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pandemicthestory · 4 years
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episode 17: defined
In here, the passage of time is impossible to measure.
Night and Emma have been sitting in the forest for minutes - but then again, it could be hours.  
What’s weirder than the time freeze, though, is that the longer she stays here the less anxious Emma feels. When Night brought her here she was fuming, but now, that anger seems to have faded. So like, is this an enchanted forest? Or is it something to do with...him.
“I don’t know anything about you.” he says, unprompted. He knows this is a lie, but he wonders what she’ll say in response.
The dark forest darkens. It’s almost as if they have nowhere to be. 
“Well uh, that sister I’m looking for...she’s sort of, the favorite. And it makes sense, so I’m not really mad. She’s the good one. I actually need her around, so that it doesn’t feel like everyone’s eyes are on me.” 
Night nods. 
“Do you mean that you aren’t good?” he asks. 
“I guess it depends on who you ask. My friends would probably tell you I’m special. My uh...other relationships…”
Her mind wanders to Julian, and the plan they had to get away. It seems like so long ago that she planned to leave everything for him - almost like a distant memory. It’s interesting to her that she’s somehow ended up farther away than she ever could’ve predicted. 
She returns to the non-Julian sitting in front of her. “Well no, I wouldn’t call myself good. And you?”
Night stares off into the darkness. 
“I don’t think anyone is good or bad really.” 
“Then why the hell did you ask me?” Emma asks, annoyed. 
“I was interested to hear what you’d say.”
Emma scoffs to herself. “You think you can learn who a person is based on what they tell you? Sorry, but it’s the opposite. Everyone lies and no one knows themselves anyway so the lies don’t even matter.” 
Emma seems to have given this idea some thought before.
“I think what people have to say about themselves says less about where they’ve already been, and more about where they might be going.” explains Night. 
“Oh really? Are you a psychologist or something? Don’t answer that, I don’t even want to know. You freak me out.” 
“You say you’re no good, and I think...I think that means that you don’t know your own potential...and that you’re setting a limit on yourself so you don’t have to find out.” 
 Emma opens her mouth to respond, but has nothing to say. 
“So what are you, a psychologist?”
The two of them continue to sit in the forest, beginning to recognize more about what they have in common and some of what makes them different. 
Emma breaks down the meaningful parts of her life for him. As a teenage girl, that basically consists of friends, family, school. She wonders why Night seems so interested in something that is, to her, so boring. Her face lights up when she talks about her friends. It darkens when she talks about Isabel. 
She notices that he hardly moves. She notices that he seems like he knows how every story is going to end. 
Night finds Emma to be confusing. He finds most people around him to be predictable - from his early childhood surrounded by other Inborns, to his high school classmates coming from different walks of life (both “real” and virtual). No matter the case, Night lives on his own planet far from the rest of humanity. Normally, he tunes everything out. So why is she any different?
He notices that Emma is shockingly unapologetic, yet senses her overwhelming guilt and insecurity. How can she be so confidently odd but seem to doubt her own worth?
And for that matter, why is that someone who loves her sister enough to chase her through different worlds...seems to not really know her sister at all?
Why is she a builder of computers and software, a creator of code, yet seems erratic with no laws binding her?
It’s her who breaks the connection first: “We should probably go, right?” 
Sure, yeah, probably. He nods. They rise. 
And yet, he continues to wonder: why is it that when he speaks, her eyes burn deep into him? In this forest, always dark and quiet for as long as he can remember, those fierce eyes are like sun.
* * * 
6 MONTHS EARLIER:
Night can barely keep his head up in class. The long nights of aimlessly staring into the internet have made him almost nocturnal. Which is why it would be really unfortunate if--
“Night, what was your response?” 
Shit. 
Of course Teacher calls on him. He definitely hasn’t been paying attention to whatever’s been going on, so...his response is:
“I don’t have one.” 
Some of his classmates laugh. Others roll their eyes, unamused--this kid’s vacancy was funny the first five times and now it’s just tiresome.
Teacher is among the unamused. 
“Well see if you can think of one by the end of the period, and you can tell me after class.” 
More laughter. Night groans and returns his head to the cold metal of his desk. Wait, what was the question again?
The vibration of his desk stirs his consciousness - the slight humming motion that lets everyone know when class is over. Those around him rise up and head for the door. A few students give him a pitying look, but most don’t really see him. This, he’s used to. 
Teacher shuts the door behind them. She sighs.
“You already know what I’m going to say. And I already know what you’re going to say.” 
“Then why did you keep me here? I--” Night responds.
“--You’re going to try to convince me that this is the best you can do. When I am quite confident that is not the case.” 
“I just don’t care. And I don’t mean disrespect by it.” Night is unable to articulate himself in a way that’s not offensive, but again, that’s nothing new. 
“I understand you Night. And I want to move forward instead of dwelling on the past. Have you made progress on your research assignment?”
Night pauses. 
“That’s ok, I’m going to guess that you haven’t started. But you still have a week. You can do something brilliant, I know you can. If you used all of your mind, Night…” 
He wonders what she’ll say, but she doesn’t finish.
“I want to believe in you, so help me to do so. You need to improve if you want to get on the right track...if you want to be building at the level that I know you’re capable of...well, some people aren’t so lucky when they graduate, and some are. I hope you’re among the lucky.” 
She offers a smile. He wonders if she gives this speech to everyone. 
* * * 
“I’ma go ahead and take a night shower, cuz I gotta get up early and do school service. Don’t ask bro, I don’t wanna talk about it.” Sugar says as he heads into their bathroom. 
Night just nods.
“Uh, aren’t you gonna ask me about it?” Sugar asks. 
“You just said you didn’t want me to.” 
“Yeah but you always up in my business anyway. What’s up with you? You know what, I don’t wanna know.” Sugar closes the bathroom door, and then calls from inside, “but you can tell me if you want to.” 
Night boots up his computer. Maybe it’s time to start that research paper. Or to at least read the assignment description, because he honestly has no idea what’s supposedly due next week. 
Ok, huh. Doesn’t seem to be the normal kind of research paper...it seems like, they’re actually expected to...make their own research. As in, find something new. Well shit. One week is going to be difficult.
Night is incredibly smart, and had this been a typical “find the history of blah blah blah”, this wouldn’t be a problem. But now he’ll need to think. 
So he thinks. 
And thinks. 
And...gets sick of thinking.
He finds it interesting that there are young people like him all over the world doing the same exact assignments every night, yet everyone is alone and working independently. Maybe everyone is struggling to care like he is. 
People should really band together and overpower the system that requires “research papers.” What a useless skill, honestly.  
Night begins to search through forums on information and research sharing, diving deeper and deeper. There are certainly others out there looking for the same shortcuts. 
It’s under an obscure reddit forum that he finds a question and answer about some...anonymous genius who writes papers. It’s expensive, but supposedly vouched for. 
Huh.
Who could this ghostwriter be? They sound useful. 
Night follows the virtual bread crumb trailer just a bit farther. He soon finds the ghostwriter’s well-disguised website, and drafts an email of inquiry. He sends the assignment prompt and notes that price is not an issue, only time. 
Nothing more he can do now. He might as well troll around for another few hours before sleeping for two, and then maybe he’ll wake up to a response before class.
*ping* 
Surprisingly, he doesn’t have to wait that long. Someone out there stays awake just as late as he does.
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pandemicthestory · 4 years
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chapter 16: designed
The windows here are bigger and clearer than in the real world.
The sun is beginning to set. Even though Isabel knows it’s not the “real” sun, it’s still pretty beautiful. She notices that this one is more obviously round, like she can see the edges. Exactly where it stops.
“Stand at the window for long enough and you might fall through it.” Isabel’s roommate, Diamond, says with a smirk. She piles on makeup while sitting in front of the mirror. Apparently it’s Friday night somewhere.
“What do you mean?” Isabel asks absently as she touches the glass.
“Push harder, and mean it.” 
As if the glass has turned to water, Isabel’s hand passes through in an instant. The shock of the cold air sends her rocketing backward and puts Diamond into a fit of giggles. 
“Uhh why would that ever be necessary?” 
“For when you can’t leave out the door. I built it that way.” Diamond says with a wink. 
“Good to know…” Isabel murmurs to herself, wandering over to her bed. Diamond is just about finished getting ready. Isabel watches her, closely observing the amount of care that this person takes to look a certain way. Who is she “out there”... in the real world? Does she have the same glamour and confidence in every world she encounters? 
Isabel desperately wants to ask where she’s going, but somehow she knows that she won’t get an answer anyway. If there’s an event, she won’t be informed. If there’s a party, she won’t be asked to tag along.  
But Isabel mentally shakes herself - she has to remember why she came to this world. She didn’t come for a party, or to make new friends. No. She doesn’t need a new friend. She needs to find the one she lost. 
And if she’s going to convince anyone to help her, Diamond is, so far, her best bet. So Isabel will be quiet. She won’t ask questions. She’ll even stay away from the window. She’ll be good, like she’s always been. Like her parents always expected her to be, like her sister Emma couldn’t.
Whether or not this place is a game, Isabel will play it. As long as it takes to get what she came for.  
“You want to know where I’m going, don’t you?” Diamond stands there, ready for...whatever she’s ready for. 
Isabel just stares, eyes wide. 
Diamond rolls her eyes, and laughs a little under her breath. She crosses the room towards Isabel. 
Isabel jumps back in fear. She has no reason not to think this person is insane. 
But Diamond passes her by, pausing ever-so-briefly to say, “This isn’t a game.”
And with that, she leans forward - disappearing out the window.
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pandemicthestory · 4 years
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15: explained
Madison violently cranks her window shut. 
Just the sight of Julian makes her feel disgusting, like she should take a scalding shower and then also shave a layer off of her skin.
There’s a reason Julian knows where her window is. And that’s because of last year. Last year when he, famous window climber, snuck into her bedroom and tried to seduce her. While, not to mention, dating her best friend.
It was a school night, so hearing a car pull up into the driveway stuck out against the normal suburban silence. Julian had been texting her on and off for the past couple of weeks, in a very friendly way. He’d said he wanted to do something nice for Emma’s birthday and needed her help with planning it. He was vague about the details and discouraged Madison from mentioning it too much in their chat. In case Emma somehow saw Julian’s phone, he didn’t want her to suspect anything. 
Madison had warned against a surprise party. Emma would hate that. She didn’t thrive in large gatherings. Madison thought Emma would appreciate a gesture demonstrating that Julian really knew her. She mentioned that maybe he could make a scrapbook or video of their time together. He had said that he hadn’t taken any photos or videos. Looking back, that should have been a red flag. But Madison didn’t see it. 
While they were conspiring together to give Emma the ultimate birthday surprise, they had never discussed meeting in person to plan. Thus, Madison was completely shocked to hear that car pull up on that Tuesday night. Looking out the window confirmed her fears--it was Julian. God dammit. Everyone knows he has a freakish ability to climb the side of a house up to a window. 
Sure enough, he scaled the wall like a rodent and rapped on the window, expecting to be granted entrance. Madison let him in so that she could castrate him for showing up here uninvited and at an ungodly hour.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
“I thought we could have a brainstorming sesh.” Julian waltzed into her room and flopped down on her bed. Another one of his signature moves. 
“Julian, you have to go right now. There’s like 100 reasons you can’t be here. One of which is that I actually don’t want to look at your face.” 
“Madison, just come here. I have to tell you something but I don’t want to be too loud.” 
Against her better judgement, she moved cautiously towards her bed. Mistake. He, mediocre baseball player that he was, was much stronger than her and grabbed her arm, pulling her down to her bed. He tried to kiss her, but she slapped him with such force that he was knocked onto his back. 
“What the FUCK are you doing, Julian??” 
“What do you mean? Are you trying to say you haven’t wanted this?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying. Get the hell out.” 
“Madison...we might as well get this over with. Because I can make it look like we did anyway.” 
“What???”
Julian reached for his phone. 
“Don’t you think it would look odd to Emma if she *accidentally* saw these texts we’ve been having for weeks?”
“Um, no…?”
“Well I think she would. It’s not really clear why we’re chatting at 2am sometimes...” 
“It’s because I don’t sleep, asshole.” 
“Eh, I think she could be convinced otherwise.” He said with a smirk. 
“Julian why would you ruin your own relationship, that makes no sense.” 
“Because it won’t come to that…” he said as he tried to kiss her again. This time, she jumped up and screamed. Her mom called out from the other room, and Madison called back to assure her she was ok. 
“You can say whatever you want. But Emma will never believe you over me. I want you to leave. Now.” Madison tried to look threatening and confident, but in reality she wasn’t sure how much she believed her own words. 
Julian, summoning the shred of pride he had left, got up and exited through the window without a word.
He never told Emma what had happened. He’d moved on to another freshman girl and this time, he didn’t get away with it. Emma caught him and thankfully ended it. Completely broken-hearted. 
Madison always wondered if he would try and blackmail her, or who Emma would believe, but it stopped being a problem when Julian left the picture. 
Now, why is he back in said picture? How many damn secrets is Emma hiding?
Madison paces back and forth in her room. Can there be any truth to what this dickhead is saying about her having the virus? No way. What does he know? He’s like legally stupid. Why would she ever trust this compulsive liar... 
Still, though. 
If this is true, and Gabe is infected, Zoe will probably not hear her out. Emma’s missing. And so, while Madison really doesn’t want to spread this drama even further, she doesn’t feel that she can do this alone. It’s time to involve Olivia. 
*ring ring* 
“Hello?”
“Heyyyy Liv…” 
“Oh no. I know that tone of voice. Never means anything good.”
Madison fidgets.  
“Yeah, um, I gotta fill you in on a few things. More than one of our gals are in some deep shit.”
“Oh god. Of course I’m the last to hear about it.” Olivia rolls her eyes. “Out with it!” 
“I guess I’ll start with Zoe…” Madison begins. 
“--Wait shhhh, Mad, quiet….” 
“What is it?”
A pause. 
“I think a car just pulled into my driveway.”  
* * * 
  Emma marvels at the city around her. She never knew what “marveling” is until now. 
She and Night are walking (at a safe distance, it has’t been confirmed that he’s NOT a serial killer) through busy streets as a blinding sun beats above them. While the amount of light is astonishing, Emma notes that it isn’t overly warm. It’s temperate. Pleasant.
Buildings look like they might topple at any second, yet sturdy. Their architecture makes no sense--like a mixture of what the future might look like and something out of a fantasy. She’s never seen buildings with so many lights on the outside. For that matter, she’s never seen cars (is that what these are?) without tires. 
This is a game though, so of course anything is possible.
“Where are we going?” Emma asks, still transfixed by her surroundings. Part of her doesn’t really care. As long as she can continue to take this all in.
Night turns to face her directly. 
“I couldn’t think of just one place to tell you everything I want to tell you. So I thought we could take a walk, for me to show you my world.” 
There’s something about his tone and piercing eye contact that fascinates Emma. It’s like he has no filter or influence by societal norms. They continue to walk. 
“Ok then, can you maybe start by answering why you wanted me to come here?”
Shit, Night isn’t ready to tackle this one yet. It’s too complicated. First she needs to understand where “here” is.
“On second thought, maybe we should sit down somewhere…” He says as they are passing what looks like a city park. Except it’s more of a forest...the tallest trees that Emma has ever seen. Lush wildlife on the ground. She even catches glimpses of animals through the trees and under the brush. Emma searches for some sort of bench. 
“There’s nowhere to sit, Mason.” she mumbles, more concerned with the existence of what seems to be a magical forest in the middle of a metropolis. 
“I know a place. Follow me.” 
And with that, Night heads directly into the trees. Is he for real?
“Are you coming?” he calls, turning back to face her. Emma might be confused, but if nothing else, she’s also brave. And so she follows him. 
With just a few steps inside the trees, the once-blinding sun has dimmed. The lights of the city behind them have disappeared. 
Night leads Emma deeper into the forest “park”, towards a giant tree with roots big enough to recline on. He gestures, this is where they shall sit. 
“It’s so quiet.” Emma murmurs. 
“Therefore a good place to have a conversation, I figured.” Night shrugs. 
“What is this like, where you come to think?” Emma says sarcastically while wandering over to a big root with a seat-shaped divot. She sits.
“Not at all. I spend hardly any time outdoors, as I’m sure you can tell just from looking at me.” He cracks a half-smile. 
Emma nods, the dude does resemble a corpse. 
