Oneirophrenia

Chapter 7 Cessation

You wake up in a cold sweat and see Dr. Kai "Kaizo" sitting across from you, scanning an extremely complex program with graphs and numbers you don't understand. Once he notices that you have woken up he spins around in his swivel chair, gets up, and says "Oh good you're awake!" as he walks toward you. You back away from him slightly in fear but before he is able to do anything else Ember wakes up and looks around the room in a panic.

She looks to you and then to Dr. Kai. "What. The. FUCK WAS THAT KAIZO" she yells at him in anger. Dr. Kai chuckles nervously and says "So... how did it go?" Ember grits her teeth in anger and yells, "How did it go? HOW DID IT GO?! WHAT YOU DID WAS CRAZY AND IRRESPONSIBLE AND... AND I DIED! I WAS PUT THROUGH STUPID GAMES WHERE LOSING MEANT DEATH AND WINNING MEANT NOTHING! NOTHING! YOU ARE AN ASSHOLE AND A GOD DAMN FAILURE OF A HUMAN BEING"

... silence.

You look to your side to see that Jamie has woken up and is blankly staring at Ember and then back at Dr. Kai "Could we leave now?" you ask.

You don't want to spend any more time here.

Jamie looks at you and says "I second that opinion, I want to leave-" but before he finishes his sentence ember chimes in and says "But before that, I want an explanation" Dr. Kai sighs and says "It's complicated... but how about I make the three of you a deal?" Jamie and Ember both take a moment to look at you and at each other before Ember chimes in "What kind of deal?" Dr. Kai walks over to his desk, pulls three card-looking things from one of the messy drawers, and sits back down to face the three of you "These are 500 dollar gift cards that you can use for anything you desire and I'll give you them if in return you tell no one this ever happened, no telling friends or family and no trying to sue me, nothing. is that clear?" Jamie raises his hand slightly and says "And if we do not take the deal?" Dr. Kai seems to think for a moment... judging by his face you can see that he thought 500 dollars would be enough to pay for your silence

"Well... if you don't take this deal... I'll put you all back under, erase your memories and force you all out live out an endless nightmare! This really isn't a hard choice! I'm basically just giving away free money here! Just take the money, walk away, and forget this has ever happened! Okay? does that sound good?"

Ember looks down for a moment bouncing her leg up and down and looking at the two of you. She sighs and then says to Dr. Kai "Seems like you're not really giving us much of a choice here are you? I mean you basically said that we can either suffer forever or take the $500 and try to forget this ever happened and have to go home without knowing what all of this was even about! even after you traumatized all 3 of us without our consent!"

"I mean you were the ones who signed up for it..." Dr. Kai mumbles under his breath. Ember glares at Dr. Kai

"The fuck did you just say?" she says. Dr. Kai rolls his eyes and responds with "Look, you guys know that you don't really have a choice so just take the money and get out of here." you see Jamie and Ember think about this for a moment before Jamie says "I suppose I don't really have much of a choice" before grabbing one of the cards and walking up to the door and waiting for the two of you. Ember looks at you as you get up and also takes a card before joining Jamie at the door... "Fine- but this is not over," Ember says before snatching the last card out of his hand, slamming the door open, and holding it there "You two coming?" she asks looking over her shoulder at the both of you. "oh uh yeah!" Jamie says as you both follow her out of the door, through the main office, and outside.

Ember fidgets with her hands and turns to the two of you before saying "Hey I'm really sorry... I'm sorry that I was a total dick and I'm sorry that I killed you, Jamie, and I just... would either of yall want to come to my concert? I'm going to perform tomorrow and the show is going to start at around 8:30 PM... I'm not the best but I play electric guitar and sing..." Jamie looks at you and then back at Ember "I know I would love to come!" he says smiling "Me too" you say. Ember looks at the two of you and smiles. It's not some fake smile or a mean-spirited one or one from pure chaotic excitement... it's a real smile.

"Thanks guys..." she says wiping her eyes. "oh here gimmie a second!" Jamie says pulling a notepad out of his pocket and writing something before tearing it into two pieces. "here! it's my number! so that the three of us can keep in touch! I mean it would be crazy for us not to keep in touch after everything that happened right?"

You take the piece of paper and put it in your pocket and for a moment everyone is just standing there in silence.

"so are we just going to forget about all the shit we went through?" Ember says breaking the silence

"I mean... I suppose so right? I mean what else is there to do? We should be happy we got out alive!" Jamie says.

"but we can't just settle for alive! What if he plans to run these experiments on others! what if we lose our memories again! What if he forces us to do that again?! We're safe for now but we don't know what's going to happen next..." Ember says.

You can tell that she's worried but still tries to hide it and put on a more confident front. Jamie bites the inside of his cheek and starts to look around and think before speaking up and saying "Why don't we tell the police or someone who can shut him down! he didn't make us sign any sort of non-disclosure agreement or anything like that! why not get him arrested?" You chime in and say "Because if he ever sees us again after that... we're as good as dead..." "Y/N's right, we have to do this alone," Ember says "But what do we do?" she continues.

"I dunno... but I don't really think any of us are in much of a state to formulate a good plan... how about we talk about this later, even though I've been sleeping all day I'm still exhausted..." Jamie responded rubbing his eyes "You're right, but we can't forget about this... something needs to be done... but just maybe not this very second..." Ember says "See you two at the concert I guess"

You're also very tired and hungry and in need of just some time to relax. "Yeah... see y'all later," Jamie says before the three of you go your separate ways and walk back home...

***

once you get home you lay in bed just thinking.

thinking about everything.

and then you fall asleep.

and everything is fine.

for now at least...