I didn’t speak as I finished the fence. I used up most of the food to finish chopping down the trees, and thankfully, the boards were all I needed to finish the fence.

I pulled out the to-do list from my overall pocket, relieved to see that it was complete. Relieved to see the +2.00 for finishing the list, and relieved that the stars were just beginning to twinkle in the sky.

My arms were folded tightly around myself as I stepped onto the front porch. Once I had the back and front door locked, I heard the lamp post flicker to life. Then I entered the partially cleaned bedroom and collapsed on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

Would you like to go to sleep?

Y/N

I stared at it, but didn’t reply. Instead, I went back to staring at the ceiling. There was something incredibly unsettling about that white orb. I wasn’t even sure if it was a memory. Clearly it must have, because the paper changed to Quinn’s progress. My cleaning and logging had reached level three, and even my trap levels were at two. Farming was at one, and there were two more grayed out areas. I had looked them over after the shock of seeing that name.

My name?

A part of me still wrestled with that idea. The scenes the orb showed me didn’t feel like a memory, because it wasn’t me looking through the eyes of Quinn. It was me watching the entire scene, like a movie.

And yet part of me knew it felt familiar. Once I saw them, it was like a portion of my memories were unlocked.

I closed my eyes, remembering what it was like to lean against the edge of Theo’s bed and blab to him. I was such a talkative child with no filter. And yet that’s all I remembered. The only part of my life I remembered was the scenes I was shown. I don’t even remember Brenda and Doug talking in hushed whispers the night Theo came to the house, and I don’t remember what happened in the future. Thinking about Brenda and Doug, the only emotion I remember feeling was safe. I don’t remember if they keep being safe, or whatever happens in the future. All I remember is right then at that moment, they had my complete and total trust. I seriously hope they kept it. I’m pretty sure they did. They seemed like great people.

So had I been teleported to my house? I did note the first day that this house was one CPS would be called on if a child was living in it. Nothing felt familiar about this house, though, but neither did the name Quinn until I left the scenes. That aspect of it still unsettled me. Maybe I wouldn’t have any recollection of my house until I get a memory of it.

Would I get more of those white memory orbs? Or was that it? It was a piece of a puzzle, and I hoped I would keep getting them. They were the first real clues to what was going on, even if it was just me figuring out my name.

“Quinn,” I said to the ceiling, seeing how it felt. I was still unsure, yet I couldn’t deny what I felt after seeing those memories. Whoever put me here not only erased my memories so well, but they also made me doubt the memories I was shown. Why couldn’t I remember everything all at once?

Maybe everything happened for a reason. But sometimes the reason was also dumb. What I did know was I had somehow gotten teleported into this farming game, a genre that I love, with a prowling wolf creature that was supernatural and now had my scent. There must be some overlord alien people, and there’s no way I stumbled in here by accident. Something was going on, and the longer I played their game, the more clues I picked up.

I turned on my side, tears filling my eyes. I didn’t remember anything of my childhood. Even as little Quinn talked about it in such an easy manner, there were no further triggering memories for me. I simply listened as little Quinn explained her life. Her extremely short five years of live. Far more gruesome than anyone should have experienced. And yet… she took it in strides. That’s what surprised me so much. Was I really that little girl?

Would you like to go to sleep?

Y/N

I gave the phrase another withering stare. There was still so much to process, but I did it. I finished a to-do list well before nightfall, and I didn’t want to be conscious while the wolf creature searched the woods. I had all of tomorrow to process this, too. And the next day, and the next. Clues to who I was, why I was here, that would be a slow grind. I needed sleep.

I mentally chose yes, and my eyes closed.

Then they opened with red dawn light filling the bedroom. I sat up, not feeling rested, yet not feeling tired, either. Whatever strange limbo this was, I doubted I would ever get used to it.

With the new day, my sanity was now mostly full. If I had to guess, it was seventy-five percent. Maybe my sanity only filled up twenty five percent every night. If I had another horrible night where I stayed up until my sanity reached twenty percent, it would take four days for it to recover.

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I stood up, walking into the kitchen, passing the grimy mirror and promising myself that one day I would actually sleep in my nightgown to see if that could make my sleep better. Like if it gave me a boost to my sanity recovery. I never wanted to be in a position to test it, but if I did, maybe I’d try that. As it was, my stamina filled every day, so that was nice.

I walked into the kitchen and picked up the phone for my instructions.

“In three days, they will come. In three days, they will start to destroy. Anything you didn’t complete on your to-do list from yesterday will be added to this new list. If you do not finish your to-do list, you may not go to bed until midnight, or until your sanity drops to 20 percent.”

I leaned against the counter, closing my eyes, waiting.