“That is, if you can even call this place outdoors. Can I sit here?” he asks, gesturing to Emma’s root. She nods. “They used to bring us here when we were kids to play. That was before we all started at the Academy.”
“They?” 
Night sighs. He’s never tried to explain all of this to anyone before. Everyone he’s ever known has been a part of it. 
“Is it ok if I talk for a while, and then you ask me any questions you want? He asks, earnestly. 
With all the darkness in this forest, his eyes somehow reflect light for the first time. Emma nods. He takes a deep breath, this might be a shit show.
“I guess I’ll start with...so, back in the 80s, Universe was one of the first PC games. It was very simple, the concept was simply to live a life, while contributing to bettering the simulated society. But you didn’t have total control over designing your character, because each player was meant to have flaws... 
Over the years, the graphics of the game improved...and it expanded and became more complicated, and felt more real. About ten years ago, the game became available for virtual reality. The original version of the game was still available to those who wanted to play the old way, but for others, a more immersive experience was way more desirable. Cooler and better. 
But the technology of the Universe game passed up the technology around it--other games, hardware. And people lost track of what happened to players, what they experienced...and, I know that in the past few years there’s been a huge amount of new players. And um, yeah, that’s most of what I know.”
Emma is listening quietly, comprehending. 
“It’s more of a virtual world than a game then?” she asks. 
“Yeah? This is crazy but, I don’t really know what it is. And I don’t think anyone fully does. I mean like, 30 years ago this game was built by developers. But since then, it’s been updated by players.”
“What do you mean?” she asks. 
“So like any other video game is built and updated by an external team of people, right? That’s why they can only be upgraded at a certain rate. Universe started with the purpose of being a citizen who betters society. Vague. In recent years, the point is to be a citizen who expands society. Who upgrades it. Universe is being upgraded from within the game.” 
Emma is following along, growing increasingly intrigued and slightly afraid. “Are...you upgrading it, then?”
Night nods. 
“Soon you’ll see that what almost everyone does here is “build.” My “high school,” so to speak--and it’s called the Academy--is meant to train young people how to build. That’s the most productive and useful career you can have in Universe right now. 
“What are you building?” Emma asks. 
“We’re building the game. We’re programming and expanding it from within.”
Night is becoming lost in his own stories. He has never tried to put words to this before. 
“Millions of people are working on this together, all the time. And as more people come here, the faster and more we need to build. Otherwise, we will run out of space. The um, pandemic that is happening in the real world...people are escaping here.”
Night waits for some sort of response. 
Emma takes a deep breath and begins to walk around.  
“Ok then Mason, where do you fit into all of this?” 
Night stares up at the tree. This is the part that he knew would be the toughest to explain.  
“Some of my earliest memories are from this place. Playing here with other kids. You know, there are centers that take care of us until we’re old enough to start at the Academy. That’s at a really young age, because we’re born almost fully developed.”
“Who’s we?” asks Emma. 
“Ah, so, the we, the us, we are...Inborns. Which is kind of funny because we’re not technically born, but, you know, it’s not actually that funny.”
“Mason, WHAT are Inborns?” Emma says, growing a bit frustrated. Get to the point, she can’t wait any longer to understand this.  
“Well uh, we’re programmed, or um, “born,” right here. In Universe.” 
Emma’s eyes widen as she begins to understand what he’s saying. All this time she had been picturing the lonely boy at his computer across the world. Stuck inside due to quarantine. Trying to find companionship in the internet. 
“Wait, you’re...not real?” 
For some reason, this hits Night hard. It feels like ice in his chest. Something that has haunted him his entire “life”, if he’s even allowed to call it that. He can feel. He can think. Yet he can’t claim his own reality.
“I don’t really know how to answer that, Emma. But I guess, if I understand the meaning behind what you’re saying, then, no. I am not real.” His face shows no emotion, but Emma recognizes hidden pain when she sees it. She wears the same expression herself. 
Night forges on.
“Emma I...I don’t have...parents. We are...built here, but we grow just like everyone else. We are meant to contribute as regular people. In the beginning, it was only us. When Universe was first invented is when the first Inborns were here, because they were an essential part of the game. But now, more and more people are transferring. Over time, we’ve been given the space to lead “normal” lives like everyone else, but it’s never felt normal for me.”
“How old are you Mason?”
“I’m 17. I have been here for 17 years, living as normal a life as I can.” 
She has nothing more to say to this. He continues.
“And Emma, my name isn’t Mason. I told you that because I wanted you to think I was “real.” I hope now that we’ve met, you can still see me that way.”
“What is your name?” 
“Night. I know it’s weird, I chose it myself.”
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pandemicthestory · 4 years
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14: traded
His hair is dark, but his eyes are somehow darker. 
They’re round and wide like the moon. Except instead of emitting light, they seem to suck it in. Maybe the long hair brushed in front of his eyes is to keep them from stealing the light away.
Tall and lean. Some muscle but not much. He wears a black linen suit that sort of makes him look like an emo janitor. Must be a uniform of some type.
He’s so pale--nearly a bluish-grey. Again, a child of the moon. His sharp cheekbones create shadows in his face--craters.
Emma takes the image in. She knows in an instant that she’s found him. 
“Mason?” she asks. Softly, cautiously. 
He has a strong jaw that’s emphasized when he cracks a smile. 
“You found me.” 
His voice is soft, calm, and measured. Almost soothing. Wait a second, she’s pissed at this guy. Don’t get soothed. Get mad. Get answers.
“Yeah, well uh, I’m actually really fucking angry with you.” 
Oops. Okay maybe a bit much. But at least it’s out there.
His smile fades. “You are?”
“Yes. Yes I am. Do you know why I’m here? I’ll just tell you. It’s not to find your psycho ass, it’s to find my little sister. She put on that gear you sent me, and now she’s a vegetable at my house in the real world and my body is in her closet and--” 
Night hasn’t blinked once. He’s taking in all of the information in a collected and methodical way. He’s never been one to come out with his emotions directly.
“--Can we go somewhere to talk?” Night asks. Emma fumes. 
“Why would I go anywhere with you, who I suspect to be a serial killer? I mean what are you even wearing?” 
Night looks down, remembering the uniforms he and Sugar had illegally donned. 
“Oh these clothes aren’t mine.” 
Emma rolls her eyes. Great, he’s weird. 
“Fine. Where are we going?”
* * * 
Julian is speeding in his car towards Madison’s house. He’s getting a little tired of this wild goose chase, and better get some useful information from this girl. 
Julian knows how loyal she is...how they all are with each other (fuckin weird), so he might have to get creative with how to get her to talk. He knows Madison is the crazy one, so he’ll have to be a little careful.
Julian DeRose has a record of getting everything he’s ever wanted. There are multiple reasons for this. The first is that in the suburbs, conventionally good-looking straight guys who are semi-decent at any given sport will be given an advantage in every opportunity they pursue. They walk among other folks like gods--especially if they grow their hair kinda long and get a couple of tattoos that really “mean something.” A recipe for success.
But the other reason why Julian has been able to bend others to his will for 17 years is that he’s never aimed that high. He never wanted A’s on homework, just a good enough grade to not fail. He never cared about achievement in baseball (his suburban sport of choice), he just wanted to be good enough to win the respect of his teammates and entrance into their parties.
Thus, he’s always lurked in this sort of cool yet bad boy realm--a realm that freshman girls are oddly attracted to. He first saw Emma when she was walking down the hallway at school, in line with three other freshman girls. All of these girls were cute, definitely had that excited-for-the-first-day-of-high-school energy. They were all talking frantically with each other, yet one of them seemed a bit more removed from the rest. She was listening more than she was talking. She laughed when the others didn’t, and vice versa. The way she stuck out was interesting to him. 
And so, he decided he would get to know her.
It wasn’t hard to make her fall in love with him. He liked the way it felt, being adored by someone younger and less jaded. Her seeing him as someone special made him feel that way about himself. She was so smart too, in a cool way. Not like her freak best friend who was more of the insufferable nerd type. No, this girl was into video games and comic books (apparently the fancy ones are called “graphic novels”), and she didn’t like music. She always preferred silence. The weirder she revealed herself to be, the more special he felt for catching her eye. 
And what did she get out of the relationship? She got to be loved. You could tell from a mile away that this girl was starved of it. She wanted someone to sneak into her bedroom window and lay next to her, to gaze into her eyes and make her feel needed. And that he could do.
And then there came a point where even her full admiration and attention wasn’t enough. It felt less special, and he didn’t like that. Julian was used to things coming easily, but for some reason, he wanted her love to be harder to work for. He grew tired of it. His eyes started to wander…
Emma was very cute, that wasn’t the problem. Cute girls were a dime a dozen. He wanted to find someone who was a challenge. And who could be more of a challenge then someone close to her..?
Julian’s car has pulled up to Madison’s house.
He’s not going to bother calling her, as she probably blocked his number anyway after what happened last year. 
“YO!” he aggressively calls from her driveway. He knows her window is right in front above the garage, and if he remembers correctly, she’ll be able to hear him even though it’s closed. 
“MADISON” he tries again. This time, the window is cranked open. 
“Oh hell no.”
Madison starts furiously cranking the window shut after seeing who it is. 
“Wait a second--” 
“I said HELL no--”
“It’s about Emma. I know she’s missing. Do you even care?”
Madison stops. Her glare is deadly. 
“Julian, how DARE you show up to my house, after I made it pretty FUCKING clear that I never wanted to see you again, and how DARE you suggest that you care about MY BEST FRIEND more than I DO? You have NEVER cared about her and you NEVER will because you are an egotistical, controlling ASSHOLE.”
Julian is un-phased. “You done yet?”
“Goodbye Julian--” 
“--Hey are you aware that you have the virus?”
She stops.
“What are you talking about? Shut the hell up.”
He smirks. Gotcha.
“I know for a fact that you have it. I’m not kidding.” 
Madison is starting to get a little nervous, but trying not to show it. 
“You don’t know anything. I have no symptoms. I’m totally fine…” she says. 
“And you know as well as I do that a whole lotta people get it and don’t show symptoms. They’re “totally fine”, but that doesn’t mean they can’t pass it to someone else. Why do you think we’re doing this quarantine shit? It’s to keep it contained. So uh, been outside of your quarantine lately?”
Madison’s face turns red. Shit. She can always feel it turning red against her will--the eternal giveaway. 
“Tell me what you’re talking about right now, Julian. This isn’t a game. If there’s any truth to your bullshit, which there absolutely isn’t, I need to know.” 
He hesitates. 
“Then will you help me, Madison?”
Ugh. How did she end up here? This isn’t the first time she’s gotten herself into a sticky situation with this asshole. One that she’ll probably have to cover up to save a friendship or two. 
“What do you want?”
He’s openly smiling now.
“I want to know what you and Gabriel were doing with Emma today. Where you went and why. Let’s hear it.” 
Madison feels her face turn a deeper red. How does he know this? The horrifying feeling that maybe there is truth behind his claim begins to set in. She takes a deep breath.
“I picked Emma up and we went to Best Buy. Zoe’s boyfriend Gabe used his old key card to get us in...” she’s struggling. Giving information to Emma’s ex? This is outright betrayal.
“Why.”
“Because...because Emma wanted to get some VR equipment. Yeah. I don’t know. Like a headset. For video games or something. And it was because...well she kept saying that her sister was in trouble. So, I’m guessing this had something to do with getting her out of said trouble. And that is all I fucking know.” 
Julian nods, thinking. 
“Well?” Madison asks.
“And then what happened?” he responds. 
“And then...the cops showed up because we set off the alarm, and I had to leave my car there, and Gabe drove us both home. That’s it.” 
Julian continues to nod. “Got it.” He gets into his car. 
“So um, do you plan on telling me what the fuck you were talking about before?” she yells. 
Julian starts the engine and then rolls down his window. He’s gotten what he needed and really doesn’t have to tell this bitch anything. However, being able to trade with her might be useful in the future. Whatever the hell is going on with Emma, it’s not over yet. Julian calls out.
“Either you’re carrying the virus or Emma is. Because that guy Gabe has it now. And it’s bad.” 
Madison’s jaw drops in horror, as Julian drives away. 
* * * 
A young woman wearing a green linen suit is talking on the phone in her dorm room.
The room, like Night’s, is divided into two sides. But unlike Night’s, both sides are clean. In fact, one side is empty. It seems as though no one is living there.
The woman on the phone seems very annoyed. She yells into her phone...
“Well they’re just sticking me with a new student. Right. I didn’t even have any say in it, I don’t even MEET her first. Honestly ridiculous.”
The girl reclines on her bed, staring at the empty bed with disdain. After all that her father has invested into this bullshit Academy, you’d think she might be treated with a bit more consideration. 
“Oh I don’t know, some Candidate...Super young, yeah...No idea why they’d put her with a Transfer anyway...they said there were no other rooms available but you think I believe that? Like what, am I supposed to be her mentor or something? Brainwash her into transferring? The board is so twisted, I swear.”
Suddenly, the lock of the dorm room door clicks and beeps. 
“Oh shit, gotta go. I think she’s here.” The woman ends the call and sits upright in bed, expectantly.
The door opens, and a young Candidate comes in. She’s already dressed in her red uniform, and she doesn’t have any belongings with her. Standard.
This girl is tall, but young. Like the captain of the seventh grade basketball team. Ha. That’s funny. She’ll have to remember to tell her friends that. 
“Are you Diamond?” The girl speaks. Hm.
“Yeah, um, I’d say you can put your stuff on that side...but it seems like you don’t have any.” she says with zero enthusiasm.
The girl sits down on the other bed.  
“Thanks. I’m Isabel.”
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pandemicthestory · 4 years
Text
13: ghosted
Emma wanders down a busy virtual street, barely able to keep her jaw from hitting the digital concrete.
She had been expecting a video game, something with pixels and glitches, but what was in front of her seems so much more real. It's almost disturbing.
Skyscrapers are tall, as she has known them to be in the real world. But here, they are round, and they aren’t perfectly straight--they are shaped like an off-balance layer cake. And the lights shine so much brighter. Holographic advertisements cover surfaces. Except, she notices that they’re not for Chipotle or cars, they’re news spots. 
“The death toll in the state of California rises to 12,000, a 200% spike since last week” 
She sees that holograms are delivering news from the real world. 
A car zooms way too close to her, and she jumps back--shaken from her stupor. Well, it looked like a car. However, it has no wheels. Emma smirks to herself at how Madison would react: “I’m already aware that the Camaro is a piece of shit, I don’t need these turbo spaceships to rub it in my face even more.”
Emma marvels at the size of the city and the people around her. Some of them are talking on devices like the one she was handed on the beach--though instead of holding it to their ears like cell phones, it’s at more of a distance from their faces and projecting holographic video. Some people are walking in groups, conversing in a very familiar way. Some people are staring straight ahead, alone, like Emma.
Where is Isabel in all of this? And where to even start looking?
Emma thinks to herself, if she has one of these devices, her sister must have one too. There’s gotta be a way to track her.
“Thanks for nothing, Mason.” Emma mutters to herself, trying to figure out the odd contraption in front of her. She went from being intrigued by this guy, to fascinated, to absolutely fucking pissed. After she finds her sister, she’s gonna find him too. And get some answers.
Emma sits down on a bench on the side of the road, reviewing her device. While very high-tech, it’s surprisingly straightforward. She finds an option to search for other players, typing “Isabel Bradford.” 
While exact coordinates aren’t provided, a green dot appears on a map of the city.
* * * 
Night sits at his desk, staring at his computer screen in front of him.
He’s trying to repress the feelings of guilt that are buried in the back of his mind. Sugar will be fine. He probably left right after Night did. And anyway, Night wouldn’t have left him if it wasn’t important. He’d be having a grand time cutting class even if he was in jail. Night keeps telling himself this.   
Night seems to be playing Universe without wearing a headset, merely with a 2-dimensional view of the game. This version looks older and simpler than the version that Isabel and Emma are playing on--most likely the original from the 80s. 
Night stares at a map in the game and sees the red dot representing Emma lingering not far from the beach. 
*ping*
He keeps forgetting to turn off external notifications, ugh. Oh. He’s just received an email from his teacher, and the beginning of the message is shown in the notification…
“Hello Night, checking in on your absence…” 
Teacher would be surprised that he wasn’t there. It’s not like him to miss class, or really to do anything unruly or “wrong.” Night is expected to come and go quietly, to be somewhat odd, but overall non-disruptive. Like a ghost. 
