Game of Fates

Chapter I

"Go to sleep, Angel. Like you've been doing to survive the past 15 years and four months... Go to sleep."

I chanted that mantra again and again, as I snuggled and curled onto a pillow about the size of my torso. My phone, charging as it was rested on the nightstand in my dorm, suddenly lit up. I picked it up; after all, I couldn't sleep, so I might as well do something.

It was 11:42 nearing midnight, according to my phone's display. It seemed okay; I don't think I hit bed and tried to sleep for longer or shorter than I felt I did.

I swiped around, playing a few video games for a bit over 20 minutes, I'd say. Then I decided I'd try hit the sack again. However, as I tapped back to my home screen, I saw some weird app. Like it was an icon for an email service of some sort, or one that I didn't know of. Its name, apparently, was simply "FATE". It seemed intriguing enough for me to want to open it, so I did.

It started up, showing me a simple, blank white loading screen with a blue bar filling up, as most games, if not most apps, do.

"Hello, Van Sterren," it read. "Welcome to FATE. Tap anywhere to continue." It certainly wasn't some sort of game I downloaded, unless I downloaded it in my sleep. I don't remember doing that, ever. Perhaps it had been sitting dormant in my phone's memory, considering it actually knew my name.

I tapped. It changed to what I presumed would be the regular user interface: A list of contacts on the left, and a large blank space on the right.

There was a notification from a person named "Juliet Weiss", which happened to be my classmate's name. We used to be in a lot of classes, but we sort of parted ways a few years ago. After all, our interests were pretty different, to say the least: I'm a gamer girl all day long, as you can imagine. But I also like my fair share of sports, just that the rest of my pals (besides Juliet), Pip Hawthorne, Lillian Green, and Ava Bernham (my roommate, but she isn't here right now) tend to be the busy types. Meanwhile, Juliet was the class nerd: Introverted and a bit outcast, considering she was absurdly eccentric, I'll admit, although I do like her. She's college-level smart after all, and she attends plenty of 21st-century electives like programming and engineering. I was in engineering, too, but she's way more advanced than me; she's doing a lot of tech-based projects, I've seen, and yet I'm still here struggling with calculus.

I clicked on Juliet's name.

"[THIS MESSAGE IS PROGRAMMED TO DISPLAY AS SOON AS JULIET WEISS' HEART STOPS BEATING.]

Hello, Angel Van Sterren.

I can only sigh. I'll admit, I've always wondered what it's like to die. Yet I still have so much to do. I will live on, because I am capable of many great things.

If I truly am dead, I hope Ava can stay with me in heaven, that way I can speak to her; I have so much left to ask. And, can you promise to make sure Pip's alright? That nothing too happens to her? Thanks. Just respond 'I Promise' once you're done reading this."

Juliet... it couldn't possibly be. No way she'd just be dead like this. She was our best friend for years. How...?

Juliet, dead? Of all people, Juliet Weiss would die? How would she die, I wondered? If it was some health condition, she would have told us. If it was someone else's fault, say, murder, she was a genius. She could defend herself, I knew, nor would she fall for anything dumb like poisoning. There's no way she'd commit suicide, either... She just wouldn't. I couldn't possibly think of any way she would die, apart from some really improbable ones.

I shouldn't have opened this app, I kept mumbling. Then again, I thought once more... If she really is dead, I should carry out what she wanted me to do, shouldn't I? I was a pretty bored teenager, after all. In summary, what she wanted me to do was, pray that Ava goes to heaven, as well as keep Pip safe, although I was unsure what she really meant by, "I hope Ava can stay with me in heaven". Regardless, I replied to the email with "I Promise", like she told me to. Immediately, another message was sent.

"Good. Here's the password to the class group chat: ABLGPHA3S (yeah, it was random generated). You can enter it in the menu."

Juliet really outdid herself, doing all this. I typed in the passcode. As she had stated, I was entered into a chatroom. I don't know when she died, though it was probably only minutes ago, seeing as this strange app wasn't here earlier.

I sighed. It was past twelve midnight already.

Tears started to pour out, and my heart started beating faster. I wanted to cry more, but for some reason, I just couldn't.

I headed back to sleep before anything else happened. Clearly, I needed some rest.