Luther is driving home after getting the boys something to eat. He turns on the radio to hear some music to calm his nerves.
Click
Radio: Good Afternoon, In the last hour a young
Click
Thomas: Why did you turn it off?
Luther: No reason, at all.
Kyle: Mr. Artwright? I noticed a bunch of police cars earlier. Do you have any idea what that was about?
Luther: No.... Probably some traffic jam.
Kyle: Oh ok then.
Luther: So Tom, why didn't you went to work today. I'm sure you didn't stay home to study.
Thomas feels a lump come in his throat.
Luther: Come on, I won't be mad. I skip days to work when I was your age. I even do it now.
Kyle: That's a bad habit.
Luther: It's okay to tell a little lie here and then.
Kyle: I guess you are right.
Thomas: Fine, I just...... I just didn't feel like it. I didn't wanted to work today. Something just told me to not go, so I told Jessica to cover for me. She was ok with it and everything.
Luther: You spoke to her earlier.
Kyle: Yeah, he did. You should have seen how shy he was.
Thomas: Stop.
Luther: Hmmm, say did she mention anything earlier.
Thomas: Like what?
Luther: Like did she seem strange or anything.
Thomas: No, why-
Luther: Um nevermind.
Kyle: That is strange, you asked. She did seem a little tired.
Luther: That's normal for anyone going to school and working.
Thomas: You seem worried about something dad. Did something happened? I'll call her just to make sure.
Luther: Look, I think you should just
Thomas: Huh? That's strange. No one is answering the store's phone. Hey, Kyle do you have internet?
Kyle: My plan is up.
Thomas: Great. Well, I'll wait until we get home.
Kyle: Sir, you passed my corner.
Luther: Your mother is working overtime this evening.
Kyle: Overtime? Was that what all those cars for?
Luther: She didn't explain anything to me.
Kyle: Mom never had to work late before.
Luther: She is a detective after all, and a young one at that.
Thomas: I mean, that's such a cool job your mom has.
Lily is walking around the locker room of the supermarket. There's no blood or signs of forced entry. But there's signs of a struggle. The lockers have dents in them and her phone had been smashed.
Ms.Henderson!
Lily: Yes sir!
Sergeant: Did you find anything?
Lily: I'm still waiting on the security team to hand over the camera footage.
Sergeant: Well, keep looking. The major is pressing down on my ass for this.
Lily: I'll keep looking.
The sergeant walks from Lily. Her partner with Blue hair and white eyes leans on one of the lockers in the room.
Lily: Who would do this to a child?
Grace: There's alot of sickos out there Lily.
Lily: But this. I asked her coworkers this girl wouldn't hurt a fly. Straight A's, perfect home. Perfect family.
Grace: Hey, we're gonna find out who did this Lily. You wanna take a moment?
Lily: Sure.
Thomas: No, no. Your wrong Kyle?
Kyle: How?
Thomas: R.E. Zero is not a good anime.
Kyle: Tell me why?
Thomas: Kyle, no matter how much we want it. There's no way in hell, a loser like Subaru would end up with a harem of girls just for him existing. He has nothing special about him besides being able to die over and over again.
Kyle: Ok, so is Evangelion trash because-
Tom: Don't you even compare the two...... That's a complete slap in face to what it actually is. Shinji stays a loser throughout the entire show and everyone calls him a coward for it. He doesn't end with every girl he comes into contact with because half of them hate him. The only people who liked him was Rei, and she was a clone of his dead mother and then Kaworu was an angel trying to get to adam. He gets no bitches, and when he didn't. He went to the nearest hospital and you know what happens next. It's unrealistic, it's author's trying to appeal to their audience for "relatable characters". Sometimes, we don't want someone who's just like us. We just want a cool character, someone who doesn't remind us how shitty our lives are.
Kyle: You really need to stop watching those anime breakdown videos.
Thomas: No, I'm not going to. How do you think I do so good in Literature.
