The Adventures of Getting a Snack at 4 AM

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Patience is key. 
You’re going to have to wait.
Not everything happens at once.

I don’t know who told me that, but it stayed in my head ever since I could remember. It stayed in my head when Mother died. It stayed in my head when my older sister stopped talking to me. It stayed in my head when my younger brother colored on the walls. It stayed in my head when Father kept locking himself in his room all day. It stayed in my head when I remember that I, a 13-year-old, had to take care of myself, the house, and my younger brother by myself. 

I can’t remember my name. I can’t remember my siblings' names. I don’t remember how my mother died. All I remember is that I’m part of the Real World, and this place I got transported into is not the Real World. I was in a game, the first ever game my mother created. I don’t know how I ended up here. I was born in the Real World, after all. I told myself I needed to get all these endings, or else I’d be trapped in here forever. I was just assuming, though. However, by now, I got all the endings I could think of. 

And then, the error message appeared. 

Everything collapsed. I was lucky I was standing on hard ground. The bed glitched into the wall. The scheme was now purple. I walked outside. Hopefully something was there that could explain everything. I noticed the two NPCs on the road. 

One of the NPCs had blonde hair, a green tank top, and blue jeans. It had a green and black visor on. Its name was Cashier. Cashier was, well, a cashier. It was its only purpose. The other one, Dummy, had gray hair, a gray sweatshirt, and gray pants. Everything was gray. Dummy’s only purpose was to test dialogue. Mother forgot to delete it. 

“Well, look who finally decided to show up,” Cashier snapped. I wondered how long it had been since I last saw it. About…2 minutes ago, I suspected. 

“Hey, Red Cap,” Cashier said, referring to the red cap I always wore, “You’re smart, aren’t you? Tell me what’s going on here.”  

I didn’t know, but it was probably a glitch. However, I couldn’t talk. 

“Of course,” Cashier sighed, “You can’t speak.”

“Probably because this game wasn’t programmed with dialogue options,” Dummy pointed out. 

“Oh yeah, this is Dummy. Kind of a dumb name, but I can’t speak for myself,” Cashier rolled its eyes. 

“Hello, Player,” Dummy smiled, “It’s so nice to finally meet you.”

I smiled back. Dummy seemed way nicer than Cashier. 

“So nice after being numb in one place without any free will…” Dummy muttered.

And now I felt bad. 

“Anyways, there appears to be a glitch in the game. I’m going to assume this is not part of questionable game design and that the game is bugged out.”

“Yeah, stu-”

“The endings,” Dummy said, cutting Cashier off. 

“He-”

“The main gimmick of this game. You need to bring them together and put them in this breakfast machine,” Dummy pointed to a larger version of what was used for one of the endings. I nodded determinedly. 

“Can you please stop cutting me off-”

“Oh, I'm sorry!” Dummy snapped, “Please, enlighten me with what you’re about to say! I’d love to hear it!” 

Cashier frowned, “Hey buddy, does your entire personality rely on the fact that you’re an awful person? Because that sure is sad.”

“And you’re just a one-dimensional character whose only purpose is to sell items to players? You’re literally just a cashier.” This was one of those times I wished I could talk. Cashier looked down. 

“Anyways, go on now! Save the game,” Dummy said. 

I needed to. Or else I’d never escape. 

I looked over to Cashier. It looked back. 

“What?” it snapped. 

The Shoplift Ending. 

“Oh, you want the ‘Shoplift’ ending, right? Do I need to recreate the scene again?” Cashier asked. I shrugged. 

“Alright. What was my line again? ‘Hey, you. You steal from my store, I steal your life’.” The place gets tinted with red as it says this. 

“Uh,” Dummy cuts in, getting rid of the red, “I think you need an object to represent that.” 

“An object? Like what?” 

Dummy shrugged, “Something like your visor could do the trick.”

Silence. 

“Yeah, no, there’s no way I’m giving them,” Cashier emphasized when looking at me, “My visor.”

“Do it or I’ll steal your life,” Dummy frowned. It looked scary. 

“...Fine,” Cashier unwillingly handed me its visor. 

I sighed. This is going to take a while.