I awaken to my phone ringing in my ear. I roll over and hit the answer button. “Y…llo.” I murmur.

  “Hey, sleepyhead.” Paige says into my ear. “I’m gd I called. I’m on my way to you now.”

  “What time is it…?” I ask.

  “Eight forty.” She responds.

  “Crap!” I shout, and sit straight up in bed. “I am so sorry.”

  “Don’t worry about it.” She says gently.

  “No, I am worried.” I say. “I must have slept through my arm. I’m sorry.”

  “You’re fine, cutie.” She responds.

  “I’ll be ready when you get here.” I say. “Gotta go. See you soon.”

  I hang up without waiting for a reply, and leap out of bed and straight for my dresser. My ankle throbs as I put weight on it, but not nearly as bad as st night. Later. I grab onto the white wooden surface, and pull open a drawer. Oh no… What to wear, what to wear! I throw on panties, socks, and a bra, before hopping over to my closet.

  I throw on the pid skirt, and tuck band tee into it, before throwing on a wide belt with tons of riveted holes. The image in the mirror is cute, but not quite there. Thigh highs. I hop back to my dresser, pull out the long socks, and exchange my current ones for them. After this I throw on my tall leather boots, and quickly but carefully make my way to the bathroom.

  I can’t do my normal routine, so I settle for a quick teeth brush, face wash, and shave, before throwing on some smoky eyeshadow, eyeliner, mascara, and a little blush. Good enough. I head out to the living room just in time to watch a luxury SUV pull up to the curb.

  “Wow,” My mom says. “You look pretty today.”

  “Thanks.” I respond. “I overslept, and now Paige is outside waiting for me.”

  “Oh, okay.” My mom says. “Can I come out and meet her?”

  “If you want.” I say softly.

  “I do.” She says, and we head out the front door.

  Paige immediately steps out of her car, jogs up to me, and throws her arms around my neck. I pull her tightly into my arms and bury my face into her neck. She shivers slightly and lets out a barely audible groan into my hair.

  “I’m so gd to see you.” She murmurs.

  “Ditto.” I say and then pull back. “Uh, Paige, I know you met her already but this is my mom, Mom this is Paige.”

  “Evelyn, right?” Paige asks.

  “Yes!” My mom says excitedly. “It’s very nice to meet you properly, Paige. Emmy was really excited about this yesterday.”

  I blush, and look down. I get that you’re trying to help, Mom, but don’t lie to her. I am excited, but you’re making it seem like more than it is. “Ready to go, Paige?” I ask.

  “Yes!” She says happily.

  “Love you, Emmy.” My mom says. “Have a great day.”

  “I will.” I say, and give her a hug. “I love you too.”

  With my farewell said, I turn back to Paige, and smile as she opens the door for me. “Hop in, hon.” She says.

  I do, and throw my seatbelt on as she takes the other side. “So coffee first, yea?” I ask.

  “Yeah.” She replies. “I figured we could go to a cafe and get breakfast together.”

  “Yes please.” I say, and lean back as we start driving.

  “How's your ankle, by the way?” Paige asks.

  “It still hurts a bit,” I admit, “But at least I can walk.”

  “That’s good.” She replies. “I can’t carry you like your friend could, but I would certainly try.”

  “Thanks.” I respond. “But that won’t be necessary.”

  “Too bad…” She says teasingly. “I would’ve liked being useful to you.” I don’t respond immediately, and just give her a look. “Sorry.” She apologizes.

  “It’s fine.” I respond. “I just… I don’t want you thinking like that. That you have to be useful to me, or do things for me, for me to like you.”

  “It’s not like that.” She insists. “I just… You know…”

  “I get it.” I reply. “If you don’t mind me asking, what was it like dating May?”

  She sighs softly. “Not great, honestly.”

  “Why?” I ask, slightly concerned.

  “She was always very…” She sighs again. “I don’t know how to expin it. Needy but neglectful. Anytime she wanted to do stuff, I had to be there, no matter what, or she’d be upset.”

  “I’m sorry.” I say softly.

