September 15th, 2025
Newt still doesn't know, I won't tell him. It's just not safe. I don't even know how I got the pack but he can't know. I can't put him in danger like that. I think he knows how much I love him, I hope he does. I'm not really sure what they want with me but I'm hoping it will be over soon. They said one more thing, I only had to do one more thing. I'll finish it when Newt is at school and be done with it. Then we can get on with our lives and play again.
If I'm being honest diary, I'm scared. I don't know what I'm doing. I don't really know how I got into this mess. I don't know why I ever accepted it. I don't know how it showed up in my mailbox. I shouldn't have let that thing slip to Chuck. I don't even know why Chuck wants to be around me. If I'm being honest he kinda scares me but I can't let him know either. If anyone got hurt...I hope Newt won't be mad at me, I'll tell him when it's over.
I hope no one has to find this, I hope they don't know what I did. I don't even know if I can face what's going on. I've hid it well from Newt, it has to stay that way.
If anything happened to him I would never forgive myself.
X Lizzy
Newt felt the tears blur his eyes as he read the last line for the third time. Eden stayed over that night, they went through the box until 4am, eventually crashing piled on the floor from sheer exhaustion.
If anything happened to him I would never forgive myself
Something did happen to me Liz, I lost my best friend.
Newt wiped hard at his eyes as he clutched the journal to his chest. Eden had left an hour ago, she was shaken up and said she needed to sleep it off.
Newt got up and ran downstairs, keeping the journal in his hands.
He fumbled with his phone as he practically threw himself into the computer chair. His fingers were shaking as he texted on his app.
Sang: Oben please go on a private server now
Oben was on within the minute.
"You okay Sang?"
Newt took a shaky breath. "I just found some stuff my sister left and I don't want to be alone...can we just talk."
Newt could practically hear the smile in Oben's voice. "I'm glad you're finally asking for help."
"C-can you just tell me about your day?"
"Remember bleacher boy? He pretends he doesn't know me now, I'm over it, my friend kinda hyped me up and I'm over it."
Newt laughed softly at that. "You can do so much better."
"I finally believe that...how about you? You never told me anything about your dating life."
"Cause it's non existent."
"Really? I find that hard to believe."
"I don't talk much at school...well besides to Chuck and Aris I guess but I don't really consider them my friends."
"Those the ones who like Del?"
Newt laughed softly at that. "Yeah. Those ones."
They were quiet for a little bit before Newt spoke up again. "You ever lose someone O?"
"My dad," Oben said softly. "I was young, I barely remember him but I always wonder what it would have been like to grow up with a dad you know?"
"My dad left after I was born, guess I wasn't planned. Mum hasn't seen him since."
Oben let out a breath. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be, just- does it ever get easier? I think about her everyday, every single day, does it ever get better?"
"You know there's this lyric from my favorite song, it goes like 'are we getting better or getting better at pretending?' and I guess that's the real question right? Does anyone actually get better Sang or do they just get better at hiding it?"
______
"The left, the left, the left!" Delario practically screamed into the headset.
"Got it!" Ki exclaimed as the loud sound of the boss dying rang through their sets.
Newt let out a breath of pure relief. "Finally guys."
"Only took us ten tries," Oben huffed out.
"I've had to shit for the past twenty minutes," Ki admitted which for some reason made everyone laugh.
"Go to the bathroom you stupid fool," Delario bit back. It was almost possible to hear her eye roll. Why she liked him was beyond Newt.
"Be back my fair ladies," Ki said before his headset mic clicked off.
"So you find anything in your sister's journal about this?" Del asked as they took a few minutes to heal their characters and adjust their armor.
"Not particularly, she did say there was a long in game portion."
"Hey did she ever say how she got the pack?" Oben asked. He was chewing loudly on something, probably chips.
"Yeah, she said it appeared in her inventory one day."
"She did it without you?" Del asked.
"Yeah," Newt said. "She said it was a single player mission at first and she didn't want me to feel left out."
"She loved you so much Sang." Oben spoke up.
Newt felt his voice crack "I-I know."
"I think we're on the right track," Del said as she yawned a bit. "It seems like we'r-"
"Alright gals and gays I'm back, what did I miss?" Ki said annoyingly into the mic.
"Shit guys he's back stop talking shit!" Del sounded convincingly panicked.
Newt snorted out a laugh as Ki loudly gasped.
"I'll kill you woman!"
"You two give me a headache," Oben huffed out which made Newt laugh again.
"Wait hold up, serious time, I got another quest, lemme share it with you," Ki said as he loudly typed on his keyboard.
A little notification dinged on Newt's mail box so he clicked on it. He scrunched up his nose as he read it.
"This is weird," Oben said, breaking the silence.
"Yeah what the fuck?"
Newt squinted as he looked at it more. On the outside it seemed like a normal follow up quest in the pack, but upon further inspection, it looked like an instruction set and at the bottom was the next number in the code.
