All Which Remains

Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Fadhlan

The director told me to bring Ramelan to my house, so I do. Ramelan doesn't fight it. We don't know what to do with the body, so we leave it sitting there on the sidewalk. I feel like we're desecrating his memory.

Ramelan sits at the back of my bike, and we make the trip back to my house.

Ramelan

I'm too stunned to protest. All I want to do is lie in bed and cry.

Fadhlan takes me to his house.

I thought I was ready for Arron to die. I didn't want him to, but there was a possibility. Still, no one expected him to die like this.

No, stop thinking about it.

I shake my head, and hold onto Fadhlan's waist.

Wow, his house is really far away from mine. When he said that he lived far away, I assumed that it was a fifteen-minute walk or so, but damn, we've been riding for thirty.

The atmosphere between us is awkward. It's uncomfortable. Fadhlan is one of Arron's closest friends, and I'm— I don't know what I am— was to Arron.

Arron's dead. Gone. I'll never see him again. The realization hits me in the gut once again. I bury my face in Fadhlan's shirt. I don't want to let go of Arron. I don't want to believe that he's gone for good.

Fadhlan's house is bland. It's white with one door in the front. I like my house better. At least, mine has character. Actually, I like Arron's house better than both of ours.

Fadhlan invites me in and I take my shoes off in their mudroom.

"Can I put these here?" I ask him.

"You can leave them on for all I care," Fadhlan says, walking away from me.

"W— wait up, please," I tell him. Fadhlan stops and waits for me.

"There's someone who wants to meet you. He's in my room," Fadhlan says. He won't look at me. I nod.

We walk down the hallway to his bedroom. He opens the door, and the first I notice in his room is a picture of him and Arron. I avert my eyes and see a man sitting in a spinning chair with his legs crossed. He's looking unenthused at his phone.

"Sir, this is the friend I was talking about," Fadhlan says, beconing me into the room. I walk in and sit on the bed beside Fadhlan.

"It looks like the plan worked, right, Ramelan?" The man asks me.

"What plan? Sir," I add at the last second.

"Arron died, didn't he?"

"Wha— how do you know about that?" Fadhlan asks.

"You needn't worry about the details." The man folds his hands and rests them on his legs. "Now, to the point, I'm here to kill you two."

I try to run away, but the door is locked. "What'd you do?" I yell at the man.

"Nothing. This isn't real anyway. I have more control here than you do." The man snaps his fingers and I'm suddenly sitting beside Fadhlan again.

"The least painful way to die is three stabs to the heart. So, sit there and be good boys," The man says, a knife appearing in his hand. "Which one wants to go first?"

I raise my hand. "I would, sir."

In less than a second, my world goes black.

Fadhlan

Ramelan's body flops onto my legs. I scream and throw him off.

I look down at my hands. His blood is on my hands.

I'm scared. I'm so, so scared.

The director turns to me, his knife dripping with Ramelan's blood. I want to ask him not to kill me, but that would be futile. I'm not going to go down without a fight, though.

I charge him, trying to get the knife out of his hands.

The director laughs. "This happened the last time I entered a simulation. It was so much fun." This man is a psychopath.

I punch him in the face, but he doesn't flinch. He stabs me in the stomach.

Blood spurts out of my mouth.

I hold the knife against my abdomen and don't let go.

"You motherfucker," The director swears, trying to yank the knife out.

I laugh, the blood spewing out of my mouth onto his face.

"Serves you right," I spit out. The director punches me in the face, I reflexively let go of the knife. Crap.

That's on me.

He stabs me in the neck.

I'm sorry, Ramelan, I tried. Forgive me.

My candle goes out.