by J P Carver
“I’ve called you like six times,” a voice replied and he forced himself to open his eyes to find a room that was bathed in sunlight. The walls were painted a pale tan color. Posters were pinned around the room, some of them he recognized as movies, but many were pieces of art that he had never seen before. A desk sat in the right corner beneath another set of windows. A TV stand was right beside the door with an old box set sitting on it that he had only seen the like of in movies.
“Are you awake now?” the voice asked, and he looked over to see a woman sitting against the wall on his bed. She was young, but he couldn’t place her age. “Breakfast is already on the table, you better eat quick if you want to walk to school with me. I ain’t waiting.”
“Who are you?” he asked as he struggled to sit up. She gave him a pouting glare as she crawled over him and got out of the bed. He took notice of what she was wearing now. A school uniform, skirt, tie, and all. Her hair was a golden brown and tied up in a messy ponytail behind her head and she tightened it and brushed down the wrinkles on her cloths.
“What the hell do you mean who am I? I’m your sister, you dork,” she said with a grin and took his hands and started to pull him from the bed. “And since you’re my little brother, it’s my response—”
“Wait, what?” he said and tried to remove his hands from hers. She was surprisingly strong. “What the hell are you going on about?”
“I’m saying, get out of bed. We're going to be late,” she said and tugged again. He pulled with all his strength to free himself, instead he pulled her on top of him on the bed. He fell back and smacked his head off the wall and she landed hard with her chin dug into his ribs.
She gave a faint groan and pushed herself up.
“Really? Not even ten minutes here and you’re already trying to make it with your sister?” He knew that voice, and he almost didn’t look around to confirm it. When he did, he saw Peyton standing in the doorway, a faint grin on her pained face.
“It’s not like tha—”
“No, nothing happened, what are you talking about?” his ‘sister’ said as she scrambled from him, her cheeks redder than most apples. “Just—get downstairs, both of you, we’re already going to be late.”
His ‘sister’ rushed from the room and he thought he heard some sobs coming from her as she went. He sat up on the bed and sighed as he straightened the collar of his shirt. “What the hell is going in?”
“We made it to the next floor,” she said and crossed the room. He couldn’t explain what it was, but she looked very different from the last floor. Then it hit him like a pile of bricks. She was far younger looking now and her tail and fox ears were gone. There were two tuffs on the top of her head where the ears had been, however.
“What the hell is that about?” he asked with a gesture to her clothes.
“What? It’s the clothes I had.”
“No, I mean why do you look like you’re a teenager,” he said and looked down at himself and felt his stomach sink. He looked a lot like he did when he was a teen, just not quiet as frail. “And why do I?”
“Must be the world settings. I don’t know who is running this level, but it’s one of my higher AIs which means it will differ from any of the other floors we’ve experienced.
“Lovely,” Geo said and pulled himself from the covers. He was only in a t-shirt and boxers as he went to what looked like the closet.
“Don’t get dressed on my account, I don’t mind the view,” she said and gave him a sharp grin that he ignored. He slid open the door and found a school uniform hanging in the closet.
“Do I really—?”
“Yes, we have to play along until we find the boss room or safe room. Without those we’re stuck in the water here,” she said and patted him on the shoulder as she went to the door. “See you downstairs.”
“Wait,” he called and she popped back in the room. “If she’s my sister here, what does that make you?”
“Your childhood friend, my parents died in a plane crash and your family was kind enough to take me in,” she said and he narrowed his eyes at her. With a giggle she held up her hands. “Honest truth, at least according to the diary in my room. Plus, I’m in love with you.”
“Right…” he said and pulled black dress pants from their hanger. “Wait? What?”
“Oh, don’t worry about it. It’s just the backstory for my character. It’s not like it changes anything, I already like you.”
“Liar,” he said and turned back to the closet where he paused. “Hey, I’m sorry about Audra.”
She didn’t respond and he turned to see her, but she had already disappeared. He could hear her socked feet pad down the hallway. She had heard him at the very least.
He couldn’t blame her for not sticking around, but he wished she had. He dressed in silence, listening to the sounds from downstairs. Peyton chatted with his ‘sister’, but their words were too distorted by distance to understand them.
Once dressed, he checked himself in the mirror and found his suspicions were correct. He looked like he was in his late teens, a faint shadow of a partial beard played across the bottom half of his face. Gone were the wrinkles of stress and age, though his skin was breaking out in places.
He opened his stat sheet and found most of the same things, except his psyche was now 95 and he had lost the anguish status affect. However, he still felt bad about losing Klara, but he couldn’t help but wonder who the woman had been after Audra went down. Even more so, he wanted to know how Audra was killed when it looked like she would destroy them all.
Closing out of the window for his stats he grabbed his bag and phone and went to the door with one last look around the room. This level would be a strange one, he could already tell. He put his tie around his neck and went downstairs hoping his ‘sister’ or Peyton could tie it for him.
