The God From The Machine

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Matt walked into what looked like a normal teenage girl's room, adorned with posters and books strewn about; it was like the doorway was a portal from a palatial estate on some reality show into average suburbia. Felix followed, scratching the back of his head and just as awestruck as Matt. Maude closed the door behind them. She met the uneasy eyes of her two new friends.

"What?"

Matt's face scrunched into utter, dumbfounded confusion. "What? What do you mean what!?" He whisper-yelled, throwing his palms out to the side.

"Yeah, are we not gonna talk about the fact that we just walked through the fucking Taj Mahal?"

"Alright, what did you want me to say 'Hey I'm rich, wanna be friends?' I'm not sure when this is supposed to come up in a fucking conversation."

"Sorry..." Matt said after an awkward silence.

"I'm guessing you've never brought anyone over here." Felix said, taking a seat in the rolling chair by a desk covered in sharpie drawings and stickers.

"Yeah, no." Maude said dejectedly. "Just don't wanna be treated differently, y'know? This is all my dad's. This isn't me."

"I can relate." Felix said, resting his chin on the backrest of the chair.

"What's he do?" Matt said, still standing awkwardly in the middle of the room.

"My dad? He owns some pharmaceutical company. Aside from when they drag me on vacations with them, my parents have never really been around."

"Mine neither!" Matt replied over-enthusiastically as he sat on the floor, stretching his long legs out across the carpet. "Well I've never met my dad, it's just been me and my mom, but not really 'cuz she's also never really around, so... Mine neither."

"That's one thing we all have in common, then." Felix said matter-of-factly.

"Oooh, maybe mysterious shit only happens to people who have shitty parents!" Matt exclaimed with one finger in the air, so as to emphasize his epiphany.

Maude laughed. "I think the world would be a lot more mysterious if that were the case, puppy."

Felix laughed too. Despite everything else in his life, he found himself with two new friends in a new place, actually having fun. There was this excitement in his stomach- something that he had never felt before; it was like he had come across a profound discovery. He looked at the smiling faces in the room around him, and was overwhelmed with the notion that he was in the exact place that he needed to be. It was good. "Lost time, huh?" He found himself asking.

Matt was stacking books on top of one another and stopped to look up at Maude, who was riffling her thumb over the pages of one of her notebooks. They looked to Felix.

"Exactly." Maude said with a serious look.

"And you ghost-wrote in your own notebook?"

"Yeah. 'Fully competent and courageous beings' Some body-snatcher shit."

"Weird. And you?"

Matt scrunched his legs up against his body, hugging them. "I lost time- like five fuckin hours, but I didn't do anything while I was gone."

"Maybe you did."

Matt's eyes grew wide as he considered the possibility.

"We should check." Maude said firmly. "And we should check the woods where you heard that animal shit, Felix."

"Right now?" Matt asked, staring out into the pitch-black night sky outside the window.

"Fuck no." The other two replied in unison.

-----

The next morning Jack awoke with his face stuck to the leather of his couch. He cringed as the morning light stabbed daggers into his brain. With all of his willpower he lifted himself off the couch and lurched up the stairs. It was dark on the basement staircase, but he had climbed them enough times to know exactly how many steps there were. As he neared the top, he could smell bacon and eggs in the air. He opened the door at the top of the steps and was surprised to find Riley in the kitchen cooking breakfast.

"Look who's alive!" She exclaimed as he emerged from the doorway.

"Hey," He said with a look of confusion on his face. "What are you doing here?"

"Um, making breakfast?"

"Ok... when did you get here?"

Riley stopped what she was doing and saw the look in Jack's eyes. He was confused and uncomfortable. He was only in his boxers, and he was covering himself with his hands.

"Do you-" Riley's face puckered, and tears welled in her eyes. "Do you not remember last night?"

"What happened last night?" Jack said, concerned. "Are you okay?"

Riley began to cry and Jack rushed to her side. "Did something happen after you left? You're worrying me, dollface."

She pushed him away. "You didn't even drink that much, Jack- you fucking know what happened!" He stood in silence, shaking his head at a loss for words.

"We had sex Jack!"

His face contorted in shock and he put his hands in front of him. "No, we didn't."

"Holy shit. You're really doing this to me? Yes we did, Jack. We were drinking and smoking together and then you made a move and we had sex!"

"Listen, Doll-"

"Don't fucking call me that!"

"Riley, I remember hanging out, but we didn't do anything. I didn't black out, I know I didn't. I-"

Riley threw the spatula she was holding into the sink loudly and stormed out of the kitchen. She ran down the stairs sobbing, and began to grab all of her things from the basement.

"What are you doing?" Jack said, following her.

"What are you doing, Jack!? Why are you fucking with me like this? Was it so big of a fucking mistake that you're just denying it even happened!?"

Jack was silent. He had no idea what Riley was talking about. He didn't even get that drunk last night. It hurt him to see that she was so distraught. He had always had feelings for her, but he never acted on them, too afraid to ruin their friendship. If he had had sex with her, it wouldn't have been a mistake. He loved her. But he didn't know what she was talking about. He didn't know what to say. The situation was all so fucked. He couldn't say that they had sex- even though he wished they had, it would be a lie.

"I'm not fucking with you, Riley... I love you." He said, insecurely.

"Go fuck yourself, Jack." She said before running up the stairs and slamming the front door.