Trident Trials: The Glimmer

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Four

As I woke up, all I heard was a strange sound around me. My vision was blurry, and everything came into focus. The room that we were in was completely blacked out and I couldn't see much, even as my vision cleared. I felt around to get a better understanding of where I was and what was around me. I felt the edge of the simulation chair and assumed that I was in the simulation room still. I hoped that the rest of the group had woken up and were in the room with me. None of this would have been possible without their help, and I would need it again to help us get through whatever was coming next.

My body felt sluggish as I sat up. This was the first indicator that whatever forced us to be stuck in the simulation happened a while ago. I wasn't sure whether it was a few days or a few weeks because I was still hooked up to the nutritional IV that they gave us every time that we went under. I felt skinnier and smaller, though. It must've been at least a decent amount of time. I pulled the IV from my arm and didn't bother turning it off or putting pressure on the entry site. I needed to focus on finding everyone else and getting out of here.

"Hey, are you guys in here?" I said. I forgot I hadn't used my proper voice in about as long. My voice was coarse and grotesque sounding. A groan emitted from the far side of the room. "James, is that you?" I wasn't sure who responded, but at least now I knew I wasn't alone in the room. "Yes. Rex?" said. I was hoping I recognized the voice correctly, and that it was Rex. He was the second to be pushed through and that meant that hopefully, at least he and Rose made it through. "Yeah, it's me. Where the fuck are we?" Rex asked. As he was responding, his voice seemed to get closer to me. I heard him bump into one of the other simulation tables. "We're in the simulation room, never mind. I figured it out. Shit, that hurt."

As he bumped the table, I heard another rustling around the room and figured that everyone else was getting up. As soon as I went to stand up, all the lights in the room flipped on and blinded me a little. After my eyes adjusted to the light in the room, I looked around and saw Rose, Maya, and Rex. Rex found the light panel on the wall and had flipped the switch on. It would do a lot to help our situation to see. I didn't see Torsten in the room at all, though. Surely, he wasn't in the simulation still, or in an unfamiliar room. Where could he be?

"Where's Torsten?" I asked. Looking around the room, I got a sinking feeling in my chest. He didn't make it. Everyone looked down at their lap at the same time and everything got uncomfortable. "Torsten isn't real, James. He was a part of the simulation. I assume Jax put him in the simulation to help you along. You were the only one that didn't know, and we saw you were becoming friends with him before we knew and didn't want to say anything after we figured it out." Rose said. She was trying her best to make eye contact with me, but like everyone else in the room, couldn't seem to do it. I understood their reasons for not telling me, but the news was still heartbreaking. It was especially bad because I let him be pushed to the side a little. There could have been so much more that I could've done. I know that he's just a program, but he became important to me.

The shock washed over me quickly. How many things that I thought were true aren't? The events of the last couple of weeks had my head spinning and questioned everything that I thought I knew. I didn't know that much to start anyhow, and all this back and forth wasn't helping at all. Seeing my mom and dad in the simulation didn't help either. Almost having someone to go to for answers to the mysterious stranger was something that I still wish had come true. I know Torsten bothered me sometimes, but he was there for my birthday. He helped me when I needed it. We went to class together. He let me talk to him when I needed to. Now I didn't know if I would ever see him again, even in the simulation. It's just hard to let go of things like that and move on as if nothing happened.