Kyle: I see why? Anyway, what were doing?
Thomas: Yeah, we were going to read berserk for my club tomorrow. I have to get a summary for the first arc.
Kyle: What is berserk about. I've never read it before.
Thomas: The answer to that question is found in berserk my friend.
Kyle: I'm confused, you can't tell me what is it about?
Thomas: No, you have to read it yourself.
Kyle: Read it myself...... Alright.
Ping!
Kyle: Sorry, that's my phone
Kyle pulls out his phone to see his messages. He finds a wall of text from multiple persons in school.
Check the news
Check the news man
Did you see the news
Hey did you see the news b?
And it continues on.
Thomas: What happened?
Kyle: Check the news? What happened?
Kyle goes to their local news page online and finds something horrific.
Thomas: What is it?........ Kyle? Yo, your scaring me. What happened?
Thomas takes Kyle's phone from him and he sees what has him so shocked.
This evening, a teenager had been found dead inside of the locker room of her work.
Everything after that, Thomas no longer cares for.
Thomas: Jessica.
Jessica Parker: Age 16
Current Status: Decreased
Cause of death: Asphyxiation
26th October, 2022. This is when it all started.
Beep!
Beep!
Beep!
Hey, It's me. Lily. Um I was just calling to check in on Thomas. I know what happened to Jessica must have been pretty rough for him. Call me back.... Please.
Beep!
Good Morning, This is Mrs. Taylor. Thomas' Homeroom teacher. We were just worried sick about him. He hasn't been to school for two weeks. We really just want to make sure her is ok.
Beep!
Long time no see. Ay Luther, I heard what happened about your son. I'm so sorry he had to go through that, but there's something we need to discuss. Call me back when you have the chance.
Luther is leaning over his kitchen counter listening to the voicemails. He knows he can't keep Thomas home all year. He's an 'A' student, and his grades are slowly dropping. What is he going to do. He's already tried talking to him, but that didn't work. Luther carries some breakfast out to his son. He gives Thomas' room door a knock and rests his food down.
Luther: Thomas, you can't stay in there. Lily, your friends, teachers, Kyle. Their worried about you.
The doorbell rings downstairs. Luther goes to get it.
Thomas grabs the food from outside and disappears back into the darkness of his room. He has some kind of music playing from his computer. The boy has bags underneath his eyes, and their red from the amount of crying he did. Containers of junk food are shattered all cross his room floor. Chips, Cookies, Ice Cream. Anything to get his attention off of her. He's depressed, and just wants to be left alone.
Thomas: Jessica...... If only I had talked to you a bit more.
Ping!
Tom receives another message to add to the countless amounts of unread messages. Kyle has been trying to call his best friend for days. No answer, no response to his messages, and no callbacks. Does Tom really blame himself for all of this. Tom looks at the message Kyle sent him.
Hey, I don't know if your ever going to read this, but It's been a while since we talked. I know your going through so much right now, and I know that's painful for you and all. However, you can't stay in your room forever. It wasn't your fault, Thomas. You can't just keep making up scenarios that were impossible to even happen. You didn't know none of us didn't know. You can't let this eat you alive, the world is going to continue moving on whether you like it or not, and it's going to move on without you. I don't want to want to move forward without my best friend. You can't change what happened to Jessica. The best thing you can do is accept it. Please...
Thomas deletes the message, and lays down on his bed. Lost in his train of thought.
Luther opens the front door from downstairs. He meets a familiar face. The woman standing the door frame with her hands crossed. The business suit she is wearing, and her hair tied in a bun gives of the sense she is a very professional business woman.
Luther: Hello, Rebecca. I haven't seen you since the divorce.
Rebecca: Where's Thomas?
Luther: Why don't you come inside?
Rebecca comes in and Luther can already sense the anger coming from this woman. Luther closes the door behind him. He takes a seat in the leather couch and sit all the back in it.
Luther: He's in his room.
Rebecca: I know that.
