ã€ŠA Cursed Cleaningã€‹


 Chapter 1

    I sat up in bed, tears streaming down my face. It was another second before I wondered what I had been crying about. My gaze traveled around this strange room to see torn wallpaper as the smell of mildew hit my nostrils. I dried my cheeks, doing my best to look around in the early dawn light. It didn¡¯t show much, but it gave a soft outline of a bedroom. I slipped out of bed, the crusty shag carpet reminding me that I was barefoot. I walked over to the window and pulled back the lace curtains before lifting the broken blinds to see nothing but trees. How very odd. Is it odd? I didn¡¯t remember this house, or this view. I also remembered another important detail that maybe I should have considered first.

    What was my name?

    I stared out the window a few more seconds, wondering if anything out there would help remind me who I was. The trees were unfamiliar, as was the landscape. I walked across the crusty carpet again before hopping back on the bed causing dust to shoot into the air. It was about then that I realized maybe I should panic. But what should I panic about? Maybe that¡¯s exactly what I was supposed to panic about. I woke up sobbing, after all, and I don¡¯t remember why.

    First things first, there had to be slippers. Somewhere. I wasn¡¯t sure what was on that shaggy carpet, but I spent enough time tiptoeing on it. I had a high tolerance for gross things, but I did have a limit somewhere. I closed my eyes, thinking, but nothing came. All I knew was I¡¯d rather jump in a dusty bed rather than walk across a carpet with an unknown substance that made it crusty.

    The dawn filled this room with a red light, and it was easier to see the sagging high ceiling. That couldn¡¯t be good. It looked like the entire ceiling was painted in a greenish color, dropping down to the walls in uneven strokes before the rest of the wall was in a base white color. There was trash, empty packages, and beer cans scattered all over, with one of the sliding closet doors hanging off the track. Old clothes were stuffed in there. On top of the clustered nightstand was an ash tray with cigarette butts in it. There was a desk with a mountain of papers and other trash, and as enough red dawn light filled the room, I finally acknowledged the old, brown shag carpet. A mouse scampered across the floor into a hole, causing me to stand up on the squeaky, king size bed.

    No. I wasn¡¯t afraid of mice. I¡¯d lived with mice before. Was this my house? No. The thought came to me just as quickly. Though I doubted I¡¯d remember if it was, it was a premonition. This was not my house, but I had once lived in a house like this and through it learned not to be afraid of mice.

    The nightgown I was wearing wasn¡¯t familiar. Even as I looked at my brown hair, I wondered if I¡¯d been blonde once. I checked my face in the cracked mirror, seeing my smudged makeup, a reminder that I woke up sobbing with no recollection as to why. My hands rested on my hips as I tried to guess how old I was. That, too, fled my mind. Something told me I was past my teenage years. Perhaps twenty-three or twenty-four. Old enough to start taking responsibility, but young enough that no one should expect me to actually be responsible.

    That¡¯s how I sensed it, anyway.

    It was an old house, judging by the cracks in the ceiling corner. There was a large metal covering running across the top of the ceiling before coming down toward the ground to cover an outlet. This house must have been built before electricity was a thing, and then someone came to add it in later. Sometime in the eighteen hundreds? That sounded right.

    I spied the slippers on the other side of the bed, and quickly pulled them on. They were pale pink, like my nightgown. They looked far newer and cleaner than the clothes in my closet. Or, the closet that came with the house that I somehow found myself waking up in.

    There were two doors in this bedroom, both with intricate door frames of carved lines and spheres at the corners. The paint was chipping away, which was a pity. I loved old houses.

    Oh. Right. I loved old houses.

    I walked across the brown carpet with newly protected feet and went to open the door left of the bed. The knob jiggled, but the door was locked. I couldn¡¯t get out that way. Decision made, I tried the door to my right. It squeaked open into a new room. I spied the old TV instantly. It was a huge one, the kind that was made in the nineties. Huge, thick, sagging on an old stand with a bookshelf of VHS¡¯s to the side of it. I walked forward, frowning as I ran my finger over some of the titles.

    Alien, The Haunting, Sixth Sense, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Blair Witch Project, The Exorcist, The Birds.

    I stepped away. It was an entire bookshelf covered in old VHS¡¯s of horror movies. I may have amnesia, but the sick feeling in my gut could not lie. I hated horror movies. Hated them. Cozy stories were my preference. Everyone made fun of me because I wouldn¡¯t mind a movie purely about the Shire in Lord of the Rings. Just a cozy story about hobbits making friends and eating food. That was what I wanted.

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    Wait, why did that memory pop into my head? I couldn¡¯t even remember the faces of my friends, just that I knew they made fun of me for it.

    I glanced around the rest of the room, rubbing the goosebumps from my arms. It was a small, square room, opened to another equally small, square room that sort of made one large, rectangle room. The brown shag carpet stretched out into both rooms, the ceilings high and cracked. This entertainment room had brown paneling on the wall, so much different from the older, eighteen hundreds feel of the bedroom. This room looked like it had modernized a bit with the electricity, like they¡¯d managed to get outlets in through the wall before they hid it behind the brown paneling. This room felt very seventy and eighties.

    Decades. Those were decades. Like eighteen hundreds. Though that was a century. My memory right now was weird.

    An old, dusty recliner was in front of the TV, with a love seat and a larger couch behind it. There was a table between the couches that held a candy bowl. Thick, circular bright pink candies rested in there with a stained doily underneath. I reached out to take one, but hesitated. Was this a smart idea? Waking up in a house with no idea who I was? About to take a candy out of a bowl?

    I shrugged and snatched one anyway, popping it in my mouth. It was minty.

    Grandma. This was a grandma house. Doily, eighties paneling, VHS¡¯s, bright pink mint candy. Ash trays everywhere. I didn¡¯t know any grandma obsessed with horror, but maybe there was. Honestly, I didn¡¯t know a lot of things right now. This amnesia was weird.

    I walked along the edge of the couch, sucking on the candy as I explored the room. There was bits of discarded beer cans and ash trays everywhere, with more take out bags that for some reason did not have famous logos on it. I expected the famous arches or even some bag indicating where they got it from the store, but they were empty. That emptiness gave me chills more than the mouse scuttling across the floor.

    There were two windows with the same type of stained laced curtains and broken blinds. Dead plants covered both windowsills. It let in dawn light that was still quite red. The wall that separated this small square room from the bedroom had a beautiful built in cherry wood bookshelf that spread across the wall, stopping at the door to the bedroom. The bookshelf was beautiful, but the books were well used and stuffed in every corner it could find. I glanced over the titles.

    It, Dracula, I am Legend, The Call of Cthulhu, The Shining.

    I¡¯d seen enough. The same feeling of dread filled my gut. This bookshelf would be full of dusty horror books. Looks like I wasn¡¯t getting entertainment from this house.

    I moved from the TV room into the next, slightly bigger room. There was an archway leading from the two rooms, giving it an open feel. The brown paneling spread to this room, too. A corner desk held an old computer that I recognized was a nineties computer. The desk was massive, with multiple shelves stuffed with papers and mail. There were stacks of newspapers under the desk, and I tried to see the date on the newspaper. I blinked, seeing the pictures blurred out like the printer made a bad copy. I couldn¡¯t see the date anywhere.

    A broken chair stood on what looked like a plastic mat. The computer was off, but plugged in. Was the electricity working? I tried the light switch, and nothing happened. That solved that, unfortunate though it might be.

    A rectangular card table stood in the other corner, sagging under the weight of countless numbers of mail letters, partially opened packages, more blurry newspapers, and dirty dishes. I grabbed a letter, trying to find a clue as to who¡¯s house I woke up in, but there was no name on the letter. Neither a sender or receiver. I grabbed a few more letters, but it was all the same. Old letters, but no names written on them. It was so odd. Like the logo-less take out packages and containers and blurry newspapers.

    Flies flew around the stack of dirty dishes as I walked to what I assumed was the front door. It had the same beautiful door frame as the bedroom frames, even as the paint was peeling. I grabbed the knob and twisted it, the hinges squeaked as I opened the front door into this forested world. There was a screen door that got caught a bit as I tried to open it. The screen parts were shredded and scratched. They wouldn¡¯t protect against anything.

    I walked out on the small slab of cement that was a porch. There was a small porch roof that was chipped and fading, with two poles holding it up. More like one pole, due to what looked like wood rot at the base of the later one. A small wooden bench stood under the window, with multiple dead hanging plants between the poles. The concrete front porch had a dirt path leading toward what looked like a collection of flower beds, all dead. The other path led to what looked like a covered garage with no garage door. More like a covered car port stuffed with junk.

    I shaded my eyes and looked toward the sky. There were a lot of trees, but I could still see parts of the sky. There was a hazy feel to everything. I remembered skies like this. It happened most often during forest fires in the summertime, when they were in other states and the wind blew the smoke and ash across the country. It left the sky hazy, making sunrises and sunsets red.

    Was there a forest fire? The thought was far more alarming, now that I was in the middle of a forest. I didn¡¯t smell any smoke or fire. The wildlife would be trying to escape, wouldn¡¯t they?

    I listened, but it didn¡¯t sound like there was any wildlife. No smell of smoke or fire, which meant I pushed the fear to the back of my mind. Something to remember, but it was perhaps not something to worry about. Figuring out my name seemed top priority, after all. Never mind. Figuring out why I appeared in this strange house with no memories was top priority.

    Further away there were large clusters of trees. No one was around, no other people, no other houses. It was like this house sprung up in the middle of the forest. I was alone. Completely alone. I didn¡¯t even know my name.

 Chapter 2

    I felt more comfortable in the house, even though I¡¯d have to address the mildew smell eventually. I walked back into the house and continued exploring. Through what I assumed was the living room, I entered a smaller, narrower archway into a tiny kitchen. There was a newer oven in the corner, and by newer, I would¡¯ve guessed early two thousands. It was a nice electric stove, though. Probably the newest thing in this old house.

    The wiring made me pause. So much exposed wire was around the kitchen, which felt extremely unsafe. If a child lived here, CPS would have been called. The oven was plugged into an outlet properly connected to the wall, but the oven light was connected to an outlet hanging into the wall with exposed wire. As discovered before, though, the electricity didn¡¯t work, So¡­ safer?

    There were some cabinet spaces along the oven wall before it turned a corner and there was the kitchen sink full of dishes. There was no dishwasher as I spotted a dish drying rack resting on an old, musty towel. A few clean dishes sat in the rack.

    Across from the oven, a sturdy block of cherry wood was connected to the small kitchen wall, practically cutting the room in half.  Perhaps it was like a kitchen island. This kitchen was so small, though, that it doubled as a kitchen table. Judging by the dirty dishes I found there, it made sense. A microwave was plugged into the wall and resting on the table. I almost missed it after seeing so much stuff covered around it. The table was covered in bags of groceries, spilling onto the chairs and under the table.

    A fridge stood against the other wall, and a gorgeous cheery wood cabinet was adjacent to the fridge. It covered most of the wall on the other side of the kitchen. On the bottom were more cherry cabinets for storage, with one of the doors hanging off its hinges and canned food tumbling out. Above the bottom cabinets was a large space covered in more grocery bags and other assortment of coats and purses draped across the cabinetry or the chairs to the table. The thing that made me catch my breath was the beautiful amber glass bubble doors on the top of the cabinetry. I could see an outline of what was left of the stacked, clean dishes. It was absolutely something that would be found in the seventies. At least they didn¡¯t try to paint over it. That cherry wood was gorgeous.

    This room had three doors. I tried the door next to the fridge, but found it locked. Just like the door in the bedroom. In fact, judging by the layout of the house, this was possibly the door to that bedroom. But why was it locked?

    This was a hoarder house. Maybe not to the extent of mounds of trash all over, but whoever owned this home had a hard time letting things go. I tried the two doors that were next to each other. One was the back door into a covered back porch area, the other door led to the bathroom. I would explore those later. For now, I wanted to do a bit more exploring of this old kitchen.

    I tried to turn on the sink, and was relieved that the water was working. I splashed my face with the water before wiping it off with the sleeve of my nightgown. No towel in this room had my trust.

    I didn¡¯t even notice there was a phone until I gave the kitchen island another look. It was an old phone with the cord plugged into the wall, resting on a base. I raised an eyebrow, curious, as I walked over to inspect it. It was a simple black phone. The phone itself wasn¡¯t connected to the base with a twirly cord, because that existed back in the day.

    Back in the day. What year was I referencing to get a ¡®back in the day¡¯? I wasn¡¯t sure, but I was certain that everything in here was old. Not just the house that felt like it was built in the late eighteen hundreds, but the wood paneling and this phone. If anything, I vaguely remembered this phone from my childhood. Perhaps. Not this phone, but I did know that when someone called and left a message, there was usually some indication like a blinking red light right¡­

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    There.

    I glanced around, frowning, before studying the blinking red light again. There were trees for miles, and I hadn¡¯t seen a single house, let alone a row of electrical poles that connected to any sort of electricity. The electricity didn¡¯t even work.

    I was in complete isolation, yet someone had called this phone. The phone base had a number pad and a small, electronical face that read 1 NEW MESSAGE.

    Perhaps it was a clue. Nothing around me was familiar. I picked up the phone and the base, turning it around, trying to figure out how to replay a message. Or to remember what button to push. I had no idea. When I was a child I remembered these kinds of phones, but I had no idea what button to push. That was a job my mother had.

    Huh. I guess I had a mother. I can¡¯t remember her face, though. My dad was out of the picture. I distinctly remember using that exact phrase when I was little to a lot of people.

    I lifted the phone itself, placing it against my ear.

    ¡°One new message,¡± said an overly robotic voice. ¡°Press one to hear it.¡±

    Easy enough. I brought the phone back down and hit the number one before placing the phone back to my ear.

    ¡°Hello.¡± Nothing about this female voice brought back any memories. I did get the feeling that this woman needed to be listened to. ¡°In seven days, they will come. In seven days, they will start to destroy. If you want to survive, you must get your house in order. Follow your to-do list, and you will be protected. Stray from the list, and they will break into your house, and it will be up to you to protect yourself.

    ¡°The list is being procured as we speak. It will be here every morning when you wake up.¡±

    I glanced around before noticing a notepad at eye level, connected to the wall. There was a mug stuffed with pencils and pens next to the phone in case I needed to write things down, but I didn¡¯t need to. I watched as words appeared on the notepad, like an invisible hand and pen were writing it. The handwriting was beautifully cursive.

    ¡°Declutter one room of your choice.¡±

    The instructions appeared on the notepad as the woman said it.

    ¡°Inspect the food in the kitchen. Throw away what is expired, and properly store what is fresh.

    ¡°Take expired food to the dumpster outside.

    ¡°Further instructions will follow¡­¡±

    The perfectly cursive handwriting wrote down everything as the woman said it. It showed up as four bullet points on the notepad. I didn¡¯t even notice the beeping sound on the phone, indicating the message had ended, until it made me jump. I placed the phone back on the base before tearing off the paper.

    The second the paper was torn from the notepad, two bars appeared at the top lefthand corner of my vision. There was something familiar about it.

    Game. This was a game. I was familiar with this set up. I¡¯d somehow stumbled into¡­ no. That was impossible. I glanced down at my hands. I was real. Absolutely real. Except¡­ I woke up in a bed that wasn¡¯t mine, in a house I had no recollection of being in, and no memory of who I was.

    I tried to study the two bars at my vision to get a closer look. There was a yellow bar with a lightning bolt. Stamina. The one underneath had a symbol with a minimalist person¡¯s blue head with white lines scribbling through the brain.

    Sanity.

    I backed away until I hit the cherry wood table. Parts of this were familiar. A dirty house, miles of land. I was positive the backyard would have a garden I could clear and grow some vegetables. This was a farming simulator. I adored farming simulator games. That much I knew, even before knowing my own name. I would spend hours making my little virtual place pretty, growing my garden, cleaning my house to upgrade and decorate. But this?

    They will come. They will destroy. You must protect your house.

    I blinked, remembering the VHS¡¯s on that bookshelf. The dusty paperbacks stuffed haphazardly into the shelves. Whatever they were couldn¡¯t be good. Somehow a farming simulator had been combined with a horror game. My most favorite game with my least favorite genre.

    Whatever they were, I wasn¡¯t interested in meeting them. I looked at the paper in my hand with the instructions. I didn¡¯t want to come face to face with whatever evil was out there. There was enough evil in the world. Why did anyone have to make up more? Especially considering people could randomly wake up in unknown houses with that very evil threatening to come harm them in seven days.

    I studied the page in my hand, my decision made. I would do what the mysterious woman suggested. It was time to clean the house.

 Chapter 3

    I only had my nightgown, but I didn¡¯t want to wear any of the older clothes in the closet. I doubted they were mine to begin with, and I was determined to start cleaning. Considering part of my instructions were about the kitchen, I decided to tidy up the kitchen, too.

    I sorted through the paper bags of groceries. Some looked like they were bought this week. Others looked as though they were placed on the table and promptly forgotten. The ones with canned food were fine, but some of the bags had forgotten produce from weeks ago.

    I sorted through the food in the bags, many of them filled with expired food or produce. I placed them near the door leading to the back yard. When I opened the fridge, I saw it full of food. The kind of food that was forgotten and growing mold in the back. CPS definitely would have been called if there was a child living here. It was fine, though, because I was going to clean it now.

    It took me an hour to sort through the food, including the stuff in the fridge. Despite it all, it felt good. I fell into the rhythm of the game, despite it being real life. Organizing, placing in piles, getting rid of things that were no longer needed. I loved this kind of stuff. Maybe I was weird, but it was nice to clean, especially in disorganized houses like this.

    When I got to the gross stuff in the fridge, I realized I wasn¡¯t wearing any gloves. I hadn¡¯t noticed until now, but it felt like it hadn¡¯t mattered. Whatever special powers had made me forget everything also made me not feel the texture of some of the grosser foods. Game logic for the win!

    I cleared out the gross things in the fridge, giving myself a place to organize the food I could keep. Once the groceries were organized, I realized there wasn¡¯t much. Most of it had gone bad since they had been forgotten about.

    I sighed, placing my hands on my knees. There were a lot more bags of groceries that needed to be tossed, which hurt in a way. This was a lot of money wasted, but I couldn¡¯t salvage frozen pizza¡¯s that the previous owners forgot about on the counter for a week.

    I took a moment to explore the bathroom next to the back door. This, too, was covered in stuff. The toilet worked, though. There was also an old bath next to some cabinetry and a sink. The problem was there were no windows in this room, and with no electricity, I¡¯d have to use the bathroom with the door wide open, unless I wanted to pee in the dark. But at least there was running water.

    I walked out of the back door into the covered back porch. Despite thinking this was it, I realized there was another room connected to the back porch. Maybe room was the wrong word. If anything, the small building connected to the house looked more like a food storage room placed partially underground to keep it cool. I tried the door to this room, but it was locked. I instead glanced around this covered back porch. There was a chest freezer, and an assortment of cleaning supplies in the corner, like a vacuum, broom, dustpan, and mop and bucket. That was good to know, even if they did have cobwebs covering them. This room was covered in leaves, with a small, worn-out rug covering the old wooden floor. The rug was torn and tattered. It must have been a gorgeous maroon and gold color back in the day. Above me there was a bare bulb hanging onto some wires on the ceiling. A chain reached down just far enough for me to reach. Considering it was past noon, I didn¡¯t need that light right now. Though it probably wouldn¡¯t have mattered, since it didn¡¯t seem like the electricity worked in this house.

    I grabbed the handle to the screen door and yanked it open. The screens here, too, were broken and shredded. No doubt there was a reason so many flies were taking advantage of the dirty dishes in the house.

    I walked out into the backyard, past the storage building. There were trees all over, but four darkened buildings caught my eye. I walked a little further to see they were green houses. Looks like it wouldn¡¯t be a garden, but green houses. I suppose that made sense, considering it sounded like whoever was coming wanted to destroy. It might be a bit harder to destroy protected greenhouses than it would an open garden.

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    My eyes ran across the darkened glass buildings. Maybe it wouldn¡¯t be that difficult to destroy these places. Hopefully there could be some sort of protection granted to these greenhouses.

    I walked around the edge of the house, trying to find the dumpster the woman talked about. There was a river somewhere near. It wasn¡¯t running fast, but I could hear it in the distance. I took in the sights of the back of the house. The sky still had that hazy appearance, even though it had to be the afternoon by now. There was no fire smell in the air, so I was still safe from a forest fire. I saw an electrical pole leading toward the house, specifically the kitchen window. Those wires were low, though. If I really wanted to, I could have grabbed a sturdy stick and touched it, but I wasn¡¯t going to. The house was built for electricity, but something was blocking it from working.

    The house was a white brick, though the white was fading away. There were gray shingles on the roof, with some scattered on the ground. Old leaves were in the corner of the roof, and I realized there was a second story to this house. The second level was painted a pale salmon color. Around the windows of every level, the window shutters were painted a far darker salmon. It was a beautiful old house, if neglected. But how could I reach the second level?

    Right. The locked doors from the bedroom and the kitchen. There must be a shorter hallway with a set of stairs leading to the second story. No doubt I¡¯d have to complete my to-do list to earn rewards, and one of those rewards might be the key to the second floor.

    After admiring the old house, I focused on the purpose of my venture outside. When I heard the word dumpster, I expected something big. What I saw was a five-foot wide, five-foot deep rectangular metal box on the side of the house. I walked closer to inspect it. It seemed rather small, considering how much old food I had to put in here. It was outside between the living room and kitchen.

    Oh well. It was the dumpster, and it was part of my to do list.

    I walked back into the kitchen and gathered up a few of the bags. I tried to grab as many as I could, but I took one step before noticing a huge chunk of my stamina disappeared. I dropped the bags, sighing. Maybe I could only take a few bags before it dropped my stamina. I did some tests until I figured out the limit I could take without it affecting my stamina.

    Two bags.

    Despite knowing I could have done more, perhaps this was part of the game mechanic. It frustrated me, because I could have taken ten bags in one trip, but I started with two to save my stamina.

    I made the first trip, dropping expired food in the square dumpster. The two bags dropped into the container, and with a poof, they disappeared. I frowned, glancing around before I heard something, almost like a generator, before something popped into my vision.

    +0.06

    I blinked at the number, then looked around as it started to fade. Was that supposed to be money? Or points? I couldn¡¯t be sure, but it was something. Either way, I had more bags to drop in the bin, since I could only take two at a time.

    I made more trips. Despite only taking two bags at a time, the happy dopamine trickled inside me as I saw more of the kitchen ground without all the clutter. And by ground, I meant the same maroon and gold diamond carpet that was in the covered back porch. I didn¡¯t think carpets belonged in kitchens, but this one was here all the same. It was much thinner than the brown shag carpet, and so old and worn. Some of the pattern was worn down.

    It was getting toward late afternoon when the last of the bags were in the dumpster. I had a grand total of 1.36 somethings. Either dollars, euros, pesos, or even regular points. Not only that, but when I reached into my pajama pocket, two of the three things were crossed off on my to-do list.

    Nice.

    Now I had to finish clearing the clutter in a room of my choice, and considering how nice it was to straighten up most of the kitchen, I decided to do the rest.

    I gathered all the dirty dishes from the cherry wood table and placed them in the sink. I turned on the water and started doing dishes, whistling as I grabbed a sponge and attacked the large pile.

    It didn¡¯t take long for me to run out of room on the drying rack. I quickly went over and opened the amber colored glass cabinet doors. I grabbed a paper towel, since I didn¡¯t trust any of the towels. I started drying off the dishes that weren¡¯t quite dry yet before placing them neatly in the cabinet. I went back to finishing the dishes when an overwhelming feeling came over me. I leaned over the sink, exhausted.

    What was this? I noticed the stamina bar in the left side of my vision was gone. I hadn¡¯t been keeping an eye on that. I had only noticed it when it made an obvious drop while trying to carry ten bags outside. Did it refill after a time? Or was this the kind that I had to eat food in order to restore it? And how was I supposed to finish my to-do list if I didn¡¯t have enough stamina?

 Chapter 4

    I frowned, moving away from the sink. I could not pick up another dish and clean it, even if I wanted to. The thought made me physically ill. Some games I played the stamina had a timer to reset, and I wasn¡¯t sure I had time to wait for that. The other option was eating something to restore it. But I didn¡¯t have much food, despite the kitchen looking so much better now. I threw a lot of spoiled food away, and until there was another certain way of getting that food, I wasn¡¯t sure if I wanted to waste it on doing dishes.

    Though¡­

    I gathered a lot of the dishes in the sink, taking a few steps. No dip in my stamina, no overwhelming feeling to stop. I took a few more steps, then smiled as I walked outside to the dumpster and dropped the dirty dishes in the dumpster.

    +0.03

    Sweet. Whatever these points were, I wouldn¡¯t mind having more of them. After all, I didn¡¯t need all these dishes if I was isolated.

    The sun was starting to set when I gathered the last of the dirty dishes in the kitchen and dropped them in the dumpster. I had a grand total of 2.75 points that made my dopamine soar. Dopamine points. That was a good indicator.

    I returned to the kitchen that already looked so much better and gathered up the old coats and purses. They looked like they were from the mid-nineties. They weren¡¯t mine, so I didn¡¯t have a problem dragging them toward the door. Whoever the owners were, I doubted they would be back, considering I was miles away from civilization.

    I tried to drag a bag of old coats when that same overwhelming feeling of nausea hit me. Well, okay then. Too heavy. After taking dirty dishes to the dumpster for a while, none of my stamina returned, so it wasn¡¯t on a timer. It must reset every day.

    The sun was setting, and I just wanted these final bags of clutter out of the kitchen. I wanted that sweet, sweet dopamine of the to-do list to be done. Sure, the kitchen wasn¡¯t clean, but the clutter was gone. I assumed cleaning would come another day.

    Right. Cleaning the dishes probably was for a different day too. Oh, well. The points were nice.

    I stood up, hands on my hips, when I noticed a clipboard hanging by the door of the cool food storage room. I frowned, too curious not to look. I walked over and picked it up, flipping through the pages on the clipboard. It was connected to the wall, so I couldn¡¯t take it anywhere, but in the dying light, I saw what looked like what my dopamine points would be needed for.

    It was a catalog of some sort. One page had multiple sets of clothes I could buy. It reminded me that I had stayed in my nightgown all day. Some of these clothes looked like they had upgrade possibilities. One was a faded white shirt that gave a small stamina buff in all farming related work. The overalls, boots, and hat were all separate purchases. Another was a cleaning outfit, with a blue dress, white apron, gloves, and some hair ribbon to tie my hair back. All separate purchases, too, all giving a boost to cleaning related stamina.

    ¡°This would have been nice to know, lady leaving messages on my phone,¡± I said out loud, hoping that woman had heard somehow as I searched through other pages.

    There were a few grayed out pages, and I recognized them as being locked. They still had labels on the side, though. Like farming, housing, and traps. I didn¡¯t so much like the traps page, as it reminded me of the message from this morning.

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    The final page made me pause. At the top there was a word.

    Progress of the woman who does not know her name yet.

    That was a mouthful. I stared at it, blinking. An uneasy feeling came over me again. Something was weird, something was up, and despite this being my favorite type of game, I needed to figure out why I was here.

    I studied the one progress bar that was not grayed out, labeled cleaning. I was very close to level three, whatever that meant. I didn¡¯t even realize I¡¯d reached level two. Thinking back on it, though, I did realize that I probably felt like I could take three bags of groceries instead of two without hurting my stamina, but I ignored the thought.

    Well¡­ that was on me. Apparently, I was close to level three, which would strengthen my carrying capacity.

    With that in mind, I went back to the large bag of clutter and started emptying it out. I grabbed it, a quarter full, and started walking out the back door. Yep, my stamina wasn¡¯t affected. That was nice, because I still had no stamina left.

    I made a few more trips, knowing that I could get stronger soon, if the leveling was right. As I¡¯d hoped, after two more trips, I felt like I could carry a bigger bag of stuff. I carried the last of the clutter and placed it in the dumpster as the first stars appeared in the sky. I brushed my hands on my nightgown, remembering again that I¡¯d been in it all day. Yet somehow, despite working hard, they didn¡¯t smell of sweat. They stayed fresh, and I wouldn¡¯t mind sleeping in them.

    ¡°Still would have been nice to know about the clothes, though,¡± I said to myself as I pulled out my to-do list. The final thing was crossed off, and I let out a sigh. That felt nice. +2.00 dopamine points appeared, no doubt my prize for completing the to-do list.

    Something buzzed, and I frowned, walking around to find the source. The buzzing got louder, until a lamp post flickered to life a couple yards away from the front porch. I stared, confused. Electricity didn¡¯t work in the house. How was the light working out here? It gave a soft orange glow, not like the blinding white lights of LED bulbs. This orange light showed the shadows so much more. My eyes widened as I stared at the post, the only outside source of light with miles of forest. A wolf howled somewhere far away, and my knees grew weak. This morning, with the sun shining bright in an admittedly hazy sky, being miles away from civilization seemed fun. Now that I was here in the blackness of night, I realized anything could be in those woods. I already had a hint that they were coming in seven days, whoever they were.

    I didn¡¯t notice the crickets were chirping until every single one of them went silent. I heard my own breath give a shudder as I stared again at the light. Something just beyond the darkness made a deep, guttural, close growl, and my sanity started to drop.

    With a gasp I ran straight for the front door, throwing the screen door open, not caring if it was thrown off its hinges. I jumped into the house and slammed the door shut, searching for a bolt lock. As soon as the bolt clicked into place, I sprinted to the back door and made sure that was locked, too.

    I sucked in air, not sure what I felt. They weren¡¯t supposed to be here yet. Not for another seven days. It¡¯s what the message said. Unless this wasn¡¯t they at all. Unless this was completely different. Was this something different?

    My imagination ran wild. Anything could be out there. My entire emotions were so unsettled by it all, that I was almost nauseous with fear.

    ¡°Absolutely not.¡± I threw the bedroom door open and leapt into bed, covering my ears with the pillow. I was safe. I had to be. My sanity hadn¡¯t dropped since that first initial growl.

    Would you like to sleep?

    It was a prompt, the words hanging in my vision.

    ¡°Yes! Sleep! Yes!¡± I shouted. I wasn¡¯t sure if whoever it was could read my mind, and I wanted to sleep. Forget what I heard. I did not want to know what would happen if my sanity bar dropped to zero like my stamina had today.

    Tiredness overcame me in an instant. My fingers loosened around the pillow, and my body eased into the bed as my darkening vision eased the panicked feeling in my soul.

 Chapter 5

    My head popped up right at the beginning light of dawn. The pillow fell off my head as I blinked. I breathed as best I could in the dirty bedroom, trying not to think about what happened last night.

    I glanced at the corner of my vision, seeing my sanity and stamina filled back up. I sighed, bowing my head. It threw me off how quickly my sanity dropped last night, but on the other hand, I was an absolute scaredy cat. There was something about being completely alone at night that freaked me out. Especially in the middle of a forest. With no memories of who I am.

    Honestly, why wasn¡¯t I scared a bit sooner? What is going on?

    The only clue I had to anything was the messages on the phone. I climbed out of bed, placing my slippers on my feet again. The house filled with the red light of dawn as I walked through the tv room, then the living room. The kitchen, though still far from clean, was at least decluttered. And it looked so good. I was quite proud of my accomplishments yesterday. It was important to focus on what I did instead of that ungodly growl.

    Don¡¯t think about it.

    I picked up the phone as the light blinked on the base, pressing one.

    ¡°What is this house? Why am I here? Why don¡¯t I remember anything?¡± I asked right into the phone before listening to the woman speaking.

    ¡°-days, they will come. In six days, they will start to destroy. Anything you didn¡¯t complete on your to-do list from yesterday will be added to this new list. Please do the following so you may protect yourself.

    ¡°Order farming overalls from the clipboard by the storage unit.

    ¡°Find the key to the first greenhouse in the garage.

    ¡°Prepare one soil bed in the greenhouse.

    ¡°Further instructions will follow¡­¡±

    The phone beeped, and I closed my eyes, sighing as I placed the phone back on the base. The to-do list appeared on the note paper, and I tore it off, studying it. I couldn¡¯t help but feel like a rat in a maze. Why didn¡¯t someone just tell me what was going on? Mysterious things in the darkness shouldn¡¯t¡­ growl.

    And sure, I forgot what happened, but I¡¯m pretty sure people didn¡¯t wake up with no knowledge about themselves in a house they don¡¯t recall and suddenly be asked to clean it. I¡¯m pretty sure I would have heard that story somewhere if it actually happened.

    I walked into the covered back porch to the clipboard by the storage unit. I flipped to the back page to see my cleaning levels were at three. There was another leveling that unlocked, called farming. I flipped the pages back to the outfits and studied the overalls. They looked simple, sturdy, and worn. By the looks of it, any outfit could be upgraded. How, I didn¡¯t know, but I needed to buy it, first. All the farming outfit options cost five dopamine points each, and I had 4.75 total. That shouldn¡¯t be too hard. After all, clutter in the dumpster gave me points, and there were plenty of things to toss in the dumpster.

    I tried opening the window in the living room, but it was sealed shut. Maybe that was for the best. Oh well. I grabbed more bags and stuffed old letters from the card table into the bag, filling it up to the top. It didn¡¯t take any stamina to carry it.

    I dropped the letters in the dumpster, waiting.

    +.01

    My shoulder¡¯s sagged. This was going to take a while.

    Letters didn¡¯t give much. I learned that after dropping a bag of newspapers and got a whopping +.03 dopamine points. I focused mostly on newspapers after that until I was starting to get annoyed. It was really hard to take so much time and get so little. The longer it took to get to 5.00 total, the harder it was. It shouldn¡¯t be that long, yet here I was. Taking that long.

    I sighed, placing my hands on my hips before realizing that if the garage was anything like the house, it was probably just as dirty. I should be killing two birds with one stone.

    I walked out the front door, glancing at the lamp post. It hadn¡¯t turned on, since it was midmorning. The sky was still hazy. I had a feeling it would remain hazy for the foreseeable future.

    I walked toward the garage that I still saw as a covered car port. It wasn¡¯t a huge garage. It could probably barely fit one car. A wooden door to the side revealed the garage was as dirty as I feared. At least the dumpster was close. Since I couldn¡¯t carry a lot of bags in a trip, it was nice that the trip wouldn¡¯t take as long.

    The door was jagged on the bottom, like it had been broken. There was no garage door, and hazy, midmorning light filtered in through the open wall. Despite the open wall, there was so much stuff piled everywhere that it still felt dark when I stepped inside. One step was all I could take. I was glad I remembered the garage would be full, but also annoyed I lost two hours to things not on my to-do list that only gave me the minimum number of points.

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    I wanted to be a bit more careful with the stuff in the garage. I wasn¡¯t sure what they expected me to do in the future, but I wanted to make sure I wasn¡¯t tossing things in the dumpster that could be useful later. I always hated starting a new farming game and selling all the important things in the beginning of the game before realizing their importance. Considering the woman on the phone didn¡¯t bother telling me about the clipboard by the storage unit, I didn¡¯t dare toss anything that I wasn¡¯t certain was trash.

    I hadn¡¯t been wearing gloves while cleaning the kitchen or the fridge with the moldy food. Perhaps I should have. Once the game aspect came on, I wasn¡¯t too worried about catching something. The logic that my nightgown felt as fresh in the evening after an entire day of cleaning that they had when I first got out of bed, showed me that perhaps this place followed a game logic.

    It was difficult to remember now that I was in a garage full of rusty nails. Those gloves in the cleaning outfit would also cost five points, and it felt like a necessity. I needed to buy those overalls first.

    I dropped the first bag of oil-soaked rags into the dumpster. +.04 was more of a dopamine rush than +.01. At this rate, I only needed a couple more trips. And there happened to be a lot of oil-soaked rags to dispose of. I needed to be quick, because it was almost lunchtime.

    The thought made me pause. Why did I care about lunchtime? I didn¡¯t even eat breakfast. In fact, I technically hadn¡¯t eaten in a day and a half. I never ate yesterday, and I felt no deep feelings of hunger. Perhaps my only food was for stamina. Did sanity have food options? If I ate something comforting, like a huge slice of chocolate cake, did it help my sanity? Because that would be nice. Having chocolate cake would be a plus, too.

    I kept working, trying not to imagine everything I could build with all this old junk, watching for the key. Despite being small, this car port was stuffed with junk.

    Once I hit that beautiful 5.02 total dopamine points, I took a break and tried to walk through the back door, before forgetting I locked it the night before. I refused to get mad at myself for that, though. The too recent memory of that primal fear threatened to ruin my afternoon, so I pushed it to the side.

    This house wasn¡¯t big, which was nice. It just seemed overly crowded with all the stuff. I walked to the back of the storage unit and grabbed the clip board. This time was different. Once I touched the page, the different farmer and cleaning outfit options started to glow, and words appeared in my vision.

    Choose which to buy.

    Despite how tempting it was to pick the gloves so I could have a bit more stamina while cleaning, I picked the overalls instead. The key couldn¡¯t be hidden for much longer.

    Wear overalls now?

    ¡°No, thank you,¡± I said. I wasn¡¯t farming, after all, I was cleaning. Though it might be nice to wear pants for once. ¡°Actually¡­ yeah, sure.¡±

    In an instant, my nightgown disappeared, and I was wearing overalls. I didn¡¯t have the farmer¡¯s shirt yet, so instead I had a basic tank top on. I was barefoot, but considering I grabbed rusty nails and never worried, I walked out the back door and wasn¡¯t too scared for my feet now.

    It took some getting used to, stepping in that dirty car port barefoot, but I muscled through the unease and kept working. I would find that key soon.

    Turns out, the key refused to be found. Saving things that seemed like they might be useful made the process slow. I put things in piles of ¡°definitely trash¡±, and ¡°possibly not trash¡±. ¡°Possibly not trash¡± was turning into a huge pile indeed, and as much as I inspected every item in case the key was inside, I still didn¡¯t find it.

    I told myself not to worry about it until the shadows got longer. Once it got dark enough for the lamp post to turn on, I would go straight to bed. The house wasn¡¯t bad in the light, but nighttime gave a completely different ambience.

    Gathering the piles, I started filling my bag. I started carrying them three at a time to the dumpster, until I found myself able to take four at a time without it hurting my stamina. Once the shadow of the car port got to where it was touching the house foundation, I gave up entirely on saving my stamina. An entire day, trying to find a key. Where was that stupid key? There should be some light guiding me as I got closer, like a warm/cold feature to help me out. There were some games I played where it didn¡¯t matter where I looked, the thing automatically popped up after searching for a certain number of minutes.

    The carport was small enough to barely cover a car, but it was also full of junk. How big was the key? Maybe I should have looked at the lock to guess the size.

    I grabbed a huge bag and stuffed it full of trash from the pile. The garage was getting clean. That much I could proudly say, but soon I¡¯d need to turn on the bare bulb hanging over the beams to keep going.

    No, wait. No, I would not. Not only did the garage not have electricity, but I would be well into my sleep before I did anything like that. I would give up searching for the key for the day and give up trying to finish my to-do list. My sanity was far more important than a reward for completing whatever this was.

    I was approaching 3.00 total dopamine points and still no sign of the key. How did this garage feel so massive yet so small at the same time? I used up the rest of my stamina to get rid of the junk pile, though the ¡°possibly not junk¡± pile was way too high. Out of desperation, I pulled open some drawers to see if there was a flashlight. It was getting too dark, and I might have thrown away the key by accident. I needed a super bright flashlight for this. Or maybe clear out the junk by the window so I could finally tear down that cardboard covering the window.

    Where was that stupid key?

    There was a buzz of electricity, and I glanced up at the bulb, until I realized the electricity didn¡¯t work out here. I glanced out the open door to see it had gotten dark. The lamp post flickered on. There was no garage door. I was out here in the open, near the place where I heard the growling from last night.

    Was it already nighttime? My heart did a double flip as I heard the wolves howling again. I was not going to stay to hear that growl again. Absolutely not.

    I flew out the side door and sprinted into the house, holding my breath the entire way until I was inside. I locked the front door and the back one before covering my ears and running straight for the bedroom and body slammed the bed.

    ¡°Sleep! Sleep! Sleep!¡± I shouted.

    The darkness overcame me, and I was asleep before anything could scare me.

 Chapter 6

    The red light of dawn woke me up, and I stared at the green painted ceiling, blinking. I was quite sure I woke up at the same time every morning. No alarm clock, no nothing. Just the dawn filling this room with it¡¯s red light. I had slept in the overalls, but I really didn¡¯t care.

    I climbed out of bed, still having no idea what this was. A part of me knew that if I kept going, I would just accept this as my life, and I didn¡¯t want to. There were too many questions for me to blindly accept this as my fate. Who am I? Who was my mom that I briefly remembered? Does she miss me? Is she still alive? Is she worried about me? How did I get here? Was this going to be the rest of my life? How could I make this not the rest of my life.

    Why did I wake up that first day sobbing?

    I stumbled into the kitchen, seeing the red light blinking on the phone. I picked it up, pressing one.

    ¡°In five days, they will come. In five days, they will start to destroy. Anything you didn¡¯t complete on your to-do list from yesterday will be added to this new list. An added rule: if you do not finish your to-do list, you may not go to bed until midnight, or until your sanity drops to 20 percent.¡±

    ¡°No!¡± I shouted. They were watching me. They had to be. They knew I dropped everything and ran the first time the lamp light turned on outside.

    ¡°Please do the following so you may protect your-¡±

    ¡°Who are you!¡± I shouted into the phone. ¡°Why am I here?¡±

    ¡°-chop down two trees-¡±

    ¡°Give me some answers! Please! Who are ¡®they¡¯ you keep talking about? Why are you making me do this?¡±

    ¡°-chopped firewood onto-¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t do this!¡± I shouted. ¡°Not without answers! Please! Why are you doing this to me!¡±

    The phone beeped, signaling the end of the conversation. I was hyperventilating as I slammed the phone back on the base. Farming games, home d¨¦cor games, I loved them and played them for hours.

    I hated being a rat in a laboratory experiment.

    The to-do list finished writing, waiting for me to tear it off. There was a lot, because I hardly did any of it yesterday. Now if I didn¡¯t finish it, I would have to stay up until midnight. Or my sanity dropped to below twenty percent. Due to my inability to stay sane with even that guttural growl I heard, there was no way I would last until midnight. Which meant I would be traumatized by who knows what during the night.

    I didn¡¯t even bother letting myself wonder if it would be that bad. Everything was fine in the morning light, even if the sky was still hazy and the dawn brought a reddish glow to this old house. Once the night came, all my sensibilities ran out the window. I would not be able to handle it. The unease of unanswered questions was bad enough. Any horrors the stupid woman and her group wanted to throw at her would only make it worse.

    ¡°Stupid. Stupid. Unfair. Stupid,¡± I said.

    I took a few steadying breaths, trying to ground myself from keeping a panic attack from hitting. My fingers ran over the sticky cherry wood table that cut this kitchen in half. The smell of mildew was still on my nostrils. If I spent an entire day cleaning out the small garage full of rusty nails and oil stains and never got a stain, let alone a cut, the mildew didn¡¯t seem nearly the threat as it had before. I opened my eyes to see the to-do list, ready for me to tear off and get started for the day.

    There was something else on the wall. I hadn¡¯t noticed it before until now. It was a calendar that I was positive wasn¡¯t there before. Instead of the name of the month, it just said SUMMER, and instead of thirty or thirty-one days, there were thirty-five days. It gave each of the five weeks a perfect amount of seven days. The picture was a drawn picture of the house in its peak. When it wasn¡¯t falling apart, and the white paint wasn¡¯t peeling off. The garage wasn¡¯t in the picture, but it looked like a happy, cheerful place. It had gone to ruin since then.

    I tried to turn the calendar, but the other three pages were glued to the wall. Apparently seasons here only lasted thirty-five days.

    The implication hit me. What would it be like here in the fall? Or winter? I wouldn¡¯t stay here that long, right? Surely I¡¯d figure out how to get back home by then. Wherever home was. They couldn¡¯t keep me here forever. Despite farming games seeming to have no end, this one had to end, right? There had to be some objective, besides surviving ¡®them¡¯ and getting this house clean.

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    The calendar started to glow. My eyes widened as I braced myself.

    Upgrade Calendar for -.25?

    Y/N

    I stared at the words over the picture of the house. Considering I worked a lot in the garage, I managed to get 2.75 dopamine points from the cleaning. Yes, it was hard, but I was also curious, and it was low enough that I wanted to figure out what updating the calendar did.

    I mentally chose yes, then waited. My dopamine points dropped to 2.50. Two X¡¯s appeared on the first two days, with a red circle appearing on the seventh. In perfect cursive, I watched They Arrive appear on the seventh day. Five days later, another circle appeared, with They Arrive on it. My stomach churned as the days between shortened from five, to four, to three, before they consistently were three days apart until the end of summer.

    Upgrade Calendar for -.30?

    Y/N

    They would keep coming. The thought made me nauseous. But maybe it was better to prepare for it than to guess. Granted, I knew the first time, and maybe the lady would keep reminding me with every phone call, but it still unsettled me that they would keep coming. Whoever they were. I didn¡¯t even know.

    For whatever reason, the people who stuck me in this weird land was forcing me to play a game to make me suffer. There was a movie franchise that had that plot, I was pretty sure. I didn¡¯t know much about the horror genre, just that I hated it and that no sane person should ever consider it entertainment.

    Even as I thought it, I knew those were controversial thoughts, because someone I knew loved the horror genre.

    The calendar was the only thing giving answers, so I mentally chose yes again and watched as .30 dopamine points left my total dopamine points, leaving me with 2.15.

    A moment later, there was a scattering of images on the calendar. I leaned closer to the calendar, seeing a few cartoon images of a bright sun on a few of the days. There were none in this first week, but the first one was the day they arrive. There were a few more, and I wasn¡¯t sure what it meant.

    Upgrade Calendar for -.35?

    Y/N

    My main dopamine point stock was slowly getting hit by this, and I hadn¡¯t even checked my to-do list. I needed to make sure I didn¡¯t need to buy anything else.

    I checked the to-do list.

    *Previous Days list*

    Find the key to the first greenhouse in the garage

    Prepare one soil bed in the greenhouse

    *New list*

    Find axe in the green house

    Purchase trapper hat

    Chop down two trees

    Load 0/10 chopped firewood onto traps

    The cursive was beautiful, but my list was long. According to my evil overlords, I needed to finish it or suffer consequences.

    I blinked back tears as the fear threatened to take hold of me again. I couldn¡¯t panic. For whatever reason, I was here. I needed a few more days to figure out if I could get any answers, but for now, I really didn¡¯t want to hear that growl again in the middle of the night with no one around to help me.

    I was still in my farmers outfit from last night, and I didn¡¯t care. I sighed, closed my eyes for a moment, and promised myself that I would not let this game make me forget that I was my own person. I needed to figure out who I was, and I needed to figure out how to get back home.

    After checking the catalogue by the food storage place, I figured out trapper hats were 5.00 dopamine points. Those clothes had opened up. I felt a little bad about spending .55 points on upgrading the calendar, but on the other hand, it was the only thing giving me information in advance. For all the questions I had, I craved any information anyone, or anything, could give me. If I knew the creature who growled could give me information, I would walk right up to it and demand answers.

    I faced my pile of trash, hands on my hips. With a sigh, I knew this had to be done. All of my ¡°definitely trash¡± pile was gone, but there was a lot more sorting I had to do. How could a car port get so messy?

    I dove into the unsorted junk, ignoring my bare fingers against the greasy junk. It never remained on my hands. It followed game logic that I was happy to comply to.

    There was a warmth on the side of my hand right hand that made me frown. At first, I ignored it, but as I kept going, it was getting impossible to push to one side. I moved my hand and found a warmth grow in my right hand. This was weird. It wasn¡¯t an uncomfortable feeling. In fact, I could feel somewhere inside me enjoying the feeling very much. I walked forward, feeling the warmth surround my hand as I did so. I took a few steps before half my body was comfortable, and a few more before I was completely comfortable. Once my entire body was comfortable, something inside one of the desk drawers started to glow. I grabbed the drawer and pulled it open. I tossed some tin boxes out of the drawer before I saw a key. Once my fingers touched it, the comforting warmth that I felt disappeared from my body.

    I picked up the key, my eyes widening. This was the greenhouse key, I just knew it. I also knew that whoever placed me here must have heard my idea from yesterday about some sort of system of hot and cold to help me find it easier.

    Except I never said that out loud, because there was no one to talk to. They must have heard my thoughts. Which gave me a different, chilling thought all together.

    ¡°I¡­ absolutely do not want to get answers from whatever growled last night,¡± was the first words out of my mouth when the realization hit me. ¡°I would not be able to handle it. I¡­ would so much rather go weeks with no answers than face that thing for anything.¡± Once that was out of the way, I let out another breath. ¡°And¡­ thank you for helping me find the key.¡±

 Chapter 7

    The key fit into the lock, and I gave it a twist. The old lock fell away and disappeared before it hit the ground. I pulled the door open and stepped inside.

    It felt muggy. The greenhouse wasn¡¯t big. Two rectangular soil beds stood on either side, full of dead plants like nothing had been touched in years. In the back was a broken soil bed with a mountain of other junk on the ground.

    I just had to get one soil bed ready, and find an axe. Despite this greenhouse being about the same size as the garage, it wasn¡¯t nearly as stuffed with junk. I searched through the pile of fallen soil and dead plants to find a small shovel and garden fork, which was a win. There was also a bag of fertilizer, which I put to the side, because that definitely felt important. Once that was done, I chose my soil bed and started digging up the dead plants. Despite not remembering if I ever had a green thumb in my old life, there was something about my overalls that seemed to take over, and I knew what to do. I dug up the old plants, then used the fork to break up the soil already in there. My hands then took over as I did that through the entire rectangle, and I could almost see a nice sheen come over the garden soil bed.

    I reached into my pocket and pulled out my to do list. Finding the key and preparing a soil bed had been crossed out, and it was almost the afternoon. Which meant I had the rest of the day to finish today¡¯s list before the evil overlords decided to torture me with things that could hurt my sanity bar. I just had to find the axe, and I was on my way.

    It didn¡¯t take me long searching through the pile of stuff in the greenhouse to find it. It was rusty, but it was there. I stood up, brushing myself off as I gripped the small axe. Some of those trees out there were thick, and this axe didn¡¯t feel nearly as sturdy when I walked out of the greenhouse and compared the trunks of those trees. But who knows. If I could clean out a garage without wearing gloves or shoes, I could chop down a full tree with this tiny hand axe.

    The ground was uneven with patches of grass. Considering the inside of the house, the outside didn¡¯t surprise me that it wasn¡¯t the most groomed. Those dead flowers by the front porch seriously made me sad. Eventually I would get there, but I needed to make sure I was safe, first.

    I walked up to one of the trees that was uncomfortably close to the house and started whacking. I watched a chunk of my stamina bar disappear. It seemed like a lot, though I wondered if that was somehow connected to my soil bed. I hadn¡¯t noticed if any of that took away from my stamina, so I picked up the axe again and thwacked it against the tree. More stamina disappeared, and maybe it was my imagination, but it didn¡¯t seem as big of a chunk. I just really didn¡¯t want so much of my stamina disappearing for every axe hit.

    Nine thwacks later, the tree groaned before falling to the ground. I had a small bit of stamina left, even though I couldn¡¯t feel the exhaustion. For whatever reason, I didn¡¯t feel the exhaustion and no doubt wouldn¡¯t until the stamina was gone. Game logic. That¡¯s what I chalked it up to.

    Speaking of game logic, once the tree hit the ground, the branches disappeared and three logs hit the ground. I frowned, approaching them. There was a lot more that went into making a tree turn into a log. I didn¡¯t know how it would turn into firewood, but I had a thought.

    I picked up the axe and smacked one of the logs. The log disappeared, turning into a perfectly cut board. I raised an eyebrow, and my curiosity was too much, so I whacked the board again and there were two bundles of firewood on the ground, picturesquely bound.

    ¡°Nice,¡± I said.

    I whacked the second log until it, too, became a picturesque bunch of firewood. When I got to the last log, my arm was suddenly a thousand pounds, and I could not lift it even if my life depended on it. My stamina was gone.

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    ¡°Alright,¡± I said, straightening. ¡°I guess I better eat.¡±

    Almost three days, and it was time to eat. I didn¡¯t feel any of the hunger pains from not eating for three days. Game logic. All this was game logic, yet in real life.

    ¡°If this is some experiment, I don¡¯t know how I feel about it,¡± I said as I walked through the back door into the covered back porch. ¡°Your virtual reality sucks, because it¡¯s not realistic. Look at me.¡± I lifted my hands, turning them around. ¡°I¡¯ve cleaned out oily junk from the garage, prepared a soil bed in a green house, and chopped down a tree and my hands are clean as ever. Not even any blisters. Just to prove that it¡¯s not that big of deal, I¡¯m not even going to wash my hands before I eat¡­¡± I hesitated before opening the fridge. I started to wonder why, when the rest of the electricity didn¡¯t work, that the fridge remained cold. I about asked them, when I realized maybe I didn¡¯t want them to know, because they might turn off the fridge and I¡¯d have to find a different way to keep the food cool without electricity in summertime.

    Though¡­ it didn¡¯t matter if I said it out loud. They¡¯ve been able to read thoughts.

    ¡°Are you guys aliens, or something?¡± I asked, pulling out a gallon of cool milk. ¡°Is this what it all is? Have you abducted me and is this how you¡¯re probing me? Because if you are, I want you to know that I still expect you to treat me with dignity. I¡¯ve heard stories about what aliens do, and I¡¯m not interested in that level of investigation.¡±

    I grabbed a clean bowl from the cupboard and a bag of off brand lucky charms. I sat down at the clutter free cherry table and ate, watching my stamina creep up until it was a quarter of the way full. I crinkled my nose. ¡°That doesn¡¯t seem like enough.¡±

    So, I poured another bowl. The other super odd thing about never feeling hungry, is I never felt full, either. In fact, the game logic was there in that I took three bites of cereal and a drink of the milk and it was gone. It was rather fast.

    I finished my second bowl, receiving another quarter of stamina. ¡°Also, how am I going to cook when there¡¯s no electricity?¡± I eyed the stove curiously but decided to keep talking. ¡°And milk? How am I going to replenish my milk supply? Usually in these games there¡¯s a barn or something to gather cows and chickens. I didn¡¯t see a barn out there. Also, there¡¯s usually a village I can walk to that has a bunch of NPC¡¯s I can buy from and talk to, because isolation is no joke. You start talking to yourself a lot,¡± I said to the ceiling.

    I sighed, pouring myself a third bowl of off-brand lucky charms. I needed my stamina all the way full. Chopping down one tree wiped out all my stamina, so I needed to stock up.

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t mind a barn with a cow,¡± I said again to no one except the aliens probing me to study human nature. ¡°Or chickens. I could gather eggs every day.¡± My gaze fell on the stove again. ¡°I¡¯m assuming there¡¯s a way to start cooking in this game, too. Because¡­ there¡¯s usually a way to cook in these games.¡±

    Three bites, drink the milk, watch as the stamina reached seventy-five percent, pour another bowl.

    ¡°These groceries can only get me so far. And despite the fridge working, the stove isn¡¯t.¡± I froze. Every time I talked, I always said something I didn¡¯t mean to. ¡°I really appreciate the fridge working, by the way. Please let the fridge keep working. And maybe the stove, too? Can you let that turn on?¡±

    I gnawed on the inside of my cheek before finishing my fourth bowl of cereal. My stamina was all the way full, and I hopped off the chair and placed the milk back in the fridge. It was halfway gone, and I only had one more gallon. For a moment, I felt the worry of what it would be like to ration out the food. The need to eat a piece of bread once a day so I wouldn¡¯t have to go a day without food. It was always better to eat a small portion of something rather than not eat anything all day.

    I blinked, the instinct gone. I stared again at the empty fridge, cocking my head to one side. That was odd. It wasn¡¯t a memory, that was an instinct. One ingrained inside my head. So much a part of me that I knew what it was like to stare at an empty fridge and start to make a plan on how to lengthen the meager meals inside it.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been starving before, haven¡¯t I,¡± I said. Either to the aliens or the evil overlords. Whoever it was who were making me play out this game. Though, in all honesty, I said it mostly to myself. It was a clue to who I once was. A primal instinct that couldn¡¯t be wiped like a memory. Much like how much I hated horror.

    Speaking of which, it was time to finish my to-do list.

 Chapter 8

    I walked outside with renewed stamina and picked another tree. With many thwacks, I brought it down, and with a few more thwacks, they changed into beautiful firewood. I still had a sliver of stamina, which was nice.

    The shadows were starting to get long when I straightened. I had a few more hours until nighttime, and I needed to set traps. I pulled the to-do list out of my pocket and studied it again. Everything was crossed out except purchasing trapping hats and placing the firewood in the traps.

    I glanced around, frowning. I don¡¯t know what they meant by traps, but maybe if I bought the trapper hat, that would help me see what they meant. If I remember right, all the articles of clothing cost 5.00 dopamine points, and with my current 2.15 total, I needed to start selling some stuff.

    There were exactly ten bundles of firewood, which was a pity, because I wanted to see how many dopamine points, I would get if I sold a bundle, but I wasn¡¯t ready to give one up. Instead, I dove into cleaning. I really wanted to clean the bedroom, since I didn¡¯t enjoy waking up to the mess. It would be nice to wake up to it nice and clean, with no mice scampering over the piles of junk.

    My cleaning levels must have been higher, as I was able to carry an entire garbage bag stuffed with clothes from the closet to drop into the dumpster. Once the closet was cleaned, I noticed my nightgown hanging there, with my slippers underneath. The door was still hanging off the closet, but I just left it there. This closet was now mine, with the only other pair of clothes I owned.

    As far as I could tell, my nightgown didn¡¯t have any magical properties to help me sleep.

    ¡°That¡¯d be nice, though!¡± I said out loud to the scientists controlling my lab experiment.

    I gathered up the ashtrays from the bedroom and the entertainment room before dropping them into the dumpster. They each gave me a measly +.01 dopamine point. Oh well, they were gone, and I wasn¡¯t allowed to smoke.

    I don¡¯t know why I knew that, but I did. Even at my twenty-three- or twenty-four-year-old self, I also distinctly remember being warned against something like that.

    2.26 total dopamine points. I tried hard not to imagine what it would be like if I¡¯d never upgraded the calendar, because that wouldn¡¯t do anyone any good. Instead, as the shadows of the trees stretched toward the house, I buckled in and gathered up trash.

    The bedroom was slowly coming together. I knew I¡¯d appreciate it better in the red dawn light instead of the red setting sun light. Right now, I was stressing more about getting to 5.00.

    When I dropped another large bag of beer cans into the dumpster and got +.04 points for all that effort, I started to get anxious. The sun was filtering through the thick forest trees, and it already felt dark. I didn¡¯t want to stay up until midnight, and I didn¡¯t want to feel terrified until my sanity couldn¡¯t take it. I was creeping ever closer to 4.00, and the trash in the house wasn¡¯t giving me what I needed.

    I still had a pile of ¡°definitely trash¡± in the garage that I could get rid of. The stuff in the garage always gave me more than the stuff in the house.

    Crickets were chirping in the distance as I started throwing things from my ¡°definitely trash¡± in a bag. I ran over to the dumpster, keeping an eye on my stamina. I still had a few slivers left.

    I dropped it in there, finally making it to 4.02 total dopamine points. I didn¡¯t pause to celebrate. The shadow of the trees inched up the house, and I focused more on them than what I was throwing away, until a phrase popped into my vision.

    Are you sure you want to throw that away?

    Y/N

    I stared at the phrase, blinking, then down at the bag in my hand. There were a few items inside it, and usually stuff from the garage gave me an average of .07 points. I was slowly making my climb to 5.00, and I needed to get this finished, but this phrase stopped me for a solid five seconds.

    There was a way in the game to make sure I wasn¡¯t throwing away anything useful. That changed everything.

    I dumped the contents of the bag onto the ground and began plopping things into the dumpster one by one until I got the phrase again.

    Are you sure you want to throw that away?

    Y/N

    It was an old battery. I thought it was a rusted bullet, but now that I looked again, it was a battery. There was no way it would work, but since I got the prompt, I was far too afraid to throw it away, now.

    I mentally chose no, then ran into the garage. I began stuffing my bag with as much of the ¡°possibly not trash¡± pile as my stamina would allow and booked it to the dumpster. I held my breath as I dropped the junk in there. I dropped ten items in there, giving me .08 more dopamine points, and no message about whether I wanted to throw something away.

    I¡¯d been saving too much stuff. It was fine. I now had a way to get rid of the junk in the garage.

    The stars started to appear in the sky as I forced myself to stay calm. To think of other things besides how quickly the light was disappearing from the sky.

    The garage was going to look so nice now that the junk was getting thrown out of it. Seriously, so nice. It¡¯ll be so sparkly clean, and someone could actually fit their car in there now. Beautiful.

    I sprinted toward the dumpster again with a new bag of junk, dropping them in one at a time.

    ¡°So nice. So beautiful,¡± I stuttered. ¡°I bet who ever owned this house had a beautiful car.

    +.01

    +.01

    +.02

    +.01

    ¡°So lovely,¡± I said, dropping things in as I started at my total

    4.42

    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    4.43

    4.45

    4.46

    ¡°I bet it was a beautiful green car,¡± I said. ¡°Green cars aren¡¯t often pretty, but I bet they had a beautiful one. Probably had a beautiful model T. That¡¯s the first car invented, right?¡±

    I sprinted back into the garage, stuffing things into the bag. ¡°I bet it had glitter, too. Like a green, glittery model T. I bet the lady of the house was beautiful. This house is beautiful. Back in the late eighteen hundreds.¡±

    Halfway to the dump, my hands dropped the bag and I collapsed, the last of my stamina disappearing. I could not lift that bag, not even if my life depended on it.

    And there was a chance I was now in that situation.

    ¡°Come on. Come on. You can do it. Whatever your name is, you can do it,¡± I said to myself as I gathered a few of the spilled items on the ground and dropped them in the dumpster. I crossed 4.52 total points and ran to gather more trash in the bag before returning to the dumpster.

    ¡°I believe in you. You¡¯ve got this. You can-¡±

    The guttural noise cut me off. I was talking to myself. Outloud. Why was I doing that? Only idiots in horror movies did that.

    My eyes shot toward my sanity bar. The growling from that first night caused the bar to drop, this time it held firm.

    You can do this. I believe in you. You¡¯re going to be just fine. Your sanity is fine, so you¡¯re fine.

    I dropped the items in there and sprinted back into the garage, gathering more. I held my breath, but still sprinted, dropping items in the dumpster.

    My ears tingled. The crickets weren¡¯t chirping, and I could hear the river roaring behind the greenhouses. The growl was deeper in the woods, but close enough that the creature could no doubt see the garage.

    The first of the tears fell down my cheeks, and a sliver of sanity disappeared. I shoved trash into the dumpster, my mind feeling scattered. If I didn¡¯t get this done, I would be locked inside the house until I could go to sleep at midnight.

    The creature growled again, closer to the garage but still hidden in the trees, and the light from the lamp post gave me a shadow. The stars above twinkled in the sky as I dropped junk into the dumpster.

    4.65. I wouldn¡¯t make it. If I hadn¡¯t upgraded that stupid calendar, I would have been there by now and already in bed.

    Don¡¯t get scared like that. You can¡¯t change the past. Use the energy to work on what you have now.

    My knees were weak, and the growl I heard just at the edge of the forest made every hair on my arm stand on end, the stamina beginning to drop. I needed something big. I needed to sell one of the more valuable pieces of junk. But what if I sold it, and couldn¡¯t get it again, and then I wouldn¡¯t be able to complete another task, and I¡¯d be stuck with a continually piling list of to-do¡¯s that would keep me up until midnight and would undoubtably drive me insane and I couldn¡¯t-

    Milk. I had an extra gallon of milk.

    I let out a breath and sprinted into the house, opening the fridge. Food always sold in these kinds of games. I grabbed the full gallon of milk and tried not to think about it as I opened the front door and tiptoed to the dumpster.

    The river flowed behind the greenhouses. I couldn¡¯t hear the monster. All I heard was my own breathing as I dropped the gallon of milk into the dumpster.

    Please, please, please.

    Are you sure you want to sell this?

    Y/N

    Yes, yes, yes.

    +1.50

    I let out my breath and sucked in another ragged one. 6.15 total dopamine points.

    I rushed through the back door and purchased the trapper hat. It appeared on my head, the little flaps resting against my ears. I must have been a sight in my worn-out farming overalls and my fuzzy trapper hat. As soon as I saw them, numbers appeared right outside. I opened the back door to see an impression of a fence covering my house and garage. In red, I saw 0/50. But how was I supposed to put the firewood into the fence?

    With a sinking heart, I realized all the firewood was stacked by the dumpster, closest to the garage. The last place I heard the growling.

    I took a steady breath. I could do this. It was either this or stay up until midnight. Or until my sanity hit twenty percent. I did not want to see what insanity did to me.

    Every instinct in me told me to hide in my bedroom, but I pushed through, stepping onto the concrete front porch and eased onto the side of the house that had the dumpster. I didn¡¯t hear anything, which I wasn¡¯t sure how that made me feel. The ten bundles of firewood were against the house, and I put two bundles of firewood in my arms. Trying to get a third one in my arms made the other two tumble to the ground and a wave of nausea hit me.

    Fine. Two bundles at a time.

    I grabbed two bundles and followed the impression in my gut, given me through the inspiration of the trapper hat. I needed to place the bundles in the fake fence floating in my eyes. The closest was the place by the garage, but I refused. My ears practically curled as I tried to hear the creature. Knowing it was out there and not hearing it felt almost worse than hearing that growl.

    I dropped two bundles in the fence and snuck back to gather two more.

    At least it¡¯s not one bundle.

    I repeated this phrase over and over again. Ten trips would be horrible. Five was doable.

    4/50.

    My own to-do list would have a different number. Six more bundles of firewood, and then I could go to bed.

    The lamp post cast a shadow of something coming out of the forest. It stepped onto the ground, sniffing. My feet froze in place, and my breathing turned shallow as my sanity took another dip.

    No. No, don¡¯t freeze. Come on. Come on, dear girl. You can do this.

    I forced my feet to start moving again. I had hoped that my sanity would stop dropping, but it still did. I gathered two more bundles and tiptoed to the fence, shoving the bundles of firewood into the imaginary copy. Two more trips.

    The creature still sniffed, and if the garage wasn¡¯t there, I would see exactly what that creature was. The shadow it cast, though, was enough that my sanity was a continual drain, almost reaching halfway.

    There was a good chance I¡¯d be going to bed in another couple minutes, whether this job was done or not.

    The creature had four legs, and according to its shadow had thick, mangy fir. A wolf was the first thought I had, but I didn¡¯t believe it. I¡¯d heard wolves howling in the forest. They didn¡¯t make the noises this creature made. It sniffed around the bottom of the garage as I picked up two more bundles, tears streaming down my face. My sanity hit fifty percent. The creature¡¯s sniffing became more intense, with snarls intermixed as it grew more fervent in its search, starting to move away from the garage.

    It must not have that great of a sense of smell. Shouldn¡¯t wolves have a better sense of smell? They hunted, after all. This thing should have smelled me already.

    Maybe it was better to not think about the logistics of it all. I should just be grateful this four-legged creature didn¡¯t have a great sense of smell.

    I placed the bundles of firewood and turned to head for the last two. Just as I picked them up, the creature stopped sniffing, and I remained frozen on the spot. Tears raced down my cheeks, dripping off my chin into the unkempt ground below. I waited, my breathing nonexistent as my heart pounded into my ears. These were the last two bundles. I could do this.

    Please let me do this.

    My sanity was dropping. How low, I wasn¡¯t sure. Not low enough to run and go to bed, though. Maybe I could stay here, frozen, until it was at twenty percent. That could work, right?

    The creature barked, and it was a bark of recognition and anger. I gasped, hugging the bundles to my chest as I sprinted toward the fence.

    What was I doing? Go for the door! Why wasn¡¯t I running toward the door?! Don¡¯t run for the fence, stupid, run for the DOOR.

    Fear was one hell of a stimulant. I shoved the remaining firewood onto the fence as I heard four paws pounding into the ground as the creature sprinted toward me.

    ¡°Done. I¡¯m done. I¡¯m done,¡± I said as I pumped my legs, carrying me into the house.

    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the shadowed four-legged creature. It snarled, before there was a deafening crack. At first I thought it was a bullet, but then I watched as the creature squealed in pain before it stood up on it¡¯s hind legs and started to run. The speed was inhuman, and I screamed, throwing myself against the front door.

    It could run. Run on its hind legs. What was that thing? What was it doing here at this house?

    I slammed the front door and locked it, tears still dropping off my chin as I scrambled to the back door in the dark, making sure it was locked before I bolted into my room.

    ¡°Sleep! Please! Sleep! It¡¯s done! My to-do list is done!¡±

    The last two nights didn¡¯t produce a dream. I begged the overlords that the same applied tonight. Because I couldn¡¯t have a nightmare. I was already living one.

 Chapter 9

    The dawn light woke me up once again, and I slowly lifted my head. I spent a solid minute staring at nothing. Thankfully no dreams or nightmares, but the memories were still fresh. That cracking noise. Was that the creature¡¯s spine? Did bones shift and break inside the creature¡¯s body to cause it to do that? If so, how could that creature stand, let alone run. I remembered the squeal of pain, and maybe I should have felt pity, but I didn¡¯t. I caught such a small glimpse of it before, but there were still teeth. It was after me. It might want me dead.

    I didn¡¯t have any hit points, though. That might mean something, right? Just my stamina and my sanity.

    My sanity.

    Unlike stamina, my sanity only filled up halfway this morning. Did only a certain amount of sanity refill every day?

    It made sense. I still felt groggy and my body gave a shudder every so often. I stumbled out of the partially decluttered bedroom and into the entertainment room. I refused to look at the VHS¡¯s on the shelf as I got to the room. So, help me, I was not going to have another night like last night. Not with half my sanity gone.

    Yeah, it felt like half my sanity was gone.

    I got to the kitchen, my frame still trembling. With a shaking hand, I picked up the phone, pressing one before placing it against my ear.

    ¡°In four days, they will come. In four days, they will start to destroy. Anything you didn¡¯t complete on your to-do list from yesterday will be added to this new list. If you do not finish your to-do list, you may not go to bed until midnight, or until your sanity drops to 20 percent.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± I mumbled, despite the woman leaving a message and not actually talking to me.

    ¡°Purchase and plant ten tomato seeds.

    ¡°Water those ten tomato seeds.

    ¡°Finish putting in the rest of the firewood for the fence.

    ¡°Build the rest of the fence.

    ¡°Further instructions will follow¡­¡±

    The phone beeped and I looked at the to-do list. It was short, but it would probably take me all day again.

    I closed my eyes, which instantly made my mind replay the exact sound of the creature¡¯s spine breaking as it stumbled to its hind legs to chase me.

    I snapped my eyes open and tore the to-do list off the wall. Four more days. This trap was important. Four more days until they tried to attack, and this was the first time my instructions were anything toward my safety.

    I went to the back, flipping through the clip board pages until I got to farming and saw how much the seeds were. A packet of five tomato seeds were .50 dopamine points. I needed two, which would completely drain me of my dopamine points.

    I glanced at my total, surprised to see 3.15. I thought I only had 1.15.

    After some thought, I remembered the first day that I was here. When I finished my to-do list I got +2.00 dopamine points. Last night I was so focused on running away that I probably didn¡¯t register it.

    Doesn¡¯t matter. I have it, which means I don¡¯t have to worry about it being a huge drain on my total to buy the seeds.

    I bought the seeds and walked out of the back door to the green house, giving it a slight glare. This greenhouse put me through a lot of grief because I couldn¡¯t find the key fast enough.

    I planted the seeds in the soil bed as my farming overalls instructed, then glanced around for a watering can and a place to fill it up with water. When I found neither, I shrugged and went back into the house to get a cup of water. I was almost out the door when a physical wall was placed between the cup and the house, blocking me from taking the water to the greenhouse.

    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡°Come on evil overlord alien people! I¡¯m being creative! Finding a different way to do a job! Doesn¡¯t this help you understand human nature better? Let me do this!¡±

    The wall remained, and I glared before filling my mouth with the tap water and setting the glass down on the counter. I then walked out the back door, toward the first greenhouse, walked right up to the soil bed, and spat the water out on the tomato seed.

    I could almost feel the overlords glitching out before a text appeared in my vision.

    Contaminated water, insufficient for tomato growth. Try again.

    ¡°Ugh, come on! Let me have this one! You guys took half my sanity. It¡¯s only fair,¡± I said.

    No reply. I grumbled, then kept digging in the small hill of things in the greenhouse.

    Eventually I found a watering can which I filled up with the tap water. As I waited for it to fill, I started to wonder if I should be worried about whether the tap water was safe to drink, then quickly pushed away the thought. Seriously, after cleaning out a garage with no gloves or not getting blisters after chopping down two trees, I doubted the tap water here would give me a parasite.

    I watered the plants, then checked my to-do list as I headed out of the greenhouse. There was a squelching noise behind me, which made me pause. I frowned, then glanced over to see ten little mounds of dirt squirming. My eyes widened as I watched the tomato plants inching up and unfurling their leaves. This was one magical place if they could get tomato plants to grow this quickly.

    I shut the door and walked out. It was time to get started cutting down those trees. I was not staying out here after sunset. Or when the lamp post light flickered on.

    I needed to bring down a lot of trees, but I started with the ones that were close to the house. For the purpose of trying to make the house look nice, it was good to get rid of the random trees that didn¡¯t belong. I approached a tree, and the axe appeared in my hand. I gave the tree a few thwacks before I started to wonder where my axe came from. Did I have an inventory? I remembered chopping the trees the night before, but with the panic of everything, I didn¡¯t quite remember where I left it.

    Would the watering can magically appear when I needed to water the tomato plants? I left it in the greenhouse. It was worth a try tomorrow, because I¡¯m pretty sure I needed to water these tomato plants every day.

    Also, random thought, I realized I slept in the trapper hat and overalls. This really was leaning hard on the game logic.

    The first tree fell, and I broke them down into firewood, placing them into the fence.

    15/50

    This was going to take a while. Seven more trees, to be exact.

    For every tree and a half that I dropped, I had to take a break and eat something to regain my stamina. I kept an eye on my sanity, but it remained half filled the entire time. I had hoped that in the sunlight it would have trickled back to full, but no. It remained halfway.

    By the time the fence read 50/50, there were a scattering of empty soup cans on the cleared off table. I gathered them all together and dropped them into the dumpster, giving me +.04 dopamine points. I wouldn¡¯t complain about that. I was super tempted to drop more food into the dumpster to reach 5.00 again. I was eyeing some of those logging clothes. Maybe it gave me some bonus, like getting the tree to chop down faster, or getting more logs out of it.

    ¡°Like, are you guys taking notes? Because I have some notes,¡± I said to the sky as I walked out to the fence again before hesitating. ¡°Also¡­ please don¡¯t blast me with unfair rules if I talk too much. You did send me here, after all.¡±

    I examined the fence with my trapper hat on. The firewood turned into spikes that were crisscrossing each other. The fence circled around the entire house and the garage, though the greenhouses were unprotected. Would they be fine from them? I couldn¡¯t be sure, but I did notice another demand for the fence.

    0/10 boards

    Right. I pulled out my to-do list to see everything crossed out except for build the rest of the fence. How much more was there to do? Because this was a lot of trees to chop down, and I was running low on food.

    I glanced at the sky. It was starting to get into the early evening. As long as ten boards was it, I could make it well before bedtime. If there was another part of the fence after this, I seriously needed to consider buying a logging shirt. Or logging boots. Or their gloves. So far, I had the farming overalls and trapper hat. I could make it a weirder outfit somehow.

    I walked over to the tree, picking up the axe. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s get this finished.¡±

    After many hits with the axe, the tree fell to the ground, breaking off into logs. I placed the axe on my shoulder when something white rose up from the remaining tree trunk. I backed away, my eyes widening. It was a white glowing orb. It floated up until it was about chest high, and it hovered in the air. I stared at it, refusing to trust it. What even was this thing? How did it get here? What was it supposed to do?

    The white orb continued to bob, trailing light as it did so. It was still daytime, so I wasn¡¯t nearly as afraid as if this thing appeared at night, but I still couldn¡¯t be sure what it did.

    I¡¯m not sure how much time had passed. Maybe a minute. But it was a solid minute of me staring at that orb, trying to figure out what it was supposed to do without examining it any closer. My mind was somehow simultaneously racing as well as freezing. I couldn¡¯t trust it. I couldn¡¯t.

    The orb started vibrating, and then it shot toward my chest. I screamed, stumbling, before everything around me went black.

 Chapter 10

    ¡°-and then I went into my room and played with my dolls. And I was pretending that we were off on a desert island, but every little island had a machine.¡±

    The little girl, perhaps five, was standing on a stool, arms folded on the table. She had brown hair to her shoulders, watching a woman in her early forties making dinner. The woman was stirring a pot full of corn on the stovetop before stopping to catch some bread out of the toaster.

    ¡°What kind of machines were they?¡± the woman asked.

    ¡°Like a food machine or a book machine or an arcade machine, or a zoo machine. I didn¡¯t have to buy anything, because I owned the entire island. And we just played and played and pretended we were the richest people in the world. The food machine was great, because it made those really delicious hamburgers from that fancy restaurant you took me too that first time you picked me up.¡±

    The smallest of smiles crossed the woman¡¯s face, one that went unnoticed by the child. ¡°McDonalds?¡±

    ¡°Yes! It was so good! And the island just gave those hamburgers away, and everyone was happy. Then Felicity came into my room and said-¡±

    ¡°Ah, wait a moment. Did Felicity say you could tell me what she said?¡±

    The little girl crinkled her brow, her eyes tearing from the pot toward the woman¡¯s face. ¡°Why would I have to ask permission from Felicity to say you wanted help with dinner?¡±

    The woman went back to stirring the corn, smiling. ¡°There are some things that people want to keep to themselves. To keep private. It makes them feel uncomfortable when other people know so much of their lives.¡±

    The little girl again blinked at the older woman. ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay not to understand. But sometimes we still have to respect other people¡¯s privacy.¡±

    ¡°But we need to let other people know what¡¯s going on. It¡¯s what keeps mama safe. That¡¯s what Ms. Nichole said,¡± the little girl said.

    ¡°And I know that too. It¡¯s just something we¡¯ve got to practice. There are some things that are dangerous to keep a secret, but there are also some things that Felicity may not want others to know about herself, and it makes her feel embarrassed,¡± the woman said.

    ¡°But if no one ever reported that Felicity¡¯s mommy was getting beaten by her boyfriend, Felicity would have been in danger. Right? So it¡¯s important people know that she¡¯s safe now. Right? If I didn¡¯t tell anyone that I hadn¡¯t eaten in three days, no one would have brought me here so I can eat. Right?¡± the little girl said. She sighed, then crinkled her nose again. ¡°It¡¯s more important to tell everyone everything all the time.¡±

    ¡°Ah, Quinn,¡± the older woman said, ruffling her hair. ¡°Promise me you¡¯ll never grow out of your inability to be bothered about what other people think. That is a skill some adults are still learning.¡±

    The oven beeped, and the little girl, Quinn, smiled wide. ¡°DINNER!¡± She shouted it with all the energy in her soul. She leapt off the stool and ran to the dining room table. Quinn¡¯s shouts were better than a ringing bell.

    Though the phone did start ringing. The older woman finished placing wiped off her hands on the apron before picking the phone up from the base. ¡°Hello?¡±

    Quinn sat happily at the table as the woman picked up the phone. ¡°Hello?... Yes, this is she¡­¡± The woman¡¯s face changed from a slight smile to the frown tugging at her lips. ¡°Yes, hello Shauna.¡±

    Quinn waved as another little girl came to the table. The other girl waved before sitting down. An older man walked in.

    Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    ¡°Hello Doug!¡± Quinn shouted.

    ¡°Doug, dear. Can you come here for a moment? Shauna¡¯s on the phone,¡± the woman said.

    ¡°Ah, what does she need?¡±

    The two of them moved into the kitchen as a teenager sat down. A teenager with the same comforting, beaming smile as the older man. ¡°Oh, no! Shauna¡¯s calling? I¡¯m starving! I don¡¯t want to wait for them to be done talking!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re always starving,¡± Quinn said.

    ¡°Because I¡¯m always growing. What about it, girls? Should I get the casserole?¡±

    ¡°Yes! Yes! Yes!¡± Quinn said, using her fork and spoon to beat on the table. ¡°I LOVE tater tot casserole!¡± She said it with all the vigor that she used to scream that dinner was done, her utensils shaking in her fists.

    The teenager smiled as he entered the kitchen. When he came back, the smile was gone as he placed it in the middle of the table. A smile Felicity noticed was missing, but Quinn did not.

    ¡°Mom says we can go ahead and eat it. They¡¯re not sure when they¡¯ll be done talking to Shauna,¡± the teenager said.

    ¡°Does that mean another kid is coming to our house?¡± Quinn asked.

    ¡°Possibly,¡± the teenager said.

    ¡°How long do you think this one will stay?¡±

    ¡°No idea.¡± The teenager grabbed Felicity and Quinn¡¯s plates

    ¡°Does it ever bother you that you have to share your house with kids?¡± Quinn asked.

    ¡°No.¡± Slowly, the teenager started smiling again, dishing up the plates.

    ¡°What about that I share my private life. Does that bother you? Brenda says some people get embarrassed about their life, and don¡¯t want to share it like how Felicity doesn¡¯t like that I tell people her momma¡¯s boyfriend beat her up-¡±

    ¡°Hey!¡± Felicity said.

    ¡°But does it bother you that I talk about my life?¡± Quinn asked the teenager.

    The teenager finished putting the plates on the table in front of the girls. ¡°No, Quinn. You are talking to Ms. Nichole about it a lot, though, right?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. I am. She wants to hear all about it,¡± Quinn said as the older couple walked in.

    The conversation was over as the teenager glanced up at his parents. ¡°So?¡±

    ¡°A boy is coming to our house in about an hour. Emergency placement. There¡¯s no where else to go,¡± Doug said, sitting down and dishing himself up. ¡°We¡¯ll get him a tour of the place. Derrin, make sure your room is clean.¡±

    The teenager looked up from his mountain of tater tot casserole. ¡°Your tours never include my room.¡±

    ¡°I know. It¡¯s just a reminder to clean your room,¡± Doug said, ruffling the boy¡¯s hair before kissing his forehead. Derrin snorted, but allowed it.

    ¡°What¡¯s the boy like? Is he staying long? Why¡¯s he coming here?¡±

    Quinn asked more and more questions before Brenda held up a hand. ¡°You know calls with Shauna are never so informative. We just know a five-year-old boy is coming, and even then, we can¡¯t be sure.¡±

    It didn¡¯t appease Quinn¡¯s avalanche of questions. Throughout dinner she filled the room with questions, supposes, and dark wonderings of what his life might have been like to come to Doug and Brenda¡¯s house.

    Quinn was in the playroom with Felicity, still asking the questions when a car pulled in. Felicity and Quinn both pressed their noses to the window as they watched a woman help a boy out of the car. Brenda and Doug were waiting outside the front porch to meet him, even though it was starting to get hot.

    ¡°I don¡¯t see any bruises on him,¡± Quinn said, her palms against the glass.

    ¡°Sometimes daddies are smart to hide the bruises where kids wear clothes,¡± Felicity said.

    ¡°Oh, yeah. You¡¯re probably right,¡± Quinn said.

    Quinn and Felicity passed stories as the boy, who had nothing but the clothes on his back.

    ¡°He kind of looks like he saw his dog die in a car crash,¡± Felicity said.

    ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± Quinn said, her eyes wide. ¡°Do you think he¡¯s actually five? Remember that one time Shauna told Brenda that Trevor was six, but he was actually ten? That was funny.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. I don¡¯t know, that boy looks five, but then again, you don¡¯t look five either.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s cause mama drank while I was in her belly,¡± Quinn said.

    Doug was talking to one of the workers as Brenda knelt down to get eye level with the boy and talk to him. The boy¡¯s face remained the same. Wide eyed, haunted, and his mouth remained glued shut.

    They were out there for a long while. It felt like an eternity. Then Doug entered the house, and returned with a booster seat, which Brenda took and placed in her own car.

    ¡°Time for our instructions!¡± Quinn said as the car drove off.

    Doug smiled as he heard the tail end of that. For anyone but Quinn, they would have noticed how small the smile was on Doug¡¯s face, how the haunted look from the boy seemed to leak into Doug¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Does he prefer girl company, or boy company?¡± Quinn asked, hands behind her back, shoulders straight.

    ¡°Girl company,¡± Doug said.

    ¡°So that means you need to be more careful around him, right?¡± Quinn said.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you getting smart,¡± Doug said.

    ¡°And how about teenage boys?¡± Derrin asked.

    ¡°Still unsure. But we¡¯ll play it super safe. His name is Theo, and he¡¯s going to stay here for quite a while.¡±

 Chapter 11

    It was a blur of activity. Doug and Derrin stayed in the corner when Brenda brought Theo home with two bags of clothes, the haunted look never leaving his eyes. Quinn was the perfect model of welcoming the new boy, asking the questions that were harmless enough. Theo never answered, and Brenda smiled before taking Theo on a tour of the house as Doug and Derrin remained behind.

    ¡°Come on, girls. School¡¯s tomorrow. Let¡¯s get you to bed,¡± Doug said.

    Felicity¡¯s smile dropped. ¡°I only want Brenda to comb my hair.¡±

    ¡°And she will. Don¡¯t you worry. Once you¡¯re in your pajama¡¯s, I¡¯ll go get Brenda,¡± Doug said.

    It was a while before the night was settled, and a while before Felicity stopped tossing and turning. Brenda and Doug stayed up talking, their voices subdued and solemn. At one point, Brenda even started crying, and Quinn wanted to check on her. But Brenda told Quinn that for adult problems, Brenda turned to another adult for help, and between the adults, the problems would get better. Brenda and Doug solved a lot of problems.

    Quinn crept forward in the night, holding a bucket to her. She had been the model example of not questioning anything when they brought around Theo, but now she had this opportunity to not pretend.

    She gripped the bucket to her and snuck into the hall.

    ¡°¡­why? Why is the world so cruel to the ones that are the most innocent?¡± Brenda¡¯s voice came up the hall, her voice strangled.

    Quinn kept moving, sneaking into the bedroom she saw Brenda say was Theo¡¯s. She crept inside, still holding the bucket.

    ¡°Hi,¡± Quinn whispered.

    Theo jolted up in his bed, his haunted eyes growing wide with fear. She knew he wasn¡¯t asleep, because no one slept well their first night. Theo grabbed his blanket, scooting back a bit from Quinn.

    ¡°My name is Quinn. I know I already introduced myself before, but I wanted to give you this.¡± She handed Theo the bucket. ¡°It was mine when I first got here six months ago. Brenda said I could have it to keep food under my bed if I got scared. It helped me sleep better, because I could wake up and eat a snack. I haven¡¯t needed it in a while.¡±

    Quinn looked at the bucket, her smile turning into a frown. ¡°Oh, but there¡¯s nothing in there. If you want, I could sneak into the kitchen and get you some snacks. Brenda and Doug never lock the fridge or the cupboards, and they showed me where they put all the snacks when I first got here. They keep them stocked, too. I tried, just to make sure. I once emptied the entire basket of ritz crackers into my bucket and the next day they restocked them. Ritz crackers!¡± Quinn said, a huge smile on her face. ¡°Not off-brand things! Actual ritz crackers! They¡¯re so good and buttery. Do you want me to bring you something?¡±

    Theo shook his head fervently. Quinn cocked her head to one side. ¡°It¡¯s okay. They don¡¯t beat me if they find me in the kitchen at night. Trevor was worried about that, but I assured him Brenda and Doug don¡¯t do that. I even ran down in the kitchen and made a huge noise just to prove that they wouldn¡¯t. Trevor was shaking in his boots, but nothing happened. He¡¯s back with his family now. His momma is gone, and his dad got all their kids again. It was a family reunion. His dad never beat him, just his momma. So Trevor¡¯s going to be okay. If not, Doug said Trevor would probably come back here, but he hasn¡¯t been here for months.¡±

    Theo kept staring at her but said nothing. Quinn returned his gaze. ¡°You don¡¯t want to talk, do you.¡±

    Theo kept looking at her, the haunted look never leaving.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay. You don¡¯t have to talk if you don¡¯t wanna. My mommy never talked either. Sometimes in the day, she did, but she¡¯d mostly moan and groan. She hated it when I talked in the morning, or if I talked while she was taking drugs. I usually just played with my doll and talked to her so my mommy wouldn¡¯t get angry at me. Mommy only has two volumes. Mumbling, or screaming. That was before, though. Before I came to be with Brenda and Doug. I visit mommy with Brenda sometimes now. She doesn¡¯t ever scream when there¡¯s other adults in the room. People say she¡¯s getting better. Mama doesn¡¯t take drugs much anymore. She even got a job. It¡¯d be nice to have my own bed and not have to sleep in the park when I go back to live with her.¡±

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    Quinn lifted her arms and shook them. ¡°See that! Oh, wait, maybe you can¡¯t. I have the sleeves on.¡± Quinn tugged at the sleeves until her bare arms were showing, then she shook them again. ¡°I have some jiggle to my arms! The pediatrician was really happy to see it.¡± She covered her arms again before getting to the ground and sliding the bucket under his bed. ¡°It¡¯s there if you need it. Don¡¯t worry about me. If I need anything I just sneak into the kitchen at night and eat whatever I want.¡±

    Quinn leaned against the back of the bed, laying her head on the mattress as Theo kept looking at her. ¡°Did Brenda take you to McDonald¡¯s? They have the best hamburgers, don¡¯t they? I love them so much.¡±

    The moon shone through the window as Theo kept his legs up, staring at Quinn with the same haunted look in his eyes.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have a dad. My mommy said he¡¯s out of the picture, whatever that means. Doug told me not to ask you about your parents. So, I¡¯m not gunna.¡± Quinn brushed her hair from her eyes. ¡°But you¡¯re okay now. Don¡¯t worry. Brenda and Doug are fun! They don¡¯t ever get super mad. They also have a lot of food. Whatever happened, don¡¯t worry. You don¡¯t have to talk ever again if you don¡¯t want to. Someone¡¯s mom waiting at the doctor¡¯s office told me that I talk enough for five kids. So, if you never want to talk again, I¡¯ll talk enough for you.¡±

    Theo remained silent, and though the haunted look remained in his eyes, he wasn¡¯t gripping the bed so tightly. Quinn brushed her nightgown out. ¡°I love nightgowns. Usually I just slept in some old clothes, but this is so much better. Brenda bought this for me for my first night, and I loved it! It¡¯s so comfortable. So much better than wearing old clothes. Brenda¡¯s going to take care of your appointments, since you don¡¯t want to be around Doug. You¡¯ll have a lot of appointments, and it might seem overwhelming, but everyone just wants to help. But you don¡¯t have to talk to any of them if you don¡¯t want to. Ms. Nichole actually makes me draw a lot. Do you like drawing?¡±

    Theo did nothing. Quinn shrugged, and kept going. ¡°Also, don¡¯t feel bad if you don¡¯t want to be around Doug. I asked Doug once if he felt offended that sometimes the kids here don¡¯t want to be around him, and he said he¡¯s not offended. He said that he¡¯s way more concerned about what the kid wants. So is Brenda, if you decide you don¡¯t like girl company anymore. And don¡¯t feel bad if you wet the bed in the middle of the night, either. Trevor went out of his way to hide the pee in his bed in the mornings because he was afraid he¡¯d get a beating, but Brenda and Doug don¡¯t do that. In fact, they prefer if you wake them up in the middle of the night right when it happens. Do you pee the bed?¡±

    Theo said nothing, staring at her.

    ¡°Oh, this might be one of those things where it¡¯s a personal thing you don¡¯t want to tell me. It¡¯s okay. You don¡¯t have to nod or shake your head in answer. Just know that Brenda and Doug are happy to help in the middle of the night if you want. Also-¡±

    ¡°Quinn.¡±

    Brenda¡¯s voice was soft, but it still stopped Quinn¡¯s words. Brenda was at the doorway. Quinn looked up.

    ¡°Oh, sorry. Was I talking too much?¡± Quinn asked.

    Brenda gestured for her. ¡°Remember what we talked about personal space? Don¡¯t just walk into someone¡¯s room, because this is their space and they want to control who comes and who goes. You need to knock on the door and ask if you can come in.¡±

    ¡°But he doesn¡¯t talk,¡± Quinn said.

    ¡°Quinn,¡± Brenda said again, still remaining at the doorway.

    Quinn glanced at Theo. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. Was I talking too much?¡±

    Theo hesitated, then shook his head.

    ¡°See? He¡¯s not bothered,¡± Quinn said.

    ¡°It¡¯s getting late, and you both need your sleep,¡± Brenda said.

    Quinn sighed, then stood up. ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll see you tomorrow, Theo. Remember the bucket is under the bed if you need it. I don¡¯t need it anymore.¡±

    Quinn walked out of the room, taking Brenda¡¯s hand.

    ***

    I gasped, almost nauseous. I panted, confused. The orb was gone. No time had passed, even though I had spent at least five hours of time in what the white orb was showing me. I stared, unblinking, before I dropped the axe and ran.

    I was chasing after a theory. One I was pretty sure would work. There was something familiar about those scenes I saw. Too familiar.

    My feet stumbled into the covered back porch, heading straight for the clip board. I flipped through the pages until I came to the last page.

    Progress of the woman who does not know her name yet.

    I held my breath. The words began to disappear, like an invisible eraser was taken to the long sentence. Once the sentence was gone, another hand appeared, writing the words I already knew would be there.

    Quinn¡¯s Progress

 Chapter 12

    I didn¡¯t speak as I finished the fence. I used up most of the food to finish chopping down the trees, and thankfully, the boards were all I needed to finish the fence.

    I pulled out the to-do list from my overall pocket, relieved to see that it was complete. Relieved to see the +2.00 for finishing the list, and relieved that the stars were just beginning to twinkle in the sky.

    My arms were folded tightly around myself as I stepped onto the front porch. Once I had the back and front door locked, I heard the lamp post flicker to life. Then I entered the partially cleaned bedroom and collapsed on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

    Would you like to go to sleep?

    Y/N

    I stared at it, but didn¡¯t reply. Instead, I went back to staring at the ceiling. There was something incredibly unsettling about that white orb. I wasn¡¯t even sure if it was a memory. Clearly it must have, because the paper changed to Quinn¡¯s progress. My cleaning and logging had reached level three, and even my trap levels were at two. Farming was at one, and there were two more grayed out areas. I had looked them over after the shock of seeing that name.

    My name?

    A part of me still wrestled with that idea. The scenes the orb showed me didn¡¯t feel like a memory, because it wasn¡¯t me looking through the eyes of Quinn. It was me watching the entire scene, like a movie.

    And yet part of me knew it felt familiar. Once I saw them, it was like a portion of my memories were unlocked.

    I closed my eyes, remembering what it was like to lean against the edge of Theo¡¯s bed and blab to him. I was such a talkative child with no filter. And yet that¡¯s all I remembered. The only part of my life I remembered was the scenes I was shown. I don¡¯t even remember Brenda and Doug talking in hushed whispers the night Theo came to the house, and I don¡¯t remember what happened in the future. Thinking about Brenda and Doug, the only emotion I remember feeling was safe. I don¡¯t remember if they keep being safe, or whatever happens in the future. All I remember is right then at that moment, they had my complete and total trust. I seriously hope they kept it. I¡¯m pretty sure they did. They seemed like great people.

    So had I been teleported to my house? I did note the first day that this house was one CPS would be called on if a child was living in it. Nothing felt familiar about this house, though, but neither did the name Quinn until I left the scenes. That aspect of it still unsettled me. Maybe I wouldn¡¯t have any recollection of my house until I get a memory of it.

    Would I get more of those white memory orbs? Or was that it? It was a piece of a puzzle, and I hoped I would keep getting them. They were the first real clues to what was going on, even if it was just me figuring out my name.

    ¡°Quinn,¡± I said to the ceiling, seeing how it felt. I was still unsure, yet I couldn¡¯t deny what I felt after seeing those memories. Whoever put me here not only erased my memories so well, but they also made me doubt the memories I was shown. Why couldn¡¯t I remember everything all at once?

    Maybe everything happened for a reason. But sometimes the reason was also dumb. What I did know was I had somehow gotten teleported into this farming game, a genre that I love, with a prowling wolf creature that was supernatural and now had my scent. There must be some overlord alien people, and there¡¯s no way I stumbled in here by accident. Something was going on, and the longer I played their game, the more clues I picked up.

    I turned on my side, tears filling my eyes. I didn¡¯t remember anything of my childhood. Even as little Quinn talked about it in such an easy manner, there were no further triggering memories for me. I simply listened as little Quinn explained her life. Her extremely short five years of live. Far more gruesome than anyone should have experienced. And yet¡­ she took it in strides. That¡¯s what surprised me so much. Was I really that little girl?

    Would you like to go to sleep?

    Y/N

    I gave the phrase another withering stare. There was still so much to process, but I did it. I finished a to-do list well before nightfall, and I didn¡¯t want to be conscious while the wolf creature searched the woods. I had all of tomorrow to process this, too. And the next day, and the next. Clues to who I was, why I was here, that would be a slow grind. I needed sleep.

    I mentally chose yes, and my eyes closed.

    Then they opened with red dawn light filling the bedroom. I sat up, not feeling rested, yet not feeling tired, either. Whatever strange limbo this was, I doubted I would ever get used to it.

    With the new day, my sanity was now mostly full. If I had to guess, it was seventy-five percent. Maybe my sanity only filled up twenty five percent every night. If I had another horrible night where I stayed up until my sanity reached twenty percent, it would take four days for it to recover.

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    I stood up, walking into the kitchen, passing the grimy mirror and promising myself that one day I would actually sleep in my nightgown to see if that could make my sleep better. Like if it gave me a boost to my sanity recovery. I never wanted to be in a position to test it, but if I did, maybe I¡¯d try that. As it was, my stamina filled every day, so that was nice.

    I walked into the kitchen and picked up the phone for my instructions.

    ¡°In three days, they will come. In three days, they will start to destroy. Anything you didn¡¯t complete on your to-do list from yesterday will be added to this new list. If you do not finish your to-do list, you may not go to bed until midnight, or until your sanity drops to 20 percent.¡±

    I leaned against the counter, closing my eyes, waiting.

    ¡°Purchase an article of clothing for cooking,

    ¡°Pick ten tomatoes,

    ¡°Water the tomato plants,

    ¡°Build a fire in the fire pit,

    ¡°Make tomato soup,

    ¡°Build the base of a chicken coop,

    ¡°Further instructions will follow¡­¡±

    I stared at the to-do list, double checking on the calendar that there was another X. Three more days. My spike wall was set. Perhaps that would be enough to protect me from them.

    Either way, I couldn¡¯t start to question whether my alien overlords would steer me wrong. I had to hope that doing what the woman said would protect me. There was a certain level of trust that I simply had to give right now, because I really wasn¡¯t in a position to demand things.

    ¡°Though the ability for my sanity to improve during the night if I ever sleep in my nightgown would be a nice thing,¡± I said as I walked out the back door and toward the clipboard.

    I had 4.19 total dopamine points, and as usual, each article of clothing cost 5.00 points. I¡¯m glad I finished my to-do list yesterday, because this would have made it a lot harder.

    There was another page added to the clipboard that was titled Structures. It had the option to purchase a chicken coop, with an asterisk next to it saying Some assembly required.

    Perfect. The chicken coop, though, cost 10.00 dopamine points. That was way more than anything I spent, or more than I have ever collectively had at one point in time. I had a feeling I was about to chop down this entire forest in order to get what I needed.

    I entered the garage and went through my process again. I really wasted a lot of time trying to organize things, and I had way too much hope for a lot of these things to actually be worth anything. Oh well, I didn¡¯t know. But I know now. So far, the stuff in the garage gave me the most points, and my food was running out. At least they were giving me an option to cook more, because I needed all the food I could get.

    I went through the garage again, gathering items in a bag. The garage was almost done with the decluttering. It was still a grimy, tetanus nightmare, but with the kitchen completely clutter free, I was anxious to get the rest of the house free of clutter, too. I assumed that this first week was a trial period, and I wouldn¡¯t have as many things to do on my list. Maybe once I survived them I could do what I wanted. The fact that I had to pass through multiple rooms full of junk and ignore that made me annoyed. If them wasn¡¯t a threat constantly hanging over my head, I would have ignored all the to-do list and just cleaned the house.

    Once my dopamine points hit 5.03 total, I purchased a chef¡¯s jacket. I now had my trapper hat, my farmer¡¯s overalls, and a chef¡¯s button up jacket. The oddity was there, but I didn¡¯t mind.

    I walked toward my fence, hesitating for a moment. I wasn¡¯t sure how to cross it, but as I reached out, the fence magically parted and I crossed it. I glanced behind myself to see it move back into place. That was nice. Did it keep the wolf out, too? Because that would give me more protection for the house.

    I walked in and saw the tomato plants. They were all full grown, and each plant had one tomato on them. My fingers reached out and plucked the first tomato, and the change was instant. My mind began to whirl, and I realized there was more information on the clipboard inside the house. I was too curious not to check, so I gently set the tomato down and raced back inside.

    Another page was there, this one called recipes. There were a ton of grayed out areas, but I focused on the three that weren¡¯t.

    Basic tomato soup

    0/5 tomatoes

    Creamy tomato soup

    0/5 tomatoes

    0/1 bottle of milk

    Tomato and Egg

    0/4 tomatoes

    0/2 eggs

    Well, that was nice. At least I wouldn¡¯t have to guess for the recipes. I should have realized before, but what with me building a chicken coop, I assumed they really were going to let me raise chickens to gather eggs. Nice! Maybe there would be a barn, too, with cows, because I would need to replenish my milk.

    I ran back to the green house and finished picking the tomatoes, a basket magically appeared in my hand when I had more than three. I placed the basket down before whipping out the watering can. Despite remembering I placed it in the greenhouse, as soon as I approached the tomato plants with the intent to water them, the watering can appeared in my hand. I watered the tomato plants again, then looked at my list. It wasn¡¯t even mid-morning yet, and half my to-do list was done.

    I walked back through the fence before looking around. I noticed the pit right off, because it wasn¡¯t there the day before. A yard or two from the locked food storage room there was a circular, brick pit. I walked closer to it and saw, with my trapper hat, some numbers appear above it.

    0/1 firewood

    0/1 sticks

    0/1 match

    Words appeared in front of my face the moment the numbers appeared.

    -.01 for more information

    Y/N

    Sure. That was cheap enough. I accepted the cost, and information was downloaded into my brain.

    If I put in what the firepit requested, then a fire would burn for one hour, and I could make some things with that fire. I also had a feeling that chopping down the firewood even more would get me those sticks and matches.

    Yep. Absolutely worth the -.01. I did my best to not even look relieved, because I didn¡¯t want the alien overlords to realize how much that gave me for so cheaply. Then I remembered they could read my mind.

    My shoulders sagged, but I still struggled to keep the relief off my face. Knowing how hard puzzles like this were for me in a game, it was nice to not spend half the day trying to figure all this out. Oh well. I got the information I needed. It was time to get to work.

 Chapter 13

    I chopped down a tree, then went to one of the logs. I chopped that down to firewood, then grabbed one of the firewood bundles. I chopped that again, and it produced five sticks. Grabbing one of the sticks, I hit it again, and it produced two matches. With all that, my stamina was completely gone.

    Perfect.

    I gathered the things I needed, leaving the rest, before walking over to the firepit. I dropped the items inside one by one, and when the match was in, a roaring fire appeared in the firepit. Over the fire a pot magically appeared.

    I grabbed my basket of tomatoes and tossed them in until it read 5/5 tomatoes. There was a pause, then a timer appeared over the fire. I couldn¡¯t see any numbers, just watched as an hourglass filled up with sand and the pot stirred all by itself. If I had to guess, it was probably fifteen seconds before I heard a faint ding! sound.

    A bowl of soup appeared next to the fire. I raised an eyebrow and picked it up.

    Unlocked! Food storage!

    The words appeared in front of me again, and I glanced at the small, rectangular building that looked like it was falling apart. Did this mean I could store this soup in there without it going bad? Because that would be nice. It was enough to test it, anyway. If I kept the plants watered, I had a feeling I would be getting ten tomatoes a day. More than enough to start experimenting with.

    For now, though, I needed stamina. So in three bites, I ate the tomato soup, and my stamina filled back up to half way. That was nice, considering all the food in the house currently gave me either 1/4<sup>th</sup> or 1/8<sup>th</sup> stamina. I had five more tomatoes left, and still an hour on the firepit, so I cooked another tomato soup. It appeared after fifteen seconds, and I blew on it as I entered the covered back porch. The previously locked food storage now no longer had a lock, and I eased it open.

    There were stairs going down to the long, rectangular room. Despite the calendar saying it was summertime, there was a chill to this room. There were cobwebs everywhere, and shelves lining the entire area. It was sparce, with a few items in there. I got closer to see a small bag of onions, which once I touched I knew more recipes would be unlocked on the recipe section of the clipboard. There were also a small bag of potatoes that unlocked more recipes. I wondered if I could cut up some of these potatoes and plant them in the greenhouse to grow more.

    I placed the bowl of soup on one of the shelves, and it seemed to settle into place. I glanced around at all the cobwebs and seriously wondered about the sanity of a place like this before I walked back up the stairs and closed the door. Game logic. That was what I kept telling myself.

    I checked the recipes. Despite unlocking some more recipes, there were still some that were only partially unlocked, with a potato or an onion unlocked and ??? covering the rest of the mysterious ingredients. A basic potato soup became unlocked, though.

    Basic potato soup

    0/4 potato

    0/1 onion

    There were so many things to explore, but I still needed to buy that chicken coop. It was time to do some experimentation with selling things in the dumpster. I had a whopping .02 total dopamine points, and I have been wanting to figure out how much the logs go for.

    There was a good chance that I needed this wood for the chicken coop, but considering how much I¡¯d been decluttering, I knew the junk in the house and the garage would take me more than a day to get to 10.00 total dopamine points. I would definitely have to dump my logs, and I might as well do some scientific experiments with it.

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    I quickly gathered the piles next to the dumpster. I had one match, a bundle of sticks, some firewood, and some boards. The matches gave +.50, which felt insanely high after getting used to the +.02 or even the +.04 that the junk of the house gave. I dropped the sticks, and they all gave +1.00. Considering one stick gave two matches, that meant to save my stamina, I just needed to sell sticks. That was good to know.

    The same concept was for the firewood and the board. Each board gave two firewood. Each firewood gave 5.00 points, and each board gave 10.00. It was the next step that was where it stopped. Each log gave two boards, but as I lifted the log surprisingly easy for my little frame, the log still gave 10.00. So if I really wanted to farm for dopamine points, the thing to do was to whack the logs into boards, since both boards gave 10.00 points. And it saved on stamina, too.

    With that little experiment, I was able to get a nice chunk of 29.50 dopamine points. And dopamine I was given. My stamina was halfway, and I might regret that, but I had a good chunk of points to buy that chicken coop.

    I walked inside and bought the coop. It grayed itself out, and I heard something thump on the other side of the house.

    It was barely afternoon as I walked out of the back door and around the rectangular storage area. Despite being here a few days, I hadn¡¯t been completely around the house. I walked over to the side where I knew would be the bedroom and the entertainment room. There was a concrete block that, as I approached, said.

    Base of chicken coop 0/15 logs.

    I blew out a breath, causing a section of my brown hair to flutter in the air before settling back down across my face. Yeah. This was going to take a while, and probably all the food I had left.

    Because of my experiment, I had the option of buying more clothes. At least three, and another one if I wanted to drop something in the dumpster. I didn¡¯t have any logging clothes, which seemed odd, so I decided to splurge. Sure, it felt nice to have a cushion of dopamine points, but I also needed to get this stuff done.

    I dropped fifteen points on getting a plaid shirt, a pair of sturdy, steal toe boots, and a hard hat. I then left my front door and headed straight for the trees. I slammed my axe against the tree, giving it only five whacks before the tree dropped.

    My eyes sparkled as I saw six logs drop on the ground.

    ¡°Yes! This is the best! I-¡±

    Some strange noise, like electricity fizzing, filled the sky. I frowned, glancing around, and then I was back inside the covered porch, holding the clipboard.