“Purchase an article of clothing for cooking,

“Pick ten tomatoes,

“Water the tomato plants,

“Build a fire in the fire pit,

“Make tomato soup,

“Build the base of a chicken coop,

“Further instructions will follow…”

I stared at the to-do list, double checking on the calendar that there was another X. Three more days. My spike wall was set. Perhaps that would be enough to protect me from them.

Either way, I couldn’t start to question whether my alien overlords would steer me wrong. I had to hope that doing what the woman said would protect me. There was a certain level of trust that I simply had to give right now, because I really wasn’t in a position to demand things.

“Though the ability for my sanity to improve during the night if I ever sleep in my nightgown would be a nice thing,” I said as I walked out the back door and toward the clipboard.

I had 4.19 total dopamine points, and as usual, each article of clothing cost 5.00 points. I’m glad I finished my to-do list yesterday, because this would have made it a lot harder.

There was another page added to the clipboard that was titled Structures. It had the option to purchase a chicken coop, with an asterisk next to it saying Some assembly required.

Perfect. The chicken coop, though, cost 10.00 dopamine points. That was way more than anything I spent, or more than I have ever collectively had at one point in time. I had a feeling I was about to chop down this entire forest in order to get what I needed.

I entered the garage and went through my process again. I really wasted a lot of time trying to organize things, and I had way too much hope for a lot of these things to actually be worth anything. Oh well, I didn’t know. But I know now. So far, the stuff in the garage gave me the most points, and my food was running out. At least they were giving me an option to cook more, because I needed all the food I could get.

I went through the garage again, gathering items in a bag. The garage was almost done with the decluttering. It was still a grimy, tetanus nightmare, but with the kitchen completely clutter free, I was anxious to get the rest of the house free of clutter, too. I assumed that this first week was a trial period, and I wouldn’t have as many things to do on my list. Maybe once I survived them I could do what I wanted. The fact that I had to pass through multiple rooms full of junk and ignore that made me annoyed. If them wasn’t a threat constantly hanging over my head, I would have ignored all the to-do list and just cleaned the house.

Once my dopamine points hit 5.03 total, I purchased a chef’s jacket. I now had my trapper hat, my farmer’s overalls, and a chef’s button up jacket. The oddity was there, but I didn’t mind.

I walked toward my fence, hesitating for a moment. I wasn’t sure how to cross it, but as I reached out, the fence magically parted and I crossed it. I glanced behind myself to see it move back into place. That was nice. Did it keep the wolf out, too? Because that would give me more protection for the house.

I walked in and saw the tomato plants. They were all full grown, and each plant had one tomato on them. My fingers reached out and plucked the first tomato, and the change was instant. My mind began to whirl, and I realized there was more information on the clipboard inside the house. I was too curious not to check, so I gently set the tomato down and raced back inside.

Another page was there, this one called recipes. There were a ton of grayed out areas, but I focused on the three that weren’t.

Basic tomato soup

0/5 tomatoes

Creamy tomato soup

0/5 tomatoes

0/1 bottle of milk

Tomato and Egg

0/4 tomatoes

0/2 eggs

Well, that was nice. At least I wouldn’t have to guess for the recipes. I should have realized before, but what with me building a chicken coop, I assumed they really were going to let me raise chickens to gather eggs. Nice! Maybe there would be a barn, too, with cows, because I would need to replenish my milk.

I ran back to the green house and finished picking the tomatoes, a basket magically appeared in my hand when I had more than three. I placed the basket down before whipping out the watering can. Despite remembering I placed it in the greenhouse, as soon as I approached the tomato plants with the intent to water them, the watering can appeared in my hand. I watered the tomato plants again, then looked at my list. It wasn’t even mid-morning yet, and half my to-do list was done.

I walked back through the fence before looking around. I noticed the pit right off, because it wasn’t there the day before. A yard or two from the locked food storage room there was a circular, brick pit. I walked closer to it and saw, with my trapper hat, some numbers appear above it.

0/1 firewood

0/1 sticks

0/1 match

Words appeared in front of my face the moment the numbers appeared.

-.01 for more information

Y/N

Sure. That was cheap enough. I accepted the cost, and information was downloaded into my brain.

If I put in what the firepit requested, then a fire would burn for one hour, and I could make some things with that fire. I also had a feeling that chopping down the firewood even more would get me those sticks and matches.

Yep. Absolutely worth the -.01. I did my best to not even look relieved, because I didn’t want the alien overlords to realize how much that gave me for so cheaply. Then I remembered they could read my mind.

My shoulders sagged, but I still struggled to keep the relief off my face. Knowing how hard puzzles like this were for me in a game, it was nice to not spend half the day trying to figure all this out. Oh well. I got the information I needed. It was time to get to work.