̟̖̆ͩ ͊̂�'̥̮͇͉t�-̿�"̽�'̻̰͍̺̙̜h̟ͣ͂̐a̮̰̬̞tͩ�"̜̜͐ͅ ̞̠̦̙̖ͭ̏̿̈́̈͊ͅg̙͉̦̥̤̳̈́͌̍ͅi�"̇ͨ�'̞͎̼̥̪͍͖̄r�'̻͆ͨ̈�™͖l�'͖ ̈́�'w̰̝̝̤ͦ̈̇̾ỉ̯ͤt́ͧ̃ͬ�'̱̉̾h̖͈̏̈́̇ͩ̅̚�"͍̱�™̯ ̦̩̤̞ͤͭ̄͆a�"̯̖͕̥̯̤ �'͇c�'�"̭̖͉͕̮̅̓ͤ̽̅r͇̤ͥ͋uͦ�'ͨ�"̻̽̈́̏s̟̺̆̂̌̅ͤͮ�™̫̰͇ͅh̰�"̦̳͈ ̃ͤ͊͊̾�'̫͚̻̰̹͛o�'̐�-�'̿nͣͤ͌ ̰ͣ͆ͬ͌̚�"̹̭G͐�"͋̆̄͊a͈̟̳̞r̍̀̇�'͕̮̘̺y̦ͥ�™͇̹�™̤͈?�'͆�'̊�'̩͊͊ ͈̫͆̿̄̽͛̂O͌�"͎̰�™̞͚̯r�'̺̮̙̬̙̄̽ ͕͍͇�™̣̳̤a͙͙̓ͅm�'̼ ̞̥̖�"̥I̠͎̪̳̼̼ͭ̋̆̊ ̯̳̫j̆u̇s͍̙̿̅ͫ̂̉͛̋t�-̆�"̐̂ ͕̉͋͐̅ͬ̍̆�"̫̜̜̳�"'ͦͤ�"�'T̝͛ͨ̋̓ͫa͊ͥͦb͙̆ͅī̦̳̟̬͎̂̅̽ͪ̋ͥͅt̟̪h�-a͛̂ͣ̄�'̱͍̭͚̺̻'�'s̘̙̣͋͆ ͎̘̱͖̱̫͕ͮ͆f͂̿̓�-͍̤̄rͩ�-̹̞ỉ̤̐̀̃́ͧĕ̼̠̱̚�"̺̠̪n̘͌̄̐̐̏̎͆�-̣d͎̙͕̣̟͉̮'ͨ̓̍�'͙̆?�"͙̘̭̬̞͍͈ ̺ͦ�"̞Yͧ�"̾ͤ̄ͨ�-̮̭̩o�"̖̞̺̘̌̾̃ŭ̈́̚�"ͪrͬ�"̩ ̹͎̠̬ͭͅcͬͫͩ̉͐ͭ�"̤͚͇h͎̟̞͈̐̅͛ͪͥ̀a͍̯͋r�-̯̪͙̘̩̉͋i�'ͭ̍̃̿�'̙͎̖̱̮͐tͫͪ̎͛ỵ ̮̯̝̩̩̝ͦp̈́�"�"̜̇ͣ�-�™̹r͉̞̼̖̙ó͐͊́̃̍̃�-�"̤�"͇j̞eͧ̏̅̽̈�'̝̼̭c̝̺̼̺͉̽̓ͦt͆͌?͉̽̿̅͂̓ͪ͊”

“No… Alex… your heads just a little messed up. Dont do anything arsh! wait!!”

There was a long pause. Tabitha slammed her fists on the table and screamed.

The person I care most about, she growled at herself, is the only one I can’t help! She buried her face in her arms and wept. I couldn’t talk to Jake! Gary hates me! CH is stuck to Jake. Frank is stuck to CH. Now I’ve messed things up with Alex. She sobbed even louder.

Then there was a soft knock at her bedroom door. Her dad opened it a crack and poked his head inside. “Is everything all right?”

“No…” Tabitha whispered.

“What’s the matter?” He started to open the door but stopped. “May I come in?”

Tabitha nodded. “I have no friends…”

“Aw… of course you do!” Her dad put a hand on her shoulder. “What about that nice Gary fellow?”

“He hates me, Dad. He has for the past several years.”

“So you keep saying. But don’t worry, that’s just highschool drama, honey.”

“But it’s not! I hurt his best friend. And I want to make it better, but I’m too afraid to.”

“Well, if he can’t just accept you, then he’s missing out.”

“But what if I am wrong, Dad? What if I messed up and hurt his feelings?”

“Then he just needs to toughen up! Sticks and stones, y’know?”