    ¡°What?¡± I asked. The three clothing items were back on the clipboard, and I blinked. ¡°I¡­ I just bought those. You can¡¯t¡­¡±

    19.50 total dopamine points. This had to be some sort of glitch. I frowned, then bought the plaid shirt again. I went to buy the steel toed boots, but it was grayed out for some reason.

    Cannot purchase until you reach logging level 5.

    I gasped, then my fingers tightened over the clipboard.

    ¡°Seriously!¡± I shouted.

    This wasn¡¯t fair. This was one of those jerk moves that would have made me throw away the game and never play it again. I saw those beautiful six logs drop to the ground, and now it was taken away from me.

    ¡°Come on! You can¡¯t do this! It isn¡¯t fair!¡± I shouted. ¡°You can¡¯t seriously expect me to go from possibly dropping six logs to dropping¡­ however many I can with just one article of clothing. It¡¯s not my fault you didn¡¯t think about this before letting me buy three clothes at once! Give it back!¡±

    My tone was getting sharper and sharper as things went on. I was tired. Exhausted. I wanted this one win where I got all my to-do list done well before the day was over. When I could get it done and start cleaning the house.

    To answer my questions, words popped up in my vision.

    Would you like to forget that you saw those logs?

    Y/N

    A chill raced down my spine, and my anger evaporated. There were three seconds of complete silence. Three seconds. A lot of thoughts raced through my mind in those three seconds. I had been talking to these people in the sky, thinking that maybe they were some sort of alien or overlord. I somehow gave them some sort of forgiving nature, mostly because I just wanted to imagine these captors to be kind.

    The same feeling of me being nothing more than a rat in a maze returned. Despite them taking my suggestions in things, it was a stark reminder that I was not on equal ground with whoever shoved me here. The most chilling thing of all is I couldn¡¯t tell if the question they posed was malicious or not. If they really don¡¯t see me as an equal, then they wouldn¡¯t have any problems erasing my memory. They clearly didn¡¯t care before completely wiping my mind. I wasn¡¯t sure how I was supposed to react to the small memory orb I was given. How was I supposed to translate this all?

    I stuck with what I knew. I was in a game, with someone or something above me that sometimes took my suggestions, and sometimes saw me doing things they didn¡¯t like and changed it so I didn¡¯t do that anymore. They had the power to completely wipe my memory, or even partial memory.

    The words still hung above me asking if I wanted another memory wipe of the logs, so I mentally chose no. It was mostly the principal of the thing. Yes, my entire memory was wiped, but I couldn¡¯t forget this. I refused to forget that these people had the power to make me forget again.

 Chapter 14

    Turns out, hitting an axe against a tree was a great way to work through frustration. Crying a bit helped too. These people were not my friends. I had to remember that.

    One logging shirt gave me four logs from a tree. Game logic dictated that I could carry an entire log on my shoulder to where the chicken coop base was without it hurting my stamina. This logging shirt was wild. But a part of me would always wonder what it would be like with the hard hat and the steel-toed boots. Would I be able to carry more logs? I already knew I¡¯d be able to get six logs out of it. If I had six logs, I would have only needed to cut down three trees, with a few logs left over for whatever I wanted to do with them. Now I had to cut through four trees, and only get one log left over. Not only that, I only had four cans of soup left. I ate through so much food today.

    It still hurt, the excitement of all those logs hitting the ground. Getting it all taken away like that.

    Are you sure you don¡¯t want to forget?

    Y/N

    I stared at the phrase popping up in my vision. Once again, a reminder that they could read my thoughts.

    ¡°Look, alien overlords, or whatever you are,¡± I said as I picked up one of the last four logs on the ground. ¡°If you¡¯re really here for a lesson on human nature, let me explain it to you. No doubt you¡¯ve heard me say how uncomfortable I am about being a rat in a lab. And it¡¯s true.¡±

    I dropped the log onto the chicken coop base, aware I wasn¡¯t even winded as I went back to get another. ¡°I don¡¯t like this. Any of it. I understand I¡¯m being placed in some sort of game, and that you are slowly giving me pieces of the puzzle. You¡¯re also taking some of my suggestions, which is lovely. Nice boost to the ego.¡± I picked up another log, placing it on my shoulders. ¡°But I understand you still have an amount of control over me that I¡¯ve never experienced before with anyone else. It unsettles me deeply.¡±

    The words popped again in my vision.

    Are you sure you don¡¯t want to forget?

    Y/N

    ¡°I don¡¯t ever want to forget,¡± I said. ¡°I never want to forget that you have the power to do this. I¡¯m going to figure out how to get out of here. I will get back to my family, whoever they are. I will regain my memories, all of them, and I won¡¯t be part of your little experiment. As much as this is discomforting, that I want more than anything to scream at you for taking away those six tree branches, I refuse to forget. It would be worse. You have power no one should have, so I need to remember you have it.¡±

    So I can stop you.

    I was surprised I thought that as I dropped the second log into the chicken coop, but it was true. Whatever beings there were up there, they couldn¡¯t have this level of power. But that still didn¡¯t stop the need to make sure overly powerful beings were still in check. If they hurt my family, my friends, they needed to pay. How, I didn¡¯t know. I didn¡¯t even know my family or friends, but the instinct was there. Like my hatred for horror and my love of farming games. I didn¡¯t know anyone¡¯s face, but if anyone hurt my family, they would absolutely get the-

    Inability to focus while still remembering. Beginning the process to delete the memory.

    ¡°STOP!¡± I shouted. ¡°NO!¡±

    The words in my vision faded. I panted, dropping to my knees in a panic. The log on my shoulder slipped off, and I clutched my chest, trying to calm down. ¡°Please, don¡¯t. Please, let me keep that memory.¡± Tears raced down my cheeks. ¡°I need it. Don¡¯t take another thing from me.¡±

    Distress will go away. Seems logical.

    I wasn¡¯t a rat in a maze. Instead, I was an ant in a farm, begging a human to not pick up the container and shake it.

    ¡°I can¡¯t forget,¡± I whispered. ¡°Please. Let me keep it.¡±

    There was another pause. I hated how much this hurt.

    We are not your enemies. We are not your friends, either. We are a neutral party and will remain so. Does this ease your distress?

    I swallowed, the tears still racing down my cheeks. I wasn¡¯t sure how well I could trust them. They still held a power over me that deeply unsettled me. But, as with everything since the day I woke up in this mysterious house, what choice did I have?

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    ¡°Thank you for telling me a bit more about yourself.¡± My throat ached from the crying and the panicked screaming, and it barely came out as a whisper.

    If it distresses you again, we will take away the memory.

    I didn¡¯t know how to read it in any other way except a threat. But I swallowed before nodding. I got to my feet, my legs trembling. I picked up the last log and hefted it onto my shoulders before walking toward the base of the chicken coop.

    A neutral party. That¡¯s what they called themselves. I didn¡¯t know how I felt about it, but I also didn¡¯t have much of a choice.

    I dropped the last log onto the base. There was a popping sound, and the base appeared. It looked like Lincoln logs, put together with a nice foundation. Another thing popped up.

    0/100 boards

    I sighed, pulling out my to-do list. Everything was crossed out. I didn¡¯t have to finish the chicken coop, which was a good thing. Judging by the number, I doubted this would be finished in one day.

    I closed my eyes, trying to breathe away the unease. It would never go away. I was still here in a game, with a wolf monster trying to attack me. It was yet another reminder that I couldn¡¯t get lost in my favorite game. I needed to pay attention to the clues and see if there was a way out of here.

    Technically I could sleep now, but I didn¡¯t want to. This was the first time ever that I had a little under half a day to do whatever I wanted.

    I went over to the clipboard and finally bought myself a pair of yellow rubber cleaning gloves. My outfit was a sight to see. Trapper hat, plaid shirt, farmer overalls, and now cleaning gloves. I wanted to see what these gloves did.

    I gathered up more junk from my bedroom, as I really wanted that to look nice when I woke up. Waking up to a clean bedroom did wonders for my mental health. With it partially decluttered already, I forced myself to forget about this morning and worked hard to clean the room.

    No, I wasn¡¯t going to forget this morning. Only partially forget. I tried not to let the panic of it all take me again, but I couldn¡¯t forget it entirely. That was the entire conversation, after all. I wanted to keep those memories. I needed to remember why. I needed every bit of memories I had to figure out this puzzle.

    It was more than how I got here. I needed to know who was watching over me. They called themselves a neutral party. It¡¯s what anyone would say, except there were things that made me believe them. They took my suggestions at times, but they also changed things, so it wasn¡¯t too easy for me. I just didn¡¯t understand their motivations.

    My mind eased off this thought process. I didn¡¯t want to dwell on this group too long. I tried not to make it terrify me, but I remembered what they said. Memories that they thought weren¡¯t important would be erased if it made me panic too much.

    The trash and junk was all in the dumpster, and I stood there with my hands on my hips, surveying my work. The electricity didn¡¯t work, so it was harder to clean the later it got. There had to be some way for the electricity to get working again. Sure, it was summertime, but soon it would be fall. Then winter. Way sooner than I was used to, since every season only lasted thirty-five days.

    Yeah, that was weird, but everything about this was weird, so I added it to the list. I walked back over to the clipboard and picked it up, because my gloves told me to. Now that the bedroom and the kitchen were cleaned, I saw cleaning chemicals I could buy. I was pretty sure buying the gloves made it so I could start cleaning instead of just decluttering.

    There was a basic cleaning kit which was 3.00 points, so I bought that and started working. I sprayed the slightly sticky kitchen table, then moved to the outside of the fridge, the inside, then all the cupboards. I then washed the windows, watching the grime fall off. Seriously, so satisfying.

    I moved to the bedroom and did the same, cleaning off the windows and the tops of desks before getting that grimy mirror. I sprayed it before wiping it off. It followed game logic, where the crack in the mirror started to heal as I continually wiped over it. I knew I was done when a slight sheen went over the entire surface.

    I smiled, hands on my hips. This bedroom looked so much better. The clutter was gone. The floor was in desperate need of a vacuum, but I couldn¡¯t do that until I had electricity. The spray didn¡¯t work on the walls, but maybe that would come with buying another article of clothing. I got the feeling that buying the gloves made it so simple cleaning like this didn¡¯t cost any of my stamina, which was nice. I could finally do the dishes without it costing my stamina.

    There was the last of the light of the setting sun coming through the newly cleaned window. I had a lot to do tomorrow, even if the woman never gave me a list of my own. I would have to pick more tomatoes and start building a stockpile of food. Cutting down all those logs ate through my supply of food, literally. A part of me felt like it was a waste to cook for only an hour, but I still didn¡¯t have electricity. Maybe, depending on the to-do list tomorrow, I could start storing tomatoes in the food storage area until I had a stockpile and then start cooking food in large batches. Maybe I could also store firewood, sticks, and matches in the area too, so I always had something on hand to-

    I spaced off, but was snapped back in the present when something humanoid appeared behind me. I gasped, turning around to see nothing. I focused on the mirror again to see the translucent humanoid come back to shape.

    It was an old female with gray hair. She had on something I¡¯d seen grandma¡¯s wearing around the house. It was kind of like a robe, but this one had a zipper. Like a house coat? It was floral, and¡­

    ¡­and blood appeared, dripping from her face onto the fabric.

    I gasped, once again leaping around to check behind me, but there was no one. I gave the mirror one last wide-eyed look, and the woman¡¯s jaw dropped open in an inhuman manner as she shrieked. The scream echoed out of the mirror before it reverberated around the house and I screamed with it, backing away from the mirror.

    I was panting, terrified as I leapt into bed.

    ¡°Sleep.¡± It was softer, as I grabbed the pillow, pinching my eyes closed. ¡°Sleep. Please. Sleep.¡±

    Darkness came, and I didn¡¯t have time to think about what it might mean to sleep in the same room as a shrieking ghost.

 Chapter 15

    The room was clean. That was the first thing I noticed when the red dawn light filtered into the room again. The dust was gone from the bed, and the clutter was no longer filling this room. It felt so big, the ceilings so high.

    I sat up, staring at the mirror. It wasn¡¯t difficult to remember what happened last night, because I had no dreams to make me feel like it had happened a while ago. Not only was there a wolf creature prowling around the woods, but the house was haunted.

    Of course it was haunted.

    I threw the covers back and shot out of bed. Determination drove me as I grabbed a bag and started with the VHS¡¯s. I gathered up a garbage bag full of horror movies and carried them to the dumpster before dropping them in.

    The dumpster seemed to hesitate before it came up with a +.00

    ¡°I don¡¯t care,¡± I muttered to myself as I went back to collect the rest of them.

    Once the VHS¡¯s were in the dumpster, I gathered all the books stuffed in the bookshelf. Those, too, gave zero dopamine points, but I didn¡¯t care. If I was going to clean this place, I would make it comfortable for me. I did not want anything in the horror genre in this haunted house.

    Absolutely not.

    It didn¡¯t take any of my stamina. My sanity still was at seventy-five percent. No doubt that shrieking ghost took another dent out of my sanity. I didn¡¯t bother checking it last night. I was too busy trying to make myself unconscious so I wouldn¡¯t have to deal with a mirror ghost.

    With that all done, I walked into the kitchen. I lost maybe a half an hour of the day, but I didn¡¯t care. Even if it didn¡¯t reflect it on the bar, I had to do this for my own sanity.

    I picked up the phone and pressed one.

    ¡°In two days, they will come. In two days, they will start to destroy. Anything you didn¡¯t complete on your to-do list from yesterday will be added to this new list. If you do not finish your to-do list, you may not go to bed until midnight, or until your sanity drops to 20 percent.¡±

    ¡°Build protection around your green houses

    ¡°Find the river

    ¡°Discover clay and stone

    ¡°Gather 0/10 clay to the food storage room

    ¡°Gather 0/10 stone to the food storage room

    ¡°More instructions will follow.¡±

    I stared at the phone. There was clay here. And stone. Probably for more building options. Or to make sure the fences were strong enough. There were a lot of options for that.

    I tore off the to-do list and got to work. I made sure I had my trapper hat as I walked out to the green house. It had a smaller amount of firewood and boards, so that would be easy enough. First, because I was thinking about it, I went in there and picked more tomatoes and watered them. I put the basket of tomatoes in the food storage room before chopping down a few trees. I put in the firewood, then the boards. A smaller fence popped up around the greenhouses, and I was happy to see it looking protected. Whoever they are, hopefully they couldn¡¯t throw rocks.

    I heard the river, and I gave the house one more look. I didn¡¯t want to get lost. From what I could tell, this was a huge forest, with a prowling wolf monster. I kept an eye on the sunlight in the hazy sky as I walked.

    I was going in a northern direction, and as soon as I was out of sight of the house, I found the river. It wasn¡¯t moving too fast. I approached it cautiously.

    My eyes were freaking out. Numbers were vibrating above stones and clay. There was a ton here, and with the lower river, it was a perfect time to collect it.

    Turns out clay and stone could only be brought one at a time. The monotony of it all was what I struggled with the most. Farming games were fun, as long as the developers managed to walk that fine line of making sure the monotony didn¡¯t get too much.

    ¡°Any help, neutral party above?¡± I muttered.

    There wasn¡¯t much, so I kept going. My lips pursed into a line as I spent the majority of the afternoon taking clay, then stone, into the storage area.

    By the time the sun was dipping toward the line of trees, I was done. All the stone and clay was in the storage room, and I sat on the concrete, feeling a wave of emotions that ended up making me feel empty. I closed my eyes, trying to gather the pieces of what I did know.

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    This was not reality. That much I knew. I was transported here somehow, and asked to play this game. The more I played, the more pieces of information I would receive. There was a group of people above me who claimed to be neutral. My name was Quinn. There was a wolf monster, and a shrieking ghost that started haunting the house once it got dark. They were coming soon.

    I remained on the ground as everything swirled around me. My to-do list was done, the sun was setting, and I should go to bed. I¡¯d done everything, and yet I felt like I was drowning. It was the similar feeling of working hard then finally getting a breath of fresh air and realizing I was still in the middle of the ocean with no way to rest.

    I got to my feet and walked over to the clipboard, flipping to the end to check my progress. There were six areas of progress, though the last one was still locked away.

    Farming level 2

    Cleaning level 5

    Logging level 6

    Cooking level 1

    Building level 3

    I had 6.50 total points, so I bought those steel-toed boots so I could drop five logs. I didn¡¯t care what tomorrow¡¯s to-do list would be. I dropped the clipboard, and it clattered against the wall. I walked inside and locked the back door, then went to the front door and locked that before climbing into bed.

    ¡°Please,¡± I whispered. ¡°Please, this isolation will kill me. I¡­ I need someone to talk to. Even if it¡¯s an NPC or something. Anything.¡± I closed my eyes, tears spilling over. ¡°And whoever it is, please¡­ don¡¯t let them get hurt. I can¡¯t befriend someone and have them taken away by¡­ by them. I just need this one thing. I need a friend who won¡¯t die.¡±

    I closed my eyes and the power of game logic forced me into sleep.

    And forced me to wake up when the dawn light appeared again. I rubbed my head as I walked out of the bedroom. Seriously, I needed to sleep in my nightgown sometime. I just never got to the point of caring at nighttime.

    I opened the bedroom door and stepped into the entertainment room before my feet froze in place. The VHS¡¯s and the books were back. I blinked, the unease that was always in my gut returning in full force. I couldn¡¯t deal with this right now.

    I stumbled into the kitchen and grabbed the phone, pressing the button to listen to the message.

    ¡°At midnight, they will come. At midnight, they will start to destroy. Anything you didn¡¯t complete on your to-do list from yesterday will be added to this new list. If you do not finish your to-do list, you may not go to bed until midnight, or until your sanity drops to 20 percent.

    ¡°Purchase one article of clothing from animal care

    ¡°Finish all previous items on your to-do list.¡±

    The phone beeped, and I glanced at the list. It seemed like the neutral party over my care had planned on giving me an easy day in case I had a lot from previous to-do¡¯s I didn¡¯t finish. It was surprisingly considerate of them.

    Which meant, since I worked so hard, I had a day of doing whatever I wanted. Well, almost anything I wanted. I needed to buy something from the newly unlocked section of animal care.

    That did remind me that I might as well start on the chicken coop. The more boards I could get in now, the more I wouldn¡¯t have to worry about later. Also, I needed some dopamine points. I only had 3.50 total points, and I needed 5.00 to get the animal care clothes.

    With both the plaid shirt and the steel-toed boots, I was getting five logs at a time, and it wasn¡¯t taking nine or ten thwacks with the axe, either. That was really nice. Though it still took huge chunks of my stamina. I wasn¡¯t a fan of that.

    I sacrificed one of the boards into the dumpster to give me 13.50 total dopamine points. Once that was done, I carried four boards at a time over to the chicken coop and dropped them in. I kept going until all the boards were gone.

    9/100 boards

    I would get there. Eventually.

    Once the boards were gone, I quickly ran over to the greenhouse and did my picking of the tomatoes before giving them a good watering. I placed the tomatoes on the ground before glancing at the soup I made a couple days ago. Despite this place being covered in cobwebs, that soup looked ready to eat. Still smoking a bit, too.

    I shook my head and walked out of the food storage room and grabbed the clipboard. The animal care clothes had a long sleeve shirt and jeans, with bite protective gloves, boots, and a hair tie. It seemed simple enough.

    I chose the hair tie. Though my hair didn¡¯t get too involved in my face with game logic being applied, it was still nice to have it pulled back. The trapper hat disappeared, and my hair was all up in a ponytail. I touched my hair, feeling it off my neck. It would be so much easier to-

    A noise came from outside. I slowly lowered my hands, my eyes darting out the screen door. Something was out there, but since it was barely the afternoon, I didn¡¯t feel as nervous.

    I opened the screen door and walked out, frowning. Whatever was out here, I was determined to find out what it was. The noise became more distinguishable the closer I got to the front door. There was a good chance I was imagining it, but it sounded like meowing.

    I peeked my head around the edge of the house to see the front porch. A little kitten had her paw stuck in a rope, and my heart practically disappeared with how fast it melted.

    ¡°Oh, hey. Hey, little one,¡± I said, rushing toward the kitty.

    She meowed at me, sounding distressed. She was so small. I quickly undid the rope and picked up the kitten.

    ¡°Hey, where¡¯d you come from?¡± I petted her head, seeing a collar around her neck with a name printed on a tag. ¡°What¡¯s your name, girl?¡± I asked, gently taking the tag so I could read it.

    Unkillable

    My heart quickly molded back into place before pounding in my chest. I kept petting the kitten¡¯s head. The kitten, who I guess was named Unkillable, started to purr. I brought the kitten closer, giving her a hug as she shivered.

    ¡°Well¡­ that name better be a sign that you won¡¯t actually be killed,¡± I said, lifting the kitten as she continued to purr. I closed my eyes, holding her close again. ¡°Because if something does happen to you, so help me, I will light a torch to this entire forest and burn it all to the ground.¡±

    I opened my eyes, staring at the sky. ¡°I assume you can read my mind and know I¡¯m not joking.¡±

 Chapter 16

    Getting one of the hair ties for animal care meant I could make dry food appear out of thin air and place it in a bowl on the front porch. That turned out to be a very clever trick. I also filled up the watering bowl and placed it next to the food bowl. The kitten started eating, and I remained beside her, sitting on the ground.

    ¡°I think the tag around your collar was more to comfort me,¡± I said to the kitty. ¡°But I don¡¯t want to call you Unkillable, because¡­ I don¡¯t know. It just doesn¡¯t fit.¡±

    The kitty glanced up, but kept eating because it seemed like it hadn¡¯t eaten in a while.

    ¡°Unkillable isn¡¯t necessarily a name someone gives a cat. Or any pet. Seems like you¡¯re just tempting fate at that point. No, I¡¯m pretty sure this was just a message to comfort me.¡±

    I watched the kitten licking up some water, and I couldn¡¯t help it and ran my hand down her back again. She seemed positively unbothered now that she had food and water.

    ¡°Killie?¡± I asked.

    Again, the kitten kept her focus on what was in front of her. It made me smile.

    ¡°I like Killie better. Who knows, maybe you¡¯ll be a good mouse chaser. I did see a few mice holes in the house.¡±

    The kitten purred. She was finished with her food, so with little fanfare, she walked off the front porch and moved around the house. I smiled to myself, wondering if I was a cat person. I got up, following the kitten, but she just walked over to the cement slab outside the covered back porch and stretched before curling up in a ball and taking a nap. It was probably better that way. Considering I was done with my to-do list, I was ready to throw away the entire day to make sure Killie that kitty was situated well in her new life.

    I used up the rest of my stamina sticking more logs into the chicken coop, as well as stockpiling some firewood, sticks, and matches in the storage area. Once that was done, I went over to the greenhouse and got another box of soil ready. Maybe I could try potatoes or something.

    Killie walked into the greenhouse, rubbing her body against my legs as I worked on the second soil bed, making sure I wore my faded overalls.

    It was nice. This was the aspect of the games that I enjoyed. An entire day free to do what I needed to keep my farm running and my house clean. I got two of the potatoes from the storage area and cut them up, placing them in the soil before watering them. The neutral party above me didn¡¯t stop me, so I did it. If I could get ten potatoes for every two, that would be really nice. I watered them, then watched the plants start to grow at an impossible rate.

    It was early evening time by the time I moved around the front porch to make sure Killie¡¯s food bowl was replenished and she had water. Then I bought a cleaning apron now that I was level five and was given the power to wash the walls.

    Whoever lived here was a smoker. Yes, I should have realized that with the multiple ashtrays full of cigarette butts, but the walls in the bedroom especially were yellow. I cleaned the walls of the bedroom and kitchen to give it that extra nice sheen. It was now difficult looking at the carpet and knowing I couldn¡¯t vacuum it. These rooms were so close to being done, and I couldn¡¯t finish them because there was no electricity.

    Once the walls were done, I dove into the living area. I tried to only focus on this one room, because it was too easy to consider this room and the entertainment room as one. The living room was such a mess, and it somehow got messier the more the kitchen and the bedroom got cleaned. I needed to tame this beast.

    Killie walked inside the house, wandering around, observing everything. A mouse scampered across the room, and Killie watched it, almost curious.

    ¡°Catching those would be nice,¡± I said, gesturing toward the mouse. Killie gave me a look that said she¡¯d think about it. ¡°I mean, I do love your company and everything. But cats do have a great job that would help me out with keeping this place clean.¡±

    Killie had grown today. She was a small kitten this morning, and somehow an older kitten this evening. I didn¡¯t consider it, because the thought never crossed my mind. Plants grew at an impossibly fast rate. The seasons were only thirty-five days. Time was different here.

    My thoughts drifted to where I¡¯d come from. What my family was like. How did I get here? Had anyone noticed I was missing? Was time moving on in an equally fast rate at home as it was here? If I stayed here for the thirty-five days of summer, would that be an entire summer back home?

    Was this some sort of coma? Was I fighting for my life right now in a hospital room while I lived out this fantasy? Fighting off a wolf monster that was actually some deadly tumor?

    What an absolutely wild theory. And yet something about it would not let go. What if that wolf monster was some sort of illness. If it was, what were they?

    ¡°Wild,¡± I said, walking over to Killie who was sitting on top of the couch, watching over her domain. I gave her a pet, which she accepted, closing her eyes as she leaned into my hand. I smiled, then sorted through the junk on the card table. It wasn¡¯t too difficult putting all the dirty dishes in the sink. With the sink being newly empty, there was plenty of space, and I could do dishes now without it taking out my stamina. But I didn¡¯t focus on the dishes, I went back to the living room and kept organizing the junk.

    Through organizing a bunch of letters, something peeked out of the pile. My fingers brushed aside blank letters as I discovered a flashlight. I stared at it a few seconds before clicking it on. A thin beam of light came out of the flashlight, and I glanced up at the ceiling.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    ¡°Uh¡­ yes please,¡± I said, turning off the flashlight and sticking it in my pocket. Maybe this is what those batteries in the garage would be used for. That would be nice, especially since there was no electricity.

    I wouldn¡¯t finish this room today. That much was certain. The red light of sunset glowed in the room as I dropped the final bag of letters into the dumpster before scurrying back into the room. I picked up Killie from her spot on the chair and moved into the bedroom. I placed her in the little kitty bed in the room. There was no way I was letting her sleep outside. Not with a prowling wolf creature. Sure, maybe she was Unkillable, but I wasn¡¯t going to test it.

    I went to my bed when words popped into my vision.

    This is a night they are coming. Cannot sleep until they are gone.

    A sickening feeling entered my gut. I stared at the bed, not realizing that this was part of the arrangement. I tried not to panic as the last of the red light disappeared. I didn¡¯t want to experience this. I just wanted to sleep and have it over with. To wake up tomorrow and deal with the aftermath. I¡­ didn¡¯t want to see what was going on.

    Killie stood straight up on all fours, her back arched and her fur stood up. She started hissing, staring at something in the corner. My stomach dropped as I pulled out the flashlight and clicked it on. There was nothing in the corner, but Killie still hissed at the emptiness. Her teeth were showing as she kept hissing, her paw up and ready to attack.

    Transparent woman. Floral house coat. Blood. Shrieking. Maybe Killie¡¯s main job in the house wasn¡¯t to catch mice. Maybe she had a different job entirely.

    Killie made a warning noise at the emptiness in the corner, and I backed away toward the door, throwing it open.

    ¡°Killie. Killie,¡± I whispered. ¡°Come on, girl. Come on.¡±

    She kept hissing at the corner, her claws out. Once I had the door open, she took the opportunity to retreat from the room. When Killie was out, I slammed the door. I used my flashlight to triple check that the front and back doors were locked before checking on Killie again. She was in the middle of the entertainment room, her back still arched, her eyes fixed on the bedroom door.

    ¡°Hey, girl,¡± I said, kneeling to carefully move into her line of vision. Killie was in attack mode, and I didn¡¯t want to startle her. ¡°Hey, it¡¯s me. Is the entertainment room safe? Are there any¡­ghosts here?¡±

    Were they ghosts? It certainly seemed so, but I didn¡¯t know much. Killie did not move her gaze from the room. I sat on the recliner chair, content to stay there until I could go to sleep. The doors were locked, even as I was fighting the urge to check again to make sure they were. Killie crawled into my lap, her body shaking, and I did my best to comfort her. I didn¡¯t know how well I could, considering I myself could not calm down.

    ¡°We¡¯ll be okay,¡± I said, my hand constantly running over her back. ¡°They¡¯re scary, but¡­ they can¡¯t hurt us. At least¡­ I¡¯m pretty sure they can¡¯t hurt us. They can¡¯t hurt you, at least. I¡¯m quite sure about that.¡±

    Killie hissed again before leaping out of my lap. She scrambled to the living room, pacing the length of the room as she stared at the ceiling, hissing and spitting. I approached cautiously, staring at the ceiling. I couldn¡¯t see anything, but I doubted I would ever see it.

    Killie stopped hissing, but she definitely kept her back arched as she stared at something above us. I heard shuffling feet, making my gaze shoot toward the ceiling. There was someone walking around the second floor. I stared, waiting. Shuffling was all I heard. My breathing turned shallow. I¡¯d stop my heart, too, if it helped me hear better. There were whisperings above, two women talking. At first it was quiet, but the whispers turned more heated.

    I dropped to my knees next to Killie, going back to petting her. The women continued to whisper to each other upstairs, and I stared at the dirty carpet, trying to imagine this was nothing more than a regular house. I was simply visiting a friend¡¯s, and their relatives were having a conversation upstairs. It didn¡¯t matter that I¡¯ve never seen another human being since appearing here with my memories wiped. I had been wrong. For my sanity, I needed to think this was nothing more than relatives talking upstairs.

    Speaking of sanity, it was holding at one hundred percent. No doubt Killie was keeping me alert of where in the house there were¡­ people. People I couldn¡¯t see. People who might make my sanity take a hit.

    ¡°You know what, girl?¡± I asked, continuing to pet her arched back. ¡°You don¡¯t need to catch mice. I like this ability so much better.¡±

    Killie remained next to me, her eyes never leaving the ceiling. The women kept whispering, and I tried to ignore them. I couldn¡¯t understand what they were saying, which was fine. I really didn¡¯t want to know.

    I don¡¯t know how long I was on my knees, but I didn¡¯t dare move. It was a few seconds after the whispers abruptly stopped that Killie relaxed. I kept the flashlight off, just in case I needed to save the batteries. Killie returned to the recliner, stretching. I didn¡¯t dare go back into the room until she gave the okay. It was dark, and I could hear the wolves howling in the forest. Was the wolf creature out there, too? Not like I was going to walk out there and find out. I was fine to stay in here and just wonder.

    I picked up Killie from the recliner and sat down, leaving her on my lap. She curled into my lap. She wasn¡¯t asleep, even though she acted like it. No doubt she kept one eye open, just like I was.

    The silence became absolute. The crickets were gone. It almost seemed even the buzzing lamp was holding its breath. I sat up in the recliner, hearing nothing but my own breathing.

    Killie leapt out of my lap, her eyes wide, ears flat. A growl came from the woods, deep and low. I shouldn¡¯t have heard it, because it was so quiet, yet the sound reverberated in my soul. The growl stopped, and silence returned. The axe was in my hand. My sweaty palms made the axe handle difficult to hold, but I wasn¡¯t letting go. Killie was back in a corner, her pupils dilated and her tail tucked under her.

    The growl returned, choppy and uneven as it again shook my soul, making my own heartbeat irregular. My sanity started to drop. Tears filled my eyes as I stood before the door, axe in hand as silence came back. Somehow, despite all my hard work, those spikes seemed flimsy to me now.

    The growl turned into a rumbling as it got closer. The lamplight gave off a faint glow outside, and part of me knew I could part the curtains and see who they were, but the very thought made me nauseous.

    I could barely breathe, the silence between the growls almost more terrifying. The silence made me realize how alone I was, how there was no one to help. The silence crushed every part of my soul, and the growl reminded me that I wasn¡¯t alone. I was with them.

    It was the longest time of silence between growls. Tears raced down my cheeks as my sanity dropped to the halfway mark. They were close enough to be at the fence. My knees trembled, but I kept the axe held high. I didn¡¯t dare get any closer to the door, and I could only pray the fence held. I remained in the darkened house, refusing to leave, refusing to let them know I was here.

    A crack shook the ground, followed shortly by a bellowing that made the entire house shake. I dropped the axe as I fell to my knees, covering my ears. My breathing turned quick and uneasy as the air disappeared from the room. The darkness covered me, but it wouldn¡¯t be enough. It would never be enough. The growl that I felt in my bones was now replaced by the bellow that would no doubt shatter them.

    Another crack filled the sky, and another bellow. The spikes must have got them. The fence held. The growl returned, shaking my knees. It still churned my stomach as the growl quieted. They slipped back into the woods. The growl soon disappeared, but it left its imprint on my soul.

 Chapter 17

    I woke up to the red dawn with tears streaming down my cheeks. For the first time I realized what it meant to sleep. To be given a moment to take a breath, to even dream. To wake up refreshed.

    This was none of this. It was all quantitative numbers of sanity filling back up to the quarter mark. My stamina returning. The existential dread of a monotony that was not of my own choosing. I did not feel refreshed. I wasn¡¯t ready to tackle another day.

    I stared at my sanity meter. How low did my sanity get last night to only fill up to the quarter mark?

    My body was curled in a fetal position, the exhaustion of last night hitting me. Killie was curled up next to me, purring softly. I closed my eyes again, listening to her purrs. Trying to will myself to be calmer. I don¡¯t think I ever would. I didn¡¯t have any health points, I had sanity. And that growl, that bellow, almost killed me.

    I shuddered again at the too recent memory of it all. Things were going to be hard with only a quarter of sanity, but I pulled myself out of bed.

    I stumbled into the kitchen, seeing the light blinking, and I listened to the messages.

    ¡°They left, but they will come again. When, only you can find out-¡± My eyes flickered to the calendar. ¡°-but they will come back stronger. They evolve, they adapt. It is up to you to make sure your house is protected enough when they come a second time.

    ¡°Your to-do list will now be after every time they attack, and you may finish it at your own pace. But that is a pace we suggest you do as quickly as possible. It will only help you.¡±

    ¡°But what am I supposed to do? What is the endgame?¡±

    ¡°Purchase the second article of clothing from the building section

    ¡°Repair the damages to the fence

    ¡°Make bricks

    ¡°Build a brick wall around both fences

    ¡°Upgrade your axe

    ¡°Finish decluttering the first floor of your home

    ¡°Now that you have longer to finish your to-do list, you will not be allowed to go to sleep for one hour past sundown until you complete it.¡±

    ¡°No!¡± It was an instinctual reaction. ¡°Please. I only have a quarter sanity!¡±

    The phone beeped, and I felt nauseous. Killie walked in, still a kitten, but a far older kitten. She purred as she rubbed her body against my legs, and I remembered last night before they arrived. Killie managed to save my sanity, which was a lifesaver, because if I had a quarter of it now, I might have¡­

    What happened to me when my sanity was gone? Was it like hit points? Did I die? I honestly hoped I never found out.

    I tore the to-do list, telling myself that tonight was the night I sleep in my pajamas to see if it gave me any sort of bonus.

    I had five days until they arrived. It seemed so much less time, and the to-do list seemed short, yet monotonous.

    The shadows in the kitchen flickered, and a ghoulish smile appeared in the corner of my eye. I jumped, scrambling back as I stared at the corner. There was nothing there. Just shadow. I dug my palm into my forehead, groaning. This must be what it¡¯s like to have a quarter sanity. It was all going to be in my head. At least that¡¯s what I had to tell myself. My heart was still racing and my adrenaline was pumping. Might as well put those to good use.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    I picked up the clipboard and saw I couldn¡¯t buy a second building clothing until I reached level five. I flipped over to my progress, and it showed me at level four in building. I was almost there. A few more boards in the chicken coop would help, no doubt.

    With a sigh, I walked out of the house and crept over to the garage. I had to see the damage from last night. I needed to know why there was such a loud bellow.

    The fence was broken. I stepped closer, feeling nauseous as I saw a reddish black tar. I remained frozen in spot. Was this something I had to clean? The thought of it made me sick. I didn¡¯t want this.

    I backed away before turning and running away. Technically I had five more days to deal with this. I could deal with this another day.

    I did my morning routine now of picking the tomatoes and watering them. The potatoes looked like they would need another day of watering, which was fine. They were still growing at an insane speed.

    Once the tomatoes were in the storage room, I checked the clipboard again to see that upgrading my axe would take 0/10 stones and 50.00 dopamine points. It was my only weapon. Even though I was completely useless last night, if something bad happened, I needed some way to protect myself.

    Purchase upgraded axe?

    Y/N

    I didn¡¯t have everything, but I had the ten stones in the storage room. I would hold off for now, just in case.

    For now, I went outside, the mid-morning heating up. Despite it being summer for seven days already, this was the first time that the heat was almost too much. I walked outside with my axe and gave the tree a whack, but I watched in horror as a huge chunk of my stamina disappeared.

    ¡°Whoa, whoa, wait,¡± I said. ¡°What¡¯s¡­¡±

    Sweat appeared on my forehead. The sun was in the hazy sky, beating down. Almost twenty-five percent of my stamina disappeared from one axe hit of the tree. That was way more stamina than I was willing to give up. What was going on?

    I stumbled back inside, wiping sweat off my face. Today was hot. Unusually hot. That much I could figure out. Once I was back inside the cooler house, the sweat disappeared from my face. This was one of those things where weather was affecting how I performed my tasks, meaning it would take a larger amount of stamina.

    I took out my to-do list, most of it dealing with stuff outside. Perfect. Well, for now I could finish decluttering the living room and the entertainment room.

    As I headed toward the door into the living room, I saw the calendar. I paused, then squinted. There was an image of a sun on today. An unusually hotter day. There had to be some way to combat this, though. There usually was always a way in these games.

    I thought about it as I gathered more clutter into a bag. Decluttering the first floor was something I needed to do on the list.

    I gathered the bag full of junk and carried it outside. The moment I left the shade, the overwhelming heat hit me again. Beads of sweat formed on my head, and the stamina started to trickle away.

    ¡°Seriously?¡± I asked before tossing the bag in the dumpster. Something would have to be done about this.

    I hurried back into the cool of the house, and gathered all the clutter into bags, placing them outside on the porch as I picked my brain.

    There had to be some sort of food. If there was food to help with stamina, there had to be some that protected from heat.

    I sighed, leaning against the wall. The shadows started to shift and change, causing me to slip outside again. I didn¡¯t want to see them. I was terrified they would change into something that I couldn¡¯t handle. Killie didn¡¯t notice the shadows, so it was all in my head. All something that had to do with being at twenty-five percent sanity.

    I was out on the front porch in the shade, rubbing my arms. Soup was not going to help me in the heat. Most of the stuff I had in my food storage room wasn¡¯t going to help. If it was going to be food, it would have to be something cold. Something like¡­

    Milk?

    I glanced through the window again. I could see through the living room into the kitchen. It was crazy enough to try, and I needed to try something.

    I held my breath as I walked inside and got to the fridge and poured myself a small glass of milk. I downed it in one swallow, then saw a timer right below the stamina.

    Ten minutes. I had ten minutes that I hoped meant I could be out in the blistering heat.

    I rushed out of the house that was starting to have twisting shadows and grabbed as many bags as my stamina would allow before dropping them into the dumpster. It worked. A glass of milk would get me ten minutes in the hot sun.

    I pushed through, taking multiple trips to get all those bags into the dumpster. I felt relieved when the final bag dropped into the dumpster. Without missing a beat, I pulled out the axe, ready to chop down a tree with the minute and a half I had left when words popped into my vision.

    Decluttering of first floor complete.

    Upgrade loading now.

    I froze, confused. What did that mean? There was a pause, then movement in the corner of my vision forced me to look at my stamina and sanity. I watched as the bars lengthened. They still remained empty, but I realized what this meant. The more I cleaned my house, the more stamina and sanity I was able to hold.

    ¡°Yes, please,¡± I said.

 Chapter 18

    Despite my excitement, this new development shocked me so much that the rest of my timer ran out, and I was forced back to the present when I felt the unbearable heat again. I slipped back into the house, hearing quiet whispers that Killie didn¡¯t react to. I noticed my sanity start to shiver, so I quickly drank some more milk and rushed out of the house. It wouldn¡¯t do me any good to lose all my sanity because of daytime whispers.

    I did not waste my ten minutes. I went harder and faster than ever, chopping down trees until my stamina ran out. I ate a bowl of soup and watched my stamina go not quite halfway. I was still pretty stoked about that added bar, though. That¡¯d be nice.

    Milk was running out. It was the only thing I found that beat the heat. I checked the calendar on the way to get some milk. This was the only different weather day until they came again.

    I drank my milk and hurried out the door. There wasn¡¯t much milk left. I grabbed the axe, turning all the logs into boards before lifting them into the chicken coop. It took two more cups of milk that left a small inch of milk on the bottom of the container, but all the boards were done, and the sun was setting. I checked my list, trying to remember what I was even doing. Boards weren¡¯t even on the list.

    Right. Getting to level five to get another article of clothing for building.

    I sighed, resting my head on the chipped bricks of the house. This was fine. I still had four more days until they came again, and I already had a good leap on my to-do list. Tomorrow would be better, because I wouldn¡¯t have to use the rest of my milk. I was a bit worried when it ran out, though. I had 21/100 boards done in the chicken coup, which made me almost reach level six in building. If I really could get some cows, it would take forever to get them.

    I had to trust the process, even though nothing made sense. Instead, I bought my reflective vest for my second article of clothing for building.

    Two things were done on my to-do list, which felt good. I wasn¡¯t entirely sure how I could finish the rest of it, but I needed to worry about it tomorrow.

    I got into my nightgown, because I was curious to try this out. Once that was done, I watched the last of the red light disappear, then glanced at Killie.

    ¡°Wanna keep me company for an hour?¡±

    The kitten that was starting to not look like a kitten anymore walked up to me, rubbing her body against my legs. I leaned down and gave her a pet, then left the bedroom. I sat in the recliner chair and rocked, waiting for the pull to go to bed. I took another small bright pink candy from the candy bowl, and I tried not to feel like a twenty-year-old grandma rocking in my chair with my cat. I refused to wait outside in the dark. Not with that wolf creature.

    The shadows started to move and dance. I closed my eyes tight, hoping that they were just a figment of my imagination. Or a figment of my slivered sanity. Killie wasn¡¯t reacting to any shadows, instead she was curled on my lap, purring as I kept a hold of her. The hour stretched on, and I refused to open my eyes. Killie stayed in my lap, which was the only indication that she wasn¡¯t startled by anything she saw.

    A child laughing made my eyes pop open. It was somewhere on the second floor, and it made my stomach clench. Killie opened one eye to glanced at the ceiling before she closed her eyes again. My sanity shivered as I tried to calm my breathing. Was it just in my head? Killie looked at the ceiling when the child laughed. Did that mean she heard, too, and wasn¡¯t threatened?

    I didn¡¯t care. Children laughing in the dark was all sorts of creepy, and I hated it.

    The instant I felt the pull to go to bed, I scooped Killie up and bolted for the bedroom. I mentally chose to sleep as soon as my body hit the bed.

    And woke up with fifty percent sanity. I stared at it, confused. A part of me thought it worked, because I dropped below twenty-five percent. Which meant there was a possibility that sleeping in my nightgown would give me more stamina.

    I got out of bed and headed toward the back door, checking the phone on the way out. No messages. As I walked out, I mentally chose both articles of clothing for building. Once they were on my body, I chose my farming overalls, too, because I still needed to do my morning routine.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

    I saw the numbers shifting, specifically around the broken bits of fence. I saw something appear near the hole.

    0/3 boards

    0/5 firewood

    I was able to repair the fence. Good.

    As the day was a lot nicer, I was able to whack a few more trees down easily enough with my bigger stamina bar.

    Once the fence was repaired, the numbers shifted and changed again.

    0/20 bricks

    0/20 stones

    I sighed. Sure, I didn¡¯t know how to make bricks yet, but I had a feeling this was going to take the longest time. Carrying stones and clay was the most monotonous.

    I would need more stones, too, with the axe costing a bit more to upgrade. I went down to the riverbed again, gathering stones and clay in piles. Killie followed me like she knew I was about to do something mind-numbingly dull and meowed.

    ¡°Hey, girl,¡± I said, giving her a scratch on top of her head. ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯re here.

    I grabbed another stone and started to move it when something vibrated underneath. I stood up, backing away as another white orb appeared. I stilled my breath as Killie ignored the orb. I needed this. Of anything, this orb gave me answers.

    With a shaking hand, I reached out and touched the orb. Everything around me went black.

    ***

    The door to Brenda and Doug¡¯s house burst open and Quinn walked through, a large smile on her face.

    ¡°Helloooooo!¡± Quinn shouted.

    Quinn was missing a few of her teeth, proof some time had passed. Doug smiled as he walked in.

    ¡°Looking for someone in particular, Quinn?¡± Doug asked.

    ¡°Anything changed since I was here last?¡± Quinn asked, walking further into the house.

    ¡°Oh, people come and go. Felicity went back home and is thriving,¡± Doug said.

    ¡°Yay! Will she come back?¡± Quinn asked, looking around the house.

    ¡°Things seemed pretty settled,¡± Doug said.

    ¡°You said the same thing about me, but look at me! Back here too!¡± Quinn said.

    A sad smile flickered across Doug¡¯s face. ¡°That we did.¡±

    ¡°What about the snacks? Are they where they¡¯re supposed to be?¡± Quinn asked.

    ¡°Let me show you,¡± Doug said.

    They entered the kitchen, Quinn almost skipping. Doug patted the cart next to the fridge, a smile on his face. ¡°When Brenda heard you were discovered asking the workers at McDonald¡¯s for food, she went out and bought a huge container of cheese-its.¡±

    ¡°Yes, please!¡± Quinn said, walking over to the cart and plucking a bag. She tore it open and popped some in her mouth. ¡°Why is it so quiet here?¡±

    ¡°Well, everyone¡¯s at school,¡± Doug said.

    ¡°Oh, right. I haven¡¯t been to school in ages,¡± Quinn said. ¡°Mama didn¡¯t tell me when the bus would come pick me up. She kept telling me different times, and even when I waited outside when the bus was supposed to pick me up, apparently she didn¡¯t even call the bus people to tell them I was supposed to start school in the fall. It was all very confusing.¡±

    ¡°I bet it was. You did a brave thing trying to get to school,¡± Doug said.

    ¡°Do I need to set up school for here?¡± Quinn asked.

    ¡°We¡¯ve got everything set up.¡±

    ¡°But how do you do it? Just in case mama doesn¡¯t remember when I go back to her. That way I can just do it myself,¡± Quinn said.

    ¡°Oh, well, you kind of need an adult to sign you up for school,¡± Doug said.

    Quinn sighed. ¡°Well, at least everything is set up here.¡±

    Doug nodded. ¡°Brenda will even wake you up on time to make sure you make it to the bus.¡±

    ¡°Yes! I get to go to school!¡± Quinn said.

    Doug smiled, ruffling her hair. ¡°You keep remembering this feeling of wanting to go to school, okay Quinn?¡±

    Quinn snickered, then glanced at the fridge. The fridge itself wasn¡¯t visible, just Quinn¡¯s reaction to it. ¡°Oh, is Theo still here?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± The quieter change of tone in Doug¡¯s voice went unnoticed by the little girl. ¡°Yes, Theo will stay with us for a while.¡±

    ¡°Does he talk yet?¡± Quinn asked.

    ¡°We¡¯re starting to get single words out of him a few times a week,¡± Doug said.

    ¡°Oh, goodie! I see he draws for Ms. Nichole,¡± Quinn said.

    ¡°Yes. Yes, he does. Though, that¡¯s not from therapy, that was one of his drawings at school,¡± Doug said.

    Quinn lifted the picture, her nose crinkling. ¡°Kinda scary, don¡¯t you think?¡±

    ¡°He does like to draw scarier things. He is rather talented for an almost seven-year-old, though. Look at the detail on that fur!¡± Doug said.

    Quinn still kept her nose crinkled. ¡°You said I¡¯m rather talented when I was last here.¡±

    ¡°And I¡¯d love to see how your talents have developed since you were last here,¡± Doug said.

    Quinn dropped the page. ¡°Alright, where¡¯s your paper and crayons!¡±

    ¡°Quinn, it¡¯s not a competition,¡± Doug said.

    ¡°I know. But you want to see how my skills are progressing, right?¡± Quinn asked.

    Doug smiled, then gestured for her to follow. ¡°Come on. To the arts and crafts room.¡±

    The two of them left, but the room remained empty. The page fluttered on the fridge before righting itself again. Enough to see a picture of a wolf. Its claws were extended, blood dripping from its jaw, looking like it just finished a kill. But the odd thing about it was that the wolf was standing on its hind legs.

 Chapter 19

    I didn¡¯t know if there was more to the memory. It almost felt like a dream, the shock and fear of it all startled me back to the present. I was sucking in air, forcing myself to come back to reality. The reality of this place, the smell of the river, hearing the water rushing down the rocks.

    My knees weakened, and I stumbled back before resting against the grass. It was that wolf. There was no denying it. It was like if a child had seen what I saw that night and drew a picture of it. Theo had seen the wolf, or imagined it. At first, I thought these memories were just to help me remember who I was, but I was now extremely curious to figure out who Theo was. This was more than my memories. Theo knew something, and I needed to know what Theo knew.

    The rest of the day, I did my monotonous job, my mind whirling with questions and theories. I needed another memory orb, but I doubt they came on demand. Theo seemed to be the quiet kid with a dark imagination. Someone I had a feeling I grew up with. What did he have to do with my situation? That wolf drawing all but assured me that he had something to do with this.

    I gathered the stones and the clay, not sure how I could make bricks. After searching the clipboard, I found a brick mold, as well as a fire meant specifically for bricks. It was something I was pretty sure I could use now that I was past level five in building and had two sets of clothes.

    Both cost 10.00 dopamine points, which was so much. I spent some time while carrying clay and stone to the house to think about what I wanted to do. Did I want to make sure the wall was as strong as it could be, or did I want my axe upgraded?

    I wanted both, but as the deadline for them to arrive came closer, I knew I was no fighter. I was a wall builder against scary creatures. I didn¡¯t even want to think about what my sanity might look like if I tried to wield an axe against them, even if it was upgraded.

    It was a monotonous task, but two things kept me going. One, that wall absolutely needed to be upgraded before they arrived, and two, I needed to see if there were any more memory orbs. Both had their own kind of drive.

    It pushed me to keep going. Despite the days blending together, I bought the molds and the fire. The information was downloaded into my brain. I stuck the clay into the brick molds, leaving them out to dry. I made sure there was enough room on the slab of concrete near the storage room to put twenty bricks out to dry. I saw little timers slowly filling up as they stayed outside in the hot sun.

    It only started to make me nervous when I got to the brick fire. It was placed up against the back of the house, and I put in the appropriate stones and logs into it. But the fire would take half a day and could only hold five bricks at a time. It would be close. Way too close.

    My sanity returned to full, and even though the bars themselves were larger, it still scared me that there wasn¡¯t enough. Despite the days stretching since last I encountered them, I still remembered the terror of the noises they made.

    As soon as the bricks were done, they were out of the fire and the next five were in. I could make it, as long as I didn¡¯t let one hour pass by.

    As the bricks were being purified, I got to work doing other things. They were coming tomorrow, and I wanted to be prepared. Since my farming reached level 7, I bought a straw hat and instead of one tomato, I was able to grow two. And I only had to use one potato to cut up and place in the soil instead of two. The potato still took two waterings, but I got more with less. I had gathered so many tomatoes and potatoes that I figured it was finally time to start cooking the soups on the fire.

    Once I had a nice row of soups, I was pleasantly surprised to see all that cooking bumped me up to level 4. It was nice to see that finally moving past level 1. Now animal care and cooking were both at level 4. Logging and building were both tied at level 8, which made sense. Another couple levels, and I could finally buy a third article of clothing for both. Cleaning and farming were both tied at level 7.

    On the last day before they came, I walked out of the greenhouse with my basket of potatoes and tomatoes, passing the fence, as the worry struck me. I was only upgrading the fence to my house. I hadn¡¯t even touched the fence around the greenhouse. Would they hurt my greenhouses? I had a good supply of food, but if they made it so I couldn¡¯t grow anything, I would be in deep trouble.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    Halfway through the day, I switched out the bricks, a dark feeling in my gut. I wasn¡¯t going to make it. Not for the greenhouse fence. I was pretty sure my house fence would make it. I switched out to the final five bricks at noon, and was confident I¡¯d get the last of them in right at sunset. I even chopped down a few trees to get my fifty dopamine points and got my axe upgraded. The wall around my house would be finished. I would simply have to do what I needed to tomorrow to check the damage to the greenhouse. I hoped it wouldn¡¯t be too much. I also hoped that I could still grow food.

    The sun was setting when I pulled out the last of the bricks. I carried them, one by one, into the fence.

    18/20 bricks

    19/20 bricks

    20/20 bricks

    I sat back, sighing as the sun finally disappeared. The words shivered, then new ones popped up.

    0/25 firewood

    Despite the panic that completely seized me at this new development, all I did was stand there, blinking.

    ¡°More?¡± My eyes trailed toward the sky. ¡°There¡¯s¡­ more?¡±

    The sun was gone, the lamplight flickered on. There was danger in those woods, and yet I remained, staring at the firewood requirement.

    ¡°No,¡± I whispered, glancing around. My stamina was almost gone, and the only trees were outside the fence.

    Killie meowed at me, and I stared again at the fence. Twenty-five firewood. Every tree gave five logs, and every log gave two boards, each board giving two firewood. I wasn¡¯t great at math, but I¡¯m pretty sure I could chop down two trees now and get it done.

    I downed one of my potato soups and ran. Killie kept mewing at me from inside the house. Against my better judgement, I ignored her.

    My newly updated axe cut through the tree much quicker. It came down in six thwacks, and I heard every single one of them ringing in my ears. They felt like the crack of thunder, alerting anything in the woods to my position.

    A growl came from the woods, and I froze, tears in my eyes. The wolf was here. Close. I hadn¡¯t even gotten to chopping the logs into firewood. I needed to get back inside to save my sanity, but if I stayed inside until they came, my wall wouldn¡¯t be finished.

    I kept the new axe in the air, my breathing uneven. I slipped the axe away, picking up the log. I needed to get these logs inside the fence. If I had this fence to protect me, the wolf wouldn¡¯t reach. Then I could keep chopping to firewood and stuff them in the fence.

    I grabbed two logs, pushing my stamina. I had a lot from the potato soup, and the small chunk was a small sacrifice to make to bring two logs into the fence.

    Killie kept meowing at me, and I tried to shush her as best I could. I dropped the final log when the wolf came out of the woods. I landed flat on my stomach, covering my mouth to keep my breathing in check.

    I was an idiot. I needed to go back inside now. I wouldn¡¯t have enough firewood with the logs I had. Why did I risk this? What was it about that wolf that made me lose my head? It was better to have a full bar of sanity to prepare for them, but I didn¡¯t think about it in the moment when I had the option to finish the fence.

    The wolf started prowling, far more familiar with this clearing and its house. I hadn¡¯t seen it in a while, because I had been a genius and stayed inside when the sun set. In the lamplight, it started to wander. I saw the huge puffs of matted fur sticking up on its back. It remained on all fours, but I remember that picture. What did Theo know about this creature?

    The creature growled, and my sanity started to drop. I kept my hand over my mouth to keep the scream inside me, but the wolf¡¯s head popped up over the fence, the soulless eyes darted around before they fell right on me. My eyes filled with tears as the creature started to growl, low and guttural.

    The fence would keep it away, right? It kept them out. It would keep out the wolf. There was no reason to be afraid.

    There was that same spinal crack as the wolf stood on its hind legs, snarling and howling. Killie disappeared into the house, though I still heard her meowing at me. The wolf didn¡¯t hear, focused completely on me. For that alone, it gave me the comfort I needed to know that Killie would be okay.

    Me, on the other hand¡­

    The wolf snarled, then turned and ran toward a tree close to the fence. I didn¡¯t dare remain on my stomach. Once the wolf¡¯s eyes were off me, I scrambled to my feet and ran. I managed to glance over my shoulder to see the wolf had clawed its way up the tree, claws tearing up bark, before it leapt off the trunk, sailing right over the fence and landing inside it.

    My fear was strangled in my throat as I pumped my legs. I couldn¡¯t look at that thing. I refused. My sanity was dropping, and I still had to face them tonight.

    I slammed the back door, giving it a firm lock. I didn¡¯t know if the wolf could open the doors, but I also wasn¡¯t sure if the wolf could jump over the fence. It was better to be safe. I was already resolved to chop every tree near the fence that I could tomorrow.

    If I lasted until tomorrow.

    Once the front door was locked, I collapsed on the living room carpet. I tried to be calm, but my entire body shook. Killie jumped down from the recliner, purring as she rubbed her head under my chin. My sanity was down to less than seventy-five percent, and I still had to face them.

 Chapter 20

    I didn¡¯t move from my spot. I remained on my knees, holding Killie. My heart rate managed to drop to a more manageable beat, but my cheeks were still wet. Time had passed, but without me aware. I simply remained, waiting. The fence wasn¡¯t complete. My sanity was below seventy-five percent. I wouldn¡¯t survive this night. I didn¡¯t know what would happen to me, but it did not help my heart rate at all. I remained on the ground, frozen.

    The child laughed again. I closed my eyes, taking a breath. Killie kept purring, and considering shadows weren¡¯t wiggling or making faces, Killie must have heard that. Perhaps Killie only reacted to the ghosts that were dangerous. Despite how creepy that child¡¯s laughter was, Killie did not see it as anything to be afraid of.

    I still found it frightening, though. Despite how much Killie remained happily purring in my lap, my sanity lost another sliver.

    With a mental capacity that I didn¡¯t know I had, I began to analyze why that happened. My sanity dropped, even though Killie was perfectly content in my lap. Sanity was reflected on my own fear. There was a good chance this game was simply trying to scare me. It was doing an excellent job, but what would happen if I could train myself to not be afraid?

    The terrified part of me wanted to laugh hysterically. Me? Never be afraid? The likelihood of that happening was slim. About as slim as the sliver of sanity I just lost because a ghost child started giggling upstairs.

    Yeah, that was terrifying, actually. I should be glad I didn¡¯t lose anymore.

    The child giggled again, and I heard their footsteps running out of whatever room was upstairs. My sanity shivered, threatening to take more.

    ¡°Just a child,¡± I said. ¡°Killie¡¯s not afraid. If Killie¡¯s not afraid, then I shouldn¡¯t be afraid.¡±

    Killie turned at the sound of her name. She was calm, so I forced calm into myself, too. Just a child. A child giggling upstairs. Why does children giggling in the night frighten me so badly?

    Because you¡¯ve literally only sensed the child at night, and they¡¯re most likely a ghost, and ghosts terrify you.

    A deep, throaty growl echoed through the woods. I heard a yelp close to the living room window, before the wolf leapt over the fence and scurried away from the house. My back arched as my sanity took a hit. They were here. The wolf ran away, leaving no bait for them. Also the wolf was able to jump the fence. I needed to make it taller.

    I struggled to my feet, pulling out my newly updated axe. This would have to be enough. I felt tricked. Betrayed. The bricks took too long. I wasn¡¯t ready. Even though I knew well in advance that they were coming, I didn¡¯t have enough time. And now I was here, upgraded axe in the air, terrified. Farming games didn¡¯t often have creatures to battle. That was for other games. I had the option of building a fence, and when the game gives you an option to make a defense, it usually means the offence won¡¯t be enough.

    The growl echoed again through the forest. I closed my eyes, tears spilling down my cheeks. My sanity hit fifty percent. It was the second growl, and my sanity was halfway gone. This did not bode well.

    Don¡¯t think about that. You can do this. You can. I believe in you. Killie¡¯s here to protect you.

    I cracked an eye open to see Killie on the recliner, her back arched, fur sticking straight up. Her pupils were wide, and there was no doubt she felt the same primal terror as they gave another growl.

    My sweaty palms were slick against the axe handle. I would be able to do this. It didn¡¯t matter that the fence wasn¡¯t upgraded. My axe was. This would work. It had to.

    They gave a bellow before I heard a crack. I jumped, trying to keep my grip on the axe. Another crack sounded, almost like the sound of ice breaking. My fence. They were cracking it. And it sounded like they were successful.

    The silence was torture. Sweat formed on my forehead as I tried to think of all the different ways I could use my axe. Whatever creature was there, it no doubt had a weakness. I could do this. I could be strong.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

    A squelching noise got closer to the front door, and I did my best to function without breathing. The growling came back, so much closer. The realization of how close it got made my sanity take another chunk. They got through the fence. They were on the front porch.

    A darkness appeared under the door. I strangled my gasp, backing away as the darkness grew. It seemed like a shadow, until it started leaking. A thin blackness pooled at the doorway before it trickled in through the small cracks.

    I backed away, still holding my axe. I was grateful there was no clutter on the ground to trip over, but it didn¡¯t stop me from stumbling over my own feet. I was imagining something like the wolf or lion. A creature I could easily hurt with my axe. But as the blackness pooled at the bottom of the door, leaking through the cracks, I wondered how useful an axe really was. If this was nothing but liquid, this would be like cutting water.

    I kept a grip on my axe, because at the moment, it was the only weapon afforded me. Killie was so terrified she remained on the recliner, mute.

    My heart pounded in my chest as I raised the axe. The reddish black liquid had formed right at the base of the door, and with a faint growl that pierced my soul, it started to move. My sanity dropped past thirty percent, and even though the growl was faint, it was here. In the same room I was in.

    I pulled out the flashlight, hoping that maybe it was sensitive to the light. I clicked it on, pointing it at the slime. The reddish black slime moved from the light, and for that one instant I had hope. Light could defeat it. Light made it not as terrifying.

    The liquid moved together, gurgling before splitting off into five pillars of sludge. Then all five of them turned as one toward me.

    I screamed. I thought the light would help me, that it would somehow let me see the true creature it was, but instead I got a full view of the mounds of fangs in each sludge. They weren¡¯t even teeth placed in what I thought would be where teeth went. They were random collections of teeth in the sludges, and even chunks of hair stuck inside it. It was a small part of a bigger whole, and they did not care to place the teeth in any sort of mouth cavity. It was simply a part of them.

    The sludge mounds raced toward me, and I scrambled onto one of the couches, dropping my flashlight. It didn¡¯t matter. It was almost better to not look at them. I swiped at them with my axe as soon as my feet were off the ground.

    ¡°Get away. Get away. Get away.¡± It came out as a murmur, even though I wanted to scream it. The flashlight had fallen, the beam showing the trail of sludge that was feeding the creatures.

    My sanity had dropped to less than twenty. I had to try something, or else I would figure out what happened if my sanity dropped to zero. With a scream that was not heroic at all, I leapt over the five little sludge monsters and slammed my axe against the trail of sludge giving them life.

    At least, that¡¯s what I thought. The axe stopped some of the sludge, but it still dripped life into the five sludge monsters, who turned toward me.

    ¡°No. No.¡± I slammed my axe into the trail of sludge, but it reacted like water. It would have been easier to stop the river from running with my axe. ¡°No, you¡¯ve got to die. You have to die.¡±

    What if it was unkillable? Every job I had, every task, was toward defending myself against something I clearly couldn¡¯t kill. The creature ignored Killie, so maybe it, too, was impossible to kill.

    The creatures lunged at me, the first one slamming into my leg. I gasped, then my gasp was cut off. I no longer had the energy to gasp. It began sucking like a leech, and my energy went with it. Another creature slammed into me, then another. My body turned cold, my knees weak. My sliver of sanity disappeared, and the last thing I saw was the ground rushing up to meet me.

    ***

    My eyes were closed, but I heard two people talking. I wanted to open my eyes, but I had no strength left. I was cushioned, somehow, in a warm bed as soft as clouds. Possibly clouds, considering how weird my life was right now.

    ¡°¡­ too hard. She didn¡¯t have enough time.¡±

    It was a female voice, and I struggled again to open my eyes. Were these the people responsible for why I was here? That female voice sounded familiar. Was she the one speaking on the phone?

    ¡°Very well. We will not ask her this time.¡±

    That was a male voice. There was something weird about their voices. They almost didn¡¯t sound human. It was like my mind was translating them from¡­ some other language. Alien, perhaps? It was the only thing that made sense.

    ¡°She¡¯s waking up,¡± the female said. ¡°Don¡¯t open your eyes, Quinn. It will cause you to go insane.¡±

    I wanted to open my mouth to ask questions, but whatever those creatures were, they sapped every ounce of strength from my body.

    ¡°She can¡¯t open her eyes. We made sure of that,¡± the male said.

    ¡°There are some aspects of human nature that I cannot predict,¡± the female said. ¡°Specifically, what they do when in a situation they are not prepared for and feel they are in danger of.¡±

    The male chuckled. ¡°That is my favorite part of human nature.¡±

    ¡°We will send you back, Quinn. This was a miscalculation on both our parts.¡±

    ¡°Why.¡± It took every amount of strength to part my lips and say that one word.

    ¡°You will get your answers. Just play the game,¡± the male said.

    I heard something that sounded an awful lot like the snapping of a finger before all strength returned to me.

    My eyes snapped open and I sat up with a jolt. It was only after I did that, I remembered the warning that if I opened my eyes, I might go insane. What I saw was the red dawn light fill the bedroom. I glanced around, my sanity to fifty percent, my stamina back to one hundred. I blinked, then collapsed back on the bed. I already felt like I was going insane.

 Chapter 21

    Killie jumped on the bed to check on me. I knew I couldn¡¯t waste time, but everything inside me ached. I lifted my hand, running my fingers down Killie¡¯s fur.

    ¡°Hey, girl,¡± I said.

    Killie purred in return. She was more a cat than a kitten, now.

    ¡°Do you know what¡¯s going on?¡± I asked Killie.

    She didn¡¯t respond. She just kept purring. For her I got out of bed. That, and curiosity. Curiosity and cat is what will keep me going. Hopefully it won¡¯t kill me.

    I couldn¡¯t tell if I was having some strange dream or if hearing those two beings were real. Honestly, this whole thing made me question my mental stability.

    I passed the entertainment room, suppressing a shudder as I moved past where I got attacked by them. Those leeches stole my energy and my sanity.

    I entered the kitchen and picked up the phone, rubbing my head before pressing one.

    ¡°It seems we miscalculated your skill level.¡±

    Both my eyebrows shot up, and I felt morally offended by that. ¡°Excuse me?¡±

    ¡°As such we will try this again. We will not give you a steeper punishment because of our miscalculation, therefore your sanity has returned to fifty percent, and they will not come for another seven days.¡±

    My gaze shot to the calendar. Somehow it was reflected there. Seven more days.

    ¡°We have made the next list more manageable. If what happened last time happens again, we will continue to tweak it. If we find you did not complete it due to your own negligence, you will get the full brunt of the consequences, including an attack from them.¡±

    My breath shuddered. That all but assured me they were indeed unkillable.

    ¡°Your to-do list is as follows:

    ¡°Repair the damages caused by them,

    ¡°Strengthen the wall around the house and the greenhouses,

    ¡°Finish the chicken coop,

    ¡°Purchase a third article of building clothing,

    ¡°Clean all walls on first floor of home.

    ¡°Your next to-do list will be given to you after they come.¡±

    The to-do list finished writing itself, and I stared at it. I thought of everything that happened last night. Or whatever time it was that I was suspended in, listening to those two beings talk. The female was definitely the same female voice I heard over the phone, except there wasn¡¯t that weird thing done to her voice when I listened to her just now. I couldn¡¯t even explain what I heard. It was like some sort of echo to her voice, but it was like if her words were being translated from some other language. No earth language, that was for certain.

    ¡°I¡­ am not¡­ your rat¡­ in a maze,¡± I said it quietly. I knew they could read my mind. Whatever machine they had me hooked up to no doubt helped them know exactly what I was thinking, but this was my own sort of rebellion. Neither one of them cared. They watched as I was attacked, the life sucked out of me, and they calmly discussed my welfare while I was sitting not that far from them. Then they shoved me back into this game to watch me play.

    We are a neutral party.

    It was that impression again. A feeling so clear that it was practically translated to words.

    ¡°Why am I here?¡± I asked.

    A memory from last night hit me. The memory of the male¡¯s voice.

    ¡°You will get your answers. Just play the game.¡±

    ¡°Am I safe here?¡±

    The prompting came back.

    Are you ever safe?

    I sighed, dipping my head. I wasn¡¯t in the mood for existential crap. Despite how much I hated it, the guy was right. I got most of my answers while playing the game. Those memory orbs gave me something, and they only came while I was working.

    I tore the to-do list off, then glanced at the calendar. On the last two days there was a sun icon, which meant I had to get all my outside stuff done before then. I checked my to-do list. It was a bit of a pity, because I wanted to see if cleaning all the walls on the first floor would lengthen my stamina and sanity bars again like decluttering had. If it did, that would give me a nice boost throughout the week. Then again, I was running out of milk. And I did not want to end up without a fence again.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    I mentally chose to dress in my farming overalls and straw hat, prepared for my morning routine, when I pulled to a stop. They got into the greenhouse. Three panes of glass were shattered, with four others cracked.

    I rushed into the greenhouse to see the soil boxes destroyed, and my tomato and potatoes useless on the ground. I gave myself a moment to mourn the loss before glancing around. I didn¡¯t know how to make glass. Could I still repair the soil boxes and have the crops grow?

    ¡°I really need these to grow,¡± I said, glancing again at my list. I needed to finish the chicken coop in a week. That was going to take so many boards, which meant it would take so much stamina. If I didn¡¯t have my food to keep replenishing my stamina¡­

    ¡°Happy thoughts,¡± I said. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about what you can¡¯t control. We¡¯ll cross that bridge if we get there. Right now, focus on seeing if you can grow plants.¡±

    In the end, it didn¡¯t take too much to fix the boxes of soil. A bundle of firewood for each and a few scoops of fertilizer. I was getting low on fertilizer, though. Maybe there was a way to replenish that, too.

    With my farming gear on, I understood that without the glass, my crops would take an extra day to get produce. It was better than nothing.

    With the repairs in the greenhouse done as best I could, I moved on to the fence around the main house. I had five days to repair and make this and the greenhouse fence stronger. I still held out hope that I would be getting a cow, but until then, milk was my only help against the heat those last two days.

    Despite the unease, I went to work. It was going to be monotonous, but I had Killie to comfort me. For the next two days I gathered what I needed and made bricks. The hole in the fence would take some bricks and stones, and those took the longest to gather.

    I kept waiting for a memory orb, but it didn¡¯t appear in the riverbed. The first one came after cutting down a log. Whatever it was, it was always while I was working, so I kept working.

    When I woke up on the last morning before two days of unbearable heat and checked the calendar, I realized this strange season was halfway done. I glanced out the window at the hazy sky and wondered if it would ever clear. Would I ever see a blue sky again? It had been a yellowish haze for so long I almost missed what it was like to have a blue sky. My mind went back to my first conundrum. Who was my family? Were they on earth, too? Was time going fast for them? Was I in a coma? Did a summer here mean a full summer where I was at? Did anyone miss me?

    I had so many questions as I finished putting the last of the firewood into the fence of the greenhouse, as the fence around my house had finished upgrading yesterday. I moved to one of the trees around the fence, pulling out my axe to get more boards into the chicken coop. Yes, if the wolf was able to jump the fence from inside, there was a chance he could jump the fence from outside, too. I still felt driven to chop down all the trees outside the fence. That chicken coop would take a lot of time, after all.

    My building and logging levels got higher together. Of all the groups, these two often skyrocketed together. Where everything else was still in the single digit levels, Building was at level 14, while logging was at level 13. I had done a lot of both the past five days. I needed to get my building to level 15 before I could buy the third article of clothing. Buying a third piece for logging would be nice, too. I already knew another log would drop with a third level of clothing. It made me curious what would happen with a third article of building clothing.

    I took a break from filling the chicken coop with boards to eat some soup for my stamina. The coop was close to being finished, with 68/100 boards in there and still half a days¡¯ worth of chopping still to go. I studied my progress list on the clipboard.

    Farming level 9

    Cleaning level 7

    Logging level 13

    Cooking level 6

    Building level 14

    Animal Care level 7

    I had been so focused on getting jobs done on my to-do list that I didn¡¯t worry too much about the clothes. I could have bought the second level of clothes for both animal care and cooking.

    I dropped ten dopamine points for both cooking and animal care clothes. I got a fancy little bakers cap out of it, and what looked like a scrub top in animal care.

    Some more things unlocked on the clipboard. I flipped through the pages to see what it was. I wasn¡¯t too surprised to see I could now buy chickens, though not until the chicken coop was done. Another food source that wasn¡¯t from the greenhouse. That would be nice.

    I flipped through the pages again until I got to the next added item. It was a fishing rod. My eyes danced at the possibilities. Fish. I could catch fish now.

    I tried to put that all aside as I focused on making sure I had the chicken coop ready. It was the last thing I could do. At least the last thing I could do outside. Repairing the damages from them on my to-do list was still uncrossed, which I assumed meant the broken greenhouse. But I didn¡¯t know how to make glass. The fence was secured, though, so if I couldn¡¯t figure out how to make glass soon, they shouldn¡¯t be able to break it anymore.

    With the sun finally setting, I placed the final board into the chicken coop. And got 0/50 firewood for my trouble.

    ¡°Stupid firewood,¡± I muttered. I needed to stop thinking the section I was working on would be the last.

    I broke the last logs and boards down until I had no more stamina left and dropped them into the chicken coop. 14/50 firewood was nice, but I knew the next two days would be too hot to do anything without drinking some milk.

    Despite working on the list for five whole days now, the only thing crossed off was strengthening the walls. I still had to repair the glass to the greenhouse, which I had no idea how to do, but the fences were sturdy. It worried me how big the list still was, but the walls were strengthened. If I didn¡¯t get my dopamine point bonus, I was okay as long as they couldn¡¯t get through the walls.

    When the lamplight flickered on, I knew I was pushing it by not staying inside. My sanity was at full, and I didn¡¯t want to stay out. But I went to the clipboard to see my building level was finally at fifteen.

    Not only did I have to wait until I was at level 15, but now the price for the clothes was at 10.00 dopamine points. I sighed, glancing at my total. I only had 7.42 total.

    Tomorrow. I still had tomorrow. Then I could see if I could get more stamina and sanity added to my bar by cleaning the walls. That would be a godsend. Because I was going to get out of this game alive.

 Chapter 22

    In the early morning, I tried to see if there was a moment of time when the weather wouldn¡¯t become overwhelming. The second I stepped out of the shade, sweat started forming on my face.

    ¡°Alright, well, that was sufficiently tested,¡± I told Killie as I slipped back inside. It didn¡¯t matter. I already had a plan for today.

    The morning was spent cleaning the entertainment room wall. I moved the VHS bookcase to get to the wall there. Honestly, if it wasn¡¯t such a hot day, I would have thrown them all in the dumpster again. I hated seeing the covers of those movies.

    The books were no different. I glared the entire time I did it, but I cleaned off the bookshelf and put the books in a much more uniform way.

    As the sun got hotter, I moved onto the living room. Thankfully the living room wasn¡¯t nearly as hard, mainly because I didn¡¯t need to take out a ton of VHS¡¯s and move a bookshelf before moving back said shelf and return the VHS¡¯s. It was when I was halfway done putting them back that I decided it might have been easier to just sacrifice the stamina to drop everything in the dumpster.

    I didn¡¯t like going to bed with a full bar of stamina. It felt like a waste. So, when I got bored of cleaning the walls in the living room, I went out to the greenhouse and sacrificed a chunk of stamina to water and pick tomatoes and potatoes.

    I wiped the sweat off my face. I had no desire to do any cooking today. It was fine. I¡¯d get another thing checked off my list soon.

    It was about evening time when I finished cleaning the wall in the living room. I was glad that I did more cleaning at the beginning of the season. Cleaning the walls of two rooms wasn¡¯t nearly as hard as all four. I just got really excited when I could clean walls.

    Walls cleaned on first floor.

    Upgrade loading now.

    I held my breath, excited. But the bars didn¡¯t move an inch. Instead I heard a sound in the kitchen. It sounded like something toppling to the ground.

    Second floor unlocked.

    ¡°Oooh,¡± I couldn¡¯t help but say. Sure, it wasn¡¯t an added bar to my sanity or stamina, but the second floor? What was on the second floor!

    I went to the kitchen, pulling out my flashlight before hesitating. It was getting dark. All the ghosts I had heard so far had all been on the second floor. Did I actually want to do this?

    As though for an answer, Killie came up to me, giving my leg a rub.

    ¡°Keep me safe, okay Killie?¡± I asked. She meowed in response, and my decision was made. ¡°Just a quick peek. I want to know what¡¯s up here.¡±

    I pushed open the door from the kitchen and walked into the darkened hallway. My original thoughts were right about the layout of this house. It was a small hallway leading from the kitchen to the other doorway to the bedroom. There were some closets at the end of the hallway stuffed with junk, and crammed into the wall was the beginning of a staircase, winding its way up to the second floor. It was a dark colored wood with carpet on it. It was easier to get to the start of the stairs from the bedroom door, so I walked a little, seeing the cupboard under the stairs, also full of junk. At least the ghost boy wasn¡¯t living under the stairs. There was too much junk for him to fit. Though¡­ if he actually was a ghost¡­

    It was way too dark to be thinking about this right now.

    I started on the steps, each and every one of them creaking with age. I walked up the steps. It curled as it got to the top. I shined my light and saw a small landing with four doors ready for me to open. There were four bedrooms up here! Not a bad place, really. Except for the ghosts that haunted it. Seriously, whose house was this?

    I opened the first door, seeing nothing but boxes. It looked like a storage room of some sort. The room itself wasn¡¯t big, but there certainly was a lot of junk in here.

    I tried the next door to see a much bigger room. It was painted pink, with a lot more clothes and things. The first level wasn¡¯t nearly as full of junk compared to the second floor, which was saying a lot. This second floor was where the owners hid their hording. This would take a really long time to declutter.

    The third room was also full of stuff. This looked like all the decorations, like Halloween, Easter, Christmas, as well as some seasonal decorations like fall, summer, winter, and spring. Despite these decorations, it didn¡¯t seem like the homeowners had used them. I was getting rid of the Halloween decorations first.

    I tried the final door, but it rattled. I tried it again, but it wouldn¡¯t move. I sighed, then dropped my hand. Oh well.

    It was truly dark, now. I wanted to look out one of the windows of the rooms to see if I could see the wolf prowling, but I couldn¡¯t reach the windows. There was a lot of stuff.

    I shrugged, then used this little time to start organizing. I started grabbing boxes of old Halloween decorations and moved them out of the room. I had a small stack that I planned on rushing out to the dumpster first thing in the morning. I would have done it now, but I wanted to save my sanity.

    As I still had half a bar of stamina and an hour before I had to go to bed, I gathered all the boxes I could carry and went down the stairs toward the front door, then went upstairs for another load. I grabbed another box that looked like a huge cauldron when something below it shivered. I backed away, my panic filling me until it eased as a white orb popped up, floating chest high. It was another answer. I hoped.

    It didn¡¯t matter. It was all I had right now. I touched it, and everything went black.

    ***

    ¡°¡­which is when Mrs. Beckers asked me to tell why four plus four equals eight, and I was just so confused. Like, why do we even have to say why things are the way they are? I don¡¯t know, it just is.¡±This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Quinn was sitting cross legged on the floor with her back against Theo¡¯s bed. It was nighttime, with the stars twinkling down on them. Theo was in bed, staring at Quinn, and she was ignoring him, playing with a stuffed teddy bear. She was twirling it in her arms, making it do somersaults in the air.

    ¡°But Mrs. Beckers is proud of me. She says I¡¯m catching up to all the other students, even though I missed the first three months of school. Did you ever miss school? When you were with your family?¡± Quinn asked.

    Theo remained silent, his legs curled up and pressed against his chest.

    ¡°I guess you don¡¯t have to talk to me if you don¡¯t want to. Brenda and Doug says you¡¯re talking now, but I don¡¯t see it. All you¡¯re doing is saying yes or no. Do you ever talk long sentences with them?¡±

    Theo shook his head, and Quinn shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I could ever stop talking. I¡¯m pretty sure I would burst. Don¡¯t you ever feel like you¡¯re going to burst? Sometimes I think you might explode, and it¡¯s going to be nothing but alphabet soup, because you keep all those letters inside you.¡±

    Theo raised an eyebrow. Him not talking was still the same, but the haunted look from his eyes had ebbed away. He had more expression in his face.

    ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t understand,¡± Theo said.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Quinn asked, not at all surprised that Theo spoke a full sentence to her.

    ¡°Why do you talk so much?¡± Theo asked. ¡°Your mom, she¡­ last week she¡­¡±

    ¡°Died?¡± Quinn kept spinning her teddy bear but shot him a strange look.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Theo said. ¡°And yet¡­ yet you talk.¡±

    Quinn scrunched up her nose as she thought. ¡°Is that why you don¡¯t talk? Did your mom die?¡±

    There was silence in the room, and despite the question Quinn posed, Theo¡¯s silence answered it. Both children seemed to come to an understanding. It was like a feeling entering their hearts. They knew, deep down, that they weren¡¯t like other kids at school. Something about their families had been different, and they were responding to it in two separate ways. One by never talking, the other by constantly talking.

    Quinn looked back at her teddy bear, giving it a spin. ¡°Yeah, my mom died. It was weird. She was in that coffin, and it was like she always was. Sleeping. I think it¡¯s what she always wanted to do, you know? Sleep. Sleep all day and all night, and now she can.¡±

    Theo looked away, the haunted look returning. It never really left. Theo simply hid it away in a compartment, and it made an appearance tonight, flickering across his face as he bowed his head to hide it. He studied his toes under the blanket.

    ¡°So if you don¡¯t talk, what do you do to not explode?¡± Quinn asked.

    Theo glanced up, then looked as though he was thinking something over. He then climbed out of bed and motioned for her to follow. Quinn shrugged, then dropped the teddy bear and followed. Theo gave her a look before putting a finger to his lips. Quinn nodded, then mimed zipping her mouth and throwing away the key. Theo opened the door, checking down the hall. He was checking for Brenda and Doug who were asleep in their rooms. Quinn usually didn¡¯t sneak into Theo¡¯s room until she knew they were in their own room.

    They crept down the hall toward the tv. Theo worked quickly, opening drawers Quinn didn¡¯t know also had DVD¡¯s. Theo pressed a few buttons and let the DVD player start. Quinn sat down, frowning.

    ¡°Is this what you do? Watch movies?¡± Quinn asked.

    Theo again placed his finger against his lips, and Quinn pouted, staring at the movie. A few more buttons later, the eerie music of Sixth Sense came on. Quinn was staring, curious, though it was clear she did not like it.

    Quinn watched, confused, as the opening scene of Sixth Sense played on the screen. Theo watched, a smile on his face, the most content he ever looked.

    Quinn furrowed her brow when she saw the man in the bathroom. ¡°Why is he in his underwear?¡±

    Theo again put a finger to his lips. Quinn pursed her lips, but said nothing. The opening scenes kept going, and Quinn jumped in surprise when the character pulled out a gun and shot the other character. Theo again placed a finger to his lips, but Quinn ignored him. She watched, wide-eyed, as the camera panned to just miss the character shooting himself in the head.

    She screamed. It rocked the silent house, and it didn¡¯t take long before Brenda and Doug rushed out of the bedroom. Quinn kept screaming, covering her face as Brenda rushed forward.

    ¡°What happened? What¡¯s going on?¡± Brenda asked.

    ¡°What are you two watching?¡± Doug asked, glancing at the tv.

    Quinn didn¡¯t answer. She just kept screaming, backing away from the tv, and Theo looking at her like he didn¡¯t understand why she was reacting this way. Doug took the DVD out as Brenda tried to comfort Quinn.

    ¡°No!¡± Theo shouted when Doug walked away with Sixth Sense.

    ¡°What?¡± Doug asked.

    ¡°Please don¡¯t take it!¡± Theo said, wide eyed as he stared at the movie. ¡°It¡¯s my favorite movie!¡±

    Doug raised both eyebrows, surprised. Quinn didn¡¯t understand his surprise, but Brenda looked over, just as shocked. It was the first full sentence Theo said to them, and it was about keeping Sixth Sense.

    Doug twirled the DVD case in his hand, then looked at Theo. ¡°This movie is¡­ it¡¯s dark, Theo.¡±

    ¡°I know. I love it,¡± Theo said. He blinked away tears. ¡°Please don¡¯t take it away.¡±

    Doug glanced at Brenda, then sighed. ¡°Look, Theo, maybe¡­ maybe don¡¯t watch any of these darker movies with Quinn. She gets scared easily.¡±

    Theo sniffed, quickly wiping his eyes. ¡°But we can still keep it, right? You can still keep that movie here. Please. Please leave the movie there. I still want to watch it.¡±

    Doug still stared at Theo, the sudden waterfall of words from the silent boy surprising him. ¡°I¡­ would love to watch this movie with you sometime. Would that be okay?¡± Doug asked.

    Theo sniffed again, wiping his eyes. ¡°Okay.¡±

    Doug and Brenda shared a worried glance as Quinn kept sobbing, trying to get that image out of her head.

    ***

    I gasped, coming back to myself. I almost lost balance, tripping over boxes of junk. I steadied my breathing, feeling more confident with every memory orb that Theo knew something. That kid was obsessed with the horror genre from a young age and made a drawing of the wolf creature. Could he be behind all this?

    No. The people behind all this were those two beings I heard. That male and female. They were no doubt taking notes about how much I hated horror.

    I felt it in my bones, the ability to now go to bed. I walked out of the bedroom when I heard a strange noise. I flipped on my flashlight and pointed it around the hall. There was a quiet dripping noise, and my beam of light traveled over until it landed on the locked door. It was coming from there. A steady dripping noise. I crept forward, frowning. Killie hissed, then bolted out of the room and down the stairs. That didn¡¯t help my heart, which made it worse when I felt something wet touch my foot.

    The beam of light immediately dropped to the ground to show blood coming from the bottom of the door.

    I gasped, this time actually tripping over myself as I landed on the ground.

    ¡°No, no, no.¡± I wanted to scream it, but the way that blood moved reminded me too much of them. The way they pooled at the door before sliding in through the cracks.

    With a gasp, I scrambled to my feet and bolted it out of the hallway, following Killie. I hadn¡¯t put two and two together until that moment, but that was the room that was directly over the living room, where I heard the most activity at nights. Talking women, arguing male and female, most of it came from this room that was now dripping blood.

    I flew down the stairs and opened the door to my bedroom. Killie was on the bed, mewing at me.

    ¡°Sleep! Sleep!¡± I shouted, shoving myself into the bed. I hadn¡¯t gotten into my nightgown, but at this point I didn¡¯t care. Beautiful darkness claimed me.

 Chapter 23

    The red dawn came again. The last day before they came. My fences were strong. It was a blisteringly hot day, but I could do this. Because the walls were done. I would be protected.

    I really, really needed to be protected.

    The day was hot, but I used some stamina to drop those Halloween decorations in the dumpster. There was no way I was going to let them stay here when they were coming tonight. I then checked the to-do list to see what I had left.

    Repair the damages caused by them

    Strengthen the wall around the house and the greenhouses

    Finish the chicken coop

    Purchase a third article of building clothing

    Clean all walls on first floor of home

    Considering they would be coming tonight, my anxiety told me there were way too many things left on my to-do list, and I was going to get attacked again by them again. I took a deep, steadying breath, and reminded myself that the fences were strengthened. They couldn¡¯t come in here. If anything, the rest of the things on my to-do list was just keeping me from a nice dopamine bonus. It wasn¡¯t necessary for me to finish it all. I hoped.

    The day was way too hot to do much. I drank the rest of my milk in order to chop more logs into firewood for the chicken coop. I worked fast, as I only had ten minutes of regular stamina to get as much done as I could. Being able to shove twenty firewood into the chicken coop with one tree was nice. The chicken coop was slowly starting to grow. I didn¡¯t dare hope that firewood would be the last thing I needed. I learned my lesson to not assume.

    I chopped down one more tree before running inside before my milk timer ran out and the heat would get to me. I stared outside, trying to decide what I wanted to do. There were the things I wanted to do, then the things I needed to do. My stamina was close to the quarter mark. If I went out there right now in the heat and chopped those logs into firewood, I would have to eat through a lot of my soup supply. It was doable, because I was reaching the point where I had a nice stash of soups saved up. A part of me still resisted, though. It was such a waste. A waste, when I could be spending time decluttering upstairs.

    I closed my eyes, remembering the fresh horror of seeing that blood trickling out of that locked door. That sight alone made me promise to never go on the second floor when it got dark.

    My eyes opened as I glanced at my sanity. It was full, which meant I needed to stop dwelling on blood coming out of doors and all the haunted activity I sensed from the second floor. I needed to save it all for tonight.

    What I really wanted to do was to try fishing. I checked the clipboard, though, and a fishing rod was 15.00 dopamine points. I would get it eventually, but it was so tempting to get it now. Despite not having 10.00 points, and knowing I needed to save it all up to get that third article of clothing for building.

    The river still had a lot of trees around it, which I hoped meant it wouldn¡¯t use any of my stamina on a hot day. The heat of the day didn¡¯t hit me if I was in the shade. I could be at the river, catching another food source. Relaxing, with a cup of lemonade, not thinking about the horrors of why I was here.

    Lemonade. That would probably beat this heat. I didn¡¯t have the ingredients, though. What was it. Lemons, sugar, and cold water?

    I froze, then my head slowly turned toward the sink. I had running water. I may not have lemons or sugar, but would cold water be enough?

    It needed to be tested. At this point, it would be stupid not to. I grabbed a cup from the beautiful cherrywood cupboard and filled it with water, downing it. Nothing happened. But I wasn¡¯t done testing. I filled the cup of water again, then walked over to the fridge and placed it in there. I closed the door, and I watched, eyes brightening, as a timer started counting like the brick building. Thirty minutes. Thirty minutes until it was cold.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    In a rush, I grabbed two more cups and filled them with water, shoving them in the fridge, then filled two more and shoved them inside. When I got to my sixth and seventh cup of water, something stopped me from placing them in there. I must have reached the limit. Didn¡¯t matter. I was riding this high. I¡¯d figured out how to make something cold.

    As I waited for that timer to tick down, I began gathering clutter in the hallway. There were so many bags of things. This definitely felt like a hoarder who got their happiness from buying things. It was such a shame, too. There were so many bags that would never be used. They looked like they were mid-nineties stuff in here, which again begged the question whether this was my childhood home. This was not Doug and Brenda¡¯s home, because the memories showed me their house. It wasn¡¯t anything like this one. Was this the home I had that I spent with my mother. My mother who overdosed and died when I was a child.

    I waited, expecting tears, but they didn¡¯t come. For whatever reason, I felt the same amount of assurance that my younger self in those memories felt. My mom liked to sleep. Sleep all the time. And now she could. Forever.

    I closed my eyes and shook my head. All of this was just too weird. It was strange to remember who I was from an outsider¡¯s perspective.

    I walked out the front door with a box of stuff and placed it at the edge of the shade. I hoped I got something from the cold water, but something told me it wouldn¡¯t be like milk. I tried not to curse myself for dropping an entire jug of milk in the dumpster that first week here. I didn¡¯t know, and I refused to regret it. I needed the dopamine points.

    The timer finished counting for the first glass of water, and I opened the fridge and drank the water. Three minutes. That was fine. Those were three minutes I would use.

    I sprinted outside and lifted my axe, chopping those logs into boards, then the boards into firewood. So far, I had 36/50 firewood in the chicken coop, and I wouldn¡¯t have to cut down another tree. Just the logs and boards.

    I downed another glass when the three minute timer was done and ran back out there. I got to one minute and thirty seconds when I was overcome with nausea. I completely forgot to keep an eye on my stamina!

    Well, it didn¡¯t matter. I had three glasses of water left. Instead of chopping, I ran around the house to the front porch and grabbed boxes of stuff, dropping them into the dumpster. I noticed that stuff from the second floor gave a higher dopamine point. Not nearly the level of logs or boards, but usually between .05 to .08. I kept stuffing those boxes into the dumpster until my timer had seconds left, then I ran back into the shade before making my way back to the kitchen.

    Alright, well. From drinking two glasses of water, I managed to get two of the logs chopped to firewood. Three minutes was better than nothing, but I really missed the ten minutes the milk gave. Plus, I was pretty sure my stamina was partially used up with how fast I was running, too.

    I walked into the covered back porch and opened the food storage room. I stepped down and grabbed the first bowl of tomato soup I could find. I needed to remember to keep an eye on my stamina. I brought the first bite close to my mouth when I froze. I then glanced at the tomato soup before my gaze shot to the fridge. I wonder¡­

    I placed the tomato soup in the fridge and closed the door. There was a pause, then a half hour timer appeared. I pumped my fist in the air before rushing to the food storage area.

    I grabbed a tomato and potato soup to test. I carefully opened the fridge door and eased the two inside. The potato soup was stopped by some invisible wall, but the tomato soup entered.

    ¡°I will take it,¡± I said.

    Once the fridge had five tomato soups inside, I busied myself again with organizing the hallway. A few more boxes of this stuff, and I could buy that third article of clothing for building.

    When the half hour timer was done for the first tomato soup, I took it out delicately and, in classic game logic fashion, finished it in three bites.

    Fifteen minutes and half my stamina!

    I felt all the stress leave me. I could get so much done in fifteen minutes.

    With renewed energy and stamina, I went back outside and chopped the rest of the logs into boards, then to firewood, keeping an eye on my stamina as I did so. It was getting toward evening time, but I was still so excited about fifteen whole minutes that I didn¡¯t feel the nerves from before. This was a huge discovery. I wouldn¡¯t feel so trapped inside now on a hot day. Chilled tomato soup would help me get things done.

    I placed the last firewood in the chicken coop, and shingles appeared. I took a moment to admire it, but only a moment, before I took out my to-do list and saw completing the chicken coop was crossed off. I let out a breath of relief before I used the last remaining minutes of my timer to drop more stuff into the dumpster.

    I rushed back inside before the timer went out, then made my way to the clipboard. I had managed to get 11.23 dopamine points. It was evening time, and I finally bought the third article of clothing for building. It was bright orange overalls with a tool belt. I bought it and put it on, also wearing my hard hat and reflective vest. I waited for the knowledge this third level got me, flipping through some of the pages to figure out if anything had unlocked, when something made me pause. I then glanced out the door to look at the brick making fire, and my mind started whirling. The brickmaker shivered, then something appeared above it.

    Upgrade tool?

    0/50 bricks

    ¡°Ooooh,¡± I said to myself.

    The information wasn¡¯t handed to me or anything, but I had an excellent feeling that this was how I would make glass.

 Chapter 24

    It was too late to upgrade it. Despite being able to get fifteen minutes of time from the chilled soup, I couldn¡¯t finish it all tonight. But the knowledge alone gave me a bit of comfort. Repairing damages was the last thing on my list. I ate another bowl of chilled tomato soup and did my greenhouse gardening for the day. The tomatoes were picked and watered, the potatoes were just watered. I now knew how to repair glass. Once the glass was repaired, I could go back to the faster growing times.

    When I finished up the gardening, I used the last remainder of time to look at my house. With the three articles of building clothes, I could see that it wasn¡¯t just the brick tool I could upgrade. The greenhouse, too, had words shiver into view.

    Upgrade greenhouse?

    Repair damages first, then instructions will follow

    0/5 glass

    I tried not to get too excited about the possibility of an upgraded greenhouse, because it was a reminder that I was in a game. I needed to figure out why I was here, but my imagination still went wild with what that could possibly mean. More room for produce would be nice. I wasn¡¯t sure when I would unlock the other greenhouses, but hopefully soon.

    ¡°Focus, Quinn,¡± I said quietly to myself. ¡°Don¡¯t forget why you¡¯re here.¡±

    Play the game. Get answers. Get out.

    Which is when I saw that the storage area could be upgraded too. Probably for more space. It was getting a bit crowded in there. But I remained focused on my job at hand.

    I walked over to the front porch covered with junk and five minutes to get it in the dumpster, something above the garage wobbled. I glanced up.

    Upgrade garage?

    Finish decluttering before upgrading.

    Greenhouse, storage, and the garage? Curse this curiosity of mine. There were so many options for all of this!

    I focused on the last of the boxes as the sun set. Then I slipped inside to see Killie¡¯s back arched, staring at a corner of the living room. She was hissing, her claws out.

    ¡°Okay, okay girl. Thank you. Come on, let¡¯s¡­¡± I hurried to the kitchen, but Killie remained. She hissed at the mysterious intruder as I was in the kitchen. ¡°Killie, come on. Killie, you can¡¯t hurt whatever it is. Come on.¡±

    I didn¡¯t have a plan for whatever this was. Killie could see ghosts and I could not. Despite most of the activity happening upstairs, there was that grandma ghost that liked screaming. At least she did when I saw her in the mirror. I didn¡¯t want to see any other ghosts tonight.

    With the second floor unlocked, it made a circular loop between the kitchen, to the hallway, to the bedroom, and then into the entertainment room and living room. I had an idea that I could continually circle around the first floor, ignoring all the ghosts Killie could see.

    In my mind it worked. But Killie was a teenage cat that was fiercely protective of me because I fed her every morning. It¡¯s something I respect, honestly, but I needed her to not try and attack the ghost. I don¡¯t like the thought of a ghost getting aggravated enough to attempt to strike back. And I didn¡¯t want to figure out if they even could strike back.

    ¡°Killie, please,¡± I said, motioning her over.

    She let out a snarl and leapt toward the computer desk. She sailed right through what I assumed was the ghost before slamming into the desk. I gasped, ready to help her, but she scrambled to her feet, hissing and spitting as she tried again.

    I ran out in my animal care clothes and grabbed Killie who was a hissing, spitting mess.

    ¡°Killie, girl. It¡¯s okay. It¡¯s me. Come on.¡± I grabbed her in my arms, which in hindsight was probably stupid, and rushed her into the kitchen, then through the hallway into the bedroom. I dropped her and examined the scratch marks on my arms. I was pretty sure I saw scratch and bite resistant gloves as an option to buy. Those would be next.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    ¡°Hey, girl,¡± I said, trying to pet Killie. She was trembling with rage and fear, and I did my best to calm her down. ¡°That was a ghost you saw. It¡¯ll be alright.¡±

    Killie eventually calmed down, but it took at least an hour of constant petting. I was confused about what I saw. Whatever that ghost was, Killie had a bad reaction to it. I had the thought that there was only that granny shrieking ghost, but what if there were more? I honestly didn¡¯t know, and I also didn¡¯t want to know.

    We waited in the dark bedroom, and I did my best to calm Killie down. My arms burned with scratch marks, and I wondered why I didn¡¯t have health points. The answer came to me a lot quicker than I would have liked: I got scared way too easily, and it was faster for my sanity to drop than it would any hit points.

    Not sure how I felt about that, but fine. Besides, they didn¡¯t have a specific attack. They more drained life out of me, which I assumed also had to do with sanity.

    Killie was resting on my bed when she leapt to her feet again, hissing, staring at the door leading to the hallway.

    ¡°Okay, girl. It¡¯ll be alright.¡± I scooped her up again and moved into the entertainment room. Yep, I was willing to do this the whole night until I could go to bed. It saved my sanity, and tonight they were coming.

    What was so weird was how harshly Killie reacted to the whole thing. The only thing different between now and before was that the second floor was finally unlocked. Did getting access to the second floor create that many more spirits in the house?

    I heard the child laughing again as we were in the kitchen. Killie ignored it because she was glaring sharply at the archway leading into the living room. I shivered at the sound of the child¡¯s laughter. That child was not a threat. It didn¡¯t matter how many times I told myself that, it still sent a shiver down my spine.

    I knew they were close to arriving because Killie finally calmed down. The spirts must have left, and my arms were stinging with multiple cuts. Killie dropped out of my arms before sauntering into the living room like she hadn¡¯t spent the last three hours hissing and spitting at ghosts in the corner.

    I was panting, staring at my stamina that had lost a few slivers. Killie freaking out in my arms did not help my arms or my sanity, but at least it wasn¡¯t a huge chunk like before. I may not have finished my list, but the walls would hold. They were going to hold. They had to hold.

    Killie went to the couch, licking her paws as I moved toward the door, feeling nauseous. I pulled out my axe, staring at the door. Deep down I knew the axe would do nothing. Whatever they were, they could not be hurt by the axe. But I held it all the same.

    The silence became absolute. The crickets, the wildlife, everything had come to a stop. Killie glanced up from licking her paw. I stared at the door, axe raised, trying not to remember the sludge like beings that crept through the door before.

    The rumbling started. The kind of vibrating sound that pierced my soul and threatened to shatter my bones. Tears leapt to my eyes as I held the axe.

    ¡°Please be enough. Please be enough. Please be enough.¡±

    I hadn¡¯t finished my list, but I finished strengthening the wall. The rumbling grew deeper, and I gasped, tears streaming down my face as my knees weakened.

    ¡°Be enough. Be enough. Be enough.¡±

    The growls approached the fence, and I didn¡¯t know how I kept standing. My sanity took a hit, diving to below halfway as I kept staring at the door. The silence was such that I was terrified of speaking. The phrase I repeated to myself was placed on hold as I held my breath.

    There was a crack, then a bellow. A bellow that shook my entire being as I dropped the axe. My knees finally gave out and I collapsed on the ground.

    ¡°Be enough,¡± I mumbled. ¡°Be enough. Be enough.¡±

    There was another crack and bellow before the growling returned. I panted, too terrified to sob, even though tears streamed down my face.

    ¡°Enough,¡± I whispered, the relief slamming into me. ¡°Enough. Enough. Enough.¡±

    They left. I could feel it. My body could not stop shaking as Killie ran up to me, rubbing her back against my arm.

    ¡°Enough,¡± I said, holding my cat. ¡°Enough. Enough.¡±

    My sanity was almost gone. Those bellows took chunks out of it. If they had bellowed again, my sanity would have disappeared.

    I couldn¡¯t move. I wanted to scoop Killie up and run to the bedroom, but the relief mixed with pure exhaustion made it difficult to get to my feet. What was it about them that weakened me so badly?

    I kept a hand on Killie, feeling my eyes grow heavy. She purred in my arms, and with every purr I felt myself return to a sliver of myself. They were gone. The fence was strong enough. I didn¡¯t finish the list, but I didn¡¯t get attacked by them. My game mind told me that this was huge. As long as I strengthened the wall, all the other suggestions on my to-do list were just that. Suggestions. Yes, suggestions I should listen to, because now I had the option of upgrading buildings, but my priorities shifted. Every single list I was given needed to be first repair damage to the fence and strengthen it. I could do this.

    With trembling legs, I stumbled to my feet, holding Killie in my arms.

    ¡°Killie, I could never survive here without you,¡± I whispered to my cat in the silence of the house. I changed into my nightgown and collapsed on the bed.

    ¡°Sleep,¡± I muttered, my heavy eyes already giving in. ¡°Sleep.¡±

    My exhausted body still shivered as sleep took me.

 Chapter 25

    I held my new to-do list in my hand as I walked outside.

    Repair all damages caused by them

    Strengthen the wall around the house and greenhouses

    Buy a chicken

    Upgrade brick tool

    Make glass

    Declutter pink room on second floor

    It was short, but I also only had five days. Upgrading the brick fire would take at least 0/50 bricks, and that was if bricks were the only thing it needed. I needed to get started on those bricks now if I ever hoped to finish before they came.

    I pulled short when I noticed the green house. Before I noticed that it had 0/5 glass that needed to be fixed. But now I saw 0/8 glass. It only took me a moment to realize what this meant. If I didn¡¯t finish repairing the damages before they came, then the damages got worse somehow. I really needed to upgrade the brick fire to make glass.

    I dove into the work. Tomorrow it would rain, and I already had a hope that the soups would keep me warm, like chilled tomato soup would keep me cool in a blisteringly hot day. I could do this.

    I cut down a tree for some logs, cutting them into boards so I could stuff them in the dumpster to get me to 20.00 dopamine points. It was enough to buy one chicken. As soon as I bought it from the clipboard, I heard it clucking in the coop. I entered the coop and walked to the feeder. Much like Killie, I dropped feed that I magically had into the bucket and filled up its water. Killie watched the chicken, curious, but now she had an animal friend to play with.

    At least¡­ I hoped they would play together.

    The first half of the day was getting twenty-five clumps of clay from the river shaped and baking in the sun. Would the boiling hot sun cook the brick squares faster? It was enough of a question that I slipped it away for experimentation. The next blisteringly hot day would be the day after they came.

    Once the clay was baking in the sun, I got to work repairing the damage to the fence. I bought the third article of clothing for logging, and I was finally making six logs drop with every tree I brought down. My mind flittered briefly to that time the alien overlords let me buy three clothes at once before taking it away. It just came briefly, because I quickly put it out of my mind again. Because the other memory that popped up was them calmly deciding whether to delete that memory from my mind. I had a few experiences with those overlords since, and each time it unsettled me. Could I believe they were who they said they were? That they were a neutral party?

    How could they possibly be neutral when they were setting this game up and placing me in the middle of it. Didn¡¯t they bring me here? How could they be neutral when they sent me here?

    Once again, the memory came back. Play the game, get answers.

    ¡°Sometimes it¡¯s really hard to do this,¡± I muttered out loud. ¡°It¡¯s a little unsettling when you can read my thoughts and answer me in the game. I¡­ don¡¯t like it.¡±

    There was no feeling or impression. I once again felt like I was speaking into the void. I noticed Killie in the grass, then watched as she pounced on a mouse.

    ¡°Huh. I guess she is learning to be a mouser,¡± I said.

    At least that mouse wasn¡¯t in a lab. I grumbled, but kept chopping wood for the fences.

    It didn¡¯t take me nearly as long to repair the damage to the fences. Since I had strengthened the fences, they didn¡¯t completely obliterate them, so it was about 0/10 boards and 0/5 firewood for the main fence, then 0/3 boards and 0/1 firewood for the greenhouse fence. Doable. The fence itself was about waist high on me, and I watched as words and numbers shivered above the fence. 0/50 boards. Was this fence about to get higher?

    It was going to rain tomorrow, and I didn¡¯t dare leave the finished sunbaked clay to possibly get wet. Better safe than sorry, so I brought them inside to the storage room. The alien overlords must have realized it was the brick fire that was taking me so much time, because I could now stick ten clay bricks at a time and cook them for half a day. This was going to work. I could do this. Five days wasn¡¯t a lot, but so far, I made an excellent start. I could get this brick tool upgraded in two and a half days if I kept feeding them the clay bricks.

    Killie wasn¡¯t nearly as jumpy tonight, and I got the feeling that on nights they came was nights she was freaking out over more malevolent spirits. I considered starting to clean upstairs in that pink room while I waited an hour to go to bed, but quickly squashed the idea. I was at fifty percent sanity. I didn¡¯t want to go upstairs at night.

    Instead, I wiped off the end table of the entertainment room and dusted the windowsills. Then I wiped off the card table of the living room and the computer desk before it was time to sleep.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    The bedroom didn¡¯t fill with red light when I woke up in the morning. Instead, it was a couple degrees colder in the house, and it was dark. I opened my eyes and peeked out the broken blinds, hearing the thunderous sound of rain above me. It made me shiver, but I at least had all my sanity back.

    I checked the clipboard to see if I had any leveling that I could buy clothes for, which¡­ was a weird thought to have. What was this game doing to me?

    Cleaning was the next section that was close, at level 12. Cooking was still the lowest, and I planned on doing some more tomorrow after this rain went away. It was really coming down.

    I ate some warm soup from the storage room, pleased to see fifteen-minute timer there. I ran outside and quickly did my morning of watering the tomatoes and potatoes. With the greenhouses so damaged, it was taking longer for them to grow. I really needed to upgrade that brick tool. It wasn¡¯t until I was halfway done with the gardening that I realized the soup also gave stamina, but since I was already at full stamina, it didn¡¯t give me anything. I tried not to feel guilty about the wasted stamina.

    Instead, in the fifteen minutes I had, I did my gardening, then shoved ten bricks into the brick tool. The timer was longer. Since it was so cold today, it would take all day for these bricks to be finished. I allowed myself a moment to be disappointed, but only a moment. I could still make it. By tonight I would have twenty total bricks. Tomorrow morning, I could get more bricks in there and get it all started again. It would be fine. I was going to make it. Though there was still the possibility that bricks weren¡¯t the only thing the tool would need.

    Focus on that later. I needed to focus on the now.

