Island Game

‘Tap. Tap. Tap.’

Alec drums his finger against the door. Some people might call it annoying. I always thought it was satisfying. Calming. It was the only thing that comforted me when I was stressed, or anything, really.

“How far away are we from this ‘Paradise Island?’” Alec pauses his drumming for a split second before continuing again.

“Be patient Alec. Why don’t you talk with your sister? You guys have been silent the entire trip.” Mom turns to look at us.

“We’re almost there though.” Dad smiled through the side mirror. I sigh, resting my head on Alec’s shoulder.

“Get off me Allie!” Alec jolts his shoulder. I jolt of pain spread through my jaw.

“Ow!” I screech.

“Alec.” Mom warns him.

“I’m sorry Allie.” Alec mumbles. I rub my jaw.

“It’s fine.” The pain had lessened to a small throb now.

‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

I used the noises to breath in and out, and soon, the pain had already gone.

“Hey Kien? What’s that?” Mom points out in the darkness.

My parents, being the dumb people they are, decided to take a road trip to a ‘Paradise Island.’ I honestly don’t care, but why in the middle of the night?

I squint at the light in the distance.

“What the hell?” Alec whispers, stopping his drumming.

“Alec!” Mom scolded him.

“Um. Mom? I’m scared.” I suddenly felt a jolt of nervous pain in my chest. I clutch my stomach, doubling over. Alec grabs my arm, nodding at me that it was okay.

“Kien? KIEN?! KIEN! WATCH OUT!” Mom screams.

***********************************************************************************

It’s November Second. Five years since the accident.

‘Tap. Tap. Tap.’

I had developed Psychosis from the event. Hearing and seeing things that didn’t exist. Being the only survivor. Having all the guilt on your shoulders. I had learned how to get over the accident, but the abusive adoptive parents and bullying kids didn’t help.

I’m seventeen now. I go to school. Then I go to my therapist. Go home. Do homework. Go to sleep. Wake up. And it’s all over again.

‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

“Allie? Are you listening to me?” Isabel, my therapist, poked me with her pen.

“Huh? Oh. Sorry.” I rubbed my eyes and looked up. We sat in her car, a half an hour away from the city. Just to see the sunset and stars. Apparently it was supposed to help me see the good things in life. I stifled a yawn, but Isabel notices.

“Mm. I don’t think this is helping you.” She bit her bottom lip.

“Yeah. I’m sorry Isabel. Sitting in the middle of nowhere and not doing anything doesn’t help me much.” I sighed.

“No. I’m sorry. I should have realized. I’m your therapist after all.” Isabel forced an awkward laugh.

“No. It was your first week. I should be thanking you. So thank you. For driving me here and showing me this.” I nodded at her. Isabel pursed her lips, probably wondering what she should do to me.

“Allie-“

“Can we go home?” I interrupted her.

“I’ll take you to a restaurant. If you want.” She started up her engine.

“I think that’ll be good.” I hugged myself.

‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

***********************************************************************************

‘Tap. Tap. Tap. Click.’

I opened my front door, carefully to make sure I didn’t make any noises. I poked my head through and looked around to see if anyone was there. Seeing just darkness, I went inside, closed the door, and ran upstairs to my room. I opened my door to my room slowly and went inside, closing the door behind me. When the door was a foot away from closing fully, a shoe lodged the hole, making it unable to close the door.

“Allie.” Tiana opened my door. “Where were you?”

“Oh. With Isabel.” I uncomfortably tapped my finger on my leg.

‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

“Isabel? Who’s Isabel? Also, why are you home so late? It’s past your curfew!” Tiana walked in my room.

“Isabel’s my therapist.” I said, backing up into a corner of my room.

“Oh? You better not be lying to me!” Tiana brought her hand up and smacked my cheek. I immediately felt my cheek stung and brought my hand up to it.

“I-I’m not.” I mumbled.

“Oh you better not.” Tiana grabbed me by the wrists and dragged me out of my room.

“Ow.” I tried to withdraw from Tiana’s grip, but it was too strong. Tiana pulled me to her bedroom, where she dropped me.

I looked down at my wrists, and they’re purple. It was still bruised from last week.

“Now what did she do?” Phyllis looked down at me from the bed, where he was sitting.

“She came after curfew.” Tiana rolled her eyes.

“I was with my therapist. I have a note from her.” I showed Tiana and Phyllis the note.

“Doesn’t matter. The fact that we still have to go to the therapist and we have to pay for you! Tiana, why don’t we take her back to the adoption center?” Phyllis threw the note to the floor.

“No, no, no, no, no! Please. Don’t take me back!” I screeched.

“So stop staying out after school. Come home immediately!” Phyllis threw his hands up like he was in defeat.

“Okay. I will” I shrunk from Phyllis’ loud voice.

“You understand?” Phyllis grabbed my arm tightly and pulls me up. He pressed me against the wall.

“Ow.” I squirmed from Phyllis’ grip. Phyllis dug his nails in my wrists. I feel a warm drop of blood drip down my arm.

“Yes. I understand.” I bit my bottom lip. Phyllis released me.

“Go back to your room and don’t bother us.” I nodded, ran to my room, and locked the door behind me. I knew it won’t help though. Phyllis had the master key. I examined my arm. It was bruised and bleeding, but it wasn’t going to be bad. I sighed. What was I expecting. Tiana and Phyllis to be suddenly good adoptive parents? Ha!

‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

***********************************************************************************‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

“Hey Allie!” I turned around to see Jenni telling me to come over.

“Jenni. What do you want this time?” I groaned.

“Allie! What do you listen to when you’re bored? Your dead brother’s annoying drumming of his fingers? Retard!” I sighed. Jenni was such a little kid. At least bully me maturely. She acted like she’s in middle school or something. I walked away from her, but was stopped by Jordan.

“Allie. Do you want to join us at lunch?”

“Uh. No. Sorry.” I try to run off, but Jordan blocked me.

“Hey, that’s not nice to run off. I need to show you something. Come with me.” Jordan pulled his hand forward to grab my arm, but I dodged it.

I literally just got here. Do I have to deal with all this?

“Come on Allie” Jordan looked at me with a grin, but I know under that grin was something more sinister.

