To Find: Season 1 (After Hours Tape)

Story Tape #12

The song (After Hours, By The Weeknd) plays in the background, slow and reverb. "Soren..." I look at Soren, so close to finally ending the nightmare. Soren gloomy looks at me, wearing his face mask with a sharp teeth artwork. Soren is sitting at a table with a TV nearby playing static. "You made it, but it doesn't matter... I'm stuck here." I walked up to Soren, a bit excited. "What? Soren, I can get you out of here. Please, follow me." Soren looks up at me, pointing at the chair. "Sit down, Just. It doesn't work like that. There are things you must know about my downfall, so sit down, please." I stared at him before sitting down, sighing out of pure frustration. "Okay, so what happened to you?" Soren tells his story. "Before my mind corrupted me I was dealing with heartbreak, lies, and fake happiness, but out of all the bullshit; one woman stood out to me. You know her name." I nodded my head, memories of her seeping into my mind as I looked down with sorrow. "Ara..." Soren nods his head, continuing his story. "Yeah... God, I miss her. Do you still talk to her?" I responded. "Yeah, I still do." Soren chuckled a bit. "Hm, that's good. Back then all I knew was social media and VRChat when I met her. The first time she was pretty quiet, she had on full-body trackers, I don't think I had it yet. Months went on, I was going to quit VRChat due to some changes. But guess who showed up? Her. I stayed on VRChat because of her. I..." Soren looked down, shaking his head. "My whole life took place online; in the real world, I had no friends. I had anxiety, loneliness, and just a bunch of crap. I had no one. But Ara... She felt like home. Then we became close, we felt a certain way towards each other but, Jesus, man... I don't know, she already had someone else. So we had to stop, so I got close to her friend. By this time I already had full-body so we-" The entire environment became red, the images of D.E.F.E.A.T appeared on the TV as flashes of explicit images invaded my mind as Soren says in a distorted, eerie voice in-sync with the lyrics to 'After Hours'. "Wasted all of my time living my fantasy." I started to scream at Soren. "Soren, hey! Cut it out! Soren stop! Enough!" Soren tried to regain himself, yelling and banging on the table with head as he began to cry. "RUN! D.E.F.E.A.T IS COMING! AAHHHH!!!" He was shaking violently, seeing his mind completely breaking. Soren... What the hell? I quickly exited the room, seeing D.E.F.E.A.T Shadow-Walkers chasing after me as I raced towards the elevator; making it there safely as I caught my breath. The elevator door closes. "Don't worry Soren, I'm coming back for you."~

-End of Story Tape #12-