Eve feels a sudden rush as her body lands, she is in the darkness of sleep, but for a moment, she feels everything in the world. A rush of different memories, thoughts, people talking, and the effects of the world's day-to-day operations, followed by cold and warm panels all around her. For a moment, she thinks she is dreaming, as her mind snaps and vision comes to a place isolated from the rest of the world and in peace. But she is alone, there is peace in her as she sits on a log overlooking the world beyond, but there is loneliness in that peace. The loneliness she can't define. But in an instant, it is gone.
She opens her eyes. She is back in her room on her bed, unaware of the events after losing consciousness. But she is on the edge of the bed in a way that is only familiar to her from one person's resting state. Amari's hold when they would sleep together, his chest pitched forward as if trying to press himself into her back. One of his arms wrapped around her stomach and the other under her shoulder, his hand is waiting in place to prop up her head if her pillow ever found it's way free of her during the night. His smell floods her noise and confirms to her that it is him. She also hears a grunt from the groggiest individual in the morning outside herself, Lance. From somewhere in the living room.
"Fucking hell. He put you on the damn couch and placed my ass on the floor? What the hell? I thought me and her father were cool." Lance shouts.
His shout wakes Amari in a rush with deep gasps. Amari runs his hands along his chest and face as if looking for an insect.
"What's wrong?" Eve asks.
"Ummm...I...I was shot. I died."
"What are you talking about? We got away from those Seeker things. Wait, where are my mom and dad?"
A commotion of arguing erupts from the living room as Alison shouts variations of demands for answers and to speak with "that bitch." Amari and Eve barely have a second to sit up as the door flings open, the force by which Alison does so, completely crushing the doorknob and pulling the door off two of its three hinges! Lance comes in right behind her and finally gets a grip on her, stopping her from lunging for Eve.
"What the hell is going on with her!" Eve demands.
"Me! What is going on with me? And you think I am full of myself! Bitch I was ran the hell over while you were taking a fucking nap! I felt all of it!" Alison screams with anger that turns to pain.
Lance manages to hold her at bay long enough for that pain to break her, helping her to the floor while she cracks and begins to cry.
"What happened? We made it out; my parents got us out." Eve says, confused about the state and mood growing on everyone's faces.
Lance seemed to be the only one with enough strength to tell her, but he did offer Amari the chance, but he was almost a deer in headlights as he put his thoughts together.
"We all died. Everyone except you and your parents. It felt real. But then...after it. I was in some strange place. Felt like purgatory, for Christ's sake. I...and I guess them too, we...well we saw a world through your eyes. Like we were there but not. We were attached to you. Unable to move and feel. Then out of nowhere, darkness, and then we wake up."
Eve feels uneasy about the explanation, and not because she doesn't believe it. But because she can feel the truth in his words as if the verification rode straight from his mind into his words and through her ears. She felt his concern over her as if she was his blood sister—confirmation of their bond and the secureness of it despite all he just had to go to. But there was also something else, fear. A fear of Eve and what having this bond was about to mean to him now that he had experienced its dark potential firsthand. Suddenly she can feel Alison's pain emanating from her as well. Pain from not just experiencing death, but the pain from believing she almost lost her dreams of life after college. And the betrayal she felt came from Eve; her belief that Eve knew something about all of this and that she didn't tell her about it hurt Alison the most.
Their thoughts made Eve feel guilty; they shouldn't be experiencing this. A deep-seeded fear of this happening in some way, shape, or form was the reason for her plans after college of disappearing, so they weren't affected. But it was too late for that, and as much as she didn't know everything that was going on, it was happening because of her. However, the worse point of emotion did not come, as Amari's was different. He didn't blame her, fear her, or have anger within him. Turning to him, their eyes lock onto each other, and there within his is the will of love itself. It almost overwhelms her. He was just happy to have not met the end truly and be able to wake up in bed next to her. There was hope behind his love as well, hope he could get the chance to ask her something, but he was afraid of asking it now.
She didn't care what that was now; the way she felt, his comforting essence, was what she needed just even to try to put together her thoughts.
