The Hollow-Harper's Journey

Part 3

I walked away from Holy Donuts, turned the corner, and hide there, waiting for the group to leave.

Finally, the group got up, and everyone headed separate ways. That Reeve guy was headed my direction.

When he turned the corner, I jumped next to him. He jumped, then recognized me. "Not you." he groaned.

"What do you mean by everything being fake?" I asked, getting right to the point.

His eyes got wide as he stared at me. "Nothing." he said unconvincingly. "Forget what I said."

"The thing is I can't." I said. "Because I know that everything is digital too."

Reeve looked at me, looked around, then shoved me into a nearby bush. "Ow!" I yelped as I fell on the ground.

"You know...the truth." he asked.

"I mean, I remembered this morning, but yeah."

Reeve continued to stare at me. "Will you stop it with the staring?" I asked. "I know that I'm beautiful and everything, but it's freaking me out."

"You remembered-that's not possible!" He got up. "You're making this up!"

"No I'm not!" I yelled, also standing up. "If I was, how do I know about Gustav, or about The Hollow."

That hit Reeve. He looked around, then back at me. "Come back tomorrow, at noon, at Holy Donuts."

"Why?"

"You wanted answers, right?" He turned to me, and I got a feeling that he was about to smile. Then, he walked across the street, turned the corner, and walked out of view.

________________________________________________________________________________

The next day, at noon, I met Reeve at Holy Donuts, where he was sitting at a table and was watching something on his phone. "Hey." I said.

He looked up, and gestured me to sit. "I want answers." I began. Before I could say more, he interrupted.

"Yeah, I know." he said. "I'll tell you, but let me ask one question."

"Okay." I said. I was prepared for him to ask me about something in the real world, like about my life or what I remember, or something.

Instead, what he asked surprised me. "Do you have a boyfriend?" he asked.

I blinked. "Um, no."

He nodded. "Okay."

"Why?" I asked, smiling. "You want to be my boyfriend?"

He scoffed. "You wish."

I smiled, and shook my head. "Sorry buddy. You're not my type."

"Alright, alright. Let's get back to business."

Then, he told me about how he, Skeet, Vanessa, Adam, Mira, and Kai woke up in this digital place, along with the adventure they had to try to get back into the real world.

He told me about how they lost Skeet, about how they reached Gustav, or Weirdy, and how he told them about Hollow Games, and the place we live in, and how we were just digital copies.

"Wait, wait...what?" I asked. "We're not real?"

"Yeah." Reeve said. "It kinda sucks at first, but you get used to the idea."

"And our real selves don't know that we exist?"

"Yup."

I leaned back against my chair. This is too much information and not enough information at the same time. 

"Do you have any idea on why I suddenly knew that this is a digital world?" I asked.

Reeve shrugged.

I stay quiet for a minute, thinking. "Did you see the codes for our digital-for us?" I asked.

"Yeah." Reeve said. "Every time I look in the mirror." He gestured to his body.

I groaned, then covered my face with my hands. This is useless.

"I think this is too late, or early, to tell you this, but I told my friends about you." I peeked out of my fingers to look at Reeve.

"They just told me to take you to Adam's house. And we're going. It doesn't matter if you agree or not." Reeve sat back, waiting for my reaction.

"Okay." I said. Reeve looked surprised.

"That's it?" he asked.

"Um, yeah. What do you want me to do, cry?" I put on a dramatic face, and put my hand on the top of my head in a dramatic matter. "How could you Reeve? I trusted you! Boo hoo hoo!"

Reeve waved wildly at me. "Okay, okay stop now before people starts to stare." I laughed.

"Let's go." I said. "You lead."

Reeve gave me a strange look. "You're something else. What's your name?"

"Harper." I said. "Don't worry. I already know your name."

Reeve chuckled and I smiled. My stomach did a cartwheel. What was that?

Probably the expired milk I drank this morning.