Under New Management

Chapter 4

Lucy walked through the door to her simulation. She saw a large empty white room in front of her. She heard a voice begin to speak.

"There are three diamonds in this room. Retrieve them all. These will be the only tangible objects in the room. Although all other objects will be holographs, you may not pass through any of them. Passing through another object will result in immediate failure. In order to complete this simulation, you must put all three diamonds on the tile at the end of the room."

She nodded. The dark tile stood out to her at the end of the room. She felt herself kick into gear. She was ready.

"You may begin." The voice said.

She saw the diamonds fall from the ceiling. As soon as they started to fall, Lucy darted, and grabbed the first one before it even hit the ground. Then, she ran towards the next one.

Two people appeared in front of her. She stopped, surprised, but then she saw one flicker. It was a holograph. She relaxed. She stepped back, then ran at them, but flipped in midair, just before she reached them. She landed behind them, and grabbed the second diamond.

She ran towards the last one, but then saw a swarm of something fly towards her. Were they flies? Bees? Some kind of bug. She slid beneath them and grabbed the last diamond.

But then, she felt one of them land on her.

What? She could feel it! She tried to flick it off, but it stuck hard. Then another, and another. They were all over her! She couldn't get any of them off! Didn't they say that nothing but the diamonds would be tangible? She felt herself start to panic. She couldn't even see her skin anymore. They had completely enveloped her.

She had to stay calm. They were watching her. But, she couldn't move. They were weighing her down. She saw the tile. It was so close. She had to keep moving. But these things, they wouldn't get off of her. She tried to pull them off. They wouldn't get off! She wanted to scream. She couldn't think.

She tossed the jewels in a last ditch effort. They landed right on the tile.

As soon as the diamonds hit, the bugs scattered, and got off of her. She ran to the door as fast as she could.

Gru sat, waiting in the small room. His simulation had gone pretty well in his mind. He actually felt very good about it. This gave him even more confidence for Lucy. He knew that she would be great at something like this.

He heard the door open. Of course. He had only just now gotten here, and she was done. He felt his heart swell with pride.

But then he looked up.

He saw his beautiful wife standing there, shock all over her face. She began to shake. Then she collapsed on the floor, sobbing. He rushed over to her, scooping her up in his arms.

"Lucy, Lucy, it's ok," Gru cooed. "You're safe. I've got you."

What on earth could've happened? Everything in there was fake. She knew that. He kept stoking her back.

"Lucy," he whispered. "Lucy, what happened?"

"I couldn't beat it." She whispered. "It was too strong."

"Couldn't beat what?" He asked.

"Ahem."

He looked behind him, and saw that new guy, Devin behind him, reminding him. They were forbidden to speak of that.

He just kept holding her, cooing. Anything to calm her down. Unable to ask the question that was burning inside of him.

What happened in there?