It was too late to upgrade it. Despite being able to get fifteen minutes of time from the chilled soup, I couldn’t finish it all tonight. But the knowledge alone gave me a bit of comfort. Repairing damages was the last thing on my list. I ate another bowl of chilled tomato soup and did my greenhouse gardening for the day. The tomatoes were picked and watered, the potatoes were just watered. I now knew how to repair glass. Once the glass was repaired, I could go back to the faster growing times.

When I finished up the gardening, I used the last remainder of time to look at my house. With the three articles of building clothes, I could see that it wasn’t just the brick tool I could upgrade. The greenhouse, too, had words shiver into view.

Upgrade greenhouse?

Repair damages first, then instructions will follow

0/5 glass

I tried not to get too excited about the possibility of an upgraded greenhouse, because it was a reminder that I was in a game. I needed to figure out why I was here, but my imagination still went wild with what that could possibly mean. More room for produce would be nice. I wasn’t sure when I would unlock the other greenhouses, but hopefully soon.

“Focus, Quinn,” I said quietly to myself. “Don’t forget why you’re here.”

Play the game. Get answers. Get out.

Which is when I saw that the storage area could be upgraded too. Probably for more space. It was getting a bit crowded in there. But I remained focused on my job at hand.

I walked over to the front porch covered with junk and five minutes to get it in the dumpster, something above the garage wobbled. I glanced up.

Upgrade garage?

Finish decluttering before upgrading.

Greenhouse, storage, and the garage? Curse this curiosity of mine. There were so many options for all of this!

I focused on the last of the boxes as the sun set. Then I slipped inside to see Killie’s back arched, staring at a corner of the living room. She was hissing, her claws out.

“Okay, okay girl. Thank you. Come on, let’s…” I hurried to the kitchen, but Killie remained. She hissed at the mysterious intruder as I was in the kitchen. “Killie, come on. Killie, you can’t hurt whatever it is. Come on.”

I didn’t have a plan for whatever this was. Killie could see ghosts and I could not. Despite most of the activity happening upstairs, there was that grandma ghost that liked screaming. At least she did when I saw her in the mirror. I didn’t want to see any other ghosts tonight.

With the second floor unlocked, it made a circular loop between the kitchen, to the hallway, to the bedroom, and then into the entertainment room and living room. I had an idea that I could continually circle around the first floor, ignoring all the ghosts Killie could see.

In my mind it worked. But Killie was a teenage cat that was fiercely protective of me because I fed her every morning. It’s something I respect, honestly, but I needed her to not try and attack the ghost. I don’t like the thought of a ghost getting aggravated enough to attempt to strike back. And I didn’t want to figure out if they even could strike back.

“Killie, please,” I said, motioning her over.

She let out a snarl and leapt toward the computer desk. She sailed right through what I assumed was the ghost before slamming into the desk. I gasped, ready to help her, but she scrambled to her feet, hissing and spitting as she tried again.

I ran out in my animal care clothes and grabbed Killie who was a hissing, spitting mess.

“Killie, girl. It’s okay. It’s me. Come on.” I grabbed her in my arms, which in hindsight was probably stupid, and rushed her into the kitchen, then through the hallway into the bedroom. I dropped her and examined the scratch marks on my arms. I was pretty sure I saw scratch and bite resistant gloves as an option to buy. Those would be next.

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“Hey, girl,” I said, trying to pet Killie. She was trembling with rage and fear, and I did my best to calm her down. “That was a ghost you saw. It’ll be alright.”

Killie eventually calmed down, but it took at least an hour of constant petting. I was confused about what I saw. Whatever that ghost was, Killie had a bad reaction to it. I had the thought that there was only that granny shrieking ghost, but what if there were more? I honestly didn’t know, and I also didn’t want to know.

We waited in the dark bedroom, and I did my best to calm Killie down. My arms burned with scratch marks, and I wondered why I didn’t have health points. The answer came to me a lot quicker than I would have liked: I got scared way too easily, and it was faster for my sanity to drop than it would any hit points.

