The warning bells in my mind went off the moment my eyes opened. I was back in the lilac room, but something was off. It took me another blink to realize what it was. There was no red dawn light.

I threw off the covers and went straight for the windows, opening the blinds. I couldn’t see. The entire grounds were covered in a thick fog, and I realized what day it was on the calendar.

It was a little unsettling, but it was about as unsettling as the first few times when it was raining. It was like that, except there was no sound of rain.

I went upstairs to the first floor to immediately start repairing my cleaning dress. It would take six hours to restore. Which meant I had to switch it out in the middle of the day, and by tomorrow morning my entire outfit would be restored. I still had one cleaning clothing right now, so I’d still be okay.

I walked down the stairs to start my morning routine. After feeding and gathering food from my animals, my curiosity got to me, and I entered the third greenhouse first. As I expected, I’d need to repair the soil boxes.

I walked outside to the nearest tree and started chopping. I was halfway through when I could not shake the very real feeling that someone was watching me. I glanced over toward the forest near the barn when a shadowy figure disappeared behind the barn.

The axe dropped from my hand as I backed away, my heartrate spiking. Maybe I needed to be more on edge. A rainy day brought something more I needed to do. A particularly sunny day did, too. I had never seen fog before, but I shouldn’t have been so careless as to just start my day as normal. This was an abnormal weather day, and I needed to be aware.

I picked up the axe again, and in that moment I froze. What was I supposed to do? I really wanted to finish the soil beds and get that done. I couldn’t wait another full day before getting that wheat planted. But could I do this without knowing exactly what fog meant?

The fog was so thick. I could barely see the barn from where I was. Maybe I just imagined that figure by the barn.

Or maybe I was being an idiot, and I should run inside now.

But wheat! Rice! I… I really wanted to plant those.

Was it worth my life, though?

Theo already figured out that lives are a bit more disposable in this game.

Which made me a hypocrite because I clearly told him to treat life with more respect.

And if I had even an ounce of the courage Theo had, I would have that tree down by now and the boards in my inventory to fix the soil beds.

I let out a deep breath. Fix the soil beds, plant the seeds, then run inside. Then figure out what fog does, exactly.

I chopped the rest of the tree down, quickly breaking up the boards before stuffing them in my inventory. Nope, I was still an idiot. I needed to figure out what fog did before risking my life like this. Even still, I sprinted into the greenhouse and closed the door. I let out a breath, wondering if this was worth it.

I didn’t wait for all the thoughts to catch up. Instead, I got to work building the soil boxes, then sneaking into the first greenhouse to collect the fertilizer before moving back to the third one. I wasn’t sure how these boxes would help with growing wheat, but as with everything, game logic happened.

I was halfway with planting the wheat when I heard a wet sniffle near the first greenhouse. Every bone inside my body froze. I glanced at my wolf timer, but I realized it was gone. Completely missing from my vision. I swallowed, then stared back at the box again as I heard more sniffing.

I needed to get to the back of the house. Now. But every bone in my body was rooted to the spot. The wolf followed my path from the first greenhouse to the third. I could not move, even if I tried.

I glanced at the door, wondering if that would keep a wolf away. Who was I kidding. I was in a glass box. Despite everything I now knew about the house, it was the wolf that I knew I had to be careful about.

A huge shadow crossed the greenhouse, and a tear dropped from my eye as my sanity took a hit. The wolf appeared by the door; its sniffing far more excited. The door squeaked open, and the terror shoved my feet forward. I stumbled, hitting against the door to close it. The wolf snarled in reply. A whimper escaped me as I heard a spine crack and the shadow grew. I closed my eyes, feeling trapped.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Quinn!”

My heart sank. “Theo! Run!” I tried to be as loud as possible. The wolf snarled again, sprinting toward Theo.

I threw open the greenhouse door and ran to the back door. “In the house, Theo! Hurry!” I shouted.

The fog was so thick I could hardly see. I saw a human by the back door, and I thought it was Theo. Until he turned around.

I stopped, rooted at the spot. The man smiled, the light from his cigarette lit up his face. That was not a smile I ever wanted to have pointed in my direction. My skin felt like it was covered in beetles.

The man took a few steps forward, that dark smile still on his face. I stumbled back, my sanity dropping below fifty percent. The two wolves were here.

I turned around to sprint to the front of the house when the wolf was there. It stood on its hind legs, holding out its paws, the claws extending into thick weapons. It snarled at me, opening its mouth that was full of so much teeth that it had to be improbable.

I screamed as my sanity plummeted.