"Well this is definitely it," Newt said. "The code is down here, this is the next thing."
"It seems...I don't know."
It was an in game portion but it took them off the map, off the charted worlds. It's almost like the place was made up but the coordinates looked legit and Jorge's seal was on the bottom again.
"You guys down to check it out tonight?" Newt asked as he wrapped his blanket tighter around him.
"I'm good, it's only 10," Del said.
"Good that."
"Follow my lead my squad," Kilee declared before making his character run off in the other direction.
"Who the hell made him the leader?" Oben asked which made Newt snicker.
"I did bitch."
"I hate him," Oben loudly whispered.
"Oben if I ever see you in person I'm gonna hug you so hard that your eyes pop out of your head."
"That kinda sounds like a threat..."
"Don't worry, it doesn't just extend to Oben. You all get hugs."
"That's terrifying," Newt muttered under his breath. In all honesty, the thing he wanted most in the world was to hug them.
"Guys guess what?" Oben piped up.
"You finally embraced the fact that you radiate bottom energy?" Ki asked, barely able to hold in his laugh.
"W-what?! NO! What the fuck Ki."
Delario burst out laughing at that.
"Was it really that funny?" Oben huffed.
"Yes," Newt said, which made the boy groan.
"Oben baby, don't worry, I'd top you anyday," Ki said, trying to feign sincerity.
"I got an A on my math test and brought my grade to a B so that's all I wanted to say jesus almighty lord above!"
"Hey good job!" Newt actually smiled. He didn't know he was actually helping Oben with their short and few study sessions.
"Damn O! Nice now your mom can't steal you away from us!" Del was definitely smiling.
"Sang has been helping me so thank him."
"I knew I saw you guys log on then disappear!" Ki exclaimed like he just cracked a case.
"If you assholes were on, I'd never learn anything!" Oben protested.
"Okay that's fair," Ki agreed.
"Sang did us all a favor, we get to keep Oben," Delario pointed out.
"I take thankyou's in the form of cash," Newt muttered, which made Ki laugh.
"Sometimes I forget Sang can be funny."
"Wow thanks Ki."
"Well you know, gay people aren't funny."
Newt rolled his eyes at that. "Well clearly straight people aren't either."
Ki gasped loudly. "Did you just roast me? God they grow up so fast."
"You're so bloody annoying."
"I TOLD YOU GUYS HE SAYS BLOODY!"
"Of course I do you fuckin twat." Newt sighed and shook his head.
"Were you born in England?" Oben asked as they started running toward the weird off map point they were supposed to get to.
"Yeah, mum moved us here when Liz-my sister and I were young."
"Sang?" Del asked softly.
"Yeah?"
"You can tell us your sister's name. We won't look you up, promise."
Newt felt his throat tighten. It was a link to his real life, to the person he so wanted to run away from. Newt was Sang, but Sang wasn't Newt. He wasn't all the bad parts. He wasn't the trauma and the depression and the issues listed miles long. He was all the parts he didn't hate about himself.
Then again, Del and Ki and Oben were his best friends and best friends told each other things.
"Her name was Elizabeth but we called her Lizzy."
"That's a pretty name," Del said carefully as if she was afraid Newt would run if she said too much.
"We looked so much alike, everyone thought we were twins."
"Bet your sister was hot then," Ki cut in.
"Ki!" Delario shouted at him.
Newt snorted out a laugh. "You're an absolute bloody idiot."
"Tell me something I don't know."
"Wait guys stop this is it," Oben said as he halted his character.
They were at the end of the world, the end of the game's map as every character knew it.
"Well what the fuck do we do now?" Ki asked as he stared at the giant black wall that ran up into the sky. It really was point blank, end of the map.
"Gimmie a sec," Del said before stabbing something into the ground. It beeped once before throwing a purple substance over everything.
Newt squinted at how bright his screen got.
"I forgot you can do that," Oben said as he chewed something loudly.
Del was quiet for a second, typing something aggressively on her laptop before clearing her throat. "There's a door, ten feet away from Ki. It's on the wall and you have to crouch to hit it."
"Aye aye captain," Ki replied before crouching and edging his character across the wall, stopping suddenly. "Okay got it." He typed loudly before groaning. "There's a code."
"A code? Seriously?" Newt asked, sounding frustrated.
"Yeah a code, it's five blanks."
"Five? Did you try the code they found with Jorge?" Oben asked.
Ki was silent until he groaned again. "Nope, came up blank."
Newt put his hands over his face, digging his memory for something he didn't even know was there. "Did you try all the major creators' names? Jorge, Brenda, Janson, Ava and James?"
"Another negative."
"What about their last names?"
"Nope sorry."
"Gimmie five minutes," Newt said as he pulled off his headset. He slid his chair back, to the couch and shoved his hand under it. He bit his lip, searching for the one thing he wanted. He grinned when his fingers touched it and he yanked it out. The journal. It had to be in there somewhere. Newt flipped through the page almost frantically. He slid back to his desk and fit the headset back over his ears.