"Okay...so what happened after I went out again?" She asks, having gathered enough strength from him to try and figure things out.
"The bond of family...don't let it break." Her father's voice says, prompting her to look around for him, but she sees nothing.
"You really going to make us think about that shit again? God, I thought I was selfish, but it was you this whole time. Why didn't you tell us your family was in some fucked up shit? That knowing you was going to put us in harm's way? Those people have seen us now. I don't even know if they think we are dead or alive. Or even if I know." Alison shouts in gathered pain, confusion, and anger again.
"No, there is no need to repeat. I get it. I...well...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hide the things I know about my family to hurt you; I—I did it to protect you from this. My father, well, you all know how I was raised. When this was over, I intended to return to that paranoid-ass insane hermit lifestyle; he said I could have fun and relax in college. And I was hesitant. Then I ran into Lance that night...and from there, I've just felt comfortable and able to be normal for once. Each of you came into my life one way or another and added to that in your own ways. I would never do anything to harm you guys, not after the gift you all have given me. A bit of normalcy in a world I've never really fit into." Eve declares, doing her best to keep calm as guilt eats her up inside.
As much as Alison wanted to be mad, she knew Eve was not the type to lie, and her actions were in-the-moment responses; she had given up being irrational and selfish and Eve welcomed her in. She had every right to put her in her place back then and even had every right now when she lunged at her. But she didn't, and Eve's confusion was just as apparent as everyone else's.
"It's okay. I'm uhhh, well, I am sorry that I acted like that." She confesses as Lance helps her up off the floor, wiping away at her still watery eyes.
The group heads to the living room and sits down to an awkward silence, everyone still trying to wrap their head around things to come up with some sort of explanation. Then it hits Eve, all three of them don't have the whole story, and there was no time like the present to get it all out there. She sits up, and Hana appears from within the kitchen just as she does. His little nails click them all into a moment of fear before he turns the corner, rushing towards Eve. His size has doubled since the previous night, giving him the height and strength in his legs needed to make it up onto the couch and directly in her lap!
"Hey, buddy! I know last night was rough, huh? But we still have our contract in place, right?" She says, giving him rubs and pets.
"I smell a little something from the kitchen, and it doesn't smell as wonderful as my cooking does." Lance comments.
"Welp, not it. But he better not have eaten any of it cause it means he is going to throw it up, and that's a violation of the contract." Eve replies, lifting Hana up and checking his mouth for any signs of poop eating.
Lance heads into the kitchen and starts making noises as he tries to avoid throwing up. Alison covers her ears to prevent gagging from the sound alone, and Amari keeps his hand over his nose. However, judging by how his eyes kept getting wider and wider, the increased ability to smell was making avoiding the effects harder than just a hand over the nose. Eve is relieved to see no specks of waste in Hana's mouth but does notice just how big he has gotten.
"Anyone else remembers this dog being much smaller last night?" She points out.
"Yeah, he was," Alison confirms.
"Well, considering we are in a realm or whatever that means, maybe certain things aren't as they seemed," Amari suggests.
"You mean like we are in the matrix, mate? God! As dangerous as that may sound, it sounds spot on and pretty cool. I mean, it would also mean we better stick to an area with a lot of tele booths still, even if the areas are a bit dodgy."
The joke lands differently on each of them, but the laughter brevity is easily welcomed. They ride it out until the laughter disappears into here and there chuckles. Once Lance gets whatever gift Hana left them in the kitchen up, he rejoins them and adds to the awkward silence. But Lance can't handle it, shuffling and grunting.
"Is there something you want to say, Lance?" Alison snaps.
"Yeah, actually, I mean...I'm not going back to the judging stage of things. We know that it was in the moment. But now that we have had a chance to calm down, we need to figure out what in the bloody hell is going on. Did last night really happen? Is there a report of a bloodbath taking place at Walmart? Cars crashed along the highway into campus? And is the damn swim team still on it?" He goes off.
"Well, I mean, we can get the answers on that by checking the news, can't we?" Amari suggests.