At some point, he couldn’t remember when exactly, his education had become arbitrary. He saw what was going on...building was all that mattered. All classes had been shifting their focus and slowly morphing into one industry. If you can’t code, you’ll get left behind. If you can’t contribute in one specific way, you’re disposable.
At the beginning of this school year, it had been announced that graduation from the Academy would be pushed forward one year. The board gave the reason that young people were spending too much time sitting in classrooms, gaining information they had no need for, when they could have the opportunity to “get started in life.” 
Some saw this as exciting, but Night knew what it really meant. There were whispers. This change was not for the benefit of the students. It was not so students could be free, it was so they could be put to work. 
Well, Night has no intention of falling in line with the others who mindlessly build. He craves other knowledge, other opportunities. And he believes that the right person can help him achieve this. Her. It’s time for a disruption. 
Night sees the red Emma dot begin to move on screen. She’s walking through the streets now, heading towards the school.
The blinking dot with his name on it stalls in place. He settles into his chair for the search. 
He’ll just have to meet her there.
* * *  
In Zoe’s bedroom, Julian sits in a chair on the opposite side of the room from her bed, where she and Gabriel are sitting. They are at least 6 feet apart, properly socially-distanced. 
Julian’s wearing a bandana that’s covering most of his face. Which is great for Zoe, who kinda despises the sight of it.
“She’s not answering any of my calls or texts. I want to know what’s going on.” Julian says to them, with his trademark entitled tone. 
“Well, there’s a reason for that…” Gabriel starts. But Zoe hushes him. 
“Gabe, we’re not telling him anything. Not unless it’s necessary to protect Emma, which it sounds like it isn’t. Julian, ever considered that she’s ignoring you because you cheated on her, broke her heart, and are generally kind of a scumbag?” Zoe’s temper is rising. 
Julian doesn’t like this. He laughs condescendingly. 
“What the hell is so funny? Wait why haven’t I kicked you out yet?”
“You think Emma’s hiding from me? You don’t know anything about what she’s hiding. Hate to break it to you, but you don’t know her like I do.” 
Zoe’s about to respond, but hesitates. This dude IS a pathological liar, but, why does he sound so convincing…
“You’re lying. As per usual.” Zoe’s smart, she knows that the best way to get a manipulator to spill his guts is through manipulation. She rolls her eyes, for effect. 
“Tell me what’s going on, or you’ll regret it.” 
“You don’t know shit, Julian. We don’t negotiate with terrorists. There’s the door. Buh-bye.”
Julian stands up out of rage. Right on cue. 
“Did she tell you where she’s going next week?” Julian spits out. Bingo. 
“Um, yes, obviously.” Zoe’s lying now, but her genuine curiosity is making it difficult. Meanwhile, Gabriel lies down on the bed and rests his head on a pillow--withdrawing from the conflict. 
“Yeah fucking right. And you know how I know you’re full of shit?” 
“Please, enlighten me.” 
“Because if you’re as good of a friend as you pretend to be, you would have tried to stop her by now. But you haven’t. And I don’t think it’s because you’re not some fucking psycho weird sisterhood obsessed, I think it’s because Emma didn’t trust you enough to tell you that she’s going to start a new life. With me. And far from you.” 
Zoe sits, stunned. Julian is a bona fide liar, so why was she even dignifying this with an iota of her energy? He’s the one who’s full of shit. Obviously. 
Unless. Well, there is that constant curiosity that lives quietly in the back of her mind. Emma had grown a bit different over the past few months. The four best friends knew everything about each other, to perhaps a sickening degree, but yet...there were so many hours of Emma’s time that weren’t accounted for. Not that she isn’t entitled to those hours. But Zoe does wonder. 
“I...um…” Zoe starts.
“She’s leaving. And if you think you have any chance of talking her out of it, you better help me find her. Otherwise, you might just never see her again.” 
“Her phone is broken. That’s why you haven’t heard from her.” Gabriel says softly. 
They both turn to look at him. 
“How do you know that?” Zoe asks.
He takes a few deep breaths. “Because I was with her when it happened. We broke into Best Buy because she needed gear...it was to help her sister somehow...Madison was there, she knows more than I do…” 
And that’s all he has to say. Julian has heard enough to head to his next destination. He briskly walks towards the door. 
“Hold on a second, what happened to working together?” Zoe asks. 
Julian sighs a fake sigh. 
“I think what’s best for Emma will be to have as clean a break as possible.” 
He leaves and shuts the door behind him. Zoe groans out loud, furious. How could she have listened to this monster??
But then again, there’s a part of her that needs to know if what he’s saying is true. She has so many questions… Why would Emma want to leave? Why couldn’t she be honest with her best friends? What happened to Isabel? And where is Emma now?
Zoe lies down next to Gabriel and wraps her arms around him. She thinks to herself about how there were so many bad guys out there, and she had somehow scored one of the few good ones. She feels blessed yet torn apart. 
“Zo, I feel like hell.” he says. 
Zoe realizes the heat of his body, and puts a hand to his forehead. Burning up. 
She can’t let her mind go there. 
“Don’t think about it Gabe. You haven’t seen anyone except me. Okay and Emma and Madison for five minutes, but you were totally safe, weren’t you?” she asks, starting to panic. 
He doesn’t respond. 
“Gabe?”
“Well yeah, the only thing I can think of is…Madison wasn’t wearing a mask.” 
* * * 
Emma keeps walking. The Isabel Bradford dot is getting closer and closer. 
She’s in such a state of disbelief that it will take a lot to shock her even further at this point. 
What will she say to her sister when she sees her? Hi, what the hell is going on? Why is your limp body chilling in our house? What are you doing here?
Isabel has been acting so weird lately. But then again, her family probably thinks the same about her. They’re probably wondering why this emo introvert is even more emo and introverted than usual. Or maybe they aren’t wondering at all. And it’s the lack of wondering that has driven her to run away with someone who may or may not love her.
Where is Julian now? The eternal question. Although one that has plagued her a bit less over the past couple of days. It’s legitimately insane how much has happened in that time. 
And what of Mason? 
Her blood began to boil. Emma has been massively fucked over by a guy before, and she feels that it’s unacceptable for this to become a pattern. Julian cheating and lying and manipulating...ok she can chock that up to a learning experience. Right? Ehhh. But if two guys play her in a row, well than she’s a bigger fool than she could have ever imagined. And she deserves what happens to her.
For a moment, Emma marvels at the fact that somewhere, she is in a closet on a pile of laundry. She can feel no trace of that reality, only absorb every hyper-realistic facet of what’s around her. She continues on these roads that only exist on a hard drive but feel solid under feet.  
Once Emma finds Isabel, who probably knows her way around this game, she’s going to force her to help her find Mason. Like a, “I saved your life, now you owe me one” type of situation. Hopefully Isabel will see it that way.
And soon, she’ll be able to ask her. 
According to the map on her device, she has arrived at the school. 
It’s quite tall--taller than any school she’s ever seen before. It looks more like the other buildings around it than a place where young people would typically go to learn. But this is a game, so, she’ll roll with it. 
But how to get inside..? Like is there even a door? Where’s the front? Hm. 
Emma rounds a corner, and realizes that this is definitely the front.  
Glassy, a giant arch over massive front doors, seemingly thousands of quotations inscribed on the reflective material. It’s somehow modern yet historic. It’s incredible, and Emma is utterly entranced.
“Emma?” 
Emma has a near heart attack. She is abruptly pulled from her stupor by a voice behind her, a smooth voice that says her name like it’s familiar. 
She turns around to see a boy around her age. Dark hair, slim, ghostly.
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pandemicthestory · 4 years
Text
12: beached
Is this water or am I braindead?
The glass elevator is rising so fast, it makes Night a little bit queasy. Sugar, however, is thriving.
“Yo dude, I say we make a pitstop at 43, scoop those medical ID’s or whatever, and THEN hit up LOUNGE. We’re gonna need cards to get in bro.” Sugar says, hitting the “43” button on the glass elevator as he and Night ride to the top of Mecca. 
“Sure,” says Night, somewhat vacantly. He’s mentally only halfway here...excited about the adventure with his roommate-turned-friend, but worried that it’s been a while...that maybe he should try to get in touch with Emma... 
The bell dings, they have arrived at the 43rd floor. 
“We’ll be in and out. No problem.” 
For some reason, Night isn’t so sure. He and Sugar head up to the front desk of a pristine, white and modern-looking medical facility. There are two young women working at the desk, wearing sterile white uniforms and long white gloves. 
“Are you here for separation?” one of the receptionists asks them. Night is shocked at first--how did she know? He then remembers the black uniforms they’re wearing. The vacater suits that no one really knows the story behind. 
“Yes, uh, we sure are. We’re wondering if we can get like, a sort of, I dunno like an ID card or something for stopping by?” Sugar tries to sound official, but struggles.
The receptionists trade looks.
“We could probably arrange something like that for you. After the appointment, that is.” 
Night and Sugar hesitate. Dressing up was one thing. Sneaking out was another. However, actually going through any sort of appointment was never part of the plan. 
 Sugar takes the lead. 
“Yes that’ll be fine. We’ll collect them after the appointment.” As Sugar continues to spout bullshit, Night pulls him aside. 
“Sugar what are you doing? We’re not actually going into an appointment…” 
“Dude trust me, it’s fine. We have a little conversation with some random nurse, we’re out. Swear.” 
He doesn’t wait for Night’s response--just approaches the desk and signs his name onto a tablet. He signs Night’s name in too. 
A receptionist opens a locked gate for Sugar to walk through, and after Sugar enters, he looks back at Night expectantly. Night readies himself to follow his friend--what harm could actually come of this? He should really live a little. Have some adventure. 
*buzz* 
His phone. And he has one guess as to who this could be. 
JULIAN: coming for u
Night swallows a gasp of air. Julian has to be full of shit. This guy won’t give up, will he? And anyway, is he really coming? That just has to be impossible.
But if it isn’t impossible...if he's out there doing his research into things he shouldn't...then shit just might hit the fan. 
Night locks eyes with Sugar, who’s getting a medical bracelet attached to his wrist. Sugar looks confused as to why Night is still standing on the other side of the gate. 
Night wants to be the person who ditches school, crashes a fake medical appointment, then parties all night in disguise at a nightclub, but right now, he can’t be that person.  
“I’m so sorry, man.”
Night doesn’t wait for Sugar’s protest or judgement. He turns, and he runs.
* * * 
All previous physical sensation has melted away, as Emma catapults headfirst into a virtual world.
Universe is waiting. 
Emma can feel all of her senses start to shift. The black surrounding the screen of her headset fades, and what she can see in front of her expands.
She can no longer feel the earphones, but sound has become crystal clear and fully surrounds her. 
Smell. She can even SMELL.
And she can feel...water. Oh shit, her feet are definitely wet. 
Where is she now?
Emma realizes she’s no longer wearing socks or shoes, and that she’s on a beach. An expansive beach in front of a dazzling city. And Emma is ankle-deep in translucent water.
Her head is foggy--it takes her a few moments to recognize that her feet are attached to her body, that the sand beneath them is truly granular, and that wind blows against her skin. She vaguely remembers sitting in a pile of laundry a few moments ago--it’s like she’s been here for hours.
She looks around at her surroundings, and she finally registers...she’s not alone. The beach is full of other people who look just like her. Slightly disoriented, and walking out of the water into the sand. Some people seem to have their bearings and know exactly what they’re doing--they brush the sand off their pants and walk straight ahead. Others, like Emma, wander a bit aimlessly, desperate for guidance. 
It’s seeing a young teenage girl that reminds her of why she came here--to find Isabel. 
Emma follows the confident people off the beach in the direction of the city. She passes through a series of booths, where she is given a device that looks like a cell phone. Wow. Emma stares at this odd hunk of technology incredulously. 
“First time?” 
Emma looks up to see a teenage girl with red, wiry hair and a bunch of tattoos smirking at her. 
“Huh?” is all that Emma can muster. Her brain is still rather fried. The girl laughs. 
“You’re born on the beach every time you enter. Then you pick up a phone. This’ll be your controls for everything.” 
Emma slowly nods, barely registering the information. 
“My name’s Riley.” 
“Emma.”
“Hey Emma. Here, feel free to take my info in case you get lost, or have any questions. Happy to help.” 
Riley pushes the top of her “phone” against Emma’s, and they both vibrate with a flash of light. Contact added. As Riley begins to walk ahead of Emma, Emma stops her. 
“Hey um, Riley? Where am I?”
* * * 
“Welcome to Universe” sings a melodic female voice, while the opening credits sprawl across the screen.
Night sighs a giant exhale of relief. He is staring at his computer, where the Universe game is booted up and the spiraling map shows the corners of a virtual world. 
Night is viewing the info page for a new player that has just entered the game: Emma Bradford.
He smiles, and softly says,
“You made it.”
1 note · View note
pandemicthestory · 4 years
Text
11: climbed
Wherefore art thou?
Zoe sits at the vanity in her bedroom, putting on makeup. There’s never usually a reason to “get ready” in quarantine, but tonight Gabriel is coming over. He doesn’t care if she wears makeup or not, but there’s something about eyeliner and contour that makes her feel mature enough to be dating a senior.
They’ve been dating for a few months now, and Zoe is sure that it’s real love. No one has ever understood her like he does, or even bothered to try. Gabe might not be the hardest worker, but he’s friendly and well-liked. Zoe’s sure that she can motivate him to find some ambition and aspire for great things. Together, they can be Madame President and the First Man. She has so many hopes for the future. 
And she can hear him coming now. 
Zoe lives in a big house (her parents are both doctors), but it’s an old house. There is an outdoor staircase in the back of the house that leads to the different balconies. One of those balconies is attached to Zoe’s room. This is the door that Gabriel uses to visit. Normally, he can use the front door and say hello to her parents on the way. But since the pandemic started, they’ve had to meet in secret. Zoe likes to think they’re channeling Romeo and Juliet, minus the death part.
“Zo?” 
He’s here. She stands up to greet him, wrapped dramatically in a silk bathrobe.
“Hi babe!” 
Gabriel enters her bedroom and gives her a long hug. 
“Missed you!” she says, as he saunters over to her bed and collapses on his back. He just sort of groans, indeterminably. 
“What’d you do today?” she asks, unaware of the “heist” that had taken place at Best Buy, but suspicious that something had been up. Madison seemed weird when they facetimed earlier. Gabriel rolls over onto his side. 
“Didn’t do much today.” he says...and she’s not sure if she believes him. He sounds...off. 
“Babe, I talked to Madison--” 
“--I don’t feel so good.” 
Zoe stops. 
“Like, how?” 
Gabriel coughs a bit, then clears his throat. 
“My head...everything is just a bit…” Gabriel gazes out the window. Zoe is starting to worry. 
“Well you’ve got to be fine. You haven’t seen anyone except your parents and me, and I haven’t seen a single other person.” she says while pacing across the floor. He doesn’t respond. 
She turns to look at him.
“Gabe?” 
“Well Zo...that’s what I wanted to tell you...today I...went out and...”
“What are you talking about? What happened?”
“It was to help Emma. Her sister’s in trouble.” 
Before Zoe can react, there’s a sharp knock at the balcony door. Zoe jumps. She looks out the window to see someone she hoped she’d never see again in her life. 
Julian DeRose.
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pandemicthestory · 4 years
Text
10: confused
Fake it til you make it.
In the middle of the City, fairly close to the Academy, there is a chrome-colored building that is taller than almost all of the rest. Night and Sugar stand in front of its doors, wondering how they’re going to get in.
The building is called “Mecca.” It’s filled with headquarters for top companies--mostly builders, but also fashion and interior designers, medical technicians, and game developers. Thousands of civilians report here for work 5 days a week. But since it’s Friday, as soon as it’s 5 o’clock, these workers will leave their desks and head to the top floor. 
At the top floor of Mecca is LOUNGE, an exclusive night and day club where windows are always blacked out and the passing of time can’t be measured. A night club meets speakeasy meets casino, this is where the elites go to unwind. After a long week’s work of building, the business men and women of Mecca can swipe their membership card at the top floor and indulge themselves in the darker parts of life. 
And this is exactly where Sugar intends on taking them.
“There’s no way we’re getting in.” Night mutters, hitting his forehead with his palm. This situation feels seriously illegal and seriously stupid. As he and Night stood at the front of this massive building, Night begins to wonder if he’s made a big mistake. 
