Turns out, hitting an axe against a tree was a great way to work through frustration. Crying a bit helped too. These people were not my friends. I had to remember that.

One logging shirt gave me four logs from a tree. Game logic dictated that I could carry an entire log on my shoulder to where the chicken coop base was without it hurting my stamina. This logging shirt was wild. But a part of me would always wonder what it would be like with the hard hat and the steel-toed boots. Would I be able to carry more logs? I already knew I’d be able to get six logs out of it. If I had six logs, I would have only needed to cut down three trees, with a few logs left over for whatever I wanted to do with them. Now I had to cut through four trees, and only get one log left over. Not only that, I only had four cans of soup left. I ate through so much food today.

It still hurt, the excitement of all those logs hitting the ground. Getting it all taken away like that.

Are you sure you don’t want to forget?

Y/N

I stared at the phrase popping up in my vision. Once again, a reminder that they could read my thoughts.

“Look, alien overlords, or whatever you are,” I said as I picked up one of the last four logs on the ground. “If you’re really here for a lesson on human nature, let me explain it to you. No doubt you’ve heard me say how uncomfortable I am about being a rat in a lab. And it’s true.”

I dropped the log onto the chicken coop base, aware I wasn’t even winded as I went back to get another. “I don’t like this. Any of it. I understand I’m being placed in some sort of game, and that you are slowly giving me pieces of the puzzle. You’re also taking some of my suggestions, which is lovely. Nice boost to the ego.” I picked up another log, placing it on my shoulders. “But I understand you still have an amount of control over me that I’ve never experienced before with anyone else. It unsettles me deeply.”

The words popped again in my vision.

Are you sure you don’t want to forget?

Y/N

“I don’t ever want to forget,” I said. “I never want to forget that you have the power to do this. I’m going to figure out how to get out of here. I will get back to my family, whoever they are. I will regain my memories, all of them, and I won’t be part of your little experiment. As much as this is discomforting, that I want more than anything to scream at you for taking away those six tree branches, I refuse to forget. It would be worse. You have power no one should have, so I need to remember you have it.”

So I can stop you.

I was surprised I thought that as I dropped the second log into the chicken coop, but it was true. Whatever beings there were up there, they couldn’t have this level of power. But that still didn’t stop the need to make sure overly powerful beings were still in check. If they hurt my family, my friends, they needed to pay. How, I didn’t know. I didn’t even know my family or friends, but the instinct was there. Like my hatred for horror and my love of farming games. I didn’t know anyone’s face, but if anyone hurt my family, they would absolutely get the-

Inability to focus while still remembering. Beginning the process to delete the memory.

“STOP!” I shouted. “NO!”

The words in my vision faded. I panted, dropping to my knees in a panic. The log on my shoulder slipped off, and I clutched my chest, trying to calm down. “Please, don’t. Please, let me keep that memory.” Tears raced down my cheeks. “I need it. Don’t take another thing from me.”

Distress will go away. Seems logical.

I wasn’t a rat in a maze. Instead, I was an ant in a farm, begging a human to not pick up the container and shake it.

“I can’t forget,” I whispered. “Please. Let me keep it.”

There was another pause. I hated how much this hurt.

We are not your enemies. We are not your friends, either. We are a neutral party and will remain so. Does this ease your distress?

I swallowed, the tears still racing down my cheeks. I wasn’t sure how well I could trust them. They still held a power over me that deeply unsettled me. But, as with everything since the day I woke up in this mysterious house, what choice did I have?

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Thank you for telling me a bit more about yourself.” My throat ached from the crying and the panicked screaming, and it barely came out as a whisper.

If it distresses you again, we will take away the memory.

I didn’t know how to read it in any other way except a threat. But I swallowed before nodding. I got to my feet, my legs trembling. I picked up the last log and hefted it onto my shoulders before walking toward the base of the chicken coop.

A neutral party. That’s what they called themselves. I didn’t know how I felt about it, but I also didn’t have much of a choice.

I dropped the last log onto the base. There was a popping sound, and the base appeared. It looked like Lincoln logs, put together with a nice foundation. Another thing popped up.

0/100 boards

I sighed, pulling out my to-do list. Everything was crossed out. I didn’t have to finish the chicken coop, which was a good thing. Judging by the number, I doubted this would be finished in one day.

