Glitched

~Chapter Three~

My life was flashing before my eyes as I saw the world moving around me, but I couldn't feel myself moving. The only part of my body that I could still move around freely was my eyes, and they darted around the room faster than they ever have before. My brain was on overdrive, quickly processing every image as soon as it received it. I looked around the room and then up at Landborn. His hands were on my body, moving me towards the reclining lawn chair sitting against the wall. I couldn't even change my facial expression as he dropped me down onto it. And that was when I saw it - my hands still tightly grasping the controller. I couldn't let go, I couldn't press any buttons, I couldn't even sense it, but my body was refusing to let go of the controller.I saw Landborn's lips moving, and I could hear his voice, but I couldn't understand anything he said. It was like he was miles away, and I was too far to comprehend his words. Then slowly, his voice faded even farther away from me, and I could no longer hear him at all. All I saw as I looked up at him was his lips moving, forming syllables, but nothing came from them.Then the world slowly went black. Darkness faded into my vision, and I fought for consciousness, but I lost, and unconsciousness soon came instead. No dreams came to me; all I could see was the darkness that suddenly terrified every cell of my existence. I had never been so scared in my life. Not when I believed monsters were hiding underneath my bed, not when I battled my first boss fight - not even when the car went over the cliffside, or when I had to crawl out through the window and watch as my father couldn't fit. Back then, I was terrified of my father's safety. That was completely different. Now I was terrified for my safety, and it was an experience I would never forget.As slowly as it had come, the darkness faded away, and I was able to open my eyes. I had no clue how long it had been - minutes? hours? - and I didn't want to know. The idea of being locked in a room and being knocked unconscious by a man as mysterious and suspicious as Laine Landborn was mortifying. The more time I knew had passed, the more paranoid I would get about what he had done to me.That was when I realized I wasn't with Landborn anymore. I carefully sat up and looked around at the room I was now in. It was utterly different from Landborn's office and the secret room we were just in. My throat closed up, and I couldn't seem to breathe as I tried to come up with an answer. Did Landborn kidnap me? Take me somewhere secluded to finish me off?I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Calm down, Hannah, I thought to myself as I opened my eyes again, now able to breathe. You are okay. I rose to my feet and looked around the room, taking in every detail. The floor was brown wood, spruce tiling, and the walls were painted off-white with black trim along the base and ceiling. It seemed to be a dining room of sorts. There was a black table in the middle of the room with glass down the middle and a white vase full of red tiger lilies. I thought it was weird that the table was long enough for eight chairs - eight people - but positioned at the table were only three chairs - three people. I wondered why three people would want such a large table, but my thoughts were interrupted when I saw a smashed chair lying in pieces in the corner. The white cushioning had been shredded to pieces, and something that looked like stuffing was spilling out onto the floor. The chair's back had been broken, bent in half, and two of the four wooden legs were no longer attached to the chair. I now wondered what had happened to the chair, what kind of rage would make someone do that, and especially how strong someone had to bend what looked like a metal frame underneath the white cushioning.I backed away from the destroyed chair and looked around the room, seeing a large window framed with sheer, translucent black curtains. On the wall directly across from the window were dozens of drawings and sketches pinned to the wall. They were of several different people, but most were blotted out with various paints, with halves of most of the other pages missing. There were also empty spaces between the papers - like whole sketches were removed entirely from the wall. Only four people in the illustrations could be seen: a male with shaggy dark coloured hair and eyes, a female with long light coloured hair and eyes, another female with dark coloured bangs and a choker, and another male with devil horns, fangs, and a demonic tail? Someone had scribbled so many things all over his depiction that I couldn't make out anything about his appearance. All I could tell about him was that he was some devil, an evil person.As I stepped towards the drawings to get a better look, I heard the door open, and, for the first time in ten years, I screamed from a jump scare. It was more like a squeal, but I fell to the floor, backing up against the wall as I looked up at a person who just entered the room. "Calm down, jeez!" She said, a hand over her heart as she breathed hard. "You made me think there was someone else in here with you! Don't ever scare me like that again!"I hyperventilated as I looked up at her, hugging my knees to my chest. She didn't seem evil, and she didn't look like anyone that would cause harm. She looked young - sixteen, maybe seventeen? - and I didn't think anyone with pastel purple hair would hurt anyone. She didn't look like a murderer or a kidnapper or anyone else like that, so I swallowed hard and slowly stood up, using the wall as support. My legs were still shaking; in fact, my entire body was shaking. I was starting to know this feeling better than I would've liked. I looked down at