  “But when I wanted to do something with her, if she had any pns, or honestly sometimes made other pns after, she would tell me no. Which is fine, but not when she’d turn around and compin that I wouldn’t cancel on a friend because she suddenly wanted to hang out in an hour.”

  I reach over and squeeze the hand she has resting on the center console. “I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s fine.” She responds. “Sorry to vent.”

  “No apologies.” I say, and give her hand another squeeze. “I asked you to.”

  “Well, we’re here.” She says, as she pulls into the parking lot of a small local cafe.

  “Have you been here?” I ask, as she parks.

  “A lot, yea…” She says. “This used to be one of my favorite pces… I hope it can be again.”

  “I see.” I respond, and let go of her hand. So she took May here too… Part of me feels weird about that, but the rest of me wants to give her a better memory of this pce.

  We walk into the building, and I already love it. The interior feels very cozy. There are a few tables throughout, and some stools at the counter. Paige leads me to a table near a rge window, and pulls my chair out for me.

  She sits down and smiles at me. “Sorry if that’s too much, I just…” She lets out a breath. “I don’t know, I wanna just give you a little euphoria, I guess.”

  “Mission accomplished.” I respond with a grin. “It’s really cute.”

  “I’m gd.” She says. “So, what do you want to eat?”

  I take a look at the menu, and see they have an egg white spinach and gouda breakfast sandwich. “Probably this.” I say, pointing at it.

  “Looks yummy.” She responds. “I’ll probably get the same.”

  I smile at her, but don’t comment on it. “Now for a drink.” I say, and look through my options.

  As I’m looking, a cute blonde haired server approaches us. “Hi Paige!” She says brightly, and pces a hand on Paige’s shoulder. “Gd to see you back! Introduce me to your friend?”

  “Hi, Chloe.” Paige says, and smiles at me. “This is Emmy.”

  “Oooooh!” Chloe says excitedly. “We’ve heard so much about you!”

  “Hopefully good things.” I say, a soft blush appearing on my cheeks.

  “Oh, definitely good.” She replies. “Thalia! Come here!”

  A bck haired girl walks up to us. “Hey Chlo, hey Paige.” She says. “What’s up?”

  “This is Emmy!” She shouts.

  “Ooh,” Thalia says with a grin. “So you’re the famous Emmy.”

  “Famous?” I ask, a little incredulous. “Why am I famous?”

  Chloe giggles to her friend. “Paige just could not shut up about you.” She says.

  “Chloe!” Paige shouts. “Ugh, you’re embarrassing me!”

  “Sorry Paigie.” She says teasingly. “I’ll get out of your hair just as soon as I get your orders.”

  “Fine.” She says grumpily. Cute. “Two egg white gouda sandwiches, a white chocote mocha frappe, and whatever drink Emmy wants.”

  “Same drink.” I say. “That sounds good.”

  “Alrighty then!” Chloe says with a grin. “Coming right up!”

  Once her two friends are gone, I reach across the table and grab Paige’s hand. “You okay?”

  Her face turns from pink to bright red. “Yeah… I didn’t expect them to do that… I’m sorry.”

  “It’s fine.” I say. “I’m fttered, really. It feels nice knowing you think so much of me… I just want to make sure you know enough for it to be justified.”

  “I know it will be.” She responds. “But I’d like to learn.”

  “Well, let’s start now.” I say. “Let’s py a get to know you game.”

  “Sure!” She says happily. “What do you want to do?”

  “We go back and forth asking questions, and we both answer them.” I expin.

  “Okay.” She says. “Can I go first?”

  “Of course!” I say brightly. “What do you want to know?”

  “Okay, um, two crifying questions before we start.” I nod. “Are any topics off limits, and what happens if a question only pertains to the other person.”

  “No, and then only the other person answers it.” I reply.

  “Cool.” She says with a smile. “What is your goal in life?”

  “To be a famous musician, and spend my time supporting whoever my partner is with their goals.” I respond with a smile.

  “That’s really sweet.” She responds. “I um… I want to be an author. I want to write all the books I always wanted to read, but no one ever wrote.”

  “That’s really cool!” I say. “Do you have anything written that I could read?”

