“Do you give up?”

I gasped, sitting up. I was in that white room again. Instead of the male, though, it was the female. Out of habit of my experience with every other human, I looked right into her eyes. They were so different from the male’s. They seemed to be building up instead of shifting and changing.

I dropped my gaze, trying to remember how to breathe. “I… didn’t die. I just collapsed.”

“No. Your physical makeup in that world does not let you die the same way Theo does.”

Her words brought fear. “Does… am I…”

“The punishment is still the same. You will lose one day, just as Theo does,” she said.

“Where… where…” I was finding it as difficult to talk to the sister as I did the brother.

“You will not get more answers from me,” she said. “It is my brother who likes to bend the rules. I stick to them. Answer my question. Do you give up?”

“Give up what?” I asked.

“The game. Do you give up?” she repeated.

I shook my head. “No. No I don’t.”

The sister waved a hand, and I gasped, sitting up in bed. The dawn light was red, and I patted myself. I had all my stamina back, but I was only at twenty-five percent sanity. Which meant the shadows would get weird, and I’d hear whispers. My inventory was untouched. No penalty for that.

I ran out of bed, promising myself I’d go to sleep with my nightgown on tonight. But there was one final thing I needed to check. To make sure that I wasn’t getting the rug pulled out from under me.

I ran to the kitchen, running my finger over the calendar and counted. Three days. I had three days left. I really did just loose those few hours of the night when I died. I thought the alien overlords would make me lose an extra day, but it was just those few hours.

I let out a sigh, even though I was still deeply uncomfortable. I didn’t like that. I didn’t know how Theo could do that time and time again. Sure, maybe this was just a game, but I didn’t like throwing myself at danger. Besides, I didn’t just lose a day. I lost my sanity. I’d gain it all back before they attacked, but it was something I had to watch.

I let out a breath and began my morning routine. I dropped the glass into the barn, waiting. The words shifted before appearing.

Apply prime

I sighed. This felt like a final thing, but just in case, I quickly ran over to the garage. I fired up the painting station, and instead of just the house, there was the newly built barn, too. I touched that, and a timer started for six hours. Once that was done, I wondered if I could choose the color, or if I had to choose a red one. Why were all barns red?

I started making another batch of bricks. By the end of tonight I would have the storage unit all updated.

No, no. I caught myself. I would have the brick section of the storage unit done. I seriously needed to stop thinking it would be the last thing to have done. I had been foiled enough by that.

By tonight I would have another five bags of sand in the tool. Tomorrow morning, I’d have the glass in the greenhouse. And then on the morning they arrived, the greenhouses would be all finished. The barn could conceivably be done in less than three days, too. My entire to-do list will be done, and it will feel amazing.

I placed all the clay formed bricks on the ground. Those would bake for half a day, then I’d have more baked clay to form into bricks. After an entire season, I was finally starting my stockpiling, and it felt fantastic.

I entered the greenhouse, watering the plants. Nothing could be picked today, which was a bummer. Stockpiling food was my other thing I wanted to have done. But that would be an ongoing process. Honestly the biggest thing was to get the storage unit done. That would be a big relief to upgrade.

When the greenhouses were done, Theo broke through the trees, walking toward the house. He noticed me and smiled. “Good. Just wanted to make sure the same rules that apply to me also apply to you.”

“They do. I just lost those few hours of yesterday,” I said.

“See? It’s not so bad,” Theo said.

I didn’t reply. There was still a twisting in my gut that I didn’t like. I walked into the chicken coop to gather eggs, and Theo followed me.

“Hey, you alright?” Theo asked.

“The alien overlords contacted me again while I was dead,” I said. “Did they contact you?”

“No,” Theo said. “No, it was just all black, then waking back up in my base.”

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My brows furrowed. I still patted Daisy and Buttercup’s heads before heading toward the house. Theo remained by the coop.

“It still bothers you? About the alien overlords?” Theo asked.

“Yes. “It bothers me a lot.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s a mystery I don’t understand,” I half shouted since I was heading into the covered part of the back porch. Theo wouldn’t follow me in the house. “There’s a clue here as to why we’re in this world. There’s got to be.”

I placed the eggs in the storage room and walked back outside. Theo was rubbing his chin. “The people who you assume created the game are talking to you but not talking to me? Is that a good summary of the mystery plaguing you?”

“And why? Why are they doing that?” I asked. “Why is it that every time I die, they ask if I give up? But they don’t ask the same thing to you?”

Theo went back to rubbing his chin in thought. Words appeared in front of my vision.

Play the game. Get your answers.

I groaned so loud Theo glanced at me in concern. I waved a hand at him. “It’s nothing. Just an annoying repeat of non-answers the alien overlords are giving me.”

Theo continued to stare at me, and I guested toward the space where the words would be, even as they started to dissolve. “They keep telling me to play the game to get my answers. Well, I have been playing the game, and…”

Okay, to be honest, I have been getting a lot of answers. They’ve just been extremely slow in coming. It was like peeling back an onion one very thin layer at a time.

