Surviving to Soulmates

Chapter 3

A bright pink screen flashed on the console. For the nostalgia the game offered, Lilith was willing to deal with lags and longer wait times. The console itself was ancient compared to newer technology since it'd been passed down to her from her and Gabriel's mother. Finally, the game started.

"After being bullied nearly to death by her fellow classmates, Wisteria found herself with a mysterious sponsor. A letter appeared at her door 'Come to Golden Gates High School.'"

...what?

Lilith didn't remember the specifics of the game, but this newfound information threw her off guard. Maybe it was just a coincidence?

Wisteria felt like a familiar name.

"Hey Gabriel?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you remember a Wisteria?"

"Weren't you forced to vandalize her house? Then you felt bad because she had the same name as your favorite game character."

"Right, yeah."

Regardless of whether Wisteria was real, or if it was even the same girl, Lilith wasn't responsible for much of her bullying. Rather, at that time she could be considered a victim too.

Playing through the introduction of the game, Lilith picked up a brochure from the school next to her for incoming student freshman. While she wasn't a freshman, transfers were so rare they hadn't had their own brochure created for them.

"Wisteria Bridge: The First Person Promoted To Class A In Student History." A picture of Wisteria covered the page. Between the picture and the heroine of Lilith's game, the similarities were uncanny. So were those of the heroine's love interests and the men on the following pages:

"Samuel Evans Reigns Academics!"

"Wyatt Davidson's Groundbreaking Sports Records!"

"School Leader Elliot Gage Strikes Again!"

"Raphael Gauthier Voted Most Handsome Man!"

Boy did this school love its students.

The game was shorter than Lilith remembered. It centered around a poor, abused girl named Wisteria who was given a chance to prove herself by a mysterious sponsor, being shipped off to boarding school. Wisteria was forced to climb the rankings from Class D to Class A, something no student had managed to do in the history of Golden Gates' history. While she wasn't the most intellectually gifted, she was incredibly hard working and used every opportunity provided by the school to improve upon herself. In a way, Lilith related to her desire to survive, which was why she'd been obsessed with the game in middle school. However, the game only actually started during Wisteria's senior year of high school, when she'd finally been promoted to Class A over the summer.

Class A was home to the crème de la crème of Golden Gate High School. It was the class home to sons of senators and CEOs, and it quickly became Wisteria's Hell. Gathering the attention of most of her new classmates, she quickly became the plaything of the game's four love interests: Samuel, Wyatt, Elliot, and Raphael. While the game begins as a sincere and innocent game where characters fall in love, it quickly falls to pieces as each love interest turns obsessive.

Being used to having everything served to them on a silver platter, the love interests turn sick in the head, desperate to have the female lead, and in every route, Wisteria either dies a horrible death or is locked away from society.

Lilith became so baffled playing the game by the violence the heroine faced that she had to reflect on why she'd enjoyed the game in the first place.

All she could think of were two words...

Violent. Desperate.

Up until the end of sixth grade, those were the only words Lilith could use to describe love. She remembered when she learned what love meant.

"When Dad comes home you have to hide with Gabriel," Lilith's mother had told her. "Pretend it's hide and seek."

"Why do we always have to hide?" Gabriel asked their mom.

"Because Mommy loves you two."

"Does Daddy love us?" Lilith said. A pain wracked through her face. Lilith couldn't tell whether she was bleeding or crying. Gabriel told her later that it was both.

That was the first of many times her mother would hit her.

"Hide."

The game must've been romantic to her back then, Lilith mused. Unsurprisingly, her interest had spawned from her own messed up idea of love. If she hadn't met him, Lilith thought, she'd probably still think that way.

Busying herself between playing through each route and going through the remaining materials Aunt Elizabeth had left on the dining room table, Lilith realized the game had exactly outlined her current reality.

"Well shit." She sighed. "Gabriel."

"What's up?" Gabriel responded. He'd long finished shoveling clothes into their individual cabinets and had begun flipping through the dining room table materials too. Unfortunately, Lilith had been correct. There was nothing worth doing in any of the books. Glancing at the titles, he realized they were meant to land kids into Class D, barely passing the exam. That either meant the books to study for Class A cost a fortune or Aunt Elizabeth didn't believe he or Lilith could pass any class entry exam above D.

Lilith handed him the console.

"I think someone planted this here," she said, "it's too similar to reality to just be a coincidence."

"What should we do then?" he asked.

"I don't think we can be complacent this time. I owe Wisteria one, and I don't want to watch any more people die." Lilith looked into her brother's eyes, determination evident in her eyes. "We need to get into Class A."

"Lilith, you're aware that could place a target on our backs," Gabriel reminded her. "That's tantamount to suicide."

"I can't just sit back again and watch people die. We always use the excuse that we don't have the power to save anyone, but do we really? Or are we just scared of using it?" Lilith said. "Maybe I could've saved him too."

Gabriel stared back into her eyes. While she was filled with a burning desire to do something, he was softer and weighed things with greater caution.

"Well, dying for something sounds more attractive than living for nothing," Gabriel surrendered. "Do you have a plan?" Lilith smiled.

"Of course."