School Daze
At breakfast Geo learned his ‘sister’ was named Aya. The breakfast with the three of them didn't last too long, as Aya left once she finished, grabbing her bag and leaving the house in a quick jog. She had yelled a goodbye to both of them, but she didn’t hear their replies.
“I hope you know how to get to the school,” he said around a mouthful of toast. “Because I sure as hell don’t.”
“I do, but I wish she had stayed. I could have picked her brain.” Peyton was eating a strawberry from the bowl and doing it in the most seductive manner possible. Geo ignored her.
“You think she knows anything? I mean, what kind of level is this, anyway? Feels a lot more slice-of-life than the Action RPG game we’ve been fighting through.”
She wiped a bit of juice from the corner of her mouth and faced the large picture window that showed a sunny fall day outside. “No kidding. Like I said, with how things are glitching, we’re lucky there was anything this interesting here. I bet there are Mania Cubes here, too.”
“You think they’re the reason Audra—”
Peyton grabbed her bag from the table and walked toward the door without a word. She slipped her shoes on and then opened the door and stood there.
“We’re not talking about that. Come on, I have a key to lock up,” she said in such a monotone voice that he could still detect the pain beneath it. He got his bag and made his way to the door. Once his shoes and jacket were on, he stepped out into the coolness of the day and looked up and down the street.
There were a few trees, but mostly the road was walled in from buildings on either side. It reminded him the last level’s city, but these were more modern buildings and to top it off, there were people walking about on the road, talking and laughing as they went.
Peyton hooked his arm with hers and pulled him along the street. “We’re already going to be late.”
“Does that really matter?” he asked as he pulled himself free from her. “What’s the worse that happens?”
“We get detention which means we won’t be able to search—”
“We can just skip it, can’t we?”
<
br /> “Look at Mr. Rebel,” she said with a smirk as they continued to walk. “Did you always break the rules?”
“No, I just don’t see the point of following them when we won’t be here long enough for it to matter.”
“So we hope,” she said and the smirk disappeared. She turned to look at the sky at they walked. “We could get stuck here.”
“How? I thought the game always had a way out of a floor.”
She shrugged and sidestepped a pole. “I don’t know, but it’s a possibility with how things are going. It might be more corrupted than either of us thought. Plus, we don’t know how this game is set up. I can’t access any of my weapons here.”
He opened his inventory and found the same. They were still there, and his armor was equipped, but he couldn’t bring his sword or shield into reality. He tried his
“If we have to get good grades to pass this level, we’re screwed,” he said as he turned his gaze toward the end of the road. The school showed white as bone between leaves of orange and yellow. It was a big rectangle building that had cut out a swath of trees in the forest that surrounded it.
The grounds were large and flat, filled with sports equipment. The bike area was packed with so many kinds that it looked like a mosaic. All the walkways to the school were empty, save for a few frantic students who were running full on toward the school.
A bell rang just as they passed the gate to the school. Peyton grabbed his hand and pulled him along toward the front glass doors, but as her foot hit the first step, a man stepped out onto the stoop and crossed his arms. His glare sent a shiver down Geo’s spine and stopped Peyton in her tracks.
“Both of you are late,” he said. He made his voice deeper than normal and it sounded almost comical. He was a tall man, late thirties with bushy brown hair and a pair of circle glasses that hung off his large nose. “Again, I might add.”
“Again?” Geo asked without thinking and got a hand to the chest from Peyton.
“Sorry, sir. We… we got caught up at home. You see, our—”
“I don’t need excuses, Miss Ania,” he said and came down two steps. “Get to homeroom, both of you, and I’ll see you in detention this afternoon.”
“Yes, sir,” Peyton said and grabbed Geo’s arm again and pulled him along. “See?” she said once they were inside. “Now we gotta deal with that asshole after school.”
“What did he mean again?”
She narrowed her eyes in question, and he was pretty sure she was asking if he was an idiot. “Remember what Audra said? The simulation runs when the level is made. We, as far as the simulation is concerned, have been here our entire lives. People know us, we have relationships and histories.”
“That’s nuts,” Geo said, and she nodded as she turned to go up a set of stairs.
“Agreed, but usually it’s a few months of simulation, just to set the level up. This was seventeen or eighteen years.”
“In the game,” Geo said, his heart skipping a beat. “You mean in the simulation, right?”
“Yes, it’s only been about a month and a half since you entered the game.”
His stomach dropped. “You are not good at calming people.”
“No reason to sugar coat it. Better than years, right? Come on, you’re in the class across from mine.”
“Why does this place look familiar?” he asked as they started down the hallway. “It kind of reminds me of my high school.”
“It should, we base some of it on your memories, but most of it has to come from some game the floor AI is choosing.” She came to a stop outside of a door and then lifted an arm to point to the one across. “You’re in there. We’ll talk more during lunch, all right? We have gym together too, but that’s in the afternoon.”
“How do you know all this?”
“I told you, my character keeps a diary and I read quick,” she answered and then opened the door to her classroom.