    I heard the chicken clucking in the coop, and I quickly moved to it, a few minutes remaining on my timer. I walked into the doorway and saw the chicken pecking at an empty feeder. I magically placed more food in the feeder, which the chicken happily pecked at before I checked the box. It was an egg. Another food source.

    I took it gently and ran inside as the seconds ticked down. I gently placed the egg in the storage area, and sighed as the time finished. Alright, I had all day now dedicated to decluttering the pink room.

    And it needed all day. The first level was full of clutter, but this second floor felt like the place people hid their hoarding. There were boxes upon boxes of junk. Old clothes that they no doubt grew out of. Jackets, coats, pants, socks. An obscene amount of socks. I was a bit confused by it all.

    I used up some stamina to carry as much as I could downstairs and onto the porch. Just like in the heat, there was something about the covering over the porch that kept the effects of the cold weather from hurting my stamina. It was good to strategically place boxes and bags of stuff on the front porch to be ready.

    When the front porch was full of boxes, I ate another warm bowl of potato soup and spent the next fifteen minutes dropping the boxes and bags in the dumpster. It was a pretty good system, though I tried not to feel deflated when I walked back up the stairs and seeing the small dent I made in the pink room after a good three hours of work. Oh well. I had all day.

    I chipped away at the room, slowly unveiling the hardwood floor beneath. I had a pretty good idea that this was what was under that brown shag carpet on the first floor. I was fighting a very strong desire to rip all the carpet up to check. There would be a way to do that, though, right? Take down the eighties paneling and what not? The excitement that alone brought forced me to remember I was in a game, possibly in a coma in real life, and I needed to figure out why I was here.

    It was hard to tell the time of day with the rain pelting the windows. The entire day was dark. It was strange not to tell the time of day by eating anymore. I was never hungry, and even if I did need stamina, I was only ever nauseous, not starving. In fact, the only time I could tell it was evening time was I had to pull out my flashlight for certain areas of the room to keep working.

    The greyness of the day darkened as I grabbed the leg of a table and pulled, but nothing happened. I was hoping to move the table to better get the stuff underneath, but it looked like it was glued into place. I stood up, brushing myself off, and examined the table with a flashlight. There were a few things still on top, and I grabbed the clothes and bags of socks and set them down. I then grabbed the blanket cover and pulled it off to see a sewing machine. I raised an eyebrow, curious.

    Cannot use sewing machine until room is decluttered.

    I held back a smile. This must be the reason why the to-do list specifically asked me to declutter this room.

    Well that just motivated me. What did that sewing machine do? There were so many possibilities, but I didn¡¯t dare get my hopes up.

    Instead, I spent longer than I wanted to upstairs. It was getting darker, and it got to the point where I could only see with the flashlight. But I gathered the last of the things from the room and hurried out of the pink room. At this point I would wait until tomorrow to see what the sewing machine did.

    The rain continued to pound on the top of the house as I quickly used my stamina to go outside and gather the ten cooking bricks. It took a chunk of my stamina, but I could spare it. I essentially just grabbed it then put it back into the brick tool to hold it there. The tool wouldn¡¯t allow me to put more clay in there until the morning, and a small part of me hoped that this upgrade would allow the brick tool to make things overnight.

    ¡°Hint, hint,¡± I said to those above me.

    I rushed inside and brushed the rain out of my face. I shivered for a few seconds before the rain evaporated off myself. I tried not to think about how weird that was, just in case the alien overlords overheard that. Honestly, I wasn¡¯t too worried because it fit with the game logic of everything.

    Killie was on the couch again, relaxing as she licked her paw. No weird ghosts, then. Great.

    I spent the hour before bedtime cleaning the countertops of the bathroom, and when that was done, I sighed in relief as the bars of stamina and sanity extended again.

    ¡°Fan of this, not going to lie,¡± I said, placing all the stuff under the sink. More stamina and sanity. All a win in my book.

    I was walking into the kitchen when I heard something coming down the stairs. I froze, not sure what to expect. The old stairs creaked, and I tried to peek inside the living room to see if Killie was reacting to this.

    I didn¡¯t notice the stairs had stopped creaking until I saw something appear on the ground of the kitchen. Footprints, covered in blood, headed toward me.

    I screamed, scrambling into the living room. Killie sat up, confused, but I scooped her up and ran into the bedroom. Was it time to sleep? I didn¡¯t care. I just wanted to get that image out of my head.

    As soon as I thought of sleep, my vision went dark and I was more than happy to drop off to sleep.

 Chapter 26

    I threw back the covers, determined yet still shaking off residual fear from last night. I climbed out of bed and tiptoed toward the door that led to the hallway. Killi was walking around the room like she didn¡¯t have a care in the world, which should have been a comfort to me, but the memory of last night, those bloody footprints, would not leave my mind. I was terrified last night, and as the red dawn light filled the room, I took a steadying breath and pushed open the door.

    It was dark in this hallway, as there weren¡¯t any windows. I clicked on the flashlight, shining it on the ground. No footprints. I took careful steps forward, my light bouncing everywhere, but I didn¡¯t see any signs. I then pushed open the door to the kitchen, but the worn carpet in the kitchen was clear.

    I turned off the light and leaned against the fridge, letting out a relieved breath. I had a feeling that they would disappear in the morning. All other paranormal activity only happened at night, but for my own sanity, I needed to make sure there weren¡¯t residual footprints. I could almost chalk it all up as in my head, but I¡¯d seen too many things in this house to think anything was in my head.

    Though¡­ honestly was everything in my head? I still didn¡¯t know why I was here.

    Play the game. Get answers.

    Three full days before they came, with no unusually hot or cold weather. There were so many things I wanted to do, but for my own sanity, literally, I needed to finish the things on my list. For good measure, I glanced at my sanity bar and saw it completely full. Perfect. I needed to keep it that way.

    The questions of what an upgraded garage would do was shoved to the back of my mind as I stuffed ten more clay bricks to be baked. I then dropped the junk from the porch into the dumpster before rushing to the greenhouse to do all the farming I needed to do there.

    I then gathered another egg and made sure both Killie and the chicken had food and water.

    ¡°Daisy?¡± I asked the chicken. ¡°For whatever reason, you feel like a Daisy.¡± The chicken didn¡¯t reply, simply kept eating. I shrugged. ¡°Daisy it is, unless you don¡¯t like it. Then you can tell me what you¡¯d rather have.¡±

    I chuckled to myself, until I thought about what might happen if the alien overlords gave this chicken the ability to speak. Considering the logic of this game, it was a possibility, and might freak me out.

    I then sat down and started cooking. I tried out the recipe of a simple cooked egg, but until I ate it, I wouldn¡¯t know how much sanity it gave me. After I cooked the two eggs, I went through my collection of tomatoes and potatoes. My attention was divided between cooking and finishing decluttering the pink room. I needed to know what that sewing machine did.

    After a rainy day, it was nice to not have to worry about eating food to keep warm. There wasn¡¯t much junk left in the pink room. As I sat to finish up the tomato and potato soups, I pulled out my list.

    Repair all damages caused by them

    Strengthen the wall around the house and greenhouses

    Buy a chicken

    Upgrade brick tool

    Make glass

    Declutter pink room on second floor

    ¡°Hey, alien overlords,¡± I said quietly. ¡°Remember my first week here, and I did so good on my to-do list that I was given a free day to do whatever I wanted?¡± My eyes drifted over to the garage that I hadn¡¯t touched in a while. ¡°That¡¯d be nice. Just sayin¡¯.¡±

    Again, I got nothing in response. I was probably pressing my luck with these people, if they even were people. But if they really are a neutral party, they wouldn¡¯t be offended by this.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

    ¡°Just some notes. From a lover of farming games.¡±

    Words appeared in my vision, and I held my breath.

    Get better at finishing the to-do lists, then.

    I raised an eyebrow. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, is that¡­ snarkiness? Condescension? Should I be afraid?¡± I didn¡¯t know why I had such courage to say that. Probably because it was the middle of the day.

    The words disappeared, and I honestly expected some sort of backlash for my brashness. But nothing happened. I kept going throughout the day, trying to remember they were a neutral party.

    The storage room was stocked again with food. I could tell that it was starting to burst at the edges. Food had to be on the shelves, while grouped items like tomatoes or clay bricks were on the ground. It would be nice to upgrade this room, but no doubt it felt so full because I finished cooking a lot of soups. I couldn¡¯t just cram food on the shelves. Each had a designated spot, and they couldn¡¯t crowd.

    ¡°I really wanna try fishing,¡± I mumbled to myself, checking the list one more time before cooking more bricks.

    I then made my way up the stairs to the second floor. The clutter was gone, though it needed a good sweep. Sweeping wasn¡¯t necessary for the sewing machine, though.

    Decluttering finished. Sewing machine activated.

    ¡°Okay, but what do you do?¡± I asked.

    Killie perched near the door, her head cocked, curious.

    There was a book there that wasn¡¯t there before. It made it look as though it was a pattern book. There was a page for every clothing I owned, and then in the back it was all grayed out of the clothes I didn¡¯t have yet. But it still didn¡¯t tell me what it did.

    I closed the book and looked at the cover again. The book started to glow.

    Upgrade book?

    -1.00

    ¡°Sure. Go ahead.¡±

    My mind was telling me that was one stick¡¯s worth of dopamine points, and honestly, it was a fair enough trade. I was curious.

    The points left my total, and I flipped through the pages again. There was writing underneath, and I brought the book closer, squinting.

    Increases probability of extra produce by 10%

    I glanced up, and saw it was under the straw hat. I flipped it over to see the overalls saying the same thing. It sounded like if I upgraded both, that gave me a 20% chance of an extra tomato or potato. If I had all five clothes, that would be a 50% chance that I¡¯d get an extra produce.

    I flipped another page and found myself in the cleaning section.

    Increases probability of a stamina burst by 10%

    Okay, I was sensing a pattern here. The logging section gave a 10% chance for dropping an extra logging section. Not logs, though. It sounded like either boards, firewood, sticks, or matches. Cooking gave a bonus for an extra food to appear after being cooked. That had to be some strange level of law breaking physics, there. To put the appropriate amount of food for one tomato soup and then to have a second one pop into existence. Building gave a probability of less building materials needed for an item, and animal care gave a probability of increased production from the animal. I assumed Daisy would have a possibility of giving an extra egg, but I wasn¡¯t sure how this worked with Killie. She was always pretty consistent in finding ghosts.

    As a test, I tried it on my straw hat, since I was done farming for the day. I saw a timer for three hours on the sewing machine that started sewing without anyone sitting in it. Killie jumped on the chair, staring at the sewing machine as though mesmerized.

    ¡°It¡¯s not the weirdest thing I¡¯ve seen,¡± I mumbled.

    I walked down the stairs and almost went outside when I glanced around the kitchen again. Specifically, the wall, where the calendar was hanging. I remembered I upgraded it like I did that book up there. It was toward the beginning of my time here, where dopamine points were hard to come by. I walked over to the calendar and studied it, frowning. It started to glow.

    Upgrade Calendar for -.35?

    Y/N

    At this point, I was driven by curiosity. What more did the calendar have to give me? I mentally chose yes and waited.

    It was nothing that happened to the calendar, but to the bars on the side of my vision. Right underneath them a timer appeared, counting down. I assumed it was until nighttime until I saw the icon next to the timer. It was a simply drawn wolf¡¯s head.

    This must be counting down until the wolf came. I always assumed it came right as the lamplight flickered on. I had been so scared of it that I always stayed inside right at sunset. But if there was a way to test when it actually came, that would be nice. I could be working right up until the last moments of the day. On days where I felt rushed, every second counted. I tucked this away again as an experiment. I could see if the wolf came consistently, or if it varied.

    I walked back outside and made sure the brick tool was still going. I double checked my list, but I was at the point where I had to wait for that tool to finish upgrading. Which meant I was at a bottleneck. The bricks would be finished tomorrow afternoon, and I would still have a full day and a half to go before they came again.

    I really hoped there weren¡¯t too many other materials I would need to upgrade the brick tool.

    Alright. It was a matter of waiting, which meant for the time being, I had half a day free to do what I wanted while the bricks cooked.

    And I wanted to go fishing.

 Chapter 27

    It took a log cut into boards to stuff in the dumpster for me to get enough dopamine points to buy a fishing rod, then I stored the rest of the logs. I walked down to the river and got into my cooking clothes, which¡­ I don¡¯t know why I needed to wear a chef¡¯s cap and jacket to fish. If the fish had any sort of intelligence, they were going to suspect something was up.

    Okay, maybe fish weren¡¯t that smart, but if I were a fish, I¡¯d personally be worried if someone came up to the river looking like they were ready to deep fry me. I held up my fishing rod, glancing around the river. I could see dark shadows in the middle of the river. Despite playing farming games, I didn¡¯t know a ton about the fishing that actual people did in an actual river in real life. Good thing this wasn¡¯t real life in any way, because I doubted this game would start getting technical now. If I could drop ingredients into a fire and have them pop out food, then the fishing wasn¡¯t going to be too technical.

    I decided to try the basics of every farming game. I threw out my line and waited for it to jiggle. I had the distinct muscle memory, waiting for the handheld device to start vibrating in my hand before I pressed a button, but I was curious to see what this experience was like.

    Right before I wondered if I needed to try a different tactic, I felt the line pull. I started reeling the fish in. It worked for a few seconds, but I watched as the rod started to bend dangerously. I stopped reeling the fish for a bit to make sure the rod wasn¡¯t going to break before trying to reel the fish in again. I did that two more times before the fish finally came out of the water before magically being placed in a basket next to me. I smiled.

    ¡°Alright, then.¡± I could already feel recipes being unlocked on the clipboard back home. I also noticed a small sliver of my stamina disappeared with that fishing endeavor. I could sacrifice that. Did fishing also mean I was gaining experience in my cooking level? I hoped so. Of all the levels I had, cooking was the lowest. I always waited until I had at least an hour¡¯s worth of food to cook, and so my experience level wasn¡¯t nearly as high as building or logging. Since the fire only took an hour, I didn¡¯t want to waste it, which meant little time to level my cooking.

    I remained at the river until I had five fish in the basket. I then picked up the basket and glanced around the river before trying to see the house. There were lots of trees. Most of the trees around the fence were gone, which meant I should start looking for a new place to cut them down. It might be a smart idea to start cutting down the trees from the house to the riverbank so I could see it better.

    The moment I thought about it, a war of ideas started inside me. Logistically speaking, cutting down a path from the house to the river would take ages. At least a full season or two if I just focused on cutting down trees. I couldn¡¯t possibly be here for that long. Maybe the calendar showed all four seasons, but that didn¡¯t mean I was staying here for all four, right? Personally I would love it if I could figure out a way to leave before winter. So, I couldn¡¯t possibly be here long enough to start a project of cutting down the trees from the house to the river. But just in case I was wrong, and I would be here for a while¡­

    I started walking back with my baskets, again running through what I knew. Alien overlords. Neutral party. Theo. Wolf. Horror. Farming game.

    Theo was clearly someone I knew, and also someone who adored horror. He also drew the picture of the wolf creature on the fridge, and the wolf creature showed up here. There was something about Theo that this neutral party was taking note of, not just me.

    I got back to the house and checked the bricks. They were almost done. By tomorrow afternoon I would have all the bricks needed and could move on to the next materials needed to upgrade the tool. I kept telling myself that so I wouldn¡¯t be left surprised when material popped up.

    I walked into the covered back porch and grabbed the clipboard, flipping toward the recipes. There weren¡¯t many.

    Fried fishIf you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    0/1 fish

    Fish omelet: basic

    0/1 fish

    0/1 egg

    Fish omelet didn¡¯t sound like a super delicious meal, but I was thinking more game logically. A fish omelet had a fish and an egg, both higher level food sources. I would have to see what kind of stamina it brought. There were still a lot of recipes to unlock. When I found different food sources, I would no doubt unlock more recipes.

    As I was flipping through the pages of recipes, I saw something blinking at the top of a page. I frowned, bringing it closer to my face to read it better.

    Upgrade cooking fire to unlock new category of recipes

    Cannot upgrade cooking fire until you reach Cooking Level 10

    Huh. I didn¡¯t notice I could upgrade the fire. Maybe it didn¡¯t show it to me because my cooking was still below level 10. I was too focused on everything else I could upgrade. I¡¯d have to look into that.

    I flipped the pages toward the back to see my progress.

    Farming level 12

    Cleaning level 14

    Logging level 15

    Cooking level 7

    Building level 16

    Animal Care level 10

    I glanced again at the clothes options. I had to wait until I reached level fifteen before buying any. Cleaning was close. I¡¯d already bought clothes for logging and building. Those wouldn¡¯t get their fourth article of clothing until level 25, which seemed so far away. I wouldn¡¯t be here that long, right?

    ¡°I¡¯m not going to be here for ages,¡± I whispered to myself. ¡°I am going to figure this out.¡±

    I tried to believe it.

    My wolf timer continued to tick down as the forest blocked the sunlight. I hastily placed the newly cooked bricks into the tool. Ten more to go. I¡¯d get them cooking in the early morning and have them in there by the afternoon.

    With the time remaining, I went to the garage and kept sorting through the junk. I hadn¡¯t touched this place in a while, but the possibility of upgrading it got my curiosity going. It was also the easiest place to declutter, since it was a short walk to the dumpster.

    I worked on getting the junk out, feeling more relieved now that the system would stop me before I sold anything valuable.

    It got late enough that I turned on my flashlight as I worked. I glanced at the bare lightbulb on the garage ceiling, wondering when I¡¯d be able to get electricity working. I had long since ignored the logics of the whole thing. There was one power pole not connected to anything else, but I had no doubt that eventually this house would be glowing with electricity. Somehow.

    I had finally unearthed some sort of desk with drawers, and organized all the things that seemed like they would be needed later in there. As I finished stuffing the junk into the dumpster, my timer started flashing red. I had a minute left.

    I glanced over and noticed that though it was dark, the lamp hadn¡¯t turned on yet. I didn¡¯t want to push it, because I wanted to keep my sanity, so I quickly slipped inside the house.

    The timer dropped to zero. A few minutes later the lamp flickered on, and I heard a wolf howling in the distance. As odd as it sounded, I didn¡¯t think this was the wolf creature. This sounded like a regular wolf. The wolf creature sounded creepier.

    I closed my eyes, leaning against the door. With the night brought a scared, crushing feeling of solitude. I was growing to hate the dark. As the light disappeared, I felt the crushing feelings of panic as the walls of the house felt like they were shrinking around me. I didn¡¯t understand why this sudden seize of panic hit me. I was doing well. My to-do list was getting done. The walls outside were strengthened. The bricks would be done tomorrow afternoon. As I waited for the bricks, I was able to do other things. I could fish. I cleaned the garage. Protect my sanity from the wolf.

    But I was still here. It was the conversation warring inside me ever since I thought about the project of cutting down the trees to the river. I was here. The game was set up to make me feel like I would stay here for a long time. Stay here, even though I didn¡¯t know what was going on in my old life. Spending time here when there was a good possibility time was moving on in the place where I was before. I had family that missed me, no doubt. Friends. Maybe coworkers? But I wasn¡¯t there, I was here.

    Here in a haunted house. Here with a wolf prowling. Here where they attacked. And as the darkness deepened around me, it was hard not to feel overwhelmed. Once again, it felt like I was working hard swimming in the ocean to look up and see I was still in the middle of it, with no island in sight to rest.

    I took a deep breath, then let it out. The door was cold to the touch, but I did not give in to the panic. I had done it. My metaphorical moment of gasping for air in the middle of the ocean. I had a choice to panic and sink or keep going.

    Killie jumped off the couch, hissing at the doorway of the bedroom. Looked like the ocean was making my choice for me.

    I grabbed her, avoiding the rooms, trying to stay out of the kitchen, not ready for another sanity attack from those bloody footprints. As the hour was up, I went to sleep, another day of swimming in the middle of the ocean completed.

 Chapter 28

    Stones and clay took forever to carry to the house. Especially since I could only carry one at a time. It was something I was still deeply frustrated with, simply because of the monotony that it was. I was going to figure out how I could carry more stones and clay. I wanted to make some sort of wheelbarrow, but I had a feeling I couldn¡¯t make anything unless it was part of the suggestions on the clipboard. Considering most of my building capabilities was just stuffing the appropriate building materials into the correct place, I wasn¡¯t sure how this would go. I haven¡¯t seen a hammer or nail, which would make it difficult to actually build something outside what was on the clipboard.

    But I figured it was a great thing to stockpile while I waited for the bricks to cook. I did my morning routine of gardening, watering, checking the broken glass and feeling nervous that it wasn¡¯t fixed yet, before moving on to see Daisy and giving her some food and gathering a single egg. I then spent the rest of the morning gathering stones and clay, one at a time.

    I could feel it in my arms, however. Strange as it was, I could tell that the more experience I had with building, the more I¡¯d be able to carry two at a time. Two whole rocks at the same time. I tried it once, just because I wanted to see how much stamina it took, and it wiped out half my stamina to walk them from the river to the house. I tried not to get frustrated by the whole thing. Instead, it fueled my desire to start a stockpile of these resources. They were coming tomorrow night. Anytime these resources were needed, it always took a chunk of time. So I took the time now, while I was waiting for the bricks to finish baking.

    I had a collection of five stones and five clay stacked by the tool, when I finally took out the bricks and placed them into the tool. I held my breath, bracing myself for what was to come. There was a small part of me that wanted to believe that this was it. That I wouldn¡¯t need anything else, but words appeared above the tool.

    0/25 boards

    Okay, that wasn¡¯t too bad. I put my leftover boards from storage into the tool before chopping down two trees. After so long waiting for the next item, it was almost euphoric to have the second part of this done in less than an hour.

    I waited again, bracing for what was to come.

    0/15 stones

    Okay. That¡­ might take a little more time. At least I had the foresight to already start bringing those things in. Though if I really had the insight, I would have just focused on stones and would have already had ten of them in there. Instead, I put the five stones in the tool and turned toward the river.

    I worked, the roaring sound of the river coming and going. This would be okay. I could do this.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine. It¡¯s got to be close. Can¡¯t be much more. We can do this.¡±

    When I noticed the wolf timer had a half an hour left, I only had two more stones left. I grabbed two of them and sacrificed a huge chunk of my stamina carrying the stones back to the house. I shoved both into the tool and waited.

    ¡°This is it, right?¡± I asked the tool like it could talk to me.

    There was a pause, then words filtered above it.

    0/5 firewood

    My lips kept the frustrated groan inside my mouth, but it was fine. I still had some boards leftover.

    After eating soup to give myself more stamina, I made quick work of the boards and stuffed the firewood in there.

    ¡°How about now?¡± I asked.

    There was another pause before new words appeared.

    0/5 sticks

    ¡°Yeah, okay.¡± I grabbed some firewood, whacking it with my axe, then grabbed the sticks and placed them on the tool.

    0/1 match

    ¡°This feels like the end. Is this the end? It¡¯d be really nice if this was the end,¡± I said after needing to cut down an entire board to get to a match.

    The inside of the tool started to burn, and information filled my mind. I frowned, sifting through it.

    ¡°Hey, you know. If you need to give me information, games usually just give a notification with words on it instead of downloading information right into my brain. It gives a nice little boost of dopamine, too. That way I can read what¡¯s happening. You make words pop into my head, anyway. This will be nicer to read out exactly what this new tool can do,¡± I said to the sky.

    There was a pause, then words floated in her mind.

    Congratulations, you did what was expected of you.

    It was so random it made me choke on my laugh. ¡°I¡¯m still under the impression you alien overlords are a bit snarky.¡±

    They ignored me as new words filled my vision.

    The tool is now upgraded. You may enjoy the following benefits:

    <ul>

    <li>Make the following resources during the day or night:</li>

    <li>Glass

    <ul>

    <li>Required: 1 bag of sand</li>

    <li>Maximum of five in a batch, </li>

    <li>Time: one day</li>

    </ul>

    </li>

    <li>Bricks

    <ul>

    <li>Required: baked clay</li>

    <li>Maximum of fifteen in a batch, </li>

    <li>Time: half a day </li>

    </ul>

    </li>

    <li>Stone blocks

    <ul>

    <li>Required: broken stones</li>

    <li>Maximum of ten in a batch</li>

    <li>Time: half a day</li>

    </ul>

    </li>

    </ul>

    I hadn¡¯t seen stone blocks before. And I wasn¡¯t sure how to break up stones without a pickaxe. Maybe it was something I could buy on the clipboard. I¡¯d have to see.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

    There was a buzzing noise as the lamp turned on, but still a good ten minutes before my wolf timer indicated the wolf was approaching. So, the wolf was inconsistent. Perfect. I could use these ten minutes.

    I grabbed the leftover materials from the boards and firewood and headed into the storage area. I started to go down the stairs when something physically stopped me.

    Storage too full. Would you like to get rid of some items?

    A panic seized me. No. No I did not want to get rid of items. I glanced around. Sure, I guess it was getting full. I was still annoyed at the food shelving. There was so much space to put food, but for whatever reason, the food insisted on being in a certain area and not overcrowding the shelves.

    ¡°I could totally fit it all if I wanted to,¡± I grumbled, taking the boards and firewood outside. I paused, then placed the boards and firewood against the house. Nothing happened. Maybe they¡¯d be fine on the back porch.

    My wolf timer started to blink with a minute left. I peeked over the edge of the house to see the lamp post already on, giving a deceptively warm, yet not very bright, glow. I slipped inside, almost happy to spend more time outside than inside this house.

    Killie was curled on the couch in the entertainment room, asleep. I sighed as I settled into the recliner, staring at the bowl of mints. I took another bright pink mint and sucked on it. I kept a careful eye on my stamina, but it looked like this food source didn¡¯t give stamina. Oh well.

    I leaned back, thinking about the day. The tool was updated, and I still had a full day to finish my to-do list. I pulled it out to check what I still had left.

    Repair all damages caused by them

    Strengthen the wall around the house and greenhouses

    Buy a chicken

    Upgrade brick tool

    Make glass

    Declutter pink room on second floor

    As soon as I figured out how to make glass, I¡¯d be ready to repair the damage. I was quite sure the only damages left was the 0/8 glass on the greenhouse. I felt a small prickle of realization. It would take a full day to make glass. They were coming tomorrow night. Despite everything, I still would not be able to finish repairing all the damages. Maybe if I had found sand before I came in for the night it would have worked, but where was I going to find it?

    The obvious answer was at the river. From what I recalled, though, it was mostly stone and clay. I couldn¡¯t see any sand. Maybe I¡¯d have to dig.

    It was a problem for tomorrow. One of these days I was going to finish my to-do list and go to bed early.

    As though on cue, I heard the child giggling upstairs. I closed my eyes, holding in a gasp as a small chunk of sanity disappeared. Killie remained asleep on the couch.

    ¡°Not that big of a deal,¡± I whispered. ¡°Killie¡¯s not reacting. The ghost child is harmless. Completely harmless. I should not be freaking out, and I should not be losing sanity over this.¡±

    Saying it did not make it happen. This was the night before they came. I could not drop below fifty percent, or else I wouldn¡¯t recover my full sanity.

    Just thinking about it, I mentally chose to get into my nightgown as I heard muffled talking in the room above the living room.

    ¡°Fine. It¡¯s fine. It¡¯s fine.¡±

    I opened my eyes and saw the huge, nineties style tv. It was dark, but I still saw someone standing right behind me.

    My heart stuttered as I flipped around. There was no one there. Why was I so surprised no one was there. I glanced back at the tv to see the figure moving toward the couch with some sort of wooden spoon over their head, aiming right at Killie.

    ¡°No!¡± I shouted.

    This woke Killie up, who looked directly at the figure I couldn¡¯t see and started hissing. I leapt out of my chair and grabbed Killie, running into the living room. I could have sworn I heard the echoes of a shrieking woman as I did so. My sanity shivered before it dropped.

    ¡°Fine. I¡¯m fine. Fine,¡± I stuttered. I hesitated at the entryway of the kitchen. I did not want to see those footprints. But the echoes of the shrieks forced my hand. Instead, I ran into the bathroom with Killie and shut the door.

    There were no windows in this bathroom. With no electricity, it was pitch black. There wouldn¡¯t be any hauntings in a bathroom, right?

    I had my back against the door with Killie in my arms. She was meowing, sounding distressed. I turned on the light, giving us something to look at. Killie was walking around the bathroom, stretching. I held the flashlight, hearing nothing but my breathing. The shrieking was gone.

    ¡°Did you sense her at all, girl?¡± I asked, petting my cat. ¡°Is that the ghost you hiss at all the time? That shrieking ghost grandma? From what I could see, she doesn¡¯t particularly like cats.¡±

    Killie meowed, then kept circling around the small bathroom. I leaned the back of my head against the door, assessing the chunk of sanity that was taken out of my sanity bar. I was still a little over seventy-five percent. It was okay. I would be okay. I had less than an hour before-

    Killie¡¯s back arched as she stared at the wall, making warning noises. I grabbed the flashlight, shining it toward the back wall, even though I knew I wouldn¡¯t find anything. Only Killie could see them. I was about ready to stand up and get out of the bathroom when a force rammed into the wall, shaking the room.

    I screamed in shock. This was a physical dull thud on the house. This couldn¡¯t be caused by ghosts.

    As though in answer, I heard the wet snarling of the wolf way too close. Killie shrieked, backing away from the door, pupils dilated.

    I gasped, backing away. The door was in the way. The wolf never got in the fence unless I was outside. But this time was different. I heard snarling and tearing, and panic seized me.

    ¡°No, not the brick tool. Leave it alone! I just updated it!¡± I screamed into the darkness. Like the wolf would ever listen. The thought of the wolf responding by trying to break into the house made me stop screaming.

    I scrambled out of the bathroom and back into the living room. Killie was shaking, no doubt from the encounter with the wolf creature. I triple checked the locks on the front door, then did my checking on the back door quickly. I didn¡¯t like the kitchen at night. And I refused to go to the second floor.

    I was panting in the living room as I kept hearing the wolf snarling in the back. Killie kept her back arched, staring wide-eyed at the back of the house, her eyes darting back and forth.

    The snarling finished, and I heard the wolf running away. I sighed, dropping my head. For a while, the only thing I heard was my fast, yet uneven breathing. My heartbeat pounded in my ear as I tried to calm down.

    I then heard those two ghosts talking again in muffled whispers. A male and a female. I covered my ears, hoping that if I couldn¡¯t hear it, then it would hurt my sanity.

    Tonight was crazy. I could not have a crazy night like tonight. Not the night before they arrived. It was supposed to be like any other night, where I just hopped from room to room to avoid my sanity getting a hit. There was something about reflective surfaces that made me see ghosts. The mirror, the tv reflection. I needed to stay away from those.

    As soon as I felt the pull to go to bed, I abandoned the living room and ran to the bedroom. I saw something flicker out of the corner of my eye in the mirror, but I forced myself to not look.

    As soon as I hit the bed, I forced myself to go to sleep. This day needed to end.

 Chapter 29

    I didn¡¯t bother looking for anything poetic about that red dawn light. Instead, I threw the covers off myself and ran outside to make sure my upgraded tool was fine.

    It was. But the boards, the firewood, and the clay that I left on the back porch because my storage was too full were torn to bits. I went to my knees, trying to mold the clay back together, but it didn¡¯t work. It was contaminated, and refused to meld together. The wolf had destroyed everything that wasn¡¯t under the protection of the storage room.

    Losing that clay hurt. Enough that, even though they were coming tonight, I spent a few moments on my knees staring at nothing. Half a day gathering resources wasted. It did not bode well for my mood today.

    I got to my feet, numbly going through my morning routine. Once farming and egg gathering were done, I left for the riverbank. The pang of losing that clay still tore at my soul, but I needed to focus. It would take an entire day to make glass. The sooner I found sand, the better. And the only way I could think of where it would be is by water.

    I went to the river, allowing myself to shed a tear for the lost clay before focusing on the task at hand. I got to the river and crouched down, seeing the words above the resources. I could only find clay and stone. I tried lifting them around to see if I could get to the bottom, but it was just packed mud underneath. I stood up, hands on my hips, as I stared at the riverbank. I then glanced over and saw on the other side of the river was the sandy beaches I was looking for.

    I let out a groan. At least I knew where the sand was. It was just a matter of getting it.

    Maybe I could swim it. Was I a swimmer? I actually didn¡¯t know. I started walking toward the water, feeling the coolness hit my toes. This was the time of experimentation. I walked forward, the water getting deeper and deeper.

    Something weird was happening around the corners of my vision. It was like smoke, starting at the corner of my sight. I kept pushing forward, and the further I got, the more the smoke covered my vision until it was completely gray.

    As my vision returned, I found myself back on the banks of the river. I placed my hands on my hips, giving a sigh. Fine then. I couldn¡¯t swim. It was a weird way to show that.

    I chopped down a tree and grabbed one of the logs. I tried to place it on the bank of the river and angle it toward the other side, but this river was at least two logs wide. There was no doubt about it, though. I needed to build a bridge somehow.

    Maybe this followed the same logic as the chicken coop. What if I could buy the bridge and then build it here? It was worth a shot.

    I ran back to the house, keeping an eye on my stamina. I lost a small sliver with running, but I needed to start making that glass.

    I flipped through the clipboard to the building section. There weren¡¯t many that weren¡¯t grayed out. But I found it, letting out a sigh of relief. Bridge. 30.00 dopamine points.

    ¡°I¡¯m starting to think you guys really don¡¯t want me finishing my to-do list anytime soon,¡± I mumbled. I glanced at my dopamine total. 22.32. Not bad.

    I grabbed a board from the storage room and placed it in the dumpster, moving quickly past the scene of the crime of the other shredded boards. I then bought the bridge and hurried back to the river.

    There was a ghostly outline of a bridge as I put on what I had of my building outfit and saw the words above the water.

    0/4 stone bricks

    I leaned over, gripping my knees. There was a moment where things felt too overwhelming, but then I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay. Quinn, you¡¯re going to be fine. The fences are finished. You weren¡¯t going to finish repairing all the damage today anyway. You¡¯re going to be fine. They cannot hurt you.¡±

    With that, I sacrificed more stamina to run back to the house to check the clipboard. There, as an option to buy, was a pickaxe.

    After dropping more boards into the dumpster, I bought myself a pickaxe. It was a rusty one, no doubt I could upgrade it as soon as I got 0/1 firewood and 0/2 stones, but for now it would work.

    I ran back to the river, then tried breaking up stones. I kept an eye on my stamina, and I couldn¡¯t help but notice it took a far larger chunk with every swing. It was like my axe before it was upgraded.

    The words above the resource changed from stone to broken stone. That was probably all the hint I was going to get. Though, I didn¡¯t necessarily think this through. I should¡¯ve taken the intact stones to the house before whacking them.

    I picked up the stone and walked back to the house, holding the broken chunks in my arms. I dropped the resource, then ran back to the river, picking up another stone. The morning turned into afternoon by the time I had four stone blocks cooking in the tool.

    Until I could get the stone bricks to the river, I had some time to kill. I looked around, figuring out what exactly I needed to do. The storage area could be upgraded. That was going to take a ton of time, what with it needing 0/100 boards at the start. Since I couldn¡¯t store boards on the back porch, I¡¯d probably start placing them in there. In a way, it was storing them. Just a bit more permanently.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    I walked into the covered back porch and glanced at the clip board. Cleaning was finally at level 15. I went to check out what clothes to buy, but the clothes were grayed out. At first, I thought it was because I didn¡¯t have enough to buy it, but there were words written over it.

    Cannot buy this until garage is upgraded

    Huh. Odd. So, I would need to upgrade the garage. Maybe I should spend some time fishing so I could keep leveling in my cooking. So many things to upgrade. I was curious.

    I almost decided right then to do more fishing when I paused. I wouldn¡¯t have enough room in my storage area. And I wasn¡¯t sure how much room I would have to cook, either.

    I entered the storage area and pulled out a pile of six boards, sticking them into the upgrade part of my storage area. At first I panicked, thinking the wolf might get these too, but remembered the days I spent upgrading the brick tool and the wolf never touched it. It would be fine where it was.

    With more room, I did more fishing. Not because I needed them, but because I needed to level up. Cooking was at level 7, and I needed more experience points with that.

    I returned in the late afternoon to see the stone blocks finished. My wolf timer told me I still had a few hours. They would arrive tonight, and it was important to get as much done as possible. I had checked the calendar. After tonight, they would come in four days. Then in another four days. Then in three. I had a bad feeling those three days would be busy.

    Turns out, carrying one brick was the equivalent of carrying two stones from the river. I don¡¯t know how the math worked out, but I no longer applied actual logic to anything going on here.

    Didn¡¯t matter. I needed to clear out some space in my storage room anyway. I downed a couple of soups before lifting the brick and moving it toward the river. I felt sweat forming on my forehead and my breathing turned laborious. I dropped it in the ghost of a bridge, and there was a solid square rock that formed at one of the corners of the ghost bridge.

    Three more to go.

    I had the conflicting feeling of pain at using so much food to get three more stone bricks toward the river, but on the other hand, I needed the space. Tomorrow morning, I would do more cooking. Besides, I needed to raise my cooking level.

    On the last stone brick, I was walking in the dark. I did not have the option of using the flashlight, since both my hands were busy trying to carry it. It did not make me comfortable at all, even though I kept looking at the timer and knew the wolf wouldn¡¯t be here for another hour.

    I dropped the final stone into the ghost bridge, and watched it shift.

    0/50 logs

    I stared at the number, then glanced around at the trees near the river. Perhaps my project of cutting down trees from the river to the house would be finished sooner than I expected.

    I chopped down one tree and stuffed the six logs into the bridge. I would have done more, but my stamina was dangerously low, and I wanted to keep something.

    I sighed, shining my light over at the sandy bank on the other side.

    ¡°Soon,¡± I said to the sand. Hopefully before they came in the next four days.

    I heard the cracking of twigs on the other side of the river. My heart dropped to my stomach as I shone my flashlight in the direction of the forest. They shouldn¡¯t be here yet. At least¡­ I was pretty sure they shouldn¡¯t be here. I tried to see what was making that noise, but I saw nothing but forest. Trees and logs that¡­

    That bush on the other side of the river just moved. My flashlight was trained on that bush, waiting to see if it really did move, or if it was a figment of my imagination. Surely the night was playing tricks on me. There is no way that a bush could-

    The bush rose, then eight stick-like legs appeared, scuttling around as its jaw opened, revealing razor sharp teeth.

    My back was to the creature before I fully comprehended what I was seeing. Whether figment of my imagination or real, I was not going to stay and find out.

    Halfway back to the house, nausea hit me so hard that I collapsed on the ground in a fetal position, moaning. Stupid stamina. Why is it necessary for running?

    I spared a moment coughing on the ground, thinking about what I just saw. That was a monster. A small monster, no doubt, but still a monster. I wasn¡¯t sure if it was a figment of my imagination, but a horrifying thought hit me. I didn¡¯t know what was out there, and I was about to build a bridge. I hadn¡¯t stopped to think about the implications of any of this. If I made a bridge, if there were darker creatures out there¡­

    I let out a shuddering breath, then climbed to my feet, already feeling the tears on my cheeks. I walked as much as my lack of stamina could allow, the house coming into view.

    Should I build a bridge? It was the thought that plagued me the entire walk. Something that made me deeply uncomfortable. Something I didn¡¯t know the answer to.

    I glanced up at the house. There was fifteen minutes before the wolf came. I did not want to be in the house right now. That monster took a small chunk of my sanity, and I didn¡¯t know if I could be in the house right now.

    Instead, I gathered the last bits of clutter from the garage and placed them in the dumpster. The garage was finally decluttered. I glanced at the glowing words above the garage as they shivered and changed.

    0/10 stone bricks

    That was going to take a lot of stamina. Though, maybe it wouldn¡¯t, considering the brick tool was a lot closer to the garage than it was to the river.

    I glanced toward the direction of the river, the question of whether I should build a bridge returned to me. Did I have a choice? Maybe there was a sandy bank on this side of the river, but I would have to go exploring.

    Could I use that time to explore? Maybe that was a decision for when I knew how long my to-do list was tomorrow.

    I didn¡¯t have any stones, or I would have started making those stone bricks now. My thoughts returned to my dilemma of whether to build that stupid bridge. It wasn¡¯t something on the to-do list. Maybe it was something that would have been specifically requested by the alien overlords.

    ¡°A little help. For my own sanity,¡± I whispered.

    They didn¡¯t answer. I didn¡¯t expect them to. Instead, I wandered over to the front porch, looking out among the darkness. The front porch was still a dilapidated mess. The dead hanging plants were almost sad. Despite the haunting aspect of this house on the second level, I had grown to love this old home. It had a charm to it in the daytime, and after a really good exorcism, it fit the cozy aspects quite nicely. I wondered if the lawn was going to get mowed or something. If I could plant flowers on the path leading up to the front porch. If I could plant proper hanging plants.

    My wolf timer turned red and blinked. I didn¡¯t dare waste any sanity as I slipped into the house to wait for their attack.

 Chapter 30

    Killie was on the couch, making warning noises to something in the corner. I grabbed her and ran straight to the bathroom.

    ¡°Despite the wolf attacking last night, I don¡¯t think anything has happened in the bathroom,¡± I whispered. ¡°But you let me know if my theory is wrong.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t go to sleep until after they finished attacking. I held out hope that maybe I could find something in this game to help me sleep through it all.

    Killie remained by my side, and I had my flashlight. I held it out, frightened. It kept the impossibly dark bathroom lit.

    I heard the noises, all of them muted. I kept my eyes closed. If I could just stay here, we might be safe.

    The muted noises became more boisterous, but I still couldn¡¯t understand what was said. I didn¡¯t really want to.

    Killie was against my leg, shivering. I stayed sitting on the ground, my back against the door. I knew there was a mirror here, but I pretended it didn¡¯t exist. I refused to look into that mirror.

    A child was humming. For whatever reason, all the other noises seemed to come to a standstill as I heard something that sounded a lot like skipping. The child wasn¡¯t giggling, they were singing. I didn¡¯t want to know what they were singing, but I couldn¡¯t help but be familiar with that children¡¯s rhyme.

    ¡°Ring around the Rosie,

    ¡°A pocket full of posies,

    ¡°Ashes, ashes,

    ¡°We all fall down.¡±

    The song was so familiar to me that I was positive my mind was just filling in the lyrics. There was no way I could hear this child singing that rhyme. They were whispering it, and I was in a closed door trying to block out sound. It was just my own mind filling in the words, because it was such a familiar rhyme. And it wasn¡¯t terrifying. Why would it be terrifying to hear a ghost child singing that song?

    ¡°Ring around the Rosie,

    ¡°A pocket full of-¡±

    I slammed my palms over my ears, no doubt giving my brain a shake inside my skull as I did so. I closed my eyes as Killie pressed her back against my leg. She wasn¡¯t scared, therefore I wouldn¡¯t be scared.

    My sanity took a dip. I let out a breath, then sucked another one in.

    ¡°Fine,¡± I whispered. ¡°I¡¯m fine. Completely fine.¡±

    I didn¡¯t have a memory orb this time. Perhaps it was a strange place for my mind to go, but I was no doubt panicking so badly that I latched on to the one thought that wouldn¡¯t hurt my sanity. I usually had one memory orb once before they attacked, but not this time. I wonder why that was?

    I didn¡¯t realize I had my eyes open until I noticed the light from the flashlight flicker. I was thrown back to the present as I stared at my only source of light. The beam of light flickered, then slowly dimmed. I grabbed the flashlight.

    ¡°No. No, no, no.¡± It was light. Light in the darkness. It was like losing a floatation device in the middle of the ocean. ¡°No, please. No.¡±

    My mind went back to all the times I used that flashlight. Batteries wouldn¡¯t last forever, but I also assumed the batteries would last forever, because of the game logic of this place. Kind of like how I didn¡¯t need food until I was low on stamina. But that was stupid. I found multiple rusty batteries in the garage, all of which the dumpster prompted me with a question about whether I wanted to throw them away. There was clearly a reason for it.

    The light dimmed before it flickered out. My heart pounded in my chest so loud I was sure someone could hear it. It was pitch dark in the bathroom.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    ¡°The wall is strong. The wall is strong. The wall is strong.¡±

    My voice cracked, but I tried to hold to the hope of my words. They couldn¡¯t hurt me. I had strengthened the wall. They weren¡¯t coming for me.

    ¡°Ring around the Rosie,

    ¡°A pocket full of posies,

    ¡°Ashes, ashes,

    ¡°We all fall down.¡±

    I covered my ears again. Tears dripped down my chin. My sanity took another hit as my body sank onto the grimy bathroom floor, curling into a fetal position. The child¡¯s singing was far more muted before it disappeared.

    Despite my hands stuffed over my ears, I heard the creaking of footsteps on the staircase.

    I wonder what my next memory orb will be. I hoped it would be a happy memory.

    The stairs groaned with the weight as someone finished walking down them.

    Maybe it would be of me and Theo going on a random trip to the park.

    The footsteps made dull thuds against the hardwood floor of the hallway.

    Or maybe Disneyland. Some amusement park. Somewhere we¡¯re happy. And laughing. Theo was finally talking. That would be great!

    The footsteps padded into the kitchen, slow and careful. My body instinctually curled tighter.

    What was my favorite ride at Disneyland? I¡¯m sure I went before. Or maybe I went to Disneyworld. It was strange that I could think of these amusement parks so easily and yet not remember the name of my own mother.

    The floor creaked next to the fridge.

    It¡¯s a Small World? Maybe my favorite ride as a child was It¡¯s a Small Word. Constant singing, constant talking. It seemed to fit with my personality as a child. Why did I know what this obnoxious ride was like?

    The footsteps moved with care, heading toward the bathroom.

    I found myself quietly singing It¡¯s a Small World. What the hell was I doing? Why was this noise leaving my mouth? Something was walking right past the bathroom, and I was making a noise, a sorry excuse for singing. The ghosts would find me.

    Why did I know this song? Why did I know the lyrics? Maybe it really was my favorite ride. My voice was small and trembling. It was not pretty. My sanity took another hit as the footsteps moved past the bathroom. I remained on the floor, hugging my knees and trembling. Trying not to imagine what outside the bathroom door looked like.

    I was quietly crying on the grimy floor. The longer I stayed in this game, the worse the hauntings became. So, logically, I should not stay here much longer. I needed to figure out the answers this game meant to give me. But how could I when I wasn¡¯t getting a memory orb every time? Was that up to the alien overlords to give me one?

    I didn¡¯t know how long I was on the bathroom floor crying, but I could tell when the silence and isolation was so much that it felt like a physical presence that pressed in on me at every side.

    I let out a weak breath. ¡°The terror of the monsters are that you can¡¯t see them,¡± I whispered. ¡°Like Jaws. Or those aliens in Signs. Once you see them, they¡¯re not as scary. I¡¯ve seen them. I¡¯ve seen them, therefore they¡¯re not scary. They won¡¯t hurt my sanity.¡±

    A thud shook the ground. I didn¡¯t know if I could curl into a tighter ball, but my body took the challenge.

    ¡°They¡¯re just sludge. That¡¯s all.¡±

    Thud

    ¡°Sludge of teeth and hair.¡±

    Thud

    ¡°Nothing scary about that.¡±

    The growling shook my soul, making me feel like it was about to leave my body to escape them.

    ¡°Probably¡­ a real life¡­ reason¡­¡±

    Thud

    ¡°Some¡­ coma¡­medication¡­medical¡­ medical reason¡­¡±

    Crack.

    I didn¡¯t realize my hands were over my ears until I heard it bellow. Because it still pierced my soul, despite keeping my ears covered.

    I stopped talking, curling tighter. The complete darkness did not help. My sanity was below twenty-five percent. They had to be leaving soon. I couldn¡¯t take much more of this. I was going crazy.

    Another crack, with another bellow that dropped my sanity to a dangerous sliver. I then heard the thuds as they moved away.

    I uncovered my ears, lying on the bathroom floor. I couldn¡¯t speak. I could hardly open my eyes. I clung to my sliver of sanity, which I could only guess was less than five percent. If I opened the door and saw those bloody footprints on the ground, I was going to lose that last sliver. There was a chance they were gone, but there was also a chance they weren¡¯t.

    ¡°Lead me to bed, Killie,¡± I whispered.

    I got up, hoping my slippers would keep me from feeling anything on the ground. I kept Killie in my arms as I moved with closed eyes. It was still dark, but I didn¡¯t want to risk anything.

    I moved through the door, guessing where I was in the kitchen. I bonked into the cherry wood table, so I used that as a guide as I moved through the kitchen, then into the living room. I kept my eyes closed, Killie in my arms. My entire being was trembling. My mind slowly came to terms with the fact that this would happen every single time they attacked. If I hadn¡¯t upgraded my stamina and sanity, I would be¡­ whatever it is that would happen when my sanity disappeared.

    Killie was calm in my arms, purring as I made my way blindly to the bedroom. I used my shoulder to ease open the door, then dropped into bed, still holding Killie.

    ¡°Stay with me. Please. Don¡¯t leave me. I¡¯m not okay,¡± I whispered to Killie.

    She purred in my arms. I don¡¯t think I actually ordered the game to put me to sleep. I think I did it all by myself, listening to my cat purring as I lost consciousness.

 Chapter 31

    The night they attacked always left me shaking. The morning after was not pleasant, either. I really didn¡¯t like anything about them. Who were they? What kind of monster was this? My sanity reached fifty percent, and I would need it. Because I only had four days left to complete my to-do list.

    I stumbled into the kitchen, seeing it perfectly fine. The carpet wasn¡¯t covered in footprints, bloody or otherwise. I checked the calendar, seeing it was supposed to rain on the day they arrived. I could work with that.

    The woman on the phone dived right into the to-do list, so I watched the list appear on the paper above me.

    Repair all damages caused by them

    Make glass

    Strengthen the wall around the house and greenhouses

    Upgrade garage

    Purchase third article of cleaning clothing

    Build bridge to collect sand

    I sucked in a sharp breath. There it was. The order to build the bridge. Whatever was on the other side of that river, the alien overlords knew what it was and were asking me to build something. It seemed like it was the last thing on the list for that very reason. This neutral party was guiding me, but they weren¡¯t telling me what this was, either. What was that bush spider monster? Was it going to hurt me?

    I walked out the back porch and saw the words above the greenhouse were blinking red.

    Danger

    Must be fixed or greenhouse will be destroyed in next attack

    0/15 glass

    I sighed. I did not like that at all.

    Four days. I had four days to make enough glass to repair the greenhouse. Or enough that it could handle another attack by them. I had a feeling that I wouldn¡¯t lose the greenhouse completely, but I would probably have to build it from scratch. It would most likely be time consuming. Considering I had not completed a to-do list yet since they became weekly things, I needed to make glass.

    I quickly went through my morning routine. Part of my added routine was switching out the clothes on the sewing machine to get upgraded. My farming outfit was buffed, and now it was working on my animal care. I was wearing my logging and building outfits so much that I might have to start those toward the evening time. Going on the second floor in the evening made me nauseous, though. I might have to try it anyway. Quickly slip up there, then come back down. It would be fine. Totally fine.

    It was harder to grow things with a broken greenhouse. I would have to build that bridge fast. And hope that monsters wouldn¡¯t pour into my house to get me. That was the last thing I needed.

    Since I went through so many soups yesterday, I spent an hour cooking some more. I stayed near the fire as I chopped down wood to repair the damages to the wall. There was something a reddish black color on the other side of the wall, and I didn¡¯t want to look at it too long. Instead, I stuffed the boards into the place where it told me, and the mark disappeared. After a few more boards and firewood, the fences around the house and the greenhouse were back to where they needed to be. It was nice that they didn¡¯t need bricks or stones to repair it. I secretly cursed myself for having that thought, though. The alien overlords were probably listening.

    Words appeared over the fences as I finished placing the last of the firewood to replace them.

    Upgrade fence

    0/10 stone bricks

    I winced at the number, then glanced at the fence by the greenhouse.

    0/5 stone bricks

    I might have to focus on that before the bridge. The fences always took priority. I could not get attacked by them, ever. Even not getting attacked by them left me a complete mess.

    I spent part of the day doing my mind-numbing monotony of carrying stones from the riverbank to the house. I was so very close to being able to lift two stones at the same time without losing stamina. I could feel it in my arms. Out of curiosity, I checked the progress chart and figured that once I hit level twenty in building, I would finally be strong enough to carry two at a time.

    Once I had fifteen stones, I broke them up into broken stones. Once I had ten, I stuffed them into the upgraded tool. It was just barely the afternoon. I could switch them out and get another batch going before tonight.

    I went to collect the food by the fire when the words above the fire nabbed my attention.

    Upgrade cooking fire

    0/10 bricks

    I must have finally reached level 10 in cooking. I added it to the list of things that weren¡¯t on my to-do list but made me curious to find out.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    As the stone bricks cooked, I replenished my stamina, taking a moment to acknowledge that even after all that cooking, I was going through a lot of food. The greenhouse, broken as it was, was taking a lot longer to make food, and my food was not getting produced fast enough to meet up with my demand.

    As I made my way back to the river, I was thinking over my plan. As those stone bricks cooked, the next priority was the glass. I needed my greenhouse to be back to where it was. It took a day to make glass, which I also assumed meant it could take a night, too. At least, that better be what it meant.

    Cutting down trees didn¡¯t take nearly as much stamina, but still a sliver with every thwack. If I couldn¡¯t rely on my greenhouses, I would have to rely on Daisy and my fishing.

    It was fine. I was building the bridge, getting work done. As I approached the ghost of the bridge, I saw the words above it.

    6/50 logs

    I glanced over at the other side of the bank, to where I saw that monster. Maybe the monster only came out in the evening time, much like the wolf. I pulled out my axe and started chopping. As I chopped, I considered what the alien overlords were asking me to do. Building a bridge was here, on my to-do list, so they clearly had plans. But were the plans going to be in my favor? They kept saying they were a neutral party, but it felt like building a bridge to a side that I distinctly recall having a bush spider monster was not a good idea.

    I was fighting instinct on this. I needed to finish my to-do list. That to-do list had not steered me wrong before. The only time it did was when I didn¡¯t finish it. I could trust it.

    Couldn¡¯t I?

    As the afternoon turned into early evening, I hesitated as I held the last log over the bridge. This might be the last item needed for this. Four logs remained on the ground from the last tree I cut down. Was I prepared to deal with the consequences of building a bridge?

    Words appeared in my vision.

    We will sell you the information we know about the other side for a price, if it will ease your fears.

    I swallowed. I hadn¡¯t heard from the alien overlords in some time. It always freaked me out that they could pop into my mind whenever they wanted to.

    ¡°How much?¡± I asked.

    There was a pause, then words appeared again.

    -50.00

    I hissed, one that I was quite sure was a physical pain. ¡°Are you¡­ open to negotiation by any chance? Or¡­ haggling?¡±

    I love haggling

    The words surprised me. It was the first time I recalled any sort of emotion in the words.

    ¡°Negative fifty is more than I¡¯ve ever spent on anything in the game. I¡¯m willing to spend negative fifteen.¡±

    -45.00.

    This information is rare

    I chewed on the inside of my cheek. ¡°Negative twenty.¡±

    -40.00

    I still hated it. It was way more than I¡¯ve ever spent. This was because I got ridiculously excited that one time when information was cheap. I knew that would come back to haunt me.

    ¡°Negative twenty-five,¡± I said.

    -37.00

    I mentally braced myself. ¡°Negative thirty?¡±

    -37.00

    I sighed. That was as low as they¡¯d go. It was still more than I¡¯d ever paid for anything. I didn¡¯t have that much right now. I would pretty much have to take these logs back and cut two of them into boards to get that much, plus a little extra.

    We¡¯d let you go into the negative for this.

    If you choose to go negative, you may not purchase anything until you return to a positive sum.

    ¡°You know, part of haggling is knowing the person you¡¯re negotiating with can¡¯t actually read your mind,¡± I mumbled.

    We cannot turn off our access to your mind.

    Must monitor your constant thoughts and movements.

    I closed one eye and stared at the sky. ¡°That¡¯s really unsettling, you know.¡±

    Apologies

    My sister will not let me lie to ease your discomfort.

    The other eye snapped open at that, and I stared at the sky, trying not to feel anything. I remembered why I didn¡¯t like when the alien overlords popped in. ¡°You¡­ can lie?¡±

    I can. My sister cannot. Since we are working together, we keep each other neutral to-

    There were more words, but they were taken away before I could finish reading them. As quickly as they disappeared, new words appeared.

    Apologies. My brother spoke of things he should not. I had to stop him from tampering with the game. -35.00 is our final offer. I am incapable of going lower for the information you seek.

    My mouth went dry. I felt like a part of my soul was screaming from the depths, even as I tried to stifle it.

    ¡°Are there¡­ only two of you?¡± I asked, poking something I wasn¡¯t sure I wanted to poke.

    The words remained in my vision. No other reply. No other words. I was almost too scared to think about the implications. Judging from their words, they were a brother and sister. Granted, a brother and sister that seemed on a different plane of existence. My mind still leaned on alien overlords. Something I couldn¡¯t comprehend.

    ¡°And you¡¯re¡­ a neutral party?¡± I asked again, still poking something I was now positive I didn¡¯t want to poke.

    The words shifted and changed in front of me.

    When we work together to keep each other in check, yes. We are a neutral party.

    I wasn¡¯t sure how much of that I could believe. I had to be honest, there wasn¡¯t much there I believed in the first place. They had to know this.

    My mind flickered to the male and female voice I heard after they attacked me. The one thing that solidified in my mind was there must only be two. A male, and a female. A brother, and a sister. Those were my alien overlords.

    I almost felt myself sweating. Were they going to erase my memories of this moment? They had that power. And it was also clearly distressing me. Words appeared in my vision, and I braced myself for what might happen.

    -35.00

    Y/N

    I swallowed, the dryness in my mouth moving to my throat with that action. I mentally chose yes, because I wasn¡¯t sure if I could speak. This information might ease my fears.

    Might.

    Information was downloaded into my brain as well as words popping into my vision.

    There are monsters of varying levels on the other side of the river

    Going over there will be dangerous, as your weapons can only kill the most basic of creatures

    The monsters might leave you alone, they might not. Depends on how far into the other side you go

    You are not equipped with sufficient tools to survive long on the other side

    The monsters will not cross the bridge and follow you home

    They know it is wolf territory, and the smaller monsters fear the wolf

    The stronger monsters could kill the wolf if they wanted, but they don¡¯t because the wolf has nothing of value they are interested in

    The stronger monsters have treasures on the other side of the river that are of more value.

    Nothing on your side intrigues the stronger monsters enough to cross the bridge

    Though, if those higher-level monsters wanted to cross the river, they wouldn¡¯t need a bridge

    The information was done, and I was left on my knees, hugging myself tightly. I had a balance of -26.84 dopamine points, and I tried not to think about how true that was. I was not feeling dopamine right now. This world was about to get a lot wider than I expected. And I knew for a fact that I was not going to explore any of it.

 Chapter 32

    Whatever my alien overlords had in store for me, I wasn¡¯t sure how much I could trust it. The bridge seemed legit, and I wanted it to be so. As long as I didn¡¯t wander too far into the other side of the river. Like they even needed to warn me about wandering too far. There were monsters there. I was having a hard enough time with a wolf. And them. And ghosts.

    With all this information swirling in my mind, I stumbled back to my feet and put in the last log for the bridge. Monsters weren¡¯t coming for me. That was all the information I needed to know.

    The words shivered and changed.

    0/20 boards

    It was dark. It always felt dark in this area of the woods, no matter the time of day. Clearing a path from the river to the house always sounded more enticing as the sun was lowering in the sky. I had little stamina left, so I used the last of it to cut one of the logs into boards and stuck it in the bridge. Then I carried a single mound of clay back home. There was no need to waste that time refreshing stamina to not add to my resources.

    I stored the clay in the storage room before eating a fried egg, getting half my stamina back. With the sun sinking toward the horizon, I realized something. The wolf timer had a good two hours more than what I was expecting to be this time of the day. I wanted to keep an eye on it, but I was pretty sure it wouldn¡¯t be here for a good long while. That would be amazing to have more time. I was already almost done with one day, and only had three more left. And, if I could stay outside instead of inside for the hour before I was allowed to sleep, then that, too, would be fantastic.

    I put the stone blocks into the main fence of the house, waiting.

    0/3 broken glass

    I sighed. Hopefully that would be it, but I couldn¡¯t be sure. That would be quite the defense, though, having broken glass. Either way, I needed to cross the bridge and gather sand.

    I started another five stone blocks for the greenhouse before heading back toward the bridge. It was getting dark, but I could still see. Besides, I had my flashlight.

    Wait. My flashlight. It died last night. Did I dare go work on the bridge if I didn¡¯t have a working flashlight?

    I was not going to the other side of the river without a working flashlight. Not at night. Not with my imagination.

    I entered the garage, opening the drawer of the rusted batteries. I then glanced at the flashlight in my hand, then back at the batteries. I tried pressing them together to see if that worked.

    ¡°It works for building things,¡± I mumbled to myself.

    I unscrewed the top of the flashlight, then flipped it over so the batteries could tumble into my hand. What I saw in the fading red light was the batteries from the flashlight were in the same rusted shape as the ones in the drawer. I guess the flashlight drained the batteries until it looked like this.

    ¡°That¡¯s not¡­ flashlights don¡¯t do¡­¡±

    Did I really want to have a conversation with those alien overlords again about the logic of this game?

    I left the garage and checked the clipboard. There was nothing there about buying more batteries. Maybe this was one of the reasons why I needed to upgrade the garage. Maybe that would give me more insight into this.

    I was losing daylight. I had four logs out there, and stamina to burn. The wolf wouldn¡¯t come for a while.

    I returned to the river, finding the logs and breaking them into boards. It didn¡¯t take too long. After using up all the boards, I cut down one more tree and broke those into boards, and it ended up with perfect math so no boards remained. That alone was a nice dopamine hit.

    I waited for something else to show up, but the bridge was complete. I blinked, staring at the other side of the river as the sun sank below the horizon.

    Yes, I told myself I wasn¡¯t going to cross the bridge at night. Yes, my imagination would undoubtably get the better of me. Yes, I was probably going to regret this.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

    But if I could bring five bags of sand back? If I could start making glass now? The sand was right there. Right at the edge of the bridge. I didn¡¯t have to go far. They weren¡¯t coming for three more full days. If nothing happened, I would be at full sanity tomorrow.

    Could I do it? Could I be brave to start making glass tomorrow morning? Have the courage to walk over to a side full of monsters without a flashlight to get some sand?

    I didn¡¯t answer, because my feet were already on the bridge, crossing it. Despite how much the information cost, it no doubt helped me not feel as scared. Which meant I was still terrified out of my mind, but I wasn¡¯t a crying sobbing mess.

    The closer I got to the edge, the quicker my feet traveled across the bridge. It was dark, but the wolf wouldn¡¯t arrive for another two hours. I had so much time.

    As soon as I got to the edge of the bridge, something stopped me. My heart almost imploded when words appeared in my vision, slightly glowing because it was so dark.

    Entering Monster Territory

    Still wish to enter?

    Y/N

    The moment I said yes, my feet became unstuck, and I stumbled off the bridge. Then something changed in the corner of my vision and I glanced up. Instead of a sanity bar, I had a very low red health bar. It was indicated by a red heart. There were still no numbers, but that low of health compared to what my stamina was made me nervous.

    All the more reason to get working. I dropped to my knees and started filling five bags worth of sand.

    There was clearly something in these woods. I had only seen a small portion of it with that one stick monster, but the hairs on my arms were standing straight up as I finished the first bag of sand and filled another.

    There was a screeching noise that seemed far away, but it still sent a shiver down my spine. This side of the river seemed far more alive than my side. There was just the wolf creature, and perhaps a few other wolves. This side I heard chattering monkeys and rustling bushes that could be monsters. It was loud, it was terrifying, but if all the noises on this side of the river ever went completely silent, I would drop everything and run.

    The bridge was right there. If the sun was up, I¡¯d be sitting in its shadow. It wasn¡¯t far. I was safe. The monsters wouldn¡¯t cross the bridge. And the information told me the bigger monsters were not interested in trying.

    I filled my fourth bag of sand, my eyes darting around in the darkness. It was fine. I was fine. In fact, I was so fine, I wasn¡¯t even talking out loud. Talking to myself, even quietly, usually meant I wasn¡¯t fine. Because I wasn¡¯t. Doing that would be stupid. Why would I talk out loud to myself in a forest full of monsters? I¡¯ve totally never done that before.

    Just in a house full of ghosts.

    Once the fifth bag was filled, I let out a breath as the forest echoed with noise. I lifted two bags, ready to spare the stamina when I realized that two bags were exactly what I could carry. I didn¡¯t question it. I simply moved to the bridge and dropped the bags at the foot of it before retrieving the next two. Then the final one. I stayed on the bridge but moved back and forth carrying bags of sand to drop them at the edge. I didn¡¯t feel completely done until I about stepped off the bridge and everything froze.

    Entering Wolf territory

    Still wish to enter?

    Y/N

    Once I mentally chose yes, my health points disappeared and my sanity bar returned. I dropped to the ground, still a good hour until the wolf came and it was completely dark. I started giggling, then trying to stifle my laughter. I did it. I went over to a side with monsters and gathered sand. It was terrifying. I wasn¡¯t sure I could do it. But I did. I crossed the damn bridge with my sand and made it on the other side completely fine.

    Sure, it was a sandy bank right at the foot of the bridge, but considering how frightened I was and how much I was convinced I couldn¡¯t do this in the dark, I had done it anyway!

    I still giggled, full of euphoria, as I started carrying two bags back to my house. I dropped the other three bags at the base of the bridge on my side of the river so I wouldn¡¯t have to cross again. It was dark. The house was probably already being haunted, and I didn¡¯t have to listen to it. Not only that, but I also just did something really hard, and I was super proud of myself for it.

    Once I got the five bags of sand safely tucked away in my storage room, I glanced at the tool. It would keep cooking those stone blocks until they were done, halfway through the night. Which meant as soon as the morning hit, I would start making glass.

    Finally.

    This was a win today. After so long trying to figure out how to get sand, I got it. To celebrate, I pulled out my to-do list and saw it, at the very bottom, crossed off.

    Repair all damages caused by them

    Make glass

    Strengthen the wall around the house and greenhouses

    Upgrade garage

    Purchase third article of cleaning clothing

    Build bridge to collect sand

    Now all I had to do was make the glass and finally repair the damages done by them. Those two items had been remaining on my to-do list for a very long time.

    The wolf timer started blinking red, and I smiled as I went around to the front of the house. I slipped inside the house and made sure the front and back doors were locked before I went to bed. I didn¡¯t look at any reflective surfaces or focus too long on if I could hear anything on the second floor. I walked into my house and collapsed onto the bed.

    It wasn¡¯t until I already mentally chose sleep that I realized I was starting to call this place mine.

 Chapter 33

    My morning routine was done with a healthy dose of adrenaline. The first thing I did, even before realizing I was still in my nightgown, was change the stone blocks with the five bags of sand. This was going to take all day, which meant I wouldn¡¯t have this tool to make other things until tonight. And I didn¡¯t want to put anything in the tool until I put the broken shards of glass in the fence. I needed to check and see if there was anything else the fences needed. Fences were my number one priority.

    The words above the greenhouse were still blinking red. It was an obnoxious pull on my anxiety. I would get there. Now that I was making glass, I was confident I¡¯d have it at least partially fixed by the time they came. Hopefully being partially fixed would work and it wouldn¡¯t get completely destroyed.

    I put the finished stone blocks into the fence around the greenhouse. The words popped up again.

    0/2 shattered glass

    That meant I¡¯d use all five panes of glass currently in the tool to strengthen the fence. It also meant I¡¯d have to go across the bridge to get some more sand. It might be better in the daylight to get more sand. I also need more stones for upgrading the garage. And I had a feeling, what with the chipped and broken bricks on the garage that it would ask for bricks.

    Either way, there was no harm in stockpiling some bricks in my storage area. I fed Daisy and gathered an egg, then went to the blinking greenhouse to water the plants. Tomorrow the tomatoes would finally be ready, and I wasn¡¯t sure when the potatoes would be ready. They were all growing at a very slow pace.

    I checked myself the moment I said that, because honestly, growing them on earth would have been so much longer. The tomatoes were still growing in about four days, despite the damage to the green house.

    I switched out the last of my animal care clothes and decided it was time to start upgrading the logging clothes. If I was right, today would mostly be gathering sand, clay, and stone. I placed my hard hat on the sewing machine, just to see what it did. The machine started with a flattened imprint of the hardhat. I shrugged and headed downstairs.

    I did my best to respect my stamina. This was a day of monotonous gathering, and since the greenhouse wasn¡¯t getting fixed today, I wanted to save what food I had.

    My first order of business was to gather sand. As soon as I mentally agreed to enter monster territory, I was again hit by the noises these creatures made as well as my sanity bar being replaced by a smaller health bar. Sure, it wasn¡¯t as scary in the daytime, but I also realized that I was far more visible in the daytime, too. Despite doing this in the dark, my anxiety was still through the roof.

    ¡°At least they don¡¯t have an anxiety meter. I¡¯d destroy that every single day,¡± I mumbled to myself.

    I did it again. I got so nervous that I made a noise on the side of the river that was full of monsters.

    I gathered sand while constantly looking around. I knew I was pushing my luck as the bags of sand grew. If I was serious about this, I needed enough sand to replace the fifteen panes of glass in the greenhouse, and then some extra just for good measure.

    Once I had ten bags of sand, I moved them to the other side of the bridge, then kept gathering more. Twenty bags would do it. This side of the forest was loud, but I still felt like night was way louder. Some of the monsters must be nocturnal.

    I was grabbing the last two bags to move across the bridge when I heard something rustling in the deeper forest. My heartrate spiked and I booked it onto the bridge, not minding that I was sacrificing stamina for this. I was probably making more noise than necessary, sprinting across the bridge, but I quickly made it to the other side and hid by the bridge before peeking over. Another bush spider monster scuttled near the clearing. I couldn¡¯t see any eyes, so I wasn¡¯t sure if it could see me, but I could almost imagine it glancing around.

    It can¡¯t go over the bridge, I whispered in my mind, sweat forming on my forehead. It can¡¯t go over the bridge. It can¡¯t go over the bridge.

    The spider monster returned to the forest and I let out a breath, leaning against the bridge. I had twenty bags of sand. That would last me for¡­ until I fixed the greenhouse.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

    I spent the rest of the day moving two bags of sand at a time into my storage area, then giving a mini celebration as I realized I could now carry two clumps of clay at a time without it hurting my stamina.

    It was a long day of carrying stones, clay, and sand, but a productive one. I was getting things done. It was feeling good.

    I started to consider my next move. I could now work the brick tool at night. If glass took an entire day, was I going to put five more bags of sand in the tool tonight to make it cook all night, or was I going to put in ten piles of broken stone to make bricks to upgrade the garage?

    It was a tough choice. I didn¡¯t like the idea of losing half a night when the stone blocks were done cooking. But I also didn¡¯t like not being able to know what the next step was in upgrading the garage and waiting until the day was half over to figure it out. It all went back to whether or not broken glass really was the final piece of strengthening those fences.

    When I got enough resources of clay and stone, I let out a sigh and admitted to myself I needed to experiment with them. I currently had -26.84 dopamine points, and one of the things I needed to do was buy another article of clothing, once the garage was upgraded. That meant I needed to start paying off my debt.

    I grabbed a clump of clay and dropped it in the dumpster. The clay gave me +5 dopamine points. Not bad, but considering how monotonous it was to get it, it was easier to get the points with boards or firewood.

    I then dropped a stone into the dumpster. That, too, gave me +5 dopamine points. My debt was now -16.84. All things considered, with the information I was given about the bridge, it was worth the price. It protected my sanity and gave me peace of mind. Peace of mind was worth all the dopamine points I could muster.

    Though I didn¡¯t want to think that, knowing the alien overlords heard that.

    I still had one more thing to try. I broke one of the stones with my pickaxe and dropped it in the dumpster. It gave me +3 dopamine points. Alright, so the brokenness of the stone was only to make the bricks. It would be better to have an intact one for dopamine points.

    Sometime I¡¯d have to experiment with how much a stone block gave me. I was already planning on making a batch of bricks to bake in the sun tomorrow with the mounds of clay I had stored in my storage area. I might sacrifice one baked clay to the dumpster to figure out what it gave me. And I might sacrifice a brick to see how much that gave, too. But as of now, I needed all those resources. There were now two more full days until they came. This experimentation was something I could do after I completed my to-do list.

    I grabbed the clothes from the sewing machine and started to cut down some trees as I waited for the glass to finish. I cut the logs into boards to put toward upgrading my storage room. Extra room could only help at this point, especially in my endeavor to stockpile resources. Eventually the greenhouse would be producing better. I was using the fact that I¡¯d been eating through a ton of food to start storing resources, but eventually I would need the space.

    Because I was going to fix that greenhouse.

    I was halfway done with the boards needed for upgrading the storage when the tool finished making my glass. Too excited, I rushed over and pulled out the glass, still cool to the touch. The wolf was not going to be late this time. My timer told me he¡¯d arrive in about a half an hour. I set the glass on the concrete, then hit it once with my pick axe like I did with the stone. It only took one whack for it to change from glass to shattered glass.

    I doubted it would cut me. If I spent most of the summer cleaning a musty old house and a dirty garage to somehow get cut by glass now, I¡¯d be angry. But there was still something instinctual about my hands reaching toward broken pieces of glass that forced me to do so delicately. I placed it into the fences. As I finished putting three in the large one, I held my breath, waiting.

    There was a slight sheen to the entire fence. It was finished! Shattered glass was the last thing it needed!

    I let out another breath, then seriously considered my next step as I broke two more glass panes. I had two days and two nights. I had a very good feeling bricks would be soon for upgrading the garage. It seemed weird that a brick building wouldn¡¯t have a request for bricks to upgrade. In that case, it would be easier to make glass during the night so it took the entire night instead of losing half a night. I would need to spend the morning shaping the clay mounds into bricks and have them baking in the sun.

    I put five more bags of sand in the tool to cook through the night and spent the remaining time cutting more trees down for upgrading the storage.

    Before going to bed, I checked my to-do list for some much needed dopamine.

    Repair all damages caused by them

    Make glass

    Strengthen the wall around the house and greenhouses

    Upgrade garage

    Purchase third article of cleaning clothing

    Build bridge to collect sand

    I was so close. Two more days of work, and I could actually finish a to-do list for the first time since they were daily to-do lists. It was nice that I had the ability to force myself into a sleep. I was too excited to get more things crossed off my list.

 Chapter 34

    I was on such a roll. I was feeling like I could do anything. My stride had more confidence, and I was starting to not be as nervous.

    Then I put the five glass panes in the greenhouse and received five shattered glass in return.

    I wouldn¡¯t say this completely broke my spirits, but I guess I never considered that putting full glass into a greenhouse would give me shattered glass since I replaced it. It made sense using earth logic. After all, that shattered glass needed to be replaced, so one would have to take out the broken glass to put in the new. I hadn¡¯t thought about testing that out with the five glass panes that I made yesterday. I didn¡¯t really want to test it, anyway. Fences were always my top priority. If I had the thought to try it, I wasn¡¯t sure if I would. But now I knew. There was nothing left to do but tuck this information away and keep going.

    Instead of the greenhouse marking it as 5/15, it instead marked it as 0/10. Also, the blinking words stopped blinking, so I hoped that meant the greenhouse wouldn¡¯t be destroyed in the next attack. That at least was some good news. I was not ready to build a greenhouse from scratch.

    I stuffed in ten sections of broken stones to make the blocks and got that cooking for half a day before moving on to making twenty-five clay bricks to bake in the sun. Tomorrow it would rain, so this was the only day I could start the process of baking the bricks.

    I went back to extending my storage. I was getting close to all the boards I would need.

    The second those blocks were done cooking, I quickly placed them into the garage, waiting.

    0/5 logs

    Okay, easy enough. That was one tree. I quickly put in the logs and waited for the words.

    0/10 boards

    Also easy enough. The baked clay was starting to finish, and whatever happened, I would put the baked clay in the tool. That way it could finish tonight, and I put more sand in the tool for glass to be done in the morning.

    Halfway through, I stuffed the tool with fifteen baked clay pieces, the most it could get in. If the garage needed it or not, I was going to have it ready. Once the garage had the boards, it requested 0/15 firewood. I was really starting to cut down a wide circle of trees around the house.

    Didn¡¯t matter. I had enough trees.

    Once the firewood was done, I got my moment of validation.

    0/20 bricks

    Semi-validation. Fifteen bricks were all the tool could fit. It was fine. This was part of the game. I couldn¡¯t have everything go my way.

    ¡°The wolf dying would be nice, though,¡± I said.

    I would need another batch of bricks, and it would be stupid not to make another full batch of fifteen bricks, even if I only needed five more.

    Working non-stop throughout the day made me realize something as the sun was setting. I was coming to realize I was not going to finish the to-do-list. Again. If repairing the greenhouse was the only thing I needed to do, then yes, I could finish it, but the garage needed to be upgraded, too.

    I finished putting the bricks into the garage, then placed five bags of sand in there.

    ¡°Maybe next to-do list, when I don¡¯t have to make so much glass,¡± I said.

    Though I glanced at the calendar. This was the end of the season, and it didn¡¯t look like I was getting a break. I had four more days before they attacked again, and then only three days after that. And the last three days of summer were all raining. That was going to be hard. I really needed my greenhouse to be producing like normal before then. I had a feeling I would be going through so many soups those last three days.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    A part of my mental self did not expect to prepare for another attack from them so soon. The attacks kept getting faster and faster, and my body still felt the shivers of those attacks when they managed to break through. I hated it. Even though they only got me once, I still felt like every attack was a drain on my wellbeing.

    ¡°Why can¡¯t I forget when they attacked me? If you¡¯re so keen on erasing memories that make me feel distressed, why aren¡¯t you erasing that one? You already mentioned it was a miscalculation, so why isn¡¯t it gone already?

    I stayed focused as I forced myself to sleep and wake up again. It didn¡¯t feel restful, but I was coming to terms with that. I almost would rather wake up not feeling as rested if it meant I didn¡¯t have to dream in this place.

    In the pouring rain, I put five more panes of glass into the greenhouse and received two shattered glass in return. Some of the panes were completely gone, so it wasn¡¯t much of a surprise that I didn¡¯t get shattered glass out of that. I was just annoyed when the game decided to have logic. It was a sore spot, still.

    Then again, it was a relief to only wait two days for tomatoes.

    I hated eating soup if I didn¡¯t need the additional stamina, so I suffered in the cold while doing my morning routine. It just made me shiver the entire time and lose a small chunk of stamina as I gathered eggs and farmed. I then placed thirteen baked clay items in the tool to start cooking. It wasn¡¯t a full fifteen, but I would still have extra bricks to store.

    And that was it. My to-do list was now waiting on the bricks. Once the garage was finished, I would make another batch of glass to be ready to add to the greenhouse. I was so close to completely finishing my to-do list. The glass would be done by the time they arrived. Which¡­ I would not want to be out here putting glass in the greenhouse during that time. But a part of me hoped that for the next to-do list, I could get it done. I was confident the greenhouse would be all finished in the next day or so. That would be such a huge relief.

    Until then, I had half a day until the bricks were done. Everything on the first floor of the house was decluttered, the walls were wiped down, and the tables and cabinets were cleaned off. I would have to start working on decluttering the two other rooms on the second floor.

    I wasn¡¯t sure what to do with that locked room. Every time I thought about it, a dark feeling hit my gut. There was a reason why that place was still locked, and I wasn¡¯t sure I wanted to know. Not when I saw that blood trickling out of the bottom of the door.

    I focused on decluttering the landing area on the second floor, then worked on the hallway. I went back into my pattern of making sure everything was on the front porch. Killie came to check in on me every once in a while, and I gave her all the love and attention she would let me give her. I seriously needed to make sure that cat never ran away from me. She was my lifeline.

    It was almost time to check on the bricks. I used some of my stamina to finish decluttering the small room under the stairs before I ate a bowl of soup and was warm enough to start dumping the junk in the pouring rain.

    As I dropped the stuff in the dumpster, I kept an eye on my dopamine points. It was a slow yet steady trickle back to the positive.

    -13.84

    -13.80

    -13.74

    -13.68

    I could, of course, drop two boards in the dumpster and be done with it, but if the junk was giving me something, it was almost relaxing to see the negative balance slowly get added to.

    Maybe I was weird that way, but also, I don¡¯t think anyone has ever experienced waking up in a farming game that was also in the horror genre for some reason. This made me happy. If it made me happy, I was doing it.

    I put the last remaining junk into the dumpster and checked on the bricks. They were almost done, but they¡¯d probably finish a good twenty minutes after my heat timer ran out.

    I used the time to make sure the hallway from the kitchen to the bedroom was completely clear of clutter. Part of me hoped that decluttering the second floor would give me another boost to my sanity and stamina. I remembered the last time they came. They didn¡¯t even attack and I was only holding on to a sliver of sanity.

    I spent the next little while getting a lot of junk onto the porch from the second level. Decluttering the two rooms on the second floor would undoubtably take days of solid work. But while I was killing time, it was nice to get this done now.

    Once I had a good collection of junk on the front porch, I ate one of my last two potato soups and went outside to the tool. I placed bricks into the garage, then waited.

    It gave a nice sheen, and I let out a breath. The garage was fully updated. Despite wanting to run inside right then to see what it did, I used my heat timer to put the rest of the bricks in the storage area, then started five more bags of sand to make glass. Another attack by them tonight would hurt the greenhouse, but I was still confident I could get it back to normal soon. I then dumped the last of the junk into dumpster. My dopamine point hit -12.94 which was a boost of dopamine in itself.

    I then ran into the garage, excited to see what the upgrade gave me.

 Chapter 35

    Words covered my vision and information filled my brain. It was a little overstimulating, and I tried instead to only focus on one thing.

    There were two sides of the bench at the back of the garage, newly done up and varnished. I focused on the side with what looked like a charging station.

    Battery charge

    Can hold up to two batteries

    Charges for 24 hours

    Gives power to flashlights for 8 hours

    Nice. Good. Great, even. I immediately grabbed two rusted batteries from the drawer and shoved them in the black charger. A green glow appeared around the charger, which was weird, but I wasn¡¯t going to question it. There were other things to question.

    I then glanced at the other side of the work bench and saw some strange working station.

    Paint making station

    select room

    room must be decluttered and walls must be wiped off

    primer must be applied to room, will take half a day to apply

    once primer is done, you may choose a color for the walls

    paint will take ten minutes to be applied

    I tried to hide my smile but failed. Paint! I could paint the rooms, now!

    ¡°So, um, what about the paneling? Is that¡­ magically disappearing now once I choose a paint color?¡± I asked.

    Yes

    My smile grew. There was no doubt going to be something that happened with the floor, but the paneling! I could see what this old house was like! I wanted to pick the paints right at that moment, but my entire body froze as I got closer.

    Must be wearing level three clothing for cleaning to use this equipment.

    ¡°Oh. Right,¡± I mumbled.

    In that case, I really did need to make this debt disappear. With a sigh, I cut up some logs and put them in the dumpster until I had 14.94 total dopamine points. It was too exciting. It was getting dark, but the wolf timer still had a good hour left. It was hard to tell time when the clouds were covering the sun. And then the trees covering the clouds covering the sun.

    I went to the clipboard, checking my progress.

    Farming level 14

    Cleaning level 16

    Logging level 19

    Cooking level 10

    Building level 21

    Animal Care level 12

    I was building a lot. I supposed it made sense. Logging and building were still leveling up close together. I was close to buying a third level of clothing for farming. Like, really close. So close that it would probably be in my morning routine tomorrow that I¡¯d hit farming level 15.

    I focused on what I was supposed to do, and that was to buy a third article of clothing for cleaning because I needed to see that paint! Now that the garage was upgraded, I chose a pale blue dress that somehow meant cleaning. I gave up trying to figure out the logic of these clothes.

    I mentally chose the gloves, apron, and recently purchased blue dress to head out to the garage wearing that, my steel toed boots, and a hard hat. My outfit was wild, but it was always wild.

    My heat timer was gone, but the run from the house to the garage was not that bad. I hoped that the rain logic for the garage was the same as the front porch. No, the garage wasn¡¯t heated by electricity by any means, but there was a newly made roof over my head, and my stamina was not hurt by the rain as I stayed in the garage.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

    I approached the paint station and saw more words filling my vision.

    Model house appear?

    Y/N

    ¡°Sure!¡± I was too curious not to try out everything.

    A 3-d image popped up of the house on the bench. My eyes widened as I looked at it. I wondered if it was the level of technology I saw in movies. I tried touching the house, smiling as the image followed my finger. I pinched it and watched as it zoomed in. It was a perfect replica of the house, to the point where the movies and the VHS¡¯s were all there.

    I zoomed back out and saw that every room on the bottom floor had a slight green glow, whereas the second floor was all red. The locked room was completely grayed out. I guess I didn¡¯t wash the walls in the pink room.

    -Choose room

    -Prepare primer

    -Give half a day for primer to dry

    -Once primer is done, you may choose any color you¡¯d like

    I couldn¡¯t help it and started taping my fingers together in pure joy. I¡¯d be clapping, but I didn¡¯t want to alert anything out in the woods. A large smile crossed my face. This was one of those moments where I seriously hated that I was on a time crunch. I could spend hours choosing the paint for the rooms. I had woken up to the red dawn light and the weird green paint on the ceiling of my bedroom since I got here. I wanted a different color!

    Lilac. Did this have a soft lilac color! Ugh, I loved lilac in bedrooms. It was so nice and inviting and¡­

    I glanced at my wolf timer. I had maybe ten minutes. Stupid time crunch. I had so many ideas. I wanted to start with my bedroom first.

    ¡°Lilac!¡± I hissed to the sky as I pressed the room that had the bedroom. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I¡¯m a swearing girl, but goddamn I need to have lilac as an option¡­¡±

    Must paint primer first

    Primer costs -7.00

    Once primer is done, colors do not cost anything

    I let out a quiet scream of frustration. I wanted to do this now. I was getting to the point of the house where I could actually change the aspect of the rooms instead of just cleaning it.

    And man, did I want that lilac color in that beautiful, tall bedroom I was sleeping in.

    It was worth the sacrifice. I needed to experiment, anyway. I ran into the storage room with eight minutes on my wolf timer and grabbed a brick.

    ¡°Time to see how much you give me,¡± I whispered.

    I ran back to the dumpster in the cold, sacrificing the stamina as I dropped the brick in there.

    +15.00!

    I squealed and ran back to the garage.

    ¡°Bedroom, please! Primer on bedroom!¡±

    The model on the house flickered to view again, and the section with the bedroom turned a solid blue color with a timer counting down from six hours. By tomorrow morning, I would see the catalog of colors.

    I also tried to paint another one, but I got an error message instead.

    Can only put primer paint on one room at a time

    ¡°Fine,¡± I said. ¡°Bedroom is fine.¡±

    I could still use the bedroom though, right? Because I knew they were attacking tonight, but I still needed to sleep in that room.

    My mood deflated just a little. In all my excitement and giddiness, I forgot that they were coming tonight.

    The wolf timer began blinking, and I winced. I rushed out of the garage and into the front porch. I pulled out my to-do list, just to see how close I was to finishing it.

    Repair all damages caused by them

    Make glass

    Strengthen the wall around the house and greenhouses

    Upgrade garage

    Purchase third article of cleaning clothing

    Build bridge to collect sand

    ¡°I was so close,¡± I whispered. ¡°Next time. I am going to finish my to-do list next time.¡± I placed the list in my pocket and took a deep breath, thinking about what the next few hours would bring.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be okay,¡± I said, opening the front door. ¡°I will keep happy thoughts. Like a lilac bedroom. It¡¯s going to be gorgeous.¡±

    Nice lilac walls, and soon I will gain the ability to change the floors. I had to. It only makes sense. Then this house would get back some of its old charm. Back to that beautiful hardwood that I knew was under that shag carpet. These were my happy thoughts to fight against the ghosts in the house threatening my sanity. It would work. It would absolutely work. I was going to stay mentally strong.

    ***

    I was underneath the computer desk in the living room, curled into the tightest ball I could, sobbing quietly to myself as they left, an echoing thud still sent shivers down my spine. I clutched my chest like that could calm my erratic heartbeat.

    I wanted to think that everything was different with this attack, but it was the same. It was all the same, and thoughts of that lilac bedroom made no difference. The ghosts, the giggling, the shrieking. Them, the thudding, the bellowing.

    I had a little more than a sliver of my sanity left, and I was exhausted on the ground, unable to find the desire to get up and go to bed, even though that was everything I wanted. The thing that hurt the most was I would experience this in another four days. A physical body could not handle this so soon. I needed a break, but I wasn¡¯t getting one.

    Four more days, then three more after that.

    And I chose now to realize that once again I did not get a memory orb. I wanted the attacks to end. I never felt a stronger desire for this whole game to be done than after an attack from them. But how could I figure out the clues to who I was before when my alien overlords weren¡¯t giving me anymore?

    I stumbled to my feet, Killie in my arms, purring softly. At this point I didn¡¯t care if I saw a ghost. My entire frame was trembling as I pushed open the bedroom door. Why did they sufficiently drain me of energy every time? Why did the ghosts terrify me so badly? I was doing so well. I was close to finishing that to-do list, and I had such excitement.

    And yet I collapsed in a heap on my bed, hearing the quiet sounds of someone, or something, painting this room.

    ¡°If there¡¯s no lilac¡­¡± I whispered with all the energy I had left, ¡°¡­I will find a way to hurt you¡­¡±

    With that, I ordered the game to force me into a dreamless sleep.

 Chapter 36

    I thought waking up would be hard. But when I opened my eyes and the red light of dawn filled the bedroom, I saw the white primer all over the wall. My sanity was at fifty percent, which explained why I almost ran straight for the garage when I stopped.

    ¡°To-do list, girl,¡± I said, shutting the front door. ¡°To-do list. You are going to finish a to-do list for once, and it¡¯s going to be this time.¡±

    I grabbed the phone, hit the number one, and listened to the woman speaking, watching the list appear.

    Repair all damages caused by them

    Strengthen the wall around the house and greenhouses

    Prime and paint three rooms on first floor

    Upgrade cooking fire

    Purchase third article of clothing for farming

    Plant lettuce and carrots

    ¡°Oh, some new produce!¡± I said, tearing off the to-do list.

    I was feeling good about this. Like, really good. In fact, I was quite sure I would be able to have the entire first floor primed and painted in four days, not just three rooms. The bedroom was already painted, after all. I was glad to see one of my jobs was to upgrade the cooking fire. I was curious what that would do. Would it help me do more complex recipes besides soups, cooked fish, and eggs? I hoped so. That would be nice.

    I walked out the back door to see how much the greenhouse was damaged in their attack.

    0/7 glass

    Not bad. Not bad at all. Yes, they left me shaking and scared last night, but I had four days to prepare for them again. And double plus, I wouldn¡¯t have to build the greenhouse from the ground up.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to do it. These next four days I will finally be able to finish my to-do list. I will do it!¡± I shouted. ¡°But first I need to make sure lilac is an option.¡±

    It was. My alien overlords listened to me! I had never mentally chosen something so quickly. I then paid the dopamine points to prime the entertainment room. I was already thinking of a really nice, forest green for that room and the living room. I tried not to think about what it would look like with the brown shag carpet, because eventually I would tear that up. Or this game would be the one to do that. I needed to see that beautiful hardwood floor!

    Until then, I had plans for that space, and forest green would be so cozy. If only the horror movies and books disappeared.

    I checked my to-do list and made a plan. I pulled out the glass from the tool that I put in there from the night before and placed them into the greenhouse. Now it read 0/2 glass that was needed to fix the greenhouse. I needed more glass. And to get more glass, I would need more sand.

    There were so many things to do. I quickly did my morning routine, feeling excited that the tomato plants were growing faster. If anything, these next four days I was going to stockpile more food, because it was going to rain every day for those last three days. I hoped I would have enough room in my storage for the food. I really needed to consider upgrading that, too.

    My morning routine was finished by complimenting Daisy on a beautiful egg before placing it in the storage and checking my progress. As expected, my farming hit level 15.

    I grabbed a bundle of firewood from storage to drop in the dumpster and got the +5 dopamine points from it to purchase my third article of farming clothes. I passed the brick making tool on the way back to the clipboard. Every moment the tool wasn¡¯t making something made me anxious. There were so many times I would be at a standstill because I was waiting for that tool to make bricks or stone blocks or glass. Having it empty felt wasteful.

    I bought a red checkered button up shirt as my new farming clothes, and smiled when I put on my farmer overalls and straw hat. I then paused as information downloaded into my brain and I heard the distinct click of a lock falling to the ground.

    Congratulations! Second greenhouse now unlocked.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    There were so many decisions to be made that in a panic, I froze where I stood. I had so much to do, and I could almost feel the deadline coming. Glass was needed. Fences would always be my priority. I only needed 0/2 panes of glass, and if the fences needed shattered glass, I had those stored away. But bricks and stone blocks might be needed, too.

    And yet a second greenhouse just unlocked! What decision did I need to make?!

    Fences. Fences would always be my priority. Yes, I had new produce to plant, but as long as I had them planted and watered before I went to bed, they would grow at a regular rate.

    I was too curious, and my axe was strong enough that I was willing to take the twenty minutes to chop down some trees into logs and boards to set into the main fence to see what I would need to strengthen the fence.

    0/3 stone blocks. I could do that. I already had enough stone in the storage to break up for blocks. I broke ten stones and placed them in the tool, figuring the fence around the greenhouses would need those, too.

    The tool was making blocks, and the fences were on their way to getting strengthened. I pulled out the to-do list to figure out my next game plan.

    Repair all damages caused by them

    Strengthen the wall around the house and greenhouses

    Prime and paint three rooms on first floor

    Upgrade cooking fire

    Purchase third article of clothing for farming

    Plant lettuce and carrots

    I was going to do this. This was the four days I would finish a to-do list and go to bed an hour early with Killie snuggled next to me.

    I glanced at the cooking fire and saw it would need 0/10 bricks. I already had about seven bricks in storage, so I would need more. I would also need as much sand as I could carry, because I liked the idea of only going on the other side of the bridge for huge hauls of sand. I went through twenty bags fast, but if I get another twenty, it wouldn¡¯t go nearly as fast because the greenhouse wasn¡¯t getting damaged every time.

    It looked like today was another day of gathering materials, though I first wanted to buy some lettuce and carrot seeds to plant in the second greenhouse and explore that a bit.

    Were there even lettuce seeds? Despite how many farming games I played, I didn¡¯t actually know the logistics of growing lettuce. Did they all come from seeds? And did carrots and lettuce commonly grow together? I didn¡¯t even know. It didn¡¯t matter. Since when did this game think about the logistics of things.

    I walked over to the second greenhouse. This one looked slightly bigger than the first one. It probably had six soil beds instead of three. I pushed open the door and saw this greenhouse, too, was a bit disorganized and cluttered. It wouldn¡¯t take me long. I realized that I couldn¡¯t plant the produce until I had this place cleared out and the soil boxes fixed. I thought today might be a resource gathering day, but it looked like it was another organize day.

    If I could get the produce planted by the time I went to bed, it would count, so I got to work, gathering together the items that I knew were junk while saving two more bags of fertilizer.

    It took a couple hours to dump the junk and rebuild the soil beds. Enough that I checked the garage to see the entertainment room had about two and a half hours left on its timer. I purchased the seeds from the clipboard and got to planting. It was strange being in an intact greenhouse as I watered the seeds. I could hear the lettuce and the carrots growing at a fast rate as little green leaves already poked out of the ground. With carrots I wondered if I would have to keep buying seeds, kind of like how I had to cut up a new potato every time I planted one there. I honestly didn¡¯t know. The carrots weren¡¯t that expensive at .50 dopamine points, but it still could be pretty pricey after a while. I figured it would depend on the recipes I got from carrots.

    Once it was all done, I still had plenty of time before the tool was done with the stone bricks and the entertainment room was done with primer. I went back to my original plan to make this a resource gathering day. Those always took a while, even with me able to carry two stones or two mounds of clay. Try as I might, I was burning through my stockpile, too. The fences and upgrading always made my small pile of saved resources get used up fast.

    Tomorrow was going to be a ridiculously hot day, and I wanted to test if a hotter day meant a quicker clay baking time. Which meant I would be carrying back mostly clay and sand from the river. I might hold off on cooking food for a day or two to make sure I had room to hold all that clay. If my theories were right and a hotter day did make a faster clay baking time, then I was hoping to form a nice collection of bricks.

    As I got closer to the bridge, I pulled out the to-do list.

    Repair all damages caused by them

    Strengthen the wall around the house and greenhouses

    Prime and paint three rooms on first floor

    Upgrade cooking fire

    Purchase third article of clothing for farming

    Plant lettuce and carrots

    I still had half a day, then three full days. I could do this. I was totally going to finish this. Three and a half days and I already had two items crossed off. By tonight I¡¯ll have the sand in the tool and have glass out by tomorrow morning to finish repairing the damages, which will be another thing crossed off my to-do list. When the blocks are done in another hour or two, that means the entertainment room will be finished priming, and I¡¯ll have the painting station start on the living room. By tomorrow morning two more things will be crossed off my to-do list, with three more full days to finish up strengthening the wall and upgrading the fire. This will so be done.

    I tucked the list away right as I got to the bridge and glanced over at the other side of the river. Waiting on the other side was a spider monster, who turned fast and noticed me. It opened its mouth full of jagged teeth and sneered. Everything inside me froze.

    I spoke way too soon.

 Chapter 37

    Okay, okay, so I didn¡¯t necessarily need the sand yet. I still had a plan to get as much clay as my storage unit could possibly handle, as well as fifteen or twenty bags of sand. Maybe ten. I could plausibly do ten bags.

    Technically I only needed five bags. Five bags to do a whole batch.

    Or two. I only needed two bags of sand to make to glass in order to repair the greenhouse. I needed the sand to make that tonight. Run the tool the entire night. I could do this. But as that monster was there, snarling at me, maybe I should go with clay first.

    I gathered the clay, watching the creature remain on its side of the bridge as I walked back to the house, trying not to feel like it would tear me to shreds. Technically it was as high as my mid-calf. I could take it, right?

    As I returned back to the river, I realized that I did not actually feel like I could take on this monster. I mostly hoped it would get bored and scuttle away, but this was a bush spider monster. The only reason why it would go away would be if a bigger monster was chasing it.

    I focused mostly on clay as the sun reached its peak. I started to shape ten of the clay to get them baking in the sun. I would have done more, but ten was all I had. I mostly did it to see if the monster would get bored again and scuttle away. When the stone blocks were done, I placed them in the fence before making ten more stone blocks.

    I don¡¯t know why I put so much hope on that monster getting bored. Despite it having no eyes, it could clearly see me and wasn¡¯t going anywhere.

    I wanted that sand. It was always on my mind, even as I dropped a board into the dumpster to get enough to start priming the living room in the afternoon. There wouldn¡¯t be a guarantee that the monster would be there tomorrow.

    I couldn¡¯t wait until tomorrow. I needed sand to start that tool tonight and get me some glass. I needed to be efficient! It was this stupid time crunch coming back to haunt me. If there were no horrors or haunts plaguing me, I would absolutely love to take my time to make this house a beautiful place to live in. But no. There had to be giggling ghost children and shrieking grandmas, as well as wolf creatures that could run on its hind legs and them that drained me of all energy. And now there was a bush spider monster that blocked me from getting resources that I needed to finish my jobs.

    I knew, eventually, that I would come to this situation. It was a side covered in monsters, after all. I couldn¡¯t avoid them forever. And if I wasn¡¯t careful, that bush spider monster might alert more friends.

    It had to be done. I had to attack that monster to get the sand. I couldn¡¯t avoid this forever.

    ¡°Stupid game,¡± I muttered to myself as my hands were balled into fists at my side. ¡°Stupid, stupid realistic game. Why couldn¡¯t I be making fun little cucumber sandwiches for a lovely tea party with a bunch of NPC¡¯s?¡± I headed toward the river, my voice getting far more annoyed. ¡°Pastries and cupcakes. Passing around little jars of jams and marmalade for scones in my beautifully done up forest green living room and entertainment room. Sip tea with merchant NPC¡¯s as we talk trade. Better yet, where¡¯s all those stupid NPC¡¯s I can romance?¡± I glared at the sky. ¡°Where¡¯s my rugged logger man eye candy? Or even a bookish nerd in the library down the street? Why can¡¯t I have someone to romance and prepare a special cake or make a complex statue to win his heart so I could get help around the farm? Make it so we keep the house beautiful and become the jewel of the little town in the middle of nowhere. But nooooooooo,¡± I said, holding out the syllable so the alien overlords could hear. ¡°Somehow I got stuck in a game where I¡¯m isolated and alone except for all these stupid monsters that want to attack me.¡±

    I kicked a tree for good measure. Sure, it stung, but I was also on the side of sanity, so it didn¡¯t hurt my health points. ¡°Whoever thought of the horror genre should die!¡±

    Okay, maybe I was being harsh, but I saw absolutely no appeal to this whatsoever. Though maybe the horror genre was old enough that the person who founded it was dead already.

    Which meant I wasn¡¯t only harsh, but insensitive, too.

    I wanted to ramble to the sky some more, but we were approaching the bridge, and it was smarter to stay quiet. I wanted to do this well before the sun set, because if I really was facing a spider monster, I¡¯d rather do that in the daylight.

    I held my breath, pulling out my axe as I got close. I hid behind a tree before glancing around and seeing the monster was gone. My breath stayed in my chest, because I found myself with a different conundrum. Which was worse? Seeing the monster or knowing it was there and not seeing it?

    If I wanted to survive this, I needed to treat it like this was a trap. I kept my axe in my hand, my hands gripping it as tightly as I do on the nights they attacked. I was pretty sure I already made grooves into this axe handle holding it like this.

    I placed one foot in front of the other as I moved across the bridge. The river masked most of the noise I made, but I was still walking across a bridge in daylight. As soon as my sanity turned into health points, I sprinted toward the sand. I didn¡¯t dare lower my axe, so I took my time filling the first two bags, my eyes traveling everywhere again. I picked up the bags, ready to head back to the bridge when I heard scuttling right behind me.

    I screamed bloody murder, dropped both bags, and swung my axe with all the strength I could muster. The axe blade caught the spider monster and tumbled to the ground. I didn¡¯t stop there. I ran up to it, still screaming as I slammed the axe into the monster again and again and again.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

    The thing was a bleeding green pulp of shredded leaves and broken sticks, and I was still screaming at it, hitting it like it was still alive and kicking.

    I didn¡¯t stop until it was an unrecognizable blob in the sand before I backed away, breathing heavily.

    ¡°Right,¡± I mumbled, moving some of the strands of hair from my face. ¡°Well¡­ that did it.¡±

    I wasn¡¯t even sure how many hits I needed to kill the thing. I was attempting to try a type of attack where I never let the creature touch me.

    I cleared my throat and grabbed the two bags of sand, rushing toward the bridge. The attack still made my limbs shake. There was a good chance the monster would have buddies.

    ¡°The more sand I have now, the less likely I¡¯ll be over here next time,¡± I whispered to myself, glancing around as I crossed the bridge again.

    It was a mantra I repeated in my head as I filled two more bags of sand. The entire forest grew still, and my heartrate spiked.

    ¡°Nope,¡± I said.

    I grabbed those two bags and booked it over the bridge. Four bags of sand. That was fine. I could use that. A monster screeched behind me, and I couldn¡¯t tell if it was close or far. Big or little. It was angry, that¡¯s all I knew.

    Four bags of sand were more than enough. I sprinted to the other side of the bridge and was thrilled to have my health points turn into a sanity bar.

    Okay, maybe thrilled was the wrong word in this context, but the state in which I was in was far more relaxed than it was on the monster¡¯s side, and I had to acknowledge that.

    I glanced at my wolf timer, seeing that the wolf was deciding to stay in its den for a long time tonight. Perfect. I needed all the time it would give me.

    Once the second batch of stone blocks were done tonight, I would put in the four bags of sand so they¡¯d be done in the morning.

    My priority would always be the fences. The stone blocks finished off the main fence, which meant I¡¯d need stone blocks for the one around the greenhouse once they were done. The greenhouse fence and the main fence followed a similar list, so I was confident enough that those stone blocks would be the last things it needed, too.

    In the dying light of the sun, I turned toward upgrading the cooking fire. It needed 0/10 bricks, which I hoped to have a healthy supply by the end of tomorrow. What I really needed to focus on was upgrading my storage in order to fit all those bricks and the extra produce I¡¯d be making with a second greenhouse.

    I worked on cutting down logs for boards. I only stopped to transfer the stone blocks from the tool into the greenhouse fence before storing the rest. Then I placed the four bags of sand in the tool. I went back to chopping down trees for upgrading my storage all the way until the wolf timer started blinking. I was close, too. I had 86/100 boards in the storage room. Much like the garage, I was certain this would be asking for bricks, which meant I was doubly glad I was planning on baking those clay pieces for bricks tomorrow.

    I pulled out my to-do list as I locked the back door.

    Repair all damages caused by them

    Strengthen the wall around the house and greenhouses

    Prime and paint three rooms on first floor

    Upgrade cooking fire

    Purchase third article of clothing for farming

    Plant lettuce and carrots

    That¡¯s right! The living room was done priming! I should have started the kitchen!

    I glanced at my timer, seeing I had twenty seconds left. Twenty seconds and a half full bar of sanity.

    ¡°Do it, Quinn. Be brave. You killed a monster today,¡± I whispered before grabbing my last two bundles of firewood from the storage area and sprinting out the front door.

    The garage and the dumpster were close. I dropped the two bundles of firewood into the dumpster without staying to acknowledge my bump in dopamine points. I then sprinted to the garage.

    ¡°Kitchen, kitchen, kitchen.¡± I slapped my palm against the painting station, waiting for it to respond, keeping an eye on my wolf timer.

    Something glitchy was happening. I watched the timer counting down from eleven seconds, then to seven, before it disappeared to zero. My heart stopped as I stared at it.

    ¡°Oh,¡± I said. ¡°I didn¡¯t realize¡­¡±

    The wolf snarled right beside the garage, and my eyes went huge. Despite all of this, I still glanced down to see the kitchen on the 3d replica had turned blue and had a six hour time it was counting down from.

    ¡°¡¯Kay,¡± was all I said before I booked it out of there.

    The wolf was clawing against the garage as I sprinted out of there. With a leap that should not be possible, the wolf sailed over the fence, that spine snapping sound echoing across the lawn.

    I felt my legs pumping as the front door got closer. My brain was frozen, unable to think, which was a miracle. I was neither thinking of the good nor the bad that would come from this endeavor.

    That wolf was sprinting fast. I could hear those two legs moving up behind me at an inhuman rate as I threw open the screen door then shoved myself through the front door.

    I slammed the front door, locking it tight, breathing as I heard the wolf snarling again, its body thumping against the door. I panted, leaning my entire body against the front door even as I heard the wolf retreating. My brain unfroze as a million thoughts entered my head. Some thoughts were of how crazy that was that I succeeded. Other thoughts were how I was never leaving this house again.

    That might have been stupid, but it was also a learning opportunity. Now I knew that if the timer was blinking red, there was a chance it could alter. Especially with how close the wolf got.

    I saw something move inside the house, and in a panic, I turned on my flashlight and pointed it toward the movement.

    It was Killie, lying in the middle of the floor, moving her tail from side to side as she gave me a look that I could only translate as judgmental. I didn¡¯t see the point of defending myself against my cat, but I couldn¡¯t help it. I pointed at my chest with a shaking finger.

    ¡°But did I die?¡± I asked.

    Killie blinked, then blinked again before she heaved herself up on her legs and walked toward the bedroom. I gave a sigh, then followed her into the lilac bedroom. That entire endeavor made me lose a chunk of sanity, but I mentally chose to wear my nightgown. My sanity was as much a currency as anything else in this game. It was terrifying what I did. I could have lost it all, but I didn¡¯t. I made it back, and tomorrow I¡¯d be at seventy-five percent sanity. The kitchen would be ready to paint tomorrow morning. I still doubted I would do anything so reckless again, but maybe¡­ if I really needed to¡­.

    Killie shot me another look as though she could read my thoughts.

    ¡°You still love me,¡± I mumbled.

    Killie responded by rubbing her back across my legs as she always did before jumping onto the bed. Killie had her own bed in the corner, but she took it as more of a suggestion. I collapsed on the bed as Killie snuggled up to me as I forced the game to let me sleep.