  “A few short stories…” She responds softly. “Nothing special.”

  “If you made it, it has to be special.” I say with a smile. “I have one that you could read.”

  “You write?!” She asks.

  “A bit…” I say softly. “It was something I wanted to do before I discovered my love of music.”

  “Can you tell me about what you’ve written?” She asks.

  “Sure.” I respond. “It’s a romantic tragedy about a guy who lives his life as a girl in a virtual world, and ends up falling in love, but the girl doesn’t know he’s a guy. He wants to tell her, but he’s terrified of what will happen. He ends up realizing he’s a trans girl, and comes out to her as a trans girl, but she doesn’t accept him.”

  “Oh wow…” She says softly. “And you wrote this a while ago?”

  “Yeah…” I say softly. “I really should’ve known I was a girl so long ago.”

  “At least you figured it out now.” She says. “Anyway, your turn.”

  “Oh, okay, um…” I say, thinking. “What’s something you’re really hoping I ask about, so you can tell me.”

  “Ooh!” She says quickly. “I was hoping you’d ask about-”

  Before she can finish her sentence, Chloe returns with our food and drinks. “Here you go.” She says, setting them in front of us. “Let me know how you like it!”

  “We will.” I say, and then lift up my sandwich.

  It is absolutely delicious. I consume half of it before I set it down again. Paige giggles, and takes a bite of her sandwich. “This is really good.”

  “It is!” I enthuse, before finally taking a drink of my coffee.

  “How’s it taste?” She asks with a smile.

  “Hmmmm…” I say, elongating the hum for a chuckle. “Tastes like coffee.” She ughs, and I smile at her. “It’s good, really good.”

  “Good.” She parrots, and then doesn’t say anything.

  “So,” I say. “About my question.”

  “Right!” She says quickly, and then pauses. “Video games. I’m really, really into horror games.”

  “Ooh!” I say excited. “I’m big into video games too, but I haven’t pyed any horror games.”

  “Do you want to?” She asks.

  “Yes please!” I say. “If you’re interested in it, I’d love to try it.”

  “In that case,” She says. “Finish up the st few bites and then we’ll head to my house?”

  I smile at her, and quickly devour the rest of my sandwich. After gulping it down in one big swallow I smile at her. “Let’s go.”

  “Okay, Miss eager.” She teases. “Let’s go hon.”

  We stand up, and Paige goes to pay. I stand behind her, and watch as Chloe and Thalia giggle in the doorway looking at us. After Paige pays, she takes my hand and pulls me out to her car. I smile at the contact, and squeeze once before letting go and getting into the SUV.

  Once we’ve started driving, Paige reaches over and takes my hand. I instinctively start to pull away, so she tugs her hand back. No… I want the comfort too… I reach across and take her hand in mine. She smiles, and I do too.

  She pulls into a really steep driveway, and clicks a button on the roof. The house is big, really big, and looks both old and modern. The garage opens to reveal a really nice pick up truck, and a nice quality older muscle car. We pull in along side, and the door shuts behind us.

  “Let’s go!” She says happily.

  I hop out of the car and follow her inside. The garage opens into a nding, with wooden stairs going up and down. She starts down, and I follow her into the basement. Inside is a rge room, way bigger than a bedroom should be.

  There is a rge soft looking couch against the wall, and a bed in the far corner. The room is lit with soft white string lights, and decently cool. She takes off her shoes and hops onto the couch, before smiling expectantly at me.

  I unzip my boots and take a seat beside her. “So,” She says. “Horror games.”

  “Horror games.” I say with a grin.

  “There are a couple options I’m thinking of.” She says excitedly. “Tortured souls, Cambrian, or Visitors. Which do you want.”

  “I’ve only heard of Visitors…” I say softly. “You choose.”

  “Hmmm…” She says softly. “Let’s py Cambrian.”

  She gets the game set up, while I get comfortable. After the TV and console is on, she sits down close to me, and opens the game before handing me the controller. I start a new game, and snuggle up slightly to Paige. She wraps an arm around me, and leans her head on my shoulder.