“Jord-”

“Allie. I insist.” Jordan grabbed my arm, succeeding this time, and dragged me to the side of the school. It was a small alley-like sidewalk that was grown over with weeds. Apparently my school was some farm before, so maybe this was here before the school came. It looked like no one came over here anymore though.

“I don’t think your friends are here.” I make a lame excuse to wriggle out of his grip, but Jordan held on my arm. I walk a few more yards and finally stop.

“Uh. Can we go ba-” I was stopped short by Jordan’s lips on mine. Jordan brings my hands into his and presses me against the wall. It takes me a few attempts, but I manage to kick his groin and shrug him off me. When I was off Jordan’s iron grip, I run. I don’t look back. I just run. A few feet from the gate back to the entrance of the school, Jordan jumped on top of me, making me fall and hit my chin on the concrete. I jolt of pain vibrates from my chin, but I know it isn’t that bad. It was just a bit cut. I try to kick back, but Jordan put his knees on my leg and pressed my arms to the ground so he was on top of me.

“Get off Jordan.” I coughed.

“You don’t tell anyone, got it? Come to my house after school. Or I’ll tell the school about your adoptive parents. You’ll go back to the adoption center. Got it?” Jordan whispered next to my ear.

“How do you know?” I gasped.

“I know people. Now. You. Got. It?” Jordan pressed me down harder, causing me to squeal in pain.

“Y-Yeah.” I said.

“Good.” Jordan stepped off me. I get up, fingering my chin. “Let’s get you to the nurse.” Jordan sighed.

‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

***********************************************************************************

‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

“Allie? Where were you after school?” I flinched when Tiana came into my room. A shiver went through my chest as I remember what had happened a few hours ago. What Jordan did to me.

‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

“I was out somewhere..” I murmured.

‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

“Oh stop that! Stop tapping your fingers everywhere! It’s annoying!” Tiana slapped me across my face. I flinched as my cheek starts stinging.

“What happened this time?” Phyllis entered my room.

“Curfew. Again!” Tiana frowned.

“You little bitch!” I saw his fist coming towards my face, and then sudden pain in my left eye. I bring my hand up to my eye. Probably another black eye.

Tiana grabbed me from my wrist, causing me to hang from my wrist. I was short for my age. Tiana could easily carry me like this.

Phyllis took another swing at me, which I turned to get out of the way. A burst of pain shot from my wrist. I winced. Tiana dropped me, in which I collapsed on the ground.

“No dinner for you tonight.” Phyllis left, with Tiana trailing behind him. Good. I wasn’t planning to have dinner tonight anyways. I hugged my stomach tightly.

‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

‘Fat Bitch.’

‘Chubby!’

‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

“No. No. Stop. Stop talking.” I plugged my ears with my fingers, but the voices still came loud and clear.

‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

I focused on the tapping instead, matching it to my finger on my leg.

‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

The other voices slowly drone into a quiet whisper.

Isabel had taught me this drill when she first came. I had to focus on something. I chose to focus on the tapping that I hear. It’s ironic. I focus on an imaginary sound to get rid of the other imaginary sound.

‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

***********************************************************************************

‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

“What happened, Princess?” Jordan passed me at the hallway at school. I flinched when I hear his voice.

“I fell. Hit my eye.” I cringed at my stupid excuse for my black eye.

“I’m not an idiot. I’ve gotten black eyes before. How did you really get a black eye?” Jordan easily saw through my lie.

“Piss off, Jordan.” I heard a familiar voice behind me. I turned.

“Casey. What do you want?” Jordan growled.

Casey. He was a jock that played football with Jordan. They hated each other. Casey had gotten kicked out of the team after almost seriously injuring Jordan. Casey had also once tried to take advantage of me. He ended up not because apparently had found a girlfriend. I really don’t know what my school is anymore.

“Leave Allie alone.” Casey waved his hand to shoo Jordan away.

“Why? Get out of my fricken business man.” Jordan stepped closer to Casey.

“Get out of Allie’s business, you asshole.” Casey stood his ground.

“You-“ Jordan swung his fist at Casey, who quickly went into a defense position and blocked the attack.

“JORDAN! CASEY! STOP RIGHT THIS INSTANCE.” I turned around to find Mrs. Moore’s face beet red from anger. She was our school counselor, so I was best friends with her.

“It was Casey! He started it!” Jordan immediately said. I almost burst out in laughter. He sounded like he was ten years old.

“Oh please Jordan. I’d seen the entire thing. All the way from you cornering Allie.” Mrs. Moore rolled her eyes. I swear, our entire school acts ten years younger than our age. Mrs. Moore reminded me of a teenager.

“What? I call bluff!” Jordan yelled.

“Oh, please. Jordan. Office.” Mrs. Moore raised her eyebrows when Jordan doesn’t move.

“Fine.” Jordan huffed, following Mrs. Moore to the office.

“So immature.” Casey sighed. “You okay?” He asked me.

“Yeah.” I bit the side of my cheek.

“No. I meant your eye.” Casey looked at me with concern in his eyes.

“I’m fine. Thanks.” I quickly walked out of the scene that Jordan had created. Even the popular kids were watching.

‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

“Did you hear Jordan got another point?” I heard a girl’s voice.

“Shut it! She’s right there!” Another girl whispered.

Right. Points. The boys had recently created a game that each girl they take advantage of is a point for their team. Jordan, being the strongest, and hottest in the whole group was winning. Of course most girls wanted to be a point for Jordan. I didn’t. He still got my point. Great.

“Ya know she’s a slutty bitch, right? She probably takes pride in us talking about her.” The girl said in her normal loud voice. I flinched at her words. I quickly walked away from them and into the lunch room. It was lunchtime after all.

‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

‘Fat.’

‘Slut.’

‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

I squeezed my eyes shut at the words. When the voice went away, I looked up to the menu. A lurch of nausea pulses through me. I grit my teeth. I wasn’t hungry anyways.

‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

***********************************************************************************

‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

“Isabel. What did you call me here for?” I entered her office. I had been called her in the middle of sixth period.

“Allie. Would you like to be part of an experiment?” Isabel was practically bursting with joy.

“Experiment?” I ask, confused.

***********************************************************************************

‘Tap. Tap. Tap.’

“Allie Finch, age seventeen. Correct?” A man in a white lab coat and thin glasses studied my paperwork.

“Yes.” I responded, nervously tapping my finger on my hospital gown.