 Chapter 38

    I could feel my body relaxing. Feel myself not reacting nearly to the stress. I had three full days until they attacked, and my to-do list was well on its way to being completed.

    Despite the glass in the tool needing to get out, I gave myself a moment to admire the bedroom walls. They were a beautiful lilac color. The ceiling had rounded edges, and the lilac only reached to where the rounded edges started. I stared at the white ceiling, wondering what it would look like to paint the ceiling lilac, too. Was that an option? Could I do a bit more with the painting options?

    I walked out into the entertainment room. I didn¡¯t get a good look at it last night because it was dark and I just wanted to go to bed, but the dark green did look beautiful, as long as I didn¡¯t look at it with the carpet too long. In the corner of the room was a bundle of paneling. That must have been from the walls. There was a similar bundle in the living room next to the door. This was probably in the same category of junk, and I was probably supposed to dump it.

    I glanced up and noticed something else. The previous owners must have built something in order to artificially lower the ceilings. Those were gone now, and the ceiling was much the same as in the bedroom. Much taller, with the same rounded edges. Honestly, the forest green was a lovely color, but I definitely wanted to paint the ceiling. Was there an option of giving the ceiling a more decorated style to it with plaster? Give some lines and definition to a blank ceiling? Something that would come right out of the eighteen hundreds?

    This old house was beautiful, honestly. Absolutely beautiful. It would be even more beautiful without a wall of horror novels and VHS¡¯s, with a TV that came out of the nineties, but I already tried getting rid of those things.

    The living room wasn¡¯t painted yet, but I was trying to imagine it with the same forest green, and I was excited. I gathered the paneling and took it outside. I had momentarily forgot that it would be a blisteringly hot day until I stepped off the front porch and into the heat. I could feel the sweat already forming as I sacrificed a little stamina to dump the paneling into the dumpster. I didn¡¯t get much for junk from the house, but seeing a huge +9.43 boost to my dopamine made the sacrifice to my stamina worth it. So much, in fact, that I grabbed the other pile of paneling and sacrificed even more stamina dumping it in there. +7.57. Nice! All that together with my leftover points, I got a comfortable 25.94 total dopamine points. That was going to last me a bit.

    I finally ate my chilled tomato soup in three bites to give me the fifteen minutes I needed to do my morning routine. Killie was unaffected by the heat, so she zipped in and out of the greenhouse and chicken coop as I grabbed the panes of glass and put two in the greenhouse and two in the storage unit. I then pulled out my list, just to make sure.

    Repair all damages caused by them

    Strengthen the wall around the house and greenhouses

    Prime and paint three rooms on first floor

    Upgrade cooking fire

    Purchase third article of clothing for farming

    Plant lettuce and carrots

    This was so getting done. Upgrading fire with three days left? Yeah, I could do this.

    I considered buying Daisy another chicken friend, but I didn¡¯t want to do that until I knew how much space I would have in the storage room once I upgraded it. Once my morning routine was done, I got to work making clay into brick shape and leaving them out to bake. I stuffed as many clay shaped bricks on the back porch as I possibly could, eating through two more tomato soups to do it. Then I used the rest of my timer to chop down trees to boards and place them into upgrading the storage. By the time it was done, I had five uncut logs and a full 100/100 boards. I waited, watching the words above shift.

    0/50 stone blocks

    I let out a sigh. That was going to be a lot.

    I tried to place the five logs into the storage room, but I only got two in there before I could no longer move. I really needed the storage room upgraded. It did not bode well for how many bricks I wanted to add in there.

    With this new situation, I grabbed every finished brick I stored in the storage room and placed them into the cooking fire for part of upgrading the fire. I had eight total bricks out of the storage room and into the fire, and getting rid of ten more stones and breaking them up to place in the tool. I could still do a batch of bricks after these blocks and still have time to put the two bricks in the cooking fire before tonight. And if that was it, I¡¯d be done with my to-do list with two full days left before they arrived.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    And yet I still had so much to do with making sure I could fit all the stuff I just made into the storage room.

    I was about ready to go inside. I had one more chilled tomato soup left, and was ready to spend some time decluttering the second floor when the baked clay started to give off a sheen.

    That caused my own moment of satisfaction. My experimentation paid off. A hotter day cut the time in half. The bricks were done baking in three hours instead of six. But there was also a nagging annoyance that now I would really have to juggle what was in my storage to fit this all.

    I had a slight change of plans, eating my final chilled tomato soup before beginning to move the baked clay into the storage area. It was a struggle. There was a lot of rearranging as I added another thirty baked clay into the storage area. I put the last four tomato soups in the fridge to start them chilling. With that I knew I needed to make more food. The last three days of summer had three rainy symbols on them. I would need all the soup I could get to finish the to-do list, but I had no room. It was frustrating.

    ¡°You know,¡± I said to my alien overlords. ¡°I distinctly remember there was one game I used to play where they had an unlimited amount of storage space. You know why I remember that when there are so many things I can¡¯t remember?¡± I grunted, trying to shove another baked clay into the storage. ¡°Because of the overwhelming relief I felt knowing I didn¡¯t have to worry about things like this. Not needing to rearrange everything all the time. Just stockpiling to my hearts delight.¡± I let go of the baked clay as it clattered to the ground. I glared at my already stuffed storage room.

    On a whim, I turned around and tried to move the baked clay into the house. Logic told me that the wolf would only destroy things if they were outside the house. I had plenty of room in there, and the second floor was already used to being a storage place of some sort, so it wouldn¡¯t be that big of a stretch to imagine it being a second storage room. I didn¡¯t get far before the invisible wall kept me from going inside with the baked clay. I grumbled, setting the baked clay on the ground.

    The stone blocks would soon be done cooking, and I could place fifteen of the baked clay in the tool to store them in there.

    I sighed, feeling like this was simply taking too much time. I didn¡¯t have to worry about this until the wolf came tonight. Until then, yes, I would have fifteen more bricks to deal with, but I¡¯d also be getting rid of a few more things to bake in the tool, too. Upgrading the storage room was now a priority. Since I had nothing else on the to-do list except upgrade the fire, I would focus on that now.

    I finished putting the rest of the clay into bricks, even though I knew they would never fit in the storage room. I was hoping, on a whim, that I would be able to get some sort of inspiration for them and figure out how to store them before tonight.

    I began decluttering the second floor, in a room I started calling the green room. Each of these bedrooms on the second floor had a primary color to their walls already, and as I decluttered this room, I realized there was peeling green wallpaper in this room. It didn¡¯t look like it held anything like the sewing machine in the pink room. Either way, the second floor needed to be decluttered, and it was a hot day. I had five soups in the fridge starting to chill, so I used that time to move down boxes and slowly make a dent in the clutter of the second floor.

    For the most part, I put thoughts of the storage room away from my mind. I took a break to pull out the stone blocks when they were done cooking and place fifteen of the baked clay into the tool to make bricks. I placed the blocks right into the storage room for upgrade, and went right back to decluttering. That would at least get rid of ten stones. Instinct told me that I needed to get the logs out of the storage room. They took up way too much space, and they weren¡¯t nearly as valuable as the baked clay or finished bricks.

    I kept working throughout the day, waiting for the tool to finish making those fifteen bricks. I wanted to know what else the fire would need, because upgrading things were always a great place to store things.

    I had a third of the green room decluttered when I went downstairs to eat a chilled tomato soup and placed the rest of the junk in the dumpster. That green room was probably the most stuffed with junk. I used the excuse that I was placing junk in the dumpster, but really I went to check on the tool. I had kept an eye on the wolf timer and watched it as it counted down six hours. It was a handy thing having a clock in my head.

    The tool was done, and I was so excited I momentarily forgot about all the junk on the front porch as I grabbed the fifteen bricks out of the tool. I set two into the fireplace and waited eagerly.

    To my surprise, it looked like the fire only needed those ten bricks to upgrade. I would have loved to of gotten rid of more stuff in the storage room, but I would take this.

    New words appeared in my head.

    New Recipe Section Unlocked: Comfort Foods

    Comfort Foods restore a small amount of sanity.

    I gasped. I had thought of it as a possibility, but I didn¡¯t think it would already happen. This was excellent! Did this mean I wouldn¡¯t be such a mess after they attacked? Now that I could restore sanity by eating as well as sleeping, this could possibly make me braver.

    I hesitated, frowning as I imagined what it would take to stay outside after the wolf was prowling. I had already done that and swore to never do that again. I doubted a bit of food would magically change that.

    Okay, so maybe this would only make me a little braver. But it was a step in the right direction.

 Chapter 39

    In my excitement, I almost forgot about the junk on the front porch and the fact that I still had a good ten minutes left on my cool down timer. I practiced a level of self-restraint I didn¡¯t think was possible and used the rest of my timer to dump the junk. With the leftover time I remembered that I still hadn¡¯t painted the kitchen and should probably get the primer done on the bathroom.

    I chose a mint green for the kitchen, though I wasn¡¯t sure how I¡¯d feel about it until I was in there. I then glanced at my dopamine points. I knew I had enough points to prime the bathroom, since those paneling¡¯s gave me so much, but I was floored to see I had 47.03 total dopamine points. It only took me a moment to remember that I finished my to-do list, and I must have gotten a huge bonus for completing it.

    There were some mixed feelings going on. Yes, it was great, but it also hurt that I missed out on those bonuses throughout the rest of the season. I could have had that if the greenhouse didn¡¯t get so damaged.

    I got the bathroom ready to prime, thinking about a much darker color for the bathroom. It was already dark in there with no window, but I wanted to see what it looked like with a darker color blue or dark red.

    I didn¡¯t have much time left, so I raced back to the house and walked over to the clipboard. I was curious to see what kind of recipes were under comfort foods.

    Only two were unlocked.

    Basic fries and ketchup

    0/3 potatoes

    0/2 tomatoes

    Fish and chips

    0/2 fish

    0/1 egg

    0/3 potatoes

    There were a lot of other recipes grayed out. I couldn¡¯t even get a clue to what they were. I was pretty sure flour was involved with fish and chips, but I wasn¡¯t about to question it. I would be very interested in trying these recipes to see how much sanity they gave me.

    I would no doubt discover more recipes as I went along. There were two whole greenhouses still to unlock, after all. I would have to try cooking some of those recipes tomorrow, though. I had a bunch of potatoes just waiting to be used up.

    As long as I had the room for them.

    My gaze traveled to the stuffed storeroom, giving a small sigh. It was getting late enough that I needed to figure out how to fit a small stack of twenty bricks and baked clay into the storage area that were left over from my experiment. The first thing to do was to get the logs out of the storage room. Those were easy resources I could get any time I wanted. With that alone I managed to get half the bricks and baked clay into the storage room. It meant there had to be some size restraints for the storage, too. Of course it made sense that bigger things took more space, but it still annoyed me that I couldn¡¯t just stack the bricks in the storage room in a pile. They had to have their place.

    In the end, I took out whatever clay I needed to in order to stuff the rest of the bricks in the storage room. Basic clay was not as worked on as baked clay or even bricks. I already knew I needed stones for the stone blocks, so I kept those in the storage area.

    I placed the logs and the clay in the middle of the yard so the wolf wouldn¡¯t hurt the house. As I walked back in the dying light, I pulled out my to-do list for that final burst of dopamine.

    Repair all damages caused by them

    Strengthen the wall around the house and greenhouses

    Prime and paint three rooms on first floor

    Upgrade cooking fire

    Purchase third article of clothing for farmingThis story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

    Plant lettuce and carrots

    To-do list finished, reward of +20.00.

    I tucked the list away and opened the front door, seeing the beautiful forest green in the living room and entertainment room. Killie meowed as she rubbed her back against my leg. I picked her up, holding her close.

    ¡°How about we go to bed early tonight, huh?¡±

    Killie said nothing, just rubbed her head under my chin as we headed into the beautiful lavender bedroom. I stared at the ceiling, sighing.

    ¡°Also, I don¡¯t think you understand how beautiful the ceiling would look with those little plaster floral decorations. Is that an option?¡± I asked my alien overlords.

    They didn¡¯t respond, and for the first time in a long time, I allowed myself to go to sleep well before the hauntings started.

    Despite the low stress, it still felt weird to wake up with no true feeling of rest. Just the end of one day, and the start of another with full stamina and now full sanity.

    I walked outside, passing the clay and the logs that were now ripped to shreds, but it didn¡¯t hurt as much now that I knew what to expect. I went to the tool, putting the stone blocks into the storage room and adding ten more broken stones. If everything went well, I would get the stone blocks done by tomorrow morning. There would definitely be more the storage would require, but at this point I was fine with that. I was seriously hoping it would take bricks so I could get rid of most of those bricks. I still wanted to keep some in case the fences would need them at the next to-do list. I probably wouldn¡¯t be able to make any clay into baked clay while it was raining. It would be a guessing game about what that to-do list would need. I would need to stockpile some bricks.

    But I also needed to cook more food. I had one potato soup left, and four chilled tomato soups. I had two cooked eggs, one basic fish omelet, and four fried fish. I had a basket of three fish, and a basket of tomatoes and potatoes. After doing my morning routine, I added another basket of tomatoes and a basket of carrots as well as another egg. The carrots would need more seeds, and so far, there were no new recipes that unlocked when I picked the carrots. I wasn¡¯t going to buy more seeds unless there was a reason to grow carrots.

    Once my usual morning routine was done, I sat down at the newly upgraded cooking fire and placed firewood, sticks, and matches in there. I placed potatoes and tomatoes into the fire, wondering how it was that tomatoes could pop out with ketchup while in a fire. I stopped questioning how it happened, and just waited for it to appear. These comfort foods took a bit longer than the soups, but I remained relaxed by the fire.

    The fries and a container of ketchup appeared, and I put it aside with a smile to place two fish, an egg, and three more potatoes into the fire.

    I let my mind wander as I stared at this place that was turning quite cozy in the morning light. Killie was exploring through the tall grass. Despite all the work I had done inside the house, the outside still looked dilapidated. Even the updated garage looked far nicer on the outside than the house. There would have to be some way to start making the outside start to look as nice as the inside.

    The fish and chips took a lot longer, but once they were done, I started making soup. Those three days of rain pressed on my mind, and I was not prepared with the little soup I had left. I still planned on doing some fishing later today so I could make a few more fish in chips tomorrow. They were coming tomorrow night, and it would be a perfect time to test just how much these two comfort foods would give me.

    Though something told me that their arrival perhaps wasn¡¯t the best time to test it. You didn¡¯t do a test run on the day of the race, you did it before. I didn¡¯t have to go to bed tonight. I could stay up and get sufficiently spooked to figure out what these comfort foods did, and then have a whole morning again to cook and be prepared.

    I let out a breath, knowing what I had to do, but not being excited about it at all. Technically my sanity could get to fifty percent, and it would still be fine. It was something I really needed to test, but I didn¡¯t like it. Not at all.

    I sighed, then glanced at the trees. I had a source to fill up my sanity. It would be stupid not to try this. But it also felt stupid to try it. I-

    My brows furrowed as I kept staring at the trees. My eyes darted over all of them, a realization hitting me. The breeze playing over the grass wasn¡¯t necessarily hot. It wasn¡¯t cold, either, but there was a shift. I just didn¡¯t notice it until I saw the trees. Some of the leaves were touched with color. The green leaves were starting to change. Autumn was coming, and the game was showing that by having a handful of leaves on a usually green tree change to gold, orange, or red.

    I let out another breath, then finished up the last of my cooking. As the final tomato soup was cooking, I walked over to the garage and chose a dark blue paint for the bathroom. If the alien overlords didn¡¯t count the hallway with the stairs leading up to the second floor, I had the entirety of the first floor primed and painted. It only took a few moments of satisfaction before I wondered about the ceiling. Or even some wallpaper. A nice accented wallpaper wall would be nice.

    I waited for my bar of sanity and stamina to grow, but it didn¡¯t. Either I didn¡¯t get a reward for finishing the first floor, or I really did need to make sure to wipe down the walls in the hallway leading up to the second floor.

    With that, I spent the rest of the morning fishing. I didn¡¯t think it would take so long, but as soon as I got to the bridge, another spider monster tumbled out of the forest and growled. I grumbled, of course thinking I might gather some sand while I was at it, but that would prove difficult with the monster.

    Thankfully the spider monster didn¡¯t chase away all the fish, but it still took a lot longer than I¡¯d like to get two more fish. I wanted to stay and get more, but the stone blocks would soon be done in the tool, and I needed to make sure that was constantly going with new blocks so I could get the storage upgraded.

    I walked back to the house and went to the back yard. The tool was done, so I reached in to grab one of the stone blocks. A block came out with a memory orb attached to it. I raised my eyebrows in surprise.

    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s been a while!¡±

    That was all I managed to say before the memory orb smacked my chest and everything went dark.

 Chapter 40

    A montage of events came in quick succession. Quinn and Theo were growing up.

    Six-year-old Quinn and Theo were sledding down the hill, Quinn screaming in excitement as Theo had the biggest smile on his face. They flew over a bump on the ground, causing both of them to tumble out of the sled. Quinn shrieked with laughter, and Theo could not stop giggling.

    Brenda, Doug, Quinn, and Theo were there when Derrin graduated high school. Two of Brenda and Doug¡¯s other adult children were there to congratulate him as all three of them were officially out of the house.

    More foster children came in and out of the house, but Theo and Quinn remained the same. Quinn always helped out to give instructions to the children, whether they were six months old or sixteen. She was simply a chatterbox. Theo remained quiet, but respectful.

    Theo and Doug stayed up late on the weekends, watching scary movies. Ten-year-old Theo kept hounding Doug for higher rated movies, but Doug put his foot down.

    ¡°Miss Nichole even said I should watch harder stuff! It¡¯s good for me!¡± Theo said.

    ¡°No, Miss Nichole and I both agree nothing past PG-13 until you¡¯re sixteen,¡± Doug said.

    Theo groaned before it shifted to the next scene. It was Quinn¡¯s eleventh birthday, and she was unwrapping one of her presents. She frowned, looking at the game case. ¡°Harvest Moon,¡± she read out loud.

    Theo snorted, then shook his head. ¡°Isn¡¯t that a game for babies?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve been asking around,¡± Brenda said, patting Theo¡¯s shoulder to quiet him. ¡°I know you haven¡¯t been loving the games we got as a family, and Anna said that maybe you should give this one a go.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Quinn said. ¡°Maybe games just aren¡¯t my thing. I¡¯m not real big on the shooting creatures or killing bugs.¡±

    ¡°Oh, no, Anna said this has none of that. It¡¯s more a relaxing game. Repair a farm and get it thriving. It¡¯s in a genre of games that I think it¡¯s called farming simulators?¡± Brenda checked with Doug, who nodded. ¡°I¡¯m not super familiar with games, either.¡±

    ¡°So¡­ no shooting anything?¡± Quinn asked.

    Brenda shook her head. ¡°Nope.¡±

    ¡°No defending your camp from space alien bugs?¡± Theo asked.

    ¡°I hate that game,¡± Quinn mumbled, her mind mostly on the game.

    ¡°I think you¡¯ll like this. Give it a go. And if you don¡¯t like it, then that¡¯s fine, too,¡± Doug said.

    Quinn shrugged. ¡°I mean, it¡¯s worth a shot.¡±

    The scenes went through rapid succession, Quinn playing game after game after game, her small bookshelf in her room filling with cases of all sorts of farming games.

    Thirteen-year-old Quinn and Theo were near a Christmas tree, unwrapping a box holding papers. Brenda and Doug hadn¡¯t had a new child come to the house in months.

    ¡°We¡¯ve decided to end our time fostering,¡± Doug said when Theo gave him a questioning look, holding the papers.

    ¡°End fostering so we can finally make it official,¡± Brenda said.

    Quinn gasped, eyes widening in excitement. ¡°Adoption!¡±

    Brenda nodded. ¡°Adoption.¡±

    Doug grunted. ¡°As soon as the judge makes it official.¡±

    ¡°We both agreed they simply can¡¯t split you two up, and the best way to keep you together is to keep you here,¡± Brenda said. Quinn squealed and hugged Brenda. Brenda hugged Quinn back, smiling.

    ¡°So, um¡­¡± Theo started to say.

    ¡°You can still call us Brenda and Doug if that¡¯s what you want,¡± Doug said.

    Theo nodded, his eyes cast downward. ¡°I would¡­ rather do that, yes.¡±

    Doug gave him an encouraging smile. ¡°That¡¯s just fine.¡±

    The scene shifted, all smiling faces at the courthouse. They each put an arm around each other as they smiled for the camera. Derrin and his siblings were there, too. The family was growing, with one of their adult children already with a baby on her hip.

    They were out for ice cream later, just Brenda, Doug, Theo, and Quinn.

    ¡°You two needed each other, you know,¡± Brenda said. ¡°You¡¯re like yin and yang. I¡¯ve never seen two children with two completely different likes and dislikes come together like you two have.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re not that different,¡± Quinn said, glancing at Theo. ¡°Are we?¡±

    Doug chuckled, moving his spoon around in his banana split. ¡°Says the person that doesn¡¯t have to go to every horror movie that hits the big screen.¡±

    ¡°Ugh, those are gross,¡± Quinn said.

    ¡°Speak for yourself,¡± Theo said.

    ¡°I am speaking for myself. They¡¯re gross. Why do you watch those?¡± Quinn asked.

    Theo shrugged. ¡°Because they¡¯re cool.¡±

    The scene shifted, and fourteen-year-old Quinn came home from school, shrugging off her backpack and coat.

    ¡°Theo!¡± Quinn shouted. There was no answer. ¡°Theo!¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Did you really punch Richard in the face?¡± Quinn asked, following the sound of Theo¡¯s voice.

    ¡°Sorta,¡± Theo said.

    Quinn pushed open the door to see Theo on the bed with an ice pack against his cheek. ¡°What do you mean sorta?¡±

    ¡°I mean he sorta asked for it. And he punched me back, so no, I don¡¯t feel bad,¡± Theo said.

    ¡°What¡¯d he do?¡± Quinn asked.

    ¡°Oh, come on. You¡¯ve heard the rumors. I was trying to stop it once and for all, because it¡¯s disgusting.¡±

    Quinn furrowed her brows. ¡°You mean of us being adopted? Everyone knows that.¡±

    ¡°Not just about us being adopted,¡± Theo said, getting up. ¡°About how people figured out we¡¯re not actually biologically brother and sister. Richard¡¯s a sick kid who thought we are secretly dating.¡±

    Quinn blinked, then leaned over, gripped her knees before she made a gagging noise.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    ¡°I thought so, too,¡± Theo said, keeping the ice pack on his cheek.

    ¡°What kind of sick rumors are those!¡± Quinn shouted, still gripping her knees. ¡°Why is this kid your friend?¡±

    ¡°You haven¡¯t heard the rumors?¡± Theo looked confused. ¡°Seriously, Quinn, aren¡¯t you more popular than me?¡±

    ¡°Well, I mean¡­ maybe talk to more people and you can make better friends than Richard. The sick kid,¡± Quinn mumbled as she straightened. ¡°I just thought that he¡­ you know¡­¡±

    Theo raised an eyebrow. ¡°That he what?¡±

    Quinn paused, then her gaze shot to the ground as she shuffled her feet.

    ¡°That he what, Quinn? Seriously? What could be worse than rumors of us secretly dating?¡±

    ¡°I just thought Brady finally squealed and told Richard your last name. From¡­ before.¡±

    Theo¡¯s face changed instantly. Despite it almost being ten years ago, the haunted look returned to his face in full force, and it was almost like five-year-old Theo was back.

    ¡°I am not Theo Wolfe,¡± he whispered before stomping off to the kitchen.

    Another scene appeared, this one seemed far more relaxed as it lingered on Brenda reading a book on the couch, sipping from a mug of coffee before placing it on the end table. Seven-year-old Quinn walked in the room, arms folded, confused.

    ¡°Brenda,¡± Quinn said, her brows furrowed. ¡°Theo¡¯s¡­ being weird.¡±

    Brenda glanced up from her book. ¡°Oh? What¡¯s he doing?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s just¡­ in bed. Under his covers. Every time I think it¡¯s because he¡¯s sleeping, but then I leaned over today, and his eyes are open. He¡¯s just staring in the distance. I try to talk to him, but he ignores me. It¡¯s like he actually is asleep, but I can tell he¡¯s not. Do you think he¡¯s sleeping with his eyes open? Ashley says some people can do that.¡±

    Brenda gave a small, sad smile. ¡°It¡¯s so good of you to look after Theo. That¡¯s a lovely quality you have.¡±

    ¡°But what¡¯s wrong with him?¡±

    ¡°Nothing is wrong with him,¡± Brenda said, closing her book and putting it next to her mug of coffee. ¡°It¡¯s just¡­ Theo has¡­¡± Brenda let out a small sigh, trying to organize her thoughts. ¡°Theo has something called depression.¡±

    Quinn frowned. ¡°Depression? What¡¯s that?¡±

    Brenda smiled, patting Quinn¡¯s hand. ¡°Something I hope you never experience, but it¡¯s still important to show compassion to those who have it.¡±

    ¡°But what is it?¡± Quinn asked.

    Brenda pursed her lips, trying to think. As she did so, the scene shifted. It was of little seven-year-old Theo, curled in the bed under the covers, staring at nothing.

    ¡°It¡¯s hard to explain depression because it¡¯s so different for everyone.¡± Brenda¡¯s voice was still heard, even though the scene remained on Theo, curled in a bed. ¡°Some people might love doing a hobby, then for weeks or even months just not find enjoyment in it anymore. Some people get really angry at the drop of the hat.¡±

    ¡°Theo does that sometimes,¡± Quinn said.

    In the bed, Theo closed his eyes.

    ¡°Yes, he does. It¡¯s because his energy is low, and he has to do so many things and the poor kid is just tired. He will often just lie in bed.¡±

    ¡°So why doesn¡¯t he just sleep?¡± Quinn asked.

    ¡°Because he¡¯s too exhausted.¡±

    ¡°Too exhausted to sleep? I don¡¯t get it.¡±

    ¡°Even though it looks like Theo is asleep, his mind is playing images of the past while depression is filling him with thoughts that don¡¯t leave him alone. Thoughts that make it difficult for him to feel relaxed enough to sleep.¡±

    Theo didn¡¯t move. Sometimes he would open his eyes, sometimes he closed them. Mostly he remained in bed, doing nothing.

    The scene returned to Quinn and Brenda talking in the other room.

    ¡°How did depression happen?¡± Quinn asked.

    ¡°We¡¯re not sure. Some people are born with it. Some people might only have it during wintertime. For Theo, something bad happened in his past, and the depression comes from that.¡±

    ¡°Is this why you keep telling me not to ask about his family?¡± Quinn asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Brenda said. ¡°And I want you to keep respecting his privacy in that way. He¡¯s working it out with Miss Nichole, and Doug and I are here to help him through it, too. You just be his friend.¡±

    Quinn folded her arms. ¡°But how can I when he never responds? He doesn¡¯t want to play with the toys I give him.¡±

    ¡°No. He wouldn¡¯t have the energy to do that.¡± Brenda said.

    ¡°I don¡¯t get it.¡± Quinn stared at Brenda, clearly trying to understand.

    Brenda tapped her book in thought, then glanced at Quinn. ¡°You know all those movies Theo watches?¡±

    Quinn screwed up her face in disgust. ¡°Yeah. Those are creepy.¡±

    ¡°In a way, Theo is fighting his own monster.¡±

    ¡°Depression is a monster?¡± Quinn asked.

    ¡°For many people, yes.¡± Brenda said.

    ¡°A scary one?¡±

    Brenda nodded. ¡°It can be.¡±

    ¡°Like one of teeth and fur?¡± Quinn asked.

    ¡°Possibly. Though maybe it¡¯s better to imagine it as¡­ as a big black blob of slime.¡± Brenda said.

    Quinn shook her head. ¡°But he¡¯s not actually getting attacked, is he?¡±

    ¡°In a way, yes. But this sludge monster doesn¡¯t tear him apart limb from limb like in the movies. It covers him, then sucks all the energy out of him before leaving him with thoughts of hopelessness. He has a hard time picking himself back up after each attack.¡±

    ¡°Can he kill it forever?¡± Quinn asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Brenda said. ¡°Some people can. But other people¡­¡±

    The scene changed again, even as Brenda¡¯s quiet sigh was still heard. The scene was of Theo¡¯s bedroom again, but the boy changed, growing older, playing in his room. Sometimes he was fine and happy, playing with friends or drawing some pictures.

    ¡°¡­for other people, it¡¯ll be a constant in their life,¡± Brenda¡¯s voice said as the scene kept shifting, showing a growing Theo doing homework, then times where he would walk over to his bed, the weight of the world on his shoulders as he collapsed into it. Barely able to do anything else but grab the covers and stare blankly at the wall.

    ¡°And it might be a constant for Theo.¡±

    Theo kept growing. Kept smiling. Kept laughing. Kept collapsing in bed. Kept curling into a ball. Kept staring at nothing. Kept closing his eyes like he was asleep, but there was always the furrow on his brow as the thoughts did not give him peace. The weight of life pressed deeper into him as his face grew devoid of emotion.

    ¡°But it¡¯s not fair,¡± Quinn¡¯s seven-year-old voice said.

    ¡°No. No it¡¯s not. But until we can figure out a way to kill depression everywhere, Theo will have times when he¡¯s being attacked by a monster none of us can see but him. Miss Nichole, Doug, and I are doing our best to help him fight back. Make it so he¡¯s given the proper weapons to fight it off. I just want you to worry about giving him all the love and compassion I know is in that heart of yours to give him time to recover from each attack.¡±

    Theo remained in bed, hardly moving.

    Quinn sighed. ¡°Yeah. Yeah, alright.¡±

    Theo kept staring, kept doing nothing. His face changed and morphed from the years that passed. Child to tween, tween to teenager.

    ¡°But why does he watch those scary movies with monsters if he¡¯s fighting a monster himself?¡± Quinn¡¯s voice asked.

    ¡°Well,¡± Brenda¡¯s voice said. ¡°Because sometimes it¡¯s nice to know that monsters can be defeated.¡±

    ¡°But¡­ but in so many of those movies they never succeed. Theo talks about it a lot. The monsters can¡¯t be killed and the hero¡­ the hero dies.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know why he¡¯s so drawn to them. But Theo¡­ he has something the heroes in those horror movies don¡¯t have,¡± Brenda¡¯s voice said.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°You. You and your big, loving heart.¡±

    The voices disappeared. Seventeen-year-old Theo remained in bed, staring at the wall, reacting to nothing. He remained there, time passing as he hardly moved a muscle, looking as though he was asleep except for the furrow in his brow or the occasional times his eyes would open and he stared blankly at the wall.

    The door opened, and seventeen-year-old Quinn walked in.

    ¡°Hey, Theo, did you say you had your AP English te-¡± Quinn stopped at the sight of Theo in bed, hardly moving, barely doing enough to breathe. Quinn hesitated, then slipped out of the room. Theo remained, staring at the wall, looking like he was asleep, and yet his eyes were open. The only thing that made anyone think he was still alive was his eyes were focused on a point on the wall instead of being sightless.

    The door opened again, and Theo didn¡¯t react. Quinn walked in with two handheld gaming consoles. She placed one by Theo with no expectation that he¡¯d take it before she herself sat down on the ground by his bed, her back to Theo. It was much how it was on their first night at Brenda and Doug¡¯s house, yet this time Quinn didn¡¯t talk nonstop. Instead, she turned on her game, remembering where she was and started mining for ores to upgrade her farming tools.

    Quinn said nothing. She didn¡¯t have to. She was busy, lost in the rhythm of her game, gathering resources and farming the crops. She sat there with Theo, unafraid of the invisible monster attacking him. The quiet, peaceful music of her game was the only sound. After a while, Theo took a deep breath as though coming to himself and glanced down at the gaming console near him where Quinn left it. He picked it up with trembling hands, turning it on. He loaded his favorite first person shooting game, remaining on the bed as he started playing. In that room, the quiet, peaceful songs of nature from Quinn¡¯s game were interspersed with Theo¡¯s game of gun shots and brain matter hitting the wall. They remained that way for an hour, ignoring their homework and other responsibilities.

    ¡°Kids!¡± Brenda shouted from the kitchen. ¡°Dinner.¡±

    Theo and Quinn both glanced at the door. ¡°Coming!¡± they shouted back.

    Quinn stood up before offering a hand to Theo. He took her hand and forced himself out of bed.

    ¡°I hope it¡¯s tater tot casserole. I¡¯m starving,¡± Quinn said.

    ¡°Do you think we¡¯ll ever convince Brenda to make french fries as a side instead of green beans?¡± Theo asked.

    ¡°Doubtful. Besides, tater tots are the fried version of potato. It¡¯s in the casserole itself! I love that stuff,¡± Quinn said.

    Theo kept his arms folded, no smile on his face, but Quinn didn¡¯t expect to see one so soon after an attack. Quinn turned back around to grab the gaming consoles before the two of them left Theo¡¯s room.

 Chapter 41

    I gasped, stumbling back. I clutched the stone block as I reoriented myself. I didn¡¯t want to drop the block on my foot, but my hands were shaking dangerously. I sank to the ground, resting the block on the cement as I stared at the base of the tool.

    Was this entire game some super strange analogy? Some way to help me feel what it was like to have a depression like Theo¡¯s? But¡­ why? Why would the alien overlords be involved in something like this? There is no way those two beings would simply do this to help me know what it felt like. They must still be on this search to study human nature and figure out if they could replicate depression. Dark, soul draining depression. Because that was undoubtably what they were. It was too uncanny to hear my younger self and Brenda talking so calmly about a monster that I had seen in this world. The fur, the teeth, the slime, there was no other way to describe it.

    And the wolf creature. There had to be a reason why they showed me that memory of Theo looking so haunted when his last name was revealed. Theo Wolfe. His drawing of the same wolf creature haunting this house. They were absolutely connected. Somehow.

    I came to the strange conclusion that this whole experience had little to do with me at all. So much of the memories, of the experiences here, were tied to Theo. Theo¡¯s memories, yet I was here instead.

    I glanced at the back of the house. Was this Theo¡¯s house, too? A childhood home and life I was never allowed to ask about?

    As always, the memory orbs left me with so many questions, and the one constant was why. Why was I even here? Who were the alien overlords? What was going on? I was learning a lot, but I still wasn¡¯t understanding the most important thing I wanted to know.

    How could I get out?

    I let out a sigh, then lifted the stone block and placed it in the storage unit before going back for the others. My mind was still reeling from the memories. Those last memories were very depression heavy, and I was scared. Despite having my memory wiped, I knew I did not feel the same level of depression as Theo. I¡¯ve been here for almost thirty-five days, an entire summer, according to the calendar. I felt sad, I felt alone, but I never hit the level of depression that I saw Theo experience in those memories. Not unless you count moments after they attacked. But that was the point, right? To experience what it was like to be attacked by depression. By them.

    I broke ten more stones and placed them in the tool. By tonight I would have those ten blocks in the storage unit, and then another batch going so that tomorrow morning I¡¯d know what else the storage room would need to give me more space.

    I rubbed my chin as I went to catch more fish. There were clues here. I was pretty sure this was Theo¡¯s childhood home. He never talked about it. Doug and Brenda forbade me from asking questions. I had no recollection of it.

    My mind continued to wander as I threw my fishing line into the river. I was slowly but surely getting memories back. The constant in all of them was Theo. I thought I was learning more about myself, but Theo seemed to dominate these memories.

    The memories gave the wolf monster and them plausible reasons for existing. The wolf creature I still wasn¡¯t sure about, but Theo drew a wolf creature as a child and had a last name of Wolfe. There was a reason behind it all. One that had multiple theories, but I couldn¡¯t narrow it down.

    Them being some form of depression made me uncomfortable in a way I couldn¡¯t pinpoint. Brenda¡¯s descriptions were too close for it not to be an obvious reveal, but¡­ why? Why would the alien overlords create this world and place me in it to let me experience the horrors of a wolf monster and them. All the while cleaning a house and farming in my greenhouses?

    It also didn¡¯t explain the monsters on the other side of the bridge. I glanced up, seeing another bush spider monster growling at me. What were those things supposed to be?

    I reeled in a fish, turning around to look at the house, then remembered there was still a line of trees that kept me from seeing it. I understood the wolf and them had some sort of connection. I was pretty confident the house was Theo¡¯s childhood home. So what about the hauntings? Were they¡­ were they part of this?This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    I remembered Theo¡¯s fit of giggling on the sled, the very first memory I saw. With a sinking heart, I realized why that giggling sounded so familiar.

    ¡°Oh¡­ my god,¡± I whispered.

    Theo. Theo was the giggling child upstairs. The one chanting nursery rhymes. This was undoubtably Theo¡¯s house. The one he lived in before going to Brenda and Doug¡¯s. Perhaps this was a way I could learn what happened here. Perhaps the ghosts were nothing more than clues to what happened with Theo¡¯s past.

    I remembered the blood coming out of the bottom of the locked door, and my throat tightened. I was so horrified when I saw it that I made a vow to never go up to the second floor at night. But now, to put the clues together, I would need to know. I really would have to do some experimentation tonight with the ghosts that haunted this place. With unlocking the comfort food part of the cooking fire, I had a way to replenish my sanity without needing to sleep. Everything indicated that tonight I needed to stay up and get a good understanding of the ghosts here.

    It caused a part of my soul to shrivel, but I held on to one important understanding. I was confident the child was Theo. That knowledge alone helped ease my fears. Perhaps it would even give me the strength to not make my sanity drop whenever I heard him giggling. Killie was never afraid of the child, so I didn¡¯t need to either.

    From what I remember, the shrieking grandma ghost was the one that traveled the most. And the one that seemed to hate cats. I had also heard two adults talking, but they were in the room above the living room. There might have been a male voice among them. I had never gotten close enough to listen, and I also hadn¡¯t exactly wanted to listen.

    But now there was a purpose. A terrifying purpose. This was Theo¡¯s childhood home, and I was going to figure out what happened.

    ¡°So¡­¡± I started speaking out loud. ¡°All those times I thought I was a rat in a maze. Is this the actual reason I¡¯m here?¡± There was no reply as I felt the line start to jiggle. I gently started reeling in a fish. ¡°I¡¯m not a rat in a maze, I¡¯m just¡­ figuring out what happened to Theo?¡±

    Again nothing. I reeled in the fish, placing it in the basket. Two more fish and I¡¯d have ten total. Enough to make five fish and chips if I wanted to. Hopefully fish and chips gave enough sanity back for this to be worth it. Granted, any percentage of sanity would feel good to gain, so I wouldn¡¯t complain.

    ¡°But why do you care?¡± I asked the sky. ¡°I get that you¡¯re a neutral party and what not, but¡­ but why are you in charge of this whole thing? Why did you take the time to create this world for me to experience? Why did you choose to bring me to this world simply to figure out what Theo¡¯s past was about? To erase my memory and force me through these hoops. Isn¡¯t there an easier way? Like, I don¡¯t know, asking him while I was on earth? He is my adopted brother, after all.¡±

    Again nothing. I threw my line back in, sighing. ¡°When I figure out what happened to him, is that it? Will I be able to leave once I know what happened in Theo¡¯s past?¡±

    Words appeared, and I could feel my body bracing for it.

    You will get your answers. Just play the game.

    I blew out a breath, a lock of hair dancing in the burst of air. I figured I was a patient person, but this was different. I was patient when I wasn¡¯t forced to play a game where there were wolf monsters and them and a haunted house needing to be cleaned.

    Once I had my fish, I returned to the house to drop off the fish in the storage. I brought out ten more stones from the storage room in order to fit the new fish. I¡¯d be breaking it up for blocks to put in the tool soon, anyway.

    I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening decluttering the hallway leading to the second floor. I was forcing myself to get used to being in the hallway as it got darker.

    When it got really dark, I thought of my flashlight before remembering the batteries in the garage. So many things were happening that I forgot how long they¡¯d been charging. I put them in when they were corroded, but now they were back to normal looking batteries. I took two out and pulled out more rusted batteries to start charging, then put the two new batteries in my flashlight.

    It wasn¡¯t that it was getting super dark, it was just there weren¡¯t many windows in the hallway. Not enough light would get through. I turned on the flashlight and started cleaning the walls. I wanted to have a brighter color in this hallway.

    My heart was pounding in my chest. Every instinct told me that I shouldn¡¯t be here. Not when it was this dark. My natural response was to flee. I remembered the pure terror of hearing the creaking floor boards and bloody footprints walking through the kitchen. I only ever wanted to see those once in my life. I wasn¡¯t interested in seeing them again. But they were a clue. Something I could figure out if my sanity remained strong enough.

    ¡°This sucks,¡± I muttered to myself. I did not want to do this. I hated the idea of figuring out what the hauntings meant, but the more mysteries I solved, the better my sanity would hold up.

    ¡°It¡¯d be nice if I wasn¡¯t such a scaredy cat,¡± I said again. Killie¡¯s head popped in through the door, staring at me like I had called her. I gave a sigh as I finished wiping down the wall. ¡°I stand corrected. Killie is braver than I am.¡±

    Once the stone blocks in the tool were done cooking, I placed the ten stone blocks in the storage unit and placed the last ten broken stones in the tool. It freed up space, and I was still crossing my fingers that bricks would be next.

    My wolf timer wasn¡¯t blinking yet, but it was close. I stared at the back door of the house, took a deep breath, and prepared to do some late night detective work.

 Chapter 42

    I gripped my flashlight and a plate of fish and chips as I walked into the kitchen. There was a container of regular fries and ketchup in my pocket, mainly because they could fit in there and I needed my flashlight. The mint green really clashed with the faded red carpet, and I wasn¡¯t sure if I could last until the floors were restored. I might have to try a brown for the walls, but I didn¡¯t want to put a brown color in my kitchen. I wanted a mint green. These hard wood floors I knew would be gorgeous, and I¡­

    ¡­was one hundred percent distracting myself from what I had to do.

    It didn¡¯t help that I walked into the living room, admiring the forest green as I ignored the brown shag carpet. That forest green was gorgeous, though. So much better than the paneling. And with the fake ceilings gone, I really wanted to decorate those ceilings with something. The green also brought out the beautiful built in bookshelf in the entertainment room, even if the contents of that bookshelf were things I¡¯d rather not focus on.

    And the thing I was supposed to be focusing on was clearly not where my mind was.

    Killie moved through the house in a lazy manner. I stood in the middle of the living room holding my fish and chips, trying hard not to feel like an idiot.

    ¡°I know you¡¯re here,¡± I mumbled.

    True, I never purposefully sought them out. They usually found me. It was dark, the wolf prowling outside. I swallowed, holding my fish and chips, waiting.

    Time ticked on, and in the quiet, I started to sweat.

    ¡°Seriously?¡± I asked quietly.

    Where was the shrieking grandma? The giggling child? The conversations?

    Killie meowed, trying to get my attention. I glanced down, seeing the cat swipe her paw at the beams of light. The realization hit me, and I whimpered.

    ¡°I hate this,¡± I mumbled. I then took a deep breath and switched off the flashlight, putting it in my pocket. The house was completely dark. I heard every creak and groan, waiting for something to happen.

    Killie kept rubbing her back against the wall, meowing. She was trying to communicate something to me.

    ¡°What is it, girl?¡± I asked, petting her. If I had a high enough animal care level, could I understand her better?

    Killie kept rubbing her back against the forest green walls. I glanced around, then my brows furrowed.

    ¡°Oh,¡± I started to say. I had wondered that one time whether painting and priming the entire first floor would give me some sort of reward. Perhaps the reward was that the grandma ghost that Killie hissed at so much wouldn¡¯t haunt the first floor nearly as much. The first floor was slowly becoming unrecognizable, which meant the hauntings weren¡¯t as prevalent here.

    Which¡­ fantastic! That¡¯s not a bad trade off. Except now I really needed to know what these ghosts were doing.

    I heard the giggling above the entertainment room and took a deep breath.

    ¡°It¡¯s just Theo,¡± I told my psyche, keeping an eye on my sanity. ¡°It¡¯s just Theo.¡±

    I needed to go to the second floor, anyway. I just wanted to start with the shrieking grandma.

    Okay, truth be told, I was simply a wimp, and was terrified of the second floor at night. I spent a half hour on the first floor, waiting for something supernatural to happen when I already knew the second floor was a magnet for ghosts.

    I sighed, once again holding my plate of fish and chips as I headed through the bedroom.

    ¡°Just Theo,¡± I whispered again. ¡°It¡¯s just Theo.¡±

    My sanity had remained at full. Once I heard the giggling, my mind was certain. That was Theo. I don¡¯t know why child Theo was here, but I would have to find out. The only problem was that finding out required me to go up the creaky staircase at night.

    ¡°How is this my life right now,¡± I mumbled as I got to the foot of the stairs again.

    Little ghost Theo giggled again, and I closed my eyes, my heart started to pound. Despite knowing who it was, it was still a mystery I didn¡¯t understand. Yet it was so cheerful and happy.

    The steps groaned as I walked up, clutching my plate like it was my only lifeline. My sanity started to shiver, but I closed my eyes. My lips moved in the motion of saying ¡°Just Theo,¡± but no sound escaped. I didn¡¯t dare talk as I approached the second floor.

    I turned, following the last few steps and stepped onto the landing. It was silent, and all I could hear was my breathing. I wanted to turn on the light. My soul desperately needed light, but I tried to tell it that I needed answers more.

    The giggling happened again, and I looked over to the blue room, the one I hadn¡¯t started cleaning yet. The one next to the locked room. I swallowed and my legs moved like they were under water.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

    With a courage I did not possess, I pushed the door open. I couldn¡¯t get in far with all the junk, but I held my breath, glancing around.

    It was impossible to see anything. The junk cast shadows, and I wasn¡¯t sure what I was supposed to look for.

    ¡°All around the mulberry bush,¡±

    It took all the strength I had to keep my hands on the plate, so it didn¡¯t slip from my fingers.

    ¡°The monkey chased the weasel.¡±

    He was singing somewhere in here, yet I couldn¡¯t see him. How could he be anywhere in here? There was too much junk.

    ¡°The monkey thought, ¡®twas all in good fun.¡¯

    ¡°Pop! Goes the weasel!¡±

    I was breathing hard, a slight shiver to my sanity.

    ¡°Just Theo,¡± I kept saying soundlessly.

    I pulled out my flashlight and turned it on, trying to find the ghost boy. Trying to imagine him as he was in the memories without that haunted look on his face. The cheerful, giggling boy I saw in later memories.

    ¡°All around the mulberry bush,¡±

    My flashlight jumped all over, trying to find where the singing was coming from.

    ¡°The monkey chased the weasel.¡±

    The sound lifted from the floor, the voice echoing throughout the room. The light in my hand trembled as the sound reverberated off the walls.

    ¡°The monkey thought, ¡®twas all in good fun,¡¯

    ¡°Pop! Goes the weasel!¡±

    It was coming from all over the room, and yet it was just one boy¡¯s voice. My sanity was dropping, and I did my best to stay brave.

    ¡°You can¡¯t scare me. I have fish and chips,¡± I said, sound coming out of me for the first time since I reached the second floor.

    ¡°A penny for a spool of thread,

    ¡°A penny for a needle,

    ¡°That¡¯s the way the money goes!¡±

    The voice held out the word ¡®goes¡¯ for as long as he could, his voice shaking as he lost air. Perhaps it would have been cute, but the sound was echoing around the room until he sucked in the biggest breath I ever heard.

    ¡°Pop! Goes the weasel!¡± the boy shouted with everything he had before giggling up a storm.

    I covered one of my ears, holding my fish and chips. It was nothing more than a cute boy singing a nursery rhyme. That couldn¡¯t be scary, right? No way that could be scary.

    My sanity told a different story. It shivered again, dropping a few percentages. The only thing I could figure that was scary was that I couldn¡¯t pinpoint the voice. Once I was in the room long enough, the voice seemed to come from all over, echoing off the walls. It wasn¡¯t exactly a calming voice, either.

    ¡°This is what I need,¡± I whispered to myself. ¡°Exactly what I need. My sanity to drop. Drop far enough to know how much fish and chips will give me. It¡¯s okay to be scared. Totally okay to be-¡±

    ¡°Who are you?¡± It was the ghostly voice of the little boy. The plate of fish and chips clattered to the ground. It should have made the contents spill all over, but the food remained glued to the plate, holding true to game logic.

    I gasped for air, my flashlight shooting in every direction to try and find the boy, whether ghostly or otherwise. The boy was nowhere to be found. The voice disappeared, and I found myself in a darkened, cluttered room.

    Whispers appeared in the locked room. I quickly picked up the plate of fish and chips and moved into the landing area. I hated getting so close to the locked room. I kept my flashlight pointed at the base of the door. As soon as anything resembling liquid of any kind trickled out of the bottom, I was sprinting out of here.

    The whispers didn¡¯t change. I expected them to get louder as I got closer, but that wasn¡¯t the case. They were the same muffled noises I would have heard if I was downstairs in the living room.

    I approached the locked door, trying the knob again just to be certain. It was locked, and even the jiggling of the knob did not alert the people who were whispering. They kept going. I placed my ear to the door, my head bowed as I kept staring at the base of the door.

    One was a male voice. I could differentiate that much. From the tone of his voice, he sounded far more laid back than the woman. Despite the two voices whispering, the woman seemed to be doing the most to keep her voice nearly silent to make sure no one could overhear them. I could hear nothing of their conversation and would hear nothing unless I could enter this room.

    But the very thought of opening this door filled me with such nausea that I couldn¡¯t handle it. All the hardship, all the evil, all the haunting, stemmed from this locked room. Yes, I was biased because I saw that blood trickle from the base of this door, but I had to admit that was a pretty freaky thing to have happen. Perhaps, later in the game, I would find the key to this room, but it would not be tonight.

    My sanity had gone down past seventy-five percent as I backed away from the door. That was enough information tonight. I made a final trip to the pink room to switch out the clothes, to pretend I wasn¡¯t trembling the entire time. I switched out the plaid shirt for the bright orange building overalls. I had buffed all my logging clothes, now. My building clothes would be harder to buff with me using them all the time, but coming up here at nights to switch them out would make it easier.

    I moved down the stairs, eating my fish and chips as I watched my sanity fill up about fifteen percent. Not bad. Honestly, it was something. Something that didn¡¯t involve me sleeping in my nightgown. I pulled out a container of fries from my pocket. I would have tried putting the fish and chips in my pocket, but they wouldn¡¯t fit. Instead, I held the fries and ketchup, eating them slowly as I watched my sanity bar. The fries only gave me about five percent of my sanity back, maybe a little more. It wasn¡¯t a lot, but then again, after being used to waiting until I slept, this was better than nothing. Once I unlocked more comfort foods, they would undoubtably have more options that gave more sanity.

    The gamer in me was hurt that I wasted the fish and chips and fries on something that I would already gain back when sleeping, but it was all for experimentation. Now I knew that if I had six fish and chips on hand, I could go from next to no sanity to well past ninety percent. Considering they would be attacking tomorrow night, this was vital information to know.

    As I relaxed in bed, I took a moment to understand what I was feeling. My sanity took a few hits tonight, but I was almost back to normal. I wasn¡¯t sure what those two were talking about in the locked room, but it made me uneasy. And despite knowing for certain that it was Theo doing the giggling and the singing, it still hurt my sanity. I was still deeply uneasy by what he did. It was this house. Despite it being absolutely charming in the morning and afternoon, something shifted in the evening that made things like this happen.

    I wasn¡¯t as scared. Despite my sanity taking a hit, I no longer felt fear. I knew the child was Theo. I knew that this house wasn¡¯t some random house with strange ghosts. There was a purpose to all of this, and food that could help me regain my sanity I had lost. That alone helped me not be so terrified.

    Still a bit scared. But now I would figure out what happened to little Theo. With those thoughts, I closed my eyes and asked the game to force me to sleep.

 Chapter 43

    The red light of dawn found me rushing out of bed and doing my morning routine. Part of that was rushing up to the sewing machine to collect the bright orange pants. I wasn¡¯t about to put any more building clothes on there, so I put on all my building clothes before pulling out the stone blocks and placing the last of the blocks into upgrading the storage. I waited patiently, staring at the storage, when I saw the words shift and change.

    0/75 bricks

    I smiled to myself. ¡°Perfect.¡±

    I grabbed the thirty bricks I had ready to go and dropped them one by one into the storage. I got halfway before I started to contemplate what I was doing. It was going to rain for three days straight. I don¡¯t remember the last time the fence asked for bricks, but there was still a chance it would. If it did, then I would have to make sure I had enough baked clay in order to give it what it needed.

    A chill raced down my spine. I hadn¡¯t thought of that until now, but once I did, I knew it would be stupid to not to have some baked clay prepared, or even regular bricks to make sure the tool wasn¡¯t clogged up in case other things needed to be created in the three days.

    I stopped putting bricks to upgrade the storage unit and started counting what I had left. Ten baked clay, fourteen bricks. If I saved all of them, that would give me twenty-four bricks. Despite how much I wanted to update the storage unit to give me more space, I also needed to make sure that bricks especially would be well stocked up. They needed the sunlight, and I wouldn¡¯t get sunlight for three days.

    Today might be a day that I made sure I had a good collection of baked clay, which meant more clay gathering.

    Today¡¯s morning routine also involved cooking more fish and chips. I had enough to make five more plates, and I would have the space for it.

    Could I cook in the rain? I hadn¡¯t actually thought about it. I had a huge selection of soup, and since they were attacking tonight, I was going to eat most, if not all of the fish and chips to help my sanity. I did not want to drop below fifty percent if I could help it. Cooking the fish and chips was something that would take up space, but before the night was over the space in the storage unit would return. But as I started the fire and put the ingredients in the pot, I started to wonder what might happen if I ran out of soup during the next three rainy days. I wasn¡¯t sure if I could cook. It might be another experiment I would have to do.

    I walked toward the greenhouse, really aching to get the storage room upgraded. But I was too worried about needing bricks for the fence. It didn¡¯t matter. In one more day I¡¯d figure out a new to-do list and see if I would need those bricks. If I didn¡¯t, then great, I¡¯d just dump all the bricks into the storage room. But if I did need them, then I¡¯d have them. I could spend one more day waiting.

    I entered the greenhouse, collecting tomatoes and potatoes. I went to the second greenhouse to see the lettuce ready to be picked. I took a deep breath, then grabbed the lettuce. This would be the first time picking lettuce, and I was waiting to figure out what exactly this new produce would give me.

    As I broke off the leaves of the lettuce, I felt it unlock in the clipboard. Once I finished gathering the lettuce, I watered the stubs to grow more leaves. I then grabbed my three baskets of food and returned, gathering a plate of fish and chips on the way and starting another plate. I dropped the produce in the storage unit before walking over and picking up the clipboard, flipping through the pages of recipes. There was one that unlocked, but the recipe covered an entire page. I brought it closer to read.

    Salad Bar

    Every salad must have a base of these three ingredients:

    0/5 lettuce

    0/2 carrots

    0/2 tomatoes

    From there, the more complex the ingredient, the higher the percentage you get back for stamina. The optional ingredients to put on the salad are as follows:

    Basic: Add small percentage to stamina when consumed with saladYou could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    0/1 onions

    ???

    ???

    ???

    Complex: Add larger percentage to stamina when consumed with salad

    0/1 cooked egg

    0/1 meat of choice

    ???

    ???

    ???

    Must need chopping station in kitchen to make this

    I raised my eyebrows at this. It looked like I had the option of making salad that gave different amounts of stamina depending on what was in it. I would have to test the base of the salad to see how much it gave me, but having possible add-ons to give more stamina would be nice. And it looked like there were a lot of things to still unlock.

    But what hit me like a ton of bricks was that final sentence. Chopping station in the kitchen. I could make food that wasn¡¯t dependent on the fire!

    I flipped through the pages of the clipboard again to the buildings. They were all grayed out still, but I looked for one in the kitchen.

    Must reach cooking level 15 to unlock this

    That must be it. That had to be the chopping station in the kitchen. In an excitement, I flipped through the pages again toward the back to view my progress.

    Farming level 19

    Cleaning level 21

    Logging level 22

    Cooking level 14

    Building level 23

    Animal Care level 16

    I was close. Really close to that cooking level 15. Considering I was cooking some food now, I could possibly reach it.

    Also, I was slacking on the animal care clothes. I needed to check this more often. I checked all the other things to see if there was anything else available, but they were all either bought already or locked away.

    ¡°Once those sections reach level twenty, it really is a grind,¡± I said, glancing at my building levels that were so close to 25. I¡¯d been building a ton, but it still seemed to go so slowly.

    For not having a to-do list, I was certainly making a lengthy one for myself today. I put another fish and chips on the fire, hoping a few more of these would get me to level 15. Between the option of having a fireless cooking place and needing to get more clay baking, I was going to be busy today.

    I finished the last few things in my morning routine before staying by the cooking fire with the last twenty minutes on the timer, staring at the trees. There was no doubt about it now. The golds, reds, and oranges were spreading. Summer was ending, and fall was making its entrance.

    I didn¡¯t like sitting when I had so much to do, but I didn¡¯t think I could go down to the river, gather clay, and return without losing so much time on the fire, and I couldn¡¯t buy whatever that chopping thing was for the kitchen without raising my cooking levels a bit more, which required me to stay here and cook.

    Once I had the final fish and chips going in the fire, I glanced at my progress. Still not enough. With that, I began my trip to the river. Once there I caught a fish, gathered some clay, and returned to the house to check my progress. I did that one more time before finally reaching level 15 in cooking.

    I took a deep breath, flipping through the sheets to check the building options before it told me I needed to buy the level fifteen outfit for cooking.

    ¡°So picky,¡± I mumbled, going back to the catalogue of clothes. I chose a pair of black slacks, taking ten points out of my total. It still left me with a nice 37.03 total dopamine points.

    The cutting station was another ten dopamine points, which I gladly gave up to have an opportunity to make something inside instead of outside. As usual, this came with some assembly required, but honestly, two boards seemed almost insulting compared to all the other things I had to build recently. Cutting down an entire tree to get two boards, however, felt particularly wasteful. I wouldn¡¯t have enough room to store all those logs.

    I realized that this didn¡¯t seem nearly as much to build because cooking had always fallen a bit behind from all my other stats. Now that fishing counted as part of gaining experience for cooking, it was finally catching up with the others. I placed two boards onto the cherry wood kitchen island and right at the end appeared a huge cutting board with a sharp knife.

    I checked again my progress levels to see how much leveling I would have to do in cooking to meet up with the next lowest. I realized animal care was only at level 16. I¡¯d have to see if I could do something else to bring both animal care and cooking up. I also realized that at level 16, I hadn¡¯t gotten the level three clothing item for animal care. With dopamine points burning a hole in my pocket, I dropped ten more points to get scratch resistant gloves.

    I barely bought the item when the entire clip board started to glow. Out of instinct I dropped it, backing away, eyes wide. Words filled my vision.

    All levels at 15.

    All clothes bought for level 15.

    Upgrading¡­

    Upgrading¡­

    Upgrading¡­

    I stared, heart pounding. ¡°This is good, right?¡± I said out loud. ¡°Because this is scaring me, but it¡¯s supposed to be good. Right? Right?¡±

    A breeze picked up my hair, blowing it around as I felt myself lift off the ground an inch. I glanced down, surprised to see my body glowing as well. Before I had time to fully freak out about the whole thing, I dropped to the ground again and the light went away. I stood there, panting. I patted my clothes, feeling something there. It was the oddest feeling, but for whatever reason, I felt like there was some sort of pocket dimension in the small of my back. I reached in, frowning. How the hell was it in my back?

    Upgrade complete.

    On-person inventory granted.

    Can hold up to TEN items in inventory.

    I stared at the words as they faded away, then I felt an excitement bubbling up inside me.

    ¡°This is going to make getting clay. So. Much. Easier.¡±

 Chapter 44

    It was still mid-morning by the time I pulled my second ten mounds of clay out of my back. It was still the oddest experience, reaching into the small of my back and feeling a pocket dimension there. I didn¡¯t notice any added weight when I put the clay inside. I was expecting some sort of fanny pack, almost, but it really was just something behind me that I could tap into.

    Either way, before the sun was high in the sky, I managed to mold and start baking another thirty bricks on the ground while another fifteen baked bricks were cooking.

    I straightened, glancing around. I assumed gathering resources would take me all day, but now with this new inventory upgrade, it cut that time down significantly. If I had thirty baked bricks and fifteen more finished bricks, that would give me more than enough for both fences. Then I could dump the rest of the bricks into the storage unit tomorrow when I knew for certain what my to-do list would be. I was pretty sure I had enough room in the storage unit for forty-five bricks. Just not for logs.

    I cut the logs into boards, feeding them into the dumpster to give me another huge boost. I now had a whopping 117.03 total dopamine points.

    ¡°I¡¯ve got points to burn,¡± I said.

    Once that was done, I changed into my cooking outfit. This lesson clearly taught me that it was best to keep all the levels evenly matched, so I needed to make sure my lower skills weren¡¯t too far behind.

    I headed toward the river, prepared to do more fishing when I slowed my walk, feeling information enter my mind. I waited as the words appeared.

    Level 3 clothing unlock new skill: skilled forager

    I blinked at it. Foraging? I had to wait until I was level fifteen to start foraging?

    Out of curiosity, my clothes changed into all the level three clothing for animal handling, and I waited, information coming to me.

    Level 3 clothing unlock new skill: cows

    I raised an eyebrow, then shifted back into my cooking clothing. I guess I shouldn¡¯t have been too surprised with cows. There was an option to get milk, after all. That would be nice. I¡¯d probably have to build a barn or something before I could buy some cows, much like how I had to build a chicken coop before getting Daisy.

    What confused me, though, was foraging.

    I turned toward the sky. ¡°Again, I don¡¯t want to critique your game or what not, but foraging is usually one of the first things people do in a farming game. There¡¯s always berries or mushrooms in the wild that a person can collect right from the get-go. It¡¯s, like, a level 0 skill, honestly.¡± I glanced around, realizing I hadn¡¯t seen any bushes or mushrooms around. In fact, in my black slacks, chef¡¯s jacket, and chef¡¯s cap, I probably looked like an idiot, but I was waiting to see the words over the new bushes, telling me about what food foraging I could do.

    Which is when I realized I really hadn¡¯t explored my side of the river.

    ¡°Okay, maybe this is all on me,¡± I mumbled as I started walking deeper into the forest. ¡°Granted, if these woods didn¡¯t look so terrifying and creepy, I might have done more exploring later. Like, come on, what is this!¡± It was already dark, the thick trees blocking out the sun. ¡°Obviously I would have taken two steps in here and noped the hell out of here. You really can¡¯t blame me.¡±

    Maybe this was why it was a level 15 skill here. I took out a flashlight, the woods were that dark already in the mid-morning. In my cooking clothes, I could feel an almost pull to where I knew the house would be.

    ¡°At least I¡¯ll never get lost,¡± I said as I plunged forward. ¡°You know, maybe this is why you waited until I was at level 15. I know where the house is, and I also have an inventory now.¡±Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

    Right. I have an inventory. I don¡¯t have to store food in the storage unit anymore, I could store food on my person. Could I still have my inventory as I go to sleep? Did I essentially gain ten more spots of storage? It was worth experimenting with. Have a bowl of soup on my person and a plate of fish and chips. That way I could be prepared for anything.

    I saw some glowing words ahead. I started for them, my flashlight out, when my feet were frozen in place like there was an invisible wall in front of me.

    Entering Wolf territory. Do you wish to continue?

    Y/N

    I stared at the words, wishing I hadn¡¯t rambled to the sky so loudly on the way here.

    Wolf territory? As in¡­ the wolf creature? The creature that came closer to my house every night? The one that could stand up on its hind legs and sprint at an inhumanly fast rate?

    I let out a shuddering breath. Okay. Maybe this was why foraging was a level 15 skill.

    I closed my eyes, not sure what to do. Obviously, this was a skill I could use, so there had to be something that would help me. I wasn¡¯t going in blind, and I knew exactly where the house was.

    I mentally chose yes, and the wall disappeared. I walked toward the bush with the words above it, my hand holding the flashlight trembling.

    My vision shifted, and things were rearranging. I could see the ten spots of my inventory pop up at the bottom of my vision. The wolf timer moved from underneath my sanity and stamina to the other corner of my vision. Instead of a timer counting down, it had three question marks around it, which did not help me feel better in the slightest.

    I tried to feel a bravery that I did not have as I approached the bush. The words above it said forage food. It looked like some strawberries. I knelt down, quickly picking them and placing them in my pocket dimension. On the lower part of my vision, a strawberry icon popped up, with a number next to it. This one had a six as I finished putting all the strawberries in there.

    That was nice. Since they were so small, they didn¡¯t take up all ten rows of the inventory for one strawberry. I finished picking all the strawberries off the bush, and the words disappeared from on top of the bush. There were more glowing words further off, and I took a deep breath, steadying myself as I allowed my feet to carry me deeper into wolf territory.

    I knelt down, gathering nuts and mushrooms. Despite being all the way out here, I could almost feel some recipes getting unlocked on the clip board at the house. I didn¡¯t want to stay out here too long, mostly because the trees were so thick it was difficult to tell time. And since my wolf timer wasn¡¯t giving me a hint right now, I would have to judge for myself. If this was anything like the actual farming games I would play, I would often spend too much time gathering and forget what time it was. I knew where the house was, so I wouldn¡¯t have to worry about that, but the fact that the wolf timer just had three question marks made me nervous.

    Through experimentation, I figured out that I was able to collect fifteen bunches of each foraged item in my inventory. Fifteen strawberries, fifteen nuts, and fifteen mushrooms. If it went past fifteen, it was placed in another slot of my inventory. That meant I probably couldn¡¯t stay here for too long, since I was quickly filling up those slots. That was fine. Every moment I was still here made me worried about the wolf finding me.

    I walked toward a tree, shining my flashlight up to see apples on the tree. I raised an eyebrow, then glanced around. I saw the words glowing on top of the tree, which meant I could pick them. My flashlight stopped on what looked like claws tearing into the tree, and my heart froze in place.

    I approached cautiously, touching the branch of the tree. Words started filling my vision, and I blinked, slightly alarmed. They were going too fast for me to read until they finally paused.

    Information download. Wolf was here an hour ago. No sign of him now.

    These words appeared, then shrunk very small and moved to the side of my vision to where the wolf icon was. I froze, blinking. This must be part of the foraging skill. I mentally chose the wolf icon again and the words came back to full vision. Whatever skill I had would let me know more about the wolf. Which meant yes, I did have some sort of skill involved with helping me forage.

    The tree wasn¡¯t large. A step ladder would have been nice, but I didn¡¯t have one. Instead, I set the flashlight on the ground and grabbed a branch, climbing up the tree. I didn¡¯t have to go far before I grabbed a few branches and placed the apples in my inventory.

    For apples, I could only store seven before it moved on to the next inventory slot. I gathered enough apples to have two slots of seven before hoping down and picking up my flashlight. I felt my natural pull toward my house and headed back, stopping to pick more nuts on the way to keep filling my inventory. I didn¡¯t dare relax until I moved out of wolf territory.

    Once I mentally selected to leave the foraging spot, my vision shifted again. My inventory shrank so it didn¡¯t take so much of my vision, but it was kind of nice to see how many spots I had left. The wolf icon zoomed back underneath the stamina and sanity bar. I still had a good five and a half hours left before the wolf came.

    I stretched, heading for the covered back porch. It was time to see what recipes my foraging unlocked.

 Chapter 45

    I grabbed the clip board, checking the progress bar first. Foraging had helped my cooking levels grow, which meant I had another thing that would help gain experience in that skill. I then noticed a small note underneath my cooking skill that was written in with the same perfect handwriting the to-do list was written in.

    Foraging: level 2

    I blinked at it, trying to understand. The information came to me, without the words written in my vision. Essentially, every time I go to forage, I would gain more skills of tracking the wolf to more accurately guess where he was to further protect myself from stumbling on that creature unintentionally. Foraging was clearly its own kind of skill within the cooking skill. I was pretty sure I¡¯d get better at foraging the more I did it. Though why I had to wear a chef¡¯s hat and jacket was beyond me. Who even forages for food in clothes that were meant for a fancy kitchen?

    I flipped through the many pages of recipes, seeing all the things that were unlocked. I saw peanut butter was unlocked, as well as berry jam. That meant I would probably be unlocking the ability to make bread soon. That or I just randomly had the ability to make peanut butter and jam for other things.

    On the salad bar it had the option of putting in 0/10 foraged items on the salad, which gave it a more complex stamina addition. There was even a recipe for applesauce.

    There would eventually be more recipes when I unlocked more greenhouses. Until then, I was happy for what I had.

    I then glanced through the building options and saw the one to build a barn. It would cost 30.00 dopamine points, but I had that. Perhaps I shouldn¡¯t have dumped all those boards in the dumpster, but I didn¡¯t feel sad about it too long. Having something to build was another way to store logs or boards I didn¡¯t need instead of storing it in the storage unit.

    I had a feeling this was going to take a while to build. But that was okay. Maybe my building would finally reach level twenty-five when I was done. I walked out the back door and saw the barn was nearer to the last greenhouse. It was nearer the bedroom window, and I saw the base of it nestled in the trees. Glowing words appeared above it.

    0/200 logs

    I hadn¡¯t chopped too many trees on this side of the house, so my first order of business was to start chopping. Considering I needed two hundred logs, it wouldn¡¯t be that hard to get the place cleared out soon.

    I switched the bricks out of the tool, putting more finished bricks into the storage unit as I gathered up the thirty baked clay from the ground and placed them in the storage. Only then did I start placing the food I had foraged into the storage area. A basket appeared in the storage room, and I was relieved to see that I could put all twenty strawberries in the basket. I did the same with the nuts, then tried to with the mushrooms, but it stopped me. The storage unit was full.

    I sighed. All thirty baked clay were in the storage room, with fifteen bricks in the tool. I supposed I could try seeing if they were protected in the tool for the night. I was already planning on keeping some food inventory for the night to see if it would stay stored. While thinking about it, I grabbed a potato soup and all the fish and chips I could hold. They were attacking tonight, and I would need them all.

    It was getting darker. Not dark like in the woods, but the sun was sinking to the tree line. I pulled out my axe as I walked toward the base of the fence. I crossed over it and started swinging at the nearest tree. A barn could hold a cow. I could start getting milk. So many things could be unlocked with milk.

    I worked for the next hour, clearing out a section of trees around the base of the barn. Two hundred logs was a lot, but I felt elated the first time I got seven logs instead of six. It was its own kind of dopamine. I also tried out a salad for the first time when my stamina got low. I would eventually try just the base salad, but I needed stamina right now. My salad had onion and some nuts on it, giving me about the same amount as a bowl of soup. Eating something besides soup to give me a boost of stamina was a nice change, even if it was still gone in three bites.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    I burned through my stamina as I cleared out a section of trees. Most of the time I would drop six logs that I dumped in the barn, but sometimes I would get that seventh log that still felt amazing. I would no doubt get strong enough in this skill to reach twenty-five soon, especially if this barn really did need two hundred logs.

    I kept going until I had a small percentage of stamina left. I almost dropped the last log into the base, when I hesitated. A small smile crossed my face, then I moved the log to my lower back. I waited, feeling the pocket dimension do the rest. Before I knew it, the entire log was in my back.

    ¡°Alright, well, should have tried that from the beginning,¡± I said before pulling it out again and dropping it into the barn. This could work for so many things. It could really help with decluttering if I could put boxes of trash in my inventory to bring down. Overall, this was a huge help.

    I stood back to admire my work.

    49/200 logs

    Not bad for a night¡¯s work. It would be a lot harder to chop down trees in the pouring rain, and of course I would have another to-do list to work on tomorrow, but if I could spend a solid day chopping down trees, I could get all the logs done for the barn.

    I had my flashlight on. The wolf timer still had forty-five minutes before it started blinking, so maybe now was as good a time as ever to try out my inventory in decluttering the junk upstairs. I couldn¡¯t chop down any more trees with the stamina I didn¡¯t have, and I needed to save my soups for the next three days.

    I turned around, heading toward the house. I crossed over the fence and was about to move around the storage room to enter the back of the house when some strange shadows caught my eye. I turned the flashlight, my heart skidding to a stop. I was mentally prepared for the creepy shadows to happen inside the house, not outside.

    My flashlight landed on a strange pile by the house. My feet were frozen in place. I had rarely been on this side of the house. It was the side with my bedroom window and the entertainment room. It had some lovely, yet overgrown lilac bushes. Honestly, cut a hole between the bushes, place a bench between them, it would be the coziest reading spot in the spring and summer.

    I really had a bad habit of jumping to house decor ideas when I was scared out of my mind.

    The light remained on the pile of trash. I approached it cautiously, wishing it wasn¡¯t getting so dark so quickly. It didn¡¯t help that the house was blocking whatever sunlight was left.

    I crouched down, then inspected the garbage in the dead grass. Beer cans and cigarette butts. I could have sworn this wasn¡¯t here before. True, I was rarely on this side of the house, but this was¡­ this was a lot of beer cans. I was pretty sure I would have noticed this when I came out here on this side of the house. Which could only mean this had been collecting for a while.

    My mouth went dry. I tried keeping my wits about me as I counted the beer cans. Fourteen. Fourteen cans and plenty of cigarette butts to go with it. Someone had been here, smoking and drinking, and I didn¡¯t even notice. The best way I could calculate this was if I threw all this trash away and came out tomorrow morning to see if this person came in the evening or¡­ some other time in the day.

    I was on my knees, a sliver of my sanity disappearing. I thought I had taken this well, but this was a new thing I wasn¡¯t expecting. Something had been happening on this side of the house for at least a week, maybe two. But what were they looking at.

    I stood up, moving to the window. I tried to see past the bushes into the window, cupping my hands around my eyes as I leaned over.

    It was my bedroom. Of course I knew it was my bedroom, but¡­ but part of me needed to make sure. Because I needed to make sure just how good of a view my bed was to this person to understand what it meant. From here, where the pile of beer cans were, they had a perfect view of me sleeping.

    And¡­ I didn¡¯t know what it meant. Part of me didn¡¯t want to go down that road. But I couldn¡¯t deny the chunk of sanity that disappeared from my bar, the way my breathing hitched, the fear that gripped me. There was something else besides the wolf out there in these woods. Something possibly human. Someone who watched me while I slept. Another chunk of sanity disappeared from my bar as I backed away.

    There was absolutely nothing comforting about that thought.

 Chapter 46

    I gave myself ten seconds to freak out about this discovery. Five seconds as my sanity shivered and dropped before it stabilized, then five more seconds to know it wouldn¡¯t drop anymore. I took a deep breath, letting it all out. Then I gathered the beer cans and headed toward the dumpster. It was important, in order to not freak out, to treat this all like an experiment. I dumped the cans, gaining +.01 point for each of them. I grabbed a bag to scoop up all the cigarette butts I could, grateful that I had gloves as part of my cleaning outfit. Once it was all clean, I let out a breath.

    ¡°This is great,¡± I said to the window of my room. ¡°This way¡­ this way I can start¡­ checking. Checking when this person comes to my window. See¡­ see how much they drink. At night. While looking¡­ while looking¡­¡±

    I forgot how to speak as I stared at the window of my bedroom. I backed away, trying to think of other things. It didn¡¯t help that tonight was when they would attack. It always put me on edge, even if I did have fish and chips.

    I turned away, trying to steady my breathing as I walked through the back door and up the stairs to the second floor. I had two empty spaces in my inventory, and I wanted to see how this would help me with decluttering. I still had a half hour until the wolf came, and I needed to stay up here anyway to get more information on the haunting.

    I chose the blue room, since that was where I heard little Theo last night. Decluttering with my inventory was much like foraging. The two empty slots could hold up to ten pieces of garbage each, as well as whatever I had in my hand. It was so much easier to walk down the stairs, and strangely satisfying to stand at the dumpster and pull out the trash from my pocket dimension. I had to keep an eye on it, because I didn¡¯t want to accidentally dump my fish and chips.

    This was so much easier to declutter a room. It was like having a wheelbarrow strapped to my back that didn¡¯t weigh anything when it was all the way full. I loved this inventory. In fact, I was able to do one more trip in the blue room to get a good chunk done before dumping the rest, and was in the house before the wolf timer was even blinking. I leaned against the door, closing my eyes to give myself a moment. They were coming tonight. If this was like any other time when they were here, the hauntings would also get worse. Which meant tonight was an excellent opportunity to study more about what Theo experienced. It still didn¡¯t stop the feeling of being absolutely terrified. There was a part of me, a very strong part, that wanted to hide in the bathroom again, curled in a ball, eating my comfort food whenever the need arose as I waited for them to attack.

    I had already lost a chunk of sanity at the discovery of the beer cans. Another huge chunk, and I¡¯d be eating fish and chips.

    Killie started hissing. It was how I knew she was in the entertainment room. I went over to see her snarling at something in the corner. I scooped up my cat, holding her in my arms. I tried to look into the corner Killie was focused on and attempted to be diplomatic.

    ¡°We¡­ we mean you no harm,¡± I said to whatever was in the corner. ¡°Please. I¡¯m¡­ just trying to figure out what happened here.¡±

    There was nothing, then a wall shattering shriek filled the room.

    I sprinted to the bathroom, Killie in my arms. The lesson we learned from this was I was not as brave as I thought I was. I¡¯m sure this was a surprise to no one.

    I slammed the bathroom door shut, trying not to sob. ¡°That woman is crazy,¡± I kept saying in order to make myself feel better. ¡°Crazy, crazy woman.¡±

    Maybe there was a method to her madness, but right now, when my sanity took another blow, I didn¡¯t have the most charitable outlook.

    I sank to the grimy floor, pulling out a plate of fish and chips from my inventory and ate it in three bites. I learned a very important lesson as I watched my sanity rise. Eating fish and chips did not make me feel braver. If anything, my sanity rose, but my physical exhaustion remained. It was simply giving the ghosts, the wolf, and them more opportunities to frighten me.

    Something inside me deflated. Maybe I put too much hope in comfort food, but I had hoped I would somehow feel braver than I was when I ate this stuff. I wanted to waltz out of the room and demand what that grandma meant when she shrieked at me. Or march right up the stairs to the second floor to start studying what happened. Instead, I remained a shivering mess on the grimy bathroom floor as I gathered what little of my shattered courage I could.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Killie hopped into my lap, and I placed a hand on her back. She seemed to know I was struggling.

    ¡°I admire you, you know,¡± I said to Killie. ¡°Your first response is to hiss and fight. I just run. Must be some instinct of mine handed down from my ancestors. See the supernatural, run the other way. It¡¯s kept me alive for this long. How are you so brave?¡± I rested my head against the door, closing my eyes as I kept Killie on my lap. ¡°Maybe if I knew I was unkillable, I would be a bit braver, too.¡±

    ¡°Ring around the rosies,

    ¡°A pocket full of posies!¡±

    I flinched, even though I knew that was Theo.

    ¡°Ashes! Ashes!

    ¡°We all fall down!¡±

    ¡°Just Theo. Just Theo,¡± I whispered.

    ¡°Ring around the rosies!

    ¡°A pocket full of posies!¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s just saying the same thing he does every night. Switches from Pop, Goes the Weasel to Ring Around the Rosies,¡± I whispered.

    ¡°Ashes! Ashes!

    ¡°We all fall down!¡±

    I swallowed, knowing I would have to go up to the second floor to check this out. I had my fish and chips. This was something I could do. But my body was frozen in the bathroom. I was terrified. They were coming tonight. I was going to be so exhausted.

    I forced myself to stand up. My sanity was almost full. I could do this. My knees trembled as I opened the door. Killie remained by my side as we walked through the kitchen door and into the hallway.

    It was at the foot of the stairs when Killie stopped in her tracks. Little Theo was still singing to himself, and Killie stared up at me as though I was crazy. This did not bode well.

    There was silence on the second floor. The singing was done. I wasn¡¯t sure what to expect, but silence made everything worse. I took a step, then used about three minutes to mentally prepare myself to take the next step. My sanity was shivering. I could not move at a faster rate. Something about this all made me sick to my stomach, and I tried not to imagine what this would be like for them to attack later tonight, too. I was going to be so exhausted.

    It took so long to get up to the second floor. I heard every creak my physical body made, even as my soul screamed the whole time.

    Information. Information. Information.

    I repeated that to myself to remind my body and soul why I was doing this. I turned with the stairs, approaching the landing of the second floor. I hadn¡¯t heard Theo singing in a while. I heard nothing. I wasn¡¯t sure what I expected when I came to the second floor, but my mind certainly made up a lot of truly terrifying things to make it so walking up the stairs was like swimming through molasses.

    Killie remained at the bottom of the stairs, her fur standing up. I didn¡¯t keep my gaze on her too long, because it truly did scare me that Killie was too frightened to come up the stairs.

    I reached the landing, holding my flashlight as the beam trembled. The light was supposed to be a comfort, but with how much it shook, it was messing with my head. I did not want to be up here, but my gamer self said I had plenty of sanity to lose, so I should take this opportunity to learn.

    Whispers came from the locked door. I tried to approach them, but it took a mental strength I did not have to walk up the stairs. I was spent. I would have to listen to the whispers from here.

    Perhaps it followed the same logic as last night. Last night¡¯s whispers were quiet enough that I couldn¡¯t understand them, even when my ear was against the door. Maybe this would be as loud as they got. It was a perfectly good excuse for me to remain where I was and just wait.

    The whispers kept going, and I didn¡¯t dare close my eyes. These were different, and it only took me another few minutes to know why. This wasn¡¯t a man and a woman; this was two women. Both in hushed voices, the kind where they knew a child was asleep and didn¡¯t want to wake them.

    Then all at once the whispers cut off. I waited, terrified, at the stairs in case I needed to make a hasty getaway. More silence filled the space, and I checked my sanity. A little over seventy-five percent. That had to be good. It would-

    Liquid trickled out from under the door. Everything inside me froze in horror. I knew this would happen. There was a huge possibility it would happen tonight with the higher frequency of haunts. It still did not prepare me for how quickly my body entered a terrified state of being and stumbled down the stairs.

    Information. Information. Information.

    It was my mind trying to calm my heart down, but I couldn¡¯t do it. I stumbled down the stairs, tears in my eyes as a huge chunk of my sanity disappeared. There was a murder scene behind that door. Perhaps those two women. Perhaps someone else. I still didn¡¯t know the logic of how these hauntings worked. Theo talked about how his mom died. Was this how? Behind closed doors on a quiet night?

    I got as far as the kitchen before I collapsed to my knees, the sob I held back came through in force. I did not want to open that door. I didn¡¯t want to see. How it happened¡­ I didn¡¯t have the strength tonight to find out.

    As I stayed on the kitchen floor, I ate two more fish and chips, feeling my sanity bar fill up as I remained on the ground, shivering.

    I wasn¡¯t sure how long I was on the ground shivering when I heard the creak of someone at the top of the stairs. Whatever I gained from eating those fish and chips disappeared in a second. It was those bloody footprints. Things clicked into place for me in the worst possible way. Someone was still here, and there was a good chance it was the murderer.

 Chapter 47

    Maybe one of these days I would be brave enough to remain in the kitchen. Brave enough to study the footprints and gain information from them. Brave enough to see if the murderer would try to attack me.

    Tonight, I was too exhausted. I scrambled into the bathroom, shutting the door once Killie leapt inside.

    I placed a hand over my mouth, since I heard myself breathing. It was a struggle not to try and force air back into myself. To keep quiet. I heard the creaking staircase as the mysterious person walked down the stairs. I must have been a ridiculous sight, curled on the floor, eating my fish and chips, listening to the creaking of the staircase.

    I sensed the person moving into the kitchen in a careful, slow pace. I held my breath, tears streaming down my face. I didn¡¯t want to draw any attention to myself. Despite my sanity over fifty percent, I was exhausted.

    The person left the kitchen, entering the entertainment room, and I remained in the bathroom. I couldn¡¯t go out there again. I had done enough exploring. I wasn¡¯t sure what I¡¯d expect with the comfort food, but it was somehow more exhausting to have it than not. But I didn¡¯t want to know what would happen if I ran out completely.

    I waited in the silence, waited until I felt the shift in the air. Waited for the pressure that I felt on every part of my body as my hair stood on end. They were here.

    ¡°Just depression,¡± I whispered, trying to do the same thing with them as I did Theo. Surely being able to pinpoint what it was made it less terrifying.

    Sure. Taking a huge concept like depression and putting it in monster form would somehow make me not feel terrified. That wasn¡¯t how depression worked.

    I heard the thuds as they approached the fence. Tears continued to flow down my cheeks. My sanity dropped. There was absolutely nothing I could do. I sank to the ground, feeling the pure silence of them. There was a crack, then they bellowed. I used the noise they made to let out my own sob. I was so exhausted. So damn exhausted. I couldn¡¯t keep doing this to myself, but I didn¡¯t have a choice. Every time they came, this was what happened.

    They tried again at the fence. I couldn¡¯t explain this fear. It was so primal, so instinctual. It felt like falling in the ocean, dropping deeper and deeper into the dark. Like opening my eyes and not seeing anything, yet knowing there was something here. Of course there was something in the ocean. There was always something in the ocean, and the deeper I went, the darker, more twisted the creatures became.

    I couldn¡¯t breathe. Not unless I focused on the motions of breathing and forced myself to. The pressure of them pushed me on every side.

    Another crack, another bellow. I pulled out another plate of fish and chips and ate it in three bites.

    Eaten too many comfort foods. Penalty applied.

    I didn¡¯t have the energy to ask what that could possibly mean. The tip of my stamina bar grayed out. Until that gray mark left, I couldn¡¯t reach full stamina.

    I wanted to scream. To shout. To fight.

    But I had no energy.

    It was gone.

    They gave a final bellow, and my sanity dropped so fast that I pulled out another plate without thinking about it and finished it in three bites.

    I had a chunk of sanity left, with a larger chunk of stamina grayed out. I could feel them leave as I remained shivering on the ground. I got up, crawling to the bedroom as I considered what happened tonight. Thoughts were the only thing churning through my mind right now as I lifted one foot in front of the other.

    Theo, Ring around the rosies, whispers, posies, dead, ashes, blood, murdered, footsteps, fish and chips, stamina, lost, grayed out, them, exhausted.

    Exhausted¡­

    ¡­exhausted¡­

    I collapsed onto my bed. I was aware of the window, of what I discovered at sunset. Someone might be out there. But the energy and mental fortitude it would take to get out of bed and check was way too much. I ran out of energy to care.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Tomorrow,¡± I mumbled. I would think about everything tomorrow. I forced myself to go to sleep.

    And woke up in a dark room. I stared at the wall, taking a deep breath then letting it out. I hated this feature. Their attack always felt like such a huge thing, and I wanted my sleep to actually feel restful. Instead, I sat up, staring at the ground for a few moments to reorient myself to what happened.

    They attacked, and they will be back in a measly three days. It would rain for three straight days, and I wasn¡¯t sure how to get that cap off my stamina. I thought sleeping would do it, but the grayed out area remained.

    I would get that back, right? I¡¯d ask that of the ceiling, but I was still trying to wake up. My sanity was at seventy-five percent. My stamina, too, was half way full, even though there was plenty of space between the halfway mark and the grayed out area of my stamina. Must be another penalty. I guess I couldn¡¯t just chow down on comfort foods with no consequences.

    ¡°I hate this,¡± my mouth said, the words feeling like mud leaving my mouth.

    I forced my body to get out of bed, walking out of the room and into the entertainment room. The steady rhythm of the rain was almost melodic, but it instilled a sense of dread in me. I needed to know what my to-do list would be. I kept rubbing the sleep from my eyes, hoping that would somehow give me energy, but what I really needed was a good, long, relaxing sleep. Something I hadn¡¯t had since I came to this strange place.

    I grabbed the phone, pressing the number one and waited to hear the familiar female voice.

    ¡°In three days, they will come. In three days, they will destroy. This is the last attack of the season. They will have grown stronger than any other times they¡¯ve attacked so far.¡±

    That alone sapped strength out of my knees, causing them to quake.

    ¡°There are two things you must do if you hope to survive. Strengthen the fence and find the furnace. It will rain for three straight days. By the second day your house will get cold. A cold that is similar to the cold outside. If you do not find the furnace, you will have to keep eating food even inside.

    ¡°Further instructions will follow¡­¡±

    I stared at the kitchen island, my mind freezing with horror. Three days straight of rain. Only two things on my to-do list. Somehow this small list filled me with a dread I didn¡¯t expect to feel.

    I grabbed the list and tore it off.

    Strengthen the fence

    Find, fix, and feed the furnace

    I swallowed, glancing out the window. It was blurry as rain pelted against it. I let out a sigh, trying not to panic. I hadn¡¯t seen a furnace the entire time I was here. An entire season. Did I need a furnace? Where was a furnace, anyway? This seemed unnecessary. There was no electricity. How could a furnace run if there was no electricity?

    At that moment in time, the fridge started whirring, and I blinked. It was almost as though the alien overlords were giving their own sort of message without putting a snarky reply into my vision.

    I gave a sigh, my lips pursed. ¡°Fine,¡± I muttered. ¡°I¡¯ll find the furnace.¡±

    My first priority, as always, was the fences. I walked outside, starting to shiver in the rain as I checked the tool. I had been so distracted with the process of waking up that I forgot my experiment. The finished bricks were still in the tool untouched, and the food left in my inventory were there. Which meant I had just gained ten more storage spots, and the tool was a safe place from the wolf. I was far more excited about the discovery of my inventory, because I had a feeling the tool would be in a constant state of use that it shouldn¡¯t be relied on as a storage unit.

    I remembered the other thing I needed to do. Even thinking about it made my energy leave again.

    ¡°Quick look,¡± I said to myself as I moved around the storage unit in the rain. ¡°Quick check. Just to see. Need information.¡±

    My head popped over the storage unit, staring at the ground. It was hard to see with so much rain, and I was still shivering. I approached the window and saw it. Another beer can.

    The second my sanity started to shiver I ran from the house. Part of me still pushed the horror down, tried not to think about it. I didn¡¯t want to think about it. Someone was here. That was¡­ good information to have. I¡¯d study it more. Later.

    I quickly did my morning routine, refusing to touch my soup until my stamina started to drop. Some gamer habits couldn¡¯t die.

    ¡°You know,¡± I said as I picked tomatoes in the greenhouse. ¡°The thing about rain in farming games is that¡­ it¡¯s kind of nice not needing to water the crops.¡± I finished picking the tomatoes and grabbed the watering can. ¡°It¡¯s like a free day from these responsibilities, because the rain already waters them. It makes something to look forward to on a rainy day, because your morning routine gets cut shorter. More time to do other things.¡± I walked out of the first greenhouse and into the second. ¡°Just food for thought.¡±

    There was silence as I watered the lettuce. I hadn¡¯t planted any carrots, but now that I knew they were a core ingredient in salads, it wouldn¡¯t hurt to plant some more. I always wanted the option to cook inside and not over a fire.

    ¡°To be clear, I¡¯m talking to you alien overlords. We haven¡¯t talked in a while. Just thought¡­ you wanted my opinion.¡±

    Silence again. I sighed, moving to buy some carrot seeds. ¡°It¡¯d give me more time to find a furnace, anyway. Where is the furnace? I have no idea.¡±

    My mind decided to focus on that as I finished planting carrot seeds and moved on to the chicken coop. I complimented Daisy once again on such a beautiful egg.

    Once everything was done and I ate a bowl of soup, I walked out to the main fence. I stared at the words above it.

    0/150 logs

    The more I stared at it, the more nauseous I felt. That was a lot of logs. That was more logs than they¡¯ve ever asked for. They would be stronger, it was what the female said. Which meant if they broke through, if I couldn¡¯t strengthen these fences¡­

    If they asked for bricks¡­

    My measly forty-five bricks didn¡¯t feel like they¡¯d be enough. That thought caused all the warmth I felt from the soup chill me to the bone.

    I had to know. Which meant I had to start filling out the demands for the fence. No more time to waste. I only had three days.

 Chapter 48

    I stuffed logs into my inventory as much as I could. I focused on this, and didn¡¯t dare let my mind wander. Didn¡¯t dare let it think what might happen if I didn¡¯t get this done on time. They would be stronger than any other time, but I could still do this. They would meet with a fortified fence, because I would finish this on time.

    I was burning through my soups and other food, not just for heat, but for stamina, too. Another thing I didn¡¯t want to focus on. I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d be filling a ridiculous order like this.

    Tears stung my eyes as the rain continued to pound. A feeling of hopelessness tugged at my soul as I glanced at the house. I was torn between two demands. Fences were always my priority, but this house was where I went to stay warm. Tomorrow I would not be warm in the house. I had eaten a third of my soups already, and it was barely the afternoon. If I didn¡¯t spend some time searching the house for a furnace, I was in danger.

    With the fence halfway filled with logs and the fifteen-minute heat timer went out. I stuffed all the logs from my inventory into the fence before running inside. It was warm, but I could tell the temperature was dropping. I wiped the rain from my face as I glanced around the kitchen. Where would the furnace be? There had to be some sort of utility closet somewhere, but I¡¯d been here all summer and never found one.

    I pulled out my flashlight. The rain definitely made it a bit darker, but I could still see well enough. The flashlight was mainly for me to make sure I was studying every nook and cranny.

    It felt like a huge waste of time. The longer I searched, the more anxious I became. I checked behind the closet, the cabinets, the drawers, even. There was nothing. From what I remember of the house, there was a chimney, so there should be a fireplace or a furnace of some kind, but I never put two and two together. Not until I had to look for one. It wasn¡¯t on the first floor, and I checked every corner twice.

    I was feeling more frustrated as I got to the second floor. It was getting darker as the sun was starting to set. Hauntings would distract me from finding this. I should have started with the second level, but I honestly didn¡¯t think it would be on the second floor. Maybe there was something in one of the rooms. Perhaps an attic entrance that I hadn¡¯t noticed, but that too felt wrong. I hadn¡¯t seen anything to indicate an attic. This was a two-story house, both floors lived in. There wasn¡¯t another level for an attic.

    So¡­ basement? But that, too, felt wrong. I would have seen the stairs to a basement by now. It was the same idea with the attic. This was a two-story house, and only a two-story house. Just like there wasn¡¯t access to an attic in the second floor, I would not find access to a basement on the first floor.

    To test my theory, I ate another soup to warm up for fifteen minutes as I walked outside in the pouring rain, holding my flashlight. The beam of light was speckled with rain as I looked around the foundation of the home. The overall structure did not give even a hint that there was a basement. It made sense, because I would have seen stairs by now.

    I used up the rest of the fifteen minutes to chop down more trees, trying not to panic. It was getting late. It always felt like it was later than it was when it was raining. I glanced at the wolf timer, and saw there was still plenty of time, even if it was getting late.

    I started doing the math in my head, my brain stating there was a pattern here to the wolf¡¯s activities. I allowed my mind to wander as I kept doing my menial task of dropping a tree, placing the logs in my inventory, then dropping another tree and filling up the rest of my inventory. I carried two more logs and dropped them in the fence before emptying the rest of the logs from my inventory.

    I tried to still my mind, mostly to not panic. It was easier to focus on this. Forget about not finding the furnace yet, forget the darkness gathering around me, forget how cold the rain started to feel.

    The wolf did this a lot. It seemed like there was once every segment where the wolf was away for hours. There had to be a reason.

    ¡°Ooohhh,¡± I said as I went to lift a log. It clicked in my mind. The wolf did this once in the days leading up to their attack. More specifically, the wolf always spent hours away the day after they attacked. They must also frighten the wolf; therefore it took hours for the wolf to return after an attack.

    That was fine. That, coupled with the knowledge that the first floor was not nearly as haunted, I wanted to spend some more time outside tonight. Then I could stay up as long as I wanted tonight to find the furnace.

    I went through almost half my soups in order to finish the logs for the fence. Once I placed the last log, I waited, trying not to feel nervous.

    0/100 firewood

    I winced. That was at least four or five trees. With a determination that stemmed from frustration, I grabbed my axe and chopped down more trees. I pushed through, eating more food to regain my stamina.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    I could do this. I could make the fence strong enough. Two days, I could do this. I needed to make sure the fences would protect me. Once I had the main fence done, I would focus on the greenhouse fences. I could do this. I would do this. I would be protected from them. There was no way I could face them when the female said they¡¯d be at their strongest.

    I placed the last of the firewood, a small chunk of stamina left as I waited for the words to appear for the next instructions.

    0/50 bricks

    I stared at the words. Stared at them long and hard. Then my knees sank to the ground, and I stared at nothing.

    Fifty bricks. It wasn¡¯t enough. I¡­ didn¡¯t have enough.

    My mind was a constant whirl of panic until I forced it to shut down. Forty-five was supposed to be enough for both fences. But now it didn¡¯t even matter. All those logs, that firewood I put in this fences, it was pointless. There was no way I could make enough bricks. The sun was gone, and wouldn¡¯t reappear until after they attacked.

    My mind was pulled in two different directions. To just give up and dump all the bricks into upgrading the storage unit and hope for the best in three days, or to give this a good long think and figure out if there could be another way to make baked clay without the sun.

    I scrambled to the river and grabbed a mound of clay. I needed to know. My panicking mind demanded experimentation. I could not be five bricks away from this and not try. I formed the clay using the tool into a brick shape, then tried to stuff it in the tool. It stopped me like there was a wall in front of it.

    I couldn¡¯t be five bricks away from my goal. There had to be something. Something.

    I pulled out the list in the pouring rain. Despite the rain, the list remained dry as I read over it.

    Furnace.

    Would clay near a furnace be enough to bake it? In a pinch, if it was hot enough, could it be enough? Is that the link the alien overlords were trying to help me see?

    I had to try.

    I checked the foundation of the house once more, crouched down on my hands and knees, digging into the dirt next to the foundation of the home. Letting myself stay out there until my timer was gone. There was no indication of a basement. I checked the front porch, but it was all cement. I tried the back porch, but that was built into the dirt as well. There was no crawlspace into a basement that I knew couldn¡¯t exist.

    It still didn¡¯t stop me from walking inside the house, trying to tear up the carpet in the living room. Each time I tried to tear up the carpet, my hands couldn¡¯t grasp it. After the fifth time trying in the entertainment room, words appeared in my vision.

    Cannot pull up carpet. Flooring isn¡¯t unlocked yet.

    ¡°I need a hint!¡± I shouted to the ceiling. ¡°Please! A hint.¡±

    The words disappeared, and I got no response. I was growing more frustrated by the moment.

    When the wolf timer blinked and I realized just how much time I¡¯d wasted trying to find the stupid furnace, I tried not to feel hysterical. I ran through the house, trying to break the back of the closets or find some hidden trap door in the flooring. The hauntings got worse as the night grew darker. My sanity was getting attacked, but I was more afraid of falling asleep. I did not want to wake up cold.

    ¡°Please,¡± I said, probably for the millionth time to the ceiling. ¡°A hint. Please.¡±

    Words appeared in my vision.

    Approaching midnight. Force sleep will happen soon.

    A timer blinked in front of my vision, making it difficult to see, and the tears in my vision made it worse. My dangerously low sanity did not help. Shadows started wobbling, whispers were everywhere, getting louder.

    They were attacking soon, and I wouldn¡¯t have my full sanity. The grayed-out part of my stamina was still there from their last attack. I was in serious danger if my sanity dropped anymore, but that furnace. That stupid, stupid furnace! Where was it!

    I shot up in bed, not even aware that I had been forced into sleep. I took a few deep breaths, feeling the chill turn my breath into whisps. The grayed-out portion of my stamina was still there. I hadn¡¯t slept in my nightgown. So many things were going wrong. They were attacking tomorrow. I had fifty percent of my sanity and stamina. I was not prepared for them to attack. But I also wasn¡¯t sure if I would survive the rest of today if I couldn¡¯t find that furnace.

    I ate the last of my soup while doing my morning routine. My hands trembled the entire time as rain continued to beat down on me. I was trying to act normal, but this huge weight was on my shoulders, as heavy as a furnace.

    The soup was gone. I didn¡¯t have any other food to keep me warm. The inside of the house was as cold as the outside. Fifteen minutes, which seemed like such a huge amount of time at the beginning of the summer, now felt like seconds to me.

    I stared at the house again, trying to see if there was some secret room on the second floor. Some sort of crawl space. Was the door to the furnace in the locked room somehow? Did I have to unlock the room in order to find it?

    So many questions plagued me. So did terror and fear. I couldn¡¯t unlock that evil room. I didn¡¯t want to know what was behind it. Did I have to do that in the dark? Did I already lose my chance to unlock the door last night?

    It wouldn¡¯t be there. I had a feeling that door would have its own sort of main quest option when I was ready to unlock it. They wouldn¡¯t slide it between a side quest.

    I collapsed to the ground, nauseous. I had spent so much time worrying that I forgot to eat something for stamina. My shivering in the cold used the rest of the stamina up.

    Again, I had no idea if I was a swearing girl, but, ¡°Shit,¡± escaped my lips as I could not stop shivering. The nausea was a lot. Usually when I was overly nauseous from running out of stamina, I just stopped doing what I did and it stopped. But on a rainy day, the cold took my stamina for as long as I was out here. I¡¯d never been caught outside on a super hot or rainy day before. Judging by how it made my stomach roll and heave, I never wanted to again.

    But what could I do? It was just as cold inside as it was outside.

    Warning! Must get somewhere warm!

    A blinking timer started, counting down from one minute.

    I tried to crawl toward the house. Maybe I could get to bed. That was somewhere warm, right?

    With how much my stomach protested, I doubted I could make it to my bed in one minute. I was having a hard time climbing to my feet, pushing past the nausea to get into the house.

    I barely made it onto the concrete before the timer counted down. All energy drained out of me, my vision blackening. The last thing I saw was the concrete rushing up to meet me as my body braced for impact.

 Chapter 49

    It was the most comfortable bed I¡¯d ever been in. Like sleeping among clouds. Very possibly among clouds, like the time before. The time early on when they attacked me.

    This time, however, I could open my eyes. I was in some strange, white world. It should have been too bright for me to comprehend, but somehow, I did.

    I scrambled to my feet, looking around. ¡°Hello!¡± I called out.

    ¡°Hello, Quinn.¡±

    I gasped as I spun around, arms raised to brace myself from an attack. A man stood there in a black cloak and¡­ tuxedo? I was so confused. I slowly lowered my hands, eyes wide. He was human yet¡­ not. Like someone who had studied human kind and tried to replicate it. He had a deck of cards he was shuffling, making him look like some street performer doing magic tricks.

    It was his eyes that drew my attention. That was the thing that made me instantly think he wasn¡¯t actually human. The eyes were the window of the soul, and try as he might, this man could not pretend his eyes to be human. The more I stared, the more nauseous I became. It was like I could see the molecules shifting and churning, changing and falling.

    ¡°My sister didn¡¯t let you see us for your own sanity.¡± The smirk the man wore made her uncomfortable. ¡°I am not nearly as orderly as her. She forces, I let you choose.¡± I had no idea what he meant by that, but I found myself shaking. ¡°Therefore, the choice is yours. Keep my gaze, lose your sanity. Drop your gaze, keep your sanity.¡±

    The words hit me like a truck. It was an effort to tear my gaze from his, but as soon as I was focused on the white ground below, I found my body was trembling. I was on my knees, holding back the bile that crept up my throat.

    ¡°As you wish,¡± the man said, taking a few steps around the room.

    ¡°Where¡­ where¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t get the phrase out. Vomit was threatening to exit my mouth.

    ¡°Where is my sister? Not here,¡± the man said.

    I closed my eyes, trying to will a semblance of normalcy back into me. I kept my eyes on the ground. I tried not to be afraid, but I had also had never seen my alien overlords. I instantly recognized his voice. And he talked about his sister. I perhaps tried to think of what might happen if I was ever in their presence again, but I never considered how looking at this man had made me loose all function. What could I possibly do?

    I couldn¡¯t trust him. He was the one that admitted he could lie. That the only thing keeping him from lying all the time was his sister.

    ¡°Oh, not all the time,¡± the man said, pacing around the white world. ¡°Then that would make me predictable, and I don¡¯t like being predictable. I usually tell the truth, most of the time, unless I find it too delightful to lie and add a little chaos to the world.¡±

    I kept my gaze to the ground, but the trembling in my body did not stop.

    ¡°What¡­ what¡­¡±

    ¡°I know you have questions for me,¡± the man said as he continued to pace in his strange outfit. He kept shuffling his deck of cards. ¡°And I know you know the answer for all of them.¡±

    Play the game. It wasn¡¯t the answer I wanted, though.

    ¡°The answers rarely are what we want,¡± the man said again, picking up a card and making it disappear. One by one, the deck got smaller. ¡°I only have one question for you.¡± I didn¡¯t dare turn my head to see him. He didn¡¯t expect me to. ¡°Do you give up?¡±

    I was not prepared for that question. I kept my gaze to the ground, my arms and knees trembling as they kept me up.

    ¡°What?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Do you give up?¡± the man asked again, not bothered by the request to repeat himself. He kept making the cards disappear one by one. I had a feeling that it was not just a sleight of hand trick. I could feel his gaze on me.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t understand¡­¡± I was getting a bit of strength back. A billion questions were inside my head, and I did not have the strength to ask them all.

    ¡°It is the rules of the game we set up.¡±

    ¡°You¡­ and sister?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Me,¡± a card disappeared, ¡°my sister,¡± another one was gone, ¡°and you.¡± The deck disappeared completely.

    Once again, I was confused. I was breathing deeply, staring at his black dress shoes. I seriously did not understand what he was wearing. ¡°Me?¡±

    ¡°Funny thing about losing your memory. You wouldn¡¯t remember it, would you.¡±

    He lies. He admits he lies.

    ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t know¡­ you. Or your sister,¡± I said. ¡°Are you¡­ god?¡±

    ¡°Nope,¡± the man said. ¡°We¡¯re older than God. Or, at least, the Gods that rule your planet. And a few other planets. My sister and I have been here longer than the creation of everything. We are the reason creation exists in the first place.¡±

    I was breathing deeply. Did I have anything with mushrooms in it lately? I was seriously worried about my sanity. I picked some mushrooms recently, but I didn¡¯t eat any. Besides, those were the mushrooms in the weird world where I was all by myself farming and cleaning a haunted house. Could I really trust anything I ate?

    The man laughed. ¡°See? This is why it¡¯s so much fun to admit I can lie. I adore how much you can¡¯t trust yourself right now. I crave that kind of chaos.¡± He chuckled again, pulling a hat out of a pocket dimension and placing it on his head. ¡°You have about five minutes to answer my question, or my sister will appear and demand an answer.¡±

    ¡°Who¡­ who¡­¡±

    ¡°Ah, ah, ah,¡± the man said, starting to pull out a handkerchief from his pocket. A colorful one with multiple handkerchiefs attached to it. ¡°I¡¯m done with the philosophical discussion. Answer my question. Do you give up? Would you like this experience to become nothing more than a dream? Nothing more then¡­¡± he chuckled at his own thought. ¡°Then wondering about the strange mushrooms you might have eaten when you wake up?¡±

    I remained on the ground, breathing deeply. This was more than unsettling. This man, this being, was casually talking about my life like he¡¯d done this before. Taken people on a strange trip into the mind and played some sort of sick game. Maybe not to me, but to others.

    The man sat down, crossing his legs. ¡°Only when I get bored,¡± he whispered. ¡°And I will be the first to admit I get bored way easier than my sister.¡±

    Another chill raced through me.

    ¡°Does it comfort you to know that I¡¯m not evil?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°You lie.¡±

    ¡°My sister would promise we are nothing but a neutral party.¡±

    I shook my head, the only energy I had. ¡°Leave me alone.¡±

    The man leaned back, the smirk still on his face. ¡°So¡­ do you give up?¡±

    I stared at the ground, trying to steady my breathing. So many things didn¡¯t make sense. It was like I was trying to put a puzzle together, and this man came over and dumped another huge package of puzzle pieces on the table before swearing they were all part of the same puzzle.

    I gave his question some thought, but knew I couldn¡¯t do it. I wouldn¡¯t give up. I felt a quiet stubbornness that said if this man wanted me to give up, then I should do the opposite.

    ¡°Hint,¡± I said.

    Despite clearly knowing the thoughts in my head, this caused the man to pause, his head cocked to one side in an almost excitement. ¡°Hint?¡±

    ¡°I¡­ need a hint. Where¡­ the furnace¡­ where¡­¡±

    The man hesitated, then the smirk grew on his face. With a flick of his wrist, the cards appeared all fanned out in his palm. ¡°Pick a card.¡±

    I had no idea what he was getting at, but at this point it was consistent with the entire conversation. My hand trembled as I grabbed a card. I flipped it around to see a perfect replica of the covered back porch. I frowned, flipping the card over just to make sure.

