11 You Have to Kill Adrien, Ashe

Tasha's face was the first thing I saw next morning as I pried my eyes open, my hand flying up to my face because of the sudden inflow of sunlight.

She was dressed in a casual attire which surprised me. All I had ever seen her in was formal office clothes.

"Where's Darren?" I asked, sitting up and looking around, "Where's mom?"

Tasha tied the curtains up and sat on the bed next to me and smiled, dimples lighting up her soft dark skin.

"Your mom is on her way to Bali, dear."

I cough, "Bali? Indonesia? Why is she all the way there?"

There was no sound of pans clanging in the kitchen, no smell of freshly prepared breakfast wafting into my nose and pulling at my hair, telling me to come, eat.

The house was empty.

"Your mom wanted to take a break," Tasha said and her tone told me she was lying. Mom loved it here. There was no way she would have left...unless.

Darren had sent her away.

Tasha has always been the kind, sensible one...even she agreed to this absurd plan?

"So mom doesn't know about Darren's plan. If she knew she would have never accepted this stupidity," I rambled, my morning cranky attitude kicking in.

Tasha was as calm as ever, "I didn't agree at first either. Darren can be eccentric at times...like your father," Tasha said and those words made my heart clench.

Tasha must have thought that Darren's eccentricity came from my dad.

"But then we didn't really have an option. The Beamer which helps convert IRL characters back to VR is still under the works. By then it would be too late...these boys...they are programmed to kill what they are after. So without stopping them it's the end of you and after that Systema Games. We don't want to lose you either," she reasoned,

I lifted my hands and rubbed my eyes, letting crusts on my eyelashes roll off my fingers and rob my eyes of any sleep left. I groaned in frustration and craned my neck to look at the ceiling.

"How long do I have to stay with them?"

"Until you manage to finish them."

I'd have to finish Adrien too? My heart twisted. No. I can't. They are not folders. They are humans. People. With thoughts, a heart and a soul.

Tasha leaned forward and took my hands in hers and caressed it, "Ashe, you know what happened to those 29 scientists right?"

I nodded my head. We all had heard the news last year. "5 AI robots killed them due to programming malfunction." I would never in my life time make something as horrible as that.

"Yes," Tasha agreed, "And what did they do with those robots? Their own creations? Did they feel pity for them and keep them in their office? Or did they destroy them so that no more people will die?"

"D-destroy…" I whispered, silently realizing now that she was right.

She patted my back and I stood up, my brown hair curling over my shoulder. I caught a glance of myself in the mirror.

I was a normal teenage girl.

But not anymore. Things were changing. This isn't the world I knew. It had reached the extent where I had to choose between my happiness and my family's happiness.

It was a surprisingly tough choice.

Shaking it all off for now, I freshened up while Tasha waited in the living room for me to pack my stuff and get in the car.

I looked at my room one last time, before shutting the door close. It was almost like closing a chapter of my life. I turned around and saw Tasha in the car, the angel who would guide me to the next chapter.

"Are you coming?"

I blinked out of the trance and nodded. Rolling my suitcase behind me, I got in.

On the way there, my phone rang. Fiona's face lit up on the screen. I hastily swiped the screen and accepted it.

"Fiona? Where are you? You didn't tell me you were leaving so soon!"

"Ashe." Her voice...it was meek and trembling. I lowered my voice too, "Fiona, what happened?"

"Rumi got admitted yesterday. We are in Prime Health Hospital right now," she mumbled. I ran my fingers along my chapped lips, staring out at the road whizzing by. "Oh, Fiona...is it serious this time?"

Fiona hummed in agreement, her voice breaking. I remembered her laughs then. I wanted to be there with her and tell her it was going to be okay. But...circumstances.

"Fiona, don't worry, Rumi will be alright. She is stro-"

"How do you know? Are you a god? To see the future? What guarantee can you give that she will live? Don't lie to me Ashe!" she screamed over the phone. My eyes went wide, clearly shocked.

Fiona never talked that way before.

That's when I knew it was serious. "I'm sorry...just...I'll pray. We're all praying. That's all we can do now." I was lost. I didn't know what else to say. She was right. How could I have known if Rumi was going to live or not?

She sobbed, her breath hitching, "I'm sorry too…" she breathed in then, trying to take back her tears, "Mom and Dad are in the surgeon's room right now. There's no one else here. Can you drop by? I'm pretty sure Rumi will be happy to see you too."

I bit my lip. "I-uh…" How was I going to tell her this?