“Hold on now, don’t give up just yet, man. Listen, the separation medical facility is in this building.” Sugar explains. 
“So..?”
“People think we’re Vacaters. So, we’ll tell security that we have appointments today, they’ll let us in, we’ll head to the facility and…” 
“And what?”
“And figure it out from there? Let’s go dude!”
*buzz*
*buzz buzz buzz* 
Suddenly, Night’s phone starts blowing up in his pocket. He can’t ignore it, because it just keeps going. 
“Hold on a second, Sugar…”
Night reaches into his pocket and sees that he has several missed texts and calls. From Julian. 
Oh god, what does he want from her so desperately? What could be so important that it can’t wait? 
This is why he’d tapped Emma’s phone. It wasn’t because he’s creepy or trying to infringe on her privacy, though, he’ll admit, that’s exactly what it looks like. No, it’s because she’s unpredictable, and surrounded by people who don’t know what’s best for her. And because he really needs her to make it here. 
JULIAN: where are u 
JULIAN: stopped by your house and u weren’t there 
JULIAN: ur mom said u were out for a walk, but i don’t think that’s true. Tell me what’s happening
(3 MISSED CALLS)
JULIAN: your friend zoe says that you’re out somewhere with her boyfriend. Care to explain? Wtf is going on...we’re leaving in a few days Emma
(2 MISSED CALLS)
JULIAN: we’re leaving tomorrow
Leaving?
Leaving where?
Night had known that Emma was planning something, just not what. Apparently Julian does. 
Sugar taps his foot impatiently while Night composes a response to Julian. With the software he installed on his phone, it will be rerouted through Emma’s number. He’ll have no idea.
“EMMA”: Going where?
A pause, and then Julian is typing. 
JULIAN: there you are. Fuck. don’t do that to me 
“EMMA”: where are we going, julian? 
JULIAN: what are you talking about? Are you trying to distract me from the fact that ur out chilling w Gabriel? The fuck?
Now Night is actually confused. Is this why she didn’t answer him? Because she was busy with Gabriel? And for that matter, who the hell is Gabriel?
What’s going on Emma? Everything you need was sent straight to your doorstep. Couldn’t have been easier. All you had to do was get the mail. So what went wrong?
Sugar yells to him, “DUDE, NOW.” 
“Ok ok, I’m ready!” Night says, while composing and sending one last text.  
“EMMA”: i’m not going anywhere with you julian. I’ve changed my mind. Don’t contact me again
Night runs after Sugar. He wonders to himself...what does such a smart girl see in such a profoundly stupid guy? Is she that starved of attention that she’ll settle for anyone who gives it to her? Note to self: that question will probably be offensive to her if he were to ask it. So he will not.
But hopefully he’ll at least have the chance. Soon. 
Sugar storms ahead, and Night basically has no choice but to follow. 
Sure enough, they head through metal detectors on their way in, and are then greeted by a squad of security guards. A guard steps in front of them. How many times is this going to happen today?
“Please swipe ID cards on the way in.” 
This guard is nicer than the last one, he said please. He’s still in the way though. Sugar steps up. 
“Hello sir, we don’t have ID cards because we don’t actually work here. We’re merely here for our appointments at the separation facility. We’re wearing our uniforms to indicate our status.” Sugar says, oozing with professionalism and aggressively overdoing it. Night fights a laugh under his breath (“merely..?”) and Sugar elbows him discreetly. The guard frowns.
“Is that so? We weren’t told of any separation appointments scheduled today...in fact, it’s rare that they’re ever scheduled on Fridays. What’s the reason you’re here for the service today instead of Monday?” 
At this moment, both Sugar and Night are hoping that the other one has more knowledge of who the hell Vacaters actually are and what the hell the separation facility actually does. Unfortunately, neither of them do. Night realizes that he’ll have to throw another hail mary pass and hope for the best.
“Well it’s because, the...service...is going to be followed by a session with some other associates at LOUNGE.” 
Now it was Sugar’s turn to try not to laugh. That was officially the dumbest ass response ever, which is why he is the resident debauchery mastermind and Night spends every night in front of a computer and a dead plant. 
Night tries to remain confident. He couldn’t bank on these guys not understanding Vacaters, like the last pair of idiots, but he gambled that he could bank on them not knowing much about LOUNGE. From the look of it, these guys don’t seem like the type to be invited to an exclusive, glamorous party. They’re wearing jumpsuits. 
“What? Really? That’s so...unusual.” One guard says. The other nods in agreement. They actually seem a bit...jealous? As in, why have these two bratty teenagers been invited to the top floor when we who have worked here for five years never will?
“Well yes, my father is a builder and it’s, uh, a sort of rite of passage for me to be vacated, er, separated, alongside him. In a celebratory way. After work.” 
If Night got away with this, he’d owe the forces of the universe one. 
The guards just nod in admiration while Sugar looks incredulous. 
“Well then, good luck young man. We hope your last night will be a special one.” 
The guards exchange nods with Night and Sugar, who head forward to the glass elevator. 
“Separation facility is on 43!” Calls one of the security guards from behind, almost wistfully. Maybe one day he’ll get the chance to see what’s up there. But not likely. 
Once inside the glass elevator, Sugar hugs Night around the shoulder. 
“Ok honestly, I’m a bit shook that you’re a bad ass. Was pretty sure that you were just a virgin computer nerd.”
Night laughs to himself. That’s all that anyone has ever expected of him. But right now, seeing himself through Sugar’s eyes as a genius lawbreaker feels good. Intoxicating, even. 
“What floor’d he say? 45, was it? Sugar asks. 
“Why not go straight to the top?” Night asks, with a mischievous grin.
He hits the number “100” without waiting for an answer. 
* * * 
Emma crashes through the front door of her house, ready to have to explain herself to her parents and hoping to get through it painlessly.
But they don’t seem to be home. “Mom? Dad?” 
They must be out looking for her. Now it all makes sense...her neurotic mother was blowing up her phone because she couldn’t even trust her daughter to take a walk around the damn block. Then her phone got destroyed in the parking lot. And now, since she hasn’t answered, they’re out looking for her. And when they eventually get back, she’ll probably be sent to prison. Cool.
Emma decides to take this time as a gift. Tune everything else out. This is her shot to save Isabel. 
Emma runs upstairs to her room and tears the cardboard off the headset. She tosses the instructions aside because she has enough knowledge to put one of these together without them. 
Does it need to be charged? It does not. It’s ready to go. 
Now, to check on the download…
7 HOURS REMAINING
She groans. It’s speeding up, but not enough. She needs to plug in now, not in 7 god damn hours. She sees on her computer that there are a shit ton of unread G-chat messages from Zoe. Ugh, she’s probably dealing with some sort of jealousy moment right now and Emma just doesn’t have time to deal with it. So she doesn’t open them. Sorry Zo. You’ll forgive me.
Emma wracks her frazzled brain--there’s gotta be a way for her to get online and contact Emma.
Wait. 
Emma runs across the hallway to Isabel’s room, carrying the headset and headphones. Isabel is still slumped over in her chair, alive, looking the same as before. Well at least she’s alive, which is cool. Emma examines the game on the computer--scanning the twisted map view of a city for any sign of her sister. None. Hm, guess it doesn’t work like that. 
Emma looks at the game settings. 
Ah, input/output. Yes. This is it. 
If she can’t join from her own game, maybe she can join Isabel’s.
Emma sits down on a pile of clothes in the back of Isabel’s closet. She might as well get comfy, she could be here for a while. She puts on thick noise-canceling headphones and the headset, and everything goes dark and quiet. 
Power on. 
Emma wirelessly connects to Isabel’s computer, then sees the icon for the Universe game pop up in front of her eyes. With a nod, she selects it.
Black becomes blue. 
Silence becomes ambient drone music. 
Isabel’s done VR before, so she expects this. She still feels excitement. This technology never ceases to amaze her. 
It’s when the feeling of the laundry beneath her fades away into a rush of cold air... 
This, she does not expect. 
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pandemicthestory · 4 years
Text
9: escaped
Rules are meant to be broken, barriers are meant to be crossed. 
There are 6,225 students currently enrolled at the Academy. Out of these 6,225, there are only fifteen students who are required to wear black uniforms. 
Most students wear green uniforms, like Sugar. They are called “Transfers.”
The second most common is blue, like Night. They are called “Inborns.” 
And this leaves the red uniform--the third most common among the students. If you’re a student at the Academy, you’re likely to have at least one classmate with a red uniform, and that classmate is called a “Candidate.” 
As for the black uniforms, they’re so uncommon that most students don’t know the details behind them. In fact, they’re discouraged by faculty members from asking questions. They don’t have an official name assigned by the school, but by an adopted form of slang, they have been called “Vacaters.”
 Which is why, as Sugar and Night rush from the dormitory, through the halls, and down the main staircase, the people they pass don’t ask who they are or what they’re doing. If anything, the students and faculty they cross paths with make room. 
“Damn isn’t this sick?” Sugar mutters to Night, as they stroll past a young group of Transfers, whispering to each other. 
“Sugar, how did you get your hands on these?” Night asks, totally mystified by the attention they’re receiving. He’s used to floating through these halls nearly invisibly .
“I knew a couple of guys freshman year.” Sugar leaves it at that. His response is annoyingly vague, but Night will have to press him for details later. They have arrived at the front door.
Here, they are greeted by two security guards--dressed in white linen suits, as all who work for the Academy do. 
A guard steps in front of them. 
“Do you have appointments?” he asks. 
“Oh, uh, yeah we do.” Sugar hadn’t planned for this part. The guard seems suspicious. He gestures for the other guard to come over here. 
“At which facility?”  he asks. Night notices that the guard is reaching for a phone clipped to his back pocket. Sugar searches for the right words, but Night knows he’ll have to step in if they don’t want to get busted. He adopts a frustrated tone. 
“What are you talking about? Obviously, there is only one facility. It would be great if you stopped wasting our time so we won’t be late.” Night says with authority. 
The guards look at each other--they seem to buy it. The truth is, neither of them actually know the right answer. Very few people do. So one of them hits a button and the front doors slide open. 
Sugar and Night step out the doors of the Academy into blinding daylight. But even though the white-blue sky radiates light, the thousands of windows of circular buildings lining a twisted, levitating road shine brighter. On the other side of these windows, people are building. 
It’s been a long time since Night felt wind on his face. In the back of his mind, he feels a sense of guilt, that he should be waiting there for Emma...but mostly, he feels the wind. And it’s surprisingly a good feeling. The pressure of wind, the heat of sunlight, they’re things you don’t realize you’re missing until they come back to you. 
Pulled out of his daydream, Night winces. He wonders if Emma will feel the same way about these sensations. Or rather, if she’ll be able to feel them at all. 
He turns to Sugar, who looks extremely pleased that they were able to lie their way out of that situation.
“So Sugar, how did you get those guys’ uniforms?” Night asks. 
Night surveys the road ahead of them. 
“Buddies of mine. They let me have ‘em. Before they left.” 
* * * 
Gabriel waves his card against a sensor box. The light doesn’t blink. 
“Try it again” Emma urges him. This has to work. 
“And hurry it up, it’s nasty out here and my hair is starting to get matted like a dog.” Madison isn’t happy to be here, but Emma’s happy that she is. 
“I don’t know…” as Gabriel waves the card again, the light flickers green. The door clicks. Emma clasps her hands together. 
“Gabe, I officially approve of you.” she says to him, before rushing inside. 
“I still don’t” Madison says, following her. 
Gabriel rolls his eyes, then follows them inside. 
The warehouse is more of a giant stockroom, individual products are stacked on shelves up to theceiling. It’s dark and dusty, and the smell of packing materials is thick. Emma’s really hoping they can make this quick.
“So Gabe, there isn’t gonna be like, some laser on the ground that we step on and it signals the CIA or something, right? You know what I mean?” Madison asks, trying to mask nerves. 
“Oh yeah, they’re everywhere. Watch out.” Gabe laughs playfully to himself, watching her try not to care.
*buzz* 
Oh no, Emma feels her phone vibrate in her pocket. Basically, any person that could be texting her right now, she doesn’t want to hear from. Except maybe Isabel, because that would mean she’s like, alive, which would be ideal.
“Pretty sure the stuff you want is gonna be over here…” Gabriel says as he leads them down a certain aisle. 
*buzz* 
*buzz*
Emma can’t deal with whoever’s annoying the hell out of her right now, because they’ve found the Gear equipment--Samsung’s premiere VR headset.
“This is it” Emma says, like she’s in front of a pile of gold. 
“So you’re gonna steal one of these?” Madison asks, skeptically. 
“Yeah that’s basically the game plan. Are you shocked, after the break-in?” asks Emma, as she grabs one of the large boxes.
*buzz* 
“Let’s get the hell out of here.” Emma says, starting to stress. They all head towards the door. Emma is seriously curious about who keeps trying to contact her. Only one person makes sense--and she wishes that he’d gotten back to her about 20 minutes ago. 
 “You’re not gonna tell Zoe about this, right Gabe?” prods Madison. 
“Give me one reason to protect you, Madison.” Gabriel says. 
“Your desire to live.” 
“I’ll take it into consideration. 
As they walk towards the back of the warehouse, Emma marvels at the package in her hands. The goal is to save her sister. But she has to admit that she’s always wanted to try one of these.  
Gabriel heads out the doorway, and Madison follows. 
“Coming, Em? She calls. 
“Yeah just a second…” someone is calling her now. What the actual hell, is there actually an emergency? She reaches for her phone from her pocket when
*BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP* 
Motherfucker.
As soon as she crossed the doorway, she set off the alarm. Sure enough, the box has a sensor on it. 
“WHAT THE FUCK! Are police essential workers??” Madison is freaking out. 
“PROBABLY. LET’S GO” Gabriel is too--they both make a dash towards the cars. Gabriel’s is closer.
Emma is temporarily frozen. Her heart is pounding so hard, she can almost taste blood in the back of her throat. Why isn’t she moving? MOVE, EMMA. 
Disoriented, she sprints after them, her eyesight hazy. She runs fast. Too fast, in fact. 
With one wrong step, she trips on a divot in the parking lot concrete. The headset box goes flying, and so does her cell phone. 
“OH SHIT” comments the peanut gallery (Madison). 
Emma wipes out on the pavement, scratching her hands and face. 
“Emma are you ok??” Emma screams, running over to her. Emma is dazed, but she feels fine. Everything hurts, but she’ll live. Just get the box and get out of here. 
*Wee-ooo Wee-ooo* 
Sirens already? Damn the police must have literally nothing to do these days. Well, considering her parents would not take an arrest well, Emma forgets every ounce of pain and jumps from the ground. Gabriel has already scooped the headset and her phone.
“Get in my car, we don’t have time!!” he yells, and the girls follow the order. Because really, they don’t have time. Those sirens are loud. They’re here. 
“Step on it dude!” commands Madison, and he does. 
He’s able to swerve dramatically and peel out of the parking lot before the cop cars are in sight. A break-in to a corporate warehouse during a pandemic? They sent the damn squad. 
The three of them pant heavily as Gabe drives away down a completely empty road. Not too fast, so as not to look even more suspicious. 
“God, I can’t believe my car is there. It’s the ONLY car in the parking lot. Do you know how fucking bad this looks? Madison throws herself down in the backseat, groaning. She has a point. 
“I’m sorry” Emma murmurs, examining the headset. She hopes this will have been worth it.
“Here’s your phone” Gabe says, passing it to her. 
Finally. Emma is eager to find out who was texting and calling her incessantly. She has no idea what could possibly warrant that. 
But it turns out that...
There’s a long crack across the screen, which will now be black forever.
So she’ll never know.
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pandemicthestory · 4 years
Text
8: masked
YOUTUBE SEARCH// how to make a pandemic mask with a bandana (to save a brain dead sister)
After hanging up with Madison, Emma pulls up a YouTube video on how to make a DIY mask out of a bandana and two rubber bands.
She hasn't been outside for almost three months now, except now and then stepping onto her front porch so she can remind herself what air smells like. Now, it's time to brave the storm--or rather, the toxic virus that has suffocated thousands.
"Where do you think you're going?" calls mom.
"And what the hell is that thing on your face? Looks like a diaper." her dad loves to make jokes at her expense to entertain her mother. Normally, she might tell him to piss off and maybe comment on his lack of a career or any good qualities in general. That would normally land her "quarantined" (ha) to her bedroom. They see it as punishment, but for Emma, solitude away from those assholes has always been a delight.