    The man clapped his hands, then lifted them up. A deck of cards flew out of his sleeves, and I flinched, scared I¡¯d get sliced by them. The cards flew around. There was no order to their flight. They didn¡¯t follow any sort of rules of physics, nor did they fly around in a pattern.

    ¡°Pick another card,¡± the man said.

    I was terrified of putting my hand anywhere near the cards, and yet I was drawn toward one of them. I reached out for it, and it practically flew into my palm. I turned it over, seeing a picture of a broom. A broom I was pretty sure was in the covered back porch.

    ¡°Do you know what to do?¡± the man asked.

    I frowned. ¡°Sweep¡­ the back porch?¡±

    The man smiled, winking with his strange eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t tell my sister I told you.¡± He started chuckling. ¡°Who am I kidding? She already knows.¡± Then he started to fade from existence. ¡°Remember, Quinn. We are not your enemies.¡±

    My vision started to disappear with him. Things got blurry and dark in this impossibly white room. The shadow of a man kept his terrifying grin. ¡°But remember¡­ we¡¯re not your friends, either.¡±

    His phrase meant as much sense to me as everything else he said. My head was pounding from a headache that I didn¡¯t want to get worse.

    With that strange, cryptic meaning, my vision went black.

    And I sat up in bed with a gasp, glancing around. It was dark, and I heard rain patter against the window. I scrambled out of bed, shivering. It was morning again. But what day was it?

    I entered the kitchen, turning toward the calendar, tracing my finger over the ¡®x¡¯s.

    Today was the last day of summer. Tonight is when they would attack.

    I lost an entire day of my already short timeline.

 Chapter 50

    I let out a breath, but that was all I could do before I ran to the covered back porch. I ignored my morning routine. Ignored checking to see if that creepy beer can was there in front of my window. Ignored everything else but the hint that I couldn¡¯t be certain I could trust. Sweep the covered back porch.

    I threw open the back door and entered the covered back porch, listening to the rain on the roof. I searched through the pile of cleaning tools, the vacuum, the bucket and mop, and grabbed the broom.

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯m sweeping!¡± I shouted to the ceiling. I kept an eye on my stamina. It was still only half full, as was my sanity. I stuffed thoughts of doom into a corner of my mind. It didn¡¯t matter that they were coming tonight. It didn¡¯t matter that I only had half my sanity. It didn¡¯t matter that I didn¡¯t actually have an option of making comfort food without the fire. I needed to focus on this, first. And this was¡­ honestly a messy back porch. There were old leaves in here, no doubt building up after countless autumns. This, like most of the house, had been neglected. I never got to it, because it didn¡¯t actually seem like part of the house. I grabbed the faded red carpet and moved it out of the way, happy that I could move this carpet.

    But I already checked the bottom of the covered porch. There was nothing but dirt on it. There was no basement here. There had to be a crawl space somewhere. It was cold enough that I was losing stamina. I had a few fried fish left. I could make more salads, but I had to get this place warm first.

    Then I saw it. My heart practically leapt out of my chest. I used the broom to brush more of the dirt and leaves away. It was a plain piece of plywood on the floor against the house. I didn¡¯t stop to examine it too closely. I dropped to my knees and picked up the piece of wood. Underneath the flimsy piece of wood was a hole, leading into the bottom of the house.

    ¡°Here. It¡¯s got to be here,¡± I said, my teeth chattering. I moved the board aside and saw a set of stairs. I climbed down them, and I did not expect to feel this amount of relief at entering a dark hole underneath a haunted house.

    I pulled out my flashlight as I crouched down, trying not to bang my head against the house. I turned on the flashlight, looking around. It was a maze of pillars and wood, and I was still shivering.

    This basement wasn¡¯t any basement I¡¯d ever seen. It looked like it was dug out a hundred years after the house was built, probably the reason why I couldn¡¯t find any indication that there was one here in the first place. The floor was nothing more than a slab of concrete with some boards placed on the ground in the direction I probably should go to find the furnace. The ceiling was about five feet high, which made me stay in a crouched position.

    I maneuvered my way, following the boards, hearing a promising whirring sound. I followed the sound until I got to some strange contraption. I frowned, not sure if I could touch it. It was some sort of pipe, and I had the feeling I was only seeing half of it. This did not look like a furnace. There was a clipboard next to it, and I picked it up to read it.

    The following points can be exchanged for items

    0.50 ¨C matches

    1.00 ¨C sticks

    5.00 ¨C firewood

    10.00 ¨C boards

    10.00 ¨C coal

    15.00 ¨C metal shard

    I glanced up at the pipe again, my stamina dropping with my shivering. This was good to know. I would come back and study this when I got the furnace up and running.

    I followed the boards until I got to the more central part of the house, where to my absolute delight I found the furnace. I jumped into my building outfit to see what it needed.

    0/3 metal shards

    0/4 coal

    I scrambled to the clipboard again. I had enough. I had dropped so much stuff in the dumpster that I would have enough for all of it. The relief that slammed into me was enough to bring tears to my eyes.

    I made the switch, draining most of my dopamine points. I was cold. I had about thirty percent of my stamina, and I did not want to have another conversation with that man again.

    I shoved the metal and coal into the furnace, then felt a huge breath of fresh air when the contraption made a clicking noise before roaring to life. I collapsed to my knees, even though I was quite sure that was a dead rat¡¯s body a few feet away from me.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± I whispered to the man that was neither my friend nor my enemy. ¡°Thank you.¡±The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

    The change was instantaneous. I stopped shivering. Even though I was in the basement, I felt the warmth wash over me, and my stamina no longer dropped. I let out another breath, letting myself feel this victory before moving on to the next pressing thing on my list.

    That fence. Bricks. Clay. I needed to experiment to see if I could make baked clay near the furnace.

    I didn¡¯t have any soup left. Instead, I spent some time in my now warm house making applesauce with my cutting station. Five bricks. That¡¯s all I had to make. It wasn¡¯t even mid-morning yet, and I needed to get to the river to collect five mounds of clay. It would be so much easier now that I had my inventory. Despite not having soup to keep me warm, I just needed to make sure my stamina was completely full. It was one trip to the river. I could even run if I wanted to. As long as my stamina was full.

    It took two apples for every applesauce. I experimented with one applesauce, getting about fifteen percent of my stamina back. I had a regular apple left, and tried eating it, getting a sliver of stamina in return. So, a plain apple did give me something, but it was far more valuable to mash it into applesauce.

    I ate the rest of the applesauce, then a fried fish to give myself full stamina. My sanity was at fifty percent, and I had no more comfort foods, but I tried not to panic about that. That was another problem I shouldn¡¯t focus on. I was going to build this fence. The furnace was going to work as a substitute for the sun.

    Once I was at full stamina and every slot in my inventory had a basic food item, I walked outside into the cold. I went as fast as possible to the river without using too much stamina and quickly gathered five mounds of clay.

    ¡°This will work,¡± I said through my shivering. ¡°The information was given to me before about how to make bricks, but I¡¯m pretty certain this will work. It makes sense that it¡¯ll work. Get the clay close enough to the furnace, it¡¯ll act like a sun of some sort. Right? Right?¡±

    I didn¡¯t bother looking at the sky. Once the last mound of clay was in my inventory, I headed for the house, keeping an eye on my stamina. It was dropping, but I could make it. I had enough stamina to get home. And at home, it would be dry and warm.

    I entered the covered back porch, then walked through the hole in the floor, molding the clay into brick shape as I approached the furnace. I knelt on the ground again, pulling out the five molded clay and placing them under the furnace. There was a moment where I felt like an idiot. How could a furnace possibly be like the sun?

    But I was too stubborn to give up. The gamer part of me knew this could be an option. It made sense. This was a damn good substitute.

    ¡°Could I¡­ could I get an indication if this worked?¡± I asked my alien overlords.

    There was nothing. I chewed on the inside of my cheek as I stared at the bricks. Despite my fear of that man, I started combing through what he said to me to give myself any hint as to who my alien overlords were. I couldn¡¯t trust anything the man said. How could I? He could lie.

    No, wait. I could trust some of the things he said. He didn¡¯t lie all the time. It¡¯s what he said. Lying all the time made him too predictable. That, for whatever reason, rang true to me. He didn¡¯t like predictability. Maybe because¡­

    Because his sister was predictable. Perhaps they were siblings, but they were opposites. One of the memories came back to me with startling clarity.

    ¡°You¡¯re like yin and yang. I¡¯ve never seen two children with two completely different likes and dislikes come together like you two have.¡±

    I stared at the furnace, frowning. That phrase came back way too easily for it not to be a clue of some sort. Brenda had said that about Theo and I, but what if¡­ what if it also held a clue to who my alien overlords were?

    Yin and yang. Opposites, yet in balance. The man lied; the female was incapable of it. Predictability and unpredictable. Together, they formed a neutral party.

    I opened my mouth to say something, but paused. What exactly should I say? It wasn¡¯t like I needed to. These alien overlords could obviously read my thoughts.

    ¡°Is it true that I agreed to this whole situation?¡± I asked the ceiling.

    There was a pause, long enough for me to wonder if they would answer.

    Yes

    I swallowed, closing my eyes. This was the closest I had ever come to true answers. Even still, I could not trust those words. This might be the male.

    My brother is not allowed to lead you astray as long as I am here

    I let out another breath. This was the female speaking. I still couldn¡¯t be sure, though. I needed to do a few more tests. ¡°So¡­ you are incapable of lying?¡±

    Lying is too simple a word to describe what I do.

    I am a higher being, higher than you can comprehend.

    Me using these words to communicate to you is, in a way, lying.

    If I tried to communicate to you in my pure language and reveal myself in my true form, you would dissolve at the sight of my existence, for your mortal self cannot comprehend it.

    Therefore, in that manner, I do lie because I withhold my pure self to keep you safe.

    But I do not purposefully lead you astray to do things you should not.

    I simply withhold things that could cause you harm.

    I stared at the words filling my vision, and kept staring as they quietly slipped away. This was¡­ so much more existential dread than I wanted to feel today. Despite all this, I knew for certain this was the sister. She was going above and beyond to make sure I was not deceived in any way, even if it did feel unnecessary.

    ¡°I, um¡­¡± I started to say, giving my head a little shake. ¡°I was just¡­ hoping to convince you to¡­ make a timer on the bricks? To¡­ see if it works to have the furnace bake them.¡±

    It felt silly asking that after the conversation. There was another pause. I wanted to be a bit more sneaky about it all, try to pit the one against the other, but sometimes I forgot that these beings are what the male claimed to be higher even than gods.

    It would make sense for that to happen. An upgrade of some sort.

    Not just for bricks, but all tools that rely on a timer.

    Even your stamina and sanity should have a number representation of what they are.

    I like this.

    I shall discuss this with my brother.

    There was nothing much more for me to do but wait. Wait for this being to figure out what she wanted to do. But a small part of me felt proud. I knew just a bit better these two beings, and was able to request things.

    Once all levels reach 20, you will receive this upgrade.

 Chapter 51

    The words disappeared, and I hesitated before climbing to my feet. I did my crouch run through the basement, then climbed the stairs to the covered back porch. I grabbed the clipboard and got to the last page with my progress.

    Farming level 20

    Cleaning level 21

    Logging level 24

    Cooking level 15

    Building level 25

    Animal Care level 17

    Cooking and animal care. Once I bring those two up, I could get this upgrade. After that relief, a different realization hit me.

    ¡°Okay, well¡­ I was actually hoping to use it to figure out if the furnace could tun the clay into baked clay.¡± I glanced out the window, certain it was still light enough to be considered morning. ¡°I need to bake them for half a day, then cook them into bricks for another half day, and¡­¡±

    And sneak them into the fence while the wolf is out.

    That realization made my heart start to pound. It would be the only way. Even if this did work and the clay could be baked by the furnace and then placed in the tool, that would make it so I¡¯d be putting the bricks in the fence an hour or two before they attacked. That would be cutting it close, but the only other option I had was to¡­ not. To not have a fortified fence. That didn¡¯t really feel like an option to me.

    Which meant I had to sneak around the wolf creature. Tonight. Right before they attacked. And I had no comfort food.

    I glanced again at my sanity that remained at fifty percent. I tried not to focus on the negative. This could still work.

    ¡°So, um¡­ yes?¡± I asked the ceiling. ¡°Is the clay turning into baked clay near the furnace?¡±

    I hesitated, then walked back down into the basement and to the clay at the bottom of the furnace. I cleared my throat. ¡°Is it working.¡±

    I waited for anything, then words appeared.

    Information for -25.00?

    Y/N

    I winced, glancing at my total. 7.21 total points. I had drained so much of it to get the materials for the furnace, but I was not about to feel bad about it.

    ¡°I¡¯m¡­ assuming I can go into the negative?¡± I asked.

    We¡¯ll allow it.

    ¡°Can I barter again?¡±

    There was another pause.

    -23.00

    I let out a sigh, then closed my eyes, trying to think. I noticed I¡¯d reached level 25 in building, which meant I could buy the fourth set of clothing for building. That would cost 20.00 dopamine points. And I was getting really close with the logging, too. After downing so many trees, it was impossible not to get close to level 25. I spent a lot of points, and I was about to spend a lot more for information.

    More than information, I corrected myself. This is peace of mind. How much would I spend in order to start my plan? To mentally prepare to sneak through the yard with a wolf nearby?

    ¡°Negative fifteen?¡± I asked, not feeling it at all.

    There was another pause, then the words appeared.

    -20.00

    Honestly? That was fair. And the moment I thought it, I knew they would not go any lower. It wasn¡¯t nearly as expensive as the other bit of information. And when I thought of it in terms of currency, it was literally a log cut into boards.

    ¡°Okay. Tell me,¡± I said.

    Yes. The furnace works, and the bricks are in place to be baked.

    They will take half a day.

    There can only be five clay at a time that can be baked.

    The words disappeared, and I felt myself sighing with relief. Then I was right. And I had so much stuff to do.

    I gathered all the bricks I could carry and dropped them in the fence, taking the blow to my stamina. I ran inside once the forty-five bricks were in the fence, drying off. I took a moment to appreciate how warm it was in here. I wanted to do some more cleaning, but I didn¡¯t want to go outside if I didn¡¯t need to.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

    Instead, I walked through the first floor, admiring the colors and how much this house had changed. Yes, the brown carpet still bugged me. Yes, the furniture looked like it came straight out of a grandma¡¯s house. But it was beautiful. The junk was gone. The walls were a lovely painted color. It was clean. It hadn¡¯t smelled of mildew in ages.

    Killie walked over to me, purring as she rubbed her back against my leg.

    ¡°Hey, girl,¡± I said, leaning down to pick her up. ¡°I had a thought. I need to up my animal care levels and cooking, but it¡¯s raining. I usually just get some levels by talking with Daisy or with you, and I don¡¯t have a cow yet. I want to see if playing with you will up the levels.¡±

    Killie glanced at me with those cat eyes, and I could practically hear the sass coming out of her. My smile was a bit chagrined.

    ¡°Obviously I would play with you even if it doesn¡¯t raise my animal care levels. I¡¯ve been so busy doing all these to do lists and having existential crisis after existential crisis. While waiting for the clay to turn into baked clay, maybe we could play a bit?¡±

    Killie let out a soft meow, jumped down, then faced me. Clearly this cat was waiting for me to pick the entertainment.

    ¡°Right,¡± I said, hands on my hips as I looked around. I didn¡¯t necessarily have a toy. In my dejunking of the place, I really hadn¡¯t seen a cat toy anywhere. But that was what an imagination was for.

    I had enough batteries that I had her play with my light for a bit. It wasn¡¯t a laser pointer, though, so Killie played with it a little before she got bored. The biggest hit was the crumpled-up to-do list. It was almost therapeutic to crumple that list up and toss it to my cat. She batted at it, meowing as she chased it around. I smiled, following her around, stealing it from her on occasion. Killie enjoyed it far more than I thought she would.

    The hours passed. I felt the same amount of dread as I usually did while doing something that wasn¡¯t on my to-do list. A part of me was screaming at me for playing with Killie while I had a to-do list to complete. The other part of me tried to calm her down and assure her that I was working on the to-do list. I was at a bottleneck with those bricks.

    Playing with Killie did help my animal care, and I was delighted to see the two hours I spent with my cat rose my level to eighteen. I wasn¡¯t about to tell that to Killie, though, and I was smart to check it on the clipboard when she was off catching the ball.

    Eventually it was time to gather the baked clay and stick it in the tool. I sacrificed some of my stamina to quickly do that in the pouring rain. I was imagining the seven days I would have at the start of the fall season. Seven whole days to replenish my food, to upgrade the things I need to. It would practically be a vacation! As long as I survived tonight.

    But¡­ I would. I was trying not to be overly optimistic, but I learned something else with my conversation with the male. These farming games rarely ever ended. If anything, I only ever got bored and put it away for a few months or a year. Or two. There was never any firm end. No big, final quest to finish. No end tape to run through. Sure, farming games ¡®ended¡¯ with the storyline, but¡­ they kind of lasted forever. Forever cleaning, forever organizing, forever farming.

    Sure, I got a penalty for staying out in the rain with no stamina. I lost a day and didn¡¯t recover half my stamina. That hurt, especially so close to their attack. But I had a feeling my alien overlords wouldn¡¯t force me out of the game. This was a binding contract between the three of us, whatever contract that meant. A contract I knew I needed to play the game long enough to figure out what it was.

    As soon as the hauntings started upstairs, I scooped up Killie and barricaded myself in the bathroom. I had no comfort food, which meant I needed to protect my fifty percent sanity as much as possible for when I had to leave to put the bricks in the fence.

    I remained in the bathroom, closing my eyes. Ignoring the sounds, or giving logical explanations for why they were acting like this. It kept my sanity in check for most of the evening until I heard those footsteps. Try as I might, my only logical reasoning was that the murderer was still in the house, and I was not prepared to see what would happen if I opened the door right as the murderer walked out.

    Despite all my talk about how this game might only end if I let it, that was when I was playing with my cat, not huddled in a bathroom waiting for a murderer to pass by.

    I was proud of myself that I only lost perhaps ten percent of my sanity. With the murderer gone, I slowly got to my feet, wiping the sweat from my forehead.

    ¡°Alright,¡± I whispered to Killie. ¡°Wait in here. I need to put the bricks in the fence.¡±

    Killie stared at me as I opened the door. The nice thing about the bathroom was it was right next to the back door. Against my better judgement, against everything screaming at me to stop, I grabbed the latch and unlocked the back door.

    I didn¡¯t allow myself to think too hard about it. I had five spots in my inventory that had the remainder of my food, and five empty spots for the bricks. I did not have that much food left. I was really anxious for it to already be tomorrow, not just because they were attacking in a few hours. Now that I knew what would happen at the end of each season, I was going to prepare for it. Part of that preparation was to make sure my storage was upgraded. I needed more space.

    My mind was wandering. Almost dissociating. How could I be thinking about tomorrow when I needed to focus on the now. Now, being that I was slipping the last brick into my inventory.

    I crept away toward the fence. The rain masked my steps, but it also masked the wolf¡¯s snorts and quiet snarls. I froze completely when I saw the wolf inside the fence, sniffing around the dumpster.

    I backed toward the covered porch again, not daring to breathe. Rain was masking my feet. I could use this to my advantage. The wolf was by the dumpster, so I should go on the other side of the house. The other side where¡­ where I was ignoring the beer cans by my bedroom window. The ones I was pretty sure were left by someone at night.

    Which one did I want to possibly run into? The wolf? Or the creep?

    I let out a breath. Information. I could¡­ check to see¡­ if there was someone by my window. That would be a great discovery, because¡­ because¡­

    Because I would rather face the creep than the wolf. There was only a slight chance I¡¯d run into the creep. A guarantee I¡¯d run into the wolf. Simple logic was ruling me.

    I eased past the covered back porch, then crept over the storage room. I waited at the edge, then popped my head over the side.

    No creep. Perfect. I used the opportunity to sprint a little ways to the fence, unloading the bricks into it. The wolf was still on the other side of the house. I let out a breath, checking my stamina to make sure I was still alright.

    The words above the fence shifted. My eyes snapped to them, holding my breath. Then, to my horror, new words appeared.

    0/20 shattered glass

 Chapter 52

    I stared at it. Stared at those new words long and hard. Stared until a part of my soul started screaming that I needed to get back inside because my stamina was getting low. They were coming, and I needed to save every bit of stamina and sanity I could.

    Because they were going to break through the fence tonight.

    I heard a snarl way too close to me. I spun around and saw the wolf staring right at me. The creature was sniffing around the storage unit when he spotted me. Adrenaline shot through me, and I bolted toward the front of the house. The wolf snarled before it started to run. The rain might have masked its feet, but it could not mask that sharp crunching sound as the spine broke.

    I let out a terrified shout as I kept running. I ran around the house to the front porch, leaping over the dead flowerbeds. I heard it snarling, its hot breath hitting my neck.

    I dropped to the ground out of instinct, and the wolf on its two legs tripped over me. I wasted no time scrambling to my feet and running through the front door. I slammed it shut but didn¡¯t stop my momentum until I rammed against the wall of the living room. I was gasping for air, trying to keep back a sob. I couldn¡¯t think. I almost didn¡¯t want to. The only thing that brought me out of it was when I heard Killie hissing.

    I turned around and realized I hadn¡¯t shut the door as hard as I thought. It swung open, and I saw the wolf standing there, right at the edge of the front porch.

    I covered my mouth to keep in a scream, but I kept staring at the thing. It was such a horrifying sight I couldn¡¯t help but stare. Those hind legs shouldn¡¯t be able to hold up that creature, yet it was. The creature was well over six and a half feet tall, the fur matted yet soaking wet. It was snarling at me, saliva dripping from its jaw. In an act of bravery, I turned on my flashlight and pointed the light at its face.

    The wolf had beady black eyes. There was emotion in those eyes, mostly rage and murder. The wolf was programed with only one function. To kill me. It didn¡¯t even bother looking at Killie, even though she was the easier target. Killie kept hissing at it, but the wolf ignored her.

    The creature remained at the foot of the two stairs at the front porch. It was clear it couldn¡¯t go any further. That alone made me brave enough to keep a light on its face. To see those beady, murderous eyes. See an insane amount of teeth that seemed stuffed in its mouth like someone was trying to cram as much teeth into a jaw as possible. It snarled at me again, batting at the air with its claws, trying to get at me. I was so focused on seeing this creature that I didn¡¯t realize how much my sanity was dropping until a huge chunk of it disappeared with the wolf trying to get at me.

    I jumped, then headed toward the door and slammed it shut. The wolf snarled again as I clutched my chest, trying to breathe.

    I still didn¡¯t want to think. They were attacking, and the fence wasn¡¯t done. Twenty shattered glass! I didn¡¯t have enough. How many times would I fall for this? Thinking I was done on the task I was working on? Even if I ran out right now to get sand, I wouldn¡¯t have enough. Glass took an entire day to finish in the tool.

    I started softly banging my head against the door. I could have put all those bricks in the storage unit and had it complete by now. I could have saved all those points I spent on figuring out if the clay could be cooked under the furnace. I wouldn¡¯t have been in the negative.

    My thoughts returned to the alien overlords, and I tried not to be bitterly angry at them. They knew shattered glass was another task. Perhaps it was my own fault for not asking if there was any more, but I was so focused on the bricks. I was so close.

    Too close.

    I thought about just how lucky it was that I had forty-five bricks already done. Lucky how the furnace could only do five, the exact number of bricks left that I needed. It all worked out a little too perfectly. It was tied in a bow a little too neatly. Like my alien overlords dangled a carrot over my nose to get me to do this.

    Maybe they didn¡¯t set me up to fail, but it was certainly suspicious how it all seemed to work out.

    Until it didn¡¯t.

    I was back to that familiar feeling of being a rat in a maze. Whatever I did was being closely monitored, and tests were being injected into the maze that I didn¡¯t feel like I had originally agreed on.

    So, why? Why did I agree to this? Why did I subject myself to something like this? Was I tricked into it? That seemed like something the male would do.

    Killie walked over to me, checking to see if I was okay. I patted her on the back, staring at my sanity. I had maybe thirty percent. Thirty percent to face them when they attacked. I was not going to survive the night.

    I felt her fur on my skin and frowned, glancing down. I touched my reflective vest. There was a large gash in it, and I tried to remember where this came from. I remembered dropping to the ground to trip the wolf, and remembered the size of the claws on its feet. It must have cut into the clothes.

    Warning, clothing damaged. Will not work until sewing machine has repaired it. Will take six hours.Stolen novel; please report.

    I groaned, resting my head against the door again. It was better to know this now, rather than later. I needed my building clothes, as I was pretty sure I needed all three levels to upgrade buildings.

    I got up and crept up to the second floor, taking off the vest and setting it on the sewing machine. It started working fast, and I crept down the stairs again, my heart hammering in my chest. Would it matter? I was undoubtably getting attacked by them tonight.

    Before my panic took over completely, I tried to soothe my thoughts. Information. I would see what happened. See if I talked to the male again when they sucked all my sanity and stamina out of me. Maybe I could spin this to my favor. See if I could get more information from this male being. Would I be able to function well enough after an attack from them?

    My foot hit the final step, and I let out a shudder. I felt the pressure on all sides, an indication that they were coming. Already the tears started to fall. I could do this. It was a talk with the male alien overlord. That¡¯s what would happen at the end of all this. I¡¯d get more information.

    I picked up my axe, tears still streaming down my face as I clung to my thirty percent sanity. I ate the last of my fried fish to fill my stamina up to about seventy percent, just to be safe. The grayed out cap was still there, so I couldn¡¯t get to the full hundred percent even if I tried. I was out of food. And I was quite sure I would not last the night.

    Thud

    I closed my eyes, shaking my head. Not a monster. More just a blob thing. I could do this.

    Thud

    So what if they broke through?

    Thud

    I¡¯d just have a conversation with the alien overlords. I wouldn¡¯t give up.

    Thud

    I would figure out why I was here. I would.

    There was silence. My palms started to sweat. I refused to feel terrified.

    An explosion rocked the house, and I fell to my knees, recoiling from the sound. That was the fence. The fence just exploded. I kept a grip on my axe, trying not to sob. My sanity took a hit. This was going to be a very short night.

    A blackness started to pool at the base of the door. I let out a gasp, backing away. Killie ran, disappearing into the bedroom. I wished I could follow her. To just go to bed. To ignore this all. But I couldn¡¯t.

    I backed into the kitchen, my breathing hitched. Despite knowing I couldn¡¯t survive the night, my self-preservation kicked in. They were headed straight for me, the black sludge of teeth and fur. I didn¡¯t know how to kill them. I wasn¡¯t sure they could be killed.

    I kept backing away as the sludge followed me, gaining speed. I whimpered, knowing if I stayed in this house I¡¯d be trapped. I didn¡¯t want to be trapped.

    In a desperate attempt to last as long as I could, I threw open the back door and stumbled into the covered back porch. The black sludge lifted up, gaining no humanoid like features except to fill the void of their mouth with jagged teeth. I stumbled out again before slamming the screen door right as they attacked. The sludge hit the door, but specks of them landed on me. I let out a cry, trying to shake it off as I backed into the rain. I couldn¡¯t see, more feel them all around, breaking down the fences, the greenhouses. Entering the house and the storage unit. I was gasping, trying to hold my axe.

    ¡°Get out! Get out!¡± I couldn¡¯t help but scream.

    Another pillar of black sludge reared up before slamming into me. I tried to cut it with the axe, but it didn¡¯t work. It was like trying to cut a wave in hopes that it wouldn¡¯t get me wet. I felt them hit my chest as tiny teeth started to bore into me.

    ¡°No! No.¡± I tried to shout, but the energy was sapped out of me. The rest of my sanity disappeared, and I waited for blackness to come. Instead, it started draining my stamina.

    I fell to my knees, feeling more of the sludge coming around the corner of the house to find me.

    ¡°Leave me alone,¡± I mumbled. I tried to grab the sludge from my torso, but every time I got a bit out, the teeth simply transferred to whatever sludge was still there. I was on my hands and knees, the axe to one side as I tried to breathe. My stamina was dropping fast, dipping below fifty percent as my vision turned wabbly.

    I knew this would happen. They were strong, and the fence couldn¡¯t hold them back. Yet still I tried to fight, a primal instinct to keep me safe. But I no longer listened to it now. I simply closed my eyes, ready for the darkness. Ready for that white room. To see if my alien overlords would punish me for failing.

    In the distance, I heard something that I at first couldn¡¯t register. If I had to put a word to it, it sounded like a chainsaw of all things. For whatever reason, that noise made them stop burrowing.

    All at once they pulled away from me. From the house. From everything. They found a new target, and I was too busy panting, trying to figure out what was happening to focus much on anything.

    I was against the wall of the storage unit, hearing that chain saw as it cut into them. There was no shrieking, no crying from them. Just the wet slap of them falling to the ground before reforming again. I was breathing deeply, not sure what to think. The chainsaw got closer, and I needed to leave. Meeting up with a crazed chainsaw murderer was not something I wanted to experience right now.

    Whoever it was approached, the chainsaw dying down. I had spent so much time focusing on getting the energy to enter the house that I didn¡¯t realize how close this person was.

    A beam of light hit me right in the face. I lifted a hand, trying to block the light. Worried I wasn¡¯t going to die from them, but from a chainsaw murderer.

    ¡°Quinn?¡±

    I recognized that voice in an instant. It was the one constant in all my memories. I dropped my hand as he lifted the flashlight that seemed to be attached to his head by some sort of contraption. I was breathing deeply, the rain falling less. With the light not in my eyes, I saw his face. Saw the hair, the eyes, the person now my age. Saw the torn, rugged tactical gear he wore and the chainsaw in his hand.

    ¡°Theo?¡±

    Theo stared at me, brows furrowed in confusion. He glanced around at the back of the house, backing away. ¡°What¡­ what¡­¡±

    He was here. He was here in this world too. But¡­ how? Why? No doubt he had a million questions himself.

    Theo¡¯s head jerked to the side before he lifted his chainsaw, starting it up again.

    ¡°Theo, wait!¡±

    He didn¡¯t stay. He sprinted away, holding his chainsaw ready, no doubt leaving to attack more of them. I wanted to follow him, but a darkness flitted around my vision. I gasped, fear taking me as I glanced at my stamina, but I wasn¡¯t nauseous. I had about five percent left.

    Attack is finished. Force sleep beginning.

    ¡°No!¡± I shouted.

    I stumbled forward as darkness appeared in the side of my vision. I had so many questions. Theo was here. He had answers. He was off, fighting them, but I needed answers to my questions. Even with him here, a million more questions formed.

    Darkness surrounded me as the game forced me to sleep.

 Chapter 53

    I was stumbling out of bed before I comprehended that I was not outside in the pouring rain chasing after Theo. I was in my bedroom, the red dawn light filling my room. I was panting, glancing around.

    ¡°Theo?¡±

    I didn¡¯t know why I said his name. An entire night had passed, and he was running the other direction last I saw him. Honestly, I wasn¡¯t even sure if I could trust my eyes. My sanity was completely gone last night, and I could have hallucinated anything. But that was only things inside the house, right? The shadows and the whispers I heard trying to freak me out when my sanity was below fifty percent all came from the house. Not outside.

    Besides, I distinctly remember hearing that chainsaw. And I doubt very much that I would have hallucinated Theo, who seemed just as confused and bewildered at seeing me as I did at seeing him. He was here. Here in this strange place with me. But where¡­

    The monsters. The monsters across the bridge. Knowing his game preference, he probably woke up in a place full of monsters to kill while I woke up here in a dirty house to clean.

    I was breathing deeply, my gaze bouncing around until it came to the ground. The carpet was black. No, wait. That wasn¡¯t black carpet. That was residue from them. I could see the edges of the room had the regular brown carpet. I lifted my steel-toe boots, the sticky substance revealing that yes, they left a residue. I wasn¡¯t sure how I felt about this. Last time this didn¡¯t happen. Was this new?

    Last time it was an accident, because my alien overlords were still figuring out the ropes and even said the penalties wouldn¡¯t be as severe. I sighed, lowering my boot before stepping out into the entertainment room.

    My sanity was at twenty-five percent. That wasn¡¯t great. I¡¯d probably be hearing weird noises in this house if I remained. I needed to wear my nightgown tonight for bed to jump that up to seventy-five percent.

    My stamina, too, was at one hundred percent. The grayed out cap at the end of my bar was gone. I wasn¡¯t complaining. It was nice to have a full bar of stamina.

    I rushed into the entertainment room, seeing the carpet stained with residue of them. There were parts where there were thin black marks, then bigger pools. It was like someone painted an anaconda black and had it slithering through the first floor.

    I ran out the front door, thinking maybe Theo was still here.

    ¡°Theo?¡± I shouted. Again, it felt pointless, but I had to try. I moved around the front of the house, cupping my mouth to help the sound travel. ¡°Theo!¡±

    Silence. All around me the trees were bright orange, red, and yellow. Fall had arrived. I moved to the backyard and prepared to shout his name again when all the air left my body.

    The backyard was a complete mess. There were logs, bricks, boards, and broken stone scattered all across the backyard. Both greenhouses had blinking red words above them.

    Warning! Greenhouses will be destroyed if hit again!

    I flinched, then noticed the fence was completely gone. I would have to rebuild it. The storage unit had words blinking above it, too.

    32/100 boards

    25/50 stone blocks

    12/75 bricks

    I let out another breath. They completely destroyed this place. The barn was missing some logs, too. The mess they made was almost overwhelming, except I remembered I had seven days.

    Still, after seeing the kind of mess this place was, seven days didn¡¯t feel like a lot. Besides, Theo was here. That mystery above everything had my attention. I wanted to spend a day trying to contact him. I was confident he was on the other side of the river. Which meant I would have to travel on the other side to find him. With the only thing to protect me was my axe.

    I let out a breath, glancing toward the river. A lot of the trees had inexplicably grown back last night. More resources at the beginning of the season. I could still hear the river. I wondered what would happen if I crossed the bridge and shouted for Theo.

    A whole slew of monsters would be after me. That¡¯s what would happen.

    I sighed, then walked back into my house. I ran my eyes over the calendar. There was no unusual weather pattern all week. I was also happy to see I would have another seven days next week before another attack. In fact, the pattern seemed to be two seven days, then two five days, then two four days, before one more three day, all equaling thirty-five days for fall. Considering how badly they destroyed my back yard, I would need those two weeks with only two attacks. Any spare time I would have would definitely be used figuring out how to contact Theo. There was no way he was a figment of my imagination.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    I picked up the phone that was blinking and pressed one.

    ¡°They have returned to their origin, considerably weaker after such an attack. They will not return for some time.¡±

    I glanced again at the calendar.

    ¡°But they were thorough. They destroyed anything that was being protected, and anything that was partially finished. It is up to you to repair those damages before their next attack.¡±

    ¡°Theo,¡± I whispered. ¡°What about Theo.¡±

    ¡°Take the time to repair. As always, we will give you a to-do list.¡±

    ¡°Theo! Why is Theo here!¡±

    ¡°This is for the entire week-¡±

    ¡°Are you going to tell me about Theo!¡±

    ¡°-finish before you can go to bed.

    ¡°Repair all damages done by them,

    ¡°Build a barn,

    ¡°Purchase a cow,

    ¡°Purchase the fourth article of clothing for building,

    ¡°Build and set traps in your foraging area.

    ¡°Clean the blackness in the house.

    ¡°As an added warning, they have a very keen sense. They have left a mark in your house. If it is not cleaned up by the time they return, it does not matter how strong the fence is. They will be able to break it, and they will attack. Make sure the residue is one hundred percent gone. Once you reach level twenty in all fields, you will also gain the ability to know how clean your house is.¡±

    A whimper escaped me as I glanced down at the blackened carpet. It was everywhere. Those alien overlords really were placing a lot of emphasis on me leveling up to 20.

    The phone gave a click, and it seemed to bring me back to the present.

    ¡°Theo! What about Theo! Why is he here?¡± I demanded.

    There was no answer. Just the tone indicating that the other line had hung up. I stared at the calendar again. Seven days. I had seven days to recover. But I didn¡¯t want to recover. I wanted to forget all of this and march over to the other side to find Theo. But I wouldn¡¯t last a day on the other side.

    I sighed, looking at the long to-do list on the paper. I needed to get started. Cleaning and the fence were my two top priorities now, but I also needed to raise my levels. And I needed to start now.

    I got my repaired reflective vest and dressed in my building outfit before walking outside, getting to work cleaning up the logs, bricks, and placing the broken stone into the tool to reforge them into stone blocks. Once it was all cleaned up, I started my morning routine. It wasn¡¯t much. I checked the greenhouses to see that indeed all the plants were withered and dead. I pulled them all out and fixed the broken soil boxes. I dipped into my reserve of fertilizer and soil, hoping I could find some replacement for this stuff. I did the same in the second greenhouse, feeling tired. Everything now felt like a distraction. Something to get finished fast so I could go to the other side. To figure out why Theo was here. Could he come over to my side? Clearly from what I saw last night it was far easier for Theo to come here. Would he try it again?

    As I finished fixing the soil box in the second greenhouse, the questions came back to me. Almost too much to process. It all boiled down to why? Why was he here? Granted, I still didn¡¯t understand why I was here. Now it wasn¡¯t just why was I here, but why did my alien overlords decide to bring us both here? Why did the memories always have us together? Why was it us?

    I bought more seeds, as everything in the greenhouses were destroyed. Also, since the greenhouses had been attacked so hard, the produce would take days to grow. I had some uncooked tomatoes and potatoes stored away, so I wasn¡¯t completely destitute, but I was again glad I had a solid week to recover.

    I went to get a potato from the storage room when I noticed the same blackness on the ground of the storage unit. My heart sank as I pulled out my flashlight and shined it around. It wasn¡¯t as bad as the greenhouse, but the inside of the storage unit got hit.

    ¡°No,¡± I whispered.

    If I had to guess, almost half of the stuff I stored in here was destroyed beyond saving. Splintered firewood, crumbled bricks, and shredded sticks. I tried to hold in my gasp, thinking that would make it not as bad, somehow. I stumbled in, my light bouncing around. The place I was having such a hard time updating because it was so full found itself almost half as empty.

    I groaned, but steeled myself. The punishment was harsh. A little too harsh. But I also had seven days to recover.

    I gathered some of the destroyed bricks and dropped them into the dumpster, just to check.

    +.01

    You know what? It was better than nothing.

    I gathered all I could into my inventory and unloaded a lot into the dumpster. I did another trip like that to get the last of the ruined stuff out of the storage before remembering I had come in here to get a potato to plant.

    I cut up the potato and planted it into the first greenhouse. If I was serious about this, I would need sand. Those greenhouses needed to be repaired, because I needed food fast. Needed as much as I could build up my stash again. And to get it fast, I had to start making glass.

    I went over to the chicken coop, glad to see it in one piece. When I entered the coop, though, Daisy was nowhere to be found. Everything in my body froze.

    ¡°No,¡± I whispered again. I stumbled forward, aching. ¡°No!¡±

    I saw it, like it was supposed to be some sick gift. A raw chicken wing and chicken breast floating an inch from the ground, waiting for me to take.

    ¡°NO!¡± I glared at the ceiling. ¡°Bring her back! You can¡¯t kill her! You promised!¡±

    There was a pause, then words filled my vision.

    We just promised Killie wouldn¡¯t die.

    ¡°Bring Daisy back! Now!¡± My heart couldn¡¯t take this. Killie poked her head in to see what was going on.

    ¡°Please!¡± It was so desperate. I hated sounding desperate. I wanted to sound in control. Ready to bargain. But I wasn¡¯t about to bargain Daisy¡¯s life. I was going to demand it. ¡°I need her back! Let her not able to give eggs for a few days or something. Let me figure out some way through my animal care to get her better. But do. Not. Kill. Her.¡±

    There was a pause, then I blinked and Daisy was on the ground, clucking. I started to sob, grabbing my chicken and holding her close. Information in my mind told me she wouldn¡¯t lay eggs until I found a certain medicinal plant while foraging. The relief made the sob escape. Daisy was clucking, flapping her wings as I kept hugging her. I eventually let Daisy go, and she stumbled a bit, but soon righted herself.

    I covered my face and tried to contain my sobs, but I couldn¡¯t stop. I could handle almost anything except for anyone to harm my little animals.

 Chapter 54

    The sobbing didn¡¯t pass, but I did find myself in the mood to dig my axe into an evil monster. I needed glass. Desperately. I could not let those two greenhouses get completely destroyed. Both requested 0/9 glass.

    I crossed the bridge, glaring at the spider bush monster as I held out my axe. I tried not to scream but instead poured all my anger and frustration into the axe as I hacked away at that thing. It tried to get me, but I didn¡¯t let it. I just slammed it into the ground. I would have beaten it to a pulp, but another monster rolled out of the bushes before scuttling toward me. Fine. I was still angry. That one I did beat to a pulp.

    I stood there, gasping for air, a fresh set of tears falling down my cheeks. I didn¡¯t bother drying them as I gathered sand into bags. I went through the motion of filling them, filling up my inventory, then crossing the bridge to drop them off at the other side. It was nice I had an inventory now, with each bag of sand filling up a slot. This method was a thousand times easier than crossing the bridge with two bags of sand at a time.

    I was surprised at the change in me. A spider monster rolling out of the foliage didn¡¯t make me shiver. Instead, I lifted my axe and swung, chopping it in half and making sure it was completely dead before picking up more sand.

    I needed twenty bags of sand. I got to fourteen when I just needed to leave. There were too many spider monsters that kept me from my goal. I about left when a demon monkey dropped from the trees, shrieking as it clawed my shoulder. I gasped in surprise, almost dropping a bag of sand. My grip tightened over the bag and I started running to the bridge. My health points dropped to seventy-five percent, and I wasn¡¯t interested in getting hurt again.

    Once I crossed the bridge and gave the mental choice to move to the wolf¡¯s side, I took a moment to inspect my wound. It wasn¡¯t too deep, but it was a wound. I watched, surprised, as the wound on my skin stitched back up.

    Article of building clothing ruined. Must be fixed before it can be used.

    I let out an annoyed sigh, then glanced at the demon monkey on the other side of the bridge. Maybe demon monkey was the wrong word. It looked a bit more like a zombie monkey, with glowing red eyes. It was dripping with something dark, and I wasn¡¯t interested in staying to see what it was.

    Instead, I gathered everything I could, which turned out to be everything in my inventory and three whole bags of sand and headed back toward the house. The tool was currently making stone blocks, but by tonight I would have enough to put five bags of sand in there. The wolf, again, had a long timer, so it wouldn¡¯t be back for a while, which meant I had time. Time I would use.

    I placed my torn vest once again on the sewing machine before glancing at the wound on my shoulder. It was gone. There was a faint scar there, and I had the impression that if I crossed the bridge again today, it would reopen.

    I sighed, then dropped the rest of the sand in the storage unit and went back to cleaning the back yard. Despite only having two articles of building clothes on, I could still see what needed to be done. It took a long time to get the back yard looking how it did before. So long that I switched out the broken stone and placed more broken stone in the tool to make more blocks. It was mostly a matter of putting all the displaced boards into the fence to rebuild that. I put in the logs, then the boards. It asked for 0/15 bricks, which I couldn¡¯t fulfill at the moment.

    It still hurt, loosing all those resources. I realized I didn¡¯t actually know what the punishment would be if they broke through the fence because it hadn¡¯t happened before. This was a doozy, though, and it reinforced my desire to keep my priority on the fence.

    I started another fire and cooked every last thing I had. By the end of one hour, I had a meager collection of two tomato soups, one potato soup, a fish and chips, and three fried fish. It wasn¡¯t a lot, but it was something. Those greenhouses needed to be built, and I would get my food back.

    All the other resources I placed into the storage unit. By the end of the night, I had the backyard cleaned. I cut down a few trees to finish up the board portion of the storage unit. I even dropped some down the dumpster to bring my points back up. It was only after checking my progress that I got enough points to buy both the fourth article of clothing for the logging and the building. It left me with a total of 6.62 total dopamine points.

    I got on my entire outfit for logging with the newly purchased sturdy jeans and was told seven logs were now the basic drop. I went upstairs to get the newly repaired reflective vest to put on all four articles of building clothes.

    Ability unlocked: Traps

    Something was unlocked on the clipboard. I left the sturdy jeans of the building clothes to be buffed during the night as I went to see what kind of traps I could get. I hoped there was a wolf trap. That would be nice.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

    I flipped through the pages until I got to the one labeled traps. There were pictures of what looked like a clawed hunting trap. Others were boxes. There were eight different kinds of various sizes.

    Deer Trap -20.00

    -gives three meat (venison)

    Pig Trap -20.00

    -gives three meat (pork)

    Chicken Trap -20.00

    -gives three meat (chicken)

    Chicken Trap (Box) -20.00

    -traps one chicken in (1) day(s)

    -must have level two animal care to catch one

    Cow Trap -20.00

    -gives three meat (beef)

    Cow Trap (Box) -20.00

    -traps one cow in (3) day(s)

    -must have level three animal care to catch one

    Sheep Trap -20.00

    -gives three meat (mutton)

    Sheep Trap (Box) -20.00

    -traps one sheep in (???) days

    -must have level four animal care to catch one

    I wasn¡¯t sure how many days it would take to catch a sheep, but it was nice to have a way to not spend my dopamine points getting the animal. I would probably not know until I got my level four clothing item in animal care.

    You are not vegetarian?

    I glanced at the phrase that appeared in my vision. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ not. But¡­ don¡¯t you already know this?¡±

    Your outburst today about Daisy.

    We are not sure if this triggered a need to be vegetarian.

    Humans react differently to something like that, and we wanted to check.

    I sighed, glancing at the list of traps again. ¡°No. I still eat meat. I just¡­ not Daisy. Daisy needs to stay alive.¡±

    Did that make me a hypocrite? I honestly didn¡¯t care. I was too exhausted.

    Very well. We shall continue with the new menu items.

    Right as the words disappeared from my vision, I felt a few more recipes unlock. I flipped to the other pages. There were still a lot grayed out, but I saw a meatloaf and mashed potato recipe. Also a steak recipe, a meatball recipe, a roast and veggies recipe, and a hearty stew recipe. Each had the option to use whatever meat I wanted in there. There were some pork chops, and a bacon, sausage, and scrambled egg breakfast platter. In the comfort foods I saw chicken wings and chicken strips with fries. I just unlocked a lot of food options, and I still hadn¡¯t caught any animals.

    That practically doubled my comfort food options. It also gave me a lot more options for regular food, and hopefully with the higher level, they gave me more stamina. This was part of foraging, so it would also help raise my cooking levels as I did this. I¡¯d just have to build the traps.

    They were a bit pricy, though. But once I bought one, it would be reusable, so it was like an investment.

    Setting the traps in the foraging area, though, meant the meat would be sitting there in wolf territory. Would the wolf eat the meat?

    If you haven¡¯t gathered meat in one day, the wolf will take it

    ¡°Alright, fair enough,¡± I said.

    I started to hear whispers and flinched, remembering I was at twenty-five percent sanity. I really couldn¡¯t trust myself to stay inside for long, because I didn¡¯t want to lose any more sanity.

    Since this was the day after their attack, the wolf was gone for a lot longer than normal. So I went back outside to gather a lot more clay. Tomorrow I needed to make bricks. Between the brick request for the fence and the storage unit, I wanted to make as many bricks as I could tomorrow morning. Gathering thirteen mounds of clay every trip to the river definitely felt amazing. I would even use the furnace to bake it. These next few days were a mission of restocking and rebuilding.

    I probably should have been cleaning, but I didn¡¯t want to chance it with twenty-five percent sanity. There was way too much to do. Once I got a lot of clay, I still had a half an hour before the wolf came. I walked carefully over to the other side of the house toward the barn. That needed a lot of logs. Now that I was dropping seven, sometimes eight, it shouldn¡¯t take as long. The main reason why I was so afraid, though, was because I needed to pass by the other side of the house to get to the barn. More specifically, if I turned my head in a certain direction, I could see if there was another beer can under my bedroom window.

    I fought that desire hard. I had twenty-five percent of my sanity, and I wanted to keep it. Part of me didn¡¯t want to see the beer cans and the cigarette butts, but another part of me needed to acknowledge it.

    They couldn¡¯t be Theo¡¯s. Theo was not that kind of person, and he wouldn¡¯t have looked so shocked and surprised at my existence if he¡¯d been coming over to this side of the river just to look at me sleeping. No. No way. Definitely not Theo.

    Which meant it was someone else. Someone else peeking through my window while I slept. Leaving garbage on the ground for me to acknowledge they were here.

    I couldn¡¯t do it. I covered part of my eyes so I didn¡¯t have to see those beer cans. It might come back to haunt me, but for right now, I just needed to spend the next twenty minutes cutting down trees.

    About twelve logs had been lifted out of the barn and scattered across the way. I used all of them to rebuild the fences. The inventory was a huge boost to my productivity, and it was nice to drop eleven logs at a time while standing at the base of the barn. I was close to a hundred by the time I wanted to be done pushing my luck. I brushed off my hands, looking at the cleared space of trees. The barn was close enough to the greenhouses that it would either share with that fence or I¡¯d have to build a third fence to keep it protected.

    I started heading back when my foot kicked something. Everything inside me froze, because I was quite sure the thing I kicked was a beer can. Instinctively I turned around, but I kept my gaze from dropping to the ground. For one instant I was certain there was a hooded figure not that far from me, but when I blinked it was just a tree. At least, I was pretty sure it was just a tree.

    As my sanity shivered, I turned around and sprinted back into the house, a good seven minutes before the wolf was to arrive. I locked both doors, then headed straight for my bedroom, Killie following behind me.

    I was done for today.

 Chapter 55

    I did not feel rested the next morning, but I was relieved to see my sanity at seventy-five percent and my stamina back to full. Now that I had a bit more sanity to play with, I knew I¡¯d have to inspect my bedroom window. In the red dawn light, I walked over to that window and pulled back the broken blinds. There was no one there, but I could see the small pile of beer cans and cigarette butts there. Someone was still approaching the house. I was not doing as well as I could with calculating what this meant, mostly because it made me freeze in fear any time I thought about it.

    I walked outside, quickly going through my morning routine. Part of that was adding the new glass into the second green house and retrieving a few shattered glass in return. I wanted my lettuce and carrots to grow faster. I then checked on Daisy. She hadn¡¯t given an egg, but I petted my chicken, promising her that I would be foraging today, and I would look for the medicinal plant to help her. And maybe even find her another friend. I put more broken stone into the tool before I quickly went to work shaping clay into brick shapes and leaving over thirty clays out to bake in the sun. I even made five more for the furnace.

    I had six more days until they attacked. I checked my to-do list.

    Repair all damages done by them

    Build a barn

    Purchase a cow

    Purchase the fourth article of clothing for building

    Build a trap

    Set trap in your foraging area

    Clean their residue from the house

    Okay, maybe that wasn¡¯t a ton. For how much I worked yesterday, this felt like more should be crossed off. But it was okay. I still had six days. My mind again turned toward Theo. We needed to communicate. It was an entire day since I¡¯d seen him, and he hadn¡¯t come over to my side. I refused to believe he was just a hallucination. We needed a way to contact. Maybe I could leave him a note somewhere on the bridge. Ask him one of the billions of questions circling my brain. I just needed paper. Where could I find some paper?

    It was then that I was still staring at the to-do list. Written on paper.

    It could be worse. It could have taken me three hours to figure that out.

    I rushed into the house, going out of my way to avoid the residue on the carpet. I reached the kitchen counter, leaning over as I grabbed the roll of paper and tugged it loose before tearing it off.

    ¡°Yes!¡± I hissed.

    I didn¡¯t care if this didn¡¯t work. It was something, and I was in desperate need to find some way to contact Theo without marching over to that monster infested land. I grabbed one of the pens in the cups by the phone. The pens that didn¡¯t work, I set those aside to toss in the dumpster. I was starting to worry that none of the pens worked when one finally got some ink. I turned the paper on its side and wrote as big as I could.

    Theo! We need to talk! Come over to the house!

    I nodded in satisfaction before heading toward the river. It would be nice if I ran into Theo on the way there, but I had no such luck. Instead, I gathered two stones and walked onto the bridge, spreading the paper out and securing it with the stones. There was a chance the monsters might tear this to shreds. The wolf might, too. But if they did tear it to shreds, I would know this wasn¡¯t a good idea and I needed to try something else.

    It was something. I needed to do something, and I was happy with the results. He might stop by as early as tonight. That would be fantastic, honestly.

    With that done, I took the time to smash a spider monster before gathering four more bags of sand. I would have done more, but I was really worried about running into that demon zombie monkey.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    Once I was back home, I focused most of my energy on building the fences around the greenhouse. It didn¡¯t take long before they, too, were asking for bricks. Despite wanting to finish upgrading the storage unit, that asked for stone blocks and bricks. The last batch of stone blocks were in the tool, and then I¡¯d stick fifteen bricks in there. As much as I wanted to do glass, I had other things to make.

    Instead, I spent the rest of the morning chopping down logs for the barn. When I heard the tool stop rocking, an indication that it was done, I had 143/200 logs in the barn. I was really close.

    I passed by the house, and since it was noon, I allowed myself to glance at the window. No one was there except the pile of trash.

    I switched out the stone blocks and put in fifteen baked clay. There would be enough time that I could switch out the bricks by tonight and place another five bags of sand in the tool. I then used all my courage to gather the beer cans and the cigarette butts and drop them in the dumpster. As far as I could figure, this stranger had appeared every night to stare at me through my bedroom window.

    After felling one tree and cutting them each into boards, I dumped them all in the dumpster to get +140.00 total added to my overall dopamine points. It was a lot, but I told myself I needed to start with two traps.

    I bought the chicken trap, both the regular one and the box one. I was starting to feel the lack of eggs in the morning. It was also a good thing I didn¡¯t spend all my points, because the traps took a lot of metal shards. The box took way more than the regular trap.

    After two boards in each, three firewood, three metal shards for the regular trap and five shards for the box, I was done with the traps. All the logs I chopped down in order to get the boards for the traps went right back into the dumpster to feed my dopamine points to get the metal. Every time I thought I was getting a nice cushion of points, I soon drained it. Though I still had a nice 96.63 points left. Who knows what the next thing I would need to drain those points again. Probably another trap.

    I placed the traps in my inventory. I then dressed in my cooking outfit and headed out into the forest. Not my bedroom window side of the forest, but the one by the garage. The one in wolf territory.

    I kept walking, the darkness surrounding me. It was afternoon when I entered the forest, and I couldn¡¯t tell what time it was by the time it prompted me to choose whether I wanted to be in wolf territory.

    I mentally chose yes, then walked for a bit. The silence was absolute. There were no birds, no crickets. At first, I was afraid that meant the wolf was close, but I didn¡¯t dare turn around now. Even if I just set the traps and foraged for some food, I would be happy with that.

    My wolf timer had three question marks above it. I pulled out one of my chicken traps. The trap casted a shadow, except this shadow was red for some reason. I understood the game logic instantly, walking around a bit with the trap until the shadow underneath was green. I set it down, and I felt a strong impression enter my mind. I would find this trap if I wanted to, even in the middle of the night. It was the same instinct that told me where the house was right at this moment.

    I then brought out the box trap and did the same thing, searching the ground until the shadow turned green. With that done, I glanced around feeling information enter my mind.

    Wolf was here not too long ago. Be careful.

    Right. Not a problem. I was not in the mood to press my luck. I didn¡¯t want to stay far from the house after asking Theo to find me, anyway. I gathered some blueberries as well as some nuts, sticking them in my inventory. I then found a plum tree and picked a few of those before heading back to the house. Honestly, not being able to tell what time it was had to be the most unsettling aspect of this all. Also the fact that the wolf could pop out at any time.

    It wasn¡¯t until I was back in the clearing of the house that I pulled out the to-do list, reading it in the sunlight.

    Repair all damages done by them

    Build a barn

    Purchase a cow

    Purchase the fourth article of clothing for building

    Build a trap

    Set trap in your foraging area

    Clean the blackness in the house

    That felt nice. I hadn¡¯t found any medicinal plants for little Daisy. Did I have to wear my animal care outfit for that? I wasn¡¯t sure. But I would have to go foraging again tomorrow anyway. Maybe I could spend more time there. I was mostly unsettled by how close the wolf was.

    I entered the covered back porch and flipped to the back page to check my progress.

    Farming level 20

    Cleaning level 21

    Logging level 26

    Cooking level 17

    Building level 26

    Animal Care level 18

    Logging and building really needed to calm down. Then again, how could they stop when I had spent most of the day cutting down trees or building fences? That much made sense, I suppose. Still, knowing I would be getting another huge upgrade with my animal care and cooking both reaching level twenty, I was anxious to get that going. I just needed more food.

 Chapter 56

    I spent the rest of the evening chopping down trees for the barn. I kept an eye on the window, but no beer cans appeared. I assumed that meant the creep only came out at night, but I still kept an eye on my bedroom window as I dropped tree after tree.

    The sun was setting when I got all two hundred logs into the barn. I stepped back, panting. My stamina was low, and I didn¡¯t have much food left, but it was fine. I wanted to see the next resources it needed.

    0/150 boards.

    I figured as much. I cut the three leftover logs into boards and stuck them into the barn. Then I turned around and headed into the house. I had been putting this off long enough. I needed to clean those floors.

    I wasn¡¯t sure where to start, so I went to the clipboard and searched through the cleaning materials. Usually a washcloth just appeared in my hand when I cleaned the wall, so I wasn¡¯t sure what this game logic required of me.

    There was a cleaning chemical to buy that advertised it would clean up after monsters, so I dropped 10.00 dopamine points on that.

    I started in the kitchen, finding a scrub brush in my hand as I started scrubbing. It took a few scrubs, but the blackness disappeared as I dunked the brush in a bucket that also magically appeared out of nowhere. I didn¡¯t question it, I just went to work.

    With the first floor practically unrecognizable, the shrieking grandma ghost was nowhere to see. That was helpful as it got darker. The other nice thing was my cleaning levels were high enough that this scrubbing did not take any stamina. Considering the small amount I had left over of both stamina and food, I was content to clean as long as possible tonight.

    I only stopped once to fill the fence with the finished bricks from the tool. Then I set the tool with five more bags of sand. Other than that, I stayed inside the house, hearing the hauntings upstairs as I remained on the first floor, scrubbing. It was mostly Theo singing, so though it was creepy, it didn¡¯t take chunks out of my sanity like before.

    I told myself that tonight was the night. I had enough sanity to see what happened when I stood in front of those footsteps. See if the murderer would attack me. I had days to recover, and my sanity could take the hit. I¡¯d stop cleaning and face the door once I heard the creaking stairs. See what happened. Until then, I¡¯d clean.

    I could comfort myself for an hour straight with these words, but it still did not calm my heart.

    I kept scrubbing, the warning playing constantly in my head. If I didn¡¯t clean this, they could break through the fence no matter how strong it was. If I didn¡¯t clean every inch of this place, then I would have to do this all over again. Pick up a broken back yard, clean the house. I wasn¡¯t interested in wasting any more time on that. I would repair this place back to before. And then I would spend the next seven days after another attack to restock for the faster days.

    I used the opportunity to play a bit with Killie. Cleaning was comfortably past level twenty, and I needed to do something to help my animal care levels.

    I kept scrubbing the kitchen, pushing the bucket as I moved throughout the room. It was all over the floor, but not so much on the walls. That was nice. It still felt a lot, though. I kept scrubbing, tossing a wadded up piece of paper at Killie to keep her entertained. She kept batting it away, chasing after it.

    It wasn¡¯t until I finished the kitchen floor that I came to a realization. I had heard little Theo singing upstairs his creepy little nursery rhyme, but I did not hear the stairs creaking. It was getting late, and no ghost murderer came down. Did the murderer come every night? Was I missing something?

    Maybe there was a pattern with the hauntings I wasn¡¯t catching. It was late, but as my sanity didn¡¯t take a huge hit, I kept cleaning. The grandma ghost didn¡¯t seem to come unless they were attacking, which was fine by me. I got to where the kitchen crossed into the living room, and I glanced behind my shoulder. There was a moment¡¯s pause, then the kitchen floor gave a little sheen. That had to mean it was completely cleared of them. Perfect.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    With the kitchen done, it was time to move into the living room. This would take the most time, I could tell. It was like the creature had oozed in, taken up most of the room before spreading away somewhere. I kept scrubbing, kept tossing the ball at Killie when I needed to. I was thinking about how much I missed those times in farming games when I was like a dragon, guarding my horde of resources. When I had at least fifty of every little thing. A point in the game where I was practically throwing resources away. I¡¯d been here an entire season, and I still felt like I was barely getting anything.

    But I¡¯d reach that point soon. I had two weeks where they would only attack twice. I could get a lot done. I had already gotten a lot done. The kitchen was sparkly clean, and once my levels reached twenty, I would know for certain if it was clean. I had been meticulous, cleaning over every inch of the ground, making sure every darker section of the rug was scrubbed.

    This would have been so much easier if I could just toss the carpet, but I knew that wouldn¡¯t happen for a while. Definitely not in two weeks.

    Killie had gone to bed, but I felt pretty confident that my playing with her while cleaning had risen my animal care levels. Maybe not to twenty yet, but a lot closer than at the beginning of the evening. I pushed through, slowly but surely revealing the brown shag rug.

    Past midnight. Force sleep begins now.

    I panicked. Was it really that late? I had enough mental fortitude to quickly change into my nightgown. I may still have been over fifty percent, but it would be nice to have full sanity.

    I woke up to a red dawn, and I blinked. Would the light always be red in the morning, no matter the season? The sky was still a hazy color. But maybe I was just used to the sky having a slightly yellowish haze to it. No. I didn¡¯t want to get used to that.

    I went through my morning routine, placing five panes of glass in the first greenhouse and retrieving a few more shattered glass for it. I then stuck fifteen more baked clay into the tool before entering the greenhouse. I was delighted to see tomatoes ready to pick, though not any potatoes. That was okay. I had something. I then moved on to the second greenhouse and stepped in. The carrots were ready, but not the lettuce. That was fine. Again, I had something. I picked the carrots, then planted some more. I wasn¡¯t in a position to feel stingy. I needed food.

    Once that was done, I checked on Daisy. She was alive as ever, which always gave me relief. Still no egg, because I never found that medicine for her, but it didn¡¯t matter. She was alive. I still had today to find it. And to hopefully help her gain a friend.

    I wanted to go right now to see what the traps gave me, but I resisted. Despite everything I needed to do, I was most curious to check the note. I needed to know if it worked. If Theo responded. It also wouldn¡¯t hurt to make some more baked clay today. I would be swimming in bricks before the week was done, mark my words. I just¡­ really wanted to have a lot of bricks.

    I made my trek toward the river. Theo hadn¡¯t arrived last night. There was a chance he didn¡¯t get the note yet. This was simply to check. Check to make sure the note worked. If it didn¡¯t, I¡¯d be back to square one. I¡¯d have to figure out some other way.

    The river perhaps wasn¡¯t as strong as in the summer. It was something I noticed. There was still a lot of water, and I was grateful I had a bridge to walk across, but I did notice that the water didn¡¯t seem to be gushing as much as before.

    I stepped onto the bridge and saw the two rocks. The paper was there, too. It was enough that I rushed forward, my eyes bouncing over the paper. It had been flipped over, and I saw a hasty scrawl with what looked like a piece of charcoal.

    I refuse to enter that house. Meet me at this bridge at nightfall.

    I chewed on the inside of my cheek as I thought. Nightfall meant the wolf might come. If it was late enough, I might not make it back in time. That meant I would probably wait at the bridge until fifteen minutes before the wolf came, then I would have to book it back. Maybe I could write a warning for such so Theo wasn¡¯t waiting there all night for me.

    After spending some time gathering more clay mounds in my inventory, I got back to the house and pulled out another long sheet of thin paper and wrote my message.

    The wolf roams at night on my side. If I¡¯m not at the bridge when you¡¯re there and it¡¯s night, know I¡¯m back at the house. I will instead meet you the next morning.

    I missed phones. Like, actual cell phones that I could call up Theo right now if I felt like it and talk to him. Sure, I had a phone here, but it only gave me my to-do list.

    I molded more clay into brick shape to be cooked before heading back to the bridge. A few more trips to get plenty of clay would be nice, then I¡¯d check on my traps. I gathered two more stones with my note. I did the same, placing a part of the note on the edge of the paper and spreading it out before securing it with the other rock. It stayed throughout the night, so that had to be a good thing. I stood up, brushing my hands when something came out of the trees. I figured it was another spider monster, but I saw the tall, thin figure and instantly recognized him. Theo walked through the bush, his eyes downcast, heading right toward the bridge.

 Chapter 57

    I didn¡¯t say anything. Even though I had seen him that night, I had also gone a full thirty-five days with only Killie and Daisy for company. And, perhaps, the alien overlords. They weren¡¯t really company, though, as I always braced for an existential crisis whenever they showed up.

    It didn¡¯t take long for Theo to tear his gaze up from the ground and notice me at the bridge. He, too, seemed to freeze. The billions of questions in my mind froze as I just stared at him, then glanced at my completely full bar of sanity.

    ¡°So¡­ I guess you¡¯re not a hallucination,¡± I said.

    The surprised look on Theo¡¯s face relaxed. ¡°No, I guess not.¡±

    There was a beat of silence, then we both exploded with questions. I couldn¡¯t hear a word he said as I tried to ask him how he got here, but we stopped talking again.

    ¡°Alright, okay,¡± I said, playing with a lock of my hair. ¡°We¡¯ll switch off questions. Might make things easier.¡±

    ¡°Fair enough.¡± Theo leaned against the bridge. ¡°You first.¡±

    At that invitation, all the billions of questions dropped out of my head. I scrambled for even one question. I lifted my shoulders, trying to hold back a sigh. ¡°Do you have¡­ any idea why we¡¯re here?¡±

    Theo shook his head. ¡°No. No, I woke up with my memories completely gone.¡±

    ¡°Same.¡±

    ¡°Seems like I¡¯m trapped in some sort of game.¡±

    ¡°Same.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m destroying all the monsters I can to level up my weapons and my stats.¡±

    I blinked. ¡°Uh¡­ not same.¡±

    Theo tried to smile, then turned his head just enough to see past me toward the house, though the smile dropped, as did his gaze.

    Despite already taking my turn, more questions tumbled into my head that I needed to know. I used my thumb and bounced it over my shoulder. ¡°Is that your childhood home?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Theo said.

    ¡°You said you forgot everything, though. Like me. How do you know it¡¯s your childhood home?¡±

    ¡°On bad nights I get flashes of memories about¡­¡±

    He trailed off, and considering what I guessed, I didn¡¯t know if he wanted me to blatantly say it. His face said enough.

    Theo instead glanced at the note on the bridge ground, reading it fast. ¡°Wolf¡­ there¡¯s a wolf over there?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Yeah, it usually leaves me alone, unless it¡¯s nighttime,¡± I said, then glanced at my wolf timer. ¡°As long as I¡¯m in the house, it doesn¡¯t attack me. It can, uh, stand up on its hind legs.¡±

    Theo stared at me, trying hard not to react. ¡°Wolf¡­ on hind legs?¡±

    ¡°Like in that memory orb. The¡­ monster you drew?¡± I asked.

    This, finally, broke Theo¡¯s attempt to not react as his eyes widened. ¡°You get the memory orbs too?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. How do you get them?¡±

    ¡°Just randomly. I¡¯ve been trying to track a pattern, but so far, I haven¡¯t nailed it down.¡±

    ¡°Same.¡±

    I had forgotten whose turn it was for a question, but we didn¡¯t stay silent for long. Theo again glanced in the direction of across the bridge. ¡°So¡­ you¡¯re cleaning it?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I am. Honestly, it¡¯s a beautiful house. Very old.¡±

    ¡°Very dirty,¡± Theo said.

    ¡°Not much anymore. At least not on the first level. I¡¯m quite proud of how much it¡¯s improved.¡±

    Theo seemed to flinch at a thought I wasn¡¯t privy too. He rubbed his left temple as though that would suck it out of his head. ¡°Um¡­ I don¡¯t¡­ you shouldn¡¯t be there.¡± I raised an eyebrow, but didn¡¯t say anything. ¡°Just, um¡­ come over to my side.¡±If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    I didn¡¯t know why I felt so defensive, but I placed my hands on my hips. ¡°And do what, exactly? All I have is an axe to chop trees.¡±

    Theo didn¡¯t look at me. He stared at the bridge floor, as though afraid to stare me in the eye, though he still did point at me. ¡°It¡¯s not safe there. Okay? It¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s not¡­¡±

    I sighed. ¡°Look, Theo, I have to be completely honest. I figured out that was your childhood home a bit ago. Things are happening there, like ghost haunts. I¡¯m assuming it¡¯s¡­ things that happened in that house when you were a kid. I thought I was supposed to figure out what happened to your family and that would be the end of this game. But then you showed up. There¡¯s no way the alien overlords would have that as the end goal if I can just ask you-¡±

    ¡°Wait, wait, wait,¡± Theo said, his brows furrowing. ¡°Alien overlords? What?¡±

    I stared at him, once again reminding myself that I hadn¡¯t actually talked to another human being in at least thirty-five game days. ¡°Right. The alien overlords. It¡¯s my nickname for the beings in charge of the game.¡±

    Theo did nothing but stare at me. At first I wondered if I had broken him, but he seemed to shake himself out of it. ¡°You mean the system?¡±

    ¡°The beings in charge of the system, yes,¡± I said.

    He blinked. ¡°You¡¯re friends with the beings in charge of the game?¡± He shook his head. ¡°You know what? Never mind. This does not actually surprise me.¡±

    I rolled my eyes. ¡°I¡¯m not friends with them. They keep saying how they¡¯re a neutral party, and they¡¯re kind of scary to talk to.¡±

    ¡°Talk¡­ to?¡± Theo just kept staring at me. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, you¡¯ve talked to them?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you?¡± I gestured toward the monster side. ¡°Don¡¯t you die over there?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Yeah, actually, a lot.¡±

    ¡°And don¡¯t you ever end up in some sort of white room and talk to one of the beings?¡±

    Theo stared at me like I had grown a third ear. ¡°No!¡± he finally said. ¡°I just¡­ wake up again at base camp after losing a day.¡±

    It was my turn to give him a long, hard stare. ¡°You mean you don¡¯t have a conversation with the male? You don¡¯t¡­ they don¡¯t ask you if you want to give up?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Theo said.

    Despite the obvious changes in our gaming preferences, this change seemed significant. Theo was playing a game. I was getting to know the people in charge of the game. There had to be a clue there.

    ¡°Have you tried getting to know them?¡± I asked.

    Theo snorted. ¡°I didn¡¯t try because I didn¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Well¡­ you should.¡± I didn¡¯t understand why I felt so deeply about this. It was odd to me that the alien overlords would take an interest in me and not Theo. I needed to figure out why. ¡°Maybe talk to them or something.¡±

    ¡°Talk to them? How?¡± Theo asked.

    ¡°I usually just talk to the sky.¡±

    Theo gave another snort then shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know, Quinn. I¡¯m fine just killing my monsters and getting stronger.¡±

    I gave a defeated sigh. ¡°Don¡¯t you have to-do lists you need to complete?¡±

    ¡°I mean¡­ before in the tutorial I would have words appear to teach me what to do. But it¡¯s pretty much just grinding as I get essences to make my weapons more powerful and make myself stronger.¡± He patted his stomach. ¡°I¡¯m level twenty-three, and I¡¯ve got some pretty powerful weapons at my disposal.¡± He pulled out a crossbow and a sword. ¡°Still kinda mad I don¡¯t have a gun, though. Gave up thinking I¡¯d get one. It¡¯d probably be too easy.¡± Theo replaced the weapons in the pocket dimension he must have received, too.

    ¡°So¡­ you just kill monsters? And get stronger?¡± I didn¡¯t want to be jealous, but I started to feel it. That was more the games I was used to. Not the killing, but a slower pace. An overall objective that I could choose to do if I wanted to. Not a list of things I needed to do out of a sense of self preservation.

    ¡°Well, I mean I do have a goal.¡± Theo glanced over his shoulder at the monster side of the river. ¡°It was in the tutorial. An evil sludge monster is taking over the land and corrupting all the monsters, making them stronger. I¡¯ve got to level up and destroy the monster before it destroys everything. It¡¯s already starting to corrupt some of the lesser monsters.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± I said. ¡°You mean the demon monkey? Is that the black stuff I saw on it?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Yeah, it¡¯s getting those monsters. Those things are hard to track. Then they drop out of the trees,¡± Theo said.

    ¡°But¡­ them. You¡¯re talking about them. Right?¡± I asked.

    Theo again looked confused, leaning against the bridge and folding his arms. ¡°Them?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. That¡¯s what the sludge monster is called on my side. They come and attack every so often, hitting the house hard. I have to build a fence and do a number of other things in order to prepare for their attack.¡±

    Theo¡¯s eyebrows shot up. ¡°You¡­ have a pattern? A pattern of when this sludge monster attacks?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. At least on my side there is. It¡¯s on the calendar back at the house. Speaking of¡­¡± I pulled out my to-do list. ¡°I have a list of things I still need to do. And four and a half days left to do it.¡±

    Theo walked over to get a better look at the list. He shook his head. ¡°This is¡­ crazy.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± I wished Theo had more answers. But I didn¡¯t really have answers, either. Just more information for him to get stronger. To play the game. ¡°Do you think there¡¯s a way to get out?¡±

    Theo paused, then shrugged in a noncommittal way. ¡°Honestly¡­¡± I stared at him, waiting for him to continue, even though I saw the answer on his face. ¡°Is this really so bad?¡± he finished.

    Everything inside me froze. ¡°Yes, Theo. This is bad. Your killing monsters. I¡¯m being haunted by your past, for whatever reason. We had a life before. A family. Probably jobs.¡±

    Theo rolled his eyes. ¡°Look at us, Quinn. We¡¯re in our early twenties. We probably had some lame fast food job that doesn¡¯t pay well. We were probably in college or something.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but whatever it was, it was our life. We¡¯re still leaving something. Despite the alien overlords¡¯ insistence they¡¯re a neutral party, I don¡¯t like that I can¡¯t remember a lot of our old life. We¡¯ve got to figure out how to get out of this game, and our chances are better if we¡¯re working on this together.¡±

    Theo took my to-do list, reading over it and turning it over to see if there was anything else. ¡°Have you ever considered that maybe there isn¡¯t a way out of this?¡±

 Chapter 58

    I stared at him, my mind refusing to go there. Instead of fighting back, I simply kept staring at him. I tried to think of something, but my mind was scrambled. ¡°Of course there¡¯s a way out of this place.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Theo asked. ¡°What makes you think that?¡±

    My hands shook. My brain was unscrambling. Theo¡¯s words were taking root, and I was doing what I could to pull them out.

    ¡°Because¡­ because¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t remember specific instances, even though my brain was screaming at me that there were. I couldn¡¯t face this reality. I did not want to know what it would be like to stay here. Forever. ¡°Because that can¡¯t be the answer.¡±

    Theo chuckled. ¡°Why not?¡±

    My heart pounded in my chest. ¡°Because there has to be a way out. There always is.¡±

    ¡°Not necessarily,¡± Theo said.

    The memory struck me right then. ¡°The male being told me I could give up if I wanted to. When I¡­ died?¡± I winced. ¡°I think I died that one time in the rain. Either way, he asked me if I gave up. Mentioned something about how this experience would be nothing more than a dream. Why would he say all of that if there was no way to get out of here?¡±

    ¡°Nothing more than a dream?¡± Theo asked. He then shook his head. ¡°And how trustworthy is this guy?¡±

    My face fell, my shoulders slumped. I couldn¡¯t trust the male at all. He was almost proud of that fact. ¡°There are¡­ some things he said that rang true.¡±

    ¡°Did they ring true? Or did you want them to ring true?¡± Theo said.

    My hands were still shaking, but I refused to give up. ¡°We can get out of this game. We¡¯ll get answers as we play it. And on that note-¡± I snatched my to-do list out of his hands. ¡°I have some things I need to do before they attack.¡±

    I turned around, heading toward my house that wasn¡¯t actually my house. No, it was my house. I don¡¯t care if it was a carbon copy of Theo¡¯s childhood home. I had spent enough time and effort that I could now claim it as mine.

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯m sorry,¡± Theo said, jogging up to catch up with me. ¡°I¡¯m just¡­ maybe you should be open to the possibility that the answer is-¡± he gestured around the forest, ¡°-this is it.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not open to that possibility. Maybe if we retained our memories completely of who we were, then perhaps, yes. But this feels too much like we¡¯re supposed to learn something before we go home, and shoot! I need clay!¡±

    I stopped in my trek. I hadn¡¯t gone far, but it still felt awkward to turn around and head back to the bridge after the exit I made.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, you need what?¡± Theo asked.

    ¡°Clay.¡± I started to crouch down when I froze. ¡°Actually, no. If you¡¯re here and capable of killing monsters, what I really need is sand. I can only get it on the other side, but monsters keep trying to attack me and makes it difficult to get any more.¡±

    ¡°Sand? I¡¯m assuming a building material of some sort?¡± Theo asked.

    ¡°Yeah. For glass. The greenhouses need a lot of it, and it¡¯s one of those resources I wouldn¡¯t mind keeping a huge stock of. Would you mind killing some monsters while I collect sand?¡±

    Theo shrugged. ¡°Well, okay. They may be low level monsters, but I wouldn¡¯t mind.¡±

    We crossed over to the monster side of the bridge. Despite so many times doing this with a pounding heart and wandering eyes, there was something about Theo I trusted, and it helped me focus on this one thing. Also, when he brought out a sword, that put my mind at ease.

    It didn¡¯t take long for the spider bush monsters to come out. Theo didn¡¯t let one pass him. I filled bag after bag after bag. It was almost euphoric how many bags were soon stacked on the other side of the bridge. Ten, twenty, thirty, forty. I would make room in the storage unit. I would upgrade it soon. If I didn¡¯t have to come back here for sand for a while, I could have a stockpile to keep making glass for a solid two weeks. Those greenhouses needed to be upgraded, and I very much wanted to get them upgraded.

    A demon monkey dropped from the trees, headed right for me. It was one of those moments where I probably would have screamed, but I couldn¡¯t react fast enough. Theo was already there, his sword through the monkey¡¯s guts. Black sludge rained down on me, and I covered my head. Once the last of the sludge was gone, I shook my hands as I stood up. I was more surprised to see Theo, staring at me in wonder.

    ¡°What?¡± I asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s not¡­¡±

    I was confused. ¡°It¡¯s okay. I don¡¯t mind. Sure, I don¡¯t want his guts on me, but that¡¯s better than the creature staying alive.¡± I walked closer to the river, splashing some water on my face. In true game logic, a couple splashes managed to clean me completely off. I grabbed more of the sand, placing it all in my inventory. I did this while glancing up at Theo, who was still staring at me in awe.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

    ¡°Okay, clearly I¡¯m missing something,¡± I said.

    ¡°The blackness. The¡­ the sludge monster that¡¯s corrupting everything. It¡¯s not¡­ it¡¯s not getting inside you,¡± Theo said.

    I frowned. ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°The corruption. It¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s supposed to get everyone. I¡­ was going to apologize, because it probably hurt your bar, but¡­ but it isn¡¯t¡­¡±

    I tried to piece together what he was saying. Clearly Theo had another health bar that I wasn¡¯t aware of. I stood up, watching him. ¡°How does this blackness effect you?¡±

    Theo hesitated, then sighed. He then placed his sword into his inventory and pulled off his left glove. I gasped, taking an instinctual step back as I saw thin ribbons blackness right underneath his skin, stretching to the tips of his fingernails.

    ¡°The blackness corrupts everything when you¡¯re around it too long,¡± Theo said. He turned his hand around. The five ribbons from the fingers weaved together at his palm, making a thicker line as it continued to travel from his wrist down his arm.

    ¡°I don¡¯t get it. How do you get rid of it?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m trying to figure that out,¡± Theo said. ¡°It does get out eventually. So far, it¡¯s just¡­ sleeping. Sleeping makes the blackness go away. Slowly.¡±

    I gave another sigh. ¡°Okay, so¡­ the memory orb? About depression? The alien overlords are doing some weird, probably sick version of art imitating life or what not.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. I know,¡± Theo said.

    ¡°You know?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yeah. It was there in the storyline in the tutorial. I¡¯ve got to defeat the sludge monster, then everything will be better.¡±

    My nose crinkled. Something about that felt off. ¡°Okay, look, I¡¯d be the first to say the alien overlords are not the best at human nature, but¡­ I doubt you¡¯ll be free from depression by defeating the sludge monster.¡±

    Theo placed his hands on his hips. He seemed like he wanted to say something, but grew silent. It was almost in that moment that I could understand what it meant. We¡¯d been dancing around the real-world application of the sludge monster until this moment. Theo wanted to keep believing it was something he could kill. Something in his games he could defeat, and the world would be a better place. Perhaps I was taking away something from him by insinuating that the real world didn¡¯t work like that. But there was a part of him that agreed, and a part of him that didn¡¯t, so he just stayed silent.

    ¡°Um, thank you,¡± I said, wanting to change the subject. ¡°For helping me get this sand. It was always a pain, but it¡¯ll be really nice to have a stockpile of it for the future. I really want to upgrade those greenhouses.¡± I gathered the last of the bags and placed them in my inventory.

    ¡°Do¡­ you need my help getting them back?¡± Theo asked.

    Yes. I did. I had over fifty bags of sand out here, and I didn¡¯t necessarily think this through. This conversation was nice, but I still had a list of things I needed to get done, and it was quickly approaching noon. However¡­

    ¡°The storage unit is by the house. You said you didn¡¯t want to go near it.¡±

    Theo flinched, then glanced through the trees. He then let out a breath. ¡°I want to see this wolf. See what level it is. I¡­ won¡¯t go in the house, but I think I can manage outside the house.¡±

    ¡°Alright.¡±

    I walked across the bridge with my inventory full and three bags of sand in my arms. Theo followed me on the other side, kneeling down to stuff bags in his own inventory. I counted, just because I was curious, and saw him fit fifteen bags while holding five in his hand.

    ¡°Nice,¡± I said.

    He chuckled as he stood up.

    ¡°So, the wolf?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yeah?¡± he asked.

    There was another beat of silence. One I wasn¡¯t sure how to break. ¡°Are the main monsters on your side of the river all creatures you used to draw as a kid?¡±

    ¡°Uh, no. No, they¡¯re not.¡± He kept his gaze on the ground. ¡°It¡¯s why I am curious to see what this wolf is about.¡±

    ¡°And you¡¯re sure you can¡­ handle it?¡± I asked.

    Theo raised an eyebrow at me as we continued toward the house. ¡°What exactly are you implying by that?¡±

    ¡°I am implying that you¡¯re skittish about the house. So¡­ are you skittish about the wolf?¡± I asked.

    Theo didn¡¯t answer. Instead, he tore his gaze from me and we kept walking. Walking in a silence that, in all honesty, annoyed me.

    ¡°If we¡¯re going to get out of this game, you need to be honest with me,¡± I said. He gave me another one of his raised eyebrow looks. I let out a sigh that sounded far more annoyed than I actually felt, and changed my meaning. ¡°If this is our ¡®new normal¡¯, it would benefit me a lot by knowing the origins of the wolf that comes out of the forest every night,¡± I tried again.

    This got Theo thinking. A silent kind of thinking.

    ¡°Theo?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t remember. I¡¯m sorry,¡± he whispered. ¡°But I¡¯ll try. Now that I know the creature is here, I¡¯ll try and remember. It¡¯s why I want to check out this wolf creature. See if it jogs my memories.¡±

    ¡°It might kill you.¡±

    He shrugged. ¡°It might, yes.¡±

    I frowned, my brows furrowing. ¡°Theo¡­¡±

    ¡°I learned early on. There are very little consequences for death here. I just lose a day. Why not use death to our advantage to get information?¡±

    I didn¡¯t speak. There was something unsettling about it all. My emotions must have been plain on my face, because he smiled and shook his head. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, Quinn. Honest. I¡¯ve been doing this for weeks now, and I¡¯m fine.¡±

    ¡°Okay, well, that made my gamer instincts start screaming,¡± I said.

    ¡°I don¡¯t see why,¡± Theo said. ¡°It is after all very true to game logic. I usually die multiple times while playing a game just to figure out how to pass guards. It¡¯s really not that big a deal.¡±

    I kept shaking my head. ¡°I just don¡¯t like it.¡±

    ¡°But if it gets me information on the wolf, it will be worth it.¡±

    My face was still a mixture of unease. Maybe I was holding myself back by being so stingy with my sanity and stamina, but the thought of dying was still deeply disturbing to me.

    ¡°The wolf comes out later tonight?¡± Theo asked, glancing at the trees.

    ¡°Actually¡­ there¡¯s a chance you could¡­ run into it. I know where its territory is.¡± Foraging was something I still needed to do, after all.

    Theo¡¯s eyes brightened at this. ¡°Really? That¡¯d be nice. Hey, you should come with me. We could die together, and then you can see how it¡¯s not that big of a deal.¡±

    I shook my head out of instinct. ¡°Theo¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh, come on. You¡¯ve already died before, right? What¡¯d you lose by it?¡±

    ¡°A day. And sanity. I¡­ can¡¯t lose a day. I still have way too much stuff to do.¡± My mind returned to the list in my pocket and what I had left.

    ¡°What if I helped you? What if we both worked hard on your list so you could lose a day?¡± Theo asked.

    I didn¡¯t say anything. But there must have been something on my face that made him smile a comforting smile. ¡°Think about it,¡± he said.

    I hated that I was thinking about it.

 Chapter 59

    We cleared the trees, and Theo got his first look of the house in the daylight. He tried hard not to react.

    ¡°You can stay out here. I need to put the sand in the storage unit inside,¡± I said.

    Theo started stacking the sand by the greenhouse with little ceremony before he turned and left to gather more. Once I was inside, placing my sand on one of the shelves, I started to feel how much time was gone. I never thought of talking with Theo as a waste of time. Quite the opposite. This was a great opportunity to figure out more about how our two sides differ. Every time I talked with him it was like gathering more pieces of the puzzle. The puzzle that I still didn¡¯t have a picture of.

    But the deadline was there. The fence needed to be built again. The house needed to be cleaned. The barn needed to be done. I had foraging to do. There was no way I could waste a day finding and getting killed by the wolf.

    The tool was done, so I placed the rest of the bricks in the main fence.

    0/10 stone blocks

    I gave a grim nod before gathering more of the sand. I came against a dilemma. Did I place ten broken stones in there? Or did I place bags of sand so that I could wake up with glass? In case I died?

    No. I was going to the river to get stones. I had too many things to get done. I was going to spend a good few hours scrubbing the floors. Four and a half days. I needed every single one of those to clean the floor. I was not going to let them enter the house again.

    I placed the rest of the sand by the greenhouse into the storage unit. Losing half of the contents was hard, but I appreciated it now. I passed Theo on the way to the river.

    ¡°I have to get some stones, then I¡¯ll be back,¡± I told him.

    He nodded. It was kind of nice having extra help. I made it to the river. I put ten stones in my inventory and gathered three bags of sand in my arms. Theo passed me again and we nodded in acknowledgement. I got back to the house, dropping the sand in the storage unit before breaking the ten stones and placing it in the tool to get the blocks made. I then gathered the bags of sand Theo left by the greenhouse and placed them in the storage unit by the time Theo returned.

    ¡°That should be the last of them.¡± He straightened. ¡°So have you thought of my idea?¡±

    ¡°I already made my decision,¡± I said, pointing over my shoulder at the tool. ¡°Those ten stone blocks will be done by tonight, and then I have to get five bags of sand in the tool tonight so I can have five glass panes by tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± He paused, then glanced at the greenhouses. ¡°What about tomorrow night, then?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve got to clean the house. They got all over in there, and it¡¯s got to be cleaned before they attack again.¡±

    I really didn¡¯t want to die. It was ridiculous. Preposterous, even. And yet even as I gave excuses, it was almost like I was convincing myself. For some obnoxious reason, Theo picked up on this, too. He was trying not to smile. ¡°How about I help you out here with your chores, then, and we¡¯ll see how much the two of us can get done together.¡±

    I let out a breath. ¡°Theo.¡±

    He shrugged. ¡°I¡¯ve got nothing to do. It¡¯ll be fun.¡±

    ¡°You have¡­ leveling up. Yourself. Your weapons.¡±

    ¡°And the wolf to track down. This¡¯ll be part of it. Just¡­¡± his gaze flickered toward the house, the smile he was trying desperately to hide disappeared from his face. ¡°Just not in there.¡±

    I sighed. ¡°Yeah. Okay. I doubt you can help me clean. You don¡¯t have the clothes for it.¡±

    ¡°The¡­ clothes?¡± Theo asked.

    I pointed to my current outfit, which was a combination of my building and logging outfits. ¡°You think I wear these just because? Just do me a favor and don¡¯t laugh at my foraging outfit. Because that¡¯s where we¡¯re headed next.¡±

    ¡°Okay. I am totally prepared not to laugh,¡± Theo said.

    He must have assumed I was going somewhere to change. He was not expecting the clothes to magically appear as they always did. And he definitely did not expect a chef¡¯s jacket, black slacks, and a chef¡¯s cap to appear on my head. He blinked, as though struggling between the need to laugh or to be awed by it all.

    ¡°All this, and yet you¡¯re still afraid to use death as a means for information?¡± he asked.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    I rolled my eyes. ¡°Just try not to alert the wolf while we¡¯re out there, please. I do not want to lose today. I don¡¯t have any sand going, and I really need those glass panes tomorrow. I am so close to finishing the second green house, and I will have my lettuce,¡± I said.

    Theo frowned at me like I was speaking a different language. I smiled at him, because I did lay it on a little thick, hoping to confuse him. But I was serious about the whole thing. Those salads were valuable, and I needed food.

    He stared at the greenhouse as I passed by him.

    ¡°Something tells me you¡¯re intentionally messing with me,¡± Theo said as he hurried to catch up with me.

    ¡°They hit me hard a few days ago. I need to restock my food.¡± I made a stop at the garage to make sure I had an extra set of charged batteries before heading out. Theo remained by the fence, no doubt distracting himself by putting his foot through the fence with no ill effects to himself. It was pretty weird, but I had gotten used to it.

    We entered the forest, and it wasn¡¯t long before I pulled out my flashlight. Theo glanced around before bringing out his flashlight and sticking it to a contraption on his head.

    ¡°That¡¯s so cool,¡± I whispered, eyeing that contraption.

    He grinned. ¡°Thanks. Need my hands free for my weapons.¡±

    I was rather jealous of that contraption, actually, but I focused on what he said. ¡°No weapons here. We¡¯re not dying today.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± Theo said as we kept walking. ¡°Just tomorrow.¡±

    I pursed my lips. ¡°I¡¯ll think about it.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t long before the prompt came.

    Entering Wolf territory

    Still wish to enter?

    Y/N

    I mentally chose yes, and the two of us kept going. We were silent. I got the feeling Theo sensed it. The unease of the forest. The silence. Whatever creature he drew as a child, it was in this forest. I followed my instincts, coming up to the chicken trap. There were two raw drumsticks and a chicken breast floating a few inches above the trap. I carefully grabbed it before placing the three raw pieces of meat in my inventory. I was happy to see the three chicken meat in one slot. I felt more than noticed Theo¡¯s gaze on me. He lifted the light just to shoot me a curious look. I shrugged, then quickly made my animal care clothes appear. I then scanned the surrounding area but saw no medicine. My cooking outfit jumped back. We crept forward to the other trap I set. An alive chicken was in the box trap, and I was not expecting it to start clucking at me and beating her wings against the trap.

    ¡°Shh, shh,¡± I said, trying not to be scared. To not panic. But I was absolutely panicking. I opened the box and grabbed the chicken, but that undoubtably made things worse. The trees were so thick it stifled the sound, but that didn¡¯t comfort me in any way. The chicken was getting louder, and Theo pulled out a sword in preparation. That in no way comforted the chicken. In an attempt that was more desperation than logical, I stuffed the chicken in my inventory. An icon showed up, the chicken taking up an inventory slot. The silence smothered over us again, and Theo and I remained, trying to steady our breaths, listening to any sound.

    Despite the thick trees, I heard that wet snarl. It was muted, so I couldn¡¯t tell if it was near or far. Every instinct in my body told me it was always closer than I expected. It was safer to think that way.

    Theo pulled out a sword, a gleam in his eyes he was clearly trying to stifle.

    ¡°Theo,¡± I whispered. I hated how terrified I sounded.

    He just smirked. ¡°Fine, fine. We¡¯ll try and get out of here alive.¡±

    ¡°Thank you,¡± I muttered.

    We returned to silence as I led us in the direction of home. My animal care clothes appeared, because despite the fear I had and the chicken currently in my pocket dimension inventory, I wanted Daisy to get her medicine.

    The silence returned, a more urgency in there. As much as I wanted to break out in a run, there were way too many trees. Instead, we went as fast as a power walk pace.

    I saw the glowing words a bit to the side, and I made the detour. Theo didn¡¯t question it, most likely because he didn¡¯t see it. He didn¡¯t have questions until I approached the glowing words and dropped to one knee. With a yank, I pulled up the flowery plant.

    ¡°Uh¡­¡± Theo said.

    ¡°Medicine for Daisy, my other chicken. I¡¯ll explain later,¡± I said.

    Theo shrugged in a ¡°fair enough,¡± kind of way. We kept going as I read the information that appeared in my vision. I just had to tear it up and place it in her food bowl, and in another day she¡¯d get better.

    My head jerked around as I heard the sound of something very big crashing through the forest.

    ¡°Oh, here it comes,¡± Theo said, pulling out his chainsaw. ¡°Shit, I love this stuff.¡±

    ¡°Stop, Theo. We¡¯ve got to go!¡± I said.

    ¡°You go ahead, Quinn. I will see you tomorrow,¡± Theo said.

    ¡°Theo!¡± I hissed, wanting to scream his name but I was too scared to make my voice any louder than a peep.

    ¡°Think of it this way. I¡¯m buying you some time.¡± Theo gestured toward the direction that was sort of the house. ¡°Go on. Go feed your chickens and tend to your garden. I¡¯ll fight the monster, and when I undoubtably die, I will come back tomorrow morning to help you with your chores.¡±

    There was logic to what he said. A game logic that I still didn¡¯t trust. Despite him assuring me that he only lost a day, I still couldn¡¯t wrap my mind around the fact that if I turned around and kept going, I was leaving my brother to die.

    ¡°I¡¯ll see you tomorrow,¡± Theo said one last time before he ran toward the crashing branches.

    There were tears on my cheeks as I navigated through the dense forest. I felt them fall and continue to fall. It did not help when, mentally requesting to be out of the wolf¡¯s territory, I heard a muted yet manic laugh coupled with a dangerous snarl of a predator. I flinched as the manic laugh was quickly cut off.

    I stumbled into the clearing of the house, trying to dry my tears. Theo would be back. He would. He promised. He¡¯d be here tomorrow morning. The alien overlords wouldn¡¯t be so cruel as to let me spend half a day with Theo, then take him from me forever. I could have gone through years of isolation in this strange place, but with this half day with Theo, with the easy way in which we talked, his absence hurt. Hurt in a way that reminded me how alone I really was here.

    I dried my tears again. Despite an entire season living in a place dictated by game logic, there was a deeply instinctual part of me that believed I would never see Theo again. I took a deep breath, then blew it out as I stifled that instinctual part of my mind. I would not give another thought toward whether or not Theo was actually dead until tomorrow morning.

    ¡°You better be here before I wake up, Theo,¡± I whispered. For once my talking was not directed toward the alien overlords.

 Chapter 60

    I walked inside the chicken coop. Killie appeared as she always did, giving my legs a rub with her back. I knelt down to pet her before picking her up and burying my face in her fur.

    ¡°I¡¯m quite sure I would have gone insane without you two,¡± I said as I looked over at Daisy. ¡°I brought you a friend.¡± I reached into my pocket dimension and brought out the second chicken. The chicken was in mid cluck when I stuffed her into my inventory, and she was flapping again. I let her go, and the chicken pranced around, getting used to her surroundings.

    ¡°I think I¡¯ll call you Buttercup,¡± I said.

    The chicken gave no indication that she even heard me. Instead, I brought out the medicine flower and crushed it up in my palm before dropping it in Daisy¡¯s food. Daisy came over to inspect it. ¡°There you go, girl,¡± I told her.

    Daisy pecked away at it, and I found myself leaning against the wall of the chicken coop, trying to come to terms with what just happened. I still had a deep fear that I had seen Theo for the last time. Clearly the thing I needed to do was focus on my jobs. I pulled out my list again.

    Repair all damages done by them

    Build a barn

    Purchase a cow

    Purchase the fourth article of clothing for building

    Build a trap

    Set trap in your foraging area

    Clean the blackness in the house

    I had a little less than four and a half days to finish this. I really had to get a lot more done. By tomorrow morning the second greenhouse would be completely cleared of damage, and most of the first greenhouse would be done. Maybe I could buy a trap to catch a cow, as I would have time, but then again, I could just purchase one from the clipboard, like the list suggested.

    Focus on what I needed to do. The fence was waiting for the tool to finish the stone blocks for the main fence. The greenhouse fence still needed more bricks, but I wanted to see what more I had left with the main fence. So, barn. In the three and a half hours I had left until the wolf appeared, I needed to work on building the barn.

    I gave Daisy and Buttercup pats on their heads and carried Killie out of the chicken coop. She scampered out of my arms the moment we got out of the coop, and she ran around the house to hopefully catch a mouse. I pulled out my axe and headed toward the other side of the house.

    I dropped tree after tree, turning logs into boards. I went through the motion, stuffing the boards into my inventory before dropping them into the barn. I was clearing out the trees around the barn. It was quite close to the fourth greenhouse, and I could already see the fence start to inch around the base of the barn the more boards I put in there. The greenhouse fence was now going to be the greenhouse and barn fence.

    I ate through my meagerly stored food. The stronger my levels, the less stamina it took to chop down the trees, and also less thwacks against the trunk, but it still took some. It was alright. I kept telling myself that the greenhouses would soon be back to functioning as normal, and I¡¯d be getting a lot of food.

    I placed the last board into the barn as the sun sank below the tree line. I placed my hands on my hips, waiting. The words shifted and changed as walls appeared. It wasn¡¯t completed, as there was no roof, but the words appeared all the same.

    0/100 firewood

    Perfect. I chopped the rest of the boards around my feet and dropped them into the barn. I then went back to more trees and kept dropping them. It was a lot of chopping. Chopping took a lot more stamina. Despite being able to drop twenty-eight firewood from one tree into the barn at a time, it was still a lot of stamina that took a hit each time.

    The wolf had about twenty minutes before he arrived when I ate another soup to refill my stamina enough to chop the last boards into firewood. I then dropped them into the barn. I glanced up, waiting. What more did I have to do? It seemed like it was getting close.

    0/10 glass

    I let out a hiss. I hoped the barn wouldn¡¯t need glass, but now that I thought about it, of course barns had windows. The only thing that brought me comfort about this whole thing was I had the sand for it. I was practically swimming in sand. This could be doable, of course. It just hurt that I was losing another few days on the greenhouse.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    This week was definitely one for recovery. I would get the first floor clean, and I would get the fences secure. The next seven days after the attack would no doubt be ones of stocking food and preparing for the more constant attacks. But I¡¯d honestly done a lot so far.

    I stepped into the house, Killie was ready to play. I smiled as I got to where I left off in the living room, getting to my hands and knees as my cleaning clothes appeared, the flashlight on the floor to make sure I got every last drop of them. I was only there a few minutes, tossing the ball a few times before I had to get up again and change the tool. The stone blocks went in, and I held my breath.

    0/5 shattered glass

    My heart fluttered in my chest. I had that. I already had that. The dopamine that hit me was like a drug as I rushed to the storage room and collected five shattered glass from what I collected from the greenhouses. I had a lot more where that came from, which meant I would have enough for the greenhouse fence too.

    I carefully placed the shattered glass into the fence and waited. A sheen went over the fence, and I let out a breath. It was done. The greenhouse fences followed the same pattern, so it wouldn¡¯t take that much more. The fences were almost done. That meant I had to clean this floor to feel perfectly safe.

    Once I had five bags of sand in the tool for the night, I returned to my cleaning after locking both doors. Four more days of cleaning, and I felt pretty good about it all. I was working my way through the living room, bopping the wadded-up paper toward Killie at every opportunity. I heard the hauntings upstairs, but my sanity was nice and full. I could take it.

    It was slow and steady. I kept scrubbing the carpet, dunking the brush in the bucket to rinse it off and going back to scrub it. Ghost Theo was singing Ring Around the Rosies as I scrubbed the carpet, clearing of a section around the front door before heading toward the computer desk. I heard the whisperings above me, which is when Killie stopped playing and started meowing at the people above us. I swallowed, my sanity shivering. I kept scrubbing, double checking with my flashlight to make sure I got every corner. They would not come through at the end of the week. I¡¯d be prepared for them.

    I was almost done with the living room when I heard it. The creaking at the top of the stairs. Everything inside me froze. It hadn¡¯t happened yesterday. But it was happening tonight. I remember the whispers today, and not yesterday. That must be the pattern. When the people whisper, the stairs eventually creak.

    But here. Now. With a full sanity, I could figure out what this meant. If I wasn¡¯t such a terribly frightened scaredy cat.

    Once again, I glanced over at Killie who was napping on the couch. I heard the continual creaks on the steps and knew I had to gather my courage. If Theo was unafraid to die, I could stand up and walk over to the kitchen and wait to see what happens.

    I slowly got to my feet, brushing my hands off because I needed something to do. I took careful steps, my heart getting more and more erratic as every instinct told me there was a murderer in the house and I needed to run in the opposite direction. Or hide in the bathroom again.

    Not tonight. Information. If this killed me, then I would lose the rest of tonight. It wasn¡¯t that big of a sacrifice. I got a lot of the living room done. The bedroom, entertainment room, and hallway were all I had left. I could do it. It was okay if I died. It was okay. I¡¯d be fine.

    The axe appeared in my sweaty palms as I lifted it. I stood by the cherry wood table, gripping the handle tightly. I heard more creaking as the person came down the stairs.

    Information. Maybe I could figure out who killed Theo¡¯s mom this way. Maybe it was the creep that dropped beer cans and cigarette butts outside my bedroom window. Maybe the phantom would appear, and we could have an epic fight.

    I braced myself, ready for anything as the door to the hallway creaked open on its own. I held my breath, waiting. Ready for the phantom to appear. For the fight. For our blades to cross.

    The person who I could not see kept walking at a slow pace. The only thing I could see of the person was their bloody footprints on the ground. No phantom appeared. No growling. Just silence except for the feet padding against the ground. My sanity was down to seventy percent, but it wasn¡¯t taking quite as big of a drop now as I realized I wouldn¡¯t be fighting a ghost.

    The footprints were covered in blood, but starting to fade as the person walked through me and walked out of the kitchen. There was no battle. No shrieking ghosts. Instead, silence as the footprints disappeared, the blood starting to wear off onto the carpet. I flipped on my flashlight, pointing at the ground. I followed the footprints back toward the hallway, frowning. Something seemed off about this all.

    I got to the hallway leading up to the stairs, my heart still pounding in my chest. Something in me understood why this was so odd well before the rest of me caught up, and I could already feel my soul crumbling. But I didn¡¯t understand. Why did they seem so off? Why were they-

    I froze, then placed my own foot next to one of the footprints.

    ¡°Oh, god,¡± I whispered.

    Barefoot. Toe imprints. Small. This wasn¡¯t the murderer¡¯s footprints. These were the footprints of a child. A child who must have stumbled on a scene covered in blood before walking down the stairs in a complete daze, finding himself alone.

    ¡°Theo,¡± I whispered.

    The child who I didn¡¯t recognize was him when I first got here. The child who was singing nursery rhymes upstairs without a care in the world. I had never heard Theo singing while at Brenda and Doug¡¯s. I knew even then something had happened to him that drove all the songs out of his body. The memory of his haunted little face returned in full force.

    The flashlight dropped out of my hands as I covered my mouth. Tears leapt to my eyes as I realized the implication. He saw her. He had stumbled on his mother¡¯s dead body. Maybe his grandmother¡¯s, too. Considering how much blood came out of that locked room, there was no doubt in my mind they were murdered. That happy, giggling child changed that night.

    I scooped up the flashlight, following the footsteps to see where they went. They kept fading, getting harder and harder to track. But they left the kitchen, walked into the living room before stepping out the front door. Was Theo discovered in the streets? He must have, to be picked up by services and placed in Brenda and Doug¡¯s care.

    The footprints disappeared, and the tears kept running down my cheeks.

    ¡°Why,¡± Brenda had said in my memories. ¡°Why is the world so cruel to the ones that are the most innocent?¡±

 Chapter 61

    I knew something bad had happened to make Theo so quiet as a child. It was clear as I saw the memory orbs that something traumatic had happened. Since some of my memories were still missing, I didn¡¯t know if I already pieced this together as I got older. But I could already tell there was a difference between knowing what happened and seeing the ghostly footprints walking down the stairs, through the kitchen, and out the front door. I tried not to imagine it as little Theo, but I couldn¡¯t help it. The haunted face that was so familiar to me was no doubt born that night.

    I worked the rest of the evening, scrubbing the living room floor. This kind of cleaning always made my mind wander, and tonight I didn¡¯t want it to. All I saw was Theo¡¯s small footprints. I didn¡¯t want my imagination to tell me what his face was like. The frightened, perhaps dazed look he had.

    I closed my eyes tight before opening them. I focused instead on my job. Scrub, scrub, scrub, dunk in the bucket, move the flashlight to make sure I could see what I was working on, scrub, scrub, scrub. Just focus on this. Don¡¯t focus on anything else.

    The living room gave a sheen, and I did nothing more but sigh as I moved to the entertainment room. I didn¡¯t know how long I was freezing my mind to keep myself from thinking about what I¡¯d discovered. I wasn¡¯t surprised when the words appeared and I was forced into sleep, waking up not feeling rested at all. I dragged myself out of bed, rubbing my eyes as I walked outside, doing my morning routine.

    The glass went into the barn. I checked my bedroom window, gathering the beer can and cigarette butts. My instincts flared up again as I glanced over my shoulder, but another part of me said that the only thing to come out of this was a couple of dopamine points. So far nothing else had happened, except for a moment for my skin to crawl. Though it might get worse since I thought that.

    I placed fifteen more baked clay into the tool. The greenhouse fence needed five more bricks, which I planned on dropping there and then dumping the rest into the storage unit. I stopped by the garage to switch out batteries to charge.

    I then entered the chicken coop, petting my two chickens and complimenting them on their eggs. My heart wasn¡¯t in it. It was morning time, and Theo wasn¡¯t here. I didn¡¯t know where his base was on the other side of the river, but every second he wasn¡¯t here made me think about the worst-case scenario.

    I placed the eggs in the storage unit before I walked into the greenhouse. The tomatoes and potatoes were ready to be harvested, which was fantastic. I harvested the potatoes before cutting up one of them and replanting them. I placed the baskets of food in the storage unit before entering the second greenhouse, gathering lettuce. I¡¯d have enough for three salads, especially with the carrots I picked.

    I placed the food in the storage room, letting out a sigh. Morning routine was done. It would only get longer once the barn was finished and I had a cow.

    I picked up the clipboard, looking at my progress.

    Farming level 21

    Cleaning level 24

    Logging level 27

    Cooking level 19

    Building level 27

    Animal Care level 20

    Oh, I was so close. So very, very close to level twenty in everything. If I spent the rest of the morning cooking my supply of food, I¡¯d reach it. It was a great idea to play with Killie while I cleaned. That definitely helped. I was also close to getting the fourth level cleaning clothing, which wasn¡¯t that big of a surprise to me. I¡¯d been cleaning a ton the past couple days. I was pretty sure once the first floor was clean, I¡¯d get to level twenty-five. I wondered what new skill I¡¯d be able to unlock.

    ¡°Quinn?¡±

    My heart started pounding, tears filling my eyes. Theo. Theo was back.

    I dropped the clipboard and ran out of the covered back porch. Theo was by the first greenhouse, his gaze remaining on the ground, though he glanced up when he saw me, smiling.

    ¡°Hey, Quinn. I told you I¡¯d be-¡± He was cut off as I threw my arms around him. He grunted, holding on to me before steadying his feet. ¡°Quinn?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just glad you¡¯re alright,¡± I said.