“With anorexia nervosa from your parent’s genes. Your brother had it too, right? Yours wasn’t that bad until after the accident?”

“Yes.” I fingered the string from the gown that had fallen out.

“Psychosis. You hear things? Give me an example.” The man looked up at me.

“Yeah. Alec used to do this weird tapping thing with his finger-“ I drifted off, not wanting to say anymore.

“And I see you use that as a calming method?” He nodded at my fingers, which was tapping on the table counter.

“Ah.” I quickly stopped and brought my hand to my stomach.

“No, no. It’s fine. Doing something like that is totally understandable. You don’t need to hide it. Now, go to your bed. We’ll start getting you in the game.” The man wrote some notes on his paper.

I slowly got up from my chair and walked to the bed. I really didn’t like this hospital gown. It stopped just above my knees, and I was still feeling self conscious in it.

The man talked to my doctor, some Hovergreen guy, and nodded towards me. The doctor gave a mysterious smile. I shivered.

“Do you need a blanket, miss?” A nurse jogged towards my bed.

“Uh. No. Thanks.” I said. The nurse nodded and quickly hurried away.

“We’ll be connecting you to the game.” Dr. Hovergreen attached some wires to my head. The other man put a mask on my face, which I guessed to be the agent that’ll make me fall asleep. Within seconds, my eyelids feel heavy, and my brain became drowsy.

“Good luck, Allie.” were the last words of Dr. Hovergreen before I completely lost consciousness.

***********************************************************************************

“Welcome! To the Island Game!” I squinted as I open my eyes. There was so much sun.

“Allie Finch? Is that your name? Or would you like your own username?” I rubbed my eyes to see a flying robot looking thing hanging near my face. I screamed.

“Allie Finch? Are you okay?” The robot asked.

“Uh. Yeah. Uh. What are you?” I mumbled.

“Me? Oh. I’m just a robot trying to start a user’s game by asking what role they’ll choose and their username.” It answered without hesitation.

“Username? Oh. It’s just Allie, please.” I said.

“Allie. Would you be a mage, healer, or fighter?” The robot continued.

“Huh?” I blinked.

“A mage is a person that can unleash spells. A mage can later buy a healer spell too. A healer is a person that heals. A healer may also buy a mage spell later. A fighter is a person that fights with a weapon, which will be randomly assigned to you.” The robot finished.

I think. A mage or healer would be really useful. A person who fights would need to have good agility, which I don’t have. A healer wouldn’t be useful right when I start the game.

“Mage.” I said.

“Allie, the mage. Randomized wand spinning… Red Crest Wand. Level One. A beginner’s wand.” A large stick with a red jewel on the top appears in front of me. It disappears in a couple seconds. My inventory window opens up. The wand was safely stored in there.

“Randomized spell spinning… fireball spell. Level One. A beginner’s spell. To activate spell, take out want and imagine the fireball spinning out.” My inventory window opens again with now two items in there. Apparently it takes five MP every time I activate a fireball spell. I had ten MP at the moment.

I look up to find the robot. It had already disappeared. I sighed. So this was a fighting game. No one told me about this.

“Allie, the mage.” Someone called in the distance. I look up. A boy with brown hair and surprisingly green eyes that glinted in the sun ran towards me. I take out my wand.

“Don’t come any closer.” I said in my most threatening voice.

“Hey, hey! Whoa! What was that for?” He raised his hands behind his head.

“How did you know my name?” I asked.

“Oh. Easy. Just say Observe Name, and look at the person.” He shrugged.

“Observe Name.” I restated. A blue screen pops up in front of me.

Emmett, the fighter. Level One. Weapon: Duel Swords

“Emmett.” I repeated.

“Yeah. That’s my name. Easy, right?” He smiled, walking closer to me.

“Whoa. If you think that’ll make me immediately trust you, you’re wrong.” I backed up.

“Oh. Okay. I understand. Trust issues. Let’s go to the neutral zone.”

***********************************************************************************

When we get to the so-called ‘neutral zone,’ I put my wand back to my inventory.

“Now are you okay?” Emmett smiled. The way he smiles puts me at ease somehow. The smile was different from other people. They weren’t sinister or fake, they were completely real. Emmett’s practically smiling like it’s the best day of his life.

“Yeah. Jeez. I need to put it in my head that this is a game,” I sighed, rubbing my forehead.

“Right? This looks completely real! Not that I would know exactly.” Emmett frowned.

“What?” I blink, confused.

“Huh? Oh. Sorry. It’s nothing.” Emmett quickly changes the subject. “Do you want to go fight some people?”

“Well, do you think I’m strong enough?” I raised my eyebrows.

“We could work together?” Emmett looked at me with uncertainty is his eyes.

“You can do that?” I checked my settings. There was an inventory page, avatar page, special skills page, and a ‘party’ page. I press the ‘party’ button. A list appears with all the people that were near us. I pressed on Emmett’s name.

“And there you go. We’re in a party. We can track each other’s location, trade, and we can’t hurt each other.” Emmett cocked his head.

“Y-Yeah. Where do we go now?” I asked.

***********************************************************************************

“So this game is mostly PVP. Player versus player. The point of the game is to try to kill other players. So I was thinking, since most players are new and are playing alone, we could pair up and try to get some exp?” Emmett quickly added, “Experience points.”

“How do I know you can’t hurt me? O-Or violate me?” I stood my ground.

“I wouldn’t do that! Anyways, they have a mechanism in the game that kicks you out if you do anything weird like that. They let kissing and touching for some reason. Helps stimulate reality.” Emmett awkwardly babbled.

“How do you know all this anyways?” Who knows? Maybe Emmett knows this because he violated someone.

“I was here a week before you guys. You can contact them at your page. Or you usually can. I don’t see it anymore.” Emmett got even more suspicious.

“U-uh. No thanks. I’ll do all this by myself.” I backed away.

“Aww. Come on! You’ll get ahead in this game!” Emmett knitted his eyebrows.

“Yeah. By myself.” I continued to walk away from Emmett. Seeing that he couldn’t get me to go with him, his shoulders drooped and he walked away as well.

Good riddance. I knew there was something wrong with him.

‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

***********************************************************************************

‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

I stood before a girl with dark shoulder length hair and what looks like an extremely skinny body, but wore a thick sweatshirt on top with sweatpants. Anorexia Nervosa. She has the same as me. I checked her name.

