Tethered

Chapter 7

The sensation of some sort of liquid hitting your face awakened you from your sleep. A strange numbness took hold of your limbs as you stood up, and you found it hard to see straight. Mmm.... Where am I? As your vision cleared, you noticed that you weren't in your room anymore, but a blank landscape that stretched as far as your eyes could see. Clear skies from above were reflected off of the ground you were standing on, creating a sort of mirror effect. Tentatively, you took a step forward to see if you would fall into the ground, but you were met with a flat surface and a slight ripple in the reflection, as if it were water. "Hello?" you called out as your voice echoed into the distance, but nobody responded. Touching your face, you were met with the feeling of a slightly thick and warm liquid. When you pulled your hand away from your face, you could see a red liquid trailing down your fingerprints; it was unmistakably blood. What the...

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A loud knocking at your door woke you up. You touched your face where the blood was previously, but it was no longer there. Huh, weird dream. The knocking at your door got louder and you could hear a muffled voice calling out for you. Quickly, you threw your blankets off your body and rushed to the door to open it.

"What the- Mei what are you doing here?" Mei grinned at you.

"Don't you remember? We're going to the arcade today! I came to pick you up." Looking outside, you could see the tip of the sun barely over the horizon.

"Mei it's probably like, six in the morning right now." She responded by shoving her phone in your face.

"I know, but look! The arcade gives five dollars worth of tokens to anyone who shows up at opening time! It's gonna take a while to get there, so I came by early!" Internally groaning, you begrudgingly took your jacket off the coat rack next to you before you took a step outside.

"Alright let's go." Mei gave you a strange look.

"Uh, don't you wanna change first? I can wait, no worries." Oh, I forgot about that.

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"Alright, ready to go?" you called out to Mei as you were leaving your room. She stood up from your sofa and turned to the door.

"Yep. You got everything? Phone, wallet?" You nodded. "Okay, let's go!"

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"Are you hungry? We can stop by that cafe to get something to eat if you want." Mei pointed over to a quaint cafe at the corner of the street.

"Mm... I'll be okay. We can get an early lunch if you want."

"Sounds good to me. Oh, oh! There it is!" As the two of you rounded the corner, a large arcade with flashy lights met your eyes. Wah, so bright. An employee was currently standing outside greeting people who entered and handing them a small basket with tokens in them. When the two of you walked up to the entrance, the employee grinned at you and handed you and Mei a basket with tokens.

"Have a great time!" She waved at you two as you entered, and you responded back to her.

"You too!" Wait- no. Augh, I'm an idiot.