Luther: Then, why did you ask?
Rebecca: Because he's supposed to be in school, and from what I heard his grades are plummeting. What kind of a father are you.
Luther: Rebecca, now let's not go there. He isn't feeling well, that's why he's not going. I've already explained the situation to them.
Rebecca: Luther, he can't spend all the semester in his room. Your letting him control you.
Luther: Rebecca listen
Rebecca: No! You listen. It's obvious you can't take control of him.
Luther: Now that's rich. When he was with you, he got into fights everyday in that school you took him to. Do you have any idea how long it took me to make him get rid of that aggression he had. He gets along with people now.
Rebecca: People? Like who.
Luther: He spends most of him time with Lily's son.
Rebecca: Him! Oh no. I told you to keep him away from that boy.
Luther: Look nothing's wrong with him.
Rebecca: Nothing's wrong with him? He wears a pink shirt to school, Luther. I'm pretty sure he
Luther: What?...... Your pretty sure he's what's?
Rebecca: Gay. I don't want that to rub off on him.
Luther takes his reading glasses off and rests them on the glass table beside him.
Luther: Rebecca, just because his mother is Lesbian doesn't means he's gay, and even if he was. What difference does it make, Kyle is the only reason he started to get better grades to begin with. Every study session Kyle went to, he was right behind him. It would be stupid for me to not let the one person making our son a better person around him because he's gay.
Rebecca: Really now, he's never done this before under my watch, so Kyle is rubbing something onto already.
Luther: Rebecca, the boy is staying in his room because his crush got murdered at his job.
Rebecca raises her eyebrows. It's the first time she heard about this.
Luther: Thomas worked in that supermarket, he was supposed to work that day, but he called in sick. He asked someone to cover his shift, and unfortunately that person happened to be murdered, so it's a bit fucking understandable why he doesn't want to come out of his room.
Footsteps are heard coming down the wooden stairs. Thomas is combing in hair and fixing his shirt as he heads to the front door.
Luther: Where are you going?
Thomas: To school
Thomas opens the front door and leaves.
Both Luther and Rebecca is confused by this sudden change in behavior.
Ok, today where going to be learning about the composition of air.
Door opens
Oh, Mr. Artwright.
Thomas: Sorry for being Late.
Thomas hands the teacher a late pass.
Well, take a seat. It's good to have you back.
Thomas sits down in his chair and doesn't say anything to anyone. Mostly, because of the amount of tension in the room. The entire day passes without Tom saying a word to anyone.
3:30 PM
Thomas enters his club, and finds that no one is there. He doesn't know if this is a good or bad thing because now he can read all the manga he wants without anyone bothering him.
Surprise!
Thomas jumps back in fear as a bunch of people jump out of the corner without warning.
Kyle: Hold on, we don't want to give him a heart attack.
Thomas: Real funny.
Club Member #1: We've been several weeks to give you this.
Thomas: But I was only gone for two weeks.
Club Member #2: It's a metaphor. Plus, you deserve it.
Thomas: Deserve, what?
Club Leader: This
The club leader gives Thomas a check.
Thomas: What did I do to get this?
Kyle: Well, the summary you gave me. I read in front of them.
Thomas: Oh.... So I won.
Club Leader: Yes, you should be happy about it.
Thomas: But I
Club Leader: Aaaa, No buts. You earned it.
Thomas: ..... Thanks
Kyle gives Thomas a thumbs up, but he doesn't seem to excited about it. Kyle gets message from his mom.
Hey, I came home early today. The door was left the front door unlocked before you went to school. Please look out not to do that.
Kyle: Um, I'm sure I locked. I even checked it before leaving.
Lily: You did. Then, ok I'll look around. By the way, your package arrived.
Ok, Love you
Love you too.
Kyle found it strange for the front door to be open. Maybe he should go home to check it out.
Kyle: Sorry, I have to go.
Thomas: I'll come with you.... If that's ok.
Club Leader: It's no problem. Your free to go.