"Please, Ashe, I need you right now. And I know you're not busy. The exhibition is over," she listed, sounding slightly cheerful now.

"I-" I looked over at Tasha who was driving the car. She flitted her eyes towards me and her eyebrows knotted into a frown.

"A minute, Fiona," I said and put her on hold.

"Tasha can we stop by at the hospital?"

She sighed and stopped at the signal. "Which one?"

"Prime Health Hospital," I said, remembering Fiona's words. I didn't know where that was. Hopefully, it was close.

She opened up the car's GPS system and typed it in. She looked at me weird when the location of Prime Health Hospital popped up. "Ashe, that's one hour away from your house in the opposite direction!"

"What?" I questioned while looking at the time. It had been one and half hours since we had left. Tasha had said something about the house being situated in a secluded area. So if we turned now, it would take 3 hours to reach there, counting the traffic in the direction.

"Tasha, is there no other way?" I looked at the phone to make sure it was on hold, "It's not like I was going to kill them in one day," I whispered.

"CEO's orders, Ashe. And you are on a deadline. 3 weeks."

I almost choke on my own breath, "What? That's their probation period? I thought it was going to be a couple or months or something...court procedures take time."

Tasha shook her head and pulled up the break when the lights turned green and the car was running again.

Reluctantly, I reconnected with the call. "Fiona? You there?"

"Hmm?" she said back, her voice was back to feeble now. Had she been crying while I had put the call on hold?

"I'm sorry, I can't come. I'm not home right now. Something came up," I lamely said, not knowing what else information I could give out. I was a horrible friend.

"Mhmm. It's okay. Carry on," she said back and before I could ask more about Rumi, she cut the call.

Tasha looked over to me, "I'm sorry, Ashe. I wish you didn't have to do this."

I fell back on the seat and crossed my arms. "Don't you dare be sorry for me," I snapped back, hating myself for being the person I was. Can't even be there for a friend.

During the one hour left for us to reach the Boldman's Estate, I closed my eyes and tried to sleep. But the only image that came in my mind was Rumi's smiling face. Her twinkling eyes and cheery smile when I had bought her the huge white chocolate - which had only been on the supermarket display- for her birthday.

"Thank you Azu!" the echoes of her voice remained in my head. Will I ever hear them again?

Tasha turned into the lush green estate and I leaned forward to take it in. I would have been dumbstruck at seeing such a magnificent house if things were different. And correction, I was wrong, it wasn't house, it was a mansion.

A mansion as majestic as an 18 hand tall white stallion. "Systema Games offered this house right?" I guessed. Only a company this big would be able to afford such a place for what people thought were six random teenagers.

"Yes," Tasha agreed and stopped the car before extending her hand out to me. "Now, give me your phone."

"What?!" I hollered, almost tearing Tasha's eardrums, "I can't give you my phone, it's my property!" My nerdy robot designs, my screenshots of codes...my life secrets were in there.

"The boys can't get their hands on a phone. Or any direct connection to the outside world for that matter. This rule applies to you also, since you are going to share the living space," she explained, leaving no more room for me to argue. I felt like I had argued a lot already. I switched up my password into a harder one at the last moment and switched off the phone before finally handing it to her.

She dropped it in her bag and showed me out.

"A cook comes in every morning so make a list of things you need two days in advance and give it to her if you need anything else from outside the house."

I nodded sadly.

Tasha paused to look at me and gave a sad smile and hugged me, "Everything will be okay, Ashe. We will try our best too. To find the traitor and build the Beamer."

I nodded again and saw her go.

Sighing, I turned around, already feeling like I was missing a leg without the warmth of my phone in my pocket.

Before I could open the door that lead to the house, it was opened by someone from the inside.

A smiling face shone at me. He had black hair slipping down his forehead in soft tufts and bright eyes that surprised me. A ring glinted at the end of his right eyebrow. The last time I had seen them, those eyes were dark in anger. But now...now he looked normal.

"Now, who do we have here?" he cheered sarcastically and called the other boys. The doors opened wide and it was just me, the small frail girl, against the five perfect looking boys in front of me.

I wanted to laugh at the absurdity of the situation. We were both out to kill each other.

"A-ashe?" a voice croaked from behind me. I turned back and saw a rain-soaked Adrien. His face was broken and bruised and his shirt was torn in some places. He held the entrance pillar for support as he looked at me in surprise.

"Adrien..." I said once again, this time saying his name while being sure that it was him.