Ur Friend, the Fighter. Level One. Weapon: Sword

She changed her name to a username.

“S-So we’re supposed to fight each other, right?” The girl nervously clutched her sword.

“Yeah.” I took out my wand and readied my skill. I had only two shots to kill her. She had unlimited swords. “What’s with ‘Ur Friend’” I asked.

Remembering, she checked my name.

“Allie. You didn’t change your name? I think it’s more fun with a different username.” The girl cocked her head.

In that second, I unleashed my spell, hitting her square in her chest.

“Urge!” The girl put her hand to her chest. I tried to use the spell again, but the girl moved out of the way.

“Shit!” I screamed. It was the last of my mana. In seconds, the girl is in front of me and swung her sword towards my throat.

“Watch out!” A familiar voice echoed behind me. Two swords slices in front of me, aimed at the girl. The girl jumped back in time.

“Use my other sword.” I turned around to see Emmett handing me his sword. I took it from him.

“I can do that?” I asked.

“We’re in a party. You can use my ability and I can use yours. Only if you allow me, of course.” Emmett shrugged.

“PAY ATTENTION” the girl swung her sword at me, but I blocked it with mine. In one swing, I stab the sword into her stomach.

The girl looked at it in surprise. The sword easily went into her stomach because of the VR. The girl’s HP bar disappeared and her body glowed an unusual red.

“I- I did it!” I squealed. My level went up to level two and I get fifteen MP. A screen appears in front of me telling me I get five coins.

I look back at the girl, but she stayed there, her eyes devoid of any life inside. I shivered. It looked so real.

‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

***********************************************************************************

‘Tap. Tap. Tap.’

“Um. Thanks for helping me,” I said to Emmett when we got back to the neutral zone.

“No prob,” Emmett simply answered.

“How did you know where I was anyways?” I stopped. Was he stalking me?

“We’re in a party. I saw your location and decided to find you to say sorry,” Emmett kept walking ahead of me.

“What’s your problem? Why do you keep coming back for me? What do you want for me?” I snapped.

“Whoa! Wha?” Emmett raised his hands above his head.

“You clearly don’t want to just help me! You have something else you want to achieve, don’t you?” I stepped back, aiming my wand at him.

“You clearly have trust issues! What the hell! I just want to help you. Jeez. Have you never met a nice human?” Emmett snapped back.

“Nice humans? People who are nice are always planning something behind your back. That’s how life works.” I argued.

“Allie-“ Emmett calmed down a bit.

“What!?” I screeched back.

“There really are people who are nice. Come on. I really just want to help you. I don’t know what happened in your past that made you like that, but trust me. Please.” Emmett tried to assure me.

“Why do you care about my past? Fuck off!” By this point, tears were pouring out of my eyes. I’m so confused. Emmett clearly gave a better vibe than people like Jordan. Why was I still so against Emmett?

“There must have been at least one person that loved you. Helped you. Right?” Emmett cried.

I thought of Isabel. She helped me because it was her job. She got money from it. I thought of anyone who cared about me. One name popped into my head. Alec. I stopped.

‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

I controlled my emotions like what Isabel taught me.

“People who are good die faster.” I said, immediately regretting the sentence coming out of my mouth.

“It’s not always like that.” Emmett sighed.

“But seriously. Why me? I’m just some messed up girl with a sucky past.” I sniffled.

“You’re here with the PTSD group, right?” Emmett asked.

I look up.

“Excuse me?” I replied.

“You’re here with the PTSD group. I’m here with the mental disorders group.” Emmett simply said.

“The doctors are trying to fix your mental disorder?” I pieced everything together.

“Not really. I-I don’t really want to talk about it. Unless you really want to know.” Emmett ruffled his hair with his hand.

My heart thumped. He reminded me of Alec so much. Always trying to help others, but awkward when talking about himself.

“No. It’s fine.” Before I could stop myself, I quickly added, “I really want to work with you. If you don’t mind. We could stay as a party?”

“Yeah! That would be great! Did you know we share levels too? Whatever level you get, I get too! Maybe we’re in the leader board!” Emmett joked, already getting back to his perkish self.

“So you’re-“

“Players! Hi! I’m an NPC, Non- Player Character. Call me June.” A girl with green and pink hair interrupted me. “We have an announcement. Please meet us at the Neutral Area: Square!” As quickly as she appeared, she disappeared, pieces of glitchy specks flickered. I blinked and they disappeared.

“What was that?” I’m the first to break the silence as I turned to Emmett.

“I have no idea.”

‘Tap. Tap. Tap.’

***********************************************************************************

‘Tap. Tap. Tap.’

When Emmett and I arrived at the Square, I realized how many people were logged into the game. Some were in the PTSD group. Some were in the Mental Disorders group. Some were just regular beta testers. Specks of different colors flooded the entire neutral zone. I looked down at myself. I wore a tye-dye shirt with jeans shorts. The game must have put us in bright colors so it was harder to hide. Emmett, however, wore beige shorts and a green t-shirt.

“You were here a week earlier than everyone, right?” I asked.

“Hm? Yeah. Why?” Emmett answered.

“You have different clothes. Did you buy it from the shop?” I thought out loud.

“Yeah. Nice observing skills.” Emmett smiled.

My heart thumped again. Even Emmett’s smile reminded me of Alec. It was so pure.

“Thanks.” I returned.

“Players! Thanks for coming here. We would like to thank you for joining this program.” June appeared at the top of a building so we could all see her.

“You might have thought you were at the game, but really this was all real life!”

Voices murmured in confusion.

June continued, “The virtual reality is some details like me, or your inventory bar, but we really are on this island. Why can you see all this then, you might ask. We invented contact lenses that lets you see all this. Take it off, but the code is already embedded in you. It’ll be there forever.”

“What!” I screeched.

Emmett poked me. “So this is really your body? Not a virtual imitation?”

“Please stop talking. There’s more,” June cleared her throat. “We have put another piece of code in your lens that will kill you when you’re HP bar goes fully away.”

“What!?” My eyes widened. Emmett gasped silently.

‘Tap. Tap. Tap.’

I focus on my fingers tapping my leg.

“There are two ways to die” June held up two fingers. “If you fall off a cliff or actually hurt your real body.” One finger went down. “And if your HP bar goes to 0.”

My breath got caught in my throat. This was going too fast.

