Mia swallows down the lump in her throat. Follow the plan. Follow the plan. "Yes, I'm Andrea."
The Malice smiles triumphantly. "I hope you know that this isn't personal. I just need to get back at your boyfriend."
"My boyfriend?" Mia remembers what Night Watch said about Andrea not knowing about him being a superhero. "What...why is he involved in this?"
The villain laughs. It rumbles in the back of his throat, though it doesn't sound scary. It sounds like he's laughing at a joke. "What, Carson hasn't told you yet? Well, I won't be the one to. I'll leave that to him."
Mia tries to look confused while holding back her snicker. He isn't suspicious of her whatsoever. He clearly believes that his plan is unfolding to his benefit. Mia knows that's not the case. She instinctively feels for the little gadget that she placed under her chair. It's stuck tight.
They reach an old-looking building. It looks either like a run-down convenience store or a shack. It doesn't really scream dark and scary lair, but it works.
The Malice gets out of his truck. Mia stays in the car. What is he planning to do? There isn't another building within a five-mile radius of this place. If she needs help and Night Watch isn't able to make it fast enough, what will she do?
The villain opens her door. She doesn't get out. "What...what are you going to do?" Mia has been proud of her acting skills up to that point. The one improv class she took in seventh grade had really shined during the car ride. Now, though, she is genuinely afraid. Please get here quickly, Night Watch, she silently pleads. Please.
The man tugs on Mia's hand but doesn't force her out of the car. Instead, Mia reluctantly allows him to lead her into the building. He keeps his hand on the square of her back to make sure that she doesn't run away. Not that Mia has anywhere to run to.
They enter the house. Mia nearly trips as a floorboard teeters under her weight, but the Malice catches her. She tears her arm out of his grip. He pushes her ahead, staying behind her.
He stops them in a vacant room. There are only a chair and a dim light. It looks like a ransom movie scene. Mia raises a brow at the villain.
"Sit," he instructs. Mia slowly does as she's told. The chair wobbles under her weight. Mia waits for the villain to do something—anything—but he just stands in front of her with his arms crossed. He's not even looking at her. Just standing, deep in thought.
"Why are you doing this?" It's the best time to find some answers while they wait for Night Watch to arrive. "Why am I involved?"
The Malice's eyes fixate on Mia. He stares at her for a second, a grin stretching on his face. She tries to maintain eye contact, but the villain's gleeful smile makes her nervous. She looks down at her feet.
"Revenge, sweetheart."
"On who?" She figures that the best way to get him to talk is by playing dumb.
"You haven't figured it out yet?" He laughs. He walks a little closer to her, placing his hand on her chair. "I'm finally getting back at Night Watch. Why would I want you if—"
There's a knock on the front door. The Malice turns his head. When he looks back, Mia has to hide her smile. He seems shocked. He didn't expect Night Watch to be here so soon.
The villain stands in front of Mia. They wait as Night Watch takes a few attempts to swing the door open. Once he does, he dashes from room to room, loudly opening doors and throwing objects on the floor. Finally, he makes it to the room where the Malice and Mia are.
"Let her go, Zander," Night Watch says. He looks at Mia, smiling slightly. Mia smiles back.
"Good to see you, too," the Malice replies. "I have to say, I'm impressed with how well you've kept your secret from Andrea."
The hero is silent for a moment. He looks over at Mia before looking back at the Malice. "Don't."
His acting is incredible. His voice shakes with fake emotion and his eyes harden with determination. The Malice chuckles. Though Mia can't see his face, she can assume that the villain is smirking proudly.
"What? You don't want me to tell her that—"
Though it's slight, Night Watch twiddles his fingers. Mia quickly catches it. That's the cue. She had expected to have been tied to the chair, but the Malice hadn't bothered. She easily stands up and kicks him square in the back. He stumbles forward in shock. The impact causes Mia to fall back into the chair.
The Malice quickly turns his head, glaring at Mia. Her heart stops. She springs back up and gets behind the chair.
She doesn't have to use it, though, for the diversion gives Night Watch enough time to grab a weapon from his pocket and shoot the villain with it. Mia's eyes widen. She didn't know that he planned to shoot him.
The man limply falls to the floor. Though his body doesn't move, Mia sees his eyes look around the room frantically.
"That'll paralyze him for a bit," Night Watch explains. "Let's get him into the car."
The hero binds the Malice's hands in case it wears off before their car ride is over. It takes a lot of effort, but Mia and Night Watch manage to get his limp body into the back of the hero's car. Night Watch whistles a pleasant tune as he drives the three back to his house. Mia keeps looking back at the Malice, waiting to see if he'll start moving. His muscles twitch, but he doesn't move from the awkward position he's lying in.
Night Watch parks his car in front of his house. Mia finds it strange that he drives the villain to his house. Won't the villain know where he lives now? Night Watch doesn't seem to care about that.
"You can stay in the car," he tells Mia. "I'll take you home. Can you move your legs, Zander?"