  The game opens with a character creator, and I spend a few minutes making a cute girl who looks vaguely like me, like I want to look like anyways. Once my character is made, I start the game.

  It opens on a bck screen, and suddenly it starts getting redder, and redder, until I see the ground coming into view. I hit the ground with a hard thud, and my character tries to sit up. I jump in surprise as a rge red scaly beast leaps onto me and starts tearing into my arm.

  Paige pulls me closer to her, and I happily lean into her touch. A spear punctures through the eye of the creature, and comes really close to my face. I start in surprise again, and nestle even closer into Paige.

  “This looks really cool so far.” I say, as a man pulls the demon off me before looking down.

  Suddenly he raises his spear, and I scream as he stabs me in the face. “One hell of an opening right?” Paige says.

  “Yeah…” I say, as I will my heartbeat to slow down.

  Paige rubs my arm gently, and pulls my legs onto her. “Are you sure you want to py?”

  I look at her with a smile, and nod. “Absolutely.”

  My character falls from the sky again, and hits the ground with a thud. This time, I actually have control of her, so I stand up and start moving. The game walks me through the basic controls, and guides me to a broken down shack nestled into the wall of a cliff.

  I follow instructions and walk inside. The game prompts me to crouch, and I do, before stalking silently through the house. In the next room is a man, flesh torn and burnt, ripping into a fresh corpse with his bare teeth.

  Text appears on the screen, ‘Press R3 for a silent takedown.’ I approach the man, and see a small icon indicating that I’m in range, and press the button. My character's arms wrap around his neck, and tch on tight.

  He screams, but it’s quickly cut off. I watch his feet scramble against the floor, and his hands try to grab for my face, before he stills. My character holds on for a few more seconds before letting him go.

  There is a small axe that looks made of bone, with a handle wrapped in some kind of leather. I pick it up, and then stare for a moment as text appears on screen. ‘Collect crafting supplies.’ The text itself isn’t surprising, what is, is that there is now a marker above the person I just killed.

  “Is it telling me what I think it is?” I ask.

  “Yup.” She says. “The easiest material to get is bone, leather, and meat.”

  “So this axe…” I say softly.“Is made out of human bone and flesh, yeah.” She says.

  “Gross.” I say, but press the button to collect materials anyway.

  After a brutally long and detailed animation of my girl skinning and stripping the corpse, I sigh and look over at Paige. “Yes, Emmy?” She asks.

  “So, what’s the objective of the game?” I ask.

  “You’ll see.” She says with a smirk. “Come on, keep moving.”

  I smile, and snuggle just a tiny bit closer to her. “Gdly.”

  ?????????????

  The beads on my door rattle, but I don’t bother looking up. A weight settles onto my bed, and I feel a hand on my hip.

  “How are you holding up?” May asks.

  “How do you think?” I grumble.

  “Sorry…” She says softly. “I’m not doing great either… A lot worse now actually.”

  I sit up, and look at her. “Why?”

  “Same reason you’re about to be.” She says, and turns her phone to me.

  On screen is a picture taken at a cafe that I know May and Paige used to go to a lot. Paige is sitting, holding hands with someone across the table. The person is mostly obscured by tables and other people, and his face has been censored with an emoji, but I would recognize him anywhere.

  “Danny…” I say softly.

  “I thought so.” She says. “I was pretty sure I recognized the hair and the shirt.”

  “Yeah…” I say softly, while trying to hold the tears in. “He wore it here a few times.”

  “Did you read the caption?” She asks.

  I shake my head, and read. ‘Our girl is finally healing! I’m so gd to see her happy! Let’s hope they work out!’ A sob escapes my lips, and I bury my face in the pillow. May’s hand slides up to my back where she rubs gently.

  “I’m sorry, Holly.” She says softly.

  “Why?!” I shout. “She’s a lesbian too! Why suddenly start dating a guy?!”

  “I don’t know.” May says softly. “Maybe she’s pnning to do what you did, or maybe she figured out she’s bi. It’s not worth thinking about.” I sob harder, and May lies down next to me. After a few moments, she speaks up. “Holly, when was the st time you showered?”

  “Friday…” I say softly.