Theo gestured over his shoulder. “That barn looks nice.”

“Hey, thanks. It’s getting primed now.” The timer over the barn was counting down from six hours. “I’m trying to decide what color to paint it.”

“Red?” Theo asked.

“Every barn is red. I’m trying to decide whether to go with the easy decision, or the whimsical. Do you think the alien overlords would let me do a variety of colors?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Theo said, walking over to the barn. “Maybe even a smiley face in the middle.”

I snorted, following him to the barn. We stood admiring it for a second, when words started filling my vision.

Barns were originally painted red because of rust. Iron oxide was an excellent, cost-effective sealant that protected the wood from moss and fungi. As the iron oxide mixed with the solution, it often came out red.

You may choose whatever color you’d like.

I stared at the words as they slowly started to fade. “Well, thank you for that. Thank you for taking your time to describe why barns were painted red and not why you’re talking to me instead of Theo.”

Theo glanced over, his face a mixture of worry and curiosity.

I love sarcasm

I stared at the words, wondering if that was from the brother because he liked bending the rules, or if it was from the sister, saying it sarcastically.

I am incapable of sarcasm. I do not understand it. That was my brother.

My fingers dug into my temples as the words disappeared. Theo kept staring at me, the curiosity changing to concern.

“That’s how you talk to them?” Theo asked.

I dropped my hands, motioning toward my eyes. “Words appear in my vision, and I talk out loud. I guess I don’t have to talk out loud, because they can read my thoughts. I just like talking out loud, because I don’t want to think about them reading my mind.”

Theo took this all in, blinking quite a few times. “I think this is what literally every other character feels like when around a Disney princess talking to animals.”

I gave his shoulder a slap. “Shut up.”

He snorted, not even bothering to rub his shoulder. He then glanced at something behind him, the smile dropping. “What’s that?”

I turned around, trying to figure out what he meant. I noticed it right away. What with a lot of the trees cleared, it was impossible not to notice the beer can right by the lilac bushes. In my haste to prime the barn, I forgot to pick those up. Theo walked over, the closest he’d been to his house. He picked up the beer can, alarmed.

“It’s… it happens every night,” I said, walking over to him, changing into my cleaning clothes. “In fact, if you look here….” With my cleaning gloves, I scooped up the few cigarette butts on the ground. Theo stared at them, eyes wide.

“Who… who…”

“I don’t know,” I said.

Theo’s head jerked in the direction of the forest, then back at me. “Someone comes in and…” He glanced at the window. I knew he was doing the calculations of what he remembered of the layout of the house. His eyes widened even further when he realized what room that was. I gave a grim nod.

“Yeah,” was all I said.

“What an absolute creep,” Theo said, standing up and pulling out his sword.

“Theo, wait,” I said, holding his shoulder. “Do you remember who this is?” I held up the beer can and the cigarette butts. “Was this talked about in your childhood? Beer cans by the window?”

“Doesn’t matter if I remember. What matters is this dude’s going to die,” Theo said.

“So… that’s a no.”

“How are you so calm?” Theo asked.

“I’m not. Or, at least, I wasn’t. I don’t know who this is. I’ve never even glimpsed them. I’m not even sure what gender this person is. Nothing has come of this, except for the beer cans and the cigarette butts that give me a miniscule boost in dopamine when I drop them in the dumpster, and a miniscule sliver of sanity taken away.”

Theo kept staring at me, his lips in a thin line. We stayed that way for some time before his lips cracked open, the sentence leaking out. “I want you to seriously consider coming back with me to my base camp. It’s not safe here.”

“And again, Theo. It’s not safe for me at your base camp, either. I have a barely upgraded axe that helps me chop down trees and a pickaxe that breaks up stone. I will die a lot on your side, and something tells me that I’ll wake up here.” I gestured toward the bedroom window.

Theo’s eyes traveled to the trash in my hands as he gripped the handle of his sword tighter. There was the slight flicker of fear that shifted to resolve. “I think I found my next monster to get information on.”

“Theo…” I started to say before trailing off.

“I’m going to explore this forest, see if I can find this creep's lair. Then I’m going to murder him.” A gleam entered his eyes that I wasn’t sure I knew how to interpret. I just knew I didn’t like it. “This is going to feel so amazingly cathartic.”

I grabbed his shoulder again to stop him. “You know who it is, don’t you.”

I waited. Waited for whatever information he told me.

“I have a guess.” He gestured again toward the trash, trying to open his mouth to say something. This was hard, but I just waited. “My dad.” He glanced down. “If this place really is a recreation of what happened, there’s a hell of a good chance this is my dad.”

Despite waiting for an answer, now that I knew, I wasn’t sure how to react. Theo never talked about his dad. That much I felt in my soul. It was only his mom. “Did he… was he the one who killed your mom?”

Theo’s gaze remained fixed on the ground. “Murder suicide. My mom, my grandma, then himself. I’m not sure he knew I existed. Something tells me that if he did, I would have been dead on that floor with them.”