"You want the truth?"
At first I think the words are part of the TV show I'm watching. It's a psychological horror show, something seriously creepy. Maybe the producers are trying to make me feel as if I'm part of the story. I'd do that if I was the director of the show.
"Hey, Tam?" I say, pausing the episode and turning around. "You watched this episode, right?"
My little sister Tamara, perched on a stool at the kitchen counter, doesn't even look up from the latest vampire novel she's currently reading. "The one with the insane murderer guy? Yeah, it's a good one."
"Are those words supposed to be there?"
That catches her attention. Tamara puts down the book and slides off the stool, coming to stare at the TV with her elbows on the back of the white leather couch.
"I think so." She says finally. "I saw them too, but they flashed away in a second. Maybe they're part of the show or some kind of hidden ad or something."
"Aren't those illegal?" I ask.
"I don't know, Soph. Just unpause the thing and the words will disappear." And with that she's back in the world of Edward Cullen.
I glance back at the television. The question is, of course, still there. Taunting me. I hesitate for a moment before pressing the pause button and resuming the show.
The words don't budge, but they get a little brighter. A sentence in a different font flickers into existence at the bottom left corner of the screen: PRESS ENTER FOR "YES".
Okay, the TV's probably whack. It's changed the channel or somehow switched to one of my brother Jake's stupid video games. I press the power button to shut the whole thing off, but the device won't respond to the remote control. Nothing. It won't let me change the channel, it won't turn off.
But it might let me press the Enter button. So I do. I humor the TV.
The words disappear and are immediately replaced by new ones in the same font and text size: "Are you absolutely sure?" and the, just like before: PRESS ENTER FOR "YES".
My pulse flutters a little. Whatever weird game or glitch this is, it's kind of freaking me out. I consider telling Tamara to call Dad, but I feel inexplicably drawn to the words on the screen. I have to know what it's trying to tell me. I have to.
But maybe it's a virus. A weird kind of trick or a sick trap that'll end up sending my address and phone number to some pervert hacker in Omaha or something like that. Can hackers do that? Do I really want to find out?
Raking my teeth across my bottom lip, I press Enter before I can change my mind.
"Fine." The TV now reads. "Here it is."
And then the screen goes dark.
I blink, finger hovering over the Enter button. "What?"
"What happened?" Tamara asks, leaning forwards and letting her book slide out of her grasp.
"It just turned black."
"You probably pressed something."
"No..?"
"Well, you obviously did. It's turned off."
"I didn't!"
She rolls her eyes. "You're hopeless, Sophia."
I stick my tongue out at her as she clomps over to the TV in her white fluffy slippers and crouches down, fiddling with the buttons. For a moment I feel calm- the stupid game really was just a glitch. Tamara can fix it and I can finish my show. Easy.
Except that as soon as the screen is out of my little sister's view, new words reappear. Words that chill me to the bone.
"Everything you have ever been told is a lie."
The words flicker there for only moments before vanishing, a single repeated word blinking in their place: "Everything."
Heart pounding, I dig my fingernails into my palm so hard my eyes water. "Tamara?"
She turns around, confused, and opens her mouth to speak. And then she disappears. One second there, the next second- gone. A single white slipper remains tossed casually on the floor, as if Tamara has just left the room quickly to get a cookie or a glass of coke. But she hasn't. She's just gone.
I scream. And scream. And scream. Tamara's slipper vaporizes a moment later, and I can feel myself growing hoarse from all the screaming, but I can't stop, hunching over and trying to block out the sight of the swiftly fading room. Even thought my eyes are shut tight and I'm still shrieking, I can feel my entire life evaporating around me. I have no idea what's happening, but it hurts. And I'm still screaming. My hands scratch against the couch, clawing at what quickly turns into nothing but air.
Finally the pain in my head stops and I crack open my eyelids, everything blurry between teary lashes. Even before my sight returns properly I can tell that I am no longer in my houses' sitting room; my knees are pressed awkwardly against a tightly-packed earth floor, my left arm in dull pain, and the bright fluorescent lights are blinding me further. The air tastes like chemicals and iron. I drag my aching fingers through the thin layer of dust on the ground and lift my head, trying to understand where I might be.
My vision clears a few moments later, and I find myself staring directly at a set of sturdy metal bars. A glance at the odd throbbing pain in my left arm reveals a tube connected to my vein through my flesh- an indistinct figure in the shadows before me suddenly reaches through the bars and yanks the end of the tube out of the crook of my elbow, sending a hot flash of stinging agony up my shoulder. I yelp and stumble backwards as the figure retreats. For a moment I think this may be all some bizarre nightmare- all of it, starting with the TV and ending with this -but then a terrifyingly familiar voice crackles through invisible speakers and smashes what's left of my hope to pieces:
"Experiment 2837, you have successfully completed the life simulation. This makes you officially prepared for the Human Weaponry Unit. You really are mummy's talented little girl, aren't you, sweet?"
(written for one of @TeariusPlotTwist's story contests)