“We will add frequent updates and announcements. In those times, we will log you out of your lenses and will have the so-called ‘break.’ Of course something or someone could still kill you in real life.” June said it so nonchalantly that it makes me want to puke.

“So this is an all-out murder game.” Emmett whispered.

My heart beats so fast my vision blurs. I stumbled, landing on Emmett.

“Sorry.” I stepped away.

“To get out of this island, you need to do something simple. Kill everyone else except your party. Parties can go up to twenty people.” June grinned. “Yes, this is an all-out murder game.” June nodded to Emmett. I felt Emmett stiffened behind me.

“Our next update will add other monsters to the game. Good luck players.” June disappeared, but everyone stayed silent. No one breathed, only our pounding heart could be heard. A little girl’s voice cried out as everyone slowly muttered into panicked screams.

I felt a finger pinched my arm, making me jump in surprise.

“We should get out of here.” Emmett pulled me to the side of the Neutral Zone.

“What? Where?” I stumbled.

“Another farther hidden neutral area. There’s more resources and coin drops there.” Emmett pulled me out to the forest area.

“Coin drops?”

“Certain unpopular neutral zones have coin drops, which is when each player in the neutral zone gets a divided amount of coins every day they stay there.”

“So we can buy better things cause the coins won’t be divided up as much with just us two?” I racked my brain. This kid is damn smart.

‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

***********************************************************************************

‘Tap. Tap. Tap.’

We entered Tempe, a small neutral area hidden in the forest that would be surrounded by monsters in a later update. It was safe, as Emmett has ensured. Apparently Emmett found it when he was exploring the island, one week before the others had landed. There had been many theories about how we all got there, but the most popular and most realistic one was that the doctors had sedated us and sent us here. Our lenses also let us contact other people in our party.

Another button appeared in my settings. I pressed on it.

Tempe: Population of 4

Level Two Town

Shops: Weapons, Spells, Skills, Motel, Food

“Food? 4 people?” I echoed.

“Looks like some other people made a restaurant.” Emmett answered.

“Since it’s our actual body, we need to eat.” I reminded myself. My stomach grumbled.

“Let’s check it out.” Emmett led me to a small tent with some smoke coming out.

“Welcome!” A girl popped out behind the tent.

“Customers? Already?” Another head popped out.

Mao, the healer. Level Three. Weapon: Twisted Bark Wand

Jaden, the fighter. Level Four. Weapon: Knives

“How is your level so high?” I wondered out loud. I stopped. Did they level up from killing other people? I felt my heart drop when I remembered the girl from earlier. Ur Friend. I shivered.

“Apparently doing other things like cooking and selling stuff makes you level up too. There’s some cooking quests. It’s not as much leveling up as- you know.” Mao cocked her head.

“Quests?” I asked.

“Only parties with a healer receive them.” Jaden’s smile tightened.

“I told you being a healer has perks!” Mao smacked into Jaden’s arm.

I noticed that Mao looked particularly young, while Jaden was around my age.

“Are you guys siblings?” Emmett asked.

“Nope. We just met.” Mao smiled. Her smile was so small and innocent.

“Um- Do you have actual food?” My stomach was rumbling more and more.

“We’re only a level one restaurant, so they send only a box of bread per week.” Jaden handed Emmett and I each two slices of bread.

“Two coins per slice.” Mao nodded. A screen shows up showing that I only had one coin left. I took a slice and stuffed it in my mouth, quickly finishing the other slice too.

“Oh my lord. We need a healer to get quests for us. I am so hungry!” I screeched.

“Just get natural food. We’re on an island,” Mao advised.

“Mao!”Jaden nudges Mao in the shoulder, whispering something about how we wouldn’t come back for food.

A screen pops in front of me. It must have come for Emmett, Mao, and Jaden too, because we all stopped what we were doing.

25 coins awarded

“Coin drop!” I smiled.

“Before it was only fifty coins per drop! Now it’s a hundred!” Mao jumps, obviously happy.

“As the town levels up, the coins increase.” Emmett explained.

“Food! Two more please!” I cupped my hands in front of Jaden.

‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

***********************************************************************************

‘Tap. Tap. Tap.’

Healing Spell- 100 coins

I groan. I only had 22 coins.

“How much?” Emmett asked. He could only see what he could buy with his fighter ability.

“100 coins!” I threw my hands up

“You could join my party,” Mao appeared behind me.

I shrieked. “Is your agility level 500 or something?!”

“Join our party! Jaden won’t mind, won’t he?” Mao innocently cocked her head.

“He doesn’t trust us. He’ll be so mad if you do that,” Emmett said matter of factly.

“And added.” Mao ignored Emmett and a screen popped up.

Emmett and Allie invited to Mao’s and Jaden’s party

“I don’t know if this is a good idea, Mao.” I bit my lip.

“So? I want to help you! You guys are good people!” Mao smiled.

“Mao! Shut the fuck up!” Jaden stomped on the ground, leaving dust to spin around us. He had magically appeared behind us like Mao had.

Mao stopped, her eyes wide with fear. She trembled, sobs escaping from her lips.

“N-No! No! No! NO! NO! NO! NO!” Mao screamed, her arms wrapping around herself.

“Mao?” Jaden’s eyes widened.

“S-SHOWER!” Mao sobbed.

“Mao, are you okay?” I put my hand on her shoulder.

“GET OFF ME!” Mao grabbed my shoulders and spins me to the ground. I hit the ground with a sickening thud. A wave of pain shot up from my back.

“Oww,” I winced.

“Shit! Mao! Wake up!” Jaden screamed.

“Jaden?! Help.. Help me.” Mao collapsed on the ground. I hurriedly picked myself up, causing myself to gasp into nauseous gags.

“She’s just unconscious,” Emmett assured me. We all sigh in relief. Emmett ran over to me and helped me get up.

“You okay?” He asked.

“Yeah. I’m just kind of nauseous and dizzy. I’ll be okay.” I rubbed my head. Emmett let go of me, and I stumbled around.

“You need to get checked out. The hospital is in the next neutral zone over,” Emmett caught me when I almost fall to the floor.

“How about Mao?” I asked.

“She’ll come too. We need to find out what caused that weird outburst.”

‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

***********************************************************************************

‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

“You’re fine. Just a tiny concussion. It’ll take about seven days to heal and you’ll be fine.” an NPC nurse said.