    I knew, then, why he refused to go into that house. What with the hauntings, it would be so much worse for him. It was odd seeing his face, not seeing the haunted looks there. Seeing how much growth he had made.

    ¡°Quinn?¡±

    Theo knew I was hiding something. The way he studied my face made me think he was wondering whether to push it. If he asked, I wasn¡¯t sure if I could tell him. It might trigger something in him.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    ¡°So¡­ what did you learn with dying?¡± I asked, trying to keep it light. Then realized what I said and wondered how this was my life right now.

    Theo chuckled. ¡°Well¡­ I saw the level above the wolf¡¯s head.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Sixty-five. That thing is a level sixty-five monster.¡±

    My shoulders drooped. ¡°Oh,¡± I said again.

    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ I need to get strong enough. It¡¯ll just take way more grinding.¡±

    I let out a sigh, closing one eye. ¡°Theo¡­¡± Once again, I found myself in a position where I didn¡¯t want to crush his hopes. Sixty-five? I tried finding something not as scary to talk about. ¡°How strong were the monsters on your side?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Highest one I fought was a level twenty-five,¡± Theo said, rubbing his chin as he stared at nothing. ¡°Had to fight that creature a few times before it finally died.¡±

    I kept watching him, then started doing the math in my head. When I reached level twenty-five, I got a fourth article of clothing. There were only five articles of clothing total. I wasn¡¯t sure if that meant I couldn¡¯t go any higher. Maybe it did.

    ¡°How many levels do you think you can go up to?¡± I asked.

    Theo shrugged. ¡°I mean¡­ if that wolf is a level sixty-five, we can most likely reach level sixty-five or higher.¡±

    I was not convinced. Maybe Theo could, but I had a feeling I capped off at level forty or fifty. ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t think the wolf can be killed,¡± I said.

    Theo¡¯s brows furrowed. ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°If¡­ if we do kill the wolf, that creature is the only thing keeping the other monsters from crossing the bridge and entering my side of the forest. I¡­ don¡¯t think the alien overlords want that. I think the wolf is a staple, and I don¡¯t think it can be killed.¡±

    Theo studied me closely. ¡°Why would anyone have me playing a monster game and not be able to kill the monster?¡±

    I froze, then gestured around where I was. ¡°I mean¡­ this is a side of the river where there are no monsters and we don¡¯t do any killing. So¡­ maybe you can kill all the monsters on your side but not on mine?¡±

    Theo pressed his lips together in a thin line as he thought. ¡°I guess we¡¯ll have to see, then. See how quickly I can level up. Because the whole point of this game is for me to kill the corruption. Or them as you call it.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± It came out more as a breath. ¡°What exactly was the wording on that?¡±

    A frown tugged at Theo¡¯s lips. ¡°It is my responsibility to figure out how to rid this land of corruption.¡±

    ¡°That was the wording?¡± I asked.

    Theo thought again, then closed one eye as he turned toward the autumn sky. ¡°¡®It is up to you to discover how to defeat the corruption before it consumes you and everyone around you.¡¯¡±

    I raised an eyebrow. ¡°Ominous.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, well, killing a bunch of monsters fits with the ominous genre,¡± Theo said.

    I shook my head, trying not to smile. ¡°Still, that leaves it up for interpretation, don¡¯t you think?¡±

    Theo moved his head back, a smile on his face. ¡°Not really. You know when the corruption comes, and I can figuring out how to defeat it.¡± He placed a hand on the greenhouse. ¡°Speaking of, do you have any chores you need me to do? Is today the day we¡¯re going to die?¡±

    I let out another sigh, shaking my head. ¡°You already died getting your information. Why do you want to die again?¡±

    ¡°I know what level the wolf is, yes. But there¡¯s always clues with every monster. Especially if I can find their lair.¡± Theo glanced at the forest where they had gone the day before. ¡°It was how I finally defeated the level twenty-five creature. Found its cave, got clues about a weak spot, then managed to totally destroy it even though I was five levels below.¡±

    I rubbed my upper arm, feeling uncomfortable. Theo watched me, his frown disappearing. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Quinn. I¡¯m not asking you to die if you don¡¯t want to.¡± He paused. ¡°Though you seem like you¡¯re considering it.¡±

    This made me realize I hadn¡¯t breathed yet, and I sucked in some air as I shifted my weight from one foot to the other. ¡°I just¡­ have you given any more thought to trying to contact the alien overlords?¡±

    Theo frowned, then glanced at the sky. ¡°I don¡¯t see why this has anything to do with this.¡±

    ¡°Because for whatever reason I can communicate with them, and you can¡¯t. Especially when I die. That is a mystery I¡¯d like to solve,¡± I said.

    He sighed, hands on his hips. ¡°Yeah, okay. I¡¯ll try. I didn¡¯t see them when I died this time, but who knows.¡± He gestured toward the clearing. ¡°Do you have any chores you need to get done that are outside the house?¡±

    I paused, then pulled out my list.

    Repair all damages done by them

    Build a barn

    Purchase a cow

    Purchase the fourth article of clothing for building

    Build a trap

    Set trap in your foraging area

    Clean the blackness in the house

    The greenhouse fence had bricks in the tool waiting to be finished. It would most likely take some stone blocks, too, so I¡¯d have to get some stones from the river and break them up. The barn was on hold until I got five more panes of glass for it, which would be tomorrow morning. Then I¡¯d have to keep making glass for the greenhouses to finish repairing the damages. And finally, there was the cleaning. I double checked in the dawn light. The entertainment room was partially done, but then the bedroom and the hallway needed some cleaning. I didn¡¯t see any marks on the stairs, which meant it was only on the first floor.

    ¡°Um¡­¡± I said, studying the list more. There was no way Theo would want to help clean the floor. ¡°I need to do some cooking right now, which involves me sitting around a fire for an hour. If you can get me ten stones from the river, that would be really helpful. Or¡­ at least ten stones.¡±

    Theo nodded. ¡°Yeah. Yeah, that sounds great. Do you want to talk more about plans for later when I get back?¡±

    ¡°You mean plans for dying?¡± I asked.

    Theo let the smile come through. ¡°Yeah. Plans for dying.¡±

    I let out a groan. ¡°Yeah, fine. We¡¯ll talk about it.¡±

    The smile came through more genuine. ¡°Alright. When I get back with the stuff, we¡¯ll talk by the fire.¡±

    I nodded, and he turned around and left. The small smile I had on my face disappeared as I watched him leave. Maybe I didn¡¯t see it because I was a child at the time. But thinking back on all those memories of childhood, how did Theo survive? How was it that he was a functioning adult?

    I watched him walk toward the river with confident ease. He had such a dark childhood. Yet here he was, not just surviving, but thriving. And yet, the biggest question I had about Theo was why? Why did he love violence and horror so much? Hadn¡¯t he seen enough?

    Despite the bond I felt like I had with my adopted brother, I doubted this was a question I could ever ask him.

 Chapter 62

    I tried the chicken strips and fries first. With the remaining chicken meat, I cooked up some chicken and veggies. I then made more tomato soups. I was out of onions, which was needed for the potato soup. Perhaps that was a greenhouse upgrade. Either way, it didn¡¯t matter. I used a lot of the potatoes for fries, anyway.

    Theo returned, placing the stones at the base of the greenhouse before sitting across from me at the fire, his back to the house.

    ¡°So?¡± he asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to lose a whole day. It¡¯s as I said before. In another few hours, I¡¯ll switch out the tool with the broken stones, then tonight I¡¯ll need to switch out the stones for the bags. I really need that glass to finish up the barn.¡±

    He smiled. ¡°Alright. So when you finish putting in the last thing in that thing over there tonight, should we do some scouting?¡±

    I glanced at my wolf timer, trying to figure out how much time we would have when all was said and done. ¡°There¡¯s a good chance we will meet up with the wolf when we try to get into his territory.¡±

    Theo shrugged. ¡°Then we die. Honestly, this is an exercise to get you to start using all the resources at your disposal, and that includes your life.¡±

    I scrunched my nose, still feeling that unsettling feeling. ¡°Okay, look. I will die tonight-¡± my brain sputtered at the casual way I said this, but I pushed forward, ¡°-as long as you promise to contact the alien overlords. It should be a male and female. Brother and sister.¡±

    ¡°Brother and sister, huh?¡± Theo asked, poking the fire with his sword.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± I watched as he kept poking the fire as I watched the tomato soup pop into existence.

    ¡°Why have they taken an interest in us?¡± Theo asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. It¡¯s why I think having you help might solve why we¡¯re here,¡± I said.

    Theo sighed, then sheathed his sword and stood up. ¡°I¡¯m going to grind, see if I can level up. I will¡­ talk to the sky while doing it,¡± he said.

    I failed to hide my smile. ¡°If I¡¯m going to die tonight, I need you to talk to the sky.¡±

    Theo snorted. ¡°Alright. I will meet you here at sunset.¡±

    I put in some more of the tomatoes into the pot. ¡°Thanks, Theo. I¡¯ll see you here at sunset.¡±

    Theo turned around without giving the house so much as a glance before he made his way to the river. I kept my focus on the fire, knowing I didn¡¯t have enough food to fill the hour. I probably should have gone fishing. But then again, I only had enough potatoes for one fish and chips. I was kind of annoyed the barn took glass. That really threw a wrench in making food.

    I was done with the fire. It was still going with a lot of time left over, and I did my best to stand up and walk away without feeling bad about it. Firewood, sticks, and matches were not a scarce resource. I could survive wasting a bit of fire.

    Instead, I gathered all the lettuce, carrots, and tomatoes and moved into the kitchen to the chopping station. I made the first basic salad and was halfway through another one when a glow appeared around me.

    All levels reached twenty. Upgrading¡­

    Upgrading¡­

    I held my breath, excitement swirling through me. I lifted off the ground a bit before dropping down again, the light disappearing.

    My eyes darted around, seeing this new upgrade. When I focused on my bars, they zoomed into my vision and I saw both my sanity and stamina at one hundred percent. When I peeked my head over to see the ground while wearing my cleaning outfit, a blinking number came into focus.

    House 53% cleaned

    I then popped my head outside, looking at the tool with a timer above it, counting down.

    3:58:45

    3:58:44

    3:58:43

    I smiled. That would make it a lot easier to be prepared to switch out the stuff right when it was ready. It seemed to relax me as I kept chopping the salad.

    I had three base salads that I took into the storage unit. I sprinkled some foraged food on the three salads to make them a bit more complex, but I assumed I could add more once I had it.

    Once the cooking was done, I double checked my list again and knew what I had to do. With the sun in the sky, I needed to get some cleaning done since I wasn¡¯t going to do it tonight. Because I¡¯d be dead.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    I was on my knees, scrubbing the entertainment room. I was perfectly content with doing this the rest of the day. What¡¯s more, my cleaning itch was scratched as I watched the number in the corner of my vision tick up.

    53% cleaned

    54% cleaned

    55% cleaned

    So. Satisfying.

    Since I was gearing myself up to do this all day, I started scrubbing harder, using more of my stamina to make bigger scrubbing marks and going through it faster. I could spare the stamina.

    When I was almost done with the entertainment room, I went through the back door and broke ten stones right as the timer ran out. I pulled the bricks out before shoving the broken stone in. I then dropped the bricks into the fence, seeing 0/5 stone blocks were needed next before I dropped the rest of the bricks into the storage unit. I let out a sigh. Despite the storage unit losing half its contents, I really did want to get this thing upgraded. Those last three days of the season were a beast, and I wanted to have this place well stocked.

    Tomorrow, once I had the last glass in the barn, I would stockpile bricks and stone blocks. I would recover from this attack, and I would be prepared for the end of fall.

    Once everything was in order, I went back and kept cleaning the entertainment room. At first I didn¡¯t want to eat anything, but it was getting way too close to give up on. So, I ate one of my freshly made soups and kept going. I waited for the sheen to appear in the entertainment room before I opened the door to my bedroom.

    Of the all the places that were attacked, the living room was definitely the hardest. They must not have found too much interest in the bedroom, as there was just a thick line from the bedroom door to the hallway door. But I kept scrubbing, kept watching that beautiful, beautiful number tick up.

    78% cleaned

    79% cleaned

    80% cleaned

    Killie walked in batting a torn paper ball, and we bopped the paper back and forth.

    ¡°So¡­ hi,¡± I said to the ceiling. ¡°I¡¯ve instructed Theo to try and contact you.¡±

    Silence. Killie gave me a look before going back to her hunt of the wadded-up paper.

    ¡°It is rather strange that you¡¯ve been contacting me and not him. True, maybe he just doesn¡¯t know, but¡­ there¡¯s a purpose, right? You¡¯ll be talking to him now, too?¡±

    More silence. I finished up the bedroom, entering the hallway with my flashlight. Even with the sun in the sky, this part of the house never seemed to get any sunlight. It was also hit a lot worse than the bedroom, but I was close. So very close.

    ¡°And if you don¡¯t contact him¡­ that¡¯s clearly a clue. One I don¡¯t have an answer to yet.¡±

    I kept scrubbing, getting closer and closer to the kitchen. It was getting darker, not just in the hall, but also everywhere else. Theo would be meeting up with me soon.

    98% cleaned

    99% cleaned

    100%

    House is cleaned.

    I sighed, then dunked the brush into the bucket. There was a part of me that would be terrified that I¡¯d missed a small spot somewhere obscure that I would have to search through the whole house to get. I¡¯d been meticulous, though, so I was glad it all paid off. I pulled out the list just to get that final boost of dopamine.

    Repair all damages done by them

    Build a barn

    Purchase a cow

    Purchase the fourth article of clothing for building

    Build a trap

    Set trap in your foraging area

    Clean the blackness in the house

    I tucked the list back in as I walked outside. The sun was heading toward the tree line, and I had an hour left on the tool. I placed my hands on my hips, glancing around. I could always store more clay and stones. Or fishing. Maybe both. I had time.

    Barn, cow, greenhouses. Three full days to get it all done. I was confident. So confident I was okay with dying to see what happened.

    The storage room was filled with a collection of stones and clay. I even spent the rest of the time waiting for Theo by the river, fishing.

    When it got dark, and the wolf timer had about forty-five minutes left on it, Theo came out of the bushes, brushing himself off. His clothes looked a bit more torn, and he had various scratches on his body and face. Also a particularly nasty bruise on his face, but he smiled when he saw me.

    ¡°Fishing?¡± he asked, crossing the bridge.

    ¡°Fish and chips help my sanity. And I need meat.¡±

    ¡°Cool,¡± he said, glancing in the direction of the house, even though he couldn¡¯t see it through the trees. Once he got on the other side of the bridge, the cuts turned into scars, and the bruise looked like it received a few days of healing. No doubt they would return once he crossed the bridge.

    I finished reeling in a fish. ¡°I¡¯ll go switch the blocks with the glass. We should be ready to go. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve reset any of my traps, so I¡¯d like to check those.¡±

    Theo nodded. ¡°Sounds good.¡±

    I got up, brushing myself off as we headed toward the house. ¡°Did you talk to the sky?¡±

    Theo glanced at me. ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°And?¡±

    Theo shrugged. ¡°Nothing.¡±

    I let out a sigh. ¡°Just keep trying?¡±

    ¡°I mean, that¡¯s fine. But what if you are the only one who can talk to them?¡± Theo asked.

    ¡°Think about it, Theo. These are the beings in charge of this whole thing. They have all the answers. They¡¯re the ones who have taken our memories. I for one want to know everything I¡¯ve forgotten before I can settle here.¡±

    ¡°Or bust your way out of here,¡± Theo said.

    ¡°Yeah. I wouldn¡¯t mind that,¡± I said.

    ¡°Don¡¯t blame you. If I had to clean my old childhood home, I¡¯d want to leave, too,¡± Theo said.

    I shook my head. I wanted to say how beautiful it was, but I doubted Theo could find anything beautiful about that home.

    We fell silent as the house came into view. I moved the stones out of the tool. Theo helped place five in the fence as I moved the rest into the storage unit. It then requested 0/3 shattered glass, which I happily provided.

    The fences were done. The house was cleaned. Now all that was left was to finish placing the glass into the greenhouse, and I will have repaired all the damages. But the thing that gave me the most relief was I was safe. They could not break through the fence, and it was all but guaranteed that I would have another week of recovery without them destroying everything again.

    ¡°Okay, the wolf is supposed to appear in about twenty-five minutes,¡± I said. ¡°I want to reset some traps before¡­¡±

    ¡°Before we die?¡± Theo finished. I flinched, which made him chuckle. ¡°It¡¯s just a game, Quinn.¡±

    ¡°Is it?¡± I asked, glancing around as we headed into the forest. ¡°I haven¡¯t played any game like this. Not this realistic.¡±

    Theo shrugged as he pulled out his chainsaw. ¡°Come on, Quinn. Let¡¯s go reset your traps, then track down this wolf¡¯s lair. Or die trying.¡±

    I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, then nodded.

 Chapter 63

    We entered the forest, the silence pressing all around us. It didn¡¯t take me long to find my traps, and I was slightly annoyed I forgot to set the meat one again. It would have been nice to have more chicken. On that note, I should have also made more traps to get more meat. That would be a good plan for tomorrow. I would need a lot of meat to stock up for the recipes I had unlocked.

    I reset the meat trap but left the box trap alone. I wasn¡¯t ready for another chicken yet until the storage unit was upgraded. Besides, if all went well, I¡¯d be getting a cow soon. I didn¡¯t feel too bad about not making different traps. The cleaning and the fences were both priorities for me.

    The silence was absolute. Any moment now we could run into the wolf. Theo was studying the ground closely, leaning down to brush something off a rock. He then pointed toward a section of forest in a confident manner.

    ¡°Do you have a tracking skill?¡± I whispered.

    Theo nodded. ¡°It¡¯s a jungle on my side.¡±

    We said nothing more, too afraid to make noise. I would lean down and occasionally forage for things. It was all for information. I wanted to see if dying would make me lose anything in my inventory. I followed Theo¡¯s footsteps until we got to an orchard, apples, pears, and peaches.

    ¡°Oh, sweet,¡± Theo whispered. ¡°Fruit always gives a fair amount of health.¡±

    I approached it, feeling like this place was pinned in my memory, just like the house and the traps. This orchard was a strange place, as it was lined and orderly like it was planted here for a reason, yet just outside there was still the forest. I glanced up, seeing a break in the trees. I saw the stars twinkling overhead. A part of me was awed by their beauty. It was just a small section of the sky, but in all my hurrying, I had always been too scared to look up. I kept my head down, swimming in my vast ocean, trying to piece clues together. Yet here, right now, when I was probably going to die, I spared a moment to look at the stars. To see such a strange sky, cloudless and without haze. I blinked, feeling strangely emotional. Despite the hauntings, the horrors, the cleaning, the monsters, this moment when I turned to look at a sky full of stars, I was struck by their beauty this place created.

    Theo jumped down from one of the trees, an apple in his hand. ¡°Health potions are always so hard to make. The ingredients are almost impossible,¡± Theo said before taking a bite out of the apple. ¡°And fruit is so hard to come by.¡±

    I frowned, my brows furrowing. ¡°You don¡¯t have a cooking fire for stamina?¡±

    ¡°Is that how it translates here? Stamina?¡± Theo asked, glancing at his bars. ¡°Ah, man. Look at that. Oh well. Do you think I could take some of these things back to my side to see if it gives health?¡±

    ¡°It gives you more stamina if you crush it into applesauce. Maybe you get more health on your side if it¡¯s applesauce,¡± I said.

    Theo shrugged, taking another bite. ¡°I mean, I guess, but I don¡¯t know how to make it into applesauce.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t either until I got my chopping station. Though¡­¡± I trailed off, and Theo glanced at me.

    ¡°It¡¯s in the house?¡±

    I nodded. He didn¡¯t seem disturbed by this, instead finished the apple in another bite before tossing the core. ¡°Well, hey, maybe we can set up a barter system. I was kind of expecting an NPC or something to come by and start trading for some of my things. Maybe you¡¯re the NPC.¡±

    ¡°Still totally a PC,¡± I said, two thumbs at my chest.

    ¡°Okay, but do you need any of my stuff on my side of the river? I kind of like the idea of getting bowls of applesauce if they help my health.¡±

    I let out a sigh, walking toward one of the trees. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Food is kind of a precious commodity right now. And I really don¡¯t know what you have that I¡¯d like to trade for.¡±

    Theo shrugged as he moved to another one. ¡°Uh, not health potions. Those are pretty rare, and really hard to make. I don¡¯t know if medical kits would help. I¡¯ve got so many of those to help when things are bleeding when they shouldn¡¯t.¡±

    I blinked, trying to process this. ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t need medical kids. I don¡¯t get hunted. Just haunted.¡±

    Theo shrugged. ¡°Figured as much. I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll think of something. Do you need some precious metals for interior decorating?¡±

    I snorted as I picked some peaches. ¡°I mean, how gaudy do you want those walls to be now that the seventies board is gone.¡±

    Theo placed his hands on his hips, surprised. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s gone?¡±

    ¡°A lot of things are gone. It¡¯s a completely different house now,¡± I said.

    ¡°Huh.¡±

    ¡°Still not interested in seeing the inside?¡± I asked.

    He let out his breath, glancing at the trees. ¡°Nah. Not interested.¡±If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    I didn¡¯t push it. Instead I glanced at my wolf timer. Since we entered wolf territory, the timer did as it always did and turned into question marks. I knew we¡¯d been out here a lot longer than half an hour, which is what the timer showed before we entered the wolf territory.

    ¡°Um, coal?¡± I asked after a bit of picking peaches and apples. Theo turned around, confused. ¡°Do you have coal?¡±

    ¡°I do, actually. There¡¯s a dungeon not far from my base where I kill monsters and mine for coal. And the precious metals as mentioned. Found out some of the powerful creatures outside the dungeon get really distracted when I bring out gemstones, and it makes it easier to kill them. I also mine for metal to help with upgrading weapons.¡±

    I turned, staring at him. Metal? Like¡­ scrap metal?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Why? Do you need it?¡±

    ¡°I do, actually. Some of my traps need scrap metal.¡±

    Theo smiled. ¡°Cool. Well, if applesauce is as valuable as you say it is, we might have to set up a system.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m all for that. It¡¯ll save me some dopamine points.¡±

    ¡°Some what now?¡± Theo asked.

    ¡°Dopamine points. It¡¯s what I call them. The monetary system that I buy things with.¡±

    Theo smiled, shaking his head as I filled the last slot of my inventory with apples. ¡°This game is wild.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, well,¡± I said before dropping out of the tree. ¡°Hopefully we get back to our lives.¡±

    ¡°Maybe. Once I defeat the corruption.¡±

    We fell into silence again. I followed behind Theo as we made our way through this portion of the forest. We were definitely out long enough that the wolf was no doubt roaming around the house right now. That might be for the better. It was a chance to learn something here.

    We kept walking, and I tried to notice anything different. The orchard was a great find, and I was happy that it was burned in my head. Theo kept crouching down every so often to check something before walking forward, weapon out.

    There was no doubt about it now. The wolf was at the house, and we might have the entire territory to ourselves right now. What with my inventory completely full, I couldn¡¯t pick anything else. We crept through the trees until I lifted a branch and saw it. Mostly because words tumbled into my vision.

    Discovered

    Wolf Lair

    I raised an eyebrow, then shined my flashlight all over the place. It was small, and Theo was already picking through some things, no doubt looking for clues on how to defeat the monster. I still felt like the wolf wasn¡¯t something to be defeated. Theo, if I remembered right, was only in the low twenties in leveling. There was no way he could conceivably kill something forty levels above him, no matter how much he studied the lair. Theo was far more relaxed with dying. I wondered, if I didn¡¯t have a list I needed to complete every week, would I feel so loose with death?

    I suppose I didn¡¯t actually need to complete my list every time. My alien overlords did say everything on my to-do list was nothing more than strongly encouraged things to finish to not fall behind. And if I did fall behind? I¡¯d probably die. Die a lot more. Have the alien overlords keep asking me whether I wanted to give up.

    I brushed aside some rotten leaves to see a strange, round stump. Yet it didn¡¯t feel like a log. I knelt to brush off more and saw it was more like a smooth concrete circle. This was odd. Why was this here? This seemed man-made.

    Once I brushed off the last of the leaves, it started to glow.

    ¡°Whoa,¡± I said, getting up and backing away.

    Theo glanced up, his flashlight darting around. ¡°What?¡± he asked.

    I pointed at the glowing cement circle. ¡°You don¡¯t see that?¡±

    He pointed his flashlight at the cement, but the confusion on his face told me that he didn¡¯t see it glowing. I let out a breath, then knelt back down, reaching out a hand. There was something about being okay with dying tonight that made me feel a bit reckless. I suppose my definition of recklessness was touching a glowing piece of cement.

    As soon as my fingers brushed against the slab, it stopped glowing.

    Offering unlocked

    When venison is placed on the offering, the wolf will sense it and stay later in his lair, making him appear later at the house.

    0/4 venison ¨C half an hour later

    0/8 venison ¨C hour later

    0/10 venison ¨C two hours later

    The words were there before fading away. I studied the cement again. ¡°Well, that¡¯s nice.¡±

    ¡°What? What is it?¡± Theo asked.

    ¡°Looks like I place a certain amount of deer meat here, and then it gives me more time outside at night, because the wolf will be distracted.¡± I sighed, hands on my hips. ¡°Though I¡¯m assuming I have to do that while the wolf is away. And there¡¯s the risk of dying.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s always the risk of dying,¡± Theo said.

    I gave a noncommittal shrug. This was a fascinating find that I certainly logged away. Possibly for a last ditch effort if I was really freaking out with how much I had to do on my list. ¡°What about you? What did you find?¡±

    Theo glanced at the bone he had in his hand. ¡°Well, I think this is an apex predator.¡±

    I waited, wondering if that was it. Theo dropped the bone, sighing. ¡°I think there¡¯s some things that I just need to level up to understand.¡±

    ¡°Well if that isn¡¯t the philosophy of life,¡± I couldn¡¯t help but say.

    Theo gave me a dry look before standing up and brushing himself off. ¡°Though I found this interesting.¡± He pointed at something on the ground I couldn¡¯t see. He noticed my face, and shrugged. ¡°Yeah, okay. There¡¯s this pulsing blackness right here. I¡¯ve seen this stuff before. It¡¯s in the magic technology that I often see on my side. This is some sort of teleportation thing. It¡¯s how I get around so quickly around the map on my side, since it¡¯s so huge. I haven¡¯t seen them by the monster¡¯s lair, though. But if I press this, here-¡± Theo touched something on the ground that I couldn¡¯t see. When he let go, something started to glow. Theo lifted a hand, smiling. ¡°See? It unlocks the ability, marking it on my map here.¡± Theo tapped near his eye. ¡°Though¡­ it¡¯s not marking it here.¡± Theo paused, staring at something I couldn¡¯t see. There was a glowing form, at first indistinguishable. ¡°Huh. Usually it makes it so I can teleport, but it seems like-¡±

    The form glowed blue, then formed into the shape of a wolf. I backed away, my heart pounding in my chest.

    ¡°Seems like it¡¯s teleporting the wolf itself,¡± I whispered.

    Theo blinked. ¡°Well, damn.¡±

    The glow disappeared, and the wolf was here. There was that awful crunching noise, then the wolf lifted itself on its hind legs, claws out. Theo didn¡¯t waste a moment. He pulled out a loaded crossbow and shot it right between the eyes. Instead of sinking through the skull, the bolt plinked off. Theo had enough time to grumble before the wolf slammed its paw into Theo¡¯s face.

    I screamed, the feeling instinctual at this point. Theo slammed into a tree like a rag doll before collapsing on the ground. His body disappeared in a golden afterglow.

    My gaze shot up to this six-and-a-half-foot creature. The creature took two steps in my direction, the claws extended, the jaw full of teeth dropping open before it gave the loudest snarl I had ever heard.

    My sanity dropped like a rock. I didn¡¯t even know what it did to my stamina. All I knew was I dropped almost as fast as my sanity did, my vision black before I hit the ground.

 Chapter 64

    ¡°Do you give up?¡±

    I gasped, sitting up. I was in that white room again. Instead of the male, though, it was the female. Out of habit of my experience with every other human, I looked right into her eyes. They were so different from the male¡¯s. They seemed to be building up instead of shifting and changing.

    I dropped my gaze, trying to remember how to breathe. ¡°I¡­ didn¡¯t die. I just collapsed.¡±

    ¡°No. Your physical makeup in that world does not let you die the same way Theo does.¡±

    Her words brought fear. ¡°Does¡­ am I¡­¡±

    ¡°The punishment is still the same. You will lose one day, just as Theo does,¡± she said.

    ¡°Where¡­ where¡­¡± I was finding it as difficult to talk to the sister as I did the brother.

    ¡°You will not get more answers from me,¡± she said. ¡°It is my brother who likes to bend the rules. I stick to them. Answer my question. Do you give up?¡±

    ¡°Give up what?¡± I asked.

    ¡°The game. Do you give up?¡± she repeated.

    I shook my head. ¡°No. No I don¡¯t.¡±

    The sister waved a hand, and I gasped, sitting up in bed. The dawn light was red, and I patted myself. I had all my stamina back, but I was only at twenty-five percent sanity. Which meant the shadows would get weird, and I¡¯d hear whispers. My inventory was untouched. No penalty for that.

    I ran out of bed, promising myself I¡¯d go to sleep with my nightgown on tonight. But there was one final thing I needed to check. To make sure that I wasn¡¯t getting the rug pulled out from under me.

    I ran to the kitchen, running my finger over the calendar and counted. Three days. I had three days left. I really did just loose those few hours of the night when I died. I thought the alien overlords would make me lose an extra day, but it was just those few hours.

    I let out a sigh, even though I was still deeply uncomfortable. I didn¡¯t like that. I didn¡¯t know how Theo could do that time and time again. Sure, maybe this was just a game, but I didn¡¯t like throwing myself at danger. Besides, I didn¡¯t just lose a day. I lost my sanity. I¡¯d gain it all back before they attacked, but it was something I had to watch.

    I let out a breath and began my morning routine. I dropped the glass into the barn, waiting. The words shifted before appearing.

    Apply prime

    I sighed. This felt like a final thing, but just in case, I quickly ran over to the garage. I fired up the painting station, and instead of just the house, there was the newly built barn, too. I touched that, and a timer started for six hours. Once that was done, I wondered if I could choose the color, or if I had to choose a red one. Why were all barns red?

    I started making another batch of bricks. By the end of tonight I would have the storage unit all updated.

    No, no. I caught myself. I would have the brick section of the storage unit done. I seriously needed to stop thinking it would be the last thing to have done. I had been foiled enough by that.

    By tonight I would have another five bags of sand in the tool. Tomorrow morning, I¡¯d have the glass in the greenhouse. And then on the morning they arrived, the greenhouses would be all finished. The barn could conceivably be done in less than three days, too. My entire to-do list will be done, and it will feel amazing.

    I placed all the clay formed bricks on the ground. Those would bake for half a day, then I¡¯d have more baked clay to form into bricks. After an entire season, I was finally starting my stockpiling, and it felt fantastic.

    I entered the greenhouse, watering the plants. Nothing could be picked today, which was a bummer. Stockpiling food was my other thing I wanted to have done. But that would be an ongoing process. Honestly the biggest thing was to get the storage unit done. That would be a big relief to upgrade.

    When the greenhouses were done, Theo broke through the trees, walking toward the house. He noticed me and smiled. ¡°Good. Just wanted to make sure the same rules that apply to me also apply to you.¡±

    ¡°They do. I just lost those few hours of yesterday,¡± I said.

    ¡°See? It¡¯s not so bad,¡± Theo said.

    I didn¡¯t reply. There was still a twisting in my gut that I didn¡¯t like. I walked into the chicken coop to gather eggs, and Theo followed me.

    ¡°Hey, you alright?¡± Theo asked.

    ¡°The alien overlords contacted me again while I was dead,¡± I said. ¡°Did they contact you?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Theo said. ¡°No, it was just all black, then waking back up in my base.¡±The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    My brows furrowed. I still patted Daisy and Buttercup¡¯s heads before heading toward the house. Theo remained by the coop.

    ¡°It still bothers you? About the alien overlords?¡± Theo asked.

    ¡°Yes. ¡°It bothers me a lot.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Because it¡¯s a mystery I don¡¯t understand,¡± I half shouted since I was heading into the covered part of the back porch. Theo wouldn¡¯t follow me in the house. ¡°There¡¯s a clue here as to why we¡¯re in this world. There¡¯s got to be.¡±

    I placed the eggs in the storage room and walked back outside. Theo was rubbing his chin. ¡°The people who you assume created the game are talking to you but not talking to me? Is that a good summary of the mystery plaguing you?¡±

    ¡°And why? Why are they doing that?¡± I asked. ¡°Why is it that every time I die, they ask if I give up? But they don¡¯t ask the same thing to you?¡±

    Theo went back to rubbing his chin in thought. Words appeared in front of my vision.

    Play the game. Get your answers.

    I groaned so loud Theo glanced at me in concern. I waved a hand at him. ¡°It¡¯s nothing. Just an annoying repeat of non-answers the alien overlords are giving me.¡±

    Theo continued to stare at me, and I guested toward the space where the words would be, even as they started to dissolve. ¡°They keep telling me to play the game to get my answers. Well, I have been playing the game, and¡­¡±

    Okay, to be honest, I have been getting a lot of answers. They¡¯ve just been extremely slow in coming. It was like peeling back an onion one very thin layer at a time.

    Theo gestured over his shoulder. ¡°That barn looks nice.¡±

    ¡°Hey, thanks. It¡¯s getting primed now.¡± The timer over the barn was counting down from six hours. ¡°I¡¯m trying to decide what color to paint it.¡±

    ¡°Red?¡± Theo asked.

    ¡°Every barn is red. I¡¯m trying to decide whether to go with the easy decision, or the whimsical. Do you think the alien overlords would let me do a variety of colors?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, yeah,¡± Theo said, walking over to the barn. ¡°Maybe even a smiley face in the middle.¡±

    I snorted, following him to the barn. We stood admiring it for a second, when words started filling my vision.

    Barns were originally painted red because of rust. Iron oxide was an excellent, cost-effective sealant that protected the wood from moss and fungi. As the iron oxide mixed with the solution, it often came out red.

    You may choose whatever color you¡¯d like.

    I stared at the words as they slowly started to fade. ¡°Well, thank you for that. Thank you for taking your time to describe why barns were painted red and not why you¡¯re talking to me instead of Theo.¡±

    Theo glanced over, his face a mixture of worry and curiosity.

    I love sarcasm

    I stared at the words, wondering if that was from the brother because he liked bending the rules, or if it was from the sister, saying it sarcastically.

    I am incapable of sarcasm. I do not understand it. That was my brother.

    My fingers dug into my temples as the words disappeared. Theo kept staring at me, the curiosity changing to concern.

    ¡°That¡¯s how you talk to them?¡± Theo asked.

    I dropped my hands, motioning toward my eyes. ¡°Words appear in my vision, and I talk out loud. I guess I don¡¯t have to talk out loud, because they can read my thoughts. I just like talking out loud, because I don¡¯t want to think about them reading my mind.¡±

    Theo took this all in, blinking quite a few times. ¡°I think this is what literally every other character feels like when around a Disney princess talking to animals.¡±

    I gave his shoulder a slap. ¡°Shut up.¡±

    He snorted, not even bothering to rub his shoulder. He then glanced at something behind him, the smile dropping. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±

    I turned around, trying to figure out what he meant. I noticed it right away. What with a lot of the trees cleared, it was impossible not to notice the beer can right by the lilac bushes. In my haste to prime the barn, I forgot to pick those up. Theo walked over, the closest he¡¯d been to his house. He picked up the beer can, alarmed.

    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ it happens every night,¡± I said, walking over to him, changing into my cleaning clothes. ¡°In fact, if you look here¡­.¡± With my cleaning gloves, I scooped up the few cigarette butts on the ground. Theo stared at them, eyes wide.

    ¡°Who¡­ who¡­¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I said.

    Theo¡¯s head jerked in the direction of the forest, then back at me. ¡°Someone comes in and¡­¡± He glanced at the window. I knew he was doing the calculations of what he remembered of the layout of the house. His eyes widened even further when he realized what room that was. I gave a grim nod.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± was all I said.

    ¡°What an absolute creep,¡± Theo said, standing up and pulling out his sword.

    ¡°Theo, wait,¡± I said, holding his shoulder. ¡°Do you remember who this is?¡± I held up the beer can and the cigarette butts. ¡°Was this talked about in your childhood? Beer cans by the window?¡±

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter if I remember. What matters is this dude¡¯s going to die,¡± Theo said.

    ¡°So¡­ that¡¯s a no.¡±

    ¡°How are you so calm?¡± Theo asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m not. Or, at least, I wasn¡¯t. I don¡¯t know who this is. I¡¯ve never even glimpsed them. I¡¯m not even sure what gender this person is. Nothing has come of this, except for the beer cans and the cigarette butts that give me a miniscule boost in dopamine when I drop them in the dumpster, and a miniscule sliver of sanity taken away.¡±

    Theo kept staring at me, his lips in a thin line. We stayed that way for some time before his lips cracked open, the sentence leaking out. ¡°I want you to seriously consider coming back with me to my base camp. It¡¯s not safe here.¡±

    ¡°And again, Theo. It¡¯s not safe for me at your base camp, either. I have a barely upgraded axe that helps me chop down trees and a pickaxe that breaks up stone. I will die a lot on your side, and something tells me that I¡¯ll wake up here.¡± I gestured toward the bedroom window.

    Theo¡¯s eyes traveled to the trash in my hands as he gripped the handle of his sword tighter. There was the slight flicker of fear that shifted to resolve. ¡°I think I found my next monster to get information on.¡±

    ¡°Theo¡­¡± I started to say before trailing off.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to explore this forest, see if I can find this creep''s lair. Then I¡¯m going to murder him.¡± A gleam entered his eyes that I wasn¡¯t sure I knew how to interpret. I just knew I didn¡¯t like it. ¡°This is going to feel so amazingly cathartic.¡±

    I grabbed his shoulder again to stop him. ¡°You know who it is, don¡¯t you.¡±

    I waited. Waited for whatever information he told me.

    ¡°I have a guess.¡± He gestured again toward the trash, trying to open his mouth to say something. This was hard, but I just waited. ¡°My dad.¡± He glanced down. ¡°If this place really is a recreation of what happened, there¡¯s a hell of a good chance this is my dad.¡±

    Despite waiting for an answer, now that I knew, I wasn¡¯t sure how to react. Theo never talked about his dad. That much I felt in my soul. It was only his mom. ¡°Did he¡­ was he the one who killed your mom?¡±

    Theo¡¯s gaze remained fixed on the ground. ¡°Murder suicide. My mom, my grandma, then himself. I¡¯m not sure he knew I existed. Something tells me that if he did, I would have been dead on that floor with them.¡±

 Chapter 65

    ¡°Theo,¡± I whispered, because I wasn¡¯t sure what else to say.

    He shook his head. ¡°I spent most of my childhood learning what children shouldn¡¯t have to. I have the names for them now. Domestic violence. Abuse. Murder suicide. My mom left my dad after one too many times getting hit, and ran away to be safe. It¡¯s what they told me, anyway. I wasn¡¯t around during that time. A few weeks later she realized she was pregnant with me. She spent the next three years trying to find anywhere safe. Once she was certain she shook off my dad, she ended up at my grandma¡¯s. We lived there happily. I loved it.¡± Theo shrugged, trying to make himself seem nonchalant. Almost like if he forced himself to do it, he might believe it himself. ¡°My dad found us. Tracked us down.¡± Theo¡¯s hands were shaking as he shoved them in his pockets, glancing at the window leading to the bedroom. ¡°Anyway¡­¡±

    ¡°Wolfe.¡±

    I didn¡¯t know why I said it. I was still unsure exactly if Theo wanted me to respond. I backed away enough to see both sides of the forest. I pointed toward the wolf territory. Theo watched, brows furrowed.

    ¡°On one side, the creature that kills. The creature you drew as a child as you tried to comprehend what your dad, Mr. Wolfe, did,¡± I whispered. I almost didn¡¯t want him to hear. It felt almost insensitive to talk about his trauma at all. I dropped my hand, then pointed to the other side of the forest. ¡°On the other side, we have the abusive creep who figured out where your mom is. Both sides reflect Mr. Wolfe. The last name you refused to take. Or so the memory orbs led me to believe.¡±

    Theo stood ramrod straight. He started shaking his head, placing his sword in his inventory before staring at me.

    ¡°Please.¡± My memories had been wiped, so I couldn¡¯t be sure, but the feeling in my gut told me Theo rarely begged. This was one of those times. ¡°Please come back to my base camp. I cannot help but think this is¡­ this is some horrible trick to recreate that night.¡± His chest hitched, the air caught in his lungs. ¡°I cannot¡­ show up¡­ and have you¡­ bleeding everywhere.¡± The sob he was holding back broke out, and he fell to one knee. I walked toward him, alarmed.

    ¡°I won¡¯t die. Theo, we¡¯ve already discovered this. I can¡¯t die,¡± I said.

    He covered his face, and I could tell he was struggling to keep the sob inside him. To keep himself from breaking down. I dropped to my knees too, hugging him tight. I wasn¡¯t hugging him for long when Theo gasped, then pushed me away with all his might. I landed on my back, confused, but not for long.

    A black sludge bubbled up from the ground where we were hugging. Theo scrambled to his feet, pulling out his chain saw.

    ¡°Theo!¡± I shouted.

    He didn¡¯t respond. He turned on his chainsaw as the sludge shot toward him. He cut the sludge, but I had the same experience before. We couldn¡¯t kill a sludge by cutting it. Theo still tried. He swung the chainsaw wildly, trying to slice the creature into bits. It was what kept me from rushing to his side.

    The bits of sludge came together, slamming into Theo¡¯s chest. He grunted, dropping his chainsaw. The sludge pushed the weapon away while also throwing itself into every hole in Theo¡¯s face. I scrambled forward as Theo fell to his knees.

    ¡°No,¡± he croaked as sludge filled his mouth. ¡°Stay away, Quinn.¡±

    I didn¡¯t listen. Instead, I grabbed the stream of sludge heading for his nostrils. The sludge stopped, and Theo gagged. I pulled with everything I had. The sludge was fighting me, needing to crawl into Theo. I looked at my brother¡¯s face, saw the blackness tinged around his lips, the sludge coming out of his ears. He stared at me with black rimmed eyes, begging me to give up. To let him go. I saw so much emotion in Theo¡¯s face, and the biggest one was the lack of pain. This wasn¡¯t painful, what I was doing. It was¡­ embarrassing.

    I held on to the sludge, and yanked with all my might. I could almost hear a shriek as the sludge dislodged, landing harmlessly on the ground. Theo gagged, then turned his head to the side, covering his mouth.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Theo?¡± I asked.

    He didn¡¯t answer. I knelt to the ground and placed my hand on his shoulder, trying to get him up. He stiffened at my touch. ¡°It¡¯s alright, Theo. It¡¯s gone.¡± He shook his head, his hand still covering his mouth. ¡°Theo?¡±

    He made another noise, then his back arched. Next thing I knew, hot black vomit landed all over my cleaning dress and apron. Honestly, it was not the most surprising thing that happened since I woke up in this house at the beginning of the summer.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± His voice was hoarse, and he didn¡¯t look me in the eye. He was too busy staring in horror at what he¡¯d done. There were tears falling down his cheeks, but the tears were black. ¡°Your¡­ I¡­.¡± He scrambled to his feet, backing away. ¡°I am so sorry.¡±

    I stood up, brushing off the vomit. ¡°It¡¯s out? Is it all out?¡±

    Theo hesitated, then glanced at something in his vision I couldn¡¯t see. He brushed the black ichor from his cheeks and chin. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ mostly gone.¡±

    I nodded. ¡°Then no harm done.¡±

    As soon as I said that, words appeared in my vision.

    Dress and apron coated in essence of them

    Unusable until cleaned off

    Sewing machine can repair them

    At current outfit stats, cannot clean walls or paint until clothes have been repaired

    I tried to hold in my sigh, then glanced behind me at the barn. That was still counting down. It didn¡¯t stop the painting I was already doing. It would just put a damper in making that rainbow barn today. I was now committed to that rainbow.

    Outside of house 98% cleaned

    Must be 100% in order for them to not break through the fence

    I flinched at those words, though I realized I could do this now. My gloves were still untouched.

    ¡°Quinn?¡± Theo asked.

    I glanced back at him, trying to smile. ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡±

    Theo was still panting but gestured toward my face. ¡°You made a face. Why? What happened? What did the alien overlords tell you?¡± I held in my breath to keep myself from reacting. Theo narrowed his eyes. ¡°I would feel a lot better if I knew. And believe me, I feel like crap right now because I quite literally vomited all over my sister.¡±

    I let out a sigh, then stood up, shaking off as much of the essence as possible before I changed into my logging outfit. ¡°I have to repair my cleaning clothes. Since my cleaning clothes involve painting, I¡¯ve got to wait until they¡¯re all repaired before I can go back to painting. It will probably take six hours for each article, as is the way it always is. So tomorrow. I can¡¯t paint the barn until tomorrow.¡± Before the thought of horror could even take root in Theo¡¯s mind, I simply placed my hand once again on his shoulder. ¡°And it¡¯s going to be alright. There are still two full days ahead of me. I will get that done.¡±

    Theo¡¯s shoulders sagged, and he dropped his gaze. ¡°I¡¯m still sorry.¡±

    ¡°Does this happen often? Do they attack you when you start to panic?¡± I asked.

    Theo nodded, staring intently at his fingertips. ¡°Yeah. Every time. But¡­ this is the first time I¡¯ve vomited.¡±

    ¡°Probably because you haven¡¯t had anyone to pull that stuff out of your nose,¡± I said.

    ¡°It was pretty gross,¡± Theo said.

    ¡°What¡¯d you do before?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Sleep. As always. For hours. Sometimes days. Then it would leak out. I¡­ still feel like I need to sleep,¡± Theo said.

    I kept looking at Theo. Kept staring right at him, but he wouldn¡¯t look at me, his face morphing into one of sadness. ¡°I need to stop talking about this.¡± He walked past me, toward the back of the house. He wiped some more of those black tears, flicking them away. ¡°Is there anything I can do to help you today?¡± Theo asked, his back still toward me.

    He wanted to drop this. It was something I needed to respect. Despite the questions swirling around in my head, Theo clearly wanted to forget this ever happened. The best thing I could do was let him. But I still put the questions to one side. I¡¯d wait for him to get more comfortable with the conversation before bringing up my questions.

    Instead I thought about his question. I thought about my plans for today, that mostly dealt with waiting around for the bricks.

    ¡°Traps,¡± I said. ¡°We talked about a trading system yesterday. I need some scrap metal. If you¡¯d like, I can make some applesauce fast and you can see if it helps your health on the other side of the river.¡±

    Theo nodded. ¡°Yeah. Yeah, that¡¯d be great.¡±

    ¡°Give me a second,¡± I said.

    I slipped through the back door into the kitchen. I got together one applesauce as fast as possible while wearing my cooking outfit. I then slipped back out to where Theo was leaning against one of the locked greenhouses.

    ¡°Here¡¯s some applesauce. I wouldn¡¯t mind some scrap metal. I might need a lot of it. Just let me know how much this applesauce is worth. I have more apples,¡± I said.

    Theo took the bowl, nodding. He wasn¡¯t smiling. There was still black residue all over him, especially his face. He looked exhausted, and I didn¡¯t blame him. He didn¡¯t look at me, still a deep shame to him as he placed the applesauce in his inventory.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be back with the scrap metal. Give me a couple hours,¡± he said.

    ¡°Take it easy today, Theo,¡± I said.

    He said nothing, didn¡¯t even look at me, before slipping through the trees and disappearing to his side of the river.

 Chapter 66

    Once I got the sewing machine repairing my blue dress and the vomit all cleaned outside, I got to work buying all the traps. I cut down a tree and placed a board in the dumpster to give me a little over a hundred dopamine points. After buying the four meat traps and a cow box trap, I had a whopping 6.62 points.

    I then spent the afternoon cutting up the trees into boards to build the traps. Theo would eventually be back, and I¡¯d figure out how much scrap metal he¡¯d give.

    It was a day of recovery. I made more baked clay and stored a lot of stone. When the bricks were done in the tool, I switched them out and made more bricks. One more batch, then I¡¯d see what else the storage unit needed.

    I kept working, kept storing. I made a lot of applesauce. It was getting closer to the evening time when Theo walked through the trees, holding metal in his arms. He wasn¡¯t smiling, but I didn¡¯t expect him to.

    He dropped the metal near the traps as I walked over to him with all the applesauce I made in my inventory.

    ¡°Did the applesauce help?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yeah, it did. Worked fantastic,¡± he said, not looking at me as he kept unloading the scrap metal from his inventory. I needed a lot, and I doubted Theo would have enough.

    He finished with the scrap metal and stood up a bit straighter. ¡°I¡¯ll go get the other batch.¡±

    ¡°Oh. I¡­ don¡¯t have enough applesauce for all this,¡± I said.

    ¡°This is my apology.¡± Theo nudged a piece of scrap metal with his foot. ¡°The other batch we can barter with.¡±

    At first, I was confused until I remembered he had vomited all over me this morning. I glanced down at the scrap metal again. ¡°Oh, well, you didn¡¯t need to.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I did,¡± Theo said, still not looking at me. ¡°But I will make it right. When is the corruption coming to your house?¡±

    ¡°Two more days. Midnight,¡± I said.

    Theo nodded. ¡°That¡¯ll be great. It¡¯ll be my first good look at what this corruption is. Then I can figure out how to destroy it.¡±

    ¡°Theo¡­¡± I trailed off. He glanced at me. There was such determination, yet shame in his eyes, that I wasn¡¯t sure what to say. Instead, I pulled out the bowls of applesauce. ¡°You can take these back to your base.¡±

    He nodded, accepting them. There was a moment where we just passed bowls of applesauce between each other before he turned around. ¡°I¡¯ll be back. Give me another twenty minutes. It¡¯s a long way to the teleport station to base camp.¡±

    I nodded, watching him go. He was on his feet. That was something. But I could see the depression swirling around him, even as he pretended everything was alright. I noticed the way he stumbled a bit as he walked, like the weight was too much. The way he never smiled. Or caught my gaze. He simply existed for the next moment. And the next. And the next. Until the moment he went to bed.

    I went to the pile of scrap metal and placed them carefully into the traps. There was a lot here. Theo was giving me way more than he needed to. I knew he was ashamed of what happened. I wasn¡¯t. I had acted on instinct, and I didn¡¯t regret it.

    Theo must have had a lot of scrap metal, because it took him another half an hour before he arrived. I watched him close as he once again reached into his back and pulled out metal after metal. I distracted myself by grabbing the metal and placing it in the traps. I thought I would have to wait for another swap, but Theo gave me enough metal to finish all four of the meat traps. I¡¯d wait until later for the cow box trap. I got to work placing the metal in the traps as Theo straightened.

    ¡°So, um¡­ two days? Two days at midnight? Is there anything I should know about when the corruption appears?¡± Theo asked.

    I cleared my throat. ¡°The wolf usually roams around the house until they appear. Since he¡¯s such a high-level wolf, I¡­ I don¡¯t know how you¡¯re going to stay alive if you¡¯re not in the house. The wolf doesn¡¯t enter. I¡¯ve tested it myself,¡± I said.

    Theo¡¯s eyes glanced up at the decrepit house. The longer he looked at it, the heavier his eyes were. He finally tore his gaze to look at the forest where the wolf was.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    ¡°I¡¯ve got to level up as much as I can. There is a way I can create my own teleportation device, and I can stick it right over there,¡± Theo said, pointing at the place next to the greenhouse. ¡°But I have to be level twenty-five at least. So¡­ I¡¯ve got to kill more monsters.¡±

    I nodded, placing the last of the metal in the deer trap before standing up. ¡°The house is different now that I¡¯ve been working on it all summer,¡± I ventured. ¡°It might be good for you to at least try seeing one of the rooms.¡±

    Theo again looked at the house. ¡°Does¡­ it still smell like my grandma?¡±

    I hesitated, trying to recall what the house smelled like. ¡°Um¡­ hairspray? And¡­ cigarettes?¡±

    To my surprise, Theo let out a soft chuckle. A small smile appeared on his face, then blackness formed around his eyes. I stiffened, alarmed. Wondering if I needed to do something drastic like this morning again. The black liquid dropped from his eyes down his cheeks like tears before I realized that¡¯s exactly what they were. Tears. Tears mingled with them.

    Theo brushed his cheeks, then glanced down as though realizing there was color to his tears. When he noticed it, he spun, his back toward me as he kept brushing away the blackness.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to keep leveling. It takes a lot of grinding. If I reach level twenty-five and make the teleportation, I¡¯ll meet you before to set it. If not¡­¡±

    I waited for him to admit he¡¯d have to stay at the house. Theo said nothing, and I didn¡¯t think he would. Instead, he walked toward the forest, and I watched him go.

    There was a part of me that felt like I didn¡¯t actually know how to help Theo. I felt so incredibly useless. For whatever reason, even though they attacked me twice now, I never had that lingering experience with them. I blacked out, then woke up the next morning, fine as ever. But with Theo, it lingered. It entered his body and weighed him down. It stayed inside him. Didn¡¯t come out unless I pulled it out. Or made him cry.

    I wanted to do something, but Theo was adamant in not wanting my help. It was mostly out of embarrassment, which I sort of understood. If I vomited all over Theo, I would have a hard time looking him in the eye, too. I just didn¡¯t like how much this shame lasted. Did Theo understand I didn¡¯t care? Did I communicate that well enough to him?

    I gathered the traps in my inventory, trying not to think about all the things I could have done better. The wolf wouldn¡¯t appear for another hour and a half, so I had time.

    I entered the forest, holding my flashlight. I remained mostly in my head, trying to think of ways to help Theo. I also came back to thinking about ways to get out of the game. Theo told me what happened in the place I now assumed was the locked room. Murder suicide. He had seen the aftermath of it.

    Once I entered wolf territory, I gathered the raw chicken meat before setting the other meat traps in a cluster. The traps still had to be away from the others, but it was nice I didn¡¯t have to walk far to get the meat.

    I then followed my new map instincts toward the orchard, gathering all the apples I could hold. Theo gave me a lot of scrap metal, and I intended to give him a lot of applesauce for it. Hopefully I could also get him to understand that I didn¡¯t care that he vomited on me.

    The wolf was far enough away that I didn¡¯t want to press my luck. The traps were set, my inventory was full to bursting with apples. I kept my gaze sharp until I left the wolf territory. Even then, I kept a weary eye out. I didn¡¯t like this revelation that the person drinking beer in front of my bedroom window was Theo¡¯s murderous dad.

    I unloaded the inventory into the storage unit before dropping the final eight bricks into the storage unit. I took a step back, watching the shift before words appeared.

    Apply Primer

    Alright, well, that also felt like a final thing. It also jogged my memory to check the sewing machine. The wolf was coming out soon, and I needed to be inside, anyway.

    I paused at the tool, putting in five bags of sand so one of the greenhouses could finally be finished before I walked up to the second floor. Once I got the clothes switched out, I sat down on the chair, glancing at this room. The walls needed cleaning. Then this room could be ready to paint. It was the only room on the second floor that was clean enough to do it.

    The only problem was I was at twenty-five present sanity. The shadows were being weird, and I could hear noises that I couldn¡¯t explain. I got part way through one wall before I called it a night.

    My nightgown appeared as I walked down the stairs. I wasn¡¯t sure if it had been an hour since bedtime. I had been so busy figuring out the mysteries of the haunts or cleaning the floor that I always stayed way later past my bedtime anyway. I entered the bedroom and realized there was still one thing I hadn¡¯t thought about. I had never checked out my bedroom window to see if I could catch the creep.

    I stared at the window, then slowly walked toward it. I pushed open the curtains before I could tell myself to stop.

    No one was out there. Just the darkness. I placed my forehead against the glass, staring at the dark forest outside my window. Hearing the hauntings was terrifying. Slowly, though, I was learning more about them. The more I learned, the less scared I got. It made sense that the giggling child was Theo and I didn¡¯t need to be concerned about him. The grandma who hated cats was a little harder, and I might need Theo to tell me more stories about his grandma to help me not be so scared of her.

    But this? The possibility that his abusive father was out there, right now, leaving beer cans near my window? Watching me sleep? Knowing that it was the murderer right outside my window would not lessen the sanity attack of those beer cans.

    I closed the blinds and climbed into bed. Killie hopped onto the bed, plopping down next to me.

    ¡°You have a bed, you know,¡± I said. Killie, as always, said nothing. She just cozied up closer to my face and started purring. I reached out, my hand in her fur. ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯re here, too.¡±

 Chapter 67

    I woke up to Killie jumping off the bed. The red dawn light filled the room as I climbed out. My sanity was at seventy-five percent, which was great. I wasn¡¯t sure if I would see Theo today. He mentioned needing to grind, and they were coming tomorrow night.

    I placed the glass in the second greenhouse and gave a sigh of pure satisfaction as that greenhouse went back to normal. I put the extra glass in the first greenhouse. I was seriously tempted to upgrade the greenhouse now that it was all fixed.

    0/15 glass

    That actually wasn¡¯t too bad. It wasn¡¯t like I needed anything else today. I technically could make more glass this morning. Though if the barn needed something else besides primer, I would be in trouble.

    For that alone, I stayed with my plan of putting more bricks in the tool. I then went back inside to gather the last piece of repaired clothes before going to the garage. I clicked on a variety of colors just to see what would happen before peeking outside the garage. It would still take about ten minutes to finish. I would be hopefully done with my morning routine by then.

    I dropped the beer can and cigarette butts in the dumpster, trying to ignore the bigger sliver of sanity that disappeared with this discovery. I then moved to watering the plants. I picked the tomatoes, then got to work picking the lettuce and carrots before planting more carrots. At this stage, I wanted to plant whatever food I could.

    I placed my hands on my hips, giving a little sigh. Food was planted and watered. The barn was almost done being painted. I could start priming the storage unit. It was more waiting for items to get finished. They were attacking tomorrow night, therefore I had two whole days to do whatever I wanted. And I really wanted to gather the meat from the traps.

    I spent the next minute and twenty-four seconds watching the timer on the barn tick down. Once it was completed, I waited for anything else to appear. The barn was a lovely combination of pastel colors, each color painted vertically on one piece of wood. When a few seconds passed, I pulled out my to-do list and sighed. The barn was crossed off.

    I didn¡¯t waste any time running to the garage to get the storage unit primed. I had a feeling this was the last thing it needed, too. Despite telling myself over and over not to get my hopes up, it was too late. They were already rising.

    Once that was done, I went over to the clipboard, flipping through the pages. A cow cost -30.00 dopamine points. As long as there were trees in this place, there would be dopamine points, so I wasn¡¯t too concerned. I went to work chopping the trees and dropping all the boards into the dumpster to fill up my dopamine points before purchasing the cow.

    It materialized between the house and the greenhouses. I dressed myself in animal care clothes, just to be safe. I walked over, my hand out, before petting the cow. It snorted, a rope hanging around its neck. It was exactly what I expected a cow to look like. Mostly white, with a few brown spots.

    ¡°Darla? What about Darla for a name?¡± I asked.

    The cow mooed, and I couldn¡¯t help but smile. I took the rope, leading her toward the barn where she settled into one of the stalls. Like with the chickens and with Killie, food magically appeared when I thought about feeding Darla. I patted her nose. ¡°I¡¯ll get you a friend, okay?¡±

    Darla started eating, and I walked over, wondering how I could milk the cow. As though on cue, a glass bottle appeared, full of milk. I picked it up, feeling a lot more recipes unlocking.

    I gave Darla another pat before heading back inside the house to put the milk in the fridge. I couldn¡¯t be sure, but this seemed to be about a half gallon¡¯s worth of milk.

    I took a moment to check my stats.

    Farming level 23

    Cleaning level 25

    Logging level 28

    Cooking level 21

    Building level 28

    Animal Care level 20

    I nodded, then pulled out my to-do list.

    Repair all damages done by them

    Build a barn

    Purchase a cow

    Purchase the fourth article of clothing for buildingThis tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    Build a trap

    Set trap in your foraging area

    Clean the blackness in the house

    Once the greenhouse had the glass in tomorrow morning, that would be it. The damages would be all done, and my to-do list would be finished. I nodded, tucking the to-do list away before picking up the clipboard again. Most of the recipes that became unlocked were a more complex, creamy soup, like a creamy tomato soup that took milk, or a creamy potato soup. I wasn¡¯t going to complain. As I got deeper into fall, there would be colder days. I needed a lot more soups to help with the weather.

    I then flipped to the clothing area. I had reached level twenty-five in cleaning, and I wanted to get the fourth article of clothing. I chose a hair ribbon, and tried it on just to see. My long hair was pulled back into a fancy bun before being tied in the front, almost like a head band. Not bad. I was actually rather happy to have my hair from my face while I cleaned. Though my hair being down had never bothered me before while cleaning. I shrugged it off as game logic.

    My entire cleaning outfit came on, and I saw the words fill my vision.

    Fourth level cleaning unlocked.

    Ability: repair furniture

    I blinked, then I glanced behind me through the kitchen door where the beautiful cherry wood cabinet still had that door hanging off its hinges. Words appeared above it.

    0/2 boards

    Perfect! Sure, I was still itching to transform these floors, but maybe this was a way to upgrade the old technology. Not that I planned on ever watching any of the movies in the bookshelf next to that tv.

    It was decided. As I waited for bricks to finish, I would work on repairing the furniture on the first floor. I got to work chopping down more trees. It didn¡¯t take long before the cherry wood cabinet was back on its hinges, as it didn¡¯t need anything other than the boards. I then fixed the windows, which meant I could finally open them. I hadn¡¯t smelled mildew in ages, but having a breeze coming in through the kitchen seemed to perk up this old house. I fixed one other hanging cupboard, then saw the doors needed a few boards. The screen door on the covered back porch needed some scrap metal, but it would be nice to finally have that close right.

    I kept working until the tool stopped making bricks. I switched it out with ten broken stones before I took a break from repairing furniture to enter the wolf territory.

    I was silent as ever. The more times I did this, the less nervous I got. I still kept one eye open, though, because even though I had almost everything done on my list, I had a shiny new objective to make the house clean, and I wanted to spend all my time on it.

    It was a lot of meat, and I was happy I unloaded my inventory before coming out here. I could finally feel like I was preparing for the harder parts of the season. I walked back to my house with mixed feelings. Part of it was the elation at finally storing food, the other part was I was super excited to get back to repairing furniture.

    It didn¡¯t take long for the kitchen to be done. The dangling wires from before were now tucked away in the repaired ceiling. The cabinets were secured on their hinges, and the door to the bathroom and the hallway were beautifully sanded and stained. Now the only thing I had left to completely transform this kitchen was to restore the floor. It was practically unrecognizable now, and I took a lot of pride in that.

    I moved on to the living room, working on the windows as the sun started to sink and the shadows stretched. I kept working, glancing at my wolf timer. I would need boards every so often, so it would make this difficult when the wolf appeared. But I kept working solidly, trying not to think about Theo. He wasn¡¯t back yet. He mentioned he would be grinding for a while, trying to reach level twenty-five. I certainly knew how hard it was at times to grind.

    Little Theo started singing upstairs. Since my sanity was at seventy-five, I wasn¡¯t too worried. When it got dark enough, I slipped outside and stored the stone blocks in my storage unit before placing the bags of sand in the tool. That greenhouse was going to be done by tomorrow morning, and it would feel fantastic.

    I then continued working until I ran out of boards to restore the furniture. I checked the entertainment room and discovered I wouldn¡¯t be able to restore the couch, because I needed some wool. Something I wouldn¡¯t get until I had a sheep. But the legs of the furniture looked really nice. I also needed some metal scraps to replace the computer chair, as well as for the computer. I spent a few moments wondering if the computer would ever work if it was fixed. Somehow I doubted it. There was no one here to contact with the computer.

    It was time to be brave. The wolf was roaming, and I had dirty walls in the pink room. I technically could clean those walls right now, even though it was on the second floor.

    I knew what the footsteps meant, painful though it was to my heart. I knew the murder happened up there. The room was locked. I knew most of the haunts, and instead of making me afraid, they made me sad. I could start cleaning the walls in the pink room.

    The stairs creaked as I walked up them. I tried to keep my cool. It was fine. I knew what happened here.

    I entered the pink room and got to work, hearing little Theo singing in the other room. Despite knowing this, a sliver of sanity disappeared as I started cleaning the walls. I would stay up here until I was done cleaning the walls or my sanity dropped past sixty percent. It was time to see which one was reached first.

    At sixty-three percent, I finished the walls and headed down the stairs, changing into my nightgown before slipping into the bedroom. Killie was already sleeping on it, and I smiled as I rested around her, petting her.

    ¡°I suppose Theo¡¯s going to attack them tomorrow,¡± I said quietly. Killie kept sleeping, and I set my head against the pillow. ¡°He¡¯s not going to make it, is he.¡±

    Again, no response from Killie. I sighed, closing my eyes. Of course Theo was going to die. They were strong, undoubtably stronger than the wolf. This first attack would be to gather information, and I doubted he expected to survive.

    I let out another annoyed breath. Part of me wanted to keep Theo from dying. Despite seeing him die right in front of me and then come back the next morning, there was still a strong feeling inside that said something was off. Some clues my gamer brain was picking up on that the rest of my brain didn¡¯t understand. My gamer brain was screaming at me to stop Theo from dying so much.

    I let out another sigh, then moved into a fetal position around Killie before allowing the game to let me sleep.

 Chapter 68

    I woke up, maybe a little too eager to climb out of bed and put the glass in the greenhouse. It was the simple things that got me up in the morning.

    I pulled out the glass from the tool and placed three in the greenhouse. I beamed as I got two shattered glass in return, and the greenhouse was back to normal. This greenhouse as well would take 0/15 glass to upgrade. I placed the rest of the glass in the first greenhouse. It was time to finally start upgrading that greenhouse.

    As it was a time to restock, I put fifteen more baked clay into the tool to give me a nice cushion of resources.

    I went through my morning routine, giving Darla a hug as I took the half gallon of milk that appeared next to her, then moved to the chicken coop to get the eggs from Daisy and Buttercup.

    Gathering food felt amazing, picking tomatoes and potatoes, gathering lettuce and carrots. I was getting quite the collection of carrots now.

    The storage room needed to be painted. I was pretty sure this was the last step. I moved into the garage, choosing white. Maybe it seemed silly after insisting on a rainbow color for the barn, but I wanted the storage room to match the rest of the house.

    I then slipped into the kitchen and made a few more base salads before sitting down by the fire, prepared to cook a lot of food.

    I almost started when the storage room gave a sheen. Ten minutes had already passed. Despite the storage room on the outside remaining the same size, it was bigger on the inside. Before I could only place one item on each of the designated spots, but now I noticed baskets. In each spot, I could hold up to ten items of the same kind. That gave me way more space, on top of being an already bigger room.

    Nice. Now I really needed to buckle down and start storing items.

    With all the meat, I did a pork roast, another chicken tenders and fries, and a few hearty soups. I suppose this came with the upgrade of everything being at level twenty, but I noticed that once I looked at the hearty soup, I could tell that this would give me an hour of heat on a cold day. That was a huge upgrade from the fifteen minutes a basic potato soup gave me.

    The heartier meals took longer to cook. It was fine, because I now had the time. I pulled out my to-do list, just to be certain.

    Repair all damages done by them

    Build a barn

    Purchase a cow

    Purchase the fourth article of clothing for building

    Build a trap

    Set trap in your foraging area

    Clean the blackness in the house

    I also had fifty more dopamine points to work with, so that felt nice.

    The fire went out at an hour, and I gathered the food in my inventory, heading toward the storage unit. I was able to place all the food in a basket, too. I was worried I could only store the same food, but it looked like that wasn¡¯t the case.

    I walked back outside when I saw Theo coming through the trees. A part of me relaxed. It was always nice to see my brother, and when he smiled at me, I was relieved to see he was doing better, too.

    ¡°Hey,¡± I said, walking over to him.

    ¡°Hey.¡±

    Once I got toward him, I gave him a hug. ¡°You okay?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m doing better,¡± he said. ¡°It¡¯s pretty amazing what killing a bunch of monsters can do for your mental health.¡±

    I smiled. ¡°I suppose it does. Have you leveled up?¡±

    Theo let out a sigh, the worry flickering across his face. ¡°Twenty-four. I¡¯m so close, yet I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be close enough to create a teleport ring. I¡­¡± His gaze rose to the house. ¡°I might¡­¡±You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    ¡°It¡¯s completely different,¡± I said. ¡°Especially the kitchen. Only the floors are the same.¡±

    Theo flinched. ¡°I¡­ um¡­¡± I waited, not wanting to interrupt. Theo finally gave a sigh. ¡°The covered back porch holds some good memories. Despite us being poor, my grandma always had a stock of ice cream sandwiches in the freezer, and she snuck one to me every day. I¡­ can stay in the covered back porch.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Yeah, that¡¯s great. As long as¡­¡± I glanced at the screen door. Right at that moment, Killie jumped through the torn screen before giving a full body stretch. I sighed. ¡°Alright, I better repair that screen door before the wolf comes. That¡¯s not going to protect you.¡±

    Theo chuckled. ¡°Fine by me.¡±

    My cleaning clothes leapt onto me, and I squinted. ¡°I¡¯m going to need four scraps of metal to fix it.¡±

    ¡°Will you need anything for the other door, too?¡± Theo asked.

    I glanced at him, confused. ¡°Other door?¡±

    Theo nodded, then walked toward the covered back porch. I followed him. We passed the screen door, then moved around the storage unit before he pointed at the other side of the covered back porch. I stared at where he pointed, unsure, until I realized that behind the huge overgrowth of weeds there was, in fact, a door.

    ¡°How did I miss that before?¡± I asked. I tried to open the door, but the weeds kept me from opening it more than an inch. Inside I saw the collection of cleaning instruments that I had used, or had yet to use. The vacuum, the mop and bucket, the broom. That must have been covering the door on the other side. The covered back porch was a place that was still quite messy. It might do me some good to clean it today, too.

    ¡°Well,¡± I said, hands on my hips. ¡°We can repair the covered back porch and get this cleaned. If it isn¡¯t enough, though, and the wolf still manages to get through, you can either come through the kitchen, or you could hide in the basement.¡±

    Theo¡¯s head jerked around, his eyes confused. ¡°There¡¯s a basement?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± I let out all the incredulous show in my voice. ¡°I was surprised to discover that, too.¡±

    Theo¡¯s eyebrows lifted in pure surprise as he stared again at the covered back porch. ¡°You think you know a place¡­¡±

    I laughed, heading around the storage unit. ¡°Do you want to see it?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Just¡­ make sure the door to the kitchen is closed.¡±

    I opened the screen door then nodded at Theo. ¡°It¡¯s closed.¡±

    Theo held his breath, then walked in. He gave the door to the kitchen a hard look. ¡°That¡¯s new.¡±

    ¡°I told you. I¡¯m working on it.¡± I knelt down to grab the board and moved it away from the hole. Theo raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°Fascinating. I remember that board being there, but I didn¡¯t think it could move.¡±

    I stood up, brushing my hands. ¡°I want to go gather some meat from the traps and set them again. Then I¡¯ll work on cleaning this place out.¡±

    ¡°My curiosity begs me to explore the basement, but once I¡¯m done, I¡¯ll go gather more scrap metal,¡± Theo said.

    ¡°Is there anything foodwise you want to trade for it?¡± I asked. Theo scrunched up his face as though ready to refuse, but I plowed ahead. ¡°We¡¯ve set up a barter system, Theo, and I intend to honor it. It doesn¡¯t just have to be applesauce. I can make sure I catch a lot of fish and make sure you¡¯re stocked with some fish and chips. Even fried fish, if you want it. I¡¯m not sure what a comfort food will look like on your side, but I¡¯m starting to get more food stocked.¡±

    Theo nodded, then glanced at the hole in the ground next to the house. Theo was a lot taller than me. It was going to be uncomfortable for him crouching in that basement.

    ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll go get some scrap metal soon, then prepare this place for hiding out in until the corruption comes tonight.¡±

    ¡°I think the best thing I can do is make sure the covered back porch is clean. That seems to deter the haunts from happening on the first floor.¡±

    Theo glanced at me, then looked as though he was struggling with something. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ve let it slide a few times, but I¡¯ve got to ask. Haunts? As in ghosts? In this house?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. I call them ghosts, but I think they¡¯re more¡­ recreations. Recreations of a few nights at your house. Including¡­¡±

    ¡°Ah,¡± Theo said, looking away.

    ¡°Your child self has a lovely singing voice. If a bit creepy,¡± I said.

    Theo tried to smile, but instead he focused on the hole. ¡°That settles that. I¡¯m not entering that house until a proper exorcist comes and cleans it.¡±

    I shrugged, then pointed at myself with two thumbs. ¡°I think that¡¯s what I¡¯m doing, honestly.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, okay. Um, thanks.¡± I smiled as Theo moved the board further from the hole. He started down the steps. ¡°I¡¯ll see you in a bit.¡±

    I chuckled as I turned around and headed out of the covered back porch. In a half an hour I had gone into wolf territory and returned with the meat. I would have to finish the cow box trap sometime, but I¡¯d probably wait until after their attack.

    Theo was gone collecting scrap metal when I returned, so I started working on cleaning out the covered back porch. I had only partially swept the floor in order to find the board, so I finished sweeping. I had gathered bags of old leaves, ready to place in the dumpster. Since the covered back porch wasn¡¯t nearly as big as the other rooms, it didn¡¯t take as long. Once the leaves and the dirt were all swept away, and I got a few dopamine points for the bags, I went on to cleaning the walls. Most of it involved sweeping old cobwebs, but I was surprised how much better it looked once the floors were swept and the walls were wiped down.

    It was honestly a charming little covered back porch. There were huge windows on either side of the storage unit, giving a fair amount of natural light. I¡¯d never seen the potential of this room because I was too focused on the rest of the house. Once the walls were washed, I walked to the garage to get the primer started. The 3d model of the house now had the covered back porch, and I had to believe that was a good sign. True, I wanted Theo to get comfortable enough to enter the main house, but that would be a journey. And honestly, he was already taking some pretty amazing steps by agreeing to be in the covered back porch. I didn¡¯t want to force him in any way.

    If the covered back porch was here, maybe it meant Theo would be protected from the wolf tonight. We had a plan, and Theo was determined to get his information. I was starting to feel confident that he would be able to be protected in the covered back porch.

 Chapter 69

    I cut down a few trees into boards to fix the windows before giving the windows a real good clean. It was amazing what a bit of boards, cleaning, and good old fashioned game logic could do to an old window. It practically looked brand new.

    I fixed the ceiling, too, with a few boards. Once the ceiling was done, I also put the appropriate boards into the door that I didn¡¯t realize was there before. Once it was restored, there was an obvious change between the beautiful brown wood and the walls. It matched the beautiful new door of the storage unit, too.

    ¡°Whoa.¡±

    I glanced over, not aware that Theo had come in until he gave his quiet exclamation. I smiled, straightening.. ¡°Amazing what a few hours of hard work can do.¡±

    Theo turned his head all around to get a better look. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ completely different.¡±

    I nodded, trying not to swell with pride. ¡°This is why I keep telling you the house is completely different.¡±

    Theo nodded. ¡°And this is probably the closest I will ever feel to believing you.¡± He started unloading the scrap metal. ¡°But I¡¯d rather wait.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine.¡± I took a piece of metal and placed it into the screen door. ¡°Take your time about the house, Theo. We¡¯re clearly going to be here for a while.¡±

    Theo chuckled, then slowed to a stop when he watched me stuff the second scrap metal into the door. ¡°Can I try?¡± Theo asked.

    I shrugged, backing away. Theo picked up one of the metal scraps and it plinked against the door. Theo pushed it a few times, but nothing happened.

    ¡°It¡¯s probably because you don¡¯t have level four clothes meant for cleaning,¡± I said.

    ¡°Uh, no,¡± Theo said with a smile, handing me the metal back. ¡°No, I do not.¡±

    I took the metal again and put the rest in. It needed boards for the door frame, so I walked back outside toward a tree.

    ¡°Do you need any more scrap metal?¡± Theo asked.

    ¡°I can always use some scrap metal. But let me give you some food for what you¡¯ve already given me,¡± I said.

    ¡°I mean¡­.¡± Theo glanced at the newly renovated back porch as I chopped down a tree. ¡°This benefits me as much as it does you, so I figured-¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m giving you food, Theo. I¡¯ve taken way too much of your scrap metal already,¡± I said.

    ¡°It¡¯s not that hard to get, to be honest. I¡¯m just as committed to making sure this place is safe as you are,¡± Theo said.

    ¡°And I am curious to know what comfort food does on your side. So, I¡¯m thinking I give you some fish and chips and some chicken wings. Unless you want chicken tenders.¡±

    Theo was surprised. ¡°No, chicken wings. That¡­ sounds delicious. Yeah, that¡¯s great.¡±

    I nodded, then glanced around again at the newly cleaned project before pointing to the board leading to the basement. ¡°I don¡¯t think the wolf can fit down that hole, do you?¡±

    Theo shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯ve learned not to trust any monster. Sometimes they can shrink.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll leave the kitchen door unlocked, just in case,¡± I said.

    Theo smiled. ¡°That sounds great. Thank you.¡±

    I cooked some more food, mostly comfort food. My to-do list was done. This was going well. They wouldn¡¯t break through the fence tonight, and I had the rest of the day to do whatever I wanted.

    Before Theo left to get more scrap metal, I handed him a few comfort foods and wished him well. I then entered the house and finished repairing what I could of the furniture in the entertainment room. I would have to wait until I got a sheep to repair the couches and the recliner. I moved onto the bedroom, and at long last was able to stick the closet door back on the frame. After an entire season of seeing that hanging weird, it was amazing to have it back in place. The dresser holding the mirror was replaced with a few boards, looking less scuffed. I put more boards in for the door and doorframe. It completely transferred the room. Putting boards in the bed gave it a far more structured look, though it asked for wool, and I only assumed that was for the blankets. I stepped back, smiling at what I had. This looked so much better. I really loved it. And when I hit the maximum cleaning level, I was going to do the floors. I could already imagine the gorgeous hard wood floor underneath, and I was going to choose a soft, blue-gray rug to really make the lilac walls pop.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

    I opened my arms and closed my eyes, allowing myself a moment to enjoy this space. It was such a lovely house. Part of me felt bad that such a horrible act happened upstairs.

    The hallway didn¡¯t have any furniture to replace, and I assumed the stairs were more defined as floors. I probably wouldn¡¯t be able to replace those until I could do the floors. Which meant the first floor was done as far as I was able. Once I got sheep, that¡¯d be different.

    Instead, I moved to the second floor and went back to decluttering the blue room. It was a huge contrast, seeing the difference between the second floor and the first floor. I had every intention of making this second floor as pretty as the first floor.

    With my inventory, I was able to speed through my decluttering of the blue room. The sun made its journey, and I only stopped in order to switch out bricks with stone blocks. Tomorrow, when I got a new to-do list, I would see if I needed the tool for those jobs. If not, I would make glass during the day and the night.

    I worked the rest of the day, dropping junk in the dumpster. The blue room was quickly getting decluttered, and I was loving it.

    I was dropping stuff in the dumpster when Theo came out of the trees. I smiled, waving at him. He waved back, approaching me.

    ¡°Hey, um¡­ yeah. Comfort food? Is that what you called it?¡± Theo asked.

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°Super valuable. It was able to knock some of the corruption out of me,¡± Theo said.

    ¡°Oh, perfect. I have a feeling it does the same for you as it does for me, though. If I eat too much of it, it grays out some of my stamina. Makes it so I can¡¯t get some of it back.¡±

    Theo¡¯s shoulders sagged. ¡°Yeah, I had a feeling it had a catch.¡±

    ¡°But I¡¯ll make sure I have a huge stock of it,¡± I said.

    ¡°That¡¯d be great, thank you. I¡¯m happy to give all the scrap metal in my inventory for four plates of chicken wings,¡± Theo said.

    ¡°I¡¯ve got two plates of chicken wings left and four fish and chips. I¡¯ll need to get more chicken tomorrow, though.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ will take the chicken wings and two fish and chips,¡± Theo said.

    ¡°Perfect.¡±

    We made the swap, and Theo glanced at the sky. ¡°Alright, I think we¡¯ve done all we can with the back porch. I¡¯ll go see how much more I can grind, then I¡¯ll be here before the sun sets.¡±

    I nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll be cleaning.¡±

    Theo smiled before heading into the forest. I gathered the scrap metal, putting it in the office chair, then the computer. The computer also requested a single pane of glass, so I¡¯d have to do that later. I put the rest in the tv, and that, too, requested three panes of glass. I wasn¡¯t sure how important it was to upgrade the furniture, but I had a lot of it done already, which felt great.

    By the time the sun sank below the horizon, I finished decluttering the blue room. I met up with Theo, who was making himself comfortable on the back porch with a sword in one hand and a crossbow in the other. I doubted it would save him if the wolf did come, but no doubt it gave him some comfort.

    I quickly pulled out the stone blocks from the tool and replaced it with five bags of sand.

    ¡°I¡¯ll keep cleaning. The wolf should arrive in ten minutes,¡± I told Theo.

    He nodded, eyes focused as I slipped back inside. I headed up the stairs and started wiping down the walls. This was a charming room. It¡¯s where I heard Theo singing in. Perhaps it was his bedroom. Maybe they attempted to paint it that blue color for him. Though there was blue in this room, it also had paint splotches all over with other paint. This room, too, had a thin carpet. It was only the pink room that had the hardwood floors that I was hoping was the same hardwood floor in all the other rooms.

    I wondered, as I wiped down the wall, what Theo slept on. I hadn¡¯t seen a bed the entire time I was decluttering. Though I did see a mattress. Did Theo just sleep on a mattress the whole time?

    They were poor. Theo had already mentioned that. Beds were expensive, no doubt.

    I kept wiping away at the walls, hearing ghost Theo¡¯s singing start up. It was enough that I kept an eye on my sanity. They were attacking tonight. I couldn¡¯t let it drop too far. Also, since they were attacking, the hauntings were far more powerful. Killie refused to come up the stairs, and I heard her hiding in the bathroom.

    Once my sanity reached eighty-two percent, I headed down the stairs. I took a deep breath, mustering my courage, and stuck my head out the back door into the covered back porch. Theo was there, leaning against the wall. Killie was on his lap, asleep. Theo smiled up at me.

    ¡°I¡¯ve always wanted a cat,¡± Theo said.

    ¡°I get the feeling your grandma hated them,¡± I said, walking into the small room and shutting the door softly behind me. I opened the storage room door and walked inside. Seeing Theo here meant the wolf couldn¡¯t reach us here. I would have heard, of course, if the wolf tore down the door or anything, but I hadn¡¯t.

    ¡°She absolutely despised any animals of any kind,¡± Theo said, still running his hand over the sleeping cat. ¡°I think she was allergic.¡±

    ¡°Huh.¡± I grabbed one of the few remaining fish and chips. ¡°And out of curiosity, did she go completely crazy if an animal ever entered the house?¡±

    ¡°Absolute bat-shit crazy,¡± Theo said.

    I chuckled, settling down across from him. Now was as good of time as ever to hear more stories about his grandma.

 Chapter 70

    ¡°Why did she hate animals so much?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Not quite sure why.¡± Theo kept petting Killie. ¡°I asked her once, and she said they were just a huge bother. Cats, dogs, birds, they didn¡¯t belong in a house. But if someone thinks they¡¯re a bother, they wouldn¡¯t pick up a broom and start shrieking at the animal to get it out. That seems¡­ a bit of an overreaction.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t help myself and started giggling. It wasn¡¯t that funny, but there was a release that came when I giggled.

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure I¡¯ll ever know. I think it was because my grandma was a hoarder,¡± Theo said.

    ¡°Oh, you don¡¯t say,¡± I said, only hiding the sarcasm a little.

    Theo smiled, then closed his eyes and placed his head against the wall. ¡°Hoarding is already hard. But add animals into the mix, it just gets toxic. The smell was bad enough, but at least it wasn¡¯t animal urine. Or animal waste.¡±

    ¡°Just cigarette smoke,¡± I said.

    ¡°True. True,¡± Theo said. ¡°Can you imagine hording, cigarettes, and animal waste?¡±

    I let out a breath. ¡°Yeah. Glad I¡¯m not cleaning that up.¡±

    Theo opened his eyes, still petting Killie. ¡°You don¡¯t have to. Even now.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I do. The first level I cleaned gave me a nice boost in my sanity and stamina bar. Also, the hauntings get less the cleaner it is. It¡¯s a nice incentive, and I honestly don¡¯t mind it.¡± I looked at the wall that led to the hallway to the second floor. ¡°It¡¯s such a charming house. I¡¯m falling in love with it.¡±

    Theo shook his head. ¡°You are more than welcome to have it.¡±

    ¡°Do you know what happened to it back home? On earth?¡± I asked.

    Theo shrugged. ¡°Pretty sure it¡¯s been empty for years. Maybe someone bought it. Perhaps someone tore it down.¡± I gasped at the audacity of such a thing happening. Theo raised an eyebrow. ¡°You really do care about this old place.¡±

    ¡°Of course! Those stairs are so cool. Such a beautiful dark wood. And those rooms are so huge and spacious. That master bedroom has so much charm. I¡¯d buy it in real life if I had the money.¡±

    ¡°It would take a lot of money, not just to buy but to fix up. No doubt the foundation of the home is cracked,¡± Theo said, patting the board leading into the basement. ¡°It¡¯d take a lot of work.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve already cleaned it up once,¡± I said.

    Theo chuckled again. ¡°Then I guess if we ever get back, I¡¯ll take you to it.¡±

    ¡°You remember where it is?¡± I asked.

    The smile dropped from Theo¡¯s face. ¡°I can never forget.¡±

    A silence fell over us again, and Theo looked away from me. Outside the wolf roamed, and I pulled my legs close to me before glancing out the window. The grounds were pitch black. The only light came from the lamp post in the corner of the front yard. There were only shadows here.

    ¡°Did you ever figure out why your grandmother hoarded?¡± I asked quietly.

    Theo shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t, no. I sort of just chalked it up to the older generation¡¯s inability to let things go. It¡¯s even harder when you¡¯re poor. Every little thing you spent money on needed to get its money¡¯s worth before it¡¯s tossed. It¡¯s probably why this house is practically a time capsule of different eras. I still remember the first time Doug tossed something in the trash, and I had a thousand different ideas of how he still could have used it.¡±

    I frowned, staring at him. ¡°You¡­ remember that?¡±

    ¡°Sure. Don¡¯t you remember glimpses of childhood?¡± Theo asked, opening his eyes.

    I kept staring at him, then shook my head. ¡°No. I¡­ it¡¯s only the memory orbs. Maybe I remember specific feelings after the fact of what I saw, but¡­¡±

    Theo paused, then glanced down at Killie on his lap. ¡°Odd.¡±

    ¡°Not the first odd thing to happen.¡± I tucked this information away. Theo could remember a lot more about his childhood than I could.

    ¡°Maybe if you had your childhood home in the middle of the forest, you might remember more about your childhood,¡± Theo said.

    My shoulders relaxed. ¡°You¡¯re probably right.¡±

    There was another beat of silence. ¡°You really think we¡¯re getting out of here?¡± Theo asked.

    ¡°I do,¡± I said, then watched as he stroked Killie¡¯s back. ¡°You really think we¡¯re going to stay here forever?¡±

    Theo shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I just remember waking up with all my memories gone, but I could not help but revel in this¡­¡± Theo motioned with his hand, his face twisted as he tried to find the words for it. ¡°¡­this peace, almost. That everything was okay. It was like waking up from a wonderful dream to another wonderful day. I was¡­ happy. Blissful, almost.¡±This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    My face fell, even though I tried not to show it. Theo glanced over at me, picking up on my facial expressions almost immediately. ¡°How did you wake up?¡± Theo asked.

    ¡°Sobbing,¡± I whispered. ¡°Sobbing, and then stopping, because I don¡¯t remember why I was crying.¡±

    The silence returned. Theo stared at me, confused. ¡°But¡­¡±

    I lifted my shoulders in a shrug. ¡°I don¡¯t know, Theo. Just like I¡¯m sure you didn¡¯t know why you woke up peaceful.¡±

    Theo blinked again, then he glanced back at Killie¡¯s sleeping form. ¡°Do you think¡­ we¡¯re dead?¡± He looked at me again. ¡°On earth?¡±

    Everything inside me froze. I stared at him, nauseous. ¡°Why¡­¡± my mouth suddenly went dry, and no amount of swallowing helped. ¡°Why would you think that?¡±

    Theo shrugged, then glanced out the window to the star filled sky. ¡°Maybe we¡¯re caught in limbo or something.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I whispered. ¡°No, we¡­ can¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°There was something awfully familiar about that peace,¡± Theo said. ¡°And if there was some sort of afterlife, I¡¯m pretty sure I¡¯d make a game of it. And killing monsters is my favorite game.¡±

    ¡°No!¡± I didn¡¯t mean for it to sound so loud. ¡°No.¡± I covered my face. ¡°It doesn¡¯t make sense. Not like that. There aren¡¯t¡­ alien overlords. There¡¯s no religion on earth that talks about that brother and sister. This¡­ no.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure you¡¯d remember a religion that talked about it?¡± Theo asked.

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    No.

    I just didn¡¯t want to think about what he said.

    Theo watched me far too calmly. He seemed to understand my confusion at his calm. ¡°I hear the mind plays a lot of tricks on you in the minutes before you d-¡±

    ¡°Stop.¡± I held up my hand. ¡°Please. No more talk of death.¡± Hearing me say the word brought up the memories of my gamer mind screaming at me that Theo shouldn¡¯t be dying so much.

    Theo sighed, closing his eyes again. ¡°It¡¯s just a thought, Quinn.¡±

    ¡°An awful thought,¡± I said.

    ¡°But one we can¡¯t rule out. Not yet.¡±

    I hated how much he was right.

    I felt the pressure on every side of me. The silence was absolute. Killie¡¯s eyes snapped open, and she leapt off Theo¡¯s lap, scratching at the door to be let in. I quickly opened the kitchen door as Theo climbed to his feet.

    I didn¡¯t want to talk. Theo didn¡¯t want to, either. Fear strangled my voice, and a primal fear screamed at me to get inside. Now. Memories came back of the attack from seven days ago. The feel of all my energy getting sapped away. It was such a helpless feeling.

    Which is why when Theo stood up and unlocked the door, giving me a small salute with his fingers, I had to believe he was the craziest person on this entire planet. Though maybe that was a bad metric. There weren¡¯t a lot of people on this planet.

    Theo walked out the screen door right as the first thump hit. I whimpered and scrambled inside. I got the first knock to my sanity as I approached the living room.

    Thump

    It was the only place bathed in the warm, if weak, glow of the lamplight. I held my axe in my hand, closing my eyes. Trying to will all my bravery to act as courageous as Theo.

    Thump

    The silence was absolute. Then that horrible bang as it hit against the fence. I curled my head inward, too afraid to gasp. The bellow ripped through the yard, and I collapsed to my knees, my sanity dropping to fifty percent.

    In the distance I heard a chainsaw, and tears dropped down my chin. Every natural instinct inside me said Theo was running to his death. A part of me couldn¡¯t grapple with Theo coming back to life. Something about it was off.

    The chainsaw died, and every muscle in my body stiffened. If it was any indication, it meant Theo was dead. He hadn¡¯t lasted long, just like he hadn¡¯t lasted long with the wolf. I hope he got his informat-

    Something slammed into the window. I screamed, dropping the axe and backing away. I pulled out my flashlight, pointing it at the window. There was a black smudge, and my heart was pounding out of my chest. Something had been thrown against the window. I had a really bad feeling I knew who it was.

    I heard the thuds leaving, and it took a bravery I did not feel to throw open the front door when I knew they were still out here.

    ¡°Theo,¡± I whispered.

    He¡¯d be dead. He¡¯d be whisked away in light, and wake up in his base camp. If their attack didn¡¯t kill him, certainly being slammed against the house would have.

    My flashlight was out as I ran across the cement of the front porch. I saw his feet first. I sprinted toward him, dropping to the ground. He was covered in sludge and unconscious.

    ¡°Theo!¡± I didn¡¯t dare scream it, but the distress was there. I flipped him on his back and watched in horror as the black sludge forced itself into his ears, nose, eyes, and mouth. I tried to grab the blackness, but it wiggled away from my grasp. Instead I grabbed his shoulders, trying to shake him. ¡°Theo!¡±

    He didn¡¯t move. I placed my ear against his chest, a sudden panic. What if this was it. What if this was the thing that killed him. Killed him and never brought him back.

    His heartbeat was there. Weak, but there. ¡°Theo, please.¡±

    He started coughing. Then choking. Relieved, I grabbed his shoulder and pushed him to his side. He coughed some more before vomiting black sludge again. Tears continued to race down my cheeks as the vomiting finally stopped. Theo then let out another groan before his muscles weakened and he fell back into unconsciousness.

    ¡°Theo,¡± I whispered again.

    Their attack is done. Forced sleep beginning.

    ¡°No!¡± I screamed at the sky. ¡°No, please! He can¡¯t stay out here. I need to know he¡¯ll be okay! Are you putting him back in his campsite?¡±

    There was a pause, long enough that I knew they hadn¡¯t started the forced sleep.

    Only when he dies will he be placed back in his campsite.

    He is only knocked out.

    ¡°Please, let me make sure he¡¯s placed somewhere before I sleep,¡± I said.

    Very well. Sleep will be placed on hold until he is somewhere you deem comfortable.

    I let out a breath, then clawed my mind for some place to put him. The obvious answer was somewhere in the house, but I didn¡¯t want him waking up in a place that would only give him more trauma.

    The covered back porch. It was the one place in the house he didn¡¯t mind being. It was good enough. I moved around, picking him up under his arms, willing to test how far this game logic went.

    I pulled my brother, and despite him being so much taller and heavier, I could easily pull him around the house. There were still tears running down my cheeks, but I could not leave him out here. I was fighting every impulse to push open the front door and set him on the couch.

    Instead, I pulled open the back door, dragging him the rest of the way onto the ground. It seemed an inadequate substitute.

    Killie jumped next to Theo, meowing. I tried to help Theo be better situated before knowing that was all I could do.

    ¡°Keep an eye on him, will you?¡± I asked, holding out my hand to pet her

    Killie purred, pushing her back against my hand before she curled up next to Theo.

    I then struggled to my feet, heading into the house.

    Theo situated.

    Forced sleep beginning.

    I had the forethought to change into my nightgown before I felt my vision darken. I hardly made it into the kitchen before everything went black.

 Chapter 71

    I woke up to the red dawn and Killie¡¯s meows. I threw the covers off me and rushed to throw open the back door. Theo was there, still unconscious, but breathing far more normally. I knelt, trying to figure out how long he¡¯d be unconscious for. I didn¡¯t think he¡¯d get hurt like this. I honestly thought he¡¯d die and then wake up back in his campsite. This was new territory, no doubt for him, too.

    ¡°Theo?¡± I tried shaking his shoulder, but he didn¡¯t respond. He simply remained on the ground where he¡¯d been the night before. Killie kept meowing, and I tried to see what she was meowing about.

    A steady drip was coming out of his ears. I frowned, lifting his head enough to see black sludge seeping out and landing on the ground. There were two pools of blackness around his ears, shivering with every drip. I instantly changed into my cleaning clothes before moving Theo onto his side. I then scrubbed the two black pools and wiped off his head before easing him back to where he was. The seeping continued. I¡¯d have to check on him periodically. Hopefully he¡¯d wake up soon.

    I got up and made my way into my bedroom. I grabbed the pillow and the blankets from my bed and headed back toward the hallway. I got to the door before I was jerked back into the bedroom.

    ¡°Please,¡± I said, looking toward the sky. ¡°Please, he needs to be comfortable.¡±

    It matters little.

    It is ¡®game logic¡¯, as you say.

    He is as comfortable as he will be.

    ¡°I¡­ need to do this. For my own comfort,¡± I said.

    You saw what is happening to him

    Your pillow and blankets will be covered in essence of them

    ¡°And I have cleaning clothes to help me wipe it away. Please. He¡¯s my brother,¡± I said.

    There was a pause, then I tried again. I let out a sigh as I crossed through the doorway with my pillow and blanket. With that, I rushed the rest of the way to Theo, placing my blankets on top of him. I lifted Theo¡¯s head and eased the pillow under him. Once that was done, I gave Killie a good pat on the head.

    ¡°Watch over him for a bit, will you?¡±

    Killie sat down near Theo¡¯s head, and I took that as an affirmative. I walked into the kitchen, let out a breath, then picked up the phone and pressed one.

    ¡°It is now time to start working on the outside of the house,¡± the female voice said. I felt myself bracing for whatever she had to say. ¡°This will be far more tailored to what you want to do. Should you wish to start planting new grass seed and keeping it trimmed before the winter season, that will be up to you. The nicer the lawn, the less likely the wolf will want to pass the fence.¡±

    My eyebrows shot up in surprise. That would be nice. Not sure if I wanted to stand in the middle of the yard during the evening time to test it out, but I had given the patchy grass and the dead flowers an occasional longing look. The outside had such potential.

    ¡°And will Theo be okay?¡± I asked.

    ¡°You must do the following to protect yourself from them:

    ¡°Strengthen the fences,

    ¡°Purchase and build a shed,

    ¡°Begin lawn care.

    ¡°We are approaching the end of to-do lists,¡± the female said.

    It was this that made me stand up a little straighter.

    ¡°You have an idea of the things you need to do before they arrive. You have found and created all the materials that will be needed or found a way to trade for them. This will be the last time I call you over the phone, as no other to-do list is needed to help you protect yourself from them.¡±

    ¡°Am I dead?¡± I whispered to the sister.

    ¡°Should you wish to give up, allow yourself to die whenever you want.¡±

    I shuddered at the almost emotionless way she said that. ¡°What happens if I give up?¡±

    ¡°We wish you good luck on cleaning the house. No further instructions will follow.¡±Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

    There was a click, and I couldn¡¯t help but stare at the phone. I wondered, of course, if I would get to-do lists for the rest of the time I was here. They were such a part of my routine that I almost expected them to last the entire time.

    Theo groaned in the next room. I dropped the phone and raced out the door, falling to my knees beside him. ¡°Theo?¡±

    He coughed again, and I flipped him to his side. Once again, I waited a few more moments before he vomited. The black sludge hitting the floor and splashing against the wall. Theo groaned again before his eyes rolled up and he was unconscious.

    I let out a breath, worried. I left him on his side, just in case he had another incident like that. Killie kept walking around, trying to study Theo¡¯s head in every angle she could.

    ¡°Stay by him, please? Alert me if he does anything else.¡±

    Killie sat again near Theo, her tail thumping against the floor. I gave her a pet before entering the house once again. I forgot to collect the to-do list. Apparently the last one I¡¯d get.

    Strengthen the fence

    Purchase shed

    Build shed

    Begin lawn care

    Make sure no essence of them remains in your house

    I glanced over it, then I studied the calendar. The first seven days of fall didn¡¯t have any abnormal weather, but tomorrow showed a bright sun. The day of their attack had a rain cloud. In the middle of the week there was a weather pattern that I hadn¡¯t experienced before. There were three squiggly lines, something that I assumed meant fog. It wasn¡¯t too bad. My list wasn¡¯t long. I would finally be able to do whatever I wanted.

    What I wanted was still more answers to my questions. I didn¡¯t know why I bothered trying to ask them on the phone. That woman¡¯s messages always seemed prerecorded. I should have asked them while I was getting the pillow and blanket.

    I started my morning routine, gathering the glass and placing it in the first greenhouse before feeding more baked clay to the tool. I then fed all my animals and gathered their food. Two eggs and a half gallon of milk. Not a bad collection. I then picked all the tomatoes and carrots, making sure the potatoes and lettuce got watered, before taking the garbage from my bedroom window to the dumpster. I then got into my building clothes to see the fences would need logs, and quickly got to work. Fences would always be my priority.

    As the sun continued to rise to midmorning, my thoughts were on Theo. I spied Killie making trips around the base of the house but not straying too far. The longer the morning stretched with Theo remaining asleep, the more worried I got. I placed logs in both fences, watching it grow before it asked for boards. I had seven more days ahead of me. Seven days to prepare. It was more than enough. I had a very small to-do list and a mountain of other jobs I wanted to do. Most of my worry, now, was with Theo.

    It was afternoon by the time I finished putting all the boards in both fences. I noticed, now that the barn was built, that the greenhouse fence took almost as many items as the regular fence.

    It wasn¡¯t that I didn¡¯t trust Killie. I just also wanted to check on Theo. When I finished putting the bricks out of the tool and placing ten broken stones, I gathered my bundle and entered the covered back porch.

    Everything was in my inventory, which I was planning on putting in the storage unit right away, but the sight of Theo¡¯s face made me focus on him. The blackness was leaking out of him. Not just his ears, but his eyes, nostrils, and the corners of his mouth. He was still breathing like normal, but the pillow I placed him under was now covered in essence of them.

    I knelt next to him, my cleaning clothes already on. He was still on his side, so most of the liquid was pooled in his ear. I placed him on his back before scrubbing the pillow. Once that was done, I once again cleaned around his head, then got a cloth and cleaned his face. He was still out cold. The familiar feelings of helplessness returned, and I wasn¡¯t sure what to do. I tried grabbing some of the liquid and pulling. Maybe I could get a huge chunk out like before, but when I tried to grab the sludge around his eyes, it was just liquid. There wasn¡¯t anything to grab hold to and pull.

    Theo made a gurgling noise. In a panic as well as relief, I grabbed his shoulders and moved him to his side. ¡°Theo?¡± I asked.

    Theo once again vomited. The essence running across the floor and splashing onto the wall. I waited expectantly, but Theo simply rolled back on the floor, groaning, his mouth streaked with black. I touched his shoulder again. ¡°Theo?¡±

    His eyelids fluttered once and he moaned. Then his head settled into the bed, his eyes remaining shut. I sighed, then went to work cleaning him up again. From what I remembered, he had a bar I never got. One that showed him how much corruption he had inside him. Last night, I assumed they swallowed him whole before spitting him out. He wasn¡¯t dead, he was just full of corruption. It would have to slowly leak out of him.

    At least, I hope that¡¯s what would happen. I hoped, eventually, my brother would wake up again.

    I finished cleaning Theo¡¯s vomit before adjusting the blankets and the pillow back on him. Then I returned to the fences outside. Both called for bricks, and I placed my hands on my hips, wondering if I should dip into my supply, or just make the bricks now. I had enough for both fences, but I would need to make more baked clay.

    I dumped the bricks from my storage unit into my fences, mostly to check on Theo who was still out cold and slowly leaking them. Both fences asked for 0/5 stone blocks, which I happily dropped into them. It asked for shattered glass, which used up the rest of my supply.

    With a sigh, I saw both fences give a sheen. Day one and the most important part of this was all done. Now I just needed to make sure my house remained clean of them, and I was protected.

    I wanted to forage. I also wanted to pick up more clay and stones to keep up my reserve of bricks and stone blocks. But I also didn¡¯t want to stray too far from Theo right now. A chill breeze was enticing the warm afternoon to turn into evening. I went inside and picked up the clipboard, shuffling through the pages. The shed cost -40.00 dopamine points, and I bought it without a second thought. The idea that I could revive the outside of this place was exactly what I wanted. I wanted this place to have the same charm as the inside was starting to look.

    Killie rubbed her back against my leg, and I knelt down to give her another pat. ¡°Thanks for watching over Theo.¡±

    She purred again, then gave a stretch before jumping on top of Theo¡¯s chest. Theo didn¡¯t react as Killie rested on his chest. I let out a sigh, wanting my brother to be okay.

 Chapter 72

    I distracted myself by eating a bit more food to restore my stamina before walking outside to find the shed. It was up against the garage. That seemed like a great place for it. I saw the numbers above it.

    0/15 logs

    I went to work, trying to focus on something other than Theo. It partially worked. My mind focused on how the wolf wouldn¡¯t come for hours yet, since it was the first day after their attack. This wasn¡¯t as big as the barn, but that¡¯d be okay. I was really excited about repairing the lawn before wintertime. I assumed there¡¯d be some game logic to it all. Kind of like how tomatoes and carrots only took a day to grow.

    I dropped one tree, then a second. The third tree dropped eight logs instead of seven, which I thought was nice, but a lot more than I needed right now. It didn¡¯t matter, as I assumed the shed would ask for boards. I went to work placing the logs in my inventory before walking over to the shed, dropping the logs inside. I tried to imagine how beautiful this lawn would look. The flowerbeds especially. Now that I had finished the back porch, I wanted to work on the front porch. The dead hanging plants would look so pretty when they were revived. Could I plant some flowers of my own? I wouldn¡¯t mind a hanging basket full of purple petunias. And some tulips leading up to the porch? That would be delightful!

    I would at least be able to see that before the winter came, right? I glanced at the vibrant orange, red, and gold leaves of the trees around me. I¡¯d better get on it if I was going to see those tulips.

    As expected, when the last log was in the shed, the words changed.

    0/40 boards

    I walked over to one of the logs and almost chopped it when Killie bolted out of the screen door, heading straight for me. I dropped everything and ran for Theo.

    I ran toward the door, throwing it open right as Theo burst through. Theo pushed past me and stumbled onto the lawn. He collapsed on the ground and vomited. He was on his hands and knees, throwing up the oily, black substance.

    ¡°Theo?¡±

    He held up a trembling hand. ¡°Stay away.¡± It came out so weak, which alarmed me more when his body gave a violent shake I knew he wasn¡¯t capable of before he vomited again.

    ¡°Theo,¡± I whispered, wanting to approach him.

    He was gasping for air, too weak to hold himself up. He collapsed, his torso resting against the wall of the storage room. He looked bad. I had a feeling he would look this bad, but seeing him there made my heart break. The only color in his face was the oily blackness still trailing from his eyes, nose, ears, and lips.

    I knelt down next to him, but he raised a hand, keeping me at a distance. It was the only communication he could do, as he was far too weak to do much else.

    ¡°What can I do to help?¡± I asked.

    Theo kept his eyes closed as his arm sank to the ground. ¡°Just¡­ give me¡­ a minute.¡±

    I chewed on the inside of my cheek before nodding and getting up. I entered the covered back porch and started cleaning the pillow. I had the percentage in the corner of my vision as I cleaned, watching the house slowly getting cleaner. Once the pillow and the blanket were done, I moved onto cleaning the floor. It seemed like Theo didn¡¯t vomit until he reached outside, but it seemed like as the day went on, more of the corruption came out of him. There was a lot of oily darkness on the ground that I quickly scrubbed up until the percentage told me it was one hundred percent cleaned. I then grabbed the pillow and blanket and moved it back to my room before tentatively stepping outside again. Theo was still against the storage unit wall, eyes still closed. He barely opened them when I stepped up next to him. I could see the corruption inside his body. They were thick, black lines like his blood had been replaced with them, showing black veins right underneath his skin. His eyes were rimmed with black tears.

    ¡°I guess this is what happens if you attack them,¡± I whispered. Theo closed his eyes again, saying nothing. A black tear stained his cheek. I struggled against feelings of helplessness, and clung to the one idea I could think of. ¡°Would you like some comfort food?¡±

    There was a pause, then Theo nodded. I quickly got up and entered my storage unit. I¡¯d need to cook some more after I gave him some fish and chips, but that was fine. All of this was just rising my cooking levels.

    I knelt next to Theo, making sure he could grab hold of the plate before I dared let go. Theo rested the plate on his lap before he closed his eyes, preparing to eat it. I could tell he wanted some space, so I gave him a smile even though his eyes were closed.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°I¡¯ve got to do some foraging. But I¡¯ll be back, okay?¡±

    Theo nodded, keeping his eyes closed. I got up, heading toward the forest. Theo was safe by the house, and I think he just needed a moment. So, I used the excuse to forage.

    I entered the wolf territory, feeling the forest silently around me. It was the day after their attack, but I still did not want to run into the wolf.

    When I came across my traps, I realized I still hadn¡¯t built a box trap for a cow. Now would be a great time to set one up. I¡¯d have to remember that when I got back home. I gathered the meat into my inventory before setting the traps again. I knew there was a lot more exploring to do, but I wanted to go to that orchard again. Despite the forest being so dark, the fruit grew. I thought it would need sunlight, but apparently it didn¡¯t. Game logic.