Sure, these sentiments come across as harsh. But Emma's anger towards her parents didn't come out of nowhere. If it was up to her, she'd have a wonderful relationship with them--hell, they might all be sitting on the couch together right now, watching The Sopranos and sharing a bowl of popcorn. But that's an alternate universe that she'll never live in.
Some parents don't have favorites. Emma's parents are not those parents.
Once upon a time, back when she and Isabel were the best of friends, the four members of their family felt close. A cohesive unit. It was so long ago now that Emma hardly remembers it...but the memories of taking bike rides through the park trails that ended with a picnic, and of ice skating in the winter before the reward of hot chocolate with mini marshmallows, those memories are still there. They loved to be outdoors together. It seems like they became trapped indoors long ago, long before this pandemic began.
If Emma could let go of those memories, she would. Maybe it's because they're so deeply ingrained in her mind, like shrapnel in a war wound, that the pain of her current reality is sharper than it has to be. Every time she feels her mom's disapproving stare or her dad's condescending laughter, in the back of her mind, she remembers the ice rink. It's the comparison between then and now that she can't seem to let go of.
When she and Isabel got a bit older, their dad got a better job. Well, one that paid him more money, but not one that made him happier. Still, everyone called it "better." They moved to a bigger house in a more relevant suburb and their mom started wearing fancier clothing. There were no bike trails nearby.
As Emma's dad was around less, Emma's mom had more anxiety. And she had nothing to do with it--at first. At some point, she started to compare and contrast her two daughters. Emma: older, more introverted, creative, distant. Isabel: outgoing, popular, bubbly, positive. Emma's mom always felt that she was responsible for Emma's trouble connecting with others, and in some ways, she was. It was a cycle. Emma's distance led her mom to fear her, which made her more distant.
Emma was very young when her mom decided that she had already slipped away. Her mom made up her mind that she wouldn't let the same happen to Isabel. She felt immense guilt for letting go of Emma, but their strained relationship was a constant reminder of her own inadequacies. With Isabel, it would be different. 
Emma was old enough and smart enough to understand the difference between the way her mom treated her and her little sister. It wasn't Isabel's fault, but Emma resented her nonetheless. So when Emma moved out of the butterfly room into her own space, she shut the door behind her. And thus, over time, the two sisters grew apart. 
With each lonely glass of wine, their mother grew apart from reality. Her mission to "save" Isabel was noble, but she didn't have the energy to fully commit. And Emma's father was in and out of the picture to the extent that she decided to let him go, to shut herself off from the disappointment and scorn, a coping mechanism that she had unintentionally learned from her mom.
Ultimately, money had not solved the problems of the Bradford family. However, that didn't mean that Emma wasn't going to stockpile a shitload of it. And run away from them forever.
"I'm just going for a walk around the block." Emma says through her DIY bandana mask.
"Well, stay 6 feet apart from anyone you might see out there. It's easy to catch this thing even from just breathing." Emma's mom commands. Showing authority is the one of the last ways she knows how to connect with her oldest daughter.
"Yeah, no shit." Emma says under her breath, leaving before they can chastise her.
Emma's mom watches her daughter leave. Her dad shakes his head.
"When this is all over, we'll have to do something about her. She's not well." His concern is questionably genuine. He's not a bad person, though his loyalty has wavered over the years. It's more so that he fell out of touch a long time ago and never returned.
Emma's mom continues to stare. She doesn't like that her daughter speaks to her like that. But what she likes even less is the feeling that overall, in her life, she's losing control.
"I don't know about waiting until this is all over. We might have to do something sooner than that."
Emma steps outside. April in the midwest is nasty. Apparently, before global warming gave the planet a death sentence, this month used to be spring. There were flowers, and grass, and other green stuff. So she'd been told. But now, everything is grey and wet. Just as well, since the outdoors are not so relevant anymore.
She sees a navy blue Toyota Prius rounding the corner onto her street. She grins, she can always count on Madison.
Emma runs down the street so that her parents won't see Emma's car in front of their house. If they make this quick, they can be back before her mom and dad question what could have happened. They'll believe she had only been on a walk.
As Emma gets into Mad's car, the feeling of closeness is overwhelming. The two friends fight the strong urge to hug.
"Oh my god, this is so weird. I can't believe you're here. That I'm seeing you. Oh god it's trippy." Madison rambles.
"I can't believe it. Not hugging you really sucks."
Madison jokingly backs away from her.
"I dunno if I wanna hug you with that mask...looks like a diaper on your face."
"Yeah and where's your mask? You're just jealous cuz you're gonna die, like an idiot." Emma buckles her seatbelt and turns up the radio. David Bowie is really setting the rebellious tone.
"Ok can you please tell me where we're going? Kinda need to know if I'm gonna drive us there." asks Madison.
"Ok get ready for it: we're going to Best Buy."
Madison looks at Emma like, "you pulled me out of my house in a fucking pandemic for this? I hate you."
"What the hell are you talking about, Em? First of all, WHAT. And second of all it's closed!! Duh!!"
"And we're gonna go anyway. Just trust me, ok?"
Madison rolls her eyes and turns the car around. This is not the heist she was expecting, but it will have to do.
Driving through town is freaky, to say the least. Everything is closed, there are no cars, and the fact that it's grey just really makes it the most depressing place one could be on a Friday.
"Everything's really closed, isn't it?" Emma asks, staring out the window at the ghost town. Madison shakes her head.
"And you think Best Buy is gonna be any different?"
Seemingly, it isn't. They pull up to Best Buy and the store is aggressively closed, its darkened windows matching every other depressing business in the strip mall. The expansive parking lot is empty...except for just one car.
"Huh, who do you think that is?" Madison asks, peering while pulling into a parking space. Emma holds her breath, really hoping Madison won't be pissed, but knowing she will be.
"Yeah, um, I know who that is. Because I asked him to come."
"God Emma, what did you do?"
It's then that a young man steps out of his car. Short, athletic build, cropped auburn hair...it's Gabriel. Zoe's senior boyfriend. What. The. Hell.
"Ummm, care to explain why GABE is here?" Madison hisses through clenched teeth, as they get out of the car.
"If I had told you beforehand, you wouldn't have driven me."
They approach Gabriel, who leans against his car, slightly confused. Emma attempts a handshake, as if this is a business conference. She immediately hates herself for her awkwardness. What is the appropriate greeting in a heist?
"Nice mask." He smirks.
"It's a diaper." Madison retorts. He laughs.
"So Emma, I didn't tell Zoe...but if I'm gonna lie to my girlfriend, you gotta give me a good explanation. I mean, you don't even like me."
"True." Madison says, as Emma nudges her in the ribs. Emma takes a deep breath.
"Thanks for meeting us Gabe. Like I said on the phone, I wouldn't have asked if it wasn't important, and I'm pretty sure this might be life or death. That sounds stupid but yeah. This is all very weird, and I can't really explain the full story because there's this thing with my sister, and there's a game that she played, and this guy online might be responsible for why she's currently a vegetable, although I'm pretty sure that's temporary, at least I fucking hope it is. Anyway does that make any sense at all?"
Madison and Gabriel stare at her looking completely lost. Emma regains her nerve. Get to the point.
"Gabe, I know you worked here two summers ago. Right?"
He nods.
"Do they have...an employee entrance of some kind? Like a door in the back? Any kind of warehouse opening?"
"There's an employee entrance in the back of the store." he says, cautiously. Again, Emma takes a breath.
"Well then, what I'm hoping...is that you still have a key, or a card, or whatever it takes to get inside."
Both Gabriel and Emma look shocked. Gabe speaks first.
"I um...I keep all my key cards. You never know what could happen." Now that he's catching on, his tone has grown more serious.
"That's what I was hoping you'd say. We need to get inside, Gabe. I need a certain piece of equipment."
Gabe nearly laughs.
"So what you're saying is you want to steal electronics from the warehouse? Do you know what would happen if we got caught?"
"Well yes, well, no...um, my uh...little sister..."
Emma's face is red now. She's now realizing that this was an incredibly stupid idea...how could she have thought of something so reckless, and actually suggested it out loud. She'd fully love to be anywhere but here, even squeezed between mom and pop on the couch.
Oddly, it's Julian's voice she hears echoing in her head--scorning her for letting these other people into a situation so personal. 
They don't know her. No one knows the real her, except him. He's yelling at her for jeopardizing their opportunity to run away together. For putting herself first. 
She gulps back tears. Is it Julian's voice, or her mom's? 
Madison's voice snaps her out of it.
"I say let's fuckin do it." she says.
Emma exhales. Gabriel looks at her intently.
"You sure?" he asks.
Emma looks at the dark, looming building in front of them. She learned at a very young age how to be brave.
"We gotta be quick."
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pandemicthestory · 4 years
Text
7: delayed
Good and bad things come to those who wait.  
EMMA: Mason please, I’m scared 
She waits at the computer. Still no response.
Somehow, Emma has never felt more alone. How can she help Isabel? And why was that headset meant for her? He sent it for a reason. But why?
Well, ok then. If Mason isn’t going to help her, she’ll have to figure it out herself. Madison better have gas in her car. It’s time to fuck up social distancing.
* * * 
30 MINUTES EARLIER 
The boiling water scalds his neck. 
Night smiles faintly to himself, but not because he’s boiling himself alive. That’s nothing new. He’s smiling because today, something big is going to happen. Something he’s waited for for a long time. Everything has led to this. She’s almost here.
What he describes this feeling as is nervousness. A pit in his stomach. Each breath feels like not enough. His heart swelling. His head rushing. Dizziness, bliss, confusion, excitement, expectation, hope, fear. Emma. 
He has only felt this way a few times in his 17 years of life, and because there are so few, he vividly remembers them all.
6 years old. A young woman mistakes Night for her nephew at the end of the school day. She gives him a hug. This is the first time Night has been given a hug.
10 years old. Night builds a computer that also functions as a microwave, all by himself. He doesn’t have a real use for it, but it’s still awesome.
13 years old. Night sees a shooting star out his window. This is the only star he has ever seen. No one believes that it happened, but he knows that it did. 
16 years old. One of Night’s classmates knocks on his door, and when he answers, she kisses him. Her name is Diamond and she says she loves him. He never talks to her again. 
Night towels off after his morning shower and slips on a pair of grey sweatpants, he doesn’t bother to wear a shirt. Sugar is always calling him a nudist freak, but really he just likes the cold--always has. He sits down at his desk and turns on his computer.
Sugar emerges from the bathroom, singing a Lady Gaga song loud enough for all the dorms in the hallway to hear. And he can’t sing very well. 
“What’re you doin, naked mole rat? Time to LEARN” 
Sugar whips the back of Night’s head with his wet towel, but Night effectively ducks. 
“Not going to class today. Got something else going on.” 
Sugar looks skeptical. Night, historically, never has anything “going on.” Something’s up. Sugar eyes Night while he dresses in his green linen uniform.
Night stares intently at the screen. He checks the clock. 8:45 AM. Ok, let’s do this. He composes a message to Emma. The mail will have come by now.  
MASON: hi! did you get it yet?
EMMA: Good morning! Get what..?
Night frowns to himself. It should be there by now. It must be. She just needs to check again. 
MASON: a package!
She’ll be running to the front door now. Grabbing the package. Headed back upstairs. 
Five minutes pass, and Night still hasn’t heard from her. Now he’s starting to become confused. He checks the USPS tracking website and confirms that the package was delivered 30 minutes ago. He waits. 
Suddenly, the fear starts to get a little heavier. Why hasn’t she responded yet? 
Is she avoiding him?
Is she afraid?
Or worst of all, does she not care?
As Night waits, the possibilities quickly multiply. Sugar readies himself to leave for class.
“Yo you sure you wanna stay home?”
Night is speechless. He hadn’t calculated any margin of error for this plan. Usually, when he set his mind to do something, he did it the exact way he intended to. His heart beats faster. 
Sugar can see that something is off with him. This kid is a freak, but he’s also always got something to say. So the fact that he’s sitting there quietly, pale as a damn ghost, naked in the cold, is downright off-putting. What this kid needs is some space from that damn computer. 
“Hey dude, let’s go. And not to class.” 
Night stares at him. “Go where?” he asks, vacantly and robotically. Sugar shrugs. 
“I was thinking maybe get outta this place? Ditch class, see the world.” Sugar smiles. Night is becoming interested. 
“But how will we get out of the building?” He asks. Sugar looks smug. He heads to his messy closet, which has piles of random items pouring out of it onto the floor. From under the pile, he produces a big wad of black fabric. 
“Uh, what?” 
“Now just hold on a second.” Sugar shakes out the fabric, throw it on the floor, shuffles it around a bit, then proudly holds up the four separate pieces. Two linen suits--wrinkled, but black. As per school classification, Sugar wears green and Night wears blue...so how did he...? Night looks incredulous. 
“How did you get those?”
“While ago. Just been savin ‘em for a rainy day, you know.” Sugar pulls open the curtains of their room. The sky is grey, clouded by smoke and steam emitted from whizzing vehicles and shape-shifting buildings. He smirks.
“And it looks like it just might rain.” 
Night smiles to himself. It’s been a long time since someone went out of their way to be his friend. So maybe a little space from this would be a good thing. Maybe he can forget Emma for today, and see what else is out there. It’s a pandemic, she’s probably not going anywhere.
“Alright, let’s go.” 
* * *     
*ring ring ring* 
Emma sits on Isabel’s bed, calling Madison over facetime. Madison picks up on the last possible ring.
“Hey Em, what’s up?” she asks, still groggy from sleep.
“Do you think you can sneak out?”
“Uhhh...whaat?”
“With your car? There’s something I have to do.” Emma adds, directly.
Madison sits up in bed, confused. She realizes that Emma isn’t joking, that she looks scared. Something happened. Something is wrong. 
“I can be there in one hour.”
Call ended. Emma shakes her head. If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. 
3 notes · View notes
pandemicthestory · 4 years
Text
6: hooked
Is Isabel in danger?
With her lying there like a drugged out rag doll, it’s hard to tell. Heartbeat, breathing, she’s definitely alive...but then, why can’t she hear Emma? Something’s telling Emma not to touch the headset--no matter what’s going on with Isabel’s body, her mind is in there somewhere. And according to every movie ever, you don’t fuck with the brain. 
Emma scrambles to check out the packaging--no return address. But obviously, she knows who had to have sent this. And he knows about Universe, so he better have answers. 
Emma makes a mad dash to her bedroom. Her dad calls from downstairs.
“Did you get the package?”
“YEAH IT WAS A T-SHIRT”
A t-shirt? What? Her bullshitting skills are slipping. It doesn’t matter, her dad doesn’t actually care anyway, it’s just part of his new “I’m invested” routine. Emma slams her bedroom door behind her, then runs over to her computer. 
EMMA: Mason are you there?? 
EMMA: Hello?
EMMA: I think my sister is in trouble 
EMMA: She stole the headset, she started playing the game, she’s not responding to me, I’m massively freaking out if you can’t tell
EMMA: I’m sorry to ask this but did you...do something?
Who knows what this ghost person is capable of. Whatever connection she and he may or may not have...she doesn’t actually know him at all. 
She waits.  
Oddly, there’s nothing. Hadn’t he just told her about the package fifteen minutes ago? Where could he have gone? Emma slumps down in her chair. 
Why is it that men always disappear when they are needed most?
* * *
24 HOURS EARLIER 
A teenage boy is taking a shower in a minimalistic stall. He bows his head toward the showerhead, the powerful stream sends his wavy black hair in all directions. The boy makes the water hotter. And hotter. The skin on his neck is turning a deep shade of red, but it’s unclear if he can even feel it.
“Night, hurry the hell up. I gotta shower too.” 
The complaining breaks the peace of the showering boy. He turns off the faucet, wraps himself in a pristine white bath towel, and makes way for his roommate to take over. 
“Why d’you shower so much, man? Shit’s creepy.” 
“That’s why I do it, Sugar, to creep you out. Keeps you on your toes.”
Sugar laughs to himself and turns on the shower. The boy called Night stares at himself in the square, chrome mirror. The bathroom looks like it belongs in a very luxurious prison. 
“We getting food before class?” Sugar calls from the shower. 
“Sure, whatever.” Night exits the bathroom into an expansive bedroom with two king-sized beds. The curtains are shut, so the only source of light is a single bulb radiating from the ceiling. Night grabs a pair of deep blue linen pants and a matching button-up shirt from one of the closets and gets dressed. 