The Malice grunts as he tries to move his limbs. His feet wiggle slightly.
"Alright, I'll bring you in."
Struggling, Night Watch gets the Malice out of the car and wraps his arm around his shoulders. With an immense amount of effort, the villain turns his head to look at Mia.
"This isn't over," he says. Mia's face pales. She didn't expect him to be able to talk. The words settle in her stomach, making her want to vomit. Why did he direct that at her? Isn't this between him and the hero?
They go inside. Night Watch returns after a minute and gets back in his car. He starts it and they head for her house.
She sits silently, numb. She did the right thing by helping Night Watch, right? She didn't think that she'd be involved any longer after this. It had been fun, but now she just wants to go back to her care-free life.
Maybe she will. Maybe the Malice just gave her an empty threat to scare her. If so, it's working.
"Alright, here you are." Night Watch stops the car. Mia looks out the window. Her car is parked in front of her house, just like yesterday.
Mia looks at the hero. "Are you going to tell him that I'm not Andrea?"
"What?" Night Watch laughs. Mia doesn't. He grows serious. "Mia, I really, really appreciate you helping me. Because of you, my girlfriend will never be found by the Malice."
"But—"
"Oh, he'll get over it soon." Night Watch swats his hand dismissively. "Don't worry, I'll watch out for you these next few weeks. Just keep it up for a little longer, okay?"
Mia just stares at him. She doesn't want to keep it up. The pleading look he gives her doesn't provide much of a choice, though. She sighs.
"Okay."
"Thank you, it means a lot." Night Watch smiles. Mia tries to do the same, but the corners of her lips fall. "Hey, if you need any help, don't hesitate to call me."
"Alright. Goodbye, Night Watch."
"Please, call me Carson."
Mia gets out of the car. She stands in her driveway and watches as he drives away. She waits a long time before going back inside—and only does that because of the weird looks her neighbor starts giving her. She sits on her mattress and stares at the wall.
Mia thought that helping the hero would make her feel accomplished. To her surprise, she feels heavy. She feels confused and afraid. She pulls her knees close to her chest and hugs her legs.
"What am I going to do?" she whispers.
***
"Woah, woah, woah," you say. "Time out. That is not what I wanted to happen."
"You don't get to choose what happens," Grace replies. "You just chose to make mistakes along the way."
"Is there a way to restart?" You click on the keyboard. Surely one of the buttons would bring you to the home screen. "I want to try again."
"You can't try again. You must continue."
"What? That's not—"
The door swings open. You turn to see who it is. A man with a shaggy beard and worn clothes enters the room.
"Grace, I got your message about—" He looks at you, surprised.
"You're not my replacement," he says. Your eyes widen. This must be Trevor. You're surprised. Everyone else who works here looks clean and has a uniform while Trevor looks like he's been living in the woods for a week.
He looks up at the screen. Mia's rocking back and forth on her bed. He looks back down at you. There is a crazed, fearful look in his eyes. "What have you done?"
You shrug. "I did what I was told to do."
"No, you didn't." He goes in front of you. You slide your chair back. He frantically types on the keyboard. As someone who just did that, you know that it doesn't do much.
Yet, when Trevor does it, he somehow makes a series of decisions pop up on the screen. He chooses the word "sleep." On cue, Mia crawls under her covers and closes her eyes. Wait, you think. I could have been randomly making choices this entire time? That's pretty awesome. How can the game handle so many choices? The plot must not be as linear as you assumed.
Trevor turns to you. "Do you understand what you've done?!"
"Well," you pretend to think for a moment, "no."
He sighs. "I'm going to give you five seconds to leave, or I'm calling security."
Message received. You scramble out of the room as quickly as possible. You look back at the room, confused. Did he only need a replacement for a few hours? You weren't in there for that long. Maybe he just went to the dentist or something.
He said something about getting a message from Grace. Did the computer snitch on you to Trevor? If so, that isn't cool.
You turn your phone on. You nearly drop your device when you see the date. It's the next day. A series of missed calls, voice mails, and text messages flood your phone. What is happening?
From what the text messages say, it is the next day. Your friend left after being unable to find you. Your guardians are also messaging you, threatening to call the police if you don't respond soon. Those were from yesterday.
You decide to call your friend first. They pick up instantly. "Hello? Where are you?! Are you okay?"
"Yes, fine." You look around as you walk out of the building, still confused. "I'm still at the Digital company. Are you close?"
"...No, I'm home. Do you need me to come and pick you up?"
You feel bad making your friend drive four hours back, but you don't know how else you're going to get home. You find a bench to sit on while you call the rest of your family. It takes a little time, but you finally convince everyone that you're fine.
Are you fine, though? How has so much time passed? Why did that man seem so scared by your decisions? You shake your head. You don't have a clue, but if the workers are really this nuts, then you're never going to buy a computer from this company ever again.
Congratulations! You just got the HEROIC ending! Go back to "1. Morning" in order to try again!
Ending: 12/19