Not sure how I felt about that, but fine. Besides, they didn’t have a specific attack. They more drained life out of me, which I assumed also had to do with sanity.

Killie was resting on my bed when she leapt to her feet again, hissing, staring at the door leading to the hallway.

“Okay, girl. It’ll be alright.” I scooped her up again and moved into the entertainment room. Yep, I was willing to do this the whole night until I could go to bed. It saved my sanity, and tonight they were coming.

What was so weird was how harshly Killie reacted to the whole thing. The only thing different between now and before was that the second floor was finally unlocked. Did getting access to the second floor create that many more spirits in the house?

I heard the child laughing again as we were in the kitchen. Killie ignored it because she was glaring sharply at the archway leading into the living room. I shivered at the sound of the child’s laughter. That child was not a threat. It didn’t matter how many times I told myself that, it still sent a shiver down my spine.

I knew they were close to arriving because Killie finally calmed down. The spirts must have left, and my arms were stinging with multiple cuts. Killie dropped out of my arms before sauntering into the living room like she hadn’t spent the last three hours hissing and spitting at ghosts in the corner.

I was panting, staring at my stamina that had lost a few slivers. Killie freaking out in my arms did not help my arms or my sanity, but at least it wasn’t a huge chunk like before. I may not have finished my list, but the walls would hold. They were going to hold. They had to hold.

Killie went to the couch, licking her paws as I moved toward the door, feeling nauseous. I pulled out my axe, staring at the door. Deep down I knew the axe would do nothing. Whatever they were, they could not be hurt by the axe. But I held it all the same.

The silence became absolute. The crickets, the wildlife, everything had come to a stop. Killie glanced up from licking her paw. I stared at the door, axe raised, trying not to remember the sludge like beings that crept through the door before.

The rumbling started. The kind of vibrating sound that pierced my soul and threatened to shatter my bones. Tears leapt to my eyes as I held the axe.

“Please be enough. Please be enough. Please be enough.”

I hadn’t finished my list, but I finished strengthening the wall. The rumbling grew deeper, and I gasped, tears streaming down my face as my knees weakened.

“Be enough. Be enough. Be enough.”

The growls approached the fence, and I didn’t know how I kept standing. My sanity took a hit, diving to below halfway as I kept staring at the door. The silence was such that I was terrified of speaking. The phrase I repeated to myself was placed on hold as I held my breath.

There was a crack, then a bellow. A bellow that shook my entire being as I dropped the axe. My knees finally gave out and I collapsed on the ground.

“Be enough,” I mumbled. “Be enough. Be enough.”

There was another crack and bellow before the growling returned. I panted, too terrified to sob, even though tears streamed down my face.

“Enough,” I whispered, the relief slamming into me. “Enough. Enough. Enough.”

They left. I could feel it. My body could not stop shaking as Killie ran up to me, rubbing her back against my arm.

“Enough,” I said, holding my cat. “Enough. Enough.”

My sanity was almost gone. Those bellows took chunks out of it. If they had bellowed again, my sanity would have disappeared.

I couldn’t move. I wanted to scoop Killie up and run to the bedroom, but the relief mixed with pure exhaustion made it difficult to get to my feet. What was it about them that weakened me so badly?

I kept a hand on Killie, feeling my eyes grow heavy. She purred in my arms, and with every purr I felt myself return to a sliver of myself. They were gone. The fence was strong enough. I didn’t finish the list, but I didn’t get attacked by them. My game mind told me that this was huge. As long as I strengthened the wall, all the other suggestions on my to-do list were just that. Suggestions. Yes, suggestions I should listen to, because now I had the option of upgrading buildings, but my priorities shifted. Every single list I was given needed to be first repair damage to the fence and strengthen it. I could do this.

With trembling legs, I stumbled to my feet, holding Killie in my arms.

“Killie, I could never survive here without you,” I whispered to my cat in the silence of the house. I changed into my nightgown and collapsed on the bed.

“Sleep,” I muttered, my heavy eyes already giving in. “Sleep.”

My exhausted body still shivered as sleep took me.