This room is pretty clearly divided, one side being far more chaotic than the other. There are desks on either side: one desk is covered in clothes, dirty towels, food wrappers, and an empty fish tank. Oddly, it had never contained a fish. The other desk has only a desktop computer and tiny, struggling plant growing out of a mason jar. This is the desk Night sits down at. He powers on his computer. 
“Yo, you ready?” Sugar calls from inside the bathroom. 
Night groans, then shuts his computer off before it can boot up. “Yeah.” 
Night and Sugar head down a wide staircase that empties into an enormous hall, swimming with other young people wearing the same linen suits that they are. Not all are blue, some are red, a few are green (including Sugar’s), and only a couple of them are black. 
The hall is lined with various food vendors, there’s a range of cuisine--nearly any option imaginable. The counters are fast, so despite the crowd, there are no lines. Everyone pays by tapping their phones. 
“Kinda feeling like a sushi situation today, what d’you think?” Sugar asks, very obviously checking out two girls grabbing soy sauce from the counter. 
“Why are you looking at those girls?”
“Uh, why would I NOT be looking at them? The hell is wrong with you?”
Night says earnestly, “Oh, I get it now that you want to--”
“--ALRIGHT great.” Sugar shakes his head. “Dude, listen. I’m glad we’re roomin’ together. In fact I even like you a lil bit. Not in that way. You know what I mean. Anyway. I think you’re cool. But I also think you’re a damn freak.” 
Night tries not to laugh. “Is that all?”
“Yeah it is. Now let’s get some fuckin maki.” 
* * * 
Night is trying to stay awake in class, but he’s finding it impossible to care about this kid’s presentation on the code he wrote over the weekend. This class simply could not be more boring. Why can’t he be studying something useful? Another language? Or music? These computer skills are just not practical. No one needs them. 
But boredom is not the only reason Night can’t stay awake in class. It’s also because he doesn’t put forth much effort to sleep at night. Once the sun goes down, Night begins to read. Typically not books, but articles on the internet. Hours pass, he scours the web for information, and his pale eyes melt into the screen. 
“Night, wake up.” 
Night opens his eyes and takes a startled breath. He’s alone in the classroom with his teacher. An older woman, dressed in a smart but relaxed white linen suit. She looks disappointed, and slightly concerned.  
“What happened?” 
“You fell asleep. And then class ended. And you still didn’t move. So here we are.”
“I’m sorry. I was just so disinterested in what was going on. I couldn’t bring myself to pay attention, it was boredom that made me pass out.” Night says this very earnestly, unaware that it’s fairly insulting.
Teacher smiles and nods. She knows Night lives on another planet, and she expects things like this. He’s very bright, but also extremely strange. He seems to have a good heart, but it’s also hard to judge hearts since they’re invisible and not actually related to emotion. She keeps an eye on him.  
“I’m a bit worried about you, Night. I want you to graduate the year with enough knowledge to start building.” 
“Eh, well, you shouldn’t worry about me, Teacher. What we learned this week...I taught myself when I was ten.” 
Teacher laughs. He kinda laughs too. 
She asks, “Will you do something for me?”
“I don’t know.”
She takes a deep breath, thinking. 
“I want you to take your presentation very seriously. I want you to “wow” me. Show your classmates how brilliant you are. I know that you can.”
Night stares, thoughtfully. All his life, his actions have been motivated by an internal compass that he cannot understand or explain. He has always done what he wants, has always says what’s on his mind. Often he’s wrong, and sometimes controversial, but the people around him know him well enough to know that he doesn’t mean it. Most people, anyway. 
While people have allowed the tall, starry-eyed ghost boy to wander and act impulsively wherever he goes (because it’s easier not to question it), he still struggles with being abnormal. He wonders if the reason he can’t sleep at night is because nighttime is the only time that he can detach himself from the people around him. When he can be alone, and feel normal, and imagine different ways of living. 
What if he doesn’t want to build next year?
Maybe there’s a way for him to prove that he can contribute something else.
* * * 
It’s evening, the school day is over. 
Back at their room, Sugar tosses his backpack on top of the pile of junk on his desk. He flings himself onto his bed and immediately starts playing an obnoxiously loud game on his phone. Night is on his computer, writing. Sugar calls out, without moving. 
“Man, what are you doing? Homework? It’s Friday dude.” 
“I’m actually writing you a letter about how much I love you.”
Night’s signature deadpan is so dead that it’s undetectable to the naked eye. Sugar chortles and throws a pillow at Night’s head. He ducks. 
“Dear Sugar, I am deeply enchanted by what a crusty slob you are. Piles of garbage are hot. Call me.” 
“Yo you don’t even understand that I legit get that shit all the time. Those girls today were thinking it.” 
“Oh I don’t doubt it.” Night smirks, Sugar laughs. 
“You’re fuckin weird man.” 
Sugar flips over, texting. Night continues to scroll and type, endlessly. He checks the time again and again. Based on the pandemic...on everything that’s going on...he has calculated that it will happen tonight. He sends an email. He taps his fingers.
“Well I’ma go out. Diamond’s havin’ a party or somethin. You in?” 
Night doesn’t look away from the screen. “Nah, you go on ahead. Have fun.”
Sugar playfully caresses Night’s hair. “You want me to tell Diamond you said hello? I’m sure she...”
Night suddenly looks serious. “Please don’t.” Sugar laughs. 
“Chill dude. Peace.” He leaves.
And with perfect timing.
*ping*  
He receives a message. He takes a deep breath. 
So many late nights of reading, studying, preparing. This message is what he’s been waiting for. 
ADMIN_E: How am I supposed to find you if I don’t know who you are?
Night smiles to himself. Sometimes he can’t read people at all. Sometimes he can read them with incredible clarity. Right now, he can already tell that this girl won’t stop until she finds him.  
He chats with her, back and forth. ADMIN_E and GUEST55. 
*buzz* 
Night looks down at his phone, which doesn’t vibrate often... 
“Julian” 
Except when she gets “certain” texts. Shit. Not good timing.
GUEST55: don’t answer that. He can wait 
Emma ignores Julian. Good. Jesus, what does she see in that nightmare of a human? 
Oh no, wait, it seems like she’s getting scared. Night doesn’t want to scare her. That’s not part of the plan. 
ADMIN_E: ok now you’re starting to scare me. What the hell is going on? Are you watching me?
GUEST55: no, no...Emma, I promise i’ll explain everything. Just not yet 
Night truly doesn’t care what any single person thinks of him. He lives in his own world, where the judgments of others don’t exist. So why is it that suddenly, when it comes to a girl he’s never actually met, he’s starting to care? Is that what this is? Well, he just knows that he doesn’t want her to be afraid of him. 
But he doesn’t want to get ahead of himself either... She has the map now. The rest will come. 
GUEST55: I’ll see you soon Emma.
 ADMIN_E: See you, um, well see you
Strangely, he wants her to know his name. Some piece of her. It’s not that he’s afraid of exposing himself…it’s that he won’t just have to explain his own name, but the names of so many others, and so much more...she’ll have to wait. 
He hesitates, looking around the dark room. His eyes land on the glass jar on his desk. Hm. The little plant does look so unnatural in this world.
GUEST55: my name is Mason. I want you to know that.
Mason. Well, it will have to work for now. 
Night signs out. He walks over to the window, completing his nightly ritual of dragging the tall curtains open.
And then the extraordinary moonlight floods the room like a searchlight beam.  
Outside his window, there is a city that looks nothing like any city we’ve ever seen in the natural world. Roads are raised, buildings are holographic, animated advertisements encircle all infrastructure. The moon is enormous, but there is not a single star. 
Night stares up at the dark sky, after which he was named. Maybe soon she’d be staring at the same one.
3 notes · View notes
pandemicthestory · 4 years
Text
5: distanced
The next step is to find an in, and then an out. 
The morning news briefing on TV:
Kelly Sanchez, lead anchorwoman, stares gravely into the camera. It will be another day of news that no one wants to hear. 
“Good morning, Chicago. We’re here with your daily update of the coronavirus. Schools across the country have been canceled due to a significant shortage of public funding. These are funds that are currently being allocated to bail out the tanking airline industry. The President says that allowing the top corporations to suffer will result in a greater hole for the economy. We hope he’s right.
Meanwhile, bars, restaurants and shopping centers that have been re-opened early to boost the economy have not seen the dramatic rise in business that was expected. Perhaps people are too afraid to go out to dinner amongst the public, or perhaps they simply can’t afford it due to a loss of work. One thing we do know is that the most detrimental effect of these early openings is causing a further spread. As people in certain states that have not seriously social-distanced begin to cross state lines…”
Emma’s mom and dad are sitting on the couch, waiting for Kelly to tell them that things are going to get at least slightly better. But she doesn’t. It’s getting impossible to convince themselves that this will all be over soon--that everything will return to normal. It’s becoming likely that the new “normal,” if it ever comes, will be something that no one has ever seen. 
*buzzzz*
Emma’s alarm wakes her up at 8:30 AM. She facepalms herself upon remembering that school doesn’t exist anymore and therefore alarms are canceled. Dammit. 
But then, she remembers that Universe is currently downloading to her external hard drive. The excitement of this sends a shock through her system and wakes up every cell in her body. It’s that “Christmas morning” excitement, which is marginally more enjoyable than that “about to run away with a possibly bad dude” excitement. That kind is good too, just, different. She runs over to her computer. 
16 HOURS REMAINING
Shit. The size of this application is no joke. Seemingly she’ll have to wait until tonight to begin her exploration. To find Mason. 
Emma remembers the talk they had last night, and reflects on his support of her relationships with her friends. She realizes that she didn’t know many people with that quality, guys especially...it seems like they always demand her full attention and become frustrated if asked to share. Especially one guy. Well anyway, Mason. Intriguing.
Emma heads downstairs to make herself a bowl of cereal. Oh wait, there’s no milk. And no cereal either? These days, groceries are scarce and pickings are slim. Ah well, might have to be plain oatmeal. Serious orphanage vibes--which is somewhat fitting since her parents wish they could leave her at one. 
Ugh. Every time you eat oatmeal, you forget how horrible oatmeal is. Isabel sits across the table from her, scrolling through her phone with intent and drinking black coffee. Emma smirks. 
“Aren’t you kinda young to be drinking coffee? Plus what do you have to energize for, your job at the office?”
Isabel pays no attention to her. 
“Hello? Okay what is up with you.”
Isabel looks up from her phone, a faraway look in her eyes. 
“Do you have a headset?” she asks. 
“Um, what do you mean? Like headphones? What are you talking about?”
Isabel looks down again. 
“No, like a viewing headset. Like an Oculus or a Vive. Aren’t you like, a tech nerd? You don’t do anything with VR?”
Odd request. Emma isn’t much of a gamer anymore, she used to play Dota and Warcraft, but that was before she decided to cut back to become more social. Spend time with her friends. Date an asshole. Whatever. But in all her experience with gaming, she had never gotten into VR. She never saw the point...either play games or experience the real world. What was the point in trying to achieve both at the same time?
“No I don’t. And you know those are expensive as hell, right?” 
Isabel looks nervous. 
“I know. Which is why...um, I was wondering, can I borrow some money?” 
Emma bursts out laughing. 
“No Iz, you can’t borrow 800 dollars to buy a VR headset. Hey are you aware that we’re going through a global pandemic and the world may or may not be ending? I think food and toilet paper are better investments than virtual tennis, or whatever.” 
Isabel just shakes her head. What is with this girl? She’s normally the queen of smartassery--loves to spar with Emma and argue about literally everything. She’s usually so ready for a fight, but now she feels surrendered. It’s weird how you can be trapped in such close quarters with a person and still feel like they’re on a different planet. 
Emma and Isabel are two years apart. Up until Emma was 6 and Isabel was 4, they were best friends. They shared everything. Isabel didn’t want to play with a toy unless Emma played with it with her. She wouldn’t wear clothing unless it was Emma’s hand-me-down. They shared a bedroom, the walls covered with monarch butterflies. Their mom went for a theme, tacky lamp shades and all, lord knows she tried her best. Often, they would stay awake late into the night, vividly describing the dream that the other sister would have. They thought if they focused hard enough, they could carry those dreams with them into sleep. 
But as they got older, things changed. The tacky butterflies were no longer endearing. Emma moved into a room that was being used as her dad’s office. She got a Nintendo DS for Christmas. And she started locking her door. 
Isabel was left to wonder where her role model went. But after Emma made it clear that her hobbies were no longer to be shared, Isabel hardened herself to the rejection. She promised herself to become her own person in any way that she could, to never be dependent on Emma to define her personality. 
In fifth grade, Isabel met Anush. They met because they were both teacher helpers in art class, and it was their responsibility to help set up the room before class and clean it up afterwards. They were both very outgoing, emotional, and honest. Isabel always told Anush exactly what she was thinking, and vice versa. The two girls were popular among their classmates, but the good kind of popular. They were kind, and they included the other girls who wanted to be like them.
So really, it makes no sense that Isabel is being the way that she is. She’s confident, vocal, and annoyingly optimistic. On a normal day. So what’s wrong?
“Emma, someone just dropped a package off for you.” 
Their mom called from the other room. Isabel leaves the table, stressed and defeated. Emma continues to chip away at the bowl of grey sludge in front of her. It’s crazy that there are still people out there delivering the mail--how long until that stops too? 
*buzz* 
Good morning, group chat. 
OLIVIA: GG morning check-in: I want to talk about what the hell Serena sees in Dan 
MADISON: or what dan sees in serena?? Come on he’s like an intellectual and she’s a superficial barbie princess 
ZOE: Mad you know that is MISOGYNISTIC and that you’re letting the fact that she wears expensive dresses and has blonde hair cloud your judgement!! 
MADISON: oh shut up it’s early 
OLIVIA: Remember when you were begging not to watch the show??
MADISON: quarantine does weird shit to people ok
Emma enters the chat. 
EMMA: Ok but without Serena, don’t you think Blair is so much more lame? Like it’s the best friend combo that makes the show imo
ZOE: There she is!!!
MADISON: goooood morning to our very own barbie princess! 
OLIVIA: Why are any of us even awake? SCHOOL’S OVERRR. Should we like, do something?
EMMA: Like what? Sit on our asses and text each other from afar?
MADISON: sounds chill 
Emma laughs to herself. Damn. She’s going to miss them. 
Maybe there’s a way for her to tell...part of the truth? Leave the part about Julian out? Kind of a big part... Say she’s coming back? Make up a concrete opportunity? There has to be some sort of acceptable explanation...there just has to be. And even if she can’t come up with one...there are other things she wants to tell them about. Another boy. 
EMMA: Hey do you guys wanna do a zoom chat in a few min? Just kinda feel like talking more than texting rn 
MADISON: do u mind if i go back to bed and pass on that? I love u girl but i’m tired af  
ZOE: aaand same here, but it’s only because i’m supposed to do this thing…
OLIVIA: so call Gabriel?
ZOE: Wellllll...I don’t wanna lie to y’all.
Ha. Emma knows the feeling. 
EMMA: you out too Liv?
OLIVIA: I am innnnn give me a call when you’re ready 
MADISON: kiss kiss kiss
ZOE: kiiiiissssss
EMMA: bye losers 
Well, maybe telling one person is a good place to start. Liv is super understanding...she’ll be able to think of a good way to break the news to Mad and Zoe. Emma runs up to her room and closes the door. She flops down on her unmade bed, and facetimes Olivia. 
“Hey Liv”
“Emmmm”
Lingering silence. Emma just kind of stares at the wall. Olivia breaks the silence.
“Sooo what did you wanna talk about?”
Emma doesn’t know if she can do it. Ok, form words. Try. 
“I wanna tell you something, that’s kind of a long story. And it’s connected to other stories. And basically I’ve just gone too long without talking about any of it and now there’s like this big clusterfuck of details that I need you to know but can’t figure out where to start.” 
Whew. Even the vaguest of outbursts feels cathartic. Olivia doesn’t seem to be freaked out yet.
“Emma, I’m pretty sure I know you better than anyone. And you can trust me.” 
“I know you say that now but...I don’t know if, after I say what I, well I don’t know if you’re gonna trust me. I haven’t said everything that I need to say to you. Or Zo and Mad.” 
“Ok, so, here’s your chance. I’m listening.” 