Geo went to the other and opened it to find it filled with students all wearing the same uniform. They all turned to look at him and he glanced down at himself just to make sure he was still wearing clothes. It felt so surreal to be standing there.
He took notice of an empty desk near the back of the room and beside the windows and made a bee-line for it.
“Nice of you to join us, Mr. Wilson,” the woman at the front of the room said. She was wearing a knitted green sweater and slacks. There was a very strict look on her face, but he could tell it was forced. She didn’t look the strict type, especially with the smily face pin on her chest. But her dark blue eyes sold the annoyance really well. It almost felt like she was staring into his soul.
“Sorry,” he mumbled as he sat down.
“I’m sure you already met Mr. Hyde, so I won’t assign you more detention, but this is the third time, Geo. You need to get your act together.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, his head down. This was too much like his high school years. He settled into his desk and took out his planner from his bag.
“Man, first time I’ve seen Miss Flagg that annoyed,” a voice said from beside him. He looked over and felt his heart skip a beat. “But then, you did just get here.”
“Klara?”
The New Girl
He stared at her and it took a few seconds for his brain to process what he was seeing. She looked exactly the same, though there was no dirt smudged on her face and her brown hair laid in thick curls to her shoulders. She was smiling at him the entire time.
“How?”
She shrugged and faced the front of the class and spoke from the side of her mouth. “Dunno, just woke up here in a house.”
“But I saw—”
“Geo, is one detention not enough? I can make it two if you really want,” Miss Flagg said and Geo sat straight and closed his mouth. She waited a few more seconds before continuing with the lesson, but Geo wasn’t paying attention. His mind was reeling.
Class ended with the bell and everyone got up to leave for the next one. Geo reached out and grabbed Klara by the arm and led her toward the corner of the room.
“How are you here?”
“I told you, I don’t know. I just woke up here and been going to school since.”
“But I saw Audra—”
“Eat me? Yeah, she did, and I didn’t agree with her,” she smirked, her nose scrunching up.
“But how?”
“We don’t have time to go through all of this, we have another class-” she turned and Geo reached out and stopped her.
“We’re making time. I thought you died.”
“Well, I’m just an NPC so technically when you clear a level, we all die.”
“Wait, how do you know about that?”
She rolled her eyes. “I know a lot of things now. This is a game, for you, and we’re all here to be parts in that game. Could have said something before I died, Geo.”
He shook his head, trying to make sense of what she was saying. That’s when he noticed that something else was different. He squeezed her arm as hard as he could, causing her to cry out.
She tore her arm free from his grip and rubbed at it. “What the hell was that for?”
“You’re—you’re in Audra’s body? You’re real now?”
“What?”
“We have to tell Peyton. She needs to see this—”
“No, I got class and so do you. I’m not going to be late because of you.” She took off out of the room before he could catch her again and he ran after her into the hall. It was a sea of students he met and lost her among them. He looked around hoping to find Peyton, but she too was no where to be seen.
He found one other kid from his class and followed him down the hall.
“Hey,” the classmate said when he stopped and turned to face Geo. “What’s up?”
“Don’t remember what class is next,” Geo said and dove his hands into the pock
ets of his pants, trying his best to look cool. He failed and knew it. “Figured I’d just follow you, sorry.”
“Nah, no worries. I still check my schedule every day. Come on, we got art next.” He motioned with a hand and Geo walked beside him. “You’re Aya’s brother, right?”
The question took him off guard, but he quickly recovered and nodded.
“Thought so, that’s gotta be tough. Though you don’t make it easy on yourself,” he said with a laugh and held out hand. “We’ve been in class together, but just a reminder, I’m Mason.”
“Geo,” he took the hand and they shook. “My sister is really that big of a deal?”
He scoffed. “Like you don’t know. Top of class, hot as a nova, and stricter than even Mr. Hyde. She’s a masochist wet dream. Then you got that other girl living with you. You’re lucky I’m not the jealous type like most of the others.”
Someone ran into Geo with their shoulder and knocked the books from his hand. He turned to face the kid, but he was already lost in the crowd of students.
“Exhibit A,” Mason said with a chuckle and helped him pick up his books.
“Great, like I didn’t have to live through this kind of bullshit once,” Geo said and caught Mason’s narrowed brows. “Forget it.”
“Right,” he said and continued down the hall. They entered a six way hub, the ceiling was glass and shined grey light across the floor, giving the place a cold feeling.
He caught sight of Aya at the entrance to one of the other halls. She gave him a quick wave and her features softened for just a moment before she turned back to the surrounding group. He could feel glares coming from the group which disturbed him slightly. She was his sister in this world.
They came to the art room and Geo found a seat next to Mason as all the others were taken. He caught Klara’s eye, but she ignored him for the rest of the class.
Art went by quickly and Mason turned out to be a good guy to goof off with, but Geo’s mind was barely in the room. He had to tell Peyton about Klara and they needed to figure out what happened.