“How about Mao?” I asked, worriedly.

“I cannot release information about other characters to other people outside of their party.” the nurse exited the room silently.

“Thank god you’re okay,” Emmett sighed a breath of relief.

“I’m worried about Mao! She’s- I don’t know. I think she’s at least eight years old!” I groaned.

“Just join her party. You still have her request, right?“ Emmett said.

“I feel like that’s wrong though!” I sighed. We walk towards the lobby of the hospital and see Jaden leaned against the wall, looking at a list of food in the vending machine.

“Is Mao okay?” I rushed to Jaden.

“Hmm?” Jaden looked up from the list, “Oh yeah. Apparently she has OCD of dirty things. I don’t know the details. She’s part of Group One? Just ask the NPC. They know everything.” Jaden shrugged.

A flood of emotions jolted through me. I was happy that she was okay, but how could Jaden be so chill about it? I numbly walk to the NPC table and ask what ‘group one’ meant.

Group One- Mental Disorders

Group Two- PTSD

Groups Three to Seven- Normal

-The only people that can see this information are the ones in Group One and Two-

You Belong In Group One because of your eating disorder.

My breath gets stuck in my throat. Mao had a mental disorder?

“Apparently she gets really scared when she gets dirty in any way. It’s a type of OCD,” Emmett tells me when I asked him what was wrong with Mao, “Jaden explained to me earlier.”

“Which group are you in?” I asked. If Emmett doesn’t answer, he was ‘normal.’ If he did, he was just like me. Broken. Well, I guess I can’t judge.

“One,” Emmett doesn’t look at me straight in the eye.

My heart drummed in my ears.

“M-Me too,” I said. Emmett looked at me surprisingly.

“I thought you would be in group two because… Because of earlier,” Emmett awkwardly shifted his feet

“I’m actually in both,” I said before I could stop myself.

Emmett looked like he wanted to say something, but before he could, Mao jumped out of the hallway with her innocent grin on her face.

“Mao!” Jaden cried when he saw her.

“I’m okay!” Mao screamed before we could even ask. “I get these things sometimes when I get dirty. I have OCD.” Mao said it was like it was nothing. I get a sharp pain of jealousy. I wish I could be that confident in my mental conditions.

“Mao.. I was thinking..” Jaden jumped in. “I guess I wouldn’t mind them in our party.”

Mao looked up at Jaden eagerly. “Really? That’s great! I already invited them so they just have to accept it!”

“Wait. You already did? MAO!”

‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

***********************************************************************************

~One week later~

‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

In a week, a new update had allowed monsters in the game. Our town had turned from a level 2 town to a level 4. The good thing was that our town ended up with only us in it, so every day, we would get 100 coins. In a span of a week, more than a hundred and a half people had already died. My new spell was Healing. I used my money to update healing and now I could heal three hundred HP every twenty mana used.

I sit in a nearby waterfall flipping my knife around. I had gotten it in case someone attacked me with their actual body. I could inflict damage with my spells, but they wouldn’t really fall or flinch. A knife would actually help in situations like those.

I lift up my sleeve and see the cut glisten with dry blood. The scar reminds me of why everything started in the first place. If I was to go back home, would I be a murderer? Was Ur Friend really dead? What was her real identity? Do I even deserve to know?

Shivers crept my arms. It was all my fault, wasn't it? I brought the knife closer to my wrist, the knife skimming my skin. A dot of blood bubbled up from the tip of the knife.

“Allie?” A voice echoed from the trees that surrounded the waterfall. I flipped the knife back in and put it back into my pocket.

“Yeah?” I said.

“Whatcha doin’ here?” Jaden appeared behind me.

“Oh. It’s you,” I sighed from relief. “I always sit here to calm my nerves.”

“Ah.” Jaden walked next to me. I look up, feeling my cheeks burn red. Jaden was only wearing shorts, as the sunlight glistened from the trees to his heavily worked out body.

“Why are you-“ I stammered.

“Don’t get me wrong. Just gonna take a swim. I decided when I found it yesterday. Didn’t know it already had another discoverer. Why didn’t you tell us?” Jaden crept into the water. I looked away.

“To be honest, I just wanted to keep it to myself. I like this place. It kind of lets me forget everything and only remember nature and good things in life.” I sighed happily.

“Sorry I found it.”

“Nah. It’s not your fault. I’m going to let you be.” I get up to walk back into town. “Be careful. There’s monsters here sometimes. They’re pretty weak though.”

“No! Stay here. Don’t leave because of me. The water’s pretty cool. Jump in!” Jaden splashed water at me, making me shriek.

“I don’t have a swimsuit.” I responded.

“Just wear undergarments. Like a bikini.” Jaden blushed. “If you’re okay with it or-“

A shiver crept up my arms. Just wear my undergarments? I shake my head. I gotta be like Mao. Face my fears. I slowly pulled off my sweatshirt.

“Hurry!” Another splash of water landed on me.

“Okay, okay!” I kicked off my leggings and my t-shirt with a quick yank, running to the water. I cannonball into the water, making Jaden yell and tread away.

“It’s so cold!” I shivered after coming back up to the surface.

“Right? Perfect for days like today,” Jaden swam towards me. We swam like this for several hours. It was the best time I’ve ever had in awhile. Since before Alec and my parents died, I think. It made me forget about all the bad things in life. The things I had been thinking about for the last week. Heck, for the last five years.

‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

***********************************************************************************

‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

I waved my wand with a swish, letting out a stream of light. The stream of light hit a big hairy beast square in the chest. It was a Dark monster. One of the higher and more powerful monsters. The monster wailed in pain.

“Take that!” Emmett swung his sword at the beast, Jaden following him with his daggers. The monster screamed and disappeared into red mist.

“Aye!” Mao ran up to us and high fived all of us. A screen showed up with a sign that told me that I had gotten four hundred coins.

“Only four hundred? The hell? This was a Dark monster!” I groaned.

“It’s because our town has a higher coin drop than other towns. It’s a lot for other people.” Emmett said.

“That was one nice spell Allie! Got his HP to drop almost half way.” Jaden looped his arm around my shoulders. I feel his arm muscles flex as it pressed against my arm. Heat blossomed on my cheeks. I shook out of his grip, feeling his eyes bore into the back of my head.

