16 Your End (October)

It was the first Friday of October and the Isekai Game Studio was open for it's Halloween theme. Vanessa had waved The Wild Bunch good luck as they were each assigned to a different door throughout the stadium. She felt a blank emptiness inside that she couldn't explain where it was coming from.

"Perhaps since August this has been my first time going into the stadium alone," she thought.

Vanessa strolled lightly until she came to the designated door to enter the game. She stared at the door with no sense of emotion to run, neither determination to open the door. Deep breaths were taken before opening the door. She wasn't claustrophobic. But the little metal room was so small that she wouldn't be able to lift her arms inside.

It looked like something she would see Chris Angel perform in. Her thoughts raced thinking of everything that could possibly happen to her. As soon as she stepped inside, the door slammed shut.

Her heart rate kicked up even more when the room she was now trapped in tilted and moved. Vanessa listened as she heard people mumbling outside. Three little holes that allowed oxygen through the top. She slid her hands to find a door handle to no success. Finally, her room was slammed horizontally. Vanessa was now at a point of tears as she felt her room being dragged by two people and knew there were more people surrounding her room.

"Must I be saved by somebody else?" thought Vanessa as she continued to look for a way to escape.

After a while, the carrying came to a stop. The door was unlocked and slammed open by a white woman with long mangled dark brown hair staring directly at Vanessa.

"Finally, we got her," said the woman.

Vanessa stared up at the nasty lady and glanced over at the rest of the people. To her amazement, Vanessa realized each of the others had looked exactly like her, but without any makeup nor colorful fashion. Rather, they were each wearing business attire.

Vanessa's nerves shot as she heard the ugly lady before say, "I'll finally have a real clone," in a delighted voice.

Three of the Vanessa Clones simultaneously grabbed Vanessa to take to the lady's workbench. Vanessa quickly jumped away when a bat was swung at her head. She fell to the ground, looking up where she saw the fourth clone staring at her with a bat.

In a flash, she rolled out the way and sprinted into the nearby woods. The clones raced after her but were nowhere near fast enough to catch Vanessa.

In her escape, Vanessa stumbled upon a wooden platform of which was partially on fire. Here she had found a crossbow on the ground. But upon picking up the crossbow, she fell into the burning platform.

Vanessa's right arm was in extreme pain due to falling on the crossbow. She rose to her feet and took notice of the burning house she was in. Pictures of Hakim with other people who appeared to be his family were well framed.

"Hakim! Are you here?" she cried walking near a stairway going further down. She looked and saw a figure standing at the bottom. Once closer, she realized it wasn't Hakim.

The figure turned around and revealed itself to be one of the clones wielding a knife. Vanessa quickly shot her clone and heard another one stampeding towards her.

Vanessa loaded her crossbow and fired at the stampeding clone in a long skirt. But it didn't stop the clone.

She began running away until she found herself cornered in the kitchen. There were no knives in the kitchen to be used which lead her stuck when two clones arrived. Out of ammo, Vanessa struggled to make a decision as the two clones walked towards her.

A medium-sized machete-like blade was slammed into the clone in the long skirt's head from behind. Hakim wielded two uniquely shaped machetes.

The clone in the dress attempted to punch Hakim. He jumped back and sliced her arm off.

"You ready," he asked staring towards Vanessa.

The two ran out towards the road where Hakim claimed to be safe.

"Why were you in a burning house," asked Vanessa.

Hakim stared at the burning house, hesitating to speak.

"You can tell me", said Vanessa in a soft caring voice. "Buuuut only if you want".

Hakim struggled to look away from the fire before giving in, "I never really cared about the Isekai Game honestly. My brother used to play it. He wanted to become a pro-player. He had finally achieved his dream and was suppose to go away in the Fall".

Hakim took a deep breath, whipping his eyes, "But I was different then. I never cared about the family as he did. I was an irresponsible child and just a walking problem at the time. I never cared about anything. So one day I was playing with a fire in the kitchen with some friends. It wasn't that big. But it got out of hand and instead of calling for help to put it out, I just left. Later the entire house burnt down and my brother died while sleeping in his room".

Hakim turned towards Vanessa and shook his head, "Back in August, Logan was right. The artifact we found was the dead speaking to us. Or at least that's what the game was simulating. So now here I'm faced with my old house burning upside down into the dirt for some reason".

Vanessa was a bit puzzled by Hakim's remarks of the dead speaking to us. "What do you mean the game was simulating the dead"?

Hakim, now crying, answered, "The more you play the game is the more it learns about who you are and your past. That's how they're able to make the game so challenging. Each time you play you're typically brought against ailments that you're weak against".

Vanessa tilted her head and said, "But you can't take this too seriously though. It's just a game".

Hakim looked right at Vanessa with teary eyes when he said, "My brother had just made it to pro. His data is here. So when they have him speak to me through a simulation of some sort, it's not merely my perception. It's based on data of him and thus things he would have likely said".

Vanessa wrapped her arms around Hakim. "Let's go," she said, "I think we need to clear our heads and face our challenges later. And, as a bonus, we can both help each other clear our challenges".

After a hesitant moment, Hakim came to the conclusion that to clear his mind was the best thing to do.