“But…”

“No buts, Tabitha. Besides, isn’t Alexis your… BFF?”

“Yeah, but…” Tabitha sighed. “I think I hurt her feelings too.”

“What makes you say that?”

“The text on her phone literally changed colors. Like, I didn’t even know that was possible. I just can’t…”

“Can’t what?”

“I can’t keep friends! Jake has an army of friends at his side, and he’s schizophrenic! Isn’t schizophrenia supposed to make you antisocial?”

“It is. We’ve talked about this; Jake isn’t schizophrenic. He’s lying to get sympathy. I thought we already determined this?”

“We did…” Tabitha sighed and gave up. “Thanks, Dad.”

“Better now?”

No. “Yes.”

“Good. I love you, Tabitha.”

“I love you too, Dad.”

She really did love her dad, but he could not be worse when it came to emotional crises. That must be right. Jake must be lying. Like Alexis, she was more than willing to forget about the events of last night’s dream. Besides, it was just a dream, of course.

The door to her cell popped open, and Jake entered. Her PC rushed forward wrapped her arms around the boy without Tabitha even touching the keyboard. She saw Gary standing nearby, and he was just as surprised as both Jake and Tabitha herself. She pulled her character off of Jake.

“Thanks, Skitz.” Once again, the computerized voice perfectly conveyed the subtleties of human speech such as reluctant yet sincere gratitude. It was not the first time he had saved her from an inescapable evil…

“Let’s just get out of here,” Jake replied coldly, leading her from her cell.

When they reached the end of the hall, they saw that the last cell’s door was wide open. Alexis’ avatar stood outside it, waiting for them.

“It took you long enough,” she chuckled.

Tabitha’s avatar bore the same apologetic expression the player herself did. Alexis seemed not to notice.

⁂

“All right, everybody,” Gary said to the party. “We need to get out of this prison. Now, I’ve found that the aliens who held us captive are all holed up in a control room.”

“Actually,” a nasal and piercing voice said, startling the kids, “we are right here. I don’t think we were supposed to talk like this right here and now, but a strange thing the likes of which I know was not in our game came to me and told me to do so. So here I am.

“All hail.” Jake sighed. “You’re Alecris, right?”

“That is correct, child. I don’t have a lot of time to tell you this. Don’t give up. Things will get bad. Things will get hopeless. Some of you will die. But don’t you dare stop. Your sacrifices will not be in vain! Keep fighting! And above all: stay resolute! Do not lose your resolve!”

“From whom is that message?” Frank asked.

“He told me you’d ask that question… Frank, right? He told me so. He also told me not to prattle on like I always do. It was an odd request seeing as ‘prattling on’ is not a thing I do. Words are very important to me, so… oh. Well. Anyway, he told me merely to say: ‘spoilers.’”

“Spoilers?” Frank laughed. “This is real life and I’m getting ‘spoiler alerts’ from time-travelling monsters. Well… fine then.”

“Oh. Here it comes. Prepare yourselves. Your lives are about to change forever.”

The screen turned black again. There was more plain white text, bearing another ominous message: “DO NOT SLEEP.” And there was a “Waiting for players” counter too.

“Waiting for 6 players…” Jake collapsed out of his chair. His vision quickly blacked out. The last thing he saw was the form of a female with a terrible white smile.

“Waiting for 5 players…” Constantina fell backwards in her chair onto a pile of clothes. A black silhouette appeared. It put one hand over her mouth and shut her nose with the other. She tried to resist, but ultimately passed out.

“Waiting for 4 players…” Frank jerked his head up as a man kicked his bedroom door down. The man wore a ski mask and a dull grey hoodie. He pulled a gun from his pocket and shot Frank in the chest. The boy fell to the floor as his body grew cold. His vision went dark.

“Waiting for 3 players…” Gary stepped away from his computer seconds before it started smoking and crackling. Then he heard people calling for help in every direction. He began hyperventilating as every voice slowly became that of Jake. He tried desperately to determine whence the voice was coming. He fell to the floor, unconscious.

“Waiting for 2 players…” Alexis’ room was full of black fog. I will hijack Gary’s newfound power boost to assist the reader, for I get the feeling he or she is weary of being left in the dark regarding Alexis’ doings during these vital moments. Oh. It seems she is already sleeping peacefully. No, scratch that, not peacefully. Her eyes are shut tight, and her muscles are tense. Tears are running down her face. Hopefully she forgets whatever nightmare she’s having, and it’s not just a part of her past that she will have to remember for forever.

“Waiting for 1 player…” Tabitha finally cried herself to sleep, thinking about her ruined relationships.

All players logged on

Starting game

Welcome

To

AT THE END OF FOREVER

End Day Three