“Quinn!” I could hardly hear Theo over my screaming.

The wolf raised its paws to attack, but my vision was already blackening at the corner. The man behind me started chuckling like this was funny. Funny to see me screaming until my voice was hoarse.

I fell to my knees, my head falling forward.

“Quinn!”

I could barely hear Theo, my vision was fading so quickly. It sounded like everything was underwater.

Until I shot right back up, gasping for air. I felt my arms, my chest, my head. The bars were gone from my vision, and I was in a white room.

“Do you give up?” It was the male again. I knew not to look at him. I was breathing deeply, trying to calm myself.

“Hell no,” I whispered.

The male smirked. “Didn’t think so.”

He waved a hand, and I once again sat bolt right up in bed. My sanity was at twenty-five percent, and my stamina had all returned. The red light of dawn filled my room, and I was still breathing deeply. Did I have more questions for the alien overlords? Maybe I shouldn’t have answered so quickly. I felt like my end game objective was clear.

Killie jumped on my bed, meowing. I lifted a hand, and she moved into it. Cold sweat was running down my face as I tried to calm myself down. It never felt like hours had passed. I felt like I just barely died. I hated that sensation.

“Lesson learned. Fog is not our friend,” I mumbled.

Killie kept meowing, and I grabbed her, cuddling with her as I walked up the stairs to the second floor. I had lost a day. I switched out my cleaning dress from the sewing machine and put my apron on there to be repaired. I’d have all my cleaning outfit done by tonight.

I walked down the stairs, still holding Killie. The shadows were starting to move again, and I was seriously considering eating some comfort food to bring my sanity up to fifty percent.

“Quinn!”

Theo was outside, sounding just as frightened and scared as yesterday. Yesterday that only felt a few minutes ago. Killie jumped out of my arms and ran out the back door. I hurried out of the house because the shadows kept stretching in odd ways.

Theo was marching toward the back door like he was fully ready to search the house for me. When he saw me, he barreled into me, wrapping me in a hug so tight it made it difficult to breathe. I patted his back, having enough air to say the phrase I wanted to tell him.

“I’m alright. I’m okay. I’m not dead.”

Theo clung to me, trying to muffle his sobs. I kept holding him.

“I’m alright. I’m alright.”

I didn’t dare let go of him until he let go of me first. I remembered how loud I screamed. It wasn’t that long ago. I also remembered how desperate Theo was searching for me.

Theo let go of me. He stared at my throat, his fingers trembling as he traced them over there. It was only when he knew for certain I hadn’t been slashed there that he finally relaxed his shoulders.

“Did you die, too?” I asked.

Theo nodded. “The thing is a level sixty-five monster. He killed me fast.”

“Did you see your… dad?”

“Yes,” Theo said. “Got enough stabs in him to know he’s a ghost. I… I don’t know… I’ll have to…”

How was Theo going to get rid of his ghost father? For whatever reason, I didn’t think a nice chat like he had with his nana would get rid of him. Theo placed a shaky hand against his hair. His clear tears were cleaning off the sludge. He wiped his cheeks, taking a steady breath.

“What do you need me to do?” I asked.

Theo shook his head. “I’ve already taken a lot from you already. I got a note that there is an amulet that can make the wearer use the teleportation device. I’m going to get it for you, so you can run back to the base whenever you need to. I just… needed to make sure you’re okay.”

“I’m okay,” I said, nodding. Theo gave me one last hug. I held him tight. “I’d like to be there when you confront your father. I want to give my support.”

Theo nodded as he let me go. “I don’t want to face him until you have an amulet. To make sure you have a fast way to return to my base. It might take me a day or two, but I’ll be back with it.”

“Okay. Please… take care of yourself.”

“You too,” Theo said.

We stayed that way for a moment. I wasn’t sure what to do. Theo was getting the amulet, sure, but I was also certain he was mentally preparing himself to face his ghost father. I wasn’t sure what I could say to give him any sort of comfort.

Theo walked forward, and I could tell the corruption was gone. He had died, so it was all gone. Whatever came into his system during the night he had cried it out while hugging me. He stood, determined, on the patch of grass near the greenhouse and disappeared. I let out a sigh. Why did I feel so helpless all the time.

The answer came to me as soon as I thought about it. Theo was battling so many things, and I felt like I was just handing him a nice little platter of food to help him feel better while I patted his shoulder. It felt ridiculous. He even said how much it helped, but I wanted to fight his demons for him. But that would be impossible. I had no capability to fight his demons. It felt about as helpful as giving him a stick to fight them.

I sighed, then got to work.