“We finished the quest. Aaaand got the rare ingredient for the strawberry cake. Which will finish our main food quest.” Mao smiled. “Let’s go back.”

‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

***********************************************************************************

‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

“Hey Allie,” Emmett ran to catch up to me. We had finished our quest and I was heading to my home for the night.

“Yeah?” I asked.

“What’s with you and Jaden? Y’all dating?” Emmett giggled like a five year old.

“What the hell? Hell nah,” I blushed.

“You’re blushing,” Emmett taunted.

“That’s what happens when someone says that. It’s a normal human instinct!” I countered back.

“Then what’s with him putting his arms around your shoulders?” Emmett raised his eyebrows.

“I have no idea.” I sighed.

“Be careful Jaden can get kinda flirty.” Emmett awkwardly said.

“Yeah, but it’s his personality.” I said back.

“I don’t know. I feel like something’s off about him.” Emmett shrugged.

“Emmett! How could you say that? He’s our friend!” my eyes widened.

“Just a feeling.” Emmett responded.

“Fine. I’ll keep my distance.” I sighed.

“Just be careful, ‘kay?” Emmett nodded to me as he walked towards his house.

“Yeah.”

‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

***********************************************************************************

‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

For the rest of the week, I was careful around Jaden. I kept an eye out for him and dodged him whenever he tried to hug me or put his hand around my shoulders again.

After a couple weeks of dodging him, I went back to the waterfall. I played with my knife again. This time I won’t cut myself. I won’t. Or so I tell myself. So many things lay heavy in my heart. Would I be charged as a murderer when I got back home? Would I even get back home?

I hear leaves crunch behind me. I tensed, immediately jumping up to my feet to face whoever that was behind me. My eyes widened when I saw who was there.

“A Dark monster? Shit,” I cursed under my breath. Certain places had protective fields on them so only low level monsters could get through. The waterfall was one of them. How did the Dark monster get here? The monster growled, pouncing towards me. I jumped out of its way right on time, stumbling into the lake. The monster ran into the water with me, the virtual reality of the monster overlapping with the water. I casted a quick spell, sending the monster to the ground. Its HP went down by a miniscule amount.

“What the hell?” Usually a Dark monster’s HP would go down by way more with that spell.

The monster scrambles back up, growling in pain. I grit my teeth, sending a more powerful spell. A beam of black light hit the beast in the chest. The monster’s HP went down a little bit more. This was definitely not a normal Dark monster. It was much more powerful. The beast fell down again. I took the opportunity to run. I sprinted towards the town, pumping my arms and my legs to go faster. I heard stomps behind me reaching me closer and closer. The beast hit me, making my HP go down by twenty-five percent, and pumping pain down my back.

This virtual reality technology made everything too real. It even has things that makes pain when you are attacked.

I gasped in pain. A Dark monster definitely couldn’t bring my HP down twenty-five percent. I sprinted even harder, putting healing spells on me to bring my HP back up. A pain hit me from my spine. I pumped my arms harder. A sting pierced my leg, making me trip over and fall on a branch, bruising my jaw.

“Argh!” I groaned, scrambling to get up again, but it was too late. The beast bashed his arm on me, bursting pain on my side and making my HP go down to eight percent. I gasped, running again. I healed myself until my mana went down to zero, and kept my leg pumping. Soon, I was almost a fourth of a mile to Tempe. Suddenly, my legs froze, making me lose balance and fall to the ground. My jaw landed on the ground again with a thump, and this time, I also heard a crack as pain filled my jaw.

“Urgh!” I cried out loud. The beast stomped over to me. I tried to get up again, but this time, my legs didn’t move. It stayed frozen where it was.

“What the hell?” I shrieked. The monster hit me once. Twice. My HP went to one percent. My mana replenished itself, letting me heal, but only to the twenty percent mark.

“Help!” I screamed, hoping someone around or at Tempe would help.

The monster growled, moving his arms up to bash me to my death.

I screamed, but suddenly all I remembered was Ur Friend, and when I killed her. Did she feel her death coming? Probably not. No one knew about the rule until afterwards, but it still brought me to tears of guilt. The cuts in my arms throbbed. The Dark monster slammed its arms down. I closed my eyes. I wasn’t going to make it.

After a couple seconds, I opened my eyes to see Jaden. His daggers stopped the beast, but the monster was still stronger. I could sense that Jaden couldn’t keep it up for long. I scrambled away from the monster, realizing that my legs could move again.

“Run! Get the others to come here and heal yourself!” Jaden yelled. I nod even though he couldn’t see me.

I sprinted. As fast as I did earlier. Maybe faster. When I reached Tempe, I brought my friend list up and called Mao and Emmett to the healing fountain, where one could stand in the blue fainted circle and their health would go up slowly, but surely. When Emmett and Mao raced over, I explained what was happening, and told them to go to Jaden before me. I needed to heal and I was almost done by that point.

‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

***********************************************************************************

‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

My health and mana was full again, so I ran back to Jaden, my jaw still pulsing in pain. I think I fractured it, judging by the noise and pain I made when I talked, so I stayed silent.

When I got to Jaden, he was behind Emmett and Mao, replenishing his mana and healing. He caught sight of me, and immediately ran towards me to give me a hug.

“You’re- You’re mana was so low I thought I couldn’t make it! I- Are you okay now?” Jaden checked me, his eyes trailing over me. I cringed, remembering what Emmett told me the other day, and then focused back on the monster. Jaden just saved me and I still thought he wasn’t a trustworthy person.

“Nevermind that. We’ve got ourselves and an overly powerful Dark monster to beat.” I said. “Get yourself over there. I’ll add some buffs.” There were some new spells that I had gotten, which included health, strength, and defense buffs. Buffs were spells that could be cast on a person and that person could have a higher health, have stronger attacks, or defend better. I added all three buffs to both Emmett and Jaden.

Emmett and Jaden both exchange many hits, and after an eternity, the monster fell, leaving something small at where it had disappeared.

Mao was the first to notice it. “What’s that?” We all approached it. It was a piece of metal, and when I touched it, I realized it was in the game. It wasn’t real. A description of the item appeared in front of me.

Kayla’s Soul

It went into my inventory. “What the heck?” I shrieked, startled.

“It seems like that Dark monster dropped that item.” Emmett observed.

“A player’s soul?!” I ask.