Thomas and Kyle are walking home. Thomas looks away from Kyle.
Kyle: So umm.
Thomas: I only came to school today because of the message you sent.
Kyle: I sent you a bunch of them, and you didn't answer.
Thomas: That one was special......or maybe it was the only one I actually saw.
Kyle: I could believe that.
Thomas: Hey Kyle, can you believe this?
Kyle: What?
Thomas: I heard my parents arguing this morning. Apparently, my mom thinks your a bad influence on me.
Kyle: She isn't wrong. I mean did force you to drink that 2 liter of coke soda with a meat lovers pizza that one time.
Thomas: I still hate you for that.
Kyle: You did enjoy it.
Thomas: I didn't.
Kyle: Yes, you did.
Thomas: Ok, maybe I enjoyed it a little, but still. She didn't wanted you around. It kinda hurt you know.
Kyle puts his hand on Thomas's shoulder.
Kyle: I'm not going anywhere anytime soon.........oh shit.
Thomas: It's fine. It's fine. I don't have a problem with touching.
Kyle: You have a cool dad. There's no way, mom was going to let me stay home for two weeks. She would have dragged me out of my room.
Thomas: I see her doing that.
Kyle: Yup, after Mom- and I'm speaking too much.
The two come into the driveway of Kyle's house.
Lily: Hey, Thomas. I didn't notice you there.
Lily is standing outside of the house in here lawn. The young detective seems to be checking the lock on the door.
Thomas: Good Afternoon, Ms. Henderson. What are you doing?
Lily: Someone pick the lock.
Kyle: Someone did?
Lily: They didn't steal anything. Why would they do that?
Thomas: Probably practice.
Lily: Maybe... I'll check the cameras. Until then, you guys just stay put.
Kyle picks up his package and heads through the front door. His mother calls out to Thomas however.
Lily: I hope your doing well. You really did scare Kyle.
Thomas: I scare alot of people.
Lily laughs at his statement. Lily thanks him for the laugh.
Lily: Boy, your still hilarious as ever. Just be safe alright.
5:30PM
The disc.
Yeah, it's a disc. What's so special about it?
Kyle: This disc is a beta compilation of old sonic games.
Thomas: Ok, so never before seen footage. Alright, that will pull in some views, but
Kyle: but what?
Thomas: Needlem0use? It sounds like a Chinese bootleg. You sure didn't get scammed?
Kyle: Tom, I got it off Wish. It's impossible to get scammed on that.
Thomas:😔 Pray this works.
Kyle puts the disc in his computer and it actually runs.
Kyle: That's a good sign.
Error 404
Thomas: And that's a bad sign. I told you not to buy this disc.
Kyle: Hold on, it says some files are missing. Nothing a quick Google search could fix.
Thomas: Kyle, the files it's asking for doesn't exist. I mean come on, Freeme.dll. That sounds like something out of a horror movie.
Kyle: Here it is, Freeme.dll.
Thomas: That actually exists?
Kyle: Seems so, and you said I wasted my money.
Kyle places the files in the game folder. He runs it and a command prompt opens.
Thomas: um, Is it supposed it supposed to do that?
Execute Needlemouse Program V2.
Running.
Eyes appear on the computer screen.
Computer: Hello?
Kyle: Ah, hello.
Computer: Oh my. Someone can actually hear me.
Thomas: You can hear us.
Computer: Yes, I can. Oh my goodness. This room is massive.
Kyle: You can see us too?
Computer: Yes, I can see all of you. The Black one and The Blonde one.
Thomas and Kyle give each other a confused look.
Kyle: Um that has to be racist.
Computer: Machines can't be racist.
Thomas: Well, I mean it's not wrong. Hey did you give this thing access to your webcam?
Kyle: Tom... Of course I did.
Thomas: How are you so smart yet dumb.
Computer: Can you show me an image of someone, anyone besides you two?
Kyle: That's a weird request, but ok.