her feet, and my eyes widened when I saw that her left calf had this patch of peculiar skin. It looked like a television screen without a signal, with several different bright colours spiking throughout. I had never seen anything like it. It seemed way too realistic to be a tattoo, but I had also just hit my head hard. I could've been seeing things. I looked back up at her face and decided to forget all about the static clinging to her leg."There you go." The girl smiled and took a couple of steps towards me, which made me stiffen up and press my body back against the wall. She noticed this and frowned, pausing her steps and looking me up and down. "You're okay now. You can calm down. I won't hurt you, promise."I took a deep breath and decided to take a chance. Purple ponytails didn't give off dangerous vibes, and her left arm was bandaged pretty heavily right below the shoulder, so she was wounded. I relaxed and ran a hand through my hair. "Where am I?" I asked softly, too terrified to make eye contact with her. She was wearing a grey sleeveless shirt and black basketball shorts with hot pink stripes down the sides, and her pastel purple hair was up in the highest ponytail I have ever seen."My name's Cassiopeia! But everyone calls me Cassi." Cassi bounced on the heels of her feet and smiled, a giddy aura floating about her. She seemed childlike, and I had only just met her, but it was already annoying me. "What's your name?"I looked at Cassi with a puzzled expression on my face. "That wasn't what I asked you..." I said softly, nervous as to how she would take that. But, of course, I didn't mean anything by it; I just wanted to know where the heck I was."Oh! I'm sorry." She did a little giggle before stepping over to me. As she walked, she bounced on her feet, making her hair swing from side to side and instilling even further the idea of her childish nature. "What was your question? I'd still like to know your name. The first thing you learn about a new friend is their name, after all!"New friend? "Hannah," I replied nervously, watching her closely as she moved towards me, "and I asked where I am.""Hannah! That's a beautiful name." Cassi smiled and gently took my hands, trying to lead me out of the dining room.I jerked my hands away from her as soon as she touched them, backing up against the wall yet again. "Stop avoiding my question!" I yelled at her, finally becoming assertive in this new situation. I was scared - terrified, in fact - and that made me willing to try anything to get home. But in order to get home, I had first to know where I was. "Where am I?!"Raising my voice appeared to shock Cassi, and she froze as she stared at me with wide eyes. "Th-There's no need to yell at me, Hannah..."I seemed to have genuinely hurt her feelings, and I felt kind of sorry for it. What if she was trying to help me? "I'm sorry, I'm just nervous and scared, and I really want to go home..."Cassi gave the appearance of a completely different person, like she had multiple personalities inside of her brain, and another Cassi emerged. She looked up at me with hurt in her eyes, like she had no hope for anything anymore. "So do I..." She whispered before quickly turning back into the immature Cassi I initially knew. The depression was lingering over her face, and she immediately replaced it with a giddy smile. Her eyes lit up like fireworks, illuminating her eyes that matched the colour of the skies. "So, you really don't know where you are?" She asked.Finally, we were getting somewhere! "No. I was at work, and my boss knocked me out or something, and I woke up on the floor over there.""Hm." She mumbled, the gears in her brain visually turning. "So Harry didn't explain anything to you?""Who's Harry?" I interrupted her mid-thought."Normally, he does." Cassi frowned, ignoring me before turning her attention back to me. "Anyways! That doesn't matter because I can explain everything to you!" She seemed happier than before, like she didn't usually know things, and got excited whenever she did know something. "You're in Project M! Or, well, that's what Harry named this place, but it's what we called it, too, so I guess it is official at this point." She giggled and began bouncing back and forth on her feet, like she had so much energy that she couldn't even force herself to stand still for a single second. "Does that name ring a bell anywhere up there?""A little..." I had seen that name somewhere before, but I couldn't place it at this moment. So many traumatic events had recently happened to me that my brain wasn't working quite right yet. It needed a few minutes of calm, serene silence to reset itself, but I didn't think I would be getting that any time soon."Well," Cassi began, "it's a video game, and now you're inside of it! With all of us!"Everything about Cassiopeia suddenly made sense. Her bubbly personality, her excited manner of talking - she was insane. She had to be, or else nothing she just said would have made sense. Only a clinically insane person would claim to have been transported inside of a video game because that was impossible! Humanly impossible! She either escaped from a nearby asylum, or this is just all one crazy fever dream induced by my rush of adrenaline during my forced nap. All of this is just a dream, and none of this is real. It can't be because that's impossible. "Okay... If you don't mind, I'll be on my way now..." I moved past Cassi, going towards the door."Actually," Cassi said as she grabbed onto my arm, a terrifying smile crossing her lips as she tilted her head to the side, "I do mind." Her high-pitched, squeaky voice suddenly transitioned into a deep, nightmarish tone, her grip on my arm feeling like she was about to crush it in half. "I'd rather you come with me."