"Let me look through Lizzy's journal," Newt said as he kept flipping.
He didn't remember her writing down a code, but he could have missed something. Newt took a deep breath and focused, he muted his friends as the words passed by his eyes. He was missing something he knew it.
When he got to one page, he stopped. It was so faint but there was a word hidden behind the rest. Like she'd written it down then erased it and wrote over it.
Newt quickly unmuted his friends. "Ki, I got something for you to try okay get ready."
"Reporting for duty."
"First blank write FLOAT."
A hum signaled he was done.
"Now CATCH."
Another hum.
"BLEED."
"These are such happy word-"
"Sh!"
"DEATH."
"Okay."
"STIFF...wait you said there's only five blanks?"
"Yeah why?"
"There's another word on the next page."
"Okay what does it say?"
"It says PUSH."
Suddenly everything began to shake, even Newt's monitor was going crazy.
"Uh what the fuck?" Del asked, sounding a bit freaked out.
An ear piercing sound shot through Newt's headset, making him squeeze his eyes closed and wince. "Bloody hell-"
"My mouse is fucking burning!" Oben shouted.
"What the actual fuck is happening?" Ki asked as his voice came out glitchy and staticky.
Newt frantically read the next page of the journal but Lizzy never mentioned anything about this.
The lights flickered in Newt's basement and he cringed, praying it was only happening down here and his mom wasn't home from work already. It felt like an earthquake in his basement that only effected him and he'd be lying if he said it wasn't terrifying.
Newt's chair started to shake and then it was over. Like a light switched it was over, everything was normal as if it never happened and there was a small door opened in the black wall.
"Did that freak anyone else out?" Newt asked softly as he tried to steady his breathing.
"Yup," they all replied almost in unison.
"What the actual fuck was that?!" Ki basically screamed. "How did it SPARK my TOWER?! It's a VIDEO GAME!"
"It might be more than that," Oben said softly.
"I think O might be right," Del added in.
"I think we should regroup and do this tomorrow," Newt said. He felt the panicking bubbling up in his chest. It never seemed like a big deal, they were doing a quest as they normally do but now that this could touch their actual physical computers.
"It might have just over loaded our systems right?" Del asked. It sounded like she was trying to reassure herself.
Ki threw down a spawning plate. "Let's meet back at the garage."
Newt nodded and hopped on it, within seconds they were back in their virtual home.
"I hate to say it but I think we need to make a backup plan," Oben said immediately as they got back into their excuse for a living room.
"What do you mean a backup plan?" Ki asked.
Oben let out a deep breath. "It scares me just as much as it scares Sang, but I think that we need to know each other's names. We could put it on a scroll and hide it in the chest or something, but what if something happened to us! I mean hell I have a burn mark on my hand from how hot my mouse got! This is serious and if one of us just disappeared one day we have to be able to help."
"We have to help before you turn up like Lizzy did," Newt added quietly.
"I think you're right Oben, it's smart. We should know."
"Yeah, it'd make me feel a hell of a lot safer," Kilee admitted. It was weird to hear him in such a serious sounding tone.
"I'm okay with telling you guys," Del spoke up. "I trust you."
"Scouts honor I won't look you guys up!" Ki added in. "I don't wanna see your ugly fucking faces anyways."
"Full name and state?" Oben suggested.
"I'm okay with that," Newt said and even though his hands were shaking he meant that.
"My real name is Minho Park and I'm from Pennsylvania." Kilee said and it felt weird. It was like receiving a whole new identity for the people who lived in his computer as the only things that made him happy.
"My name is Teresa, Teresa Anges and I'm from Ohio," Del admitted softly. The name was fitting for her, Newt could see it fit.
"My name is Thomas Greene and I'm from New York," Oben said. Thomas was a nice name.
"My legal name is Issac Sangster, but I go by Newt. No one calls me Issac. I'm from New York too."
"You could pick any nickname in the entire world and you picked Newt?" Kile-Minho asked which made Obe-Thomas snicker.
"My middle name is Newton!" Newt protested, feeling his cheeks heat up. "Yes my parents are total nerds I get it."
"So do we go by screen names now or real names?" Del-Teresa asked.
"Either is fine by me," Minho added in. "At least my name isn't Newt-"
"Fuck off you bloody bastard!"
That sent him into a fit of uncontrollable laughter.
"I like your name," Thomas cut in. "It's nice."
"Thanks Tommy," Newt slipped and immediately felt his face burn red. "Fuck sorry it's Thomas right?"
"You can call me Tommy, it's your perk for helping me with math."
"Let's get some sleep and we can regroup tomorrow okay?" Teresa suggested.
"Yeah goodnight guys," Newt said before clicking off his headset. He let out a breath and let his face fall into his hands.
Tommy.