Ellie woke to the sound of a car alarm blaring somewhere outside. She groaned a little, and stretched, immediately feeling several aching joints she slept on incorrectly giving off a dull pain.
The pain didn’t surprise her though, she did spend the night in a sleeping bag on the floor of the living room. They decided to let Valerie and Howard have the bed thanks to the emotional state she was left in, and Albin took the couch, leaving everyone else to find their place on the floor.
She looked around. It felt early, but it was still dark as night, so god only knows what time it actually was. Aside from the distant, ever blaring alarm, the place was ghostly quiet.
That was, aside from a quiet conversation. Albin, Zero, and Peliah were absent from their spots, and a small portable lantern was glowing on the table. She immediately spotted all three of them sitting there. They’d brought out a game of chess, and were talking to each other as Zero and Peliah played.
Ellie stretched- and then jolted fully awake. Something immediately felt very off. Her own skin felt like clothing she hardly fit into, and pulled on itself in weird ways. She sat up and rolled up her sleeves a little to look, but the dim light did her no favours. She grumbled to herself and stood up, stumbling a little as she also realized that soreness wasn’t all natural either.
As she approached the light of the dining room and could finally see her skin, she noticed it looked… grey-ish, bruised almost.
“Oh, hey Ellie.” said Albin.
She quickly rolled her sleeves back down. “Hey…”
“We’re taking turns playing Chess against each other, wanna play next round?”
She pulled out a chair and sat down. “No thanks, I just woke up. Too tired for that…” She yawned.
“Fair- I don’t think anyone’s gonna win against Zero anyways.”
“I’m telling you,” Zero, controlling black, took one of Peliah’s rooks as he moved his knight. “It’s one of the only games I had in the simulation.”
Ellie scratched her head, and stopped, feeling something odd.
Peliah moved her king behind another rook. “Can’t believe you still even enjoy it.”
Zero moved his knight again. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“I mean- it being literally one of the only games you could ever play your whole life.” Peliah moved her queen, clearly trying to stop Zero’s knight from causing more trouble. “That’s gotta get boring, right?”
Ellie continued to feel her head. Right at the front of her head were two bumps that felt almost like dull razors as she ran her finger over them. She wanted to scowl, but didn’t want to make a scene either.
Zero shrugged. “I don’t know, it’s like… how do I explain this? If all you…” he stared up at the ceiling for a moment while holding a bishop and lightly tapping his fingers on the table. “You only really get bored of things if you know there’s other, more entertaining things you could be doing.” He knocked over Peliah’s queen using the bishop.
She huffed a little as she took her piece off the board. “It definitely feels like you’ve been playing this your whole life.” She helplessly moved a pawn.
“I’m telling you, I’d beat the computer at this all the time.” Zero moved his knight again.
Suddenly, a smirk crept across Peliah’s face. “Oh really?”
“Yeah, even at the highest level, all the time.”
She flicked his Knight over. “You sure about that?”
“Huh? What are you- Oh.” He laughed a little, then took his Knight off the board as Peliah moved her pawn forward. “I guess I can still get too cocky too- serves me right.” He laughed again.
As Ellie watched him set his knight aside, something finally clicked. Startled, she moved her hand away from her head and rested it on the table, sitting up a little.
Zero noticed. “You ok?”
“Huh?”
“You look upset, is something wrong?”
She shook her head. “I’m just sore. Slept funny last night.”
“Oof, tell me about it…” grumbled Albin. “I think the floor would’ve been easier to sleep on than that couch.”
Everyone went quiet as Zero and Peliah focused on playing. The car alarm continued to blare, no one being around to shut it up.

pet_suppliesGore & Violence