I Love You but You're Real

eleven

Ike: I'm so happy to meet you, Rhys! I'm sure you'll love living here in FicCity! Please, follow me! We'll need to do a couple of tests- just to make sure you are indeed fictional- and then you can move in to an apartment of your own!

Ike scares me. He smiles too much, too big. His smile looks fake. He's too cheerful. He's like a character from out of a child's story book.

Ike is a real work of fiction. No pun intended.

And he also says my name weird.

I don't say anything back to Ike. He stares at me.

I hate it.

Ike: Well, okay! You're a shy one! Let's head on down to the offices now!

Ike stretches out the 'o' in okay and it makes me uncomfortable.

I don't like this place very much anymore. I hope the other people living here aren't like Ike.

We walk down the street to my right.

We walk for a long time.

It feels like eternity.

This is random, but I can talk to you in my head now. I'm guessing you didn't notice. You don't seem like the kind of person who would notice little details if you haven't even had time to process it or even think about it yet.

But that's okay.

I... kind of like that about you.

Your little quirks make you you.

But what do I know. I haven't even met you. Heck, I don't even know your name!

I like to think that I know you.

Anyway, I can talk to you now silently in my head, even walking here beside Ike.

I don't know how, it sort of just happened. I don't know.

Ike stops in front of a bright yellow building. I stop, too.

I hesitantly follow Ike through the blinding door into a big room.

We walk into the wall on my left and we stand in a little gray box. The doors to the box close, but Ike doesn't seem to mind. I don't know what we're doing in here, though.

I glance over at Ike and he shoots me a gigantic smile.

I involuntarily shudder.

We still wait in the gray box, and the palms of my hands are starting to sweat. What are they doing to me? Well, me and Ike, but I'm more worried about myself. Ike seems pretty content in here.

I feel trapped.

It reminds me of my old room.

The doors finally slide open and I let out a sigh of relief.

But the hallway in front of me isn't the room we were just in. Were we teleported somewhere else?

Me: Where are we?

Ike: We're still in the FicCity offices, of course! We're on the ninth floor now.

I follow Ike down the hallway into a purple room with a metal table in the middle of it.

A tall woman stands in the corner of the room. Her smile is just as scary as Ike's.

Woman: Hi, I'm Noel! Welcome to the FicCity offices! You're Rhys, right?

She says my name weird, too.

I blink at her.

Noel: Okay, well, we're just going to do a few tests on you- just to be sure you're not, well, real!

She says "real" like it's a dirty word. It makes me mad. I know that it's okay to be real, because you're real and I really like you.

Noel: You can just lie down right on here.

She taps the table with fingernails so long that they look like claws.

Noel really scares me, too.

Ike puts his hand on my shoulder and guides me toward the table. I lay down on the table.

Ike gives me his signature creepy smile. And then he pats my head.

I think I'm going to throw up.

Noel leans over me and gives me a smile as well.

Noel: I'm just going to insert this needle into your arm- you'll only feel a little prick- and then you won't feel a thing, I promise.

I feel a small prick in my left arm, just as Noel had said.

Ike: Sleep well!

Ike winks at me.

Sleep well? What is that supposed to mean?

But I am starting to feel a bit... tired. I guess...

A/N-

Yay, another update! Another long one, as promised!

I'm really liking where the story is going right now. I hope you are, too :)

Much love,

Em