    I walked through the dark forest, entering the orchard. I picked until I had two slots left in my inventory. As I returned, I checked for clues as to where the wolf was. As far as I could tell, it wasn¡¯t near me. They must have spooked the wolf, too, which made it ideal for foraging. It was information I logged away in my brain.

    As I walked back to the house, I picked whatever I saw. It was a good portion of mushrooms, and a few blueberries.

    I broke through the trees, which is when the sun was touching the treetops, on its way to setting. Theo was still resting against the storage unit. His legs were up, his arms resting against them, his head bowed. I walked over to him, my arms folded.

    ¡°Hey, Theo.¡±

    He glanced up, his face still oily and smudged. The black tears had dried on his face, but they still dripped from his ears. ¡°Hey.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve got some more meat now. I can make more chicken wings if you¡¯d like.¡±

    Theo shook his head. ¡°I¡­ should get back.¡±

    I paused. ¡°Get back¡­ where?¡±

    ¡°My base camp. I should do some grinding while I still can,¡± he said, bowing his head again.

    ¡°Theo¡­ are you sure?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± He started to get up, but I held out a hand to help him. He checked his hand of cleanliness before reaching out and clasping mine. I helped him up, and he didn¡¯t look at me as he brushed himself off.

    ¡°How strong were they?¡± I asked.

    Theo sighed, checking his hands and seeing the blackness in his veins. ¡°Level one hundred and sixteen. I¡¯m guessing what with the odd leveling, that they get stronger.¡±

    ¡°They do,¡± I said. ¡°From what I can tell, they grow stronger throughout the season. At the end they push as hard as possible, before returning in a weakened state.¡±

    Theo sighed, hand through his hair. ¡°So¡­ I¡¯ve got to kill it at the beginning of the season if I have a chance.¡±

    ¡°One hundred and sixteen, Theo,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ really powerful. Stronger than the wolf.¡±

    ¡°I know. But the monsters wouldn¡¯t be here if they can¡¯t be defeated,¡± Theo said.

    My sigh escaped in slow, careful breaths. I glanced behind my shoulder at the forest I just left. ¡°There¡¯s still a lot of forest I haven¡¯t explored. Perhaps¡­ perhaps once I get my chores done, we can spend a while exploring more of the wolf¡¯s territory. See¡­ see if they have a base or something.¡± The thought of their base made me use every ounce of strength I had to suppress a shiver.

    Theo didn¡¯t notice, and instead nodded. ¡°Yeah. That¡¯d be great. Later.¡±

    ¡°Please take it easy, Theo,¡± I said.

    He nodded, stumbling toward the bridge. ¡°I¡¯ll¡­ be back. Tomorrow. I¡¯ve¡­ got to grind.¡±

    ¡°Okay. We¡¯ll figure something out.¡±

    He nodded, already past the greenhouses. Once again, the hopeless feeling returned. I didn¡¯t know what to do about Theo.

    There was nothing more to do but keep doing my chores. I had stopped in the middle of making the shed to help Theo, so I went back to that. I broke apart logs into boards and placed them in the shed next to the garage. Forty boards was not nearly as many as the hundreds of boards the barn asked for. I needed to do something. Anything to distract my mind.

    I chopped down trees as the shadows stretched to touch the foundation of the house. It didn¡¯t take me too long to get the boards in place, my mind dancing with the thoughts of lush grass and colorful tulips.

    Once the boards were done, I waited for more instructions.

    0/10 firewood

    I could do that. In no time at all, I placed the firewood in the shed and shingles appeared. I waited again, my heart dropping as I saw the next instructions.

    0/1 glass

    It wasn¡¯t that big of a deal, but glass was the one thing I struggled to keep hold of. I really needed to do another trip with Theo to get more sand. I¡¯d burned through at least half of my reserves of sand.

    Though I probably wouldn¡¯t be able to do that until much later. Theo got hit hard, and I wanted to make sure he was fine before asking him to do something like this again.

    My mind quickly moved from the topic. Theo would be fine. He¡¯d take his time, do what he needed to for recovery. I had time. I had a short to-do list, and the fences were strengthened. I would not rush Theo¡¯s recovery.

    Instead, I sat down by the fire with all the food I had and started another round of cooking. I started some more chicken wings, as it seemed like that was Theo¡¯s favorite, then pulled out my to-do list.

    Strengthen the fence

    Purchase shed

    Build shed

    Begin lawn care

    Make sure no essence of them remains in your house

    It was my last to-do list. On this, the very first day, I was crushing it. That or I was just really excited to move on to getting this lawn looking gorgeous again.

    I kept cooking, focusing more on the roasted chicken and veggies. Those gave a lot of stamina. I leaned back, giving myself a moment to relax. The wolf wouldn¡¯t appear for hours yet. I was making food. I was getting my storage unit packed with stuff. I would survive. Survive long enough to figure out a way to get out. I didn¡¯t care what Theo said. There had to be a way out of here.

 Chapter 73

    I woke up with the dawn. As I got out of bed, it surprised me that I wasn¡¯t sore. In the few hours before bedtime, I had gathered so many rocks and clay that I felt like my old storage unit would be bursting with them by now. Thankfully I upgraded my storage unit. I was anxious to start today. Anxious to meet up with Theo. There was a chance he wouldn¡¯t come today, simply because he had been battered by them. He was probably still sleeping it all off again.

    I stretched before walking out of the room. It would be a really hot day today, so I ate my chilled creamy tomato soup that gave me a solid forty-five minutes of heat resistance. I went about my morning routine, gathering food and feeding my animals. The first greenhouse was close to being upgraded, so I placed five more sand into the tool so I could get it done by the end of the day.

    Nope. I was doing it again. There was probably more than just glass to upgrade the greenhouse.

    I placed four of the glass panes in the greenhouse before walking over to the shed and putting a single pane in there. I waited, anxious, before the entire shed gave a sheen. I let out a breath.

    Shed completed

    Lawn care unlocked

    Purchased lawn care items will be stored here

    Ability unlocked: Purchase fertilizer

    Perfect. I opened the door to see an empty shed with a couple tables on either side. When I walked in, I saw a small clipboard hanging from a nail. I picked it up and scanned it.

    Grass Fertilizer -10.00

    Greenhouse Fertilizer -10.00

    Flower Fertilizer -10.00

    Grass seed -3.00

    Flower seed -3.00

    (Once selected, more options for flowers will be available)

    This was a lot of good stuff. At least the greenhouse fertilizer would last for a while. A few bags lasted an entire season for my greenhouse, and I still had a full bag left. I wasn¡¯t sure about how long the grass fertilizer would last, though. This was a massive lawn.

    There was nowhere on the shed clipboard to buy the equipment, so I headed toward the storage unit again, guessing I could buy a lawn mower or a grass planter there. How was I going to plant grass? I guess I¡¯d never thought about it.

    My thoughts were interrupted as Theo broke through the trees. My instinct was to run and give him a hug, but I froze when I saw the look on his face. He was smiling brightly.

    That shouldn¡¯t have caused so many alarm bells to go off in my head, but it did. I was fully prepared to not see him today. He should be sleeping. The Theo from last night should have taken days to recover. He shouldn¡¯t be coming out of the trees, smiling like this. Something was off. Something was wrong.

    ¡°Hey, Quinn!¡± he said, approaching me as he wrapped his arms around me in a tight hug before letting me go. He then wiped his brow. ¡°It¡¯s a hot day today! How are you outside right now?¡±

    I still stared at him, my brows furrowed. I didn¡¯t even know how to begin formulating a sentence to ask him what was going on. There was a part of me that was growing every second that perhaps this wasn¡¯t my brother at all. The recovery was far too fast. My theory that he was just part of the game was back. That he wasn¡¯t real. I pushed that theory down. He had to be real. He had to be here. But¡­ he acted as though he hadn¡¯t spent all of yesterday leaking black liquid from his face. Or vomited multiple times. Or that his veins were thick with blackness.

    ¡°Quinn, why are you staring at me like that?¡± Theo asked.

    ¡°You¡¯re¡­ smiling,¡± I said.

    Theo snorted. ¡°Didn¡¯t know that was a crime.¡±

    ¡°You¡­ shouldn¡¯t. Not so soon. I¡­ don¡¯t understand,¡± I said.

    Theo placed his hands on his hips, one of his eyebrows raising. ¡°Really? I¡¯m happy, and now your suspicious?¡±

    ¡°Do you blame me?¡± I asked. ¡°You just got attacked by them a little over twenty-four hours ago. You spent all yesterday unable to walk. Yet now¡­ now¡­¡± I gestured toward him, not sure how to articulate it. He was standing up straight. His eyes weren¡¯t haunted. A smile came easily to his lips.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, Quinn. Don¡¯t worry about it,¡± Theo said.

    ¡°Too late,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m worrying about it. What did you do?¡±

    The smile that was there finally flickered. Theo dropped my gaze, wiping his forehead again. ¡°It is so insanely hot. Why are you out here?¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    I grabbed his arm and pulled him closer to the forest. Once we were under the shade, all the sweat disappeared from Theo¡¯s face. He was startled by this outcome, wiping his face again just to see.

    I stared right at him. ¡°We can¡¯t keep secrets from each other. We¡¯re the only two people here, and we¡¯ve got to figure out a way to get out. That means we need to trust each other. So, I will ask again. What. Did. You. Do.¡±

    Theo sighed, not looking at me. He then pulled off a glove to show me his perfectly fine hand. At first I didn¡¯t know what he was trying to show me, but then I remembered the thick lines of blackness that were there yesterday but not today. His hand was fine. Again, the warning bells sounded in my head. With everything I saw yesterday, he should still be recovering. It was as odd to me as watching someone with a broken leg yesterday walk perfectly fine on it the next morning.

    ¡°I¡¯ve told you about the bar showing how much corruption I have,¡± Theo said, glancing at the space where I assumed was his corruption bar. ¡°It takes forever to get out of my system. In the early days of this game, I would lay around my campsite for hours, the weight of it too much to even get up.¡± Theo cleared his throat. ¡°I soon found out that if I died, it automatically reset. The corruption was gone from my body.¡±

    There was a pause, then my eyes widened. They got wider as I realized what they were symbolically supposed to mean.

    ¡°Theo¡­¡±

    ¡°I know.¡±

    ¡°Theo, that¡¯s-¡±

    ¡°I know.¡±

    ¡°You willingly go to-¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just a game,¡± Theo said, his voice sharp. ¡°It¡¯s not suicide, because I come back. It doesn¡¯t mean anything.¡±

    ¡°It means everything.¡± I didn¡¯t mean to match the sharpness in his voice, but it came. ¡°You said so yourself. What if¡­ what if we¡¯re¡­ dead. What if you-¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Theo looked away, taking a deep, rattling breath. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t commit suicide back home. I wouldn¡¯t. I would know if that¡¯s how I died. I would know if that¡¯s why I ended up here.¡±

    I gestured at the house. ¡°Look at where we are, Theo. This strange game we¡¯re in. These stupid monsters. We¡¯re smack dab in the middle of some sort of twisted allegory of what it¡¯s like to have depression.¡±

    ¡°God, Quinn, stop and think about it. If I committed suicide, why are you here?¡± Theo asked.

    There was a silence I couldn¡¯t fill, but I could not deny the sickness that entered my gut ever since Theo admitted what he did yesterday.

    Theo started grumbling again, unbuttoning a few of the buttons on his shirt before fanning himself with his collar. ¡°This isn¡¯t working. It¡¯s still so damn hot.¡±

    He was changing the subject. I didn¡¯t want him to. We were reaching something, racing toward something that I wasn¡¯t sure I wanted the answers to, but we had to get there. I opened my mouth to ask him when everything inside me froze. He had unbuttoned his shirt enough that I noticed something. There was a chain around his neck, and at the bottom was a key. I stared at it long enough that Theo glanced back at me and noticed what I was looking at.

    ¡°Oh, yeah, this thing.¡± Theo seemed relieved to change the subject. ¡°I¡¯ve had it ever since I woke up. I have no idea what it¡¯s meant to unlock. Can¡¯t take it off, either.¡± Theo attempted to take it off, but as soon as the chain reached above his ear, it slipped through his palm like his hands were holograms and the key fell back against his chest. ¡°See?¡±

    I still stared at him, my mouth slightly open. Theo frowned, giving me a good stare. ¡°Why are you making that face?¡±

    I slowly glanced up at the second level, then back at him. ¡°The door. It¡¯s¡­ locked.¡±

    ¡°What d-¡± The realization hit Theo. Every emotion flickered through his face before he finally shut down. Theo made a conscious effort not to look at the house. ¡°Let¡¯s get one thing straight, Quinn. I did not kill myself. I¡¯d feel it if I did. There are just some things you know. I had a system to make sure I never got to that step.¡±

    That was how terrified Theo was of the second floor. Despite being relieved to change the subject before, he plowed right back into it so we wouldn¡¯t have to talk about the key.

    A part of me believed Theo about not committing suicide, mostly because I didn¡¯t want it to be true. What he said resonated with me. Theo had been in therapy. Doug and Brenda loved Theo. I loved him. Theo, no doubt, knew the warning signs before things got too dark, and he had a support system he could rely on.

    ¡°I believe you,¡± I said.

    As soon as I said it, Theo¡¯s shoulders relaxed, but a haunted look entered his eyes that I expected to be there the moment he broke through the trees.

    ¡°You have to stop dying here, though,¡± I added.

    Theo closed his eyes, slowly shaking his head. ¡°Please, Quinn. Don¡¯t ask that of me.¡±

    ¡°Not dying?¡± I asked, feeling defensive. ¡°Theo-¡±

    ¡°For the first time in my life, I can wake up the morning after an attack and get out of bed and go about my day,¡± Theo said, his voice still quiet. ¡°When the weight gets too much, when the flashbacks happen and thoughts enter my mind, I can die, and it no longer bothers me. I no longer hear the thoughts, and I can function the next morning. For the first time in my life, I can be normal.¡± I closed my mouth, tears pricking my eyes. I hadn¡¯t realized he experienced flashbacks in this game. No doubt about what he saw on the second floor.

    ¡°Theo¡­¡± I wanted to fight back against his notion of normal. I had so many thoughts, but they were all struggling to come through and clogged in my brain.

    In my hesitancy, Theo pushed on. ¡°I know what this stupid allegory is supposed to mean. I understand you¡¯re concern about suicide. But¡­ it¡¯s just a game, Quinn. A sick, twisted game, but still a game. If I didn¡¯t die yesterday, I¡¯d be back at camp. Or¡­ or vomiting on the ground here. Putting you in danger. Being a burden.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not a burden,¡± I said. It was a knee jerk reaction, because it was true. I never wanted Theo to feel that way about himself.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t I?¡± he asked, his brows furrowing. ¡°I am a conduit of corruption. If you don¡¯t get my vomit cleaned up, they could attack you. How is that not considered a burden?¡±

    My lips drew into a thin line. ¡°Because I¡¯ve never considered you a burden. There is¡­ no ¡®normal¡¯, Theo. You are not a lesser person because the corruption gets you like this.¡± I let out a frustrated breath. My thoughts were getting scattered again, so I tried to focus it. ¡°Your game objective is to figure out how to defeat the corruption, right?¡± I asked. Theo nodded, folding his arms. ¡°How can you possibly defeat it if you keep flushing it out of your system so quickly? What if there are clues you are throwing away?¡±

    Theo stilled, then his eyebrow raised. He was considering it. Good. Let him think that. Despite his constant insistence that this was just a game, I could not shake the dark feeling in my gut whenever he talked about dying in the game.

    A glowing orb lifted out of the ground, causing us both to take a few steps back. My eyes widened as I stared at it, then glanced at Theo. He met my gaze at the same time. I wondered if we¡¯d ever get another memory orb. In fact, I didn¡¯t think I had one since I discovered Theo was here.

    The orb started vibrating before it broke in half. Before I could react, the two halves rammed into us, and everything went black.

 Chapter 74

    ¡°Alright, there¡¯s the bell, let¡¯s get going! You have a test next week and we have so much material to go through!¡± the teacher said, clapping her hands. There were a few high school students who were sitting around talking, but they headed back to their desks. Quinn was sitting behind Theo. Quinn was organizing her notes in her three-ring binder as Theo had his spiral notebook open, twirling his pencil between his fingers.

    ¡°Hey, Mrs. Rhodes, I still have questions about ancient Egypt¡¯s afterlife. What¡¯s the-¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Mrs. Rhodes said, pointing at the boy. ¡°I know what you¡¯re doing. I will not be distracted by Ancient Egypt today!¡±

    The boy grumbled.

    ¡°Besides, we¡¯re talking about death today!¡± Mrs. Rhodes said, walking over to the board and uncapping her marker, writing out the word. ¡°This is one of my favorite topics! And yes, Blake, it is almost as exciting as an ancient Egyptian¡¯s journey through the afterlife. We¡¯re talking about the many, many myths surrounding death. Specifically, how to cheat death.¡±

    Mrs. Rhodes wrote a name on the board under the word ¡®death¡¯. ¡°And I have learned from my first hour.¡± She underlined the name. ¡°This is pronounced Sisyphus.¡± Mrs. Rhodes raised a finger, waiting only for a second before a few students started snickering. The teacher pointed at the class, a slight shake of her head. ¡°Highschoolers,¡± she muttered before going back to the board. ¡°This is a man in Greek mythology who tried to cheat death. And what¡¯d he get? An eternal punishment of pushing a boulder up a mountain for it to fall, simply to start all over again.¡±

    ¡°Wait, is that who the disease is named after?¡± a boy asked.

    Mrs. Rhodes sighed. ¡°Sisyphus, Ricky. Sisyphus.¡±

    Ricky blinked at Mrs. Rhodes. ¡°I don¡¯t get it.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Sisyphus. Not syphilis!¡± Quinn said.

    Ricky spun in his chair to look at her. ¡°You¡¯re literally saying the same word.¡±

    Quinn lifted her notebook to show the two different words, pointing at the Greek one. ¡°There¡¯s no ¡®l¡¯ in Sisyphus.¡±

    ¡°Moving on,¡± Mrs. Rhodes said, holding up a hand. ¡°There are countless other examples in Greek mythology of humans trying to cheat death. Some of the lesser examples are, of course, Achilles heel. Or there¡¯s the tales of Hercules, who wrestled with death and won to save his friend¡¯s life. Also Arachne, challenged by Athena to a weaving contest. Now, whether or not Arachne won is still up for debate, but what¡¯s not up for debate is that she was turned into a spider afterward. Some believe it was after Arachne died and Athena took pity on her. Other¡¯s believe Athena drove her to kill herself and the gods decided to still grant Arachne a punishment of some sort.

    ¡°That being said, we could talk about myths all day. But the thing is, they¡¯ve still persisted. Despite our scientific advances, there is still a vast amount we do not know. Something I personally believe, can only be understood through the sharing of stories. Death being one of those.¡± Mrs. Rhodes placed her fist against the board. ¡°What have you seen? Tell me the way people have cheated death in modern storytelling.¡±

    ¡°So,¡± a girl said, raising her hand before Mrs. Rhodes finished speaking. ¡°A modern example? Of someone playing games with death to cheat their way out of it?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Mrs. Rhodes said.

    ¡°You mean like Bill and Ted¡¯s Bogus Journey?¡±

    Mrs. Rhodes eyes brightened. ¡°Yes! Yes, Emmy, that is a brilliant example of-¡±

    ¡°Oh, wait.¡± Emmy¡¯s brows furrowed. ¡°You asked for modern examples. Didn¡¯t that movie come out in the eighties or something?¡±

    Mrs. Rhodes froze. ¡°Nineties, Emmy. Early nineties.¡±

    Emmy blew out a breath. ¡°Yeah, my bad. I¡¯ll try and think of a more modern example.¡±

    Mrs. Rhodes let out a strangled gasp before clasping her heart. ¡°Emmy, you wound me.¡± She let out another breath. ¡°I think for the experiment today we can choose any modern example, meaning anything in the last few centuries.¡±

    ¡°So like¡­ like¡­¡± A boy was partially raising his hand, but his eyes were glazed over. ¡°Like¡­ like¡­ like¡­¡± he then slammed his palm against the desk. ¡°Pirates of the Caribbean! Dead Man¡¯s Chest! The dice game with Davey Jones!¡±

    Mrs. Rhodes smiled. ¡°Perfect, Anthony. Yes. That¡¯s what I¡¯m talking about.¡±

    ¡°Witcher,¡± Theo said quietly.

    Mrs. Rhodes turned, smiling at Theo. ¡°Witcher? Interesting. How?¡±

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m¡­ it¡¯s more¡­¡± Theo¡¯s cheeks grew red. ¡°It¡¯s a part in the first game. There¡¯s a ghost who offers to play a gambling dice game to see who gets to keep the little boy.¡±

    ¡°Ah, yes. Always the far more Herculean measures, playing the game to save the life of someone else,¡± Mrs. Rhodes said. ¡°I¡¯m assuming you play the game to protect the child?¡±

    Theo cleared his throat, the red lessening from his cheeks. ¡°No. I¡­ usually just kill the ghost anyway to save the boy.¡±

    There were some chuckles in the classroom. Mrs. Rhodes laughed. ¡°I mean, if you have an option, you might as well not leave a soul up to chance, right?¡±The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    Theo nodded, dropping his gaze. ¡°Right.¡±

    ¡°Hey, Mrs. Rhodes, did the Ancient Egyptians have any cheating death myths?¡± Blake asked.

    ¡°Not falling for that, Blake,¡± Mrs. Rhodes said, turning back to the board and writing the options down.

    ***

    I stumbled back, falling to my knees. Theo crept deeper into the shade of the trees, wide-eyed. There were tears in my eyes, and a mind full of questions that I needed answers to.

    I closed my eyes, trying to steady my breathing.

    ¡°One of us is dead,¡± Theo whispered, leaning over, hands on his knees. ¡°One of us is dead,¡± he repeated, closing his eyes. ¡°Considering I¡¯m the one who woke up in peace, and you woke up sobbing, I have a guess who it was that begged death for a chance to play for their soul.¡±

    More tears streamed down my face. ¡°This can¡¯t be the answer. There has to be another reason.¡±

    ¡°What other reason is there?¡± Theo asked. ¡°Why would the memory orb show us this specific memory if it wasn¡¯t an answer to our questions? The reason why we¡¯re here? I¡¯m¡­ I¡¯m dead. You bargained to play a game you¡¯re good at. For my soul. Unless¡­ unless we both are being punished for trying to cheat death. Forever in a game.¡±

    I kept my eyes closed, trying not to let out a sob. ¡°No. It¡¯s a bargain. That feels¡­¡± Right. There was something way too familiar about everything Theo said. I glanced up, seeing him come to terms with this. He, too, felt it. Something familiar, in his soul, that said this was a bargain.

    But it still didn¡¯t answer everything. ¡°If it really is just me playing the game for your soul, why are you playing a game too?¡± I asked.

    Theo said nothing. This had to be the biggest clue we¡¯d ever received, but it was still just that. A clue. We didn¡¯t have the full answers. Every time I died, the alien overlords asked if I wanted to give up. To make this seem like just a dream. I shuddered as I realized the full implication of it all. I would have woken up, most likely to Theo on his death bed.

    Theo gave a shuddering breath, and my eyes snapped open. He was hunched over, a hand to his mouth, holding in a sob. ¡°I didn¡¯t¡­¡± he started to say. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t¡­ I would know if I killed myself. I¡­ I couldn¡¯t have¡­¡±

    Did he commit suicide? I demanded in my head directed toward the alien overlords. I need to know. Is that why I¡¯m here? To bring him back after he committed suicide?

    There was a pause, then I saw words in my mind¡¯s eye.

    Information -75.00

    I agreed to it without another thought. Without bargaining, without haggling. This was for my peace of mind and Theo¡¯s. I watched my dopamine points drain to -18.31, waiting for the words.

    If he committed suicide, you would not be here bargaining for his soul,

    We take people¡¯s choices very seriously,

    Suicide would have been a firm choice Theo made, and if he acted on it, the consequences of such must follow,

    He would be dead, or recovering from an attempted death, and there would be nothing you could do about it,

    That choice, once made and attempted, brings about a consequence you cannot undo by bargaining with ancient beings such as ourselves,

    The natural law of the situation would be so binding that if either one of us tried to mess with it, we would break the world, and every world in this universe,

    It is not something we would ever allow someone to bargain for,

    Again, to sum up,

    Theo did not commit suicide.

    Everything in me relaxed. I got to my feet and hugged my brother. ¡°You didn¡¯t do it. You didn¡¯t kill yourself. Whatever it was, however you got hurt, it was an accident.¡±

    All Theo¡¯s strength dissolved, and whatever power he used to hold back his sob left with it. He clung to me, his body trembling as he kept sobbing. I didn¡¯t dare let him go.

    But he is still dying? I asked the alien overlords. That¡¯s why I¡¯m here? To bargain for his soul?

    There was a pause, long enough that I wondered if this was information I was allowed to know. Then words appeared in my vision.

    Yes, this is not a punishment, it is a bargain

    How you play the game will be one of the core decisions regarding Theo¡¯s fate

    It is part of the contract you signed, and the agreement we came to before we erased your memory

    I closed my eyes as the words disappeared. Theo was still sobbing, and I didn¡¯t let him go.

    There was something in my mind, the same feeling when I picked up a new item of food, that I knew more recipes had unlocked on the clipboard. This time I felt like new information had unlocked on the calendar, of all things.

    But I didn¡¯t let go of Theo until he let go first. And that wasn¡¯t until my chilled soup wore off. It didn¡¯t matter, though, because we were in the shade.

    Theo straightened, wiping his eyes. He then let out a breath before dropping his hands. ¡°Damn, this took a different turn than I was expecting,¡± Theo mumbled.

    ¡°I¡¯m more certain than ever that there¡¯s a way out of this game,¡± I said. ¡°And both of us are leaving it. Together.¡±

    Theo didn¡¯t meet my gaze, instead he rubbed his upper arm. ¡°How? How do we leave? Farming games never have a true ending. Do they?¡±

    ¡°All I know is I¡¯ve got to clean the house.¡± My eyes lingered on the key around Theo¡¯s neck. ¡°The entire house.¡±

    Theo finally glanced at me, then down at the key around his neck. He flinched, then buttoned his shirt up. ¡°I can¡¯t take it off.¡±

    ¡°Which means you¡¯ll have to be there when I clean it,¡± I said.

    Theo didn¡¯t react. He simply stared forward, his mind slowly shutting down.

    Something gurgled underneath Theo¡¯s feet. He swore under his breath and backed away, but there was nowhere for him to go. The sludge simply followed him, trailing up his pants, then up his torso before shoving itself into Theo¡¯s mouth and nostrils. My eyes widened as my brother let out a gasp, involuntarily sucking in more of the sludge. I tried to reach out and grab it, but he backed out of my reach. He covered his throat with one hand, coughing.

    ¡°Theo,¡± I started to say.

    He just lifted a hand, shaking his head. ¡°It¡­ happens.¡± He glanced down. ¡°It happens a lot. Don¡¯t¡­ worry about it.¡± I blinked, doing the opposite of what Theo requested. He straightened, brushing himself off. ¡°Is there anything I can do to help you? It seems like your game should be the one we both need to focus on.¡±

    Something about that felt off to me. ¡°Theo¡­ you still have your game objective. Maybe we still both need to finish our games together.¡± I sighed, glancing at the house. ¡°Though¡­ I still need all the metal scraps you can give me.¡±

    Theo nodded, a hand still on his throat. ¡°Yeah. Yeah, I can do that.¡±

    ¡°And Theo? No more¡­ dying. We¡¯ve got to figure out different ways to get them out of your system.¡±

    Theo sighed, still not looking at me. ¡°Yeah. Okay.¡±

    He sounded so defeated as he stayed among the shade, heading back to his side of the river. I watched him go. I could almost see the influence of them, and the sludge that had entered his system in front of me. He wasn¡¯t stumbling to the bridge like last night, but his shoulders sagged more than usual, his head bowed. He disappeared among the trees.

    I took a deep breath, then walked to the front porch, taking the hit to my stamina. I wanted to work on the lawn. It was on my to-do list. But maybe not in the heat. Besides, with this revelation, I wanted to get the second floor cleaned. I still had five full days left.

    I walked inside and headed for the kitchen. I found the calendar and studied it closely. I then flipped the pages to winter, trying to remember if any of the weather patterns shifted. Winter had a lot of cold days, but I didn¡¯t remember if it was any more than what I noticed before.

    It was when I flipped the page to spring that red ink caught my gaze. At the very bottom of spring two new words appeared in hasty scrawl. Not at all like the perfect handwriting of my to-do list. The words made my stomach drop.

    Game Over

 Chapter 75

    Those words hung over my head as I finished wiping down the walls of the blue room. They remained while I started decluttering the green room. Despite those haunting words, I felt like two more seasons was plenty of time. There was a sense of finality that brought a chill, but I had already done so much in one season. I was confident that I would reach level five in all the areas well before winter. Which meant the house would be completely transformed by winter. That would be my goal. Get the house done before the next season.

    At least¡­ every room except the locked room.

    I glanced in the direction of that final room. I had control of every other room in this house, but that room was completely Theo¡¯s responsibility. He showed no interest in coming in the house at all.

    But now with what we learned¡­ if it was a matter of life or death, would Theo enter the house? Part of me said yes. However, it would still take time.

    And time is what we had. After all, we still had two full seasons, and we¡¯d only started the second week of the second season. All the more reason to make sure this house was sparkling clean. I knew deep in my soul that Theo would have a far better time if the house was clean. It had already been transformed now, and I was glad I¡¯d gotten as far as I did with it.

    I placed all the junk on the front porch in the shade, then went for another load. I figured two more loads would overcrowd the front porch, then I¡¯d drink some of the chilled basic tomato soup and drop the junk in the dumpster.

    There was far more urgency in what I was doing. Before I was doing this because I thought I had stumbled on some sort of simulation of my favorite game. Now it was revealed that I was playing this game for Theo¡¯s soul.

    That felt weird to admit in my mind. There still had to be something else. Some other clue we were missing. But with everything else we discovered, I wasn¡¯t about to neglect this house. I¡¯d probably have to clean the lawn, too. I wasn¡¯t getting any more to-do lists, which meant everything I was expected to do was already before me. I just had to do it.

    Theo was right. What was the end of a farming game? It wasn¡¯t like Theo¡¯s game, where you defeated the monsters and then were done. Done, with the occasional post-game quests. But with farming games, it never really ended. I could play forever if I wanted to.

    Except¡­ not in this one. I had until the end of spring. Then I¡¯d be forced back home, whether or not I had Theo¡¯s soul with me.

    Home. I hadn¡¯t thought about it, mostly because I forgot it. I¡¯d been here an entire season. Did that mean I lost three months back home? Were Theo and I both in some sort of strange coma? Or was time itself frozen while we were in this place?

    I waited patiently for the alien overlords to help me out, but I got nothing. I gave them plenty of time to answer as I gathered more junk from the green room into my inventory. Once I decluttered the second level, I wasn¡¯t sure what to expect. There was the locked room I couldn¡¯t enter. That might keep me from completely finishing the second floor. Not until Theo felt comfortable enough.

    Though I wondered what I¡¯d do with my repairing furniture abilities. Currently the pink room only had the sewing machine, and it didn¡¯t need repairing. The blue room was completely empty, though it was nice and clean now. Except for the floor. My four levels of cleaning clothes let me repair furniture, but if there was no furniture to replace, what would that do? Would I get to build furniture?

    The thought alone excited me. Knowing the blue room was where little Theo spent most of his time, I wanted to give little ghost Theo a proper children¡¯s room. Maybe even a race car bed. Those seemed popular among boys.

    Already my mind was racing with ideas, and I wasn¡¯t even certain I could build furniture.

    ¡°Again,¡± I said to the ceiling. ¡°Not wanting to bother you and tell you how I should be able to play this game, but¡­ I would love to be able to build furniture for the second floor.¡±

    I kept grabbing junk from the green room and placing it in my inventory, not expecting to hear an answer. As I was walking down the stairs, words popped into my vision.

    Reach level five in cleaning, and you can build furniture.

    ¡°YES!¡±

    No one could hear me, but I didn¡¯t care. I didn¡¯t want to leave those three rooms empty, and learning I could build furniture made me excited to reach level five.

    I drank some basic chilled tomato soup and began dropping the junk into the dumpster. Once this junk was in the dumpster, I considered the greenroom partially finished. I wondered what I could do with the green room, now that I knew I could build furniture. Maybe create a guestroom or something. Or a gorgeous, in-home library. I could always decorate the sewing room as a craft room.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    I was almost done dropping the junk in the dumpster when Theo came back, holding scrap metal in his arms. I glanced at the hazy sky, sensing it was mid-afternoon. I finished dumping the stuff before walking over to him.

    ¡°Hey,¡± I said.

    ¡°Hey. The mine isn¡¯t far, but it always takes a bit of time.¡± Theo lifted his arms to show the metal. ¡°But I¡¯ve got some.¡±

    ¡°Good. I¡¯ll need it to finish my cow box trap, then I¡¯d love to go foraging. You can join if you want,¡± I said.

    ¡°Oh, yeah. That¡¯d be nice. Is it as hot in the wolf territory as it is out here?¡± Theo asked.

    ¡°It shouldn¡¯t, since it¡¯s mostly in the shade. I could always use an extra inventory to get more food.¡±

    Theo nodded, moving over to the trees near the wolf. ¡°Finish what you¡¯re doing. I¡¯ll wait here, then I¡¯d love to help you forage for more food.¡±

    ¡°Sometime I¡¯ll have to help you with what you¡¯re doing,¡± I said, heading toward the front porch to gather the last of the junk and dropping it in the dumpster.

    Theo chuckled. ¡°Can you upgrade your axe anymore?¡±

    ¡°Probably not,¡± I said, gathering the last of the junk into my inventory before walking over to the dumpster. ¡°But you say you¡¯re in this mine, or something? Is that how you gather scrap metal?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, in a way. It¡¯s a cave, really, with a bunch of different corrupt monsters who love metal, so they¡¯ve hoarded a bunch of it. I usually go in, kill as many as I can while filling up my inventory, then book it out of there,¡± Theo said.

    I glanced over at him, frowning. That seemed wildly dangerous, though I¡¯m assuming those words could describe anything that had to do with Theo¡¯s side of the river. I started dropping junk into the dumpster, keeping an eye on my total dopamine points.

    -18.06

    -18.05

    -18.03

    -18.02

    I kept dropping junk in there, smiling as it finally broke -17.99.

    -17.98

    -17.96

    I straightened when I dropped the last of the junk, the smile still on my face. ¡°I¡¯ll bring over the cow trap so I can finish building it, then we can go foraging.¡±

    Theo nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll just wait here.¡±

    I entered the storage unit and brought out the cow trap. I placed it in my inventory since it was awkward to hold. I walked over to Theo, trying not to think about how unfazed I was with everything. I had a pocket dimension in the small of my back capable of holding a trap big enough to catch a cow. It wasn¡¯t the first time I thought about how odd game logic was.

    I walked over to the shade. My chilled tomato soup ran out while I was walking toward Theo. I lost a bit of stamina, but considering we were leaving to forage, and I knew apples gave me some stamina, I wasn¡¯t too worried about it. I pulled out the cow trap as Theo handed me some scrap metal. I placed them in the trap until I had a nice, lovely, finished cow trap.

    I placed it back in my inventory because I was not interested in carrying it around a very dark forest.

    ¡°I don¡¯t get it,¡± Theo said.

    I glanced over at him, confused. ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re just¡­ content,¡± Theo said. ¡°The whole time you were dropping things in the dumpster, fixing the trap, everything.¡±

    I shrugged. ¡°I like farming games. You know this about me.¡±

    Theo shook his head as we headed into the woods. I was prepared with a trap, and I had Theo¡¯s inventory to help out with more foraging.

    ¡°I know I¡¯ve constantly talked about how I doubt I¡¯ll survive on your side of the river, but I do want to see your base camp sometime. It¡¯d be fun to see,¡± I said.

    Theo shrugged. ¡°The invitation is always there. I¡¯m getting closer to level twenty-five, though, so it¡¯d be good to experiment with whether you¡¯re capable of teleporting to my side using the transportation disks. Once I get it set up.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯d be good.¡±

    We both paused to mentally accept entering wolf territory. Even though the silence pressed all around us, I still felt a need to talk to Theo. My voice dropped to a hushed whisper. At least Theo was right next to me.

    ¡°There¡¯s something I have to tell you. On the calendar at home, there were the words ¡®game over¡¯ at the end. I¡¯m certain it means the alien overlords are giving us until the end of spring.¡±

    Theo didn¡¯t say anything, and in the darkness, it was hard to decipher the emotions on his face.

    ¡°That honestly still gives us plenty of time,¡± I said as we approached my traps with all the meat.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± He sounded more worried than anything, and his arm raised to brush against the key under his clothes.

    ¡°We take it slow. And careful,¡± I said. ¡°We don¡¯t start by immediately heading for the second floor.¡±

    Theo still didn¡¯t say anything. I knelt down at one of my traps, filling my inventory with raw ground beef.

    ¡°Do you wash your hands before cooking?¡± Theo asked.

    I gave him a wry smile. ¡°No. For the same reason I didn¡¯t wash my hands after cleaning the garage, either. Because for whatever reason, the grime doesn¡¯t stick on my hands.¡±

    Theo blinked, then shone his light on my hands as they moved from touching the raw beef to the raw chicken.

    ¡°I mean, do you wash your hands after killing monsters before you eat?¡± I asked.

    Theo let out a sigh. ¡°No. No, I don¡¯t. I guess since we¡¯re still healthy and thriving, we¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    ¡°Unless the alien overlords get ideas and want to switch things up.¡± I stood and brushed myself off before pulling out the cow trap.

    ¡°Wait, they can do that?¡± Theo asked.

    I shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know, honestly. Sometimes I think this is their first time ever running a game, and they¡¯re making things up on the spot. I¡¯ve been course corrected a couple times.¡± My mind flitted briefly to the time I could buy three clothes at the same time before it was taken away. I quickly made myself move on from that topic. Even though I¡¯d learned a lot since that time, there was still the very real fear they could wipe my memory of that event.

    I started setting traps again, glancing at Theo. ¡°Have you been course corrected yet?¡±

    Theo paused, then shrugged. ¡°I mean¡­ there¡¯s nothing too complicated about killing a bunch of monsters and leveling up.¡± His eyes seemed to glaze over as he looked at whatever interface was in his vision.

    ¡°I suppose you¡¯re right.¡±

    I finished up with the traps, deciding to set another box trap to get another chicken. The coop looked as though it was able to hold five of them, and getting too many eggs was not a problem for me. I was still dreaming of being a resource dragon.

    ¡°There¡¯s still a lot of this place I haven¡¯t discovered yet. We could stop by the orchard, load up on some fruit, then see what else this place has,¡± I said.

    Theo nodded, then gestured toward the dark parts of the forest. ¡°Lead the way.¡±

 Chapter 76

    We were silent in the orchard. We both broke off, picking what we wanted. I filled my inventory until I had three slots left. I really didn¡¯t know what kind of things we¡¯d find as we explored, and I wanted to be prepared.

    I ate a few apples to restore my stamina as Theo walked around the orchard, his mind far from here.

    ¡°Ready?¡± I asked after a bit.

    He nodded. I wasn¡¯t sure where we¡¯d go, but I knew where the wolf¡¯s lair was. Also where the orchard and the traps were. There was a chance we¡¯d find the base of them, but I wasn¡¯t sure. I didn¡¯t think they really had a base. It more seemed like they came out of the ground, with what I saw with Theo.

    We walked toward the darkness, and I made a conscious effort to steer us away from the orchard, the wolf¡¯s lair, and the traps. The silence felt like a physical presence, pressing against us. There were no birds, no bugs chirping in the distance. I was aware that running into the wolf was a real possibility. I should have stopped by the wolf¡¯s lair to give some venison, but I didn¡¯t have enough. I should consider that for next time. Maybe the wolf would be guaranteed to remain in its lair if I placed venison there.

    As long as it wasn¡¯t there already.

    ¡°How¡­ did you know I didn¡¯t kill myself?¡± Theo asked.

    I glanced over, the silence swallowing Theo¡¯s words so they didn¡¯t travel far. ¡°You said you didn¡¯t, so I believe you,¡± I said.

    ¡°And the other time? After¡­ the memory orb? When I didn¡¯t know for sure. You sounded so certain,¡± Theo said.

    I let out a small sigh. ¡°I checked. With the alien overlords. They wouldn¡¯t have stepped in and set this up if you made a choice like that. They made it sound like if they tried bringing you back after committing suicide it would¡­ break the natural order of things or something.¡±

    Theo grunted. ¡°And you trust them?¡±

    ¡°I am far more likely to believe them when they¡¯re together than when they¡¯re apart. They balance each other out,¡± I said.

    He grunted again, and we walked in the pressing silence for a bit.

    ¡°My grandmother¡¯s bedroom,¡± Theo whispered out of nowhere.

    I turned, raising an eyebrow. ¡°Uh, what?¡±

    He let out a sigh, glancing down. ¡°If¡­ the main goal is to get me to the second floor, we need to start with safer places in the house for me to get used to the idea. I¡¯d like to start with my grandmother¡¯s bedroom. On the first floor.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s where I sleep,¡± I said.

    Theo nodded, more distracted than anything. ¡°I was never allowed inside there. My mom and grandma made that a rule, so¡­ I don¡¯t actually know what it looks like. It makes it an easy place to start with. Then I can¡­ decide from there.¡±

    I nodded. ¡°That¡¯s a fantastic idea, Theo. Though you need to acknowledge that you¡¯ve already entered the house. You were pretty content on the back porch.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. I guess that¡¯s true. That changed a lot.¡±

    ¡°The only thing still the same is the floors,¡± I said.

    Theo chuckled. ¡°It¡¯d still be different to me. I don¡¯t think I got a good look at the floors as a child.¡±

    That caused me to smile. I glanced up, trying to see the sky, but the forest was too thick.

    ¡°Tonight? Can we¡­ try that tonight?¡± Theo asked.

    I glanced over at him, raising an eyebrow. ¡°If you¡¯d like.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. This ¡®game over¡¯ revelation is a bit unsettling. Spring is¡­ still far enough away, but I¡¯ve always been an overachiever with finishing games,¡± Theo said.

    I smiled, brushing my shoulder against his. ¡°Same. We¡¯ll finish this game with plenty of time.¡±

    We were silent again. My eyes darted around for any sort of glowing words that indicated food to gather.

    We explored more of the forest. I wasn¡¯t sure what to expect, but the more we looked around, the more certain I was that this forest did not have their base. It was somewhere else, if it was anywhere.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!

    The silence broke, and I heard a dull roaring noise. Theo and I both glanced at each other before we moved cautiously through the trees, approaching the sound.

    I realized it was the river a few minutes before we came upon it. There was a break in the trees. I approached the river and saw more words starting to glow near the bank of it.

    ¡°Oh, this is interesting,¡± I said, walking down to the bank. It looked like instead of rocks, these were boulders. I could get two, sometimes three stone blocks out of one of these. And the mounds of clay in this river were larger too. They could give me two baked clay instead of one. It seemed like the dangerous trek through the wolf¡¯s lair rewarded me with larger resources, probably for better storage purposes.

    ¡°Ah, I wondered if we¡¯d stumble on one of these on your side,¡± Theo said.

    I glanced over and saw Theo taking out a sword and chopping away at some foliage near a rocky bump in the ground. I frowned, approaching it. Words came to my vision.

    Discovered!

    Cave of resources

    Enter at your own risk

    I glanced at Theo, who was smiling. ¡°Probably has some metal here, just in case you never found me to trade with.¡±

    I let out a sigh. ¡°I¡¯m glad I found you.¡±

    Warning bells were going off in my mind as I tried to find the opening. I pointed at a small hole, big enough for one person to slide in.

    ¡°That¡¯s it? That¡¯s the entrance?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s usually a tight squeeze at the beginning, but it gets wider the deeper you go into the cave.¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem-¡± I froze as I realized why the warning bells were going off in my head. I glanced up at the wolf timer. Information had been casually gathering as we¡¯d moved along, and I only seriously studied it now. The wolf was near. I grabbed the back of Theo¡¯s shirt.

    ¡°Go. Go. Go,¡± I hissed. ¡°The wolf. It¡¯s near.¡±

    Theo didn¡¯t need to be told twice. Though he did step aside and usher me forward, glancing around the thick forest.

    If a terrifying beast wasn¡¯t somewhere near, I would not be shimmying my way into a very dark hole in a place that was a recreation of everything in the horror genre. But I did, because Theo needed to follow soon after me to be protected.

    Once I came through the small hole, I moved deeper into the cave, hissing at Theo to follow. The only way I knew he listened is because the only light source was blocked for a moment as he got himself down. It wasn¡¯t much of a light source to begin with. I didn¡¯t dare turn on my flashlight, for fear of alerting the wolf, and Theo didn¡¯t either. We backed away from the entrance, my ears straining for any sound. As soon as my ears heard the wet slobber sniffs, I grabbed Theo¡¯s wrist and backed away further. Both of us remained silent. The only light source again went dark, and I closed my eyes. Not like I could tell. It was completely dark in both directions.

    Theo pulled me behind him, no doubt holding his sword out. It wouldn¡¯t matter, but the gesture was nice. We both knew the wolf¡¯s level. Theo couldn¡¯t kill it.

    ¡°Is there another exit out of this?¡± I whispered.

    There was a pause, then Theo¡¯s voice came. ¡°Sometimes there is, sometimes there isn¡¯t. Depends on the cave.¡±

    I tried to hold a sigh back. ¡°Let¡¯s see if our luck pays off, then.¡±

    I followed Theo, who was far more experienced with caves. Theo kept a hand on my elbow. ¡°There are some cave monsters on my side of the river who are attracted to light. So don¡¯t turn on the light yet. Let me get set up.¡±

    I nodded before realizing it was still pitch black in here and Theo didn¡¯t see. But by the time I realized my mistake, I didn¡¯t feel like saying it out loud. I listened as Theo got ready, which I assumed meant he pulled out whatever weapons he could.

    ¡°Tell me when to turn it on.¡± My voice echoed in the darkness.

    There was another few beats before I heard Theo. ¡°Ready.¡±

    I flipped on my flashlight, and even though I had it pointed toward the ceiling, it was blinding. I blinked, trying to orient myself back into a land of light. I was glad I wasn¡¯t Theo, mentally preparing to fight a monster while blinking away in the light.

    After a few moments of silence, I concluded there weren¡¯t creatures here attracted to light. Theo placed his crossbow and sword back into his inventory as I shone the light around the cave.

    ¡°Do you often go about killing creatures with a weapon in each hand?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Theo said. ¡°It¡¯s more badass. Especially once I upgraded my crossbow to automatically load after taking a shot. It¡¯s beautiful.¡±

    I smiled, shaking my head as I resumed my search of the cave. Theo turned on his flashlight on his little head tool, too, keeping his sword out.

    It was a huge chamber. Above me I could see the roots of the trees snaking down around the wall. I pressed a hand against the cool wall, brushing the dirt aside and touching one of the roots.

    Discovered

    Wood the wolf will not destroy

    I raised an eyebrow, curious.

    If left out in an unbuilt state all night, the wolf will eventually destroy it

    Therefore you still need to store it inside

    But if crafted into something else, the wolf will not touch it

    I paused, trying to figure out what this meant, before it hit me at once and I gasped in delight.

    ¡°What? What is it? What¡¯s going on?¡± Theo asked, by my side in a heartbeat.

    ¡°Outside furniture! Theo!¡± I grabbed his arm, tugging it. ¡°I¡¯m going to make furniture that can stay outside!¡±

    Theo blinked, then glanced at the tree roots. ¡°Sorry, what?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I can already feel it getting unlocked in the clipboard. I¡¯m going to build that bench among the lilac bushes and a little table to hold a book and a glass of lemonade! I¡¯ll be able to make a chair or bench to sit on while I cook food by the fireplace! Oh, can you even imagine the swinging bench on the front porch!¡± I practically screamed before remembering the wolf was at the opening.

    Theo continued to stare at me, looking like he had a lot of things to say about this. I gave his arm a gentle thwack with my palm. ¡°Listen, you, I don¡¯t make fun of you for your double wielding sword and crossbow maneuver. Let me have this.¡±

    He chuckled, then glanced around the cave. ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll leave you be.¡±

    ¡°How many slots left do you have in your inventory?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Four?¡±

    ¡°Can I have all of them?¡± I asked, my logging clothes jumping on as I pulled out an axe.

    Theo smiled. ¡°It¡¯s what I¡¯m here for.¡±

 Chapter 77

    I went to work chopping down all the wood I could. It was odd, chopping down a tree from the top of its roots. Theo explored a little, but this cave seemed to be a smaller one. There weren¡¯t any other chambers. I didn¡¯t mind. I had a feeling that since this was on my side of the river, the only monster we needed to fear was the wolf.

    Instead of dropping seven logs, this wood only dropped three. It was of a darker type to differentiate itself from the other trees. I was excited. Would I be able to make cushions, too? Probably not until I had a sheep, but that was for wool inside the house. Could I still make a cushion the wolf wouldn¡¯t tear to shreds?

    I could only carry ten logs per inventory slot, which was pretty nice, considering how valuable this wood was to me. My mind was already whirling with ideas of what to do with it. I¡¯d have to see what was unlocked on the clipboard. But there was definitely going to be a bench nestled among those lilacs.

    I made a pile as Theo started placing wood in his inventory. He glanced around as though still expecting a monster to pop up, but dutifully filled his inventory slots.

    ¡°Disappointed there¡¯s no monsters to fight?¡± I asked.

    ¡°A little.¡±

    I chuckled, waiting to see how much more space he had before chopping more wood. ¡°I suppose I only deal with two monsters. The wolf and them.¡±

    ¡°And a creep that I¡¯m ninety percent sure is my father,¡± Theo said as he continued to stuff logs in his back.

    I nodded. ¡°Yeah, okay. That too.¡±

    He smiled shaking his head. ¡°Well, according to the map here, we¡¯ve explored everything in the wolf¡¯s territory.¡±

    ¡°Wait, what map?¡± I asked.

    Theo tapped the side of his head. ¡°This map. Every time I explore more, bits of the map are unlocked.¡± He glanced at me. ¡°Do you not have a map?¡±

    ¡°No. Just an eerily good sense of where things are.¡±

    Theo raised an eyebrow. ¡°Oh. That¡¯s pretty cool, too.¡±

    ¡°Thanks,¡± I said as he placed the last of the logs in his inventory. ¡°Do you have room for anymore?¡±

    ¡°About four more,¡± he said.

    I already moved toward the roots. ¡°I will take it.¡±

    Once our inventories were full, we walked toward the entrance. Theo hadn¡¯t found an exit, so we had to leave the same way we came.

    Theo did a bit of scouting before ushering me out. We both headed back to the house. My heart started pounding as I glanced up at the foliage. ¡°What time is it?¡±

    Theo shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t have a watch.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just¡­ if it¡¯s dark enough¡­ the wolf might be around the house now. I can never tell what time it is here,¡± I said, glancing around.

    ¡°Mmm,¡± Theo said, concerned. ¡°We¡¯ll make something work.¡±

    ¡°Not dying,¡± I said.

    Theo shrugged. ¡°I mean¡­ at least we know dying is not as bad as in real life.¡±

    ¡°We need to avoid it as much as possible, because I honestly think part of defeating them is also figuring out how to get them out of your system. Without dying.¡±

    Theo let out a quiet sigh. ¡°Yeah, alright.¡±

    ¡°Do you still want to see your grandmother¡¯s bedroom?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yeah. We can try that. And if it¡¯s too late when we¡¯re done and the wolf is out, I¡¯ll-¡± I shot him a sharp look, and Theo pursed his lips, thinking. ¡°Maybe we can try what it¡¯s like if I fall asleep in the back porch. See if I wake up at basecamp or something.¡±

    I nodded as we kept walking. The trees seemed to swallow the light, and there wasn¡¯t much to see. The only indication that we were getting any closer was when we both stopped and were asked about whether we wanted to leave the wolf territory.

    I mentally chose yes, and I assume Theo did too, since we both moved forward again. It was a good thing I had my tracker ability, because the trees were so thick they blocked out the sun. The only thing I knew was we had a mere twenty minutes until the wolf appeared in the clearing. We really cut that close.

    I almost ran into the lamp post before realizing we¡¯d made it through the trees. It was dark, and it was hard to tell when the house didn¡¯t have any lights on.

    ¡°We¡¯re here,¡± I said, the beam of light landing on the chipped white brick of the house. I moved over so I was at the pavement leading up to the house. I had a slight smile as I held out a hand. ¡°Can you imagine it, Theo? Tulips leading up to the front door?¡±

    ¡°Tulips don¡¯t last long,¡± Theo said.

    ¡°Maybe not on earth, but just sprinkle a little game logic and you have eternal tulips.¡± I frowned. ¡°Until winter. And then¡­ until the end of spring.¡±

    Theo shook his head. ¡°How? How are you so happy all the time?¡±

    I was surprised by this question, but something told me we¡¯d had this conversation before. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°You had a rough childhood, too. Your mom was some sort of drug addict, and you never knew if you¡¯d get a meal that day. You were starving when you came to Brenda and Doug¡¯s. Twice. Your mom overdosed. I just¡­ don¡¯t get it.¡±

    There was no point trying to remember what I said before. I shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I guess the little things just get me excited.¡± I shone my flashlight at the front porch, imagining all the things I could do with it, but I paused again, giving another thought to Theo¡¯s question. I slowed to a stop and let out a breath. ¡°I¡¯m not happy all the time. I still have my moments of sadness. Of regret. Of pain. But¡­¡± I glanced at Theo again. ¡°But I¡¯m also not using up a lot of energy fighting a sludge monster. So maybe to you it does seem like I¡¯m happy most of the time.¡±This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    Theo nodded, glancing at the front door. ¡°I suppose you¡¯re right. It¡¯s harder, splitting my energy this way.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, patting him on the shoulder. ¡°Especially when you have to for your own survival.¡±

    We were quiet as we came to the front door. Theo stared at it long and hard before he closed his eyes. ¡°Can you just lead me there?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    I took his hand, then opened the door. Theo kept his eyes shut as we passed through the doorway. There were so many emotions on Theo¡¯s face, even with his eyes closed. Despite how much I had cleaned, I knew the smells and the memories hit him.

    The fact that the mildew smell would not hit him gave me a strange amount of pride.

    I opened the door to his grandmother¡¯s bedroom and stepped inside, making sure the door was closed again so he couldn¡¯t see into the entertainment room. I placed him near the center of the room, then backed away. ¡°Alright. We¡¯re in here, and both doors are closed.¡±

    ¡°Both doors?¡±

    ¡°The one leading to the entertainment room, and the one leading to the hall.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ didn¡¯t know there was another door leading to the hall.¡± Theo cracked an eye open, glancing around. His face relaxed the more he looked around. ¡°Yep. My grandma¡¯s bedroom was the best first choice.¡± He moved around, smiling. ¡°This looks fantastic.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t help it. My chest swirled with pride. ¡°Isn¡¯t lilac the best color for a bedroom?¡±

    He chuckled, his fingers moving over the covers before he felt the dirt on his fingertips.

    ¡°I still need to get a sheep to get wool to replace the blankets, but that¡¯ll come soon,¡± I said.

    ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry about it,¡± he said, glancing around again. ¡°It¡¯s a lovely room.¡±

    I smiled at his compliment before my mind got distracted. I needed to check the clipboard. For whatever reason, I was alerted by everything else unlocking on the clipboard, yet not when I reached certain levels. I could already be at level twenty-five for animal care and not even know it.

    A shriek reverberated across the room and my mind shut down. I stumbled back, gasping. Theo whirled around, pulling out a sword. The grandma ghost appeared, shrieking again. I never got a good look at her before. I was always out of the room well before I did. The only reason why I did not open the door and bolt out of the room now was because Theo was here. He wouldn¡¯t want to move into other rooms, and I didn¡¯t want to leave him here with his grandmother¡¯s ghost.

    ¡°Nana?¡± Theo whispered.

    The ghost seemed to solidify, her chest heaving with anger as she glowered at me. I was against the door, fighting every urge to twist the knob and run.

    ¡°Nana, can you hear me?¡±

    She was in her house coat with a thin material wrapped around her curlers. There was dried blood on her face, coming from a red line around her throat. Theo was frozen in place, and his eyes were locked on that wound on her neck. The grandma, or Nana, as Theo called her, still had a burning fury in her eyes that she pointed toward me.

    ¡°She¡¯s the one who brought the cat!¡± Her voice had an otherworldly, echoing aspect to it. ¡°She¡¯s been throwing away all my things! How DARE she!¡±

    Nana shrieked again, and I covered my ears, relieved Killie wasn¡¯t in this room.

    ¡°Nana! Stop!¡± Theo placed his sword back in his inventory and holding out two hands. ¡°Stop. Please.¡±

    Nana was glaring right at me, and I was too terrified to speak.

    ¡°She¡¯s doing a good thing,¡± Theo said.

    ¡°Everything she¡¯s thrown out! The audacity of it all! And to bring in a cat. A cat, Theo! It¡¯s disrespectful!¡±

    The woman was talking to Theo. I was sitting on the ground, terrified. The ghosts had never talked to me. Granted, I never tried, but this was a whole new revelation. I had never heard her speak, and a large part of me was glad Theo had taken over this part of the conversation.

    ¡°It¡¯s alright, Nana.¡± There were tears in Theo¡¯s eyes. Black, sludgy tears, threatening to fall. ¡°It¡¯s alright. She¡¯s doing a good thing.¡±

    ¡°By getting rid of me! By throwing away everything that¡¯s mine! You cannot let this happen, Theo! You cannot let her get away with this!¡±

    Theo moved forward, the ghost solidifying more the longer she was here, speaking. Nana finally tore her gaze from me to look right at Theo.

    ¡°Let these things go, Nana,¡± Theo said. ¡°Please. Quinn is doing an amazing job cleaning the house.¡±

    ¡°What are you trying to say, boy?¡± Nana asked. ¡°That you¡¯ve always wanted me gone? Was my lifestyle too much for you? Do you dare disrespect me when I opened my doors to you and your mother?¡±

    Theo let out a tiny sigh, then dropped his hands. I remained frozen in place in the corner. This didn¡¯t seem like a conversation for me anyway, and I was fine with that. Theo himself looked as though he wasn¡¯t sure what to say. I got the impression that Nana was far more feisty and got angrier a lot more than Theo cared to admit.

    ¡°Everything she does, I feel myself getting lost a little more each day. How can we remain if she keeps throwing our memories out?¡±

    ¡°Do you think that¡¯s what she¡¯s doing? Throwing you out?¡± Theo asked.

    ¡°She¡¯s thrown out everything!¡± Nana¡¯s voice shook the walls of the room and I covered my ears. ¡°Everything, Theo! She is scrubbing me from this house. Me, who inherited this house from my own grandmother! The blatant disrespect!¡± Her eyes focused on me, and I found myself cowering again. ¡°I will not allow it!¡±

    The walls shook, and I tried to make myself as small as possible. Nana sneered at me. ¡°¡®This house would be so much better if it were cleaner,¡¯ you says. ¡®Make the walls lilac,¡¯ you says. ¡®Everything would be so much better if everything that was mine, my mothers, and my grandmothers was taken out and thrown away in the dumpster!¡¯ you say!¡±

    Nana strode forward, and I wished for her ability to move through walls so I could run. Run as fast as possible from the rage I saw in this ghostly woman¡¯s eyes. That otherworldly echo in her voice did not help in the slightest.

    Instinctively, Theo threw out a hand and caught Nana around the waist to keep her in one place. The shock of it made me gasp. I didn¡¯t think you could touch ghosts. ¡°Nana¡­¡± Theo started to say.

    ¡°You believe her mission? You believe she¡¯s doing a good thing?!¡± Nana stared at Theo, daring him to answer.

    Theo dropped his hands, staring at his grandmother¡¯s face. ¡°I believe¡­ we shouldn¡¯t tie so much of our memories in things,¡± Theo whispered. ¡°I believe that¡­ sometimes tragedies happen. Where we might be whisked away from the house with nothing but the clothes on our backs. Away from all the stuff, from all the things, from the four walls that make up a home. And you realize three weeks into your new home that you never needed things to remember a person by.¡±

    Nana stared long and hard at Theo. The rage was still there, but it had softened considerably. ¡°Something happened to me, didn¡¯t it?¡± Theo paused, then nodded. ¡°What will happen to the house?¡±

    Theo hesitated again, then gave a slow rise of his shoulders. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Because I was taken away. Left with memories.¡±

    Nana watched, him, the rage seeping out of her like the black tears now staining Theo¡¯s cheeks. ¡°Bad memories?¡±

    Theo¡¯s gaze dropped to the floor as more tears fell. ¡°The bad memories are often fighting for prominence in my mind. But I try to remember the good.¡±

    Nana nodded, the rage now gone. ¡°Remember the good, Theo. There is always good. The bad wants us to think there¡¯s no good, but the bad is wrong.¡± Her voice lost that other worldly echo. She was here, solidly.

    ¡°I¡¯m trying,¡± Theo said.

    ¡°I know you are. You¡¯re such a good boy.¡± A sob broke through Theo as he tried to cover his face. Nana wrapped her arms around him, rubbing his back. ¡°You¡¯ve gotten so tall.¡±

    The sobs were slowing, but Theo still clung to his grandmother. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ older.¡±

    ¡°Take good care of yourself, Theo. Make sure you wash around your ears, and don¡¯t forget to eat your veggies,¡± Nana said.

    Theo chuckled. ¡°Okay, Nana.¡±

    He still clung to her, even as she reverted back to a ghostly figure, then disappeared for good. Theo remained standing, his arms curling into himself as his grandmother disappeared. I remained on the floor, staring at Theo.

    Words appeared in my vision, making my eyes grow wide.

    1/4 ghosts defeated

    Power of them reduced by 10%

 Chapter 78

    Theo glanced at me, confused. I stared at him, still huddled in the corner of the lilac bedroom.

    ¡°Did you¡­¡± I didn¡¯t want to break that moment he had, but his stare of confusion made me too curious. ¡°Did you get those words, too?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Theo dropped his gaze. ¡°Yeah, I did. This is¡­ how I defeat that monster, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    I didn¡¯t say anything. I still felt like an intruder on his moment.

    ¡°Do you know the¡­ the other three ghosts?¡± Theo asked.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I whispered.

    He turned his face toward me. He had been crying so much that his tears had turned clear again.

    ¡°Who¡­?¡±

    ¡°There are two talking ghosts in the locked room. Male and female. And¡­ a ghost of a little boy. Of¡­ you.¡±

    Theo closed his eyes again, his back toward me. He rubbed his face, which didn¡¯t do much to clean it. More just move the sludge around.

    ¡°I need to leave,¡± Theo said, his eyes still closed as he held out a hand.

    I glanced at my wolf timer. ¡°You have less than ten minutes.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll run.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t my place to convince him to stay. He needed some time alone to think. I got up from my corner and took his arm.

    ¡°Front door? Or back?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Front.¡±

    I didn¡¯t say another word. I simply lead him out the door, through the entertainment room, and through the living room out the front door. Once Theo felt the breeze on his face, he opened his eyes and moved past the front porch, his brows furrowed.

    ¡°I¡¯ll see you later,¡± he said before moving around the house.

    Once he left, I felt all the emotions of helplessness slam into me. He was hurting, and I barely said anything. This had to be overwhelming for him. We¡¯ve discovered the way to weaken them, and it involved Theo confronting his ghosts.

    I moved almost numbly to the tool, quickly pulling out the glass and placing one pane of it in the greenhouse. I wanted to get the tv and computer upgraded, and those needed glass. I put five more bags of sand in the tool before slipping inside and unloading all my findings from foraging into the storage unit.

    So much had happened today. I built the shed, Theo and I got another memory orb, we got a huge clue about why we were here. We also had discovered the rest of the wolf territory, and I found out I could build outside furniture. Then we figured out exactly how to weaken them.

    A huge day. And yet it was hard. Despite the to-do lists phasing out, I feel like we had a lot of huge, end of game objectives. But we could still do these by the end of spring.

    We had to.

    Speaking of to-do lists, I finished placing the last of the resources in my newly upgraded storage unit before reaching in my pocket and pulling out my to-do list.

    Strengthen the fence

    Purchase shed

    Build shed

    Begin lawn care

    Make sure no essence of them remains in your house

    I let out a breath. Lawn care would begin tomorrow, then my to-do list would be done. The last to-do list I¡¯d receive. Then I¡¯d work on the end game quests and finish those.

    Ghosts. Theo needed to face his ghosts. Were there ghosts I could talk to for him? Did it all have to be Theo? It was worth experimenting with.

    The wolf timer blinked, and I stayed in the covered back porch. I figured out from before that the wolf wouldn¡¯t enter the back porch, so I wasn¡¯t rushed. Instead, I picked up the clipboard and flipped through the pages until I found my levels.

    Farming level 24

    Cleaning level 27

    Logging level 32

    Cooking level 27

    Building level 31

    Animal Care level 24

    I tried not to get frustrated. I had gained a whole two levels in cooking without buying the fourth article of clothes.

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t there be some feeling when I¡¯ve unlocked this?¡± I muttered to the alien overlords that may or may not respond. I tried buying the slip-on shoes that were part of the chef¡¯s outfit before I realized my dopamine points were in the negative. I did not regret that purchase of information. I needed to know. Theo needed to know.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    And Theo was dying. I had bargained with these alien overlords to get him back. There were still a few unanswered questions, but this was my purpose.

    Despite my unease at the alien overlords, a part of me now understood why they erased my memories. If I had the knowledge of what I was supposed to do right from the get-go, I would have burnt myself out finishing the to-do lists as fast as possible. Every failure would have felt ten times worse, and I would have been completely ragged by now. Despite my memories still mostly erased, I knew myself well enough by now to know that¡¯s what would have happened to me. Mainly because I was already trying to think how I could speed the process up even now.

    I placed the extra glass in the TV and the computer. They didn¡¯t turn on, though I wasn¡¯t sure what I expected. Both gave a sheen. I probably still needed electricity.

    Theo would be back tomorrow. At least, I hoped he would. This was a lot to process.

    I went back to the clipboard, flipping through the pages until I reached a newly unlocked section that made me smile. Furniture.

    There were a few sets I could buy. There were separate lawn chairs I could make out of wood, and a nice, long bench that I was eyeing. There were even some words written under it.

    Ideal for placing among lilacs

    Right underneath that was a small end table, with more words written underneath that.

    For a book, and even a glass of lemonade

    I tried to cover my smile, because I still needed to keep the alien overlords at a respectful distance. Yes, I was starting to see their logic, but their vast amount of power they had scared me. Even though I had long since given up the idea that I was a rat in a maze, I still felt insignificantly small against two powerful cosmic beings who pulled the strings of this game.

    There was plenty of outside furniture for me to build, including a porch swing. I wanted the grass to look a little nicer than it was, but I had plenty of wood for this. If wood was all it took. I¡¯d also work on getting those slip-on shoes for my cooking, and hopefully I¡¯d get enough to raise my animal care and farming levels, too. Maybe planting some flowers would, in a roundabout way, count as farming.

    Between all this, even though my to-do list would be done by tomorrow, I still had a mountain of work to get done. On top of all that, I wanted to see if I could communicate with any of the ghosts like how Theo did with his Nana.

    The ghosts who were left were the two people talking quietly in the locked room, and the active ghost of little Theo. If I had any luck with the remaining three ghosts, it would be little Theo. I¡¯d already tried once to communicate with the boy. Maybe tonight I could try again. Just to see what happened. While I waited, I could always clean the walls of the green room. It still had junk in the room, but it was a lot more manageable.

    I walked up the stairs onto the landing, quietly entering the green room. It was starting to get dark, but I still hadn¡¯t heard any activity lately. The blue room, which was apparently Theo¡¯s old room, was decluttered and cleaned, so I might not be able to hear him as strongly. Either way, I got to work cleaning the walls of the green room, keeping my ears focused on any abnormal activity on the second floor.

    Killie still refused to come to the second floor during the evening. I couldn¡¯t blame the girl. I wouldn¡¯t either, unless it was a matter of life and death.

    I heard giggling from Theo¡¯s room, but it was faint. Almost like I could think it away. A part of me was sad. I remembered how terrified I was of that giggling boy, how much my sanity was lost because I didn¡¯t know. Now that I did, my sanity changed to sadness. This was little Theo transforming into the scared, lost Theo that I met.

    I kept washing the walls of the green room. Once that was done, I looked at the remaining clutter in the room. I remembered what Nana said. How much of her I was throwing away. I hadn¡¯t thought too much about the things I was throwing away. Had there been photo books in the bags I had tossed? Knowing me, I would have saved the picture books to get clues of who owned this house. I was desperate for clues in the beginning.

    I remembered the letters on the table when I first came here. They were sent letters, yet there were no addresses on them. The alien overlords made it so there would be no clues to who owned the house until they told me.

    ¡°All around the mulberry bush!¡±

    Despite knowing little Theo was singing his heart out in a room near mine, it sounded like he was singing it from far away. I stopped collecting junk in my inventory and crept out of the green room.

    ¡°The monkey chased the weasel!¡±

    I pushed open the door to the blue room and walked in.

    ¡°The monkey thought, ¡®twas all in good fun.¡¯¡±

    ¡°Theo?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Pop! Goes the weasel!¡±

    ¡°Theo, is that you?¡± I asked. I heard more giggling. Like before, the sound seemed to come from every corner of the room. ¡°I just want to talk to you.¡±

    ¡°All around the mulberry bush!

    ¡°The monkey chased the weasel!¡±

    ¡°Hey, kid! I want to talk!¡±

    ¡°The monkey thought, ¡®twas all in good fun,¡¯

    ¡°Pop! Goes the weasel!¡±

    I sighed, but I didn¡¯t want to give up yet. ¡°Hey, Theo! Can I sing with you?¡±

    There was more giggling. My sanity was only losing slivers every minute. I was getting frustrated with the whole thing. I wanted to get rid of the ghosts. Theo had gone through enough. Why was it him who had to face his ghosts?

    When I said it in my mind, I understood the twisted logic behind all that. He was the one who needed to defeat them, therefore he needed to be the one to confront his ghosts. I sighed, leaning against the wall. I couldn¡¯t give up yet, though.

    ¡°A penny for a spool of thread!¡± Theo started singing.

    ¡°A penny for a spool of thread!¡± I sang with him, singing faster to catch up with him.

    ¡°A penny for a needle!¡± we both sang at the same time.

    ¡°That¡¯s the way the money goes!¡± I remembered this, because I held out ¡®goes¡¯ for as long as I could, so I tried doing the same. Theo still had me beat by a solid seven seconds.

    ¡°Pop! Goes the weasel!¡± we both sang, with little Theo screaming it at the top of his lungs. Little Theo giggled, his voice echoing across the room.

    I tried to smile, but I didn¡¯t feel it. Now that I could see the ending of the game, I wasn¡¯t sure how to feel about it. Theo needed to face his ghosts. It was Theo who would need to talk to them. Even then, if each ghost reduced their power by ten percent, they would still have sixty percent of their power left over.

    Theo thought he¡¯d defeat them by  getting rid of them completely. I had a feeling this was not how the game would end. Everything I¡¯d seen from the alien overlords meant they did follow a sort of logic. Despite the ¡®game logic¡¯ of this world, I doubted Theo would be standing atop his mount of black sludge the victor, returning to earth and never experiencing depression again. That wasn¡¯t how the world worked. Even the alien overlords admitted to listening to a natural law.

    Was I being pessimistic? Or was Theo so focused on this that he refused to see reality? I really got the impression he wouldn¡¯t leave the game until they were killed. Depression couldn¡¯t be killed like this. It went against everything I knew. If depression could be killed this way, millions of people would bargain with the alien overlords to do exactly that.

    I sighed, leaning against the wall of the blue room. The ghost of little Theo had left. My inventory was getting full of junk to throw out tomorrow morning. The game still needed to be played.

    I finished filling my inventory, then walked down the stairs. Killie greeted me at the foot of the stairs.

    ¡°Hey, girl. Let¡¯s go to bed.¡±

 Chapter 79

    I opened my eyes, sat up, and stretched. Killie, too, was stretching next to me before jumping off the bed. I got up, my farming clothes appearing before I stepped out of the front door. I placed all the junk in my inventory into the dumpster before beginning my morning routine.

    I kept nervously checking the forest near the bridge. Theo said he¡¯d see me later, but he didn¡¯t specify when. He might not come this morning. Maybe not even today. Maybe I should try going to the other side to see him. My fear of those monsters kept me back. Sure, we shouldn¡¯t die so much, but I understood why Theo went into things a bit recklessly now that death didn¡¯t mean much. It was a recklessness I still didn¡¯t have.

    I grabbed the glass panes and put all five in the greenhouse. It was the last thing I needed for this part of the upgrade. I waited patiently, watching the words shift.

    0/10 scrap metal

    That was a chunk from my metal supply, but I probably had enough. Theo made sure I was well stocked. Even then, I had the option of buying more in the basement.

    I emptied my supply into the greenhouse, figuring out I needed to buy two more to finish the upgrade. But to do that, I needed a lot of dopamine points. I continued my morning routine. I fed and gathered the food from my animals, placing them in the storage unit. I went to the fridge, knowing I¡¯d have room for more milk now that I ate a lot of chilled tomato soup. But when I opened the door, it was completely full. An invisible wall kept my hand from putting the milk in the fridge. I dropped to one knee, looking inside. There were cartons of heavy cream filling up the spaces that the chilled tomato soup once was. I frowned, picking one up and examining it. The fridge had been full of chilled tomato soup in order to prepare for the hot day yesterday. I had eaten quite a few soups, making more room.

    I grabbed all the chilled soup remaining and placed the other half gallon of milk in there. Heavy cream. What could I use cream for?

    I closed the fridge, my arms full of soups as I went to the clipboard. I didn¡¯t feel like anything unlocked on the clipboard, which was weird, because this was a brand-new cooking item. Shouldn¡¯t there be recipes?

    Everything remained the same. I was so confused. I tried to put the chilled tomato soups back, but I got a warning instead.

    Cannot place a chilled item in the storage unit. It will spoil.

    I grumbled, then walked over to the calendar. For the rest of the week, I wasn¡¯t having a hot day. I wasn¡¯t sure what the fog did tomorrow, but I could drop these tomato soups in the dumpster to get dopamine points and be able to replenish my chilled soups by next week.

    I did just that, pleased that the negative went away and I now had 9.04 dopamine points. This was a strange, getting cream. It had to be the first time that I got a food item and didn¡¯t get a bunch of recipes to unlock. Maybe they were meant for when I unlocked later greenhouses. I was really close to unlocking the next one.

    I gathered the food from the greenhouses, placing them in my storage unit before going back to water the plants. I let out a sigh as I finished watering the first greenhouse before moving to the second.

    ¡°So¡­ hello. It¡¯s me again. I know you¡¯re probably annoyed by all the little notes I give. But remember that one time? Back when I complained that often rain was so looked forward to because I didn¡¯t have to water my crops that day? It kind of eases the monotony of it all, to know that sometimes my morning routine will get a shift in my favor. Pretty sure there¡¯s research into it. Nice little boost of addicti-¡±

    Things are already in place for such a thing

    Just upgrade the greenhouse

    I blinked as the words faded. Due to the fact that this was all words in my head, I couldn¡¯t tell if they were annoyed, angry, or just wanted to keep me focused on the task at hand and to shut up. Either way, it made me far more determined to finish my upgrade, and I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

    Besides, if they really were angry at me, they¡¯d probably smite me with a lightning bolt or something.

    I finished what I needed to do in the greenhouse, making sure the beer can was gone. Still no sign of Theo. I tried not to get worried about it, but I wanted to figure out where his base was.

    I went to work cutting down four trees. I needed a lot of dopamine points, and right now, this was the best way to get them relatively cheap. I cut them all into boards before dropping them in the dumpster.

    By the time I dropped the last bonus board into the dumpster, I gave a stretch and saw I had 599.14 points. I had a strong desire to drop just one more item in there to get past six hundred, but it was already approaching noon, and I needed to buy so many items. Especially some for lawn care.

    I went to the clipboard and checked my progress. Animal care and farming were still at level 24, so I couldn¡¯t buy the fourth article of clothing for them yet. But I did have enough to finally buy my slip-on shoes for my chef¡¯s outfit. I put all the clothes on and felt an overwhelming amount of information hit my mind. Words appeared, but it did nothing for the sheer amount of information my brain was downloading.

    New catalogue section unlocked! Appliances

    Level 25 reached in both building and cooking

    New ability unlocked! Upgrade appliances

    Level 25 reached in cleaning, cooking, and building.

    New feature unlocked! ElectricityThis narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    New recipes unlocked!

    I stared at the words, then the kitchen light flickered on. I glanced behind me, gasping. There were so many things to do! Those six hundred dopamine points suddenly didn¡¯t feel like enough. I flipped through the pages of the clipboard until I reached the new section of appliances.

    I saw a blender and a juicer, which could make smoothies and other drinks. There was also a cheese maker, and a butter maker. That must be what the cream was for. There were still other appliances that were locked, but I realized there was a very good chance I¡¯d be growing wheat in one of the greenhouses, because there was probably a wheat grinder.

    I started buying things before I realized what I was doing. I needed to slow down and take a breath. True, it was too late to return the butter maker and the blender, but I needed to remember there were still things on my to-do list I needed to finish.

    I flipped over to the lawn care section and started buying everything there. Shovel, rake, hedge shears, soil tiller, and seed spreader. I even bought a riding lawn mower, simply because I had the dopamine points. It was a hundred dopamine points that would no doubt go to good use. Eventually this lawn was going to be gorgeous, and I might as well store my lawn mower in the shed now that I had one.

    Once that was all said and done, I had 319.14 dopamine points left. Still a nice, healthy chunk of points that I would no doubt need for the grass fertilizer and everything else. I still wasn¡¯t sure how much of this stuff I would need.

    I walked out toward the shed and opened it. I was rather relieved that the only thing I needed to build was the lawn mower. I was sort of hoping I wouldn¡¯t have to build any of them, but I could work on the lawn mower for the next few days. I picked up a rake, wondering what I needed to do to start this whole lawn process. Maybe I needed to be in the right clothes.

    My building clothes materialized on me and I looked around. All I saw was the pile that would eventually become the riding lawn mower, with some words and numbers above it.

    0/50 scrap metal

    That was going to take a while. I might have to make a lot of chicken wings for Theo in exchange for those.

    It still didn¡¯t give me the information I needed, so instead I jumped into my farming outfit.

    I then understood exactly what I needed to do. This was farming territory, so I would need to be in this outfit while I did yard work. Which was fantastic, because that was the level I needed to work on the most.

    I replaced the rake and instead grabbed the shovel. I walked up and down the lawn, finding weeds and digging them out. They were far more plentiful on the other side of the house, especially near the front and back porch. I spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon working on the weeds growing around the side of the house. I was even able to pull out enough weeds to make the side door on the back porch far more noticeable. There was honestly a nice plot of ground for a flower bed here on the back end of the house. And I only wanted to trim those lilac bushes. They were still glorious.

    So many thoughts and plans were going through my head. I saw the potential of this place as I was digging out weeds.

    I tore out the bigger weeds, placing them in the bag that magically appeared. This place was getting cleaned up nicely, and I sort of forgot just how huge this lawn was. The lawn always seemed to disappear among the trees because there wasn¡¯t much of a difference between the spotty lawn and the ground among the trees. It was a great distraction from everything else, because Theo still hadn¡¯t returned.

    I took a break to gather food from my traps, thinking that it was close enough I might have to add this to my morning routine. I returned with a live chicken in my inventory that I stuffed in there before it could freak out. I deposited the chicken in the coup, calling her Poppy. She was immediately welcomed by the other two chickens and Killie, who was sitting on the ground, giving a big yawn.

    I about continued my weeding when I decided to pull out my to-do list instead.

    Strengthen the fence

    Purchase shed

    Build shed

    Begin lawn care

    Make sure no essence of them remains in your house

    I let out a sigh. The to-do list was finished. I now had the freedom to do whatever I wanted. And I had to do the things to get out of this game.

    The sun was disappearing behind the trees by the time I lifted my shovel and observed what I was able to do. It was a far patchier plot of land. Some of the bigger weeds took some of my stamina. I took one break to eat chicken and veggies to restore my stamina to keep going. As far as I could tell, the weeds were gone. I placed my shovel in the shed and knew what I had to do next.

    I went to the clipboard in the shed and bought a bag of grass fertilizer. I needed to experiment to see how long one bag would last. I needed to do something to take my mind off everything else.

    I tore the top of the bag open, then started spreading the fertilizer at the top corner. I could almost see it in my mind¡¯s eye. The entire lawn was red, and as I spread appropriate amounts of fertilizer on the ground, those sections turned green. I knew I would later come out here with my rake and make sure it was all evenly placed, but for now I needed to get the fertilizer on the ground.

    The bag lasted a lot longer than I expected. It still reminded me just how massive this lawn was, but I was able to get a good chunk of the front corner done with one bag. I¡¯d probably at least need another four bags to do the front yard, and a lot more for the back. I brushed off my hands and saw Theo walking through the trees. It was starting to get dark. My heart lightened at the sight before it immediately fell again. Theo¡¯s shoulders were slumped, his gaze downward. I approached him, noticing there were some black veins on his neck. I¡¯m sure the veins in his arms were solidly black again.

    Theo brushed the back of his hand over his forehead, and his gloves had some black sludge on them. What I had mistaken for dirt on his forehead was actually sludgy sweat.

    ¡°So um¡­¡± he closed his eyes, rubbing his temples before giving a slight shake of his head. ¡°I¡­ didn¡¯t die.¡±

    I stared at him, realizing his meaning. I had never seen him like this, because he had always done something to get himself killed before it got like this. He had listened to me and tried not to die. But now he was in a really bad state.

    I tried to hug him, but Theo held out a hand to stop me. His face twisted in pain, something gurgling inside him. I about asked him a question when he turned his head and cupped both hands under him to catch the thing that left his mouth. It wasn¡¯t vomit because his vomit from before was in a much more liquid state. This was like he had coughed up the equivalent of a sludgy hairball. I flinched as the sludge shivered in his cupped palms before they snaked back up his arm and reentered his ears, nose, and mouth. I moved forward to help, but Theo just raised a hand to stop me again.

    ¡°Theo¡­¡± I started to say.

    He rubbed his temples as though it was taking a conscious effort to think. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ here to set up the¡­ the thing. I¡¯m going to see if this works. I¡¯ve reached level twenty-five.¡±

    ¡°Hey, that¡¯s fantastic!¡± I said.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± He didn¡¯t sound like he was all that thrilled, but I was familiar with this part of Theo. The sludge monster was taking too much energy inside his body for him to feel anything else. ¡°I¡¯ll¡­ go set it up.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll make you some comfort food,¡± I said.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± he said with the same tone again.

    I watched him stumble toward the greenhouse, and my heart started to break. I had asked Theo not to die. Theo listened. Now I found myself with the very real responsibility of helping him figure out how to get them out of his system without dying.

 Chapter 80

    I gathered some firewood, sticks, and matches and loaded my inventory with all the ingredients I had to make Theo his chicken wings. I then walked out to the fire, because I was a little nervous about leaving Theo alone.

    I sat by the fire, starting it up as I kept my eye on Theo. He was quietly working on drawing something in the ground with a glowing finger as I placed the raw chicken and eggs in the pot.

    Once two plates of chicken wings were done, Theo stood up and brushed off his hands before walking over to me. He didn¡¯t look at me as he sat down, watching the fire as the third plate of wings was cooking. The wolf was coming in about forty minutes, so eventually I would have to abandon the fire to get back to the house, but for now, I was worried about Theo. I handed him a plate of wings and he took them quietly, slowly eating them.

    I saw the subtle change in him after he finished the wings. Where before he was a bit scattered, it looked like now he could focus a bit more.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t there antidepressants here?¡± I asked the alien overlords in my mind as I kept cooking more food. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure Theo is on antidepressants.¡±

    There was silence. Nothing but the crickets. I handed Theo another plate and he ate that too. This felt like my responsibility, because this was my idea, but feeding him wasn¡¯t going to cure him.

    ¡°How much comfort food have you had today?¡± I asked.

    Theo still stared at the fire. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ not sure. Today¡¯s a foggy day.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m¡­ sorry.¡±

    ¡°Not your fault,¡± Theo said. Even his words sounded a bit more certain. He rested his palm against his forehead, staring at the fire.

    ¡°Congratulations on reaching level twenty-five,¡± I said. Theo grunted, but it sounded like he was a bit more aware of his accomplishments. ¡°Does the thing work?¡±

    ¡°It should,¡± Theo said, still mesmerized by the fire. ¡°It¡¯d be nice to practice it with¡­¡± Theo hesitated, then there was that gurgling noise again. He turned his back to me this time before hacking up the sludge.

    ¡°Theo-¡± I started to say.

    My brother choked as the last of the sludge left his mouth. ¡°Sorry,¡± he mumbled.

    ¡°Just¡­ toss it in the grass.¡±

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t work.¡± He tossed the sludge away from him. ¡°See?¡± The sludge immediately crawled over toward him, snaking up his arms and entering his face again. I frowned, staring at it. I remembered the last time I¡¯d seen this happen. ¡°It only works if I throw it as far as I can and sprint the other direction. But it always catches up with me. Eventually.¡±

    ¡°Toss it to me next time, then,¡± I said.

    ¡°No.¡± I was surprised at Theo¡¯s certainty.

    ¡°Why not?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Because it¡¯s disgusting,¡± he said.

    I waited for him to say anything more. The food was finished, and I switched it out for some more. ¡°Really? That¡¯s it?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I¡­ hate this. I don¡¯t like anyone to see me like this. I can take care of it on my own,¡± Theo said.

    ¡°Can you?¡±

    ¡°Yes. It¡­ goes away. Eventually.¡±

    Or I die. It was the phrase Theo left out that I knew flickered across his mind.

    ¡°Right,¡± Theo said, standing up. ¡°I forgot the other reason why I came over here. I have a bunch of stuff in my inventory that I forgot to give you. Where do you want it?¡±

    ¡°Um, in the storage room.¡± I stood up, brushing off my pants even though no dirt would have gotten on my clothes. ¡°I¡¯ll show you.¡±

    We entered through the back door into the covered back porch again. I opened the door to the shed and pointed toward the section with the other outside wood. While Theo was unloading the wood and the fruit, I checked the clipboard. With all my work on the yard today, I was up to level twenty-six in farming. I quickly bought some farming gloves because it was weird spending all day in the sun pulling weeds and not have gloves.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    Unlocked! Third greenhouse

    New seeds unlocked!

    I flipped through the pages and found the farming section. Wheat and rice. Sweet. I wondered when I¡¯d be getting wheat.

    Theo walked up the stairs, them leaking from his ears as he wiped it with his sleeve. ¡°Good news?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Yeah, you could say that. I¡¯ll finally grow some wheat.¡± I bought the seeds, -2.00 each.

    ¡°Good. Good. How much longer till the wolf comes?¡± Theo asked.

    ¡°Half an hour. Do you need something?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I¡¯d like to see if I could take you onto my side using the teleportation ring,¡± Theo said.

    ¡°Of course. We¡¯ve got time for that. Let me plant these seeds fast, and I¡¯ll be over.¡± My outfit changed into the farmers outfit as I spoke. Theo tried to smile, but instead he started making that noise again. My farmer¡¯s outfit instantly changed into my cleaning outfit and I started walking toward him. He backed away before running out the back door.

    The abruptness caught me by surprise, and I would have laughed if the situation was any different. My brother was stupidly stubborn at times. ¡°Theo!¡± I called out to him.

    By the time I had opened the door and ran toward him, he already had the sludge hacked out and in his palms. He threw it with all his might away from us, and it landed near the first greenhouse. It immediately started moving for Theo. I didn¡¯t hesitate and ran after it.

    ¡°Quinn, don¡¯t!¡± he shouted.

    I dropped to my knees next to the sludge and pushed it with my hands, keeping it from moving any closer to Theo. The piece of them pushed, then all at once turned into liquid. I stared at it, my heart lightening. It settled onto the ground immovable.

    ¡°I knew it. I knew I had to touch it to stop it,¡± I said.

    Theo walked forward, frowning. ¡°It¡­ worked?¡±

    ¡°It did. Like last time,¡± I said.

    Theo¡¯s face screwed up in confusion. ¡°Last time?¡±

    ¡°When you vomited on me,¡± I said.

    The confusion instantly left his face and he dropped his gaze again. ¡°We¡­ can¡¯t. This can¡¯t be how I get it out of my system.¡±

    ¡°How much do you have now?¡± I asked.

    Theo pursed his lips, almost like he refused to tell me, then his shoulders sagged. ¡°I¡¯m at sixty-two percent. Since coming here, it¡¯s dropped twenty-three percent.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± I said, relieved.

    ¡°I¡¯m just¡­ nervous about going to sleep. Every night I gain about ten to fifteen percent. It will sometimes work itself out as I go through the day, but sometimes it doesn¡¯t. And if it doesn¡¯t, I gain over twenty percent in the night. Sometimes thirty.¡± His chest was starting to heave as he placed a hand in his hair. ¡°And last night I gained over fifty percent, and I don¡¯t know-¡±

    ¡°Hey,¡± I said, placing a hand on his shoulder. ¡°Theo, we¡¯re going to be okay.¡±

    He let out a breath, covering his face to hide his liquid black tears. ¡°I can¡¯t be at one hundred percent corruption again, Quinn. I can¡¯t do it. I spent days lying in bed, incapable of moving. I only got out of it by spending hours crawling out of my base and letting the animals tear me apart. I never allowed myself to get past fifty since then. I don¡¯t want to experience one hundred percent again.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve already lost a lot. You said so yourself,¡± I said. He was panicking again. I could see it in the way he kept one hand in his hair and the other clenched and wrapped around himself.

    Theo closed his eyes and took a deep breath before letting it out. ¡°It said their power was reduced by ten percent yesterday. Yet¡­ it seems more powerful than before and I¡¯m just¡­ scared.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay to be scared. Teach me how to use the teleportation ring, and then I¡¯ll be able to check up on you. You won¡¯t be alone again. I promise,¡± I said.

    Theo nodded. He dropped his hand and almost headed toward the ring when he stopped. ¡°Wait, no. You needed to plant some seeds?¡±

    I waved a hand. ¡°It¡¯s not important.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s important to you, though,¡± Theo said.

    ¡°Well, I mean¡­¡±

    ¡°We still have time, right?¡±

    I frowned, thinking. ¡°It might take some time. I might have to rebuild the soil beds, and that always takes some time.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± Theo said, his face dropping. ¡°Um¡­ we can do the teleportation-¡±

    ¡°Now,¡± I said, walking forward toward the ring.

    ¡°Quinn,¡± Theo started to say.

    ¡°Please, Theo. I want a way to reach you. I want to make sure I can use it, too. It¡¯ll take too long for the seeds.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t¡­ want to be a burden,¡± Theo said.

    ¡°And you¡¯re not.¡±

    ¡°But your seeds,¡± Theo said.

    I smiled, looking around at the ground to find the teleportation ring. ¡°I have time. If not tonight, I can do it tomorrow. Honestly, Theo, I¡¯ve finished my to-do list. I can do whatever I want for the rest of the time we¡¯re here.¡±

    Theo sighed, then moved forward. He pointed at a section of ground near the greenhouse. ¡°You really can¡¯t see it?¡± he asked.

    ¡°No. I can¡¯t,¡± I said, moving toward where he pointed.

    He sighed, moving over toward the ground, then pointed. ¡°It¡¯s here.¡± He watched me again. ¡°This does not make me feel better. I was hoping you could transport yourself if needed.¡±

    ¡°Maybe you need a few more levels or something,¡± I said.

    Theo sighed, then held out his hand to me. I took it, and he led me to the transportation ring. ¡°It¡¯d be really nice if we just had everything right now,¡± Theo grumbled.

    I chuckled. ¡°Yeah, it would.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what it¡¯s going to do, but it is glowing right now. Can you see it?¡± he asked. I shook my head. As a response, Theo wrapped his arms around me tightly. ¡°Close your eyes, just in case. It¡¯s always far more unnerving to see the scenes change than for it to just happen.¡±

    I nodded, hugging him tightly and closing my eyes tight. It was time to see what was on the other side of the river.

 Chapter 81

    I felt a pull in my entire body before I was in a free fall. It was gone in a second, and Theo gripped me tightly as my legs decided to take a moment to remember how to function.

    ¡°It worked.¡± Theo sounded relieved. ¡°You¡¯re here!¡±

    I opened my eyes, blinking. The sounds came at me all at once, like an entire forest was alive. I looked around. I didn¡¯t realize Theo¡¯s place was so out in the open. I didn¡¯t know why I was imagining some sort of bat cave, but the thought was there.

    A hammock was tied against two trees. There was a fireplace in the middle that had become embers. I saw a table of some sort that looked like a workplace where Theo upgraded his tools. On the other side was a large treasure chest.

    ¡°It¡¯s so cozy,¡± I said.

    Theo snorted, sitting at the table. ¡°It does what it needs to.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s in the chest?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Oh.¡± He stood back up to open the lid. I saw a ton of jewels and gemstones inside. ¡°It¡¯s essentially my storage unit. I¡¯ve gotten a few charms to upgrade it.¡± He gestured to the contents inside. ¡°This is my gemstone storage.¡± He closed the lid and pressed a button before opening the lid again. I saw a lot of metal, wood, and coal. ¡°This is my resource storage.¡± He closed the lid and pressed the last button. ¡°And this is my weapon upgrade storage.¡±

    I chuckled at his happy face. It was good to see him so happy, even if I didn¡¯t understand it. Well, actually, I partially understand the need to upgrade a storage unit as much as possible.

    Theo stood up again, wiping the black liquid from his ears before pointing around him. ¡°There¡¯s four torches in the ground that give a protective barrier against the monsters.¡±

    ¡°So, stay among the light and I won¡¯t get eaten?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yeah. Something like that,¡± Theo said. ¡°Though the monsters around the base camp are pretty low level. You could probably get them with your level two axe, there.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a level two?¡± I asked, pulling out my axe.

    ¡°Yeah. Pretty basic.¡±

    I shook my head, smiling. ¡°I¡¯ll have you know this thing can drop a tree with losing only using up six percent of my stamina, and it gives me seven whole logs for it. Sometimes eight.¡±

    Theo chuckled. I shook my head again as I moved over to his hammock. There was a pillow and sleeping bag inside.

    ¡°I used to just sleep on the ground but upgraded to a hammock. Dropped the amount of corruption coming into me every night by a good ten percent when that happened. It was nice,¡± Theo said.

    I ran my hand over the bark of a tree. ¡°Good. I¡¯m glad you found something to help.¡±

    Theo sighed, sitting back on the chair. He was wiping his face a lot, and I didn¡¯t notice just how much of them Theo was leaking until I saw him pull back both hands covered in them.

    ¡°I¡¯m not crying,¡± he mumbled. ¡°It just won¡¯t stop¡­ leaking. From my face.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t help it and chuckled. ¡°It¡¯s alright, Theo. Go ahead and leak.¡±

    He snorted, which caused more of them to come out of his nose. His face turned red as he covered his face. ¡°This is embarrassing.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not judging you, Theo. You know that, right?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter. I¡¯m judging myself.¡± He had a slight smile on his face as he shook out his hands, droplets of them leaving his hands. He then focused on something in his vision. ¡°It can keep leaking as long as it wants, though. I¡¯m losing about a percent every minute or so.¡±

    ¡°Good, good.¡± I didn¡¯t know where to sit, so I sat on the treasure chest. ¡°What do you think our life is like right now? Back home? Do you ever wonder?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I hope we¡¯re not high schoolers anymore,¡± Theo mumbled. ¡°We shouldn¡¯t, right? We¡¯re too old to be teenagers.¡± He crinkled his nose. ¡°I feel like we escaped those years.¡±

    I chuckled. ¡°Yeah, I guessed I was at least in my early twenties. I think our high school life is behind us.¡± Theo let out a huge sigh of relief. I raised an eyebrow. ¡°Do you remember high school?¡± I asked.

    ¡°No. Dread for high school is universal, though, right? I can¡¯t be the only one.¡±

    I chuckled, placing my arms against the treasure. ¡°I hope Brenda and Doug are still alive. I do feel quite the connection to them. They¡¯ve been getting older in those memory orbs.¡±

    ¡°They were so kind. Imagine raising another two kids after all your kids left the house,¡± Theo said.

    I shook my head. ¡°We were incredibly lucky to end up with them.¡±

    ¡°We were,¡± Theo said.

    There was silence again before Theo stood up. ¡°You better get back if you want to be in the house before the wolf comes.¡±

    ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry about it,¡± I said. ¡°I was planning on sleeping here.¡±Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

    Theo watched me, confused. ¡°Here?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll do my own sort of experiments. I want to see where they come from on this side of the river. How they enter your head. Figure out if there¡¯s a way to lessen their effect.¡±

    Theo raised an eyebrow, but shrugged. ¡°I guess we can see if you wake up in that house. That¡¯ll be good to know. If you do end up waking here, you could stay here so you¡¯ll be away from¡­¡±

    The creep. The creep outside my window, watching me sleep. Theo¡¯s dad.

    ¡°Yeah. I guess we¡¯ll see,¡± I said, wanting to change the subject.

    Theo seemed to think the same thing, because he pulled out his chainsaw and set it against the table, starting to fiddle with it.

    ¡°So there¡¯s three more ghosts?¡± Theo asked.

    ¡°Yeah. I tried talking to the kid Theo last night, but he wasn¡¯t listening to me. I¡­ I think it¡¯s got to be you. You talking to all those ghosts.¡±

    Theo stopped tinkering with his chain saw, shoving both hands in his hair. ¡°Yeah.¡±

    He was back to saying that phrase with little emotion to it. ¡°Theo?¡± I asked.

    He just shook his head, glancing above him in the trees. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ tired. I think I¡¯ll go to bed.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± I said.

    Theo got up, not looking at me as he got into his hammock. He grabbed his pillow and sleeping bag, tossing them on the ground near my feet. ¡°That¡¯s for when you¡¯re ready to sleep. I¡¯ll be fine in the hammock.¡±

    I nodded, then waited to hear his heavy breathing as he gave into the sleep, but he didn¡¯t. He was just lying there.

    ¡°I know you¡¯re trying to sleep, but I¡¯m just curious. Does the game force you into a sleep?¡± I asked.

    Theo¡¯s eyes opened and he stared at me. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Forced sleep? The game? Does it ask you if you want to sleep and¡­ then you sleep?¡±

    Theo blinked at me. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, the game allows you to just sleep? If you ask it to?¡±

    ¡°Well, as long as it¡¯s in the designated time. Like I have an hour after sunset or something if my to-do list isn¡¯t done. But then¡­ yeah. It usually lets me sleep.¡±

    Theo kept staring at me, then grumbled about something that sounded an awful lot like, ¡°Unbelievable.¡± He carefully sat up in his hammock. ¡°No. No, the game does not allow me to sleep like that. Usually, I can¡¯t sleep until my corruption is down to at least forty percent, and even then, it¡¯s difficult.¡± Theo wiped the drained liquid off his face again. ¡°Though there are times when I¡¯m in the hammock that the corruption drains out of me faster.¡±

    I stared at Theo. ¡°Huh.¡±

    Theo grumbled again. ¡°You just can¡¯t trust people who fall asleep fast.¡±

    I chuckled as he situated himself again on the hammock. I remained on the treasure chest, glancing around. I hoped Killie was okay. I didn¡¯t think about what me staying over here would do for her. It was a good thing she was unkillable.

    I did some exploring, making sure to stay within the torches. Theo didn¡¯t need to warn me twice. Considering how ridiculously noisy it was even at night, it was a wonder Theo got any sleep at all. There were shadows just beyond the torchlight, and I wasn¡¯t about to step into them.

    My brain was still on cozy mode. I was thinking about the trees I could chop down to clear out this space. To grow a garden or something. Maybe create more furniture. Despite how tempting it was, it was also not my place.

    When I finished exploring, I crept back to Theo¡¯s main base. He was asleep, one hand under his head, the hammock rocking in the breeze. Thin trails of them crept up the trees and scooted across the hammock to enter his face. I also heard the steady drip, drip, drip of them leaving his ears, nose, eyes, and mouth. It was such a strange sight. My cleaning clothes jumped onto my body and I reached forward, placing my gloved hand against them. The line stopped, turning into liquid and falling off the tree.

    ¡°Why doesn¡¯t it affect me?¡± I asked the alien overlords. It was a question I¡¯m sure Theo had too. ¡°Why was this different for me? Why did it never enter my body?¡±

    It will affect you. Just in different ways

    ¡°Different ways how?¡± I asked the words in my vision.

    Keep doing what you¡¯re doing, and you¡¯ll see

    I sighed. Once again, since it was words, I couldn¡¯t tell if it was a threat or an invitation. Either way, this is what I told Theo I would happily do. Research what they did on this side of the river. I kept my hand against the tree, dropping them before they could get any closer to the hammock.

    I did this, standing by the tree, for a solid ten minutes. I also placed my hands against the hammock, as they were coming from the other direction too. The more they could drip out of Theo with none coming in to replace it, the better.

    It was another ten minutes before I got more words in my vision.

    Warning!

    Clothing corrupted too much with essence of them

    Must repair one article of clothing to restore to full level

    Cannot repair furniture until clothes are restored

    I gave a slow nod of my head. I remembered this. It¡¯s what I had to do when Theo vomited on me. The hair ribbon as part of my cleaning outfit turned slimy. I could feel it on my head, but I didn¡¯t feel any of them enter my face, so it wasn¡¯t getting me that way.

    So, this is how it affected me. It would slowly erode the clothing I gained. The eventual conclusion of this was that it would keep going until I had no more shield left from them. No way to clean it off. Would it therefore start affecting me like it had with Theo? Maybe. Then again, maybe not.

    It depends on the person. You, however, are not one of the people who are hurt by corruption the same way Theo is.

    I stared at the words that appeared in my vision, then looked at Theo¡¯s sleeping form. Theo, for whatever reason, had something in him that made the corruption enter his body. I didn¡¯t have one. I wasn¡¯t about to test it, though.

    I waited there another half an hour. Until I got another notification.

    Warning!

    Clothing corrupted too much with essence of them

    Must repair two articles of clothing to restore to full level

    Cannot paint or restore furniture until clothes are restored

    I sighed as my apron had slimy black stains appearing on it. I let go of the trees, watching their slow crawl toward Theo¡¯s face.

    Over a half an hour and half of my clothes got corrupted by them. Honestly, I was surprised I had this kind of patience. There wasn¡¯t much else for me to do here. I couldn¡¯t travel back to the house, even if I wanted to. I was doing experiments, and I had learned something.

    Knowing I couldn¡¯t do this forever was an important lesson to learn. I needed to make sure my battles were picked, and I was prepared to fight with Theo when I was fully prepared. Considering Theo was still self-conscious of how corruption hurt him, I wasn¡¯t sure when that would be. I still had to give him gentle nudges that I didn¡¯t mind the liquid leaking out of him or the occasional vomits. I hated that he felt like such a burden, but honestly, if the roles were reversed, I understood completely. For most of his life depression was hidden. Hidden to the point where I could only tell because I¡¯d seen so many of the signs. Now, in this game, he couldn¡¯t hide it from me even if he tried.

    I spent another half an hour keeping them from Theo. Once my dress got sludge stains on it, I stopped. I wanted to see if there was any noticeable difference in the percentage Theo told me tomorrow. I then walked over to the sleeping bag and pillow, climbing inside. Words appear in my vision.

    Would you like to sleep now?

    Y/N

    I smiled at the recent memory of Theo¡¯s incredulous face at how the game could force me to sleep, and mentally chose yes.

 Chapter 82

    The warning bells in my mind went off the moment my eyes opened. I was back in the lilac room, but something was off. It took me another blink to realize what it was. There was no red dawn light.

    I threw off the covers and went straight for the windows, opening the blinds. I couldn¡¯t see. The entire grounds were covered in a thick fog, and I realized what day it was on the calendar.

    It was a little unsettling, but it was about as unsettling as the first few times when it was raining. It was like that, except there was no sound of rain.

    I went upstairs to the first floor to immediately start repairing my cleaning dress. It would take six hours to restore. Which meant I had to switch it out in the middle of the day, and by tomorrow morning my entire outfit would be restored. I still had one cleaning clothing right now, so I¡¯d still be okay.

    I walked down the stairs to start my morning routine. After feeding and gathering food from my animals, my curiosity got to me, and I entered the third greenhouse first. As I expected, I¡¯d need to repair the soil boxes.

    I walked outside to the nearest tree and started chopping. I was halfway through when I could not shake the very real feeling that someone was watching me. I glanced over toward the forest near the barn when a shadowy figure disappeared behind the barn.

    The axe dropped from my hand as I backed away, my heartrate spiking. Maybe I needed to be more on edge. A rainy day brought something more I needed to do. A particularly sunny day did, too. I had never seen fog before, but I shouldn¡¯t have been so careless as to just start my day as normal. This was an abnormal weather day, and I needed to be aware.

    I picked up the axe again, and in that moment I froze. What was I supposed to do? I really wanted to finish the soil beds and get that done. I couldn¡¯t wait another full day before getting that wheat planted. But could I do this without knowing exactly what fog meant?

    The fog was so thick. I could barely see the barn from where I was. Maybe I just imagined that figure by the barn.

    Or maybe I was being an idiot, and I should run inside now.

    But wheat! Rice! I¡­ I really wanted to plant those.

    Was it worth my life, though?

    Theo already figured out that lives are a bit more disposable in this game.

    Which made me a hypocrite because I clearly told him to treat life with more respect.

    And if I had even an ounce of the courage Theo had, I would have that tree down by now and the boards in my inventory to fix the soil beds.

    I let out a deep breath. Fix the soil beds, plant the seeds, then run inside. Then figure out what fog does, exactly.

    I chopped the rest of the tree down, quickly breaking up the boards before stuffing them in my inventory. Nope, I was still an idiot. I needed to figure out what fog did before risking my life like this. Even still, I sprinted into the greenhouse and closed the door. I let out a breath, wondering if this was worth it.

    I didn¡¯t wait for all the thoughts to catch up. Instead, I got to work building the soil boxes, then sneaking into the first greenhouse to collect the fertilizer before moving back to the third one. I wasn¡¯t sure how these boxes would help with growing wheat, but as with everything, game logic happened.

    I was halfway with planting the wheat when I heard a wet sniffle near the first greenhouse. Every bone inside my body froze. I glanced at my wolf timer, but I realized it was gone. Completely missing from my vision. I swallowed, then stared back at the box again as I heard more sniffing.

    I needed to get to the back of the house. Now. But every bone in my body was rooted to the spot. The wolf followed my path from the first greenhouse to the third. I could not move, even if I tried.

    I glanced at the door, wondering if that would keep a wolf away. Who was I kidding. I was in a glass box. Despite everything I now knew about the house, it was the wolf that I knew I had to be careful about.

    A huge shadow crossed the greenhouse, and a tear dropped from my eye as my sanity took a hit. The wolf appeared by the door; its sniffing far more excited. The door squeaked open, and the terror shoved my feet forward. I stumbled, hitting against the door to close it. The wolf snarled in reply. A whimper escaped me as I heard a spine crack and the shadow grew. I closed my eyes, feeling trapped.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    ¡°Quinn!¡±

    My heart sank. ¡°Theo! Run!¡± I tried to be as loud as possible. The wolf snarled again, sprinting toward Theo.

    I threw open the greenhouse door and ran to the back door. ¡°In the house, Theo! Hurry!¡± I shouted.

    The fog was so thick I could hardly see. I saw a human by the back door, and I thought it was Theo. Until he turned around.

    I stopped, rooted at the spot. The man smiled, the light from his cigarette lit up his face. That was not a smile I ever wanted to have pointed in my direction. My skin felt like it was covered in beetles.

    The man took a few steps forward, that dark smile still on his face. I stumbled back, my sanity dropping below fifty percent. The two wolves were here.

    I turned around to sprint to the front of the house when the wolf was there. It stood on its hind legs, holding out its paws, the claws extending into thick weapons. It snarled at me, opening its mouth that was full of so much teeth that it had to be improbable.