"Yeah, but didn't her parents say this was a reset of twenty-four hours? I don't think there is any evidence of what happened outside us, knowing for some reason." Alison responds.
"Only one way to find out."
With Eve's words, they all pull out their phones and begin checking for any news on any app that might suggest or hint at something from last night. The realization that the reset worked and they were the only ones in the know of what happened, but the lack of evidence gives them some doubt. Each of them thinks for a second that maybe they were hallucinating last night. But Eve receives a message in silence that the others do not, and as she looks around and sees their hope slightly returning in the thought that it was somehow just a bad trip or rough night, she feels fear at the possibility of ruining the moment.
"Well, no news is good news, innit?" Lance shouts.
"Exactly! Wait, I had a brownie before we left for Walmart! Maybe I put more green in there than I thought. Did you guys have some?" Alison tacks on, dreaming up her own possibility.
"Maybe I did run into the swim team but maybe collided with one of them and just got one badass headache; you guys probably found me running around...or no, wait, even better. I went with the guys to that party they got invited to last night, got drunk, and took it a bit too far, but I was stressed, so I had my reasons. Eventually found my way here and continued the party with you guys!"
Eve couldn't let them go too far into madness, not with the message she had just received from her father.
*This isn't over. Keep together just like last night but arm yourselves and be on the watch. I am weakening and can't block everything coming our way, but I won't have to do it long. We are pulling you kids out, maybe twenty-four hours your time tops. I'll explain more once we are there. And Eve....no matter what, keep yourself alive. You can only trust the people in that room with you and us, that's it.*
"Guys," she cuts in, "Look, we all know those things are not the truth. Okay, I don't mean to be rude... it's just. I do not want to hide anything from you guys anymore."
She can feel the tiny bit of hope rip from them, and they can see from her phone as she places it down on the coffee table that someone has sent her a message, and not many people have her number. With most of those who would contact her in the room, the remaining options were slim and guaranteed to be someone with bad news.
"Well...come out with it. How screwed are we?" Lance utters.
"Oh god, we are going to be hunted by those people forever, aren't we? We won't be able to go home, see our families, or live our lives peacefully. Ever, will we?" Alison questions as panic begins to overtake her.
"Eve...what do they want with you? Maybe we can figure it out, find it some other way and get them off your back. If we can make it to when I get drafted, I will have a lot of money at my disposal to make some moves. I don't need that money anyways; I never did. You helped me prove that to myself so let me help you get out of this." Amari begs.
No matter how she phrased it, she knew this was going to crush each of them in some way. But they had to know. Because she was coming to realize it, the visions, the lack of dreaming, her father's revelation about the realm and how he just reset everything, and the fact that there was no evidence whatsoever of what happened last night. This world they were in wasn't real somehow. They were simply here to buy time, and that time was running out. Alison was right, but they weren't going to be on the run in a place they were familiar with.
"There is no getting away from this; I think what my father said about this being a realm did mean we were in some sort of matrix. And at any moment, if things got too rough, there was always a chance that we couldn't just remain here, and for whatever reason...I don't think we can anymore." She says, doing her best to deliver it softly to them.
"I knew it! The matrix! And you're like Neo, well I guess in your case it would be Nia? Does that still translate to the one?" Lance jumps in, much to the annoyance of everyone.
He sits back in his seat and puts his hands up in submission.
"What do you mean by remaining here?" Amari asks.
"You said all that happened last night could happen again at any moment? What is that message about?" Alison throws in, her fear getting a hold of her again.
"Guys, listen, okay? When my father said, this is a realm. I think he meant that I am sleeping right now, and this is somehow a dream. I haven't dreamed my entire life so far as I can remember, which may be why. Because I already am. But the time for dreaming is coming to an end...I think my parents intend to wake me up. Because this dream will turn into a nightmare if they don't."
"I guess that explains how we definitely died but somehow are back here...but wait, why did the others die? Those Seeker dudes? And what about our families?" Amari questions.