Thomas: Hold on, how do know if program is trying to steal our data.
Computer: It's impossible to steal data from an image.
Kyle: She does have a point. Hmmm,
Kyle picks a photo of his two mothers together smiling and shows it the computer.
Kyle: How about this?
Computer: Who's the lady on the left.
Kyle: That's my mother, her name is Sarah.
Computer: Sarah, that's a wonderful name. It feels like it was designed for me.
Thomas: Designed?
Computer: Yes, designed.
The disc flies out the pc. What happens next shocks both Kyle and Thomas. A flame comes out of the disc and forms into a human body. A purple sweater with one light pink stripe going across her chest, and blue jeans. She looks exactly like Kyle's mother except her hair is red and white. The pair stand there paralyzed to what they just witnessed.
?????: This feels strange, I never been a human before.
Kyle:...................... What the fuck!
Kyle! Language! Lily screamed from downstairs
Kyle: Sorry, Mom!
Thomas: Who are you?
????: I do not know, for I have no name.
The woman picks the disc up off the floor, and reads it's title.
??????: Neeeeeeee-ttttlllll-mooouue
Kyle: Needlemouse.
????: Needlemuse
Thomas: Close enough.
????: Needlemuse it is.
Kyle: No, that name is too weird. How about the name from earlier. Sarah?
????: Sarah..... Ok
Sarah: I am Sarah. Sarah Needlemuse, and I will greatly serve you.
Sarah bows her head to the two boys.
Kyle: Serve?
Sarah: You saved me from that prison, For that I am completely loyal to you as my masters.
Thomas: Pardon? You just popped out of a computer.
Sarah looks behind them.
Sarah: Oh... I did. I really can't explain that.
Thomas: Kyle, come here for a sec.
Thomas brings Kyle to a corner of the room.
Thomas: How are we going explain this to police?
Kyle: Police? How are we going to explain this too our parents?
The pair have a thought
Lily: Why is there a grown woman in your bedroom, and why does she look like my dead wife and your mother!?
End of thought
Kyle: Boy, this isn't good, and Mom checks this room almost every day for me smuggling snacks in here.
Thomas: This is bad.
They share a moment to think.
Thomas: Ok how about this.
Tom and Kyle tie a rope around Sarah and leads out of a window.
Thomas: This is going good so far.
Hey! Lily, your kids are lowering a dead body out the window!
Kyle: Ok, that's not going to work. How about
Thomas and Kyle put Sarah in the attic.
Kyle: Alright, this is going good so far.
Lily: What is that sound coming from the attic? Rats must have got up there.
Lily throws a gas insect replant in the attic and locks the attic door. Banging can be heard coming from it.
Thomas: Well, I'm out of ideas.
Sarah: Why don't you guys just let me stay here?
Sarah points to the closest.
Kyle: No way, she's going to see you.
Sarah pulls off pick of the wall and hides in the interior of it. She uses the piece of wall to hide her spot.
Thomas: Well, that kinda works, however how can you just transform into a human.
Sarah voice muffled from behind the wall: I don't know.
Kyle: What are you even?
Sarah,: I'm a program that's been designed to aid man kind.
Thomas: But you came from Wish. What government level AI like you gets put there.
Sarah: Like I said, I don't know. I don't even remember who made my code.
Kyle: It might have gotten leaked or something, but even so. If your a computer that means you could do our homework.
Sarah: a^2+b^2=c^2
Kyle: Yeah like that.
Lily is inside of her study checking her cameras. The footage is completely normal. Lily is dumbfounded. The door was clearly picked. The footage even shows Kyle locking and checking the door. It was locked sure enough.
Lily: So how did anyone pick it? Hang on....
Lily brings her face closer to the screen. She notices the door knob is moving by itself, and opens. The door closes right back.
Lily: What? Hey, Kyle! I'm going out ok.
Kyle: Yes ma!
Lily out of her room however something wraps their hands around her mouth causing her to faint