    I screamed as my sanity plummeted.

    ¡°Quinn!¡± I could hardly hear Theo over my screaming.

    The wolf raised its paws to attack, but my vision was already blackening at the corner. The man behind me started chuckling like this was funny. Funny to see me screaming until my voice was hoarse.

    I fell to my knees, my head falling forward.

    ¡°Quinn!¡±

    I could barely hear Theo, my vision was fading so quickly. It sounded like everything was underwater.

    Until I shot right back up, gasping for air. I felt my arms, my chest, my head. The bars were gone from my vision, and I was in a white room.

    ¡°Do you give up?¡± It was the male again. I knew not to look at him. I was breathing deeply, trying to calm myself.

    ¡°Hell no,¡± I whispered.

    The male smirked. ¡°Didn¡¯t think so.¡±

    He waved a hand, and I once again sat bolt right up in bed. My sanity was at twenty-five percent, and my stamina had all returned. The red light of dawn filled my room, and I was still breathing deeply. Did I have more questions for the alien overlords? Maybe I shouldn¡¯t have answered so quickly. I felt like my end game objective was clear.

    Killie jumped on my bed, meowing. I lifted a hand, and she moved into it. Cold sweat was running down my face as I tried to calm myself down. It never felt like hours had passed. I felt like I just barely died. I hated that sensation.

    ¡°Lesson learned. Fog is not our friend,¡± I mumbled.

    Killie kept meowing, and I grabbed her, cuddling with her as I walked up the stairs to the second floor. I had lost a day. I switched out my cleaning dress from the sewing machine and put my apron on there to be repaired. I¡¯d have all my cleaning outfit done by tonight.

    I walked down the stairs, still holding Killie. The shadows were starting to move again, and I was seriously considering eating some comfort food to bring my sanity up to fifty percent.

    ¡°Quinn!¡±

    Theo was outside, sounding just as frightened and scared as yesterday. Yesterday that only felt a few minutes ago. Killie jumped out of my arms and ran out the back door. I hurried out of the house because the shadows kept stretching in odd ways.

    Theo was marching toward the back door like he was fully ready to search the house for me. When he saw me, he barreled into me, wrapping me in a hug so tight it made it difficult to breathe. I patted his back, having enough air to say the phrase I wanted to tell him.

    ¡°I¡¯m alright. I¡¯m okay. I¡¯m not dead.¡±

    Theo clung to me, trying to muffle his sobs. I kept holding him.

    ¡°I¡¯m alright. I¡¯m alright.¡±

    I didn¡¯t dare let go of him until he let go of me first. I remembered how loud I screamed. It wasn¡¯t that long ago. I also remembered how desperate Theo was searching for me.

    Theo let go of me. He stared at my throat, his fingers trembling as he traced them over there. It was only when he knew for certain I hadn¡¯t been slashed there that he finally relaxed his shoulders.

    ¡°Did you die, too?¡± I asked.

    Theo nodded. ¡°The thing is a level sixty-five monster. He killed me fast.¡±

    ¡°Did you see your¡­ dad?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Theo said. ¡°Got enough stabs in him to know he¡¯s a ghost. I¡­ I don¡¯t know¡­ I¡¯ll have to¡­¡±

    How was Theo going to get rid of his ghost father? For whatever reason, I didn¡¯t think a nice chat like he had with his nana would get rid of him. Theo placed a shaky hand against his hair. His clear tears were cleaning off the sludge. He wiped his cheeks, taking a steady breath.

    ¡°What do you need me to do?¡± I asked.

    Theo shook his head. ¡°I¡¯ve already taken a lot from you already. I got a note that there is an amulet that can make the wearer use the teleportation device. I¡¯m going to get it for you, so you can run back to the base whenever you need to. I just¡­ needed to make sure you¡¯re okay.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m okay,¡± I said, nodding. Theo gave me one last hug. I held him tight. ¡°I¡¯d like to be there when you confront your father. I want to give my support.¡±

    Theo nodded as he let me go. ¡°I don¡¯t want to face him until you have an amulet. To make sure you have a fast way to return to my base. It might take me a day or two, but I¡¯ll be back with it.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Please¡­ take care of yourself.¡±

    ¡°You too,¡± Theo said.

    We stayed that way for a moment. I wasn¡¯t sure what to do. Theo was getting the amulet, sure, but I was also certain he was mentally preparing himself to face his ghost father. I wasn¡¯t sure what I could say to give him any sort of comfort.

    Theo walked forward, and I could tell the corruption was gone. He had died, so it was all gone. Whatever came into his system during the night he had cried it out while hugging me. He stood, determined, on the patch of grass near the greenhouse and disappeared. I let out a sigh. Why did I feel so helpless all the time.

    The answer came to me as soon as I thought about it. Theo was battling so many things, and I felt like I was just handing him a nice little platter of food to help him feel better while I patted his shoulder. It felt ridiculous. He even said how much it helped, but I wanted to fight his demons for him. But that would be impossible. I had no capability to fight his demons. It felt about as helpful as giving him a stick to fight them.

    I sighed, then got to work.

 Chapter 83

    I went through my morning routine. I saved the greenhouses for last. I realized I hadn¡¯t finished upgrading the first greenhouse, so I went to the basement to buy two more metal shards and placed them into the greenhouse.

    Two more seeds opened up once the greenhouse was finished upgrading. Onions and cucumbers. I walked into the first greenhouse, and even though the outside hadn¡¯t changed, the inside had gotten bigger. Not only did I have bigger soil boxes for the tomatoes and potatoes, I didn¡¯t have to build the new ones, either. I got to work planting more seeds for them and also starting onions and cucumbers. I went to grab the watering can, but my fingers went right through it. At first, I was confused, then I heard a spraying sound within the soil boxes. I sat up, my eyes widening as I saw each box was set up with an automatic watering system.

    ¡°Um¡­ yes please,¡± I said, realizing this was the answer to my concerns with a rainy day. Now I only needed to pick the produce and plant them. The watering was completely taken care of. That alone made me want to focus on upgrading the other two greenhouses.

    I then watered the lettuce and the carrots with a promise to upgrade this greenhouse next. I already put five panes of glass in the second greenhouse to get that upgraded. I¡¯d need ten more, and some more scrap metal. I had another five bags of sand in the tool, and eventually I¡¯d put more in tonight.

    Once that watering was done, I finished planting the wheat, then finished building the soil boxes for the rice. I wasn¡¯t an actual farmer or anything, but I was pretty sure rice was grown in the ground covered in water. That was about the extent of my knowledge. I planted the rice, then watered it.

    I didn¡¯t want to work in the house, but I had a butter maker and a blender that I hadn¡¯t touched since I got it. I had lost a day, so I now had three more days until they attacked.

    I slipped into the house and placed two containers of cream in the butter maker. A timer appeared above it with one hour. I then placed some milk, blueberries, and strawberries in the blender. It had a fifteen-minute timer above it as it started to count down. That was a long time for a smoothie, but I let it go.

    I would have stayed longer and bought more appliances, but the whispering started to pick up, and I did not like my chances with only twenty-five percent sanity. Besides, I had a lot of stuff to do outside the house.

    After buying another bag of grass fertilizer, I went to work spreading it around the ground. Theo was working on getting the amulet, and I was working on making this place covered in grass. I had the entire front lawn covered when I took a break to gather the raw meat from the traps. When I got there, the meat was gone. Most likely because I lost all of yesterday, and therefore the wolf must have eaten the meat. I sighed, then reset all the traps. I was delighted to see another cow in the box trap, though. Wearing my animal care outfit, I eased the entire cow into my inventory in the pocket dimension in my back. It was wild.

    I walked back and waited until I was in the barn before easing the new cow out of my inventory.

    ¡°Nellie?¡± I asked, petting the cow¡¯s nose. ¡°You feel like a Nellie to me.¡±

    The cow mooed before walking over to the feeding trough and starting to eat. For good measure I added some more. I almost went back to work spreading the fertilizer when I paused. I then slipped in through the back and checked the clipboard.

    ¡°Ha!¡± I said, flicking the board with my finger. Animal care was at level twenty-five. I bought some scrubs for my legs, and the option for a sheep popped up. Sheep and cows must be in the same barn, because it didn¡¯t require another building to get for it. That was fine with me.

    I dropped -40.00 dopamine points to get a sheep. It appeared, bleating just outside. I walked outside, giving the sheep a nice pet.

    ¡°And you feel like Cupcake. Come on, Cupcake, let me show you your new home,¡± I said.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

    I placed the sheep in the barn near the cows. A pair of scissors appeared in my hand as I started cutting the sheep¡¯s wool. ¡°Well this is just odd, Cupcake. I hope this is okay,¡± I said.

    Cupcake bleated again as I finished collecting one clump of wool.

    ¡°I hope you know this is going to be one of the most comfortable blankets I¡¯ll ever own,¡± I told Cupcake.

    I was getting there. I was at a minimum of twenty-five levels for all my sections. That felt good. Part of me wondered if I would reach five articles of clothing in all the sections. I didn¡¯t know. Part of me wanted to already be out of this game before that happened. Despite the incentives in some of the sections, like being able to finally tear up the carpet, I knew the real incentive was to do what we could to get out of this game. No matter how tempting those floors would be, I would rather choose to get out of this game with Theo next to me.

    But also, if I could get the floors done, that¡¯d be nice.

    I entered the house quickly to gather the butter and the smoothie. I drank the smoothie to test what it gave me, and I saw a half an hour of heat resistance, which was nice. I¡¯d have to work on picking more fruits while foraging. It restored a bit of my stamina, too.

    I placed the butter in the fridge, and glanced at the appliance. I now could buy appliances, but could I upgrade the already existing ones? I stared at the fridge, hearing the haunting whispers around me, before my building clothes came on.

    0/25 scrap metal

    My face relaxed. I had a feeling this meant the storage part of the fridge would get deeper, just like the storage unit outside. That would be nice, because I now had two cows. I would need more space.

    I hurried outside before the whispers made my sanity disappear, and went back to work on the lawn. I was spreading fertilizer around the garage, raking it in a fine line so the red light I saw turned green. I went a bit faster, because I had the stamina.

    As I worked, my thoughts went to Theo. He was probably doing the same, except he was killing monsters. The monotony that we both enjoyed. I was content making this house beautiful, and Theo was content with destroying all the monsters.

    I finished placing and raking all the grass fertilizer on the entire lawn. I gave myself a moment to appreciate how much I¡¯d gotten done, then grabbed the tiller from the shed and started walking the till over the fertilizer. Tilling didn¡¯t take nearly as long as the fertilizer, but it was a constant reminder to me that this lawn was massive. But that was going to be an absolutely lovely lawn.

    By the time the sun was sinking, I was pouring grass seed into my seed spreader and using up a lot of my stamina to at least get the first part of the front lawn done. The wolf wouldn¡¯t come for an hour, but I had lost a whole day yesterday. Sure, it didn¡¯t seem like a lot considering I was done with my to-do list, but I still had so many things to do.

    I used up my stamina four times, taking a break to eat through my food each time, to make sure I pushed through and covered the lawn with grass seed. I raked as much as I could before I went to the tool, quickly moving the five panes of glass to the second greenhouse before placing five more bags of sand into the tool. Once that was done, I entered the house to avoid the wolf.

    I took a deep breath. It was the first time I wished for a phone or some sort of communication device to check in on Theo. He would be here tomorrow, but it would be nice to make sure he was okay.

    When the wolf timer started blinking, I knew I wouldn¡¯t see my brother tonight. Instead, I went back to the clipboard, looking at the appliances. I bought the cheese maker, because I wanted some cheese. Also, the wheat grinder, because what else was I going to do with the wheat once I harvested it?

    When all was said and done, I had 180.14 dopamine points left and a counter full of appliances that I could only partially use. My excitement was too much, though. I started a batch of cheese, because I needed more room in my fridge. Each thing of cheese took three containers of milk. Upgrading the fridge needed to be the next thing. I would need a lot of scrap metal.

    I then filled up my inventory with the junk from the green room. It was getting closer. If I even spent a quarter of the day focusing on this room, then it would be done. The lawn was practically done, too. Would I need to water it? Something told me game logic was taking care of that.

    The shadows started to move and whisper, so I quickly ran to the pink room and switched out the apron for my last clothes. I wanted to be fully ready for when Theo tried to face his ghost father.

    I sat down on the bed that requested 0/8 wool. I would need another sheep soon, just to get more wool.

    The whispers were there, but there was no more grandmother ghost. Killie was content to be on the bed, no longer harassed by that lady ghost. And Theo was probably going to confront his father tomorrow. Or the ghost of his father. Or the made-up creation of who he believed his father was when he was a child.

    I rubbed my temples. All I knew was at this point I needed to clean this house as much as possible. Get all the levels I can. Keep playing the games. And at the first opportunity, get out of here with Theo.

 Chapter 84

    I woke up, gathering my final cleaning clothing so I was completely prepared for whenever Theo wanted to go up against his father. Then I started my long morning routine. Honestly, the fact that I didn¡¯t need to water the plants in my first greenhouse made me drop five more bags of sand into the tool right away to upgrade the next greenhouse. I gathered the food, cut Cupcake¡¯s wool that she magically had added to herself overnight. I then dropped the beer can and cigarette butts into the dumpster, giving myself only a moment to think they might not be here much longer. Theo would get rid of his father. I tried to keep a positive outlook on it.

    I added gathering the raw meat and doing a bit of foraging toward the end of my morning routine. Once that was done, I dropped the food off in my storage unit before entering the house. I had bought all those appliances, then made all sorts of food, and then forgot them while I was doing the lawn. Since this was a game, I figured they didn¡¯t spoil, and I was happy to see I was right.

    What it taught me was I needed to upgrade the fridge, but I didn¡¯t have any metal scraps left. And Theo would still be gone for a while. Fifteen dopamine points per scrap metal was certainly going to add up. I¡¯d probably just have to cook some more food to make more room in the fridge.

    There was electricity, but the stove needed to be fixed before it could work. It didn¡¯t ask for much scrap metal, but it was still way more than I had. New recipes unlocked as I gathered cheese from the cheese maker.

    I walked to the clipboard and flipped through the recipes. There were more creamy, cheesier soups. An added cheesy fry for comfort food. There was even the option to place some cheese and to make some dressing to make a more complex salad. That would be nice.

    There was one recipe, though, that had a star on either side of it. My frown changed to awe as I saw the recipe.

    *Quinn¡¯s Favorite Recipe*

    Tater Tot Casserole

    0/2 ground beef

    0/1 milk

    0/1 mushrooms

    0/3 potatoes

    0/2 cheese

    *When consumed by Quinn, this casserole will give an additional 20% bonus to sanity

    I stared at it long and hard. There were a lot of upper food levels here, with milk and cheese. Even the ground beef. That would make it harder to make. But¡­ but if it gave me an additional 20%, I needed to stock up on this particular comfort food.

    Did Theo have a favorite comfort food? My mind instantly went to there, wondering if he, too, could have something like this to help him with the corruption.

    It was decided. I needed to do some cooking, because my fridge was getting way too full. I helped empty it out by making more cheese, because now that I knew it was part of my recipe, I would need a lot of it. And it also was a great way to get rid of some milk.

    I started a fire and began cooking. I made some more chicken wings because hopefully Theo would be here soon. I cooked all the food I could, making a tater tot casserole at the end when I had the cheese. Once the hour was up, I got to work planting some flowers in the front yard flower boxes. I could see small little stubbly grass beginning to grow. I remained outside because I knew Theo wouldn¡¯t want to come in the house yet to look for me. But as the flowers were planted and the lilac bushes were trimmed, I wasn¡¯t sure what else was keeping me out here. I wanted to finish cleaning the green room. Instead, I chopped down some trees and fixed the front porch as it was approaching noon. The beams were fixed, and I started planting flowers in the hanging boxes. I wanted to fix the screen door, but I was again faced with the problem of being out of scrap metal.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    The front porch looked a lot nicer, though. I went to the clipboard and bought some outside furniture and started to build that. I made my bench and nestled it among the lilacs with the little end table. I smiled as I saw it, and that was when I heard Theo calling for me.

    I walked around the storage unit. Theo looked haggard, but not in a depressed way. More like he had worked hard all of yesterday and part of today. He held a necklace in his hand, and when he saw me, he held it up. At the end was a silver circle with a lot of twisting lines throughout it. I walked up to him and took it. When I placed it over my neck, I saw the blue glowing lines right by the greenhouse.

    ¡°You see it?¡± Theo asked.

    ¡°Yeah. It works.¡±

    I didn¡¯t realize how stressed Theo looked until his stiff shoulders relaxed. ¡°Good. If anything happens, if talking with this ghost goes south and something horrible is unlocked, I want you to stay at my base. Since you¡¯ll most likely wake up here at the house, this gives you an opportunity to run to my base as quickly as possible every morning.¡±

    It was rather touching to see just how concerned he was for me. He had planned out everything.

    ¡°I¡¯ve made a lot of chicken wings. I¡¯ll give them to you to store in your inventory. That should help,¡± I said.

    Theo nodded, then glanced at the woods where his dad¡¯s ghost was. I slipped in quietly to the storage unit and grabbed all the chicken wings I could. I placed them all in my inventory before walking out with two plates. We quietly passed the plates before most of what was in my inventory was in Theo¡¯s.

    Black sludge bubbled up from the ground, and I took Theo¡¯s elbow and eased him to one side as my cleaning clothes jumped onto me. I then placed my foot firmly down on the sludge, keeping it from inching toward Theo.

    ¡°We¡¯ll be okay,¡± I said to Theo. He was more focused on the sludge I had pinned between my feet, but glanced at me when I spoke. ¡°We are as prepared as we can be. We can never be fully prepared, but you¡¯ve thought of a plan for in case this goes south, and I¡¯ve made all the chicken wings I can. It¡¯ll be scary, but we are prepared. It¡¯ll be okay.¡±

    Theo nodded, and the sludge between my feet sank back into the ground. Theo closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

    ¡°I will follow you,¡± I said, staying in my cleaning clothes.

    Theo nodded, then he opened his eyes. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Before we crossed into the trees, I checked the sun. It was still high in the sky. We had time. I wasn¡¯t sure how dark these woods would get, but we had a solid six hours at least. The wolf wouldn¡¯t be among these trees for another six and a half hours. It should be plenty of time.

    We entered the forest, and it got dark fast. We remained silent as we walked forward. On this side I could hear the crickets and frogs. There were birds twittering back and forth. There was noise, yet Theo and I didn¡¯t talk. I didn¡¯t know what to say to him, and he looked as though his mind was far from the present. I touched the amulet around my neck, realizing the patterns and lines were the same as they were on the ground. It was like this amulet was a miniature portal.

    We passed a bush with food, and I wondered why I hadn¡¯t seen words above it when I realized I was in my cleaning clothes, not my cooking outfit. I didn¡¯t dare change, though. I wanted to keep them away from Theo. I glanced over at Theo, to see if I could see any of those dark veins. He glanced at me at the same time.

    ¡°How¡¯s your corruption levels? I forgot to ask.¡± It was strange breaking the silence, but it was also something I wanted to check.

    ¡°Low. But¡­ still there.¡± Theo took off one of his gloves and showed me the faint dark vein lines. ¡°We¡¯ll see how it is after¡­¡±

    Neither one of us said anything, and we fell into silence again. The forest was loud enough to make up for it. I glanced around, not wanting to find the ghost, but knowing this was the whole reason why we were here in the first place. The chain around my neck started to feel heavy, and the amulet was cold. I could feel it over my cleaning clothes. We kept walking, exploring this part of the forest.

    One of the shadows jumped toward me, and I practically plowed Theo over to get out of the way. He gripped my arms, glancing around. ¡°You okay? What happened?¡±

    ¡°The shadows. They¡¯re moving,¡± I whispered as my sanity shivered. I should have brought more comfort food for myself. I was so worried about protecting Theo that I didn¡¯t think about myself. Hopefully this wouldn¡¯t come back to bite me.

    Theo glanced around at the shadows. Some of them were shivering. I started to hear whispers and I covered my ears. I should have brought my tater tot casserole.

    ¡°This is¡­ a good sign. I can always tell when I¡¯m approaching a monster base.¡±

    ¡°Do the shadows always shiver when you¡¯re near a monster base?¡± I asked.

    ¡°No, but¡­ you know. Getting closer to an ogre cave, there¡¯s bound to be more skeletal remains. Approaching a swamp monster will undoubtedly make an overwhelming stench. Approaching a ghost, it would make sense for the shadows to move in weird-¡±

    Something caught Theo¡¯s eyes, and he stopped, his head snapping in that direction. I straightened, following his gaze before I saw the tail end of a being disappear behind the trees. Everything inside me froze as everything inside Theo propelled him forward as he pulled out his chainsaw.

    ¡°Theo.¡± I wasn¡¯t even sure why I said anything. This is why we were here. To stop his dad.

    I suppose I was just wondering why Theo thought he could stop his dad with a chainsaw.

 Chapter 85

    I was still frozen, which was fine because I was here for moral support and to dish out chicken wings, not to kill a ghost. Theo rushed ahead, checking the tree that wasn¡¯t far from us. He moved around the whole thing before returning, his brows furrowed. I didn¡¯t realize I was holding my breath until I saw his expression and knew the ghost wasn¡¯t here.

    I was actually glad I wasn¡¯t responsible for destroying these ghosts. Then neither of us would get any answers.

    ¡°Come on,¡± Theo said to me, placing his chainsaw back in his inventory. ¡°We¡¯re getting close.¡±

    Theo probably tried to make that comforting, but I didn¡¯t feel any. He was right, though. The shadows kept doing weird things, and my sanity dropped to ninety-two percent. I still had a lot, but I also didn¡¯t want to die again. If I dropped below forty percent, then I¡¯d eat one of the plates of chicken wings.

    We walked deeper into the forest. There were whispers all around me, and goosebumps rose on my arms. The moment we destroyed Theo¡¯s father¡¯s ghost, I was going back home and eating that plate of tater tot casserole. It was for experimentation purposes, obviously. I needed to know how much it gave me.

    Theo froze, and I did too. Theo was the braver one of the two of us, so I refused to take one step near something he wouldn¡¯t. I looked around, trying hard to see the ghost. It was difficult when all the shadows seemed to move, and the whispers getting louder, yet still unintelligible.

    Smoke drifted through the trees, and Theo pulled out his chainsaw again. I gripped Theo¡¯s arm, the terror strangling my voice as smoke swirled in front of us. A humanoid figure appeared before the glow of the cigarette solidified the male face. He smirked at the sight of us.

    ¡°Hello, boy.¡±

    Black sludge appeared at Theo¡¯s feet. The echoey voice dropped my sanity to eighty-five. I focused on the ground, trying to stomp out the sludge that was quickly creeping up Theo¡¯s leg.

    ¡°S-stay away from my mom and Nana,¡± Theo said.

    The male ghost laughed, flicking away his cigarette. ¡°Really, boy? You think you¡¯re here to change the past? Is that what you think this little game is for?¡± Theo¡¯s dad disappeared, then reappeared right behind us. I screamed, gripping Theo¡¯s arm. Theo whirled around, breaking out of my grip. The chainsaw roared as he sawed the ghost in half. The smoke appeared through the midsection of the ghost before weaving together again. The man stared right into Theo¡¯s eyes with an almost bored, emotionless expression.

    ¡°They¡¯re dead. I killed them. You couldn¡¯t protect them as the new man of the house. And there¡¯s nothing you can do to bring them back.¡±

    Theo swung wildly with his chainsaw, slashing his father¡¯s ghost again. The man chuckled as he disappeared, then reappeared right next to me. I screamed, stumbling away as the man kept staring at me with a predatory smile.

    ¡°Get away from her!¡± Theo shouted, swinging the chainsaw again. I fell to the ground mostly because I was terrified of getting hit with that weapon.

    The man chuckled as Theo kept slashing at his father. They were pouring into Theo¡¯s face like Theo was an upside-down waterfall. I tried to grab some of the sludge, but it felt as useless as grabbing a river.

    ¡°Theo,¡± I whispered. I didn¡¯t know why I felt the need to warn him. No doubt he knew about them. After failing to slash at his father multiple times, Theo was bent over, gasping for air as they continued to shove themselves into his face.

    ¡°They¡¯re dead, boy,¡± the ghost said again, his voice echoing through the forest. ¡°And you can¡¯t get your revenge.¡±

    Theo kept gasping, and I managed to find a piece of them and held on. It didn¡¯t feel like much, but it was something. My gloves got spotted with them, and the warning appeared in my vision that I couldn¡¯t repair furniture, but at this point I didn¡¯t care.

    ¡°You can¡¯t get rid of me. You¡¯ll have to live with me and my choices. Forever.¡±

    ¡°No, he doesn¡¯t,¡± I whispered. The ghost ignored me, and Theo kept panting, but I tried again. ¡°Stop trying to kill him, Theo.¡± I tried to add some strength to my voice. ¡°Because he¡¯s already dead.¡±

    The man laughed, turning his sights on me. ¡°Theo can never forget me. I will remain, like a shadow on his life. He doesn¡¯t even know my name, and yet I haunt him.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve been staring at me through my window since I¡¯ve arrived. But that¡¯s all you¡¯ve ever been able to do!¡± I said, trying to will courage into my voice. ¡°You can¡¯t do anything more than that.¡±

    I wondered if the man could see my sanity bar. It was dropping below seventy percent, but I tried to ignore it. I was hiding behind a courage I did not feel, and I doubted anyone else believed it, considering the humorous look the man gave me.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    The man laughed, disappearing again before appearing behind me, pulling out a ghostly knife. Theo straightened, then every muscle in my body froze.

    ¡°How much do you want to test your theory, little girl?¡± His voice stopped being echoey. He was here, solidly. Every muscle in my body stopped working, and the only thing I could do was stare right at Theo. Theo brought out his chain saw again, and the man smirked.

    ¡°Do it, boy,¡± the man said.

    ¡°Don¡¯t, Theo. Please. He can¡¯t hurt me. But you can. Put the chainsaw down!¡± I shouted.

    Theo still kept his eyes on the ghost of his father. With trembling hands, Theo dropped the chainsaw. They were still shoving themselves into his face, and he dropped to his knees, exhausted.

    ¡°She¡¯s right,¡± Theo said. ¡°I might hurt her. But you¡­ can¡¯t.¡±

    The man sneered right next to my ear. In the few seconds of silence, I remembered all those beer cans by my window. How very physical they were. The used up cigarettes that I could scoop up in a bag and get dopamine points for. Something about that was not ghostly at all. That was an actual manifestation of some physical being, and there was still a knife inches from my throat. The same place where Nana had her cut.

    ¡°You¡¯re dead,¡± Theo said, still on his knees. ¡°You can¡¯t hurt anyone anymore.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m still hurting you. Look at them. You¡¯re at one hundred percent, boy,¡± the man said. I flinched, noticing that the streams of them looked as though they were being turned away because there was no more room in Theo. ¡°I brought this about. I live through you. In your nightmares, in your drawings. You cannot get rid of me.¡±

    Theo kept staring at the ghost, and I could tell he was done. Emotionally and mentally checked out. The energy to even sit up like he was took everything he had.

    ¡°Do it, then,¡± Theo said, leaning forward to brace himself with his hands. ¡°If you think you still have power, slit her throat.¡±

    I stared at Theo, trying not to panic. As I gave it a second¡¯s thought, I felt the remains of my fears seep away. The ghost had a knife to my throat, but he hadn¡¯t grabbed me. He had done nothing to restrain me, because Theo was right. He couldn¡¯t.

    To test it, I reached forward and moved my finger through the knife. It misted into smoke before reforming. Theo saw that and his lips turned upwards into a smile. All of them trying to get into Theo dropped to the ground.

    ¡°I knew it,¡± Theo said.

    ¡°I still have power!¡± the man said.

    ¡°No,¡± Theo said, essence of them leaking out of the corner of his mouth as he spoke. ¡°You no longer do.¡±

    ¡°I murdered them, Theo! I murdered your mother! I murdered your Nana!¡±

    ¡°Then you murdered yourself,¡± Theo said. ¡°You got rid of yourself, and I don¡¯t have to be scared of you.¡±

    ¡°But you are,¡± the man sneered. ¡°I am a haunt! I cover your days in shadow! Fear me!¡±

    Theo stared at the ghost of his father. I recognized that look. Annoyed, almost exasperated. He was struggling so much with depression that the ghost¡¯s demand to be feared was almost annoying for Theo.

    ¡°No. I will not fear you anymore,¡± Theo said.

    The man screamed in a rage that made me jump. My body moved through the knife at my throat, and I backed away. The ghost barreled toward Theo, and all he did was close his eyes. As soon as the ghost hit Theo, he turned to smoke before disappearing. I covered my mouth, tears in my eyes.

    2/4 ghosts defeated

    Power of them reduced by another 10%

    I let out a breath, but my relief was short lived. Theo leaned down before collapsing on the ground, coughing up chunks of them that turned around and reentered his body. I rushed forward, grabbing the tail end of them and pulling.

    ¡°Stop,¡± Theo moaned. ¡°Please, just stop.¡±

    ¡°I can get it out.¡±

    ¡°I have¡­ no energy.¡± Theo pushed my hands away, making me lose my grip on them. They entered Theo¡¯s face again as he kept his eyes closed, panting like he¡¯d finished a marathon.

    ¡°Theo, please eat something,¡± I said.

    ¡°Can¡¯t¡­¡± was all Theo said.

    ¡°Please. It¡¯ll help you feel-¡±

    ¡°It¡¯ll make it drop fifteen percent!¡± Theo suddenly shouted. ¡°Which means I¡¯m left with eighty-five, and it doesn¡¯t matter. It will still feel like one hundred. Nothing matters. I¡¯m too exhausted. Leave me alone.¡±

    I flinched at Theo¡¯s words. ¡°I can¡¯t leave you alone in the woods.¡±

    Theo closed his eyes, curling up in a ball. They had returned, trying once again to enter his face, but I could see them clogging his nose, mouth, ears, and eyes. Theo was bursting with them, and they remained glued to him.

    ¡°I hate this,¡± Theo moaned. ¡°I hate this. I hate this.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve done it,¡± I said. ¡°You defeated another ghost.¡±

    ¡°Twenty percent,¡± Theo mumbled again, hands in his hair. ¡°The corruption is supposed to lose twenty percent of its strength. I have never heard a bigger pile of bullshit than that. This isn¡¯t twenty percent less. It¡¯s stronger than ever.¡±

    I had physically dragged Theo before when he was unconscious. I wasn¡¯t sure what he¡¯d think if I tried that now. But I couldn¡¯t let him stay here in the forest.

    ¡°Come on, Theo. Think of all those games you played. All those bosses you fought. When you got half-way, you always expect them to get harder before they died.¡±

    Theo didn¡¯t say anything. If I didn¡¯t know any better, I would think he was asleep, but I did know better. He had used up so much energy that he was done. He did the thing he wanted to, and now he was done with everything else.

    ¡°You can¡¯t stay here. I won¡¯t let you. Let¡¯s get back to the house, or I can help you get to your base camp. And you can just sleep. Sleep for as long as you want.¡±

    Theo shook his head, saying nothing. A single black tear formed at the corner of his eye before sliding off the bridge of his nose and dropping to the ground. In the liquid state, it didn¡¯t try to reenter, but there was plenty of them on the ground to replace the tear.

    ¡°Come on, Theo.¡± I grabbed his arm, pulling him up. ¡°All I need from you is ten minutes. Ten minutes where we walk back. I won¡¯t say a word, if you want. There¡¯s too much them here on the ground over here.¡±

    Theo thankfully got up, but he didn¡¯t say anything. We walked in silence, as I promised. After his first few stumbles, I took Theo¡¯s arm again and draped it over my shoulder. I was shorter than Theo, but it kept Theo focused a little. He was battling something in his head, making it difficult to do anything else. I focused on making sure we got back home.

 Chapter 86

    ¡°What if it doesn¡¯t get better?¡± Theo whispered.

    I turned toward him. It was the first thing he spoke for a while, and I was trying to grasp his train of thought. ¡°Them?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Theo said.

    ¡°Boss mode, Theo. We¡¯re halfway done with it.¡±

    ¡°Halfway done with lessening its power,¡± Theo said, staring ahead. Black tears formed in his eyes before they started to fall. I checked the ground to make sure more of them wouldn¡¯t replace the tears he shed. ¡°But not¡­ kill.¡±

    I hesitated. Perhaps I should have said something right away, but it was too close to what I was feeling. This was depression. Theo couldn¡¯t kill depression. It was as the memory orb showed me. Some people never got over depression, no matter what they did.

    ¡°It¡¯s not¡­¡± I hesitated again, and Theo simply looked forward. He waited with his bored, emotionless look on his face because too much of his energy was used in taking one step in front of the other. He didn¡¯t have the energy to show emotion. I slowed to a stop, and he did, too. ¡°It¡¯s not going to be this strong all the time,¡± I said, far more confident in what I was saying. ¡°It can¡¯t. They are attacking so strong right now because you are doing incredible things to lessen its powers. You are doing a ton of work, facing a lot of your demons. Of course it¡¯ll feel stronger right now. But it won¡¯t be this way forever. I¡¯ve seen you. I have the memories. It will get less. It¡¯s always darkest before the dawn.¡±

    ¡°Right.¡± Theo shook his head, looking down. ¡°And every dawn turns into day, but the day always gets swallowed up by night again. It happens, every day. Every day, every night, it never ends. Every night it gets so dark. And we do nothing but survive. Survive until the dawn. Every. Damn. Night. It never ends. God, why doesn¡¯t it just end.¡±

    The weight was too much, and Theo dropped to his knees. His body shivered before his back arched and he vomited black sludge. I knelt next to him as he vomited again. I placed a hand on his shoulder, but he shied away from my touch. He panted, eyes closed. Feelings of helplessness returned to me.

    I glanced down at the vomit, seeing it start to shiver and reach up to reenter Theo. I grabbed his shoulder and pushed him away before plunging my hand into the sludge. It shivered again before turning into liquid and seeping back into the earth.

    ¡°You¡­ don¡¯t have to do that,¡± Theo said.

    ¡°I won¡¯t let it reenter you,¡± I said.

    Theo whipped his mouth with the back of his hand before getting to his feet again. He said nothing as he kept walking forward, his shoulders slumped. His steps were a little more certain, so I walked to the side of him, ready to help him again if necessary.

    We broke through the trees, and Theo didn¡¯t register it. I placed him on the bench by the lilacs and gave him a plate of chicken wings. He grunted as he ate them, and I hoped this would help him remember that he had more in his inventory. Now that he had vomited, he did look a bit better.

    There were blades of grass poking out of the lawn. I gave myself a moment to feel proud of that. I walked toward the front of the house, trying to remember what I was doing. I was building outside furniture, because I finally got my bench. I checked on him, seeing he was eating another plate of wings before I headed inside and up the stairs. I started repairing my cleaning gloves before walking downstairs again and out the front door.

    Theo had his gloves off and his sword leaning against the bench. They had caused his veins to look a lot blacker. Theo was staring at his wrists.

    ¡°It¡¯s tied to my blood, somehow,¡± Theo said when I approached him. ¡°It¡¯s in my veins.¡±

    ¡°How many plates chicken wings have you eaten?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Three,¡± he said.

    I nodded, glancing at the house. They were attacking tomorrow night. The fences were built. It was still early in the season, so they wouldn¡¯t be as strong. Movement caught my eye, and I watched Theo pick up his sword and start to place it against his palm. I moved forward fast.

    ¡°Whoa, wait. What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°If it¡¯s in my blood, it makes sense that if I make a cut, it¡¯ll-¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I said.

    ¡°It¡¯s an experiment, Quinn. I think it¡¯ll help,¡± Theo said.

    I grabbed his wrist holding the sword with such force that Theo moved his gaze from his palm to my eyes. I wasn¡¯t sure what he saw there, but I was terrified. ¡°All that accomplishes is making yet another hole in your body for them to enter. You are not doing this.¡±

    ¡°It could be another way for the corruption to-¡±

    ¡°No.¡± I said it with all the authority I felt. I stared him in the eyes, reading every thought in his head. He seemed to just want to experiment. He hadn¡¯t tried it yet. Didn¡¯t he realize this was self-harm? This wasn¡¯t healthy at all. I¡¯d heard about how addicting this could be, and I wouldn¡¯t allow Theo to do this. This was where I put my foot down. If needed, I would order him to empty his inventory of every sharp object he had, but the more I stared into his eyes, the more I knew Theo wouldn¡¯t do it.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

    He sighed, lifting his sword enough for me to take it. I did, hearing a gurgling noise. I dropped the sword as Theo placed his other hand against his mouth. I still had a grip against his wrist, so I grabbed his other wrist and tore it from his mouth with enough time to catch the sludge hairball he hacked up. He flushed a deep red, keeping his eyes closed.

    ¡°I¡¯m¡­ sorry,¡± he said.

    ¡°I¡¯m not.¡±

    He opened his eyes and stared at the sludge in my hand shivering before turning into a liquid, seeping from my fingers and landing harmlessly on his legs. ¡°Didn¡¯t you¡­ have gloves?¡± Theo asked.

    ¡°They¡¯re getting cleaned right now.¡±

    He closed his eyes again, shaking his head. ¡°I¡¯m so disgusting. I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    I flung the harmless liquid onto the ground. I¡¯d have to clean that up later, but I didn¡¯t care. ¡°You¡¯re not disgusting, Theo. And you¡¯re not a burden.¡± I wiped the rest of the liquid onto my apron. ¡°What would you like to do?¡±

    Theo groaned, leaning his head back against the bench. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Nothing. But I can¡¯t do nothing. I just want¡­¡±

    ¡­to go back to my side of the river and die.

    It was surprising how well I could predict what he wanted to say. ¡°You can¡¯t.¡±

    He sighed, like he knew I knew what he was thinking about. ¡°They are attacking tomorrow. I¡¯ve dropped to forty-five percent corruption, which is fine, but I will gain more while I sleep. Especially considering what I did today. I need all the corruption gone if I have any chance of fighting them off by tomorrow night.¡±

    ¡°Tomorrow night?¡± I asked, eyebrows raised.

    ¡°Well, yeah. Isn¡¯t that when they¡¯re attacking?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but¡­ are you going to face the last two ghosts before tomorrow night? Are you ready for that?¡± I asked.

    Theo leaned forward like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. ¡°My dad was the scariest. The other two¡­¡±

    He didn¡¯t say anything. The other two were his mother and a younger version of himself.

    ¡°What do you need?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I need you to stop taking care of me,¡± Theo said. ¡°I know you have a ton of stuff to do, and I don¡¯t want to get in the way.¡±

    I studied him closely. He was constantly telling me he hated being a burden. ¡°I do have some things to do. What are you going to do in the meantime?¡± I asked. I didn¡¯t want to say it out loud, but I couldn¡¯t trust him to go back to his side. He might die. Considering he tried cutting himself, I wasn¡¯t sure I wanted him too far from me.

    Theo didn¡¯t look at me. He was still leaning forward, wiping the liquid from himself. ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t really want to do anything.¡±

    There was a lot I wanted to get done. I glanced at the house, thinking. ¡°The electricity is working in the house now.¡±

    Theo glanced up at me, confused at this seemingly random change in subject.

    ¡°There¡¯s a TV in there. And¡­ literally all the horror movies ever created,¡± I said.

    Excitement was pushing past the numb feelings of them. ¡°Seriously?¡±

    ¡°Just¡­ don¡¯t make it too loud. I hate horror, and I really want to finish cleaning upstairs,¡± I said.

    Theo stood up, glancing at the house. ¡°I¡­ this might have just given me an excellent reason to enter the house.¡±

    A smile tugged at my lips. ¡°Do you need me to help at all?¡±

    ¡°No. I know where the TV is.¡± Theo moved forward, then stopped. He took a steady breath, then kept going. I followed at a short distance, wanting him to do this for himself. He walked up to the front door. To his credit, he waited only a few seconds before twisting the knob and entering the house. I gave him a moment in there alone before quietly following him in. He glanced around, taking it all in.

    ¡°Wow,¡± Theo said quietly. ¡°This¡­ is a completely different house.¡±

    ¡°Nah,¡± I said, my fingertips brushing against the forest green walls. ¡°Same house. Just cleaned up.¡± I dropped my hand, smiling at my work. ¡°I¡¯m telling you, it¡¯s absolutely charming.¡±

    Theo smiled, shaking his head slightly as he walked over to the bookshelf with all the VHS¡¯s. Them was still leaking out of his ears as he ran his fingers over the movie cases.

    ¡°There¡¯s also books if you want,¡± I said, pointing to the other bookshelf. ¡°I tried getting rid of these a while ago, but they reappeared the next morning.¡± Theo chuckled like I said something funny. ¡°I was trying to get rid of all the bad vibes.¡±

    ¡°Right.¡± Theo pulled out the VHS for Sixth Sense. ¡°Well, I, for one, am glad they all came back.¡±

    I shook my head, taking a few steps back as Theo started fiddling with the TV. ¡°Have fun, Theo. I¡¯m going upstairs. I don¡¯t want to hear that movie.¡±

    Theo glanced at me, raising an eyebrow as he lifted Sixth Sense. ¡°Have you still not finished this?¡±

    ¡°Absolutely not. I don¡¯t get what you see in this genre,¡± I said.

    Theo chuckled again. ¡°You know, if you¡¯d watch the movie with me, you might understand exactly what I¡¯m doing here in this portion of the game.¡±

    ¡°Nope. Not watching it,¡± I said, my hands in the air. ¡°I¡¯ll be upstairs.¡±

    Theo settled into the recliner chair, a huge remote in his hand. ¡°Thanks, Quinn.¡±

    I didn¡¯t say anything, but I was glad the TV was being put to use. I rushed into the kitchen when I heard the movie starting, and quickly went up the stairs. Despite me not knowing what Theo could possibly see in this genre, I was still willing to respect his tastes.

    I went to work cleaning the green room. I heard the movie going on downstairs, but I refused to pay attention to it. It made me uneasy. I went outside the back door to reach the dumpster instead of out the front door, because I didn¡¯t want to listen to the movie. Theo was having his moment to relax. After facing his father, he needed it.

    I finished decluttering the green room when the movie had been going on for about an hour. I waited for anything to happen for cleaning the three main rooms on the second floor, but I had a feeling I wouldn¡¯t get a reward until the entire second floor was cleaned, and that meant the locked room.

    Instead, I walked downstairs and checked my stats on the clipboard.

    Farming level 31

    Cleaning level 31

    Logging level 36

    Cooking level 29

    Building level 35

    Animal Care level 26

    Animal care was now falling behind. I was surprised farming had shot up, but then I remembered I had to be in farming clothes for the lawn care, and I spent a few solid days working on that. I needed to bring my animal care levels up. There might be another upgrade once I reach level thirty in all levels.

    I glanced out the window, staring at the back yard that had some new grass growing. We had defeated half the ghosts. This was the end game we were looking for. The feeling in my heart told me that I probably wouldn¡¯t stay here long enough to see what that level thirty upgrade did. I couldn¡¯t deny that part of me felt peace about that.

 Chapter 87

    When Theo was done with the movie, he found me in the barn, brushing Darla¡¯s coat. I wasn¡¯t sure if cows liked their coat brushed, but it was fun to do. I had finished brushing Cupcake¡¯s fast growing wool, so it only seemed fair. Theo walked in the barn, raising an eyebrow.

    ¡°I want my animals to feel loved,¡± I said.

    He shook his head, a slight smile on his face. He then pointed over his shoulder. ¡°Um¡­ I hate doing this every time¡­¡± I waited, not sure what he wanted to say. He let out a defeated sigh. ¡°Corruption leaked all over the recliner while I was watching the movie. I didn¡¯t even notice until I stood up. I¡¯m¡­ really sorry.¡±

    ¡°Oh, yeah. Don¡¯t worry about that. I¡¯ll get it cleaned up,¡± I said.

    Theo¡¯s shoulders slumped. ¡°I¡­ tried. I tried cleaning it myself. It-¡±

    ¡°Really, Theo, I don¡¯t want you to worry about it. I¡¯ll clean it up.¡± Theo sighed, and I could tell how much he hated being a burden. ¡°I gain so much experience points in my cleaning doing this. I want all of them. So stop being selfish and let me gain those points.¡±

    This caused a laugh to escape Theo. It sounded so good. I made a mental note to remember that watching a movie helped him lose some of them. ¡°How was the movie, by the way?¡±

    Theo wiped his eyes, and I couldn¡¯t tell if he was trying to hide his tears again. ¡°God, I love that movie,¡± he mumbled before dropping his hands. ¡°Is there anything else you need my help with? I really need to help you, because I feel way embarrassed about the mess I left in there.¡±

    ¡°Theo¡­ please don¡¯t ever feel like a burden,¡± I said, placing my hand on top of his and giving it a pat in an over-the-top sisterly manner. ¡°I¡¯ll go in the house soon and happily get all those experience points for cleaning. And if you can give me all the scrap metal you can, I will happily exchange them with chicken wings.¡±

    Theo laughed that amazing laugh again. The sun was starting to sink toward the trees as Theo headed toward the glowing mark near the greenhouse. ¡°I¡¯ll start gathering that scrap metal for you. Don¡¯t worry about the chicken wings,¡± he said.

    ¡°You really suck at this whole exchange thing. I¡¯m pretty sure I¡¯m getting way more than I deserve,¡± I said.

    Theo chuckled, standing on top of the mark. ¡°I¡¯ll see you later, Quinn. Probably even later tonight.¡±

    ¡°Please take care of yourself,¡± I said.

    He nodded, then disappeared. I let out a sigh, then patted Cupcake one more time before entering the house. Theo wasn¡¯t kidding. The recliner was practically covered in them. I jumped into my cleaning clothes and quickly got to work, scrubbing the chair. I made a mental note before, but now seeing just how much of them that movie leaked out, I was seriously considering letting Theo watch another one. It was probably because it was his favorite, though. Maybe something about watching his favorite movie while in his childhood home after defeating his father¡¯s ghost really gave him a sense of accomplishment that drained them out of him.

    I finished cleaning the chair, then went to my appliances and checked them all. I refilled the blender with more foraged fruits and made a few glasses of apple juice with my juicer. I leaned back, staring at the worn carpet of the kitchen, wondering what lovely hardwood was just underneath.

    I walked outside to put the glass from the tool into the second greenhouse. I then put more sand in the tool before slipping back into the kitchen.

    I leaned against the wall, hearing the quiet of the house. I turned on a few lights even though the sun was setting, just because I could. I took a moment to wander around the first floor. I remembered what it looked like before, and was pleased with how much work I had done.

    I glanced out the window to see a lawn growing. Tulips were beginning to blossom in the flower beds. I¡¯d need to get a lawn mower built soon. In a moment of bravery, I walked out onto the front porch and finished building the porch swing before sitting down and enjoying it. Killie found me and leapt onto my lap. As I sat petting my cat, I tried to think what it was I needed to do. I still had a bunch of leveling to get to upgrading my floors. And to open another greenhouse. But the fences were built, there was no them inside the house. Theo was here, facing his demons. I was cleaning and renovating this absolutely gorgeous turn of the century home. Sometimes I just needed to sit down and appreciate all the work we¡¯d done so far. Acknowledge that they were attacking tomorrow, and I wasn¡¯t in a mad scrabble to get things done.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    I slipped into the house when the wolf timer started blinking. I checked the calendar, seeing it would rain tomorrow. I had so many hearty meat soups that I was positive I could last the entire day outside on what I had stored if I needed to. I should try setting some venison out for the wolf at his den so I wouldn¡¯t have to worry about him much tomorrow night.

    I placed all the wool I collected so far into the bed. I doubted the comfort level of the blankets would do anything for my sleep, but it would look nice. The comforter wouldn¡¯t be so spotted and dusty.

    I was about ready to go to bed when I heard a noise outside the house. I frowned, approaching the back door to listen when I heard the screen door to the back porch open. I opened the back door, surprised to see Theo walking into the covered back porch, his arms loaded with scrap metal. He nodded at me.

    ¡°Got your scrap metal,¡± he said.

    I blinked at him. ¡°How¡¯d you¡­ there¡¯s a wolf out there.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I know. I was fully prepared to sprint into here, but the wolf was just hanging out by the fence. He looks mighty angry he can¡¯t jump across,¡± Theo said.

    I blinked again, then carefully walked to the screen door and popped it open. I heard the wolf before seeing it. The wet, slobbering sniffs and the growling. I saw the shadow more than the creature. I remembered that lawn care could keep the wolf at bay.

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ nice,¡± I said.

    ¡°Yeah, it is. I¡¯ve upgraded my inventory, so I¡¯ve got about fifty scrap metal in there and five here.¡± He lifted his arms a bit to show me the metal there. I smiled.

    ¡°Fantastic!¡± My building clothes jumped on, and I gestured him to follow me. ¡°I want the fridge upgraded first.¡±

    I opened the kitchen door, then walked toward the fridge and turned, expecting he had followed me, but the back door swung shut again. I paused, then went back to the door, opening it to see Theo glancing forward but not really looking at anything.

    ¡°Sorry, I wasn¡¯t thinking. If you want, I can just take the metal here and-¡±

    ¡°No. Just¡­ give me a second,¡± Theo said. He closed his eyes, taking a deep, cleansing breath. ¡°You¡¯ve cleaned the kitchen?¡±

    ¡°Everything but the floors,¡± I said.

    He flinched, then opened his eyes again. I held the door open for him as he took a few steps inside. Despite how careful his steps were inside the kitchen, his eyes were darting everywhere, taking it all in, like prey making sure a predator wasn¡¯t in the vicinity.

    I calmly grabbed some of the metal from his arms, making sure to go slow so I wouldn¡¯t startle him, and eased it into the fridge. When all the metal from his arms were gone, he got scrap metal from his inventory to give me. Once I had 25/25 scrap metal into the fridge, I waited. Scrap metal was all I needed, and a sheen came over the fridge. I opened it up to see the items already in there were more compact. They, too, seemed to have baskets to hold up to ten of each kind. This would make things so much easier. I closed the fridge, straightening.

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    I hadn¡¯t noticed before, because I was more focused on the fridge, but once the fridge was done, I noticed that the stove, too, needed some scrap metal.

    0/15 scrap metal

    That wasn¡¯t too bad. I took another one of Theo¡¯s scrap metals and walked over to the stove. Theo did not follow. Instead, he stayed rooted in the spot, again not looking at anything, but particularly not looking at the door leading up to the second floor. I traveled to him, gathering the scrap metal quietly as I placed it into the oven. The oven gave a sheen before turning on.

    Appliance Unlocked! Stove

    Can create many recipes usually found from the ingredients of greenhouses three and four

    Can also be used to make soup, as long as a pot has been purchased

    Nice. Even if I ran out of hearty soups tomorrow, I could still make them here. Though I doubted I¡¯d run out. I really stocked up on those soups.

    I turned to see Theo where I left him. He had another scrap metal out, waiting for me to take it, though he was clearly distracted with something else.

    ¡°How much scrap metal do you have left?¡± I asked.

    It seemed like Theo couldn¡¯t hear me, but when he slowly turned I saw thin black lines of them creeping into his face. I tried not to react, but my stomach still clenched at the sight.

    ¡°F-fifteen,¡± Theo said. ¡°I have¡­ fifteen left.¡±

    I nodded, then rubbed my upper arm. ¡°I¡¯d like to fix the front screen door. Are you okay walking to the front through the kitchen? Or would you like to go around the house and meet me there?¡±

    Theo said nothing, though I knew he heard me. He hesitated, then hugged himself tightly as he walked through the kitchen. I followed him wordlessly, knowing the lines of them were thin. Once again we did our silent swap, with him giving me the scrap metal to fix the screen door. It didn¡¯t take much before it was back on its hinges. I gave it a gentle swing before closing it and the front door. The screen was all repaired. Once it was done my cleaning clothes appeared on to me. That seemed to pull Theo back to wherever his mind had let him wander. He touched his face, and I wondered if he felt them.

    ¡°This¡­ is good. Do you need more? I can go get more. Especially since the wolf can¡¯t enter the fence. I could work all night to-¡±

    ¡°No. Don¡¯t go without sleep,¡± I said. ¡°They¡¯re attacking tomorrow night, and you¡¯ll need your rest.¡±

    Theo let out a sigh, glancing at the floor before shivering and glancing at the ceiling instead. ¡°But you¡¯ll need scrap metal?¡±

    ¡°Just fifty more. For the lawn mower. Don¡¯t stress about it. You can get it tomorrow morning,¡± I said.

    Theo said nothing, his mind traveling back to wherever it had been before. He opened his mouth to say something else when we heard a whimpering coming from the second floor. I jumped and turned. It sounded like it was coming from the green room. I had just finished cleaning that place. Hauntings hadn¡¯t ever happened up there before.

    Theo closed his eyes, a hand to his mouth.

    ¡°Who¡­¡± I started to ask.

    ¡°Mom,¡± he whispered. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ mom.¡±

 Chapter 88

    I stared at Theo as the whimpering we heard turned into a cry. Almost like she had a sob built up in her and was letting it out as little as possible. I had never heard his mother crying. It had always been just the whispers in the locked room. The male and female that I pieced together were Theo¡¯s parents. But I supposed¡­ since Theo had gotten rid of his father¡¯s ghost today¡­

    Was Theo strong enough for this? Two ghosts in one day? He had a hard enough time being in the kitchen. We never talked about going to the second floor.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to do this now if you don¡¯t want to,¡± I told him as my sanity started shivering, dropping one percent. ¡°We still have a lot of seasons left.¡±

    Theo said nothing, hugging himself as the woman in the green room kept weeping. ¡°She¡¯ll cry every night until I talk to her, though,¡± Theo said.

    ¡°We don¡¯t¡­ know that for certain,¡± I said.

    ¡°I do.¡± He said it so quietly I almost didn¡¯t hear it. ¡°She cries¡­ often.¡±

    I swallowed, not sure what to say. Theo closed his eyes again, leaning against the wall. ¡°Theo,¡± I started to say.

    ¡°I can do this. I¡¯ll need to do it. If it will drop the corruption another ten percent, it would be stupid not to do this now. Especially since the corruption is attacking tomorrow night,¡± Theo said.

    ¡°Would you like me there?¡± I asked.

    Theo nodded almost before I finished speaking. Black tears formed in his eyes, which meant there was still them inside him. ¡°I am going to close my eyes and cover my ears. I cannot see those stairs. I cannot see that landing. I have nightmares about falling into an abyss while I¡¯m walking down those stairs,¡± Theo said quietly.

    A lump formed in my throat as I nodded. ¡°Tell me when you¡¯re ready.¡±

    Theo closed his eyes, causing oily tears to drop down his cheeks. ¡°Ready.¡±

    I took his elbow. ¡°I will lead you through your grandmother¡¯s room and up the stairs there. They still squeak because the stairs are old. If you¡¯d like, you can cover your ears.¡±

    Theo nodded, and already lifted his palms to his ears. I waited until he was situated, then I took his elbow. He closed his eyes tighter, but nodded again. I then led him through his grandmother¡¯s bedroom, through the doorway, then up those stairs. I kept glancing behind me, making sure he was okay. Those oily tears kept falling down his cheeks as we climbed the stairs. I was in front, holding his elbow as he hunched down, taking one step at a time.

    I followed the sound of the muffled sobs. She was in the green room, the one I just finished cleaning. I walked inside, leading Theo. I closed the door, the sobbing woman¡¯s cries echoing off the walls.

    ¡°We¡¯re here,¡± I whispered to Theo.

    The moment Theo opened his eyes, the woman materialized in the corner of the room. Her legs were brought up to her chest. She was wearing pajamas. Her long brown hair was spilling over her shoulders. She looked like she was in her mid-twenties.

    Theo collapsed to his knees, his face frozen, a silent grief entering his eyes. Theo¡¯s mother had her hand over her mouth to hold in the sobs. Where Theo was kneeling, they were crawling up his pants and torso, shoving tears away as they entered his eyes.

    ¡°You wanted to leave,¡± Theo whispered. There were tears dropping from his eyes at the same rate they were entering his body. ¡°It¡¯s what I remembered. You wanted to leave. You felt like you had to. But you didn¡¯t.¡±

    I tried not to react. I leaned against the wall, remaining silent, my brows furrowed in pain.

    ¡°He was here,¡± she said, her voice taking on that ghostly echo. ¡°He was here, and I talked to him. He promised he wanted to make things right. I hope he will. I love him.¡±

    Theo bowed his head again, shuddering. I covered my mouth. Was Theo¡¯s mom a complete idiot?If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    When that thought passed, I pushed myself to think more compassionately. I looked at her, sobbing in the corner. She was so young. A few years older than Theo and I ourselves. So young, yet already mother to a four-year-old child.

    ¡°You know he won¡¯t,¡± Theo whispered, looking at the ground.

    Theo¡¯s mom shook her head. ¡°I know.¡± She let out a sob. ¡°I know.¡±

    ¡°You know you¡¯re dead.¡± Theo still refused to look at her.

    Theo¡¯s mom raised her head, and this time I did gasp. There was a long gash across her neck, and her pajama shirt was soaked in blood. Theo glanced up to see it, more oily tears dropped from his eyes.

    ¡°I gave up,¡± she whispered, her fingers curling inward as she placed her fists against her neck. ¡°I was too tired. Running from place to place. This was supposed to be it. This was supposed to be our forever home. He was never supposed to find us. It was so exhausting, living in constant fear. How could I possibly parent a child when I was so scared.¡±

    Theo hesitated, his eyes lingering on her throat. ¡°You never let me ride a bike. You never let me play outside. The only time I could sing was inside. And yet you knew he was here. You knew he¡¯d try something. You spent so much time trying to keep me safe, yet when it fell on your shoulders to run, you stayed.¡± Theo¡¯s voice broke. ¡°I hate that I hate you, too.¡±

    I swallowed, remaining by the wall. Theo¡¯s mom stopped crying. She stared at Theo, watching him as he bowed his head again, wiping the black tears from his eyes. They were slowing their climb.

    ¡°No,¡± Theo whispered. ¡°I can¡¯t. I can¡¯t hate you.¡±

    ¡°And yet?¡± Theo¡¯s mom¡¯s voice was more solid.

    ¡°And yet¡­ it¡¯s complicated,¡± Theo said.

    She nodded, her fists still against her throat. ¡°And yet you heard. You heard me tell Nana I couldn¡¯t do this anymore. That we should run, but I just can¡¯t. That I need a week to come to terms with this.¡±

    Theo covered his face in his hands. ¡°You and Nana would have been okay. If you ran away.¡±

    ¡°Something you yourself are familiar with, yes?¡± Theo¡¯s mom asked.

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Theo asked.

    ¡°A constant battle. A demon from outside. The adrenaline that you receive the first few battles, then the pure exhaustion when you realize this is what you have to do the rest of your life. Sometimes, son, it is a relief to set it down and just give up.¡±

    Theo dropped his hands and stared at his mother. His mom gave him a sad smile. Theo stuttered before he started talking. ¡°I¡­ didn¡¯t commit suicide. Quinn told me. The beings in charge of this game told her. I feel it.¡± His words sounded less sure the more he spoke.

    I stared at Theo¡¯s mother, feeling my heart pounding in my chest so hard it ached. Did she know something I didn¡¯t? Was this some sort of trick? I knew I couldn¡¯t completely trust the alien overlords, but they were certain. We would not be here if Theo tried to kill himself.

    Theo¡¯s mother smiled. ¡°I cannot tell you to stop hating me when I have a hard time not hating myself. I am happy, though, that you managed to escape.¡± She closed her eyes, starting to fade. ¡°Makes resting a bit easier.¡±

    ¡°Mom,¡± Theo said, crawling forward to reach her. ¡°Mom, wait.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re safe now, Theo. He¡¯s gone, too. You can sing outside again.¡±

    Theo¡¯s fingers brushed through his mother, and she disappeared. I covered my mouth, almost too scared to breathe. Theo¡¯s breathing was shaky as he curled his fingers.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t¡­ I didn¡¯t kill myself¡­¡± he kept whispering.

    3/4 ghosts defeated

    Power of them reduced by another 10%

    ¡°I didn¡¯t¡­ you said I didn¡¯t¡­¡± Theo said.

    ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± I said, walking over to him. ¡°You didn¡¯t. I don¡¯t know what your mom was trying to say, but I know what I felt.

    Theo almost said something else when his back arched. He bowed his head, covering his mouth as a large sludge creature full of teeth and hair dropped out of his mouth. He gasped for air as the sludge shivered and tried to get back in him.

    I held out my hand. ¡°Give it to me.¡± Theo curled his fingers around the sludge, giving me a look of horror. ¡°Give it to me!¡± I said again.

    ¡°This is disgusting, Quinn. I¡¯m not¡­ I can¡¯t¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s better to get it out than to continually cycle it through. Give. It. To. Me!¡± I held out both of my gloved hands. The sludge started to rise up toward Theo¡¯s face, and he tried to drop it, but it clung to his hands.

    ¡°Quinn,¡± he said, a slight tremor of fear in his voice.

    ¡°Throw it at me, I¡¯ll catch it,¡± I said.

    The sludge started up toward his face. Fear, more than anything, caused Theo to chuck the sludge in my direction. I opened my palms and caught the creature. It only took a moment before it turned into liquid, dripping from my hands.

    Theo shuddered, looking away.

    ¡°How much did that drop your corruption?¡± I asked.

    Theo still had his head bowed, still on his hands and knees. ¡°Seven percent.¡±

    ¡°Do you have another one you¡¯d like to throw at me?¡± I asked.

    Theo shook his head. ¡°No. No. I don¡¯t want to.¡±

    ¡°If the only thing stopping you from doing this is because you¡¯re embarrassed, I need you to¡­ stop. Stop thinking that way,¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t care, Theo. I¡¯m not judging you. I never will. I just want you to get them out of your system.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to do this every time!¡± Theo said, his head still bowed, refusing to look at me. ¡°It¡¯s humiliating. This can¡¯t be how I drop my corruption.¡±

    ¡°Dying can¡¯t be the way, either,¡± I told him.

    Theo made another noise, and I was ready to catch another thing of sludge, but he held his hand over his mouth and swallowed. I couldn¡¯t help it and scrunched my nose. ¡°Theo¡­¡±

    He stood up, closing his eyes. ¡°Take me downstairs, please. I¡­ want to go to bed.¡±

 Chapter 89

    I woke up to the sound of rain pounding against my window and dread in my heart. They were attacking tonight. They were, according to the words in my vision, thirty percent weaker. What made me more nervous was that Theo had left last night in a considerably weaker state, too. The corruption bar must have been high, and he was not shedding any tears to get it out of his system. I wanted to ask him what his percentage was once he got here.

    I got out of bed and instantly started shivering. It was fall, and it was raining. The rain was a lot colder, and I would probably have to feed the furnace some coal. Since my stamina started shivering, I rushed out to the back porch and moved the piece of wood that covered the basement stairs.

    The furnace requested five coal to work today, which meant I needed to drop fifty dopamine points. I sighed, but did as requested. After all, I did have the hearty soups that I could use if I needed to chop trees all day to replace my dopamine points.

    Once the furnace was taken care of, I ate one of those hearty soups that gave me a solid forty-five minutes of heat. I went through my morning routine, waiting for Theo to arrive. There was no beer can to pick up, which was nice. I fed my animals and gathered their food and got my wool from Cupcake. That was safely stored before I entered my greenhouses. I placed the glass in the second greenhouse, then dropped the scrap metal into it that Theo left behind. It leveled up, and I smiled. I would never have to worry about watering these plants in here again. It felt magnificent.

    I harvested the onions and cucumbers in my newly upgraded first greenhouse. There weren¡¯t many recipes unlocking with the cucumber, as I assumed I could chop one up and place it on a salad. Or have it count as the ¡®veggie¡¯ portion of some of my roast and veggies.

    The second greenhouse unlocked spinach and bell peppers for more seeds to plant. I bought those seeds and planted them quickly before gathering more lettuce and carrots.

    The final big thing for the morning was opening my third greenhouse and seeing wheat and rice ready to harvest. I smiled, gathering that up and placing it into my inventory. As expected, a lot more recipes and appliances were now unlocked. I planted more wheat and rice before walking inside to check the clipboard.

    I bought the pasta maker. The bread maker seemed a bit excessive, until I saw that in the oven it would take an hour, but in the maker, it would only take fifteen minutes. I already had a wheat grinder, which was nice. I started grinding half my wheat right there in the kitchen before glancing through my recipes.

    There was a recipe for bread, which seemed the easiest.

    Bread

    0/3 ground wheat

    0/2 eggs

    0/1 water

    Ground wheat was the most complicated part of this recipe. A lot of my other unlocked recipes, though, called for bread, so that was probably why it was so simple.

    Pasta was another easy one.

    Pasta

    0/2 ground wheat

    0/2 eggs

    Place on pasta maker

    I was pretty sure the actual recipe for pasta was far more complex than placing some ground wheat and eggs in a pasta maker, but that was alright. There were a lot of options now with pasta. Mac and cheese, spaghetti, lasagna, alfredo pasta.

    There was even a cheese pizza recipe now. I really needed way more wheat if I was going to try all of these.

    The final recipe caught my eye. It had stars around it, and my heart lifted in excitement.

    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    *Theo¡¯s Favorite Recipe*

    Tomato Toast

    0/1 slice of bread

    0/2 tomatoes

    0/2 cheese

    Place in toaster oven

    *When consumed by Theo, this recipe will absorb an additional 20% of corruption

    I checked my cheese supply and already started making some more for when I would undoubtably need to replace it after making this. I then grabbed two packets of ground up wheat and placed that and two eggs in the bread maker. I then rushed back to the clipboard and found the toaster oven appliance and bought that. I was running out of room on my kitchen counters for these appliances, but I assumed that meant I was close to buying them all.

    I was aware that Theo wasn¡¯t here yet. I was worried about him. He didn¡¯t have any excuse because he had a teleportation device right to my place. There was a chance he was still sleeping. I could check on him right now, considering I, too, had a way to contact him.

    I left my appliances running as I walked outside. I stepped on the teleportation device and it started to glow. A map appeared in my vision, and I frowned, trying to figure out where I was supposed to go. Theo¡¯s map was huge. There were eight little pinpricks of light showing the teleportation devices. It was a miracle he even found me.

    I mentally zoomed into the map. When I did, I saw each one was labeled. I mentally chose the one labeled ¡®base camp¡¯ and felt a pull in my body. I closed my eyes halfway through, feeling nauseous at the blurring colors and melting scenery.

    My eyes didn¡¯t open again until the free-falling sensation passed and my feet landed on solid ground again. Theo was in his hammock, folding his arms, his head turned to the side as a steady drip, drip, drip landed on the ground.

    I walked forward. ¡°Theo?¡±

    His eyes were open. He looked exhausted. He wouldn¡¯t want to talk in this state. I held in a sigh, then glanced around. They were still inching up the tree, and I jumped into my cleaning clothes and pressed my hand against the tree. Theo made no indication that he heard or saw me. He was deep in depression, and I was worried about him.

    ¡°Don¡¯t move, okay? I¡¯ll be back soon.¡±

    I figured I could place my gloves against the tree all day, or I could go home and finish that recipe.

    I teleported back to my home and entered the kitchen. The bread had a few more minutes to go. I flipped through the clipboard again, checking the other recipes. My salad recipe now had many more options to place on there, like bell pepper, cucumbers, spinach, and even croutons. It seemed like one very big plate of salad could get me as much as eighty-five percent of my stamina back.

    Once the bread was done, it came out with five slices. I took one slice, two tomatoes, and two things of cheese and placed it in the toaster oven. The timer above it said a half an hour. My shoulders sagged. I wanted it to be sooner than that, but I suppose I couldn¡¯t have everything.

    Instead, I used the time to forage. Before I left, I gathered some venison in my storage unit before entering wolf territory and collecting the raw meat in the traps. I then snuck over to the wolf¡¯s lair, my heart pounding the entire time. A part of me was screaming that this was the worst idea ever, that if I got killed, then I would lose a day. Today was not a day to lose.

    And yet I tiptoed over to the stone circle and placed ten venison there. I recognized the change in me. One season ago I would have been curled in a ball on the ground in terror at the thought of entering this wolf¡¯s lair. True, I dropped the venison then quickly moved out of the vicinity, but I was proud of myself all the same.

    I returned home. As soon as I broke through the trees, Killie came up to rub her back against my leg. I picked her up, realizing my heat was gone. I hurried inside, wondering how Killie managed to stay so dry.

    I checked the toaster oven and saw it was done. I tried not to feel bad about the time I might have wasted, because it wasn¡¯t a waste. I wanted the wolf far away from us tonight. Theo would try attacking them again tonight.

    I picked up the tomato toast and eased it into my inventory before going to the storage unit. It was a quick switch of placing the raw meat into the inventory before gathering the last of the chicken wings.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go see if Theo wants to spend time with us for the day,¡± I said to Killie. ¡°He might need you to cheer him up.¡±

    Killie gave my leg another rub as she purred before wandering off into the entertainment room. I walked outside again, shivering in the rain as I raced toward the teleportation device. I didn¡¯t notice if heat was important on Theo¡¯s side, but I guess now was as good a time as ever to find out.

    I closed my eyes this time before stepping onto the transportation device. I opened them again, moving forward to Theo who was still on the hammock. This side didn¡¯t need the heat from the soup, but other than a brief moment of relief, I quickly pushed that concern aside.

    ¡°Theo?¡± I asked.

    He said nothing. I didn¡¯t want to shake his shoulder, because he wasn¡¯t asleep. He was just staring off into the distance.

    ¡°Do you want to eat?¡± I asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Theo said.

    ¡°I got a new recipe. It said it was your favorite.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t have one,¡± Theo mumbled.

    ¡°Well, this is what the clipboard said it was,¡± I said, pulling it out of my inventory.

    Theo turned, no doubt driven by curiosity alone. When he saw the tomato toast, he flinched. ¡°Where¡¯d you get that?¡±

    ¡°The clipboard had the recipe. I just followed the recipe.¡±

    Theo stared at the plate with the bread. He stared at it long enough that I was beginning to worry. ¡°Is it your favorite?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± He slowly eased his legs off the hammock and stood up. ¡°As a kid.¡± He took a bite of it and shivered. It was gone in two more bites, and Theo took a huge breath. He then leaned over, gripping his knees, before coughing so hard I was certain he would hack up a lung. My cleaning clothes leapt back on, and I was prepared.

    Theo gave a final hack before spitting into the ground something wet and black. He then straightened, wiping the back of his mouth. ¡°Yeah, uh¡­ do you have another one of those?¡± he asked.

    A small smile crossed my face. ¡°Come back to the house, and I¡¯d happily make you another one.¡±

 Chapter 90

    Theo watched another movie while I placed another tomato toast into the toaster oven.

    ¡°Would you be okay to get it yourself if I¡¯m not down here?¡± I asked Theo from the kitchen, because I didn¡¯t want to see what movie Theo picked.

    ¡°Yeah, I can do that.¡±

    ¡°Good. It¡¯s got a half an hour on the timer,¡± I said.

    ¡°Got it! You go do your thing,¡± Theo said.

    He sounded a lot better, but still exhausted. I wasn¡¯t sure where his corruption levels were, but I could still see the haunted look in his eyes he was trying to hide. I wondered if he got any sleep last night.

    I walked outside and into the garage. I hadn¡¯t primed any of the upstairs rooms, and I wanted to get that done. It would take a solid six hours, though. I started it in little Theo¡¯s room.

    The grass was growing in the rain. I would need to mow it tomorrow or the next day, which meant I needed to build that riding lawnmower soon.

    I glanced out the doorway of the garage. The house had its lights on. The front porch was lovely and the tulips were blooming. Theo was inside with Killie on his lap, watching whatever horror movie he was watching.

    I walked over to the front porch and sat down again on the porch swing. In my cleaning clothes I noticed that the house wasn¡¯t one hundred percent clean, no doubt because Theo was relaxing with a movie and they were leaving him. I¡¯d clean that up later.

    My mind started wandering. Something Theo had said returned to my memory, and for whatever reason I couldn¡¯t shake it. He talked about the bases of monsters, and was certain he would find their base. From what I could tell, they were always where Theo was. They appeared out of the ground whenever Theo felt depressed.

    Yet Theo mentioned indications when he knew he was close to a base. Things would be there to give a hint. If I had to make a wild guess, all four of the ghosts that caused him grief were on this side of the river, with three of them being in this very house. When Theo conquered them, their power was reduced by ten percent. It only made sense that¡­

    I glanced up at the ceiling, toward the second floor. The front door opened and I saw Theo walking out with Killie in his arms.

    ¡°Is the movie done already?¡± I asked.

    ¡°No, but¡­ I felt bad about how much I was leaking in there,¡± he said.

    I couldn¡¯t help it and snorted. ¡°What¡¯s your corruption bar look like?¡±

    ¡°Ten percent,¡± Theo said.

    I crinkled my nose. ¡°Then go let it drain the rest of the way, Theo.¡±

    He shook his head, sitting down next to me on the bench. ¡°Nah, it doesn¡¯t drain when it hits ten percent. This is what I have to work with tonight, and I¡¯ll take it.¡±

    We rocked in silence for a bit. Killie climbed on my lap and was enjoying the extra love from both of us.

    ¡°How are you feeling?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Dead on my feet,¡± Theo said, closing his eyes and resting his head against the wall. ¡°The corruption may be practically gone, but my stamina is shot.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I can get you more food for your stamina,¡± I said, starting to stand up.

    Theo held out a hand, stopping me. ¡°Don¡¯t bother. Most of my stamina is grayed out because of how much corruption was in me last night.¡± He sighed. ¡°It happens. Over a hundred percent, the nights drain my stamina and keep it grayed out.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± I said, sitting back down. ¡°I¡¯ve experienced that before eating too many comfort foods.¡±

    Theo nodded, a frown appeared on his face. ¡°This is¡­ what I have to deal with if I don¡¯t die.¡± He let out another sigh. ¡°It sucks, feeling tired like this. At least I¡¯m not depressed and tired. That¡¯s even worse.¡±

    I kept petting Killie, who purred and closed her eyes. ¡°I think I know where their base is,¡± I said.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.

    Theo cracked an eye open to glance at me. ¡°Oh?¡±

    ¡°Second floor. Locked room.¡± Theo opened both eyes to look at me. I shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s the only place that makes sense. That or they¡¯re deep underground where we can¡¯t reach.¡±

    Theo said nothing. He went back to closing his eyes, though there was a furrow in his brow.

    ¡°I¡¯d like to remind you that we have two more seasons left. You don¡¯t have to do this right now,¡± I said.

    Theo grunted, placing his hand on Killie¡¯s back. ¡°I feel like this game is the best one to speedrun.¡± I smiled a little, mainly because I knew Theo still had his eyes closed. ¡°I¡¯d rather try to get rid of the final ghost before I go to the locked room, though.¡±

    ¡°You mean little Theo?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Theo said. ¡°How does he usually haunt?¡±

    ¡°Before when the house wasn¡¯t nearly as clean, he ran around upstairs and giggled,¡± I said. Theo opened his eyes at that, raising an eyebrow. ¡°Hey, it was terrifying when I first got here.¡±

    Theo straightened. ¡°Alright. Well, what does little Theo do now?¡±

    ¡°Usually sings nursery rhymes. But¡­ but this is the night they attack, which means¡­¡± I trailed off, then glanced at him. ¡°Which means I usually hear the stairs creaking as he walks down them, and bloody footprints appear on the carpet.¡±

    Theo didn¡¯t say anything. He simply remained where he was, and the exhaustion hit him at once. He looked so tired.

    ¡°Right,¡± was all he mumbled.

    I held in a sigh. ¡°I¡¯d like to emphasize once again that¡­ we have two seasons left.¡±

    ¡°The mystery will remain,¡± Theo said, rubbing his forehead. ¡°It¡¯ll be hanging over my head, causing more corruption. I¡¯d rather just know.¡±

    I nodded, understanding that train of thought. The ghosts had been so terrifying because I didn¡¯t know what they were. Once I did, it didn¡¯t attack my sanity so bad.

    ¡°You look like you could use a nap,¡± I said.

    ¡°I almost did,¡± Theo said.

    ¡°Well, you should. Go take a nap. Either in my bedroom or back at base camp. I can come wake you up when it¡¯s late enough,¡± I said.

    ¡°What about the wolf? Aren¡¯t you worried it might try and eat you?¡± Theo asked.

    ¡°I put some venison at its lair so it¡¯ll stay out there a couple more hours then usual.¡±

    Theo nudged me with his shoulders. ¡°Look at you. Doing something brave.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t feel brave,¡± I said.

    ¡°That¡¯s the secret, though. When we think people are brave, it¡¯s because we have no idea what¡¯s going on inside their head at the moment. We¡¯re able to fool a lot of people.¡±

    I snorted. ¡°I suppose that¡¯s why bravery and stupidity are often mixed up.¡±

    ¡°The difference between bravery and stupidity is whether the outcome was to our favor or not,¡± Theo said.

    This time I let out a laugh, pushing his shoulder. ¡°You¡¯re an idiot.¡±

    ¡°Not stupid yet, though. That¡¯s to be seen.¡± Theo stood up and stretched. ¡°I think I will take you up on that offer to sleep. I¡¯m just not sure¡­¡±

    ¡°If you sleep in my bed, Killie will join you,¡± I said.

    ¡°Well, that settles that,¡± Theo said, scooping up Killie from my lap. ¡°Come on, girl. I¡¯m about to take the hardest nap of my life.¡±

    I smiled as the two of them disappeared into the house again. I waited a bit before entering the house, too, cleaning up where they were left. It didn¡¯t take long. I hoped Theo understood how little this annoyed me. In ten minutes the chair was back to normal.

    I stood up, brushing myself off. There was a good long while before it got dark. Or at least darker, since the rain clouds kept it pretty dark already. I gave myself something to do by eating the hearty soup and going outside to chop down trees. This lawn was growing fast, no doubt doubled by the rain. I would want to mow the lawn tomorrow, and I didn¡¯t want to wait on Theo to get me more scrap metal. He was going through hell right now, and I didn¡¯t want to ask him for more scrap metal.

    I downed tree after tree in the pouring rain, undeterred because I ate my hearty soup. I broke up the logs into boards and fed them into the dumpster. Once I had a large supply, I bought up a lot of scrap metal from the basement. It was hard, though, after cutting down trees and going through almost three hearty soups to get twenty-six scrap metal from all that hard work. I was definitely happy I found Theo when I did. Our scrap metal exchange saved me a ton of dopamine points.

    It gave me something to do. A busy thing for my mind to focus on while I waited for dark. They would attack, and Theo was taking a good long nap.

    I placed the last scrap metal into the mower and took a step back. It formed into a nice, compact riding lawn mower. I wasn¡¯t sure what would happen tonight, but I would be ready with what I wanted to do tomorrow. The grass was now high enough to hide my shoes, and I wanted to keep it trim. After I rebuilt the fences.

    I leaned back, placing my hands on my hips as I looked out among the forest. The lamp had flickered on. There were other lights on in the house, as well as the porch light. The wolf wouldn¡¯t appear for a few more hours yet. That creature was really distracted with the venison.

    I walked inside the house, feeling how quiet it was. Not just quiet. Peaceful. There was one ghost left. The one of little Theo. Once I knew who he was, I had never felt threatened by the little boy. More heartbroken than anything.

    I opened the back door and checked the clipboard, giving a final look at my stats.

    Farming level 32

    Cleaning level 32

    Logging level 38

    Cooking level 33

    Building level 37

    Animal Care level 28

    I was so curious about a number of things. I wanted to know what happened when they all reached level thirty. Or when I reached the max leveling in each one. Logging was easy enough to guess. There didn¡¯t seem like another animal I needed to get when I reached the max level of animal care.

    It was all these questions I wasn¡¯t sure I¡¯d learn. Part of me felt at peace about that. I had long ago known that I would rather get out of this game than finish it. What hurt the most was the floors. But I would not be seduced by those floors to stay in this game a moment longer if I didn¡¯t have to.

    I heard the bedroom door open, and the clipboard clattered back to its spot as I entered the house again to meet up with Theo.

 Chapter 91

    Theo had left the bedroom out the entertainment room door, and I met him and Killie in the living room.

    ¡°Good nap?¡± I asked.

    Theo rubbed his head. ¡°Yeah, actually.¡± He let out a breath. ¡°It has been a long time since I slept in a bed. That was nice.¡±

    I smiled. ¡°Good. And your stamina?¡±

    ¡°Got thirty percent back from that nap.¡±

    This didn¡¯t seem like a lot, but Theo looked a lot better. There was still bags under his eyes, and an exhaustion that was present even after waking up.

    ¡°I know it doesn¡¯t seem like a lot,¡± Theo said as though reading my thoughts. ¡°But after surviving off of five percent stamina for most of the day, this feels like a breath of fresh air.¡±

    ¡°Okay, good. Good.¡±

    We fell silent, and I furrowed my brows. It was a peaceful night. The lights were on, and I realized why it was so weird. They were attacking. It shouldn¡¯t feel this peaceful. But three of the four ghosts were gone.

    ¡°Theo¡­¡± I started to say. My brother glanced at me. I glanced at the ceiling toward the second level. ¡°Little Theo. He should be singing by now. He¡¯s¡­ not.¡±

    The wolf timer was blinking, giving a minute left. It was late.

    I heard the creaking at the stairs. I glanced toward the kitchen, then my eyes shot toward Theo. Little Theo was coming down the stairs already. Maybe there was something about Theo being at the house during the night that triggered this particular haunt now.

    I could see the steady rise and fall of Theo¡¯s chest as he realized what was happening. I wasn¡¯t sure what to do, but I did know I was here for support. I waited until I had backed into the entertainment room before my cleaning clothes jumped on me.

    Theo didn¡¯t move. He remained frozen at the spot, his face masking what he felt, except for the slow build of terror as the creaking of the stairs stopped.

    I remained where I was beside the TV in the entertainment room. The silence was almost as deafening as when they arrived. I knew little Theo took small, careful steps, but it still felt like an eternity waiting for those blood covered footprints to enter the living room.

    It surprised me when I saw the little boy from the memory orbs walking carefully into the living room. The little boy wore the same haunted face that matched my brother¡¯s face right now.

    Little Theo was heading for the front door but stopped when Theo¡¯s shadow crossed him. The little boy looked up, staring at Theo with that haunted look. Both of them stared at each other for what seemed like ages, and I didn¡¯t dare leave my spot.

    ¡°My mom¡­ my nana¡­¡± the boy said, his voice echoing.

    ¡°I know,¡± Theo said. His voice cracked, black tears filling his eyes.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    Once again, they fell silent. I wasn¡¯t sure how much little Theo would speak. Despite the tears in older Theo¡¯s eyes, little Theo remained almost emotionless, except for the horror that was clear on his face.

    ¡°Will I be okay?¡± little Theo asked.

    This question broke something in Theo. The tears that pooled in his eyes dropped down his cheeks as he held in a sob. Theo sank to the floor, and I was afraid he would crumple into a sob, but he held it in. Theo placed a trembling hand on the boy¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Yeah.¡± It was quiet, almost a whisper. ¡°Yeah, you¡¯ll be okay, kid,¡± Theo said again.

    The boy continued to stare at Theo, not believing him. Theo wrapped his arms around the little boy, a bit more of the sob breaking through as Theo pulled his younger self into a hug. ¡°Keep walking. Go down the street. An officer will find you. You don¡¯t have to say anything. He¡¯ll understand. You can just point. Point where your house is and stay in the cop car. He¡¯ll take care of everything. You¡¯ll sleep at the station while calls are made. You¡¯re going to be placed in a house with a couple named Brenda and Doug. They¡¯ll take care of you and love you as deeply as if you¡¯re their own child. You¡¯ll meet a little girl your age who will be your sister. Her name is Quinn. She¡¯ll already love you, because she¡¯s just that kind of a person. She¡¯ll talk your ear off, but you won¡¯t have to say a word. Not until you want to. It¡¯ll be hard, but you¡¯ll learn how to smile again.¡±

    Little Theo started to sob. I covered my mouth as Theo kept a hold of the little boy. The sob lasted a few minutes, where I kept my distance. I couldn¡¯t see Theo¡¯s face, but he held on to the sobbing boy, refusing to let go.

    Once the sobbing was done, little Theo broke out of the hug. ¡°Down the street?¡± Little Theo asked, his voice solid.

    Theo nodded, tears racing down his cheek. ¡°Down the street. Turn left. Stay on the sidewalk. The officer will find you.¡±

    Little Theo nodded. Theo placed his hands on the boy¡¯s shoulder, then leaned over and planted a kiss on his forehead. ¡°Good luck.¡±

    Little Theo nodded again before taking a deep breath. He then walked around Theo and out the front door.

    4/4 ghosts defeated

    Power of them reduced by another 10%

    House is cleansed of ghosts

    I remained by the wall. Theo remained on his knees, wiping the tears from his face. I waited for any more instructions from the words, but there was nothing. What did this mean? Was there anything else to do?

    Theo climbed to his feet, and I rushed over to him. ¡°Theo?¡± I asked.

    ¡°The second floor. Let¡¯s go,¡± he said, already heading toward the stairs, not looking at me.

    ¡°Are you¡­ sure?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yes.¡± He still didn¡¯t look at me as he headed toward the kitchen. ¡°The ghosts are gone. I refuse to let this be anything more than a house.¡±

    I wanted to ask him about his corruption, but the tears he shed while comforting his younger self were clear. Instead, I followed him through the kitchen, then into the dark hallway. Theo let out a breath, then walked up the creaking staircase. I followed behind him, still in my cleaning clothes. I wasn¡¯t about to change out of them now.

    We came to the landing. Theo wiped away a few more tears before he reached inside his shirt and pulled out the necklace with the key at the center. He braced himself as he slipped it off. It was off his neck, now. The key shivered, then zoomed into the doorknob. Theo didn¡¯t take another step toward the door. He didn¡¯t get his moment of preparation. The key was already turning, and the door squeaking open. Theo¡¯s chest heaved as panic hit his eyes. I moved to his side, squeezing his hand to let him know I was here.

    The door squeaked open by itself. Inside was pure white. I frowned, taking a few steps forward. What was that?

    ¡°I think we need to cross the door,¡± Theo said.

    I squinted at the pure white light. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ the same kind of light in the memory orbs. Except stretched out.¡± My heart lifted. ¡°I think we¡¯re about to get our memories back!¡± Theo glanced at me, then at the white light at the door. I took a hold of his hand. ¡°Ready?¡±

    Theo took a deep breath, then braced himself. ¡°I think so.¡±

    I said nothing. I didn¡¯t think there was anything left to say. Instead, I gently led him toward the door. Toward the white light. We crossed the threshold.

    And memories returned.

 Chapter 92

    It was a bright, sunny day. Birds flew in the air, the flowers in full bloom. On that glorious summer day, Brenda stood beside the grave of her husband. Theo was sitting at the chairs near the torn-up earth, his hands laying limply in his lap.

    ¡°Theo?¡± Quinn asked. Theo didn¡¯t move. Didn¡¯t look up to acknowledge her. Quinn sat next to him, tucking some hair behind her ear. ¡°Do you want a moment with the casket?¡±

    Theo shook his head.

    Quinn didn¡¯t know what to do. She looked so helpless.

    The scene changed to that night. A quiet celebration of life for Doug. Whispers were exchanged.

    ¡°¡­greatly missed¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­an outstanding man¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­not a selfish bone in his body¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­double heart attack¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­I don¡¯t care what anyone says, it was too soon¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­that golden heart of his¡­¡±

    ¡°Theo?¡± Once again Quinn appeared next to Theo. Theo remained motionless in a chair, hand in his hair. ¡°Theo, don¡¯t close yourself off, please. It¡¯s¡­ not healthy,¡± Quinn said.

    Theo again said nothing. Despite the funeral and the celebration of life, Theo had not shed one tear. Brenda and Doug¡¯s children were talking with Brenda, the grandchildren in a different room.

    ¡°Theo, please,¡± Quinn said. ¡°You¡¯re¡­ scaring me.¡±

    Theo didn¡¯t react. He simply acted like he was making it through the day. Ready to crash into bed and never get out of it.

    The scene misted away. The flowers from the funeral were beginning to wilt on the table. Quinn was in the kitchen, making dinner when Brenda walked in.

    ¡°You dear girl,¡± Brenda said. ¡°I thought you¡¯d left hours ago.¡±

    ¡°To go where?¡± Quinn asked. ¡°My semester at college has been done for weeks.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± the smile on Brenda¡¯s face falling. ¡°Doug was going to line you up with a job over the summer.¡±

    Brenda blinked, and Quinn stopped what she was doing to place a hand around Brenda. The two women remained like that for a while. ¡°Your¡­ apartment? Don¡¯t you have to go back?¡±

    ¡°I could. But I won¡¯t. I don¡¯t want you to be alone,¡± Quinn said.

    Brenda placed her hand against Quinn¡¯s cheek. ¡°You dear girl.¡± Brenda sniffed, then brushed her hands as she looked at the kitchen. ¡°What are you making for dinner?¡±

    ¡°What else?¡± Quinn asked, sprinkling cheese on top of the tater tot casserole.

    Brenda smiled again. Perhaps, at a later date, she would have laughed. It was lovely that she smiled at all.

    Brenda¡¯s cell phone started ringing, and she sniffed again before grabbing her glasses and putting them on her face as she pulled out her cell phone. She squinted just a bit before sliding to answer it.

    ¡°Hello?¡± Brenda asked. Brenda listened to the voice on the other side. ¡°Yes, I am Theo¡¯s guardian.¡±

    Quinn paused, then glanced at Brenda.

    The scene changed almost as fast as the doors of the hospital were thrown open. Quinn and Brenda marched in. Quinn was in a haze, the scene a blur to reflect it.

    Waiting room

    Hallway

    Room

    Theo.

    Theo hooked up to a machine.

    ¡°¡­saw the danger¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­everyone else bracing for impact¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­witnesses say he was the only one who ran¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­pushed the woman out of the way¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­he got hit with the car instead¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­hero¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­doing everything we can¡­¡±If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    ¡°¡­might not last the night¡­¡±

    Quinn was gasping, the only way she could breathe. She clutched at her heart as her legs stopped moving.

    ¡°Too soon¡­¡± Quinn whispered between gasps. ¡°I can¡¯t¡­ loose another¡­ family member¡­¡± There were tears in her eyes. ¡°Too soon. Too soon.¡±

    The beeping of the machine told her he was alive.

    Later that night, Quinn was curled up in a chair next to Theo¡¯s bed. She had a tissue clutched in her fist, and thought it was dark outside, she was far from tired. Her eyes were red rimmed, and she was clutching the tissue like it was Theo¡¯s lifeline.

    ¡°Please¡­¡± Quinn whispered. ¡°Not again. Not so soon.¡±

    She didn¡¯t know if anyone could hear, but it never stopped her from talking before.

    ¡°Hero,¡± she whispered to no one. ¡°That¡¯s what they call him. Saved a woman from getting hit with a car. Let him live. He needs to live. It¡¯s only fair.¡±

    ¡°Mmm,¡± said an entirely different male voice. ¡°Fair.¡±

    Quinn jumped, screaming. She practically leapt out of her chair, holding her hands out. Brenda was just outside the door, talking to the doctor, but Brenda must not have heard Quinn screaming. ¡°Who¡¯s there.¡±

    ¡°Life¡¯s not supposed to be fair. It¡¯s supposed to be constantly unfair so you keep evolving,¡± the male voice said again. He materialized into the room, and time itself seemed to freeze. Quinn was gasping for air, glancing around. The machine Theo was hooked up to had frozen, and she was terrified it meant he died, but the more she stared, the more she realized everything had frozen. Everyone but her and this man. The man wore a white shirt, slacks, and a tie. Like this was any regular day at the office. Yet he was in a hospital, and had materialized out of nowhere. The man straightened his tie, keeping his back to her. ¡°It¡¯s what makes you humans so fascinating. Despite all odds, you just keep going. You keep growing, evolving, changing. Ever toward your version of perfection, as long as you don¡¯t kill each other over it first.¡±

    ¡°Who are you!¡± Quinn demanded.

    ¡°Mmm,¡± the man said again, turning around. She got a good look at his eyes. They were so strange. Not like eyes she¡¯d ever seen.

    ¡°Close your eyes, Quinn,¡± a female said. ¡°My brother likes to trick people into losing their sanity. He is rather chaotic that way.

    Quinn closed her eyes. ¡°Who are you. Please, who are you?¡±

    ¡°Beings who reserve the right to their privacy,¡± the woman said, sounding more like she was talking to her brother than to Quinn.

    ¡°I¡¯m so bored, sister,¡± the man said.

    ¡°You¡¯ve meddled too much with this universe and its people. We need to stay in the universe where they recognize us,¡± the female said.

    Quinn¡¯s brows furrowed, even as she kept her eyes closed. ¡°You¡¯re alien gods? Can you save Theo?¡±

    There was silence. So much that Quinn almost opened her eyes.

    ¡°No!¡± the female said. ¡°Do not open your eyes. Your mortal comprehension will be affected if you do.¡±

    ¡°Then answer my question. Can you save Theo?¡± Quinn asked.

    ¡°No,¡± the sister said. ¡°Not without breaking the laws of nature.¡±

    ¡°Well,¡± the man said, sounding a bit disappointed. ¡°I¡¯m sure we could think of something.¡±

    ¡°No. I forbid it,¡± the female said.

    ¡°You¡¯re no fun.¡±

    ¡°Please! I will do anything,¡± Quinn said.

    ¡°Anything?¡±

    ¡°Do not speak that word in front of my brother, mortal,¡± the sister said. ¡°Not without serious consequences.¡±

    ¡°Ahhh,¡± the brother said, sounding delighted. ¡°A game. Quinn wants to play a game.¡±

    ¡°I refuse to allow this,¡± the sister said. ¡°You have played too many games with mortals.¡±

    ¡°Death,¡± Quinn said, the word escaping her. ¡°You¡¯re¡­ death. You¡¯ve come to collect Theo¡¯s soul.¡±

    ¡°It is so funny to watch these mortals try to use their comprehension to place us somewhere,¡± the brother said. ¡°Oh, please, sister. Let me play a game.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Quinn said it without hesitation. ¡°Yes, please. I will play a game for his soul.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s agreed, sister. A verbal contract is in the making. Certainly this is where your expertise is needed,¡± the brother said.

    The sister sighed. ¡°This still breaks rules. Theo did this himself, and therefore the consequences must be respected.¡±

    ¡°Ah, but look,¡± the man said. ¡°The consequences are such that we can still play with them. Theo is in a state where he can still make a choice. His body is listening to his heart, choosing whether to remain here or move on. What if both play a game. A game of choices. Of revelation.¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Quinn asked.

    ¡°Would you like to know what it¡¯s like in Theo¡¯s mind?¡± the brother asked.

    ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t¡­¡±

    ¡°Make your choice carefully, Quinn,¡± the sister asked. ¡°Would you like to know what it¡¯s like to experience Theo¡¯s suffering.¡±

    ¡°Am I playing for his soul or not?¡± Quinn asked.

    ¡°You are, yes. And part of that game is discovering what it¡¯s like to be in Theo¡¯s head. So you understand why he made the decision he did,¡± the man said.

    ¡°My brother is a hero,¡± Quinn said.

    ¡°Your brother made a decision to step in front of the car and take the woman¡¯s place. Would you like to understand why he got to that point?¡±

    ¡°Will I get his soul back?¡± Quinn asked.

    ¡°No,¡± the woman said. ¡°You will understand why Theo stepped in front of the vehicle, for whatever peace that will give you. Theo must make his own choice whether he wants to come back to a body with two broken legs and a badly shattered collar bone. And right now, he is choosing to let his body give up.¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t know that for sure,¡± Quinn said.

    ¡°Yes, I do.¡± She said it with such certainty that Quinn shivered.

    ¡°Please. Let me talk to him. If I can¡¯t play for his soul, at least give me that. Give me an opportunity to convince him to live.¡±

    There was another pause.

    ¡°Very well,¡± the woman said. ¡°I shall agree to this contract.¡±

    ¡°What game shall we play?¡± the man asked.

    ¡°I¡­ I¡­ don¡¯t know how to play chess,¡± Quinn said.

    The man chuckled. ¡°I know exactly what kind of game you want.¡±

    Quinn was genuinely confused.

    ¡°In order for this to work, we¡¯ll have to erase your memories,¡± the sister said.

    ¡°Wait, what?¡± Quinn asked.

    ¡°It is the only way I can be convinced you will play the game correctly,¡± she said.

    ¡°But¡­ but my memories¡­¡±

    ¡°Will be returned piece by piece,¡± the brother said.

    Quinn remained silent, tears streaming down her face. ¡°I don¡¯t understand. How will playing a game get me to talk to Theo?¡±

    ¡°Play the game, and you¡¯ll get your answers,¡± the male said.

    ¡°Do you agree to the contract?¡± the sister asked.

    It only took a moment. Quinn started crying. She covered her face, even though her eyes were already closed. She tried not to feel fear at the prospect. She couldn¡¯t trust these people, whatever they were. But if it was a way to Theo? If she could convince Theo to come back?

    ¡°I agree to the terms,¡± Quinn whispered.

    ¡°Excellent,¡± the man said before snapping his fingers.

 Chapter 93

    The room was covered in junk, like all the other rooms in this house before I cleaned them. I covered my mouth, tears in my eyes as I saw them on the ground. It took another glance to realize that this was supposed to be blood. The blood caused by the murder suicide. Instead of blood, it was sludgy, pulsating them. They were pooled on the ground, some splattered against the wall. It made my chest heaved at the sight.

    Theo collapsed to his knees, gripping his head. I stumbled back against the wall as the memories came to me. Not just the ones showed us, but every memory. I had finished my junior year of college and was hoping to get an internship lined up before Doug died. I was going into technical writing, organizing information and placing it into diagrams or charts. I was good at it, too. I had one more year left. Then Doug died of a heart attack. No prior health issues, no signs before. It shattered our family.

    Shattered Theo in a way I didn¡¯t know how to help.

    ¡°No,¡± Theo moaned, hands in his hair. ¡°No, no, no. Not me. This wasn¡¯t supposed to be for me.¡±

    ¡°What are you saying?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Doug,¡± Theo said, tears streaming down his face. ¡°He¡¯s gone. Everyone at home was supposed to be fine. This can¡¯t be for me. I need Doug back. I want to bargain for Doug¡¯s life.¡±

    ¡°Theo¡­¡± I said, not sure what to say. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ been a month. We¡¯re not here for Doug. We¡¯re here for you.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t,¡± Theo said. ¡°I can¡¯t go back without him.¡±

    They pulled themselves off the wall and inched toward Theo. I tried to grab them, but they dodged me.

    ¡°Please, Theo. I know it¡¯s hard. But we can¡¯t lose you, too.¡±

    Theo started to cry. They flung themselves into his face, and Theo didn¡¯t react. Almost like he didn¡¯t see. His tears turned black. ¡°I was doing so much better. I was getting better. The nightmares were practically gone. I was only having an episode once every three or four months. Now he¡¯s gone. He¡¯s gone, Quinn, and it¡¯s like I never had therapy. The nightmares, the pain, the depression. They all came slamming back so hard I couldn¡¯t breathe. It took me years to get better, and now I¡¯m back to square one. I¡¯m back to barely surviving. I can¡¯t do this again. I can¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Yes, you can. I know you can. You are only in a limbo state, Theo. We can have you back. We need you back.¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Theo shouted as more of them entered his face. ¡°You don¡¯t get it, Quinn. I died. I chose this.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t commit suicide,¡± I said.

    ¡°Yes, I did.¡± Theo looked up at me, and the sight of his face, the oily black tears running down his face as the sludge inched up his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears was a terrifying sight.

    ¡°Theo,¡± I started to say.

    ¡°I got the opportunity every suicidal person dreams of. A chance to go out a hero instead of a coward,¡± Theo said.

    ¡°No,¡± I whispered. ¡°No, you-¡±

    ¡°I was in a dark place, Quinn. I¡¯m still in that dark place.¡± He kept looking at me. ¡°Doug was everything to me. I was even working up the courage to call him dad. To allow a man I wasn¡¯t afraid of to have that title. A title I spent years thinking meant murderer, and instead learn it was a title to respect.¡± Theo broke down, bowing his head as he sobbed. ¡°I can¡¯t go back without him. Not without defeating the corruption first. Not without getting rid of depression completely. I can¡¯t survive in my depressed state. The proof is there in that hospital room.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not doing this alone, Theo.¡± There were tears in my own eyes. ¡°I don¡¯t want to lose you. You have another chance.¡±

    ¡°Two broken legs. A shattered collar bone,¡± Theo whispered. ¡°And depressed as hell. How can I recover?¡±

    ¡°A day at a time,¡± I said immediately after. ¡°Like with everything else.¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Theo screamed, slapping his palms against the floor. ¡°I can¡¯t! It hurts, Quinn. It hurts too much! I need it all gone now, and I need to never experience depression again!¡± Theo groaned, then his back arched. I held out my hands for the black sludge he vomited, but he curled inside himself. ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Give it to me.¡±

    Theo didn¡¯t. He kept it clutched to his chest as the sludge climbed out of his hands and crawled back up his face.

    ¡°Please. I can¡¯t clean it up unless you give it to me.¡±

    ¡°I refuse. I refuse to let others help.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the most ridiculous thing I¡¯ve ever heard,¡± I said, moving toward him.

    ¡°It won¡¯t stop, Quinn!¡± Theo shouted, looking at me. ¡°A day at a time, that¡¯s what you said. A day, every day, forever! I¡¯m sick of doing this! You¡¯ve got to be sick of doing this, too!¡± Theo said.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!

    ¡°I¡¯m not,¡± I said, refusing to get angry. ¡°I don¡¯t know how else to show you this, Theo. I¡¯m not sick of this.¡±

    ¡°I refuse to be a burden,¡± Theo said.

    ¡°Is this what you think being a burden is? Holding all this crap inside of you until you burst? Refusing to let anyone help you?¡± I asked. I was more startled than anything. ¡°Think if the roles were reversed, Theo. You keep saying you¡¯d bargain for Doug¡¯s soul, but think of your own! I¡¯m here for you! Any one of us would do this for you. I know you¡¯d do the same for me. So please, please, let me help you. We can do this again. We can get to the spot where your depression isn¡¯t so life consuming. It has its ups and downs, and I know you can conquer it.¡±

    ¡°This isn¡¯t conquering it!¡± Theo said before his back arched again and he vomited the sludge into his hands. ¡°It¡¯s consuming me, Quinn.¡±

    ¡°Then give it to me!¡± I shouted.

    Theo, more started than anything, chucked them into my waiting palms. I caught it and it shivered before turning into harmless liquid. Theo grunted again before he heaved, the largest mound of crap coming out of his mouth and nose.

    ¡°Again!¡± I shouted, my hands raised.

    Theo was crying as he flung it at me. Oily tears marked his cheeks, dripping off his chin.

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen glimpses of what haunts your nightmares, Theo,¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯ve conquered them. You¡¯ve been granted a chance. The depression won¡¯t be as strong on Earth because you¡¯ve made peace with your past. We work through the rest of depression on Earth. In the weeks and months and years following. You can get healing. Please come back with me.¡±

    ¡°Quinn,¡± Theo said, hardly a whisper as his tears dripped to the ground. ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes, you can,¡± I said, almost afraid to hear the rest of his sentence. ¡°I know you can. You know why? Because you already did it before. I know you miss Doug. I miss him, too. Don¡¯t retreat to the darkness. Don¡¯t let them win. This is how we defeat them. By bringing you back and cleaning things up a day at a time.¡±

    Theo bowed his head again, covering his mouth. He groaned again before heaving up another large chunk of them. I already had my hands up.

    ¡°Again, Theo.¡±

    He was so weak. His body was trembling, his arms barely able to hold himself up. But he flung that piece of sludge at me and I caught it, the liquid splattering over my apron. Words appeared on my vision, and I read them, afraid it was about my clothes.

    House no longer considered a beacon for them

    They will not attack anymore

    They will remain underground

    The game is conquered

    Congratulations

    I stared, blinking at the words. The game was done. They wouldn¡¯t attack anymore. I glanced at Theo who was wheezing on the ground, small lines of them still inching up his clothes and into his face. It wasn¡¯t as powerful as before, yet the compassion still rose inside me at how weak Theo looked after that attack.

    ¡°This is what that brother and sister did for you. Helped you be at peace about your past so we can start the process to be at peace with the future.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s funny how benevolent some mortals make us out to be,¡± the brother¡¯s voice said.

    There was no body presented for the male voice. It was simply disembodied. Theo glanced around, which meant he must have heard him, too.

    ¡°I¡¯m not a benevolent being, Quinn. I was just bored,¡± the male said. ¡°I always like a good game.¡±

    I shook my head. ¡°Either way, you helped. Both of you. Theo¡¯s no longer afraid of his house like he was before.¡±

    ¡°Mmm,¡± the male said again. ¡°It was a good game we created, sister, wasn¡¯t it? Pity it¡¯s ending soon.¡±

    I tried to find the male, but there was no way to pinpoint the voice. ¡°What?¡± I asked.

    ¡°You have entered the end of the game,¡± the female voice said, all business. ¡°You have ninety seconds before we force you out. Where you end up greatly depends on the desire of your heart. Make your decision now.¡±

    I stared at Theo, my eyes wide. This was way too sudden. This was it. The end. And yet there was still so much to do. I stared at Theo, his frame trembling as he looked so exhausted and beaten. He was starting to fall forward, and I caught him, holding him tightly in a hug.

    ¡°I¡­ can¡¯t¡­¡± Theo whispered. ¡°Quinn¡­ I can¡¯t go back if this is how I defeat the corruption. I can¡¯t do it a day at a time. I¡¯m so tired.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t give up. Please, Theo. You can do this. I¡¯m there for you. Brenda will be there. We¡¯re all there.¡±

    ¡°Doug.¡± Theo let out a pained breath. ¡°Doug isn¡¯t there¡­¡±

    I buried my head in his shoulder. ¡°Dying won¡¯t bring him back either. Living what he taught you is how he¡¯ll stay with you. Live for him, Theo.¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t they leave me alone? This would be so much easier if the corruption wasn¡¯t eating me from the inside. Why am I the burden?¡± Theo whispered.

    ¡°You are not a burden. You have never been a burden,¡± I said, tears stinging my cheeks.

    ¡°I would rather die than vomit on any of you again,¡± Theo whispered, holding me.

    ¡°And I would rather you vomit on me a thousand times than let you die,¡± I whispered.

    It was a dry, almost humorless chuckle, but it was there. The beeping of a heart monitor filled the room like its own sort of ticking clock. Theo screamed, jerking. I let go, surprised.

    ¡°Broken. God, my legs are broken. It hurts like hell,¡± Theo groaned.

    I helped to place him on his back as he tried to calm his breathing. I touched my brother¡¯s better shoulder, trying to hold back a sob. I cleaned off the oily sludge from his face as Theo closed his eyes.

    ¡°Too many days swallowed up into nights,¡± Theo whispered. ¡°Too many dark nights.¡±

    ¡°Let me help you see the stars,¡± I whispered back.

    ¡°Quinn¡­¡± Theo started to say. ¡°Quinn¡­ what if¡­¡±

    ¡°Come back with me. Please. Clean out all your crap and give it to me. Fling it at me if you have to. I¡¯ve seen your nightmares, and I¡¯m not afraid anymore.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t fling them at you all the time,¡± Theo said.

    ¡°But it¡¯s not just me. Brenda¡¯s there. Your therapist, too. You have a support system, Theo. We¡¯re all rooting for you with our cleaning gear on. A day at a time. Do this, and you will have happier days again.¡±

    ¡°Promise?¡± Theo asked, keeping his eyes closed.

    ¡°Yes, Theo.¡± I wiped the last of the sludge from his face with my gloves as the room grew brighter. ¡°I promise.¡±

    ***

    I gasped, stumbling out of the chair. I heard the beeping monitor and spun around.

    ¡°Theo!¡± I shouted.

    I rushed to his bedside as a nurse threw the door open. Brenda was there, stumbling into the room as I gripped the edges of his hospital bed. ¡°Theo,¡± I said, much quieter.

    There was more beeping from the machine. Beeping had to be a good sign. Tears blurred my vision as I looked at Theo. His bruised face and the sling holding his arms. The cords and tubes hooked up to him. His broken legs under a thin blanket.

    My brother sucked in a deep, almost gasping breath before he opened his tired eyes and met my gaze.

    I smiled, placing my hand over his. ¡°I¡¯m ready to catch them.¡±

    The End