“I- I don’t know. We’ll put it in the newsletters.” Emmett knitted his eyebrows together. I’ve noticed that Emmett did that when he didn’t know something and was trying to figure something out.

The newsletters were something where you would post a question or something in your town’s bulletin board and it would appear in all the bulletin boards on the island.

Everyone stayed silent.

“Um. I think we should go back to Tempe. And get Allie checked out.” Mao said, breaking the silence.

“I-I’m okay.” I shook my head.

“Nah. You’re jaw looks kinda twisted up. You should go get it checked.” Jaden said. “Emmett and Mao can stay in Tempe to heal up or something and Allie and I will go to the hospital in the next town over.”

“No. It’s okay Jaden. You don’t have to do that for me.” I argued.

“No, no. We’re going. Come on.” Jaden pulled me away.

“Uh. See you guys!” I cried out as Jaden dragged me to the hospital.

‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

***********************************************************************************

‘Tap.Tap.Tap.’

“You should be more careful Allie.” Jaden said while we walked back to Tempe from the hospital.

“I-“

“Don’t speak! You’ll injure your jaw even more,” Jaden interrupted me.

“They already said that I could talk,” I countered.

“You’re lucky that it wasn’t that bad. You only needed some ice. Seriously Allie, be careful.” Jaden sighed.

“I’m fine, I swear!” I groaned.

“Fine, fine! Jeez,” Jaden put his hands up in defeat.

“Anyways, I can’t help it if some really powerful monster starts chasing me!” I rolled my eyes.

“Where were you when the monster started chasing you?” Jaden kicked a stone that was on the road we were walking on.

“The waterfall.”

“Waterfall? But it’s a protected area.”

“I know.”

“Then how did a monster get to you?”

“I don’t know”

“Allie. Don’t lie to me.”

“I’m not lying.”

“Allie.”

“I’m not fucking lying, Jaden.”

Jaden stopped.

“Then what the fuck is going on?”

“I. Don’t. Know.” I snapped. I sighed, walking faster so I was ahead of Jaden.

“There's something fishy about this. I’m scared. I think something bad’s going to happen. I just feel it,” I said thoughtfully. A screen appeared telling me that I had arrived at Tempe.

“Don’t worry about it,” Jaden stalks off. I bit my lip. God dammit. I didn’t mean to get mad at him. I walked towards the guild house. It was in the middle of town because our guild was the main guild in Tempe. A head peeked out the door of the guild.

“Mao?” I called.

“Allie!” In seconds, Mao was next to me. Mao had spent all her money on maxing out her speed.

“Any news?” I asked.

“We should talk about this with the entire guild. Where’s Jaden?” Emmett walked over to us when he saw me. “Are you okay? What did the doctors say?”

“I just need some rest. Thanks though. Jaden went back to his house.” I said, purposely avoiding explaining why he went back.

“You must be tired. We can talk about this tomorrow. Night?” Mao advised.

“Yeah”

‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

***********************************************************************************

‘Tap. Tap. Tap’

“So apparently when a player dies, their ‘heart’ or soul appears as an in game item. Their ‘soul’ can be made into a beast. If the player is powerful, the beast ends up also powerful.” Mao took a deep breath.

“Does the item just become a beast automatically?” I wondered.

“No. It can only be player generated. We can summon that beast again if we need to since you have it.”

“We could use it to our advantage.” Emmett murmured. “But only when we desperately need to. This is a human’s life. The only trace of them left. I don’t want to-“

Everyone fell silent.

A large voice interrupted the silence, making me jump from surprise. June materialized in front of us. She was probably in front of the other players around the island too.

“Announcement. Thank you for playing Island Game. We would like to remind you to have fun and do your best!” June spoke in a monotone voice.

“Have fun my ass.” Jaden swore under his breath.

“We have added a new rule. A new way to clear the Island Game.” June silenced everyone in the room.

“Another way? Are they trying to make it easier for us?” Emmett hoped. Everyone held their breath.

“There will be a boss monster. At the south east part of the island. The only way to beat it is with a soul monster. So players! Gather all your magic and power and crush the boss!” June disappeared, leaving us in silence.

“Wait. So what they’re saying is that we need to get powerful, sacrifice ourselves, and then the rest of the players can leave?” I screamed at the absurd rule they had put for us.

“We’ll find another way.” Emmett tried to reassure everyone. “Maybe they’ll put another rule mid game?”

“I doubt it. Haven’t you noticed? Announcements are disappearing and updates are also going away. They’re practically done with the extra rules.” Jaden sighed, putting his hands up in defeat.

“Keep your hopes up.” I poked Jaden in the arm.

“Yeah, yeah.” Jaden groaned. “It’s kinda hard when the truth is right in front of our face. We’re here so they can torture us.”

Everyone went silent again.

“Um. We should get a break today. Everyone get some rest.” Mao said. Everyone glanced at her, surprised. The entire time she had been silent.

“Yeah. Imma get back and get some rest. See you.” Jaden started walking out the door and outside.

“Yep. Me too. I’m going to go back to my house.” I quickly said.

“Bye.” Emmett and Mao waved back. “I’m going to do some easy quests I want to do. Emmett? Want to come?” Mao turned to him.

“I’m going to go. Bye.” I sprinted out in record speed. I caught up to Jaden, pausing to take some breaths.

“Hey. What’s up?” Jaden looked at me, surprised that I had ran to join him.

“I just wanted to say sorry and thank you.”

“For what?”

“Sorry for getting mad at you yesterday and thank you for helping me.” Everything came out in a rush. I’ve never really thanked anyone before the accident.

“Oh that. No. It’s my fault for getting mad back. I didn’t believe you.” Jaden quickly added, “Now I do though.”

“We’re good?”

“Yeah.”

I breathed a sigh of relief.

“You were that worried that I was mad at you?” Jaden laughed.

“Well, yeah.” I blushed, looking down. Jaden put his thumb on my chin, lifting my head back up. I looked up in his eyes. His brown eyes glistened in anticipation.

“J-“ Jaden puts his lips on mine, stopping me from saying anymore. As quickly as it came, Jaden stops, looking back at me, his eyes asking if it was okay.

“I- I have to go,” I backed up. With my heart pounding in my chest, I hastily ran back to my house, locking myself in.

‘Tap. Tap. Tap.’

***********************************************************************************