Emma takes a deep breath. Where to start?
*knock knock* 
The knocks are soft. Unlike her mom’s, whose are very prison guard-esque, and actually who is more likely to not knock at all. Emma calls out. 
“What.” 
Isabel’s voice comes from the other side of the door.
“I gotta tell you something.” Her voice is uncharacteristically soft.
“I’m on the phone with Liv right now, can it wait?”
Silence. 
“Iz?”
Emma hears the creaking of Isabel’s footsteps down the wooden hallway, and then her beddoor shutting. Click, it locks. 
Emma turns back to the phone. 
“That was Iz, she’s been acting like a freak.” 
“What’s going on with her?”
“No idea. I feel like 14 is a weird age, plus like, she’s REALLY social and into school and shit. This quarantine is probably forcing an inversion of her personality.”
Olivia nods with sympathy. “God, that’s rough.” 
“Yeah...I feel kinda bad I guess. We just don’t really have anything to talk about.” 
“Oh come on, you’re sisters. Talk about how controlling your mom is.” 
Emma laughs. She flips onto her back and stretches her legs against the wall. Oh, physical exertion of any kind feels so unnatural. 
“Well Liv...we do have one thing in common. Which is...one of the things I haven’t told you.” 
Emma fights a smile. 
“TELL ME”
“So I saw Isabel playing this weird computer game, I mean I don’t even know if it was a game or like what the hell it was, but now, I’m downloading it…”
“Uh, ok?? Why?”
“This is going to sound insane, but hear me out…”
“Hearing…”
“I got this...message...online. From someone who I’ve never met. A guy, I think, and his name is Mason.”
“OOOMG” 
“Hahah well it’s not like that, I mean I have no fucking idea WHAT it’s like, because it’s very weird, and um, he’s the reason I’m downloading this game. The one that Iz is playing. Cuz he told me to.”
Silence. 
“That...is really fucking weird.” 
“I know.” 
“You don’t even know how badly I wish I was coming over right now to go all detective on his ass right now with you…”
Emma laughs. “I know you would be. It’s so weird being here alone.”
“You’re not alone Em!!! I’m here. I know it doesn’t feel like it, but I’ll ALWAYS be here for you. That’s corny as hell but hey it’s true.” 
“Hah, yeah...same. I’m here.” 
How can Emma keep this incredibly annoying feeling of guilt suppressed? It’s kind of ruining the buzz of anything else. But it will be ok. Olivia will understand... 
*ping*
Emma has come to expect that any message received to her ghostwriter account will be from Mason. She jumps up from her bed, still on the call with Olivia. Emma starts to get excited. 
“So this is crazy but he just messaged me, ahhhhhh…”
“Eeee tell me what he said!!”
Sure enough, the message is from Mason.
MASON: hi! did you get it yet?
Emma reads the message aloud to Olivia, who is equally confused.
“What is he talking about?
“I have no idea…”
Emma starts typing a response. 
EMMA: Good morning! Get what..?
MASON: a package!
Emma looks confused. Was it...Mason who sent the package? What the hell? How does he know where she lives?? Well at this point she’s not surprised. 
“Liv, I gotta call you back!” 
“Ok you BETTER tell me what the hell this package situation is because congratulations this is now the most interesting thing happening in my life!!!” 
Emma ends the call and runs downstairs. Her parents haven’t moved from the couch, still watching coverage of the virus’s destruction on TV.
“Hey Mom where’s that package??”
“Iz said she’d bring it up to you.”
“What? Can you not give her my mail?”
Emma’s mom turns to face her. “Attitude. Chill.” 
Emma rolls her eyes and runs upstairs. She knocks on Isabel’s door. Well, bangs, really. 
“Hi ready to talk now. What’s up??” 
No response. As Emma presses her ear against the door, she can’t hear anything. She jiggles the handle, it won’t open. 
“This is really weird. Hello.”
“Hellooooo.”
“Fine, we don’t have to talk. But I need my package. Now.” 
……
Emma grabs the little key from behind the thermostat in the hallway. Isabel will just have to forgive her for this. Emma inserts the key into the lock and…
The lock clicks, the handle turns, and the door opens. 
Emma enters the room, ready for Isabel to yell at her. 
“Iz??”
First Emma sees the packaging. The medium-sized cardboard box on the ground, the bubble wrap, the plastic…it had clearly been torn off in a hurry...
Isabel is sitting at her computer, her back turned toward Emma.
“Isabel?!”
Emma runs over and jerks the swivel chair to face her, and Isabel slouches over. She’s wearing a virtual reality headset. 
The one that was sent to Emma in that package.
“ISABEL”
Isabel’s ears are covered with oversized headphones, but even without them, she wouldn’t be able to hear Emma anyway. Her body is limp. Non-responsive. 
Emma starts panicking and checks Isabel’s pulse--steady. Her breathing, normal. What is happening here? What is going on??
Then Emma sees the computer screen. 
The map. That fucking map. 
She turns back to Isabel. She thinks of Mason. She realizes.
The right question is not “What”, but “Where.”
1 note · View note
pandemicthestory · 4 years
Text
4: tethered
The game has a name. 
The game is called Universe. And it matches the map. 
Thanks Iz.  
Emma sits at her desk, mainlining espresso to the bloodstream, and readying herself to do a deep dive on the internet. Since the beginning of high school, this is how she’s spent many nights--high on caffeine, slouched over her computer, and ravaging the internet for information. Except historically she hadn’t been looking for a faceless man, but researching for the essays of her classmates. 
At up to $300 a paper, Emma had been cleaning up and saving up for two years. Saving for a new life with Julian, away from the family that seemed to have a problem with everything she did. Once she was gone, they could finally turn her bedroom into a gym, or an opium den, really the possibilities were endless. 
Emma has nearly $20,000 in a bank account that no one knows about. No one except Julian. And this means she has almost reached her goal, and that they can finally leave. Get a car, drive somewhere south where it’s warm. Or maybe somewhere north where it’s Canada. They haven’t actually figured that part out yet, but once they get the car, the rest will fall into place. That’s what he’s assured her. And she has chosen to believe him. 
Emma is the kind of best friend who lies. She’s not proud of it, but it’s true. And she feels like she has no other choice. Zoe, Olivia, Madison...they might as well be her sisters. They understand her more clearly than her own sister does. The four of them were connected by the holiest of ways: playing tetherball at recess in first grade. 
In 2020, they had grown into a grungey aspiring comic book creator (Madison), soup-kitchen volunteering empath (Olivia), Harvard-bound jailbait (Zoe), and criminal internet troll (Emma)...but before this, they were four little girls who had one important thing in common: hitting a ball that was tied to a poll. Every day, they’d wait in line together. Madison would always get there first (back then she played soccer and no one could outrun her), and she would “save a spot” for Zoe, who was the most talented player at the time, and her key rival. Olivia, given her sense of morality, would often be called upon to referee any suspicious moves. Wasn’t it remarkable that a sport (that wasn’t even a real sport) could form a sisterhood?
Sisters. Sisters were supposed to know everything about you. But Emma had chosen not tell them about her illegal business. How could they ever understand? All of them with their aspirations and goals, wouldn’t they look at her differently if they knew hers was...money? And a future that in all likelihood would not involve them? That thought was something that caused her a lot of pain and guilt, and one that she made a mental note to talk to Julian about. They hadn’t settled on the terms of their new life together, but they knew that it would have to be a secret from anyone. Otherwise they would be caught and returned. Emma was hoping she could find a way to not cut off her sisters. That he would understand.
*crack*
Emma is startled by her bedroom window opening. Julian has this way of popping up whenever she’s thinking about him. Which happens to be often.
“Dude, can you please text me before you’re gonna come over? Aghh you’re all wet!”
Julian playfully shakes his hair like a dog. 
“It’s raining,” he smiles. 
“No it’s not. I can see out the window.”
“But wouldn’t that be so romantic if I climbed up the side of your house and snuck into your window through the rain?”
“You know, it would, but you didn’t.”
Julian sighs, giving Emma the look that means, “ok stop being an asshole and act like you love me.”  
“Alright I just showered. Look, I brought you flowers.”
“You brought me one flower, and it’s a dandelion from my front yard.” Emma cracks a smile, despite herself.
Julian groans and throws himself down on her bed. 
“Ok, so am I gonna just lay here by myself? You punishing me for something I don’t even know that I did?”
He smiles at her in that “you can’t say no to this smile” type of way. Emma concedes and flops down next to him. He wraps his body around hers, holding her tight. It makes her feel both safe and like she couldn’t get away if she wanted to. Julian is tall and lean, but strong. He has curly hair that always flops in front of his face, and his eyes are dark and wide. He smells like the shower, so that wasn’t a lie. He kisses her neck. She sighs. 
“I missed you.” She says softly. Because she really, really did. 
“I had to go away for a while, to make sure I had my half. And it...took longer than I thought it would.”
Emma sits up. “But you have it?”
He smiles and nods. “What about you, Em?”
Emma gazes off distantly. She’s basically there. If this virus bullshit hadn’t gotten in the way, she would have passed her goal in three weeks, tops. But now…
“I don’t have all of it. Since there’s no school, I’m not sure how I can...but I’m really close.” Emma braces herself for him to be mad, but he isn’t. 
“That’s ok, babe.” 
“It is...?”
“Yeah, we have more than we need. I said 40 because having some extra doesn’t hurt. But we’ll be ok. And we can leave tonight.” 
Emma half chokes, half laughs. “Tonight? Are you insane? I already know the answer to that.”
“Well why not?”
“Um, I mean there’s things I have to do before we go, Julian...lots of stuff actually, I mean I need to pack, square away my accounts, and say goodbye to Isabel, and…”
“Then how bout tomorrow?” 
Julian has a bit of a manic look in his eye, like he hasn’t slept in days, like he’s been doing something he shouldn’t. Emma takes a deep breath, she doesn’t want to know. 
“Give me, um, one week. Ok?” 
Was that a flash of anger that just crossed Julian’s face? It couldn’t be. Those days are past. Julian hides anything that might have been, then just pouts dramatically and nods. 
“One week.”
Emma lays back down with him and they begin to make out. Is one week enough time to sort everything out? To figure out Universe? To find Mason? 
“You haven’t even re-asked me to be your girlfriend yet…” she murmurs. He hushes her. 
They continue to kiss, as Emma’s anxiety grows. Julian’s hand begins to slide under her shirt, but she stops him. Abruptly.
“Julian, I want to tell my friends that we’re leaving.” 
He sits up next to her, immediately serious. 
“You know we can’t, Emma.”
Emma slumps forward. “Am I really just going to disappear without telling them where I’m going?” 
“Yes, that’s exactly what you’re going to do. Anyone who knows what we’re doing is a potential threat to us being discovered. Honestly, what is the point of running away if you’re pretty sure that you’re going to get caught?” 
“But Julian, they’re like my sisters. It isn’t right. They’ll worry.” 
But worse than worry about her, they could forget her. They could close their little circle and be ok with just three sisters. They could be just fine without her. And that is, strangely, the worst fate that Emma can imagine. 
“Emma, no. And I don’t want to talk about it anymore.” 
He gets off the bed and straightens his clothing. He puts his shoes on. 
“Where are you going?”
Julian flashes her a look. This time, the anger lingers. 
“There is a fucking virus that’s going to kill half this country. Right now, people are quarantining because they agree to it. But what happens when there are cops in the streets, saying they’ll shoot us if we even leave our houses? What happens when there’s no food left? I’m getting out of here before it gets that bad, because I want to be in control of what happens to me. If you wanna come with, great. If not, don’t waste my time.”
And with that, he has disappeared back out the window from which he came. 
Emma tries to catch her breath. She’s not going to cry over him tonight. No. Absolutely not. This is the right thing to do. He’s going to save her. They’re going to save each other. He loves her. He loves her.
*buzz*
Her phone lights up on her desk. The group chat. 
Emma rubs her face and examines her phone. 
OLIVIA: does anyone wanna watch a movie? Netflix does this party mode thing now where you can watch stuff with other people
ZOE: i was just thinking about how i’ve never seen gossip girl. Binge?
MADISON: if we watch something less cringey I’m in. back me up Em?
But Emma can’t respond. And now, is when she begins to cry. 
Because they don’t know so many things. And they wouldn’t forgive her if they did. 
The last time Julian was her boyfriend, he cheated on her with someone Isabel’s age. And when Emma found out (through an unforgettable fight with Isabel), she confronted Julian immediately. Surprisingly, he made himself the victim, claiming that Emma hadn’t been a loving enough girlfriend, and that he was desperate for attention. He made her feel like she wasn’t enough, something she already struggled with, and something that she has carried with ever since. 
So after he started texting her again six months ago, she told the first lie to her friends. A lie of omission, really, as she just didn’t tell them about him at all. And then came the next lie, when Emma opened up her anonymous writing service to her schoolmates. Everyone knew about the sophomore ghostwriter, but no one knew it was Emma Bradford. 
Except Julian. And this knowledge is something that he has over her, but that she is 100% sure he would never use against her. Because he isn’t like that anymore. He wouldn’t hurt her again.
Whether Emma is able to look herself in the mirror and make the judgment or not, she’s smart. Technically, brilliant. It’s always been easy for her to label Zoe as “the smart one,” unable to recognize her own intelligence. But Emma built her own PC when she was 12 years old. She learned Python when she was 13. She wrote her own research program that combs sources for students’ papers, allowing her to have an incredible turnaround rate. While Zoe might be the star of AP Biology, Emma’s intellectual strengths just haven’t been required of her yet. So she can’t see their worth.
Emma sits down at her laptop. 
Universe.
After a quick Google search, she is able to find it rather easily. Although, the game is from 1983? This can’t be right...the graphics she saw over Isabel’s shoulder looked modern. But then again, she didn’t get a good look. 
After Emma is unable to find any other Universe games, she decides to download this one. As she starts the download, she sees that the game takes up an absurd amount of memory--about 20x that of a normal game. Very weird. Luckily, Emma has a spare external hard drive that she can download the game onto. Huh. What the hell can possibly be taking up so much space?
The computer determines that the download will be completed in 24 hours. 
What?! Truly unheard of. Ok then, well, seemingly she pounded all this coffee for nothing. Nothing to do but, wait. 
*ping* 
A new message to her ghostwriter account. Mason. Her heart skips a beat.  
MASON: Don’t worry, the time will go quickly
And now her pulse begins to quicken. So this means that she’s right. The map is leading to Universe. Or rather, the map is Universe. 
EMMA: are you watching me?? seriously wtf
MASON: No matter what I say, you won’t believe me.
EMMA: ok well… i just ingested enough caffeine to give myself a heart attack, and now i’m gonna be up all night. will you at least talk to me?
A long pause. Emma knows this is weirdly forward but hey, it’s been a crazy night. So why not. 
But then, he’s typing?
MASON: what do you want to talk about?
Pause.
Randomly, shockingly, in this moment, Emma decides to be honest. Which is something she hasn’t done in a long time. To this person who can’t possibly judge her. 
EMMA: I have three best friends, and I really miss them. I miss being close to them. Seeing their faces in person, and telling them the truth. 
EMMA: Too much?
MASON: maybe you should tell them how much you miss them
EMMA: I’m scared to. I don’t know what will happen if...well there’s a lot they don’t know. And I’m scared if I tell them, they won’t look at me the same. And nothing will be the same. And then I’ll be gone, and no one will miss me
MASON: It sounds like in some ways you’re already gone, and i bet they miss you too
Emma sharply exhales. She sits back in her chair. She isn’t use to being read like that, especially by someone who’s never met her.
She doesn’t want to be gone.  
She picks up her phone, and opens the group chat. 
As she begins to craft the message that will open the door to an explanation, she stops herself. Deletes what’s been written. 
EMMA: i’m down to watch gossip girl 
ZOE: Yesssss queen 
MADISON: traitor 
She can’t tell them. Not tonight. But it’s possible that somehow she might. And she has one week to figure it out.  
Back when recesses were spent playing tetherball, Madison would challenge, Zoe would defend, Olivia would judge.
And Emma, oddly enough, would watch. She would sit on the sidelines while most of the girls in her grade lined up to face the defending champion and she would admire it was so easy for all of these girls to play together, to be instant friends. She wondered if she would ever have that. 
* * *
In a different room, far away: 
A boy sits at his computer. He thinks that the neurotic compassion one girl has for her friends is shocking and intriguing. 
