Starting Over Anderson || ✔

Twenty: the Sim

*** beautiful Hood boys in the pic ;) ***

429 days A.D.

I'm ready for the Simulator.

The Sim, for short.

It's exactly what you think it is. A large room, dedicated to reenacting real life scenarios and predicting the worst that could happen during a job. It was developed by Oren and a few other fellow Hoods who had passed on during Brooke's days to prepare them for the Kings. Of course, no amount of preparation was enough for the real thing. There is just too many possibilities.

But we try anyway.

"Remember Princess, if you get hurt in the Sim, you get hurt in real life," Aaron warns me for the millionth time.

I roll my eyes, strapping on my favorite combat boots. "I know, I know, quit worrying your ass off," I say, smiling.

"Right," Aaron hands me all the equipment I'm allowed to take in a black waterproof backpack. I swing it over my shoulders. "I wish I can guide you through, but this is entirely up to you, you know that right?"

I nod. "You briefed me through this like only a thousand times." He's such a worry wart.

"Okay, yeah." He hugs me and ruffles my hair. "Good luck, and be careful."

"Always am," I peck him on the cheek.

I make my way over to the iron doors opening to the Sim. The boys are lined up on either sides of the walkway, kind of like a military march. Grim punches my arm when I pass by. I wince and glare at him. Grim's punches can kill, I'm not exaggerating. "Try not to die," he smirks, staring me down.

"I'll try not to disappoint," I reply with a sweet smile.

Red and Oren wish me good luck too as I pass them. I nod and thank them, feeling like it's the longest walk I've taken in my whole life. But when the iron doors open and I step inside, all sane thoughts disappear, fear replacing them.

The room is pitch black, no lights at all. There seem to be no windows, no crack under the door, nothing. The only sound I hear is the blood rushing in my head and the dull buzzing in my ear like static. I can't see anything, and I wonder if Aaron had packed night vision goggles for me.

It doesn't help that when the iron doors slam shut behind me, they shut with a loud bang, almost like a gunshot.

"How are you holding up?" Aaron's voice comes in through the comm.

"I'm fine, Aaron. Really." Lies. I feel like running back out and crying in Aaron's arms. But I don't do that, because Grim would never let me live that down.

"Alright, you just need to stay in there an hour minimum. Anything after that is completely manual so we can pluck you out if you can't -"

"I know," I stress. "I can do this."

"I know you can," Aaron whispers. "Remember, your objective is to -"

"Get in, duplicate Kane Kingsley's SIM, get out, all in one piece," I recite.

"Okay, good, you got it." We're both silent for a second. I refuse to think of it as the last words we'll ever exchange. "Alright, turn her on, Oren."

"On it," Oren's voice ring through the room. "Firing Sim in three, two, one. And - we're alive."

The lights turn on all at once, nearly blinding me. Automatically, I use my arms to shield my eyes from the bright lights. And then I blink. Once, twice. My eyes get accustomed to the light and I look around, realizing that I'm in a totally unfamiliar territory. I wonder if I'm even in Jacksonville.