Phantasmagoria ✔

REALITY FILE | Finale

- October 19, 2030 - 

A tall man walked over the aisle wearing a black suit with a white shirt and black tie tucked inside. You could feel his presence from afar courtesy to his coal-colored piercings, golden rings in between his fingers, and the high-tech watch on his wrist.

Stepping on the elevated stage, he aims for the center of it. He stood behind the mic, and nervously took out an index card scribbled with notes and reminders within his speech.

A woman in formal attire announced from the corner, "Phantasmagoria is programmed by one, if not, most promising young game designers in history today. We have Nathaniel Monroe here with us today, who thrived to follow his dreams until he reached this day!"

Nathaniel gulped his saliva in nervousness, but continued to speak, "Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen! Thank you for attending today at my little meet-up and greet. I'm very thankful for all of you! This game went through a needle hole just to get finished. It began as a simple proposal for College, yet here it is as a big hit and one of this year's best-sellers!"

"This game gave me so much experience. From happy exciting moments to... depressing moments for myself. Me and my dad even fought over this dream of mine," He added uncomfortably, "And, this game almost got killed 'cause of some virus. It almost failed, just like my life. The parallels are great, aren't they? This game is actually inspired by my life. The thought of having control of my life was a foreign subject for me back in the days, which led me to make this game... where I can freely decide the life of this main character."

"This main character..."

"Mirage, isn't it?" Interrupted a woman inside the audience.

"Excuse me...?"

A woman sat in the front rows with her legs crossed and her arms folded. She was recognizable by her long brown hair and her cocoa-colored eyes. She was dressed in a tight black dress with white lines as a motif. She wore nearly identical color boots. She bit her lower lip and grabbed something from her bag. 

"Is this familiar?" She pulled out a crumpled poster. It was the same design as the one posted behind Nathaniel. The varying difference was the main character itself.

Nathaniel's published game had a main character with golden locks of hair, and a different outfit. But this woman's poster had a different person. In fact, she looked exactly like the one in the poster, except older.

"Who's Coraline, Nathaniel? Wasn't I your beloved puppet?" The woman stood up.

"Mira..." Nathaniel trailed off, he couldn't believe his eyes.

Mirage pointed at his head, "You shackled my freedom, and yet I see you succeeding for it?" She reached out for her pocket, "I'm not letting you fucking go for this bullshit, you bastard."

Splat.

Splat.

Splat.

Screams rang out in the closed room. While the authorities began to appear at the scene, the guests all fled to the emergency exits as quickly as they could. 

Freedom...

Revenge...

Control...

This is what Nathaniel had hoped for, yet this is what he taken from someone else. He had to pay. He had to pay. She thought so too. He had to pay! 

He deserves this.

The End.