I closed my eyes, trying to breathe away the unease. It would never go away. I was still here in a game, with a wolf monster trying to attack me. It was yet another reminder that I couldn’t get lost in my favorite game. I needed to pay attention to the clues and see if there was a way out of here.

Technically I could sleep now, but I didn’t want to. This was the first time ever that I had a little under half a day to do whatever I wanted.

I went over to the clipboard and finally bought myself a pair of yellow rubber cleaning gloves. My outfit was a sight to see. Trapper hat, plaid shirt, farmer overalls, and now cleaning gloves. I wanted to see what these gloves did.

I gathered up more junk from my bedroom, as I really wanted that to look nice when I woke up. Waking up to a clean bedroom did wonders for my mental health. With it partially decluttered already, I forced myself to forget about this morning and worked hard to clean the room.

No, I wasn’t going to forget this morning. Only partially forget. I tried not to let the panic of it all take me again, but I couldn’t forget it entirely. That was the entire conversation, after all. I wanted to keep those memories. I needed to remember why. I needed every bit of memories I had to figure out this puzzle.

It was more than how I got here. I needed to know who was watching over me. They called themselves a neutral party. It’s what anyone would say, except there were things that made me believe them. They took my suggestions at times, but they also changed things, so it wasn’t too easy for me. I just didn’t understand their motivations.

My mind eased off this thought process. I didn’t want to dwell on this group too long. I tried not to make it terrify me, but I remembered what they said. Memories that they thought weren’t important would be erased if it made me panic too much.

The trash and junk was all in the dumpster, and I stood there with my hands on my hips, surveying my work. The electricity didn’t work, so it was harder to clean the later it got. There had to be some way for the electricity to get working again. Sure, it was summertime, but soon it would be fall. Then winter. Way sooner than I was used to, since every season only lasted thirty-five days.

Yeah, that was weird, but everything about this was weird, so I added it to the list. I walked back over to the clipboard and picked it up, because my gloves told me to. Now that the bedroom and the kitchen were cleaned, I saw cleaning chemicals I could buy. I was pretty sure buying the gloves made it so I could start cleaning instead of just decluttering.

There was a basic cleaning kit which was 3.00 points, so I bought that and started working. I sprayed the slightly sticky kitchen table, then moved to the outside of the fridge, the inside, then all the cupboards. I then washed the windows, watching the grime fall off. Seriously, so satisfying.

I moved to the bedroom and did the same, cleaning off the windows and the tops of desks before getting that grimy mirror. I sprayed it before wiping it off. It followed game logic, where the crack in the mirror started to heal as I continually wiped over it. I knew I was done when a slight sheen went over the entire surface.

I smiled, hands on my hips. This bedroom looked so much better. The clutter was gone. The floor was in desperate need of a vacuum, but I couldn’t do that until I had electricity. The spray didn’t work on the walls, but maybe that would come with buying another article of clothing. I got the feeling that buying the gloves made it so simple cleaning like this didn’t cost any of my stamina, which was nice. I could finally do the dishes without it costing my stamina.

There was the last of the light of the setting sun coming through the newly cleaned window. I had a lot to do tomorrow, even if the woman never gave me a list of my own. I would have to pick more tomatoes and start building a stockpile of food. Cutting down all those logs ate through my supply of food, literally. A part of me felt like it was a waste to cook for only an hour, but I still didn’t have electricity. Maybe, depending on the to-do list tomorrow, I could start storing tomatoes in the food storage area until I had a stockpile and then start cooking food in large batches. Maybe I could also store firewood, sticks, and matches in the area too, so I always had something on hand to-

I spaced off, but was snapped back in the present when something humanoid appeared behind me. I gasped, turning around to see nothing. I focused on the mirror again to see the translucent humanoid come back to shape.

It was an old female with gray hair. She had on something I’d seen grandma’s wearing around the house. It was kind of like a robe, but this one had a zipper. Like a house coat? It was floral, and…

…and blood appeared, dripping from her face onto the fabric.

I gasped, once again leaping around to check behind me, but there was no one. I gave the mirror one last wide-eyed look, and the woman’s jaw dropped open in an inhuman manner as she shrieked. The scream echoed out of the mirror before it reverberated around the house and I screamed with it, backing away from the mirror.

I was panting, terrified as I leapt into bed.

“Sleep.” It was softer, as I grabbed the pillow, pinching my eyes closed. “Sleep. Please. Sleep.”

Darkness came, and I didn’t have time to think about what it might mean to sleep in the same room as a shrieking ghost.