He stares at the sky, wondering if she might be doing the same.
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pandemicthestory · 4 years
Text
3: stranded
Some new information makes sense of something old. 
Emma loads the last grimy dish into the dishwasher. 
“Ok I’m done, can I go upstairs now?” 
Her mom and dad are sharing a bottle of wine on the couch, watching some boring Netflix movie they’ve already seen at least four times. Her mom calls to her.
“Did you sweep?”
And Emma lies. “Yep.” 
“Then yes go ahead.”
Emma races up the staircase before they can realize she absolutely hasn’t swept. As she climbs, she can hear her dad’s voice trailing behind her... “Do you think her attitude is getting worse?” And her mom responds to him in the negative way she always does, “Maybe we need to do something about it....”
Emma runs down the hallway before she can hear what they have in mind. On the way, she passes Isabel’s room, whose door happens to be open. Isabel is sitting at her desk, staring at the screen of a desktop computer. Emma stops in her doorway for a quick comment. 
“Iz, next time YOU clean up from dinner. Swear to god I’ve done it five times in a row. You’re not a baby.” 
“Sure.” Isabel says this without looking away from her computer screen.
Emma is surprised by the lack of a comeback--usually Isabel has some smartass thing to say. A family trait.  
“Um, hello? What are you doing?” 
Isabel still doesn’t look over at her, but just mumbles. “I’m playing a game.” 
Emma peers across the room but can’t make out what is happening on screen. Is this that trendy, freaky game Animal Crossing? Sims? Wait, who cares.  
Emma runs to her own room, shuts the door and locks it. Finally, she can facetime Zoe and try to get some answers.
*ring ring ring*
Zoe’s face pops up on screen. Except, ugh, she doesn’t seem to be alone. 
ZOE: Well well well! 
EMMA: hellloooooo to you too
ZOE: What’s going on? Still upset about the news?
EMMA: I was NEVER upset. Fuck that school honestly
ZOE: Oh my god Emma, don’t say that. 
EMMA: Hey is someone else there with you?
Zoe looks guilty for about half a second, then realizes there’s no hiding it. 
ZOE: Welllll, yeah. Gabriel is here. 
EMMA: Zo! We’re supposed to be in quarantine, that means staying at home, no visitors, no making out with your weird boyfriend 
GABRIEL (in the background): Weird?
ZOE (to him): She didn’t mean it babe
EMMA: I definitely did. You’re like breaking a law right now 
ZOE: Just don’t tell anyone ok? I don’t want to set a bad example... or be judged… you know
EMMA: I’ll keep your lame secret if you help me with something. 
ZOE: What do you need?
Emma sits down at her desk and opens her laptop. She pulls up the map that was sent by Mason and enlarges it on the screen. 
EMMA: I need you to help me with this. It’s a map. 
ZOE: To where?
EMMA: That’s what I need help with.... Does this look like anything to you??
Zoe takes a second. She stares at it, pondering. 
ZOE: Can I ask Gabe?
EMMA: Ugh, fine. 
Zoe and Gabriel briefly discuss--neither of them seem to immediately recognize what it is. 
ZOE: Well it definitely doesn’t look like a real place. I mean this clearly isn’t a map to like, Florida. 
EMMA: Great, glad we’ve ruled that out. 
ZOE: I mean it looks like Candyland or something, doesn’t it Gabe?
EMMA: Okay guys, clearly you don’t know what the hell this is. I guess I’ll just find Mason without your help and trust me when I do, we will RESPECT THE LAWS OF QUARANTINE. 
GABRIEL: Mason who?
EMMA: Oh, um, I have no idea actually. That’s the other thing I’m trying to figure out. Why, do you know a Mason?
GABRIEL: I’m not sure, kind of a random name. Sounds familiar though.
Suddenly footsteps are heard from Zoe’s side of the camera. Someone is about to walk into her room. 
ZOE: Shit! We have to go! My mom doesn’t know he’s here...Gabe you have to hide!!
*click* Call ended. 
Emma methodically stomps over to her bed, grabs a pillow, puts it to her face, and screams. 
“FUUUUCK” 
When did Zoe become so useless? Was Emma that annoying while she was dating Julian? Impossible. It must be a thing that dating a senior turns your brain to microwaved garbage. And plus there’s the fact that, well, all of Zoe’s attention is on Gabriel and not Emma. There’s the fact that one of Emma’s best friends prefers the company of a guy. There’s the fact that Emma’s heart is still massively broken (thanks Julian) and Zoe’s happiness is a constant reminder of that. But yeah, just a few facts. 
And no progress. Mason really is such an uncommon name, you’d think someone might know him. I mean if Gabriel somehow did, then maybe Mason is closer than she thinks. Huh. With some coffee, Emma will be able to stay up all night and comb every corner of the internet until she finds him, government stalker-style. Coffee at 9:30 PM? Quarantine life. 
Emma runs back down the hallway towards the stairs. Maybe she’ll go crazy and make a double espresso...except she stops, once she passes Isabel’s doorway. Isabel hasn’t moved. 
“How’s the game, nerd?”
No answer, Isabel is totally transfixed. Emma takes her silence as an invitation inside--something she’d normally be castrated for. As she creeps inside, Emma notices the framed photos on the walls, all with the same girl. The girl is Anush, Isabel’s best friend. She used to be here nearly every day--actually Emma thought her mom liked Anush better than her. But she hadn’t been around much lately, in fact, Emma couldn’t remember the last time she saw her. 
“Iz?” 
“What are you doing in my room, Emma?” Isabel asks without turning to face her sister. 
Silence.
Finally, Isabel turns around to look at Emma. 
“Emma?” 
But Emma looks lost--far away--as she gazes at the computer screen. The game that Isabel is playing looks like some sort of island. And there’s something else...the board, it looks just like, 
A map.
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pandemicthestory · 4 years
Text
2: named
Someone needs something from Emma. One day, she’ll need something from him too.
“Well Emma, there’s something to be said for a small liberal arts college instead of a big university.” 
Boring. Why the hell are her parents talking about college at the dinner table, when the world is literally ending anyway? Emma stares at her little sister Isabel across the table, who’s full on editing a tiktok. Must be nice to have nothing expected of you except 15-second dance routines.
“Why’s Isabel allowed to be on her phone? While I listen to this totally irrelevant information? Whatever, we’re all gonna die anyway.”
Emma’s mom sighs, exhausted by this child of hers. “Can we just TRY to have a normal meal with a normal conversation?” As Emma’s dad starts talking about student loans, *eye roll*, her mind wanders back to that mysterious map she was sent. Or was it even a map? Should she message the sender back, or was this some kind of prank? Part of Emma really doesn’t want to get involved with the idiots from her school who would do something like this to waste her time. 
...Unless. 
Unless it was something else. Or, someone else.
She needs to stop thinking about it. 
Except, she can’t. Who is this person and what do they want from her?
“Mom, can I go upstairs? I know we’re having a Brady Bunch moment and all but, I have to turn in one last assignment.” 
There goes her mom’s eyebrow raising the roof again. “You’ll come down as SOON as you’re done, right?”
Right. 
She bolts upstairs. 
The laptop flies open. 
Those 7 words from the message…
Before you run away, come find me 
The only person who knows about her plan to run away is Him. 
Him being Julian DeRose. The one who always remembers to hold the door for her but rarely to text back. The one who bites her ear but not too hard. The one? Who knows. Dammit, Julian. He better not be wasting her time, as he loves to do, just about every single day. Isn’t it enough that she’s giving up everything for him?  
Then again, he wouldn’t think of something like this. Julian is a lot of things--cocky, passionate, sexy, smart--but he’s simply not an evil mastermind. And anyway, he’s running away too. They are in it together. No, it can’t be him. 
Then who?
Well whoever they are, they are apparently online now. 
The little green “online now” circle next to the message is getting inside Emma’s head. She could just message them. Well why not?
Emma examines the map again. She realizes that the only way to get an answer is to ask for one. And so, she composes a direct message in response. Just one short sentence.
ADMIN_E: How am I supposed to find you if I don’t know who you are?
Send. 
She exhales.
But then, the message is read. 
Oh god. 
“Emma, what’s taking so long?” Her dad calls from downstairs. Like he even cares, he’s just trying to score points with her mom after being totally absent for the past year. Anyway. 
“Just a second!” 
But Emma needs more than a second to deal with this. They’re typing.
A new message.  
GUEST55: you’ll figure it out 
ADMIN_E: What does that mean? Do you go to Harrison??
GUEST55: You have to find me first if you want any more answers  
ADMIN_E: But I can’t leave my house because of quarantine!! Wtf is going on
GUEST55: you’ll figure it out. Just hurry. And don’t leave with that guy
Emma’s head spins. Who the hell can this be? And how much does he know about her? Should she be scared?
Her mom calls from downstairs: “Emma, NOW.” 
*buzz*
A text from Julian, of all people, at all times. 
JULIAN: thinkin about u 
Emma picks up her phone to respond...but she receives another message on the computer before she can do so. 
GUEST55: don’t answer that. He can wait
ADMIN_E: ok now you’re starting to scare me. What the hell is going on? Are you watching me?
GUEST55: no, no...Emma, I promise i’ll explain everything. Just not yet 
ADMIN_E: Ughhhh. Just tell me, this is a map right?
GUEST55: Good. You’re on your way
Emma exhales. What is happening right now?
GUEST55: I’ll see you soon Emma.
ADMIN_E: See you, um, well see you 
GUEST55: Mason.
?!?
Emma slams her laptop shut again. She should probably take out a warranty for how often she slams this thing. Her phone buzzes about five more times, but she’ll get back to Julian later. Hopefully it’s not important...is he ok? Ugh, not right now. She needs to focus. 
Ok so, a map. Mason. So this mystery person is a guy? Is he her age? Huh. The only person smart enough to figure this one out has to be Zoe. Aside from being first in the sophomore class, she has a knack for nailing down mysterious guys and making them explain. At least, hopefully. Because if Zoe can’t help her, Emma has no idea who will. And Mason said to hurry. 
Yes. Emma will facetime Zoe, who will be able to figure out who this Mason is, and where in the world he’s hiding. 
“RIGHT NOW.” 
But that conversation will have to wait.
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pandemicthestory · 4 years
Text
1: introduced
The love story of a teenage girl trapped inside during the end of the world. Daily chapters during the coronavirus pandemic. 
Neon orange nails tap at a laptop, chatting with someone across the internet. This manicure is fresh, except no one has left their house in weeks, so we know she did it herself. 
ADMIN_E: just sent your essay back. Gonna be 300 bc of the works cited 
GUEST48: oh come on 
ADMIN_E: i need the money, and you have more money than you need
GUEST48: ugh pls just tell me this is gonna get me an A in AP US history, i need this grade to get into duke 
ADMIN_E: lol, you’re actually worried about getting into college?
GUEST48: uh yeah, aren’t u?
ADMIN_E: Sweetie the world is ending. Who the fuck cares
*buzz* 
She looks away from the computer and down at her cracked iPhone 7. Another thing she’d like the cash to upgrade. The bigger issue: it’s basically impossible to scam in peace with her group chat constantly blowing up. But what are your best friends for, if not to provide human contact during an infinite quarantine? 
Madison is a self-proclaimed burnout, who used to be the carefree athletic type until a soccer injury sent her spiraling into an emo-grunge moment. Zoe is probably going to run for president and also be a doctor at the same time, unless her weird senior boyfriend convinces her to leave on a weed farm (which he would totally do, wow Gabriel sucks). And Olivia is sort of the one who keeps everyone together, obsessed with being a friend. She’s the one who religiously decorates your locker on your birthday even if you insist that it’s not necessary and that actually you’d prefer if she didn’t because it’s embarrassing. That’s Olivia.
MADISON: holy shit did u hear 
OLIVIA: I was just about to text you guys. My mom just told me. R u ok?? 
ZOE: wait what’s going on?? wtf tell me rn !! 
*knock knock*
The bedroom door opens without waiting for an answer.
“Emma?”
Emma Bradford, a skinny 16-year-old wearing an oversized hoodie and boxers, slams her laptop shut with way too much force. Hopefully it isn’t broken, she’d have to find a different way to cheat the school system for money. 
“Mom, what happened to our deal? If we’re going to be stuck at home together, you have to pretend I’m AT school. As in don’t speak to me before 3:25 PM.”
“You can’t say I didn’t knock. I knocked.” 
“It’s not about knocking, it’s about--wait why are we even having a conversation? See you at dinner. Or not. Just go please.” 
Emma jams in her air pods and pulls up her hoodie over her head so you can’t see the top of her face. She’s used to hiding her identity, and even in quarantine, old habits die hard or whatever.
Mom sighs, she doesn’t want to be here either. Out of all her kids, Emma is the truly difficult one. The smart one who uses her brain for all the wrong reasons. And wow those nails are intense. Traffic cones. Kids these days. 
“I just came to tell you that...well we just got a phone call from the school district. It looks like classes are going to be canceled for the rest of the year. Zoom classes too. Everything. I’m sorry.”
Emma’s stomach drops. Canceled? Like, wait, canceled? Canceled. But...how will she earn hundreds of dollars doing writing assignments for her fellow dumbasses?
“Seriously? How is that possible?! Don’t I need like, an education and shit?”
“Government spending is affecting everyone in strange ways right now. And wait a second, I thought you’d be happy. You always tell me how much you hate high school.”
Mom raises an eyebrow. Emma hates that. If her mom starts digging around in her personal life again, she’s going to find some weird shit. Not just forged essays, but, well, let’s just leave that all buried for now. 
“I do hate school. And I don’t care if I never go back. But I do need some boundaries, so please get out.”
Her Mom closes the door. We can’t see, but that eyebrow is definitely still raised. Something’s up with Emma. Her mom just has no idea of what it is, or how big it’s about to get.
Emma examines the group chat, having missed over 80 texts since she last checked it five minutes ago. 
EMMA: i don’t have time to read all that but, school, right?
ZOE: How can this happen? I already have a prom dress and it was final sale!!
MADISON: u don’t HAVE to go to prom this year zo- when gabriel goes to school next year u guys will prob break up anyway and then you’ll be free to go to like 10 more proms w guys who haven’t been arrested
ZOE: He was not actually arrested and we are doing long distance we already discussed it! 
MADISON: you don’t think they’ll cancel prom do you? if i have to do prom over zoom i’m legit done 
EMMA: So, prom is what you’re all worried about?
A brief pause. 
OLIVIA: Well what are you worried about Em? Or aren’t you
EMMA: Oh well idk. I mean i’m not that worried
EMMA: I just mean like it could be worse
As soon as Emma sends this, she doesn’t know if she actually believes it. She doesn’t know what’s coming. 
ZOE: Sure, I guess...
MADISON: UR BEING RLY WEIRD EM 
EMMA: Ah you’re right sorry, it’s just a weird time. I love u guys btw 
Everyone sends their signature heart emoji. Zoe: pink with sparkles. Olivia: yellow. Madison: small red with red dot underneath. And Emma sends the black heart, because she really needs to start acting like her normal self as people are getting suspicious. Her best friends know almost everything about her. Almost. They don’t know about what she’s doing on the side, or what she plans to do with the money. 
Emma takes a deep breath and reopens the laptop. No school is going to be a problem. No school, no assignments, no college applications, which means: no income. And no income means no leaving...no running off with...him. 
Him, the eternal problem. Him who won’t get out of her head no matter how much she curses the day he was born. Him from that other school that’s annoyingly far yet still too close for her own good. Him who knows her favorite candle scent. Him who rests his hand in the space between her hip bone and her belly button. Him who lied. Him who was forgiven. 
Him. 
She stares at the interface of her ghostwriter page on the screen. This was good while it lasted. She’ll just need a new plan to get to Him. 
Emma is about to shut the computer when: 
*Ping* 
New Assignment.
What? Every student at Harrison Ford High School got the same announcement today that she did. School’s canceled. No more class, no more losing sleep over getting into Duke. What a random life goal. 
Seriously, what the hell could this be?
Emma clicks the link to open the new assignment, to learn that it isn’t a new assignment at all. It’s a drawing?  
Circular lines, deflated shapes encircling each other. Like oil in water. The picture could almost be, well it looks somewhat like...a map. Holy shit, this is a map.
The lines of the map are messy and hand drawn. As if someone made this in a rush. Or maybe they were confused about where the path leads. But underneath the twists and turns, there’s a note: 
before you run away, come find me
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