"I don't know...I can only tell you that we still aren't safe. We need to stick together, and the moment I can get answers from my parents for you guys, I will do that before anything else." She declares, her sympathy easing them despite the heaviness of what she just revealed.
Another awkward silence takes over the room as they all contemplate what it could mean until...one of their stomachs rumbles with hunger. Making them all realize that they hadn't even had the chance to eat thanks to everything that happened last night. Lance jumps up and makes his way toward the kitchen.
"Well, guess we better eat something before this all ends, and we end up somewhere where the food sucks."
"You can make anything taste good, Lance. I'm not worried." Eve says, trying to ease the mood.
He chuckles, but his thoughts quickly pull him back to reality, with his only giving a thumbs up in response before going into the kitchen. Eve knows nothing can be said right now; things have to settle for everyone, so she doesn't try any further. Instead, she moves on to the next thing. Ensuring they are safe and ready should those Seekers appear again while they wait for her parents. She gets up and goes to her room, opening the closet and pulling some clothes off a chest near the back. She scrolls through the lock combination on it quickly and opens it, revealing a safe directly inside lying on its back.
She places her hand on the fingerprint scanner and uses the other to put a passcode on a keypad.
"What you up to?" Amari asks, appearing behind her almost unheard in his approach.
"Jesus, did those blockers make you light-footed too?"
"I don't know, maybe. Isn't that your private armory?"
"Yeah, look. I don't want to put too much on you guys, but I will do all I can to keep you safe, and I can't get caught with just a pistol and one mag again. If those guys come back, I need to be just as armed, if not more than them."
The door pops open and extends open automatically, revealing three rifles, two submachine guns, five pistols, several mags velcroid onto the door for each weapon, and several boxes of ammo at the bottom of the safe.
"Eve..."
She ignores him and immediately begins pulling the weapons out one by one. Checking them for any decay, damage, or flaw; even though she does this once a week, the possibility of that is unlikely.
"Eve...."
With each weapon out of the safe and laid out on the floor next to her and right by Amari's feet, she moves on to the mags and ammo. The weight of them was removed somehow, making her realize she, too, has had her blockers come off as well.
"Eve, please!" Amari says, kneeling next to her.
"What? I need to get this ready. I don't...I can't let that happen again. I gotta protect you guys, it's all because of me, and you guys don't deserve this." She states, crumbling as she drops one of the mags, leaning into Amari's chest and breaking for a moment.
He takes her in, rubs her back, and lets her get it out.
"It is going to be okay. I promise. We are going to figure this all out."
"You don't understand. This wasn't supposed to happen now, Amari. I always felt something bad was going to come out of my life. The signs were all there. My upbringing, my mom never being there, the visions of a world that isn't this. I knew something was going to happen, but I just wanted to be normal. To not have a thousand thoughts and responsibilities drilled into me a million times over. You all gave that to me, but I knew it couldn't last. I had visions that it wouldn't last. So I planned on closing this door before it ever got to you, ruined you just like it did me. No dreams, no hope, no family, no plan for the future other than waiting for whatever was coming. And now you guys are right in that exact position, and it is cause of me." She releases, her tears becoming worse.
"Eve...you are my dream, my hope, my family—my plan for the future. You have been ever since the first time I ever saw you. And no matter what, I will be right there for you. Nothing will stop me or stand in the way of that."
His words carried the truth they always did, along with the heavy love he does his best to keep covered but can't around her. And they were the comfort she needed, sending her tears back from where they came and her worries into the lockbox of her mind where they need to remain until they know more. Once she has recovered, she sits back and relaxes, giving his shirt a much-earned break from the waterworks.
"You going to be alright?" He asks.
"Yeah. See me after we eat, though."
"Ha, fair enough. So what is the plan with all this?"
"Well...when they come, I am going to take them on. But there are more guns here than I could use efficiently on my own, plus you guys need to have the means to protect yourselves too."
"Alright, well. I call the shotgun."
"Amari...none of these are shotguns. God, you're cute. Let me give you a run down before you even touch a mag; I thought we did this once, but I was naked that time, so I guess it is fair you weren't paying attention."