Back at the house, Scotty and Kitsie were poking around Daniel's basement. They wanted to see if they could clean up some of the mess from the explosion when they saw Daniel's gaming console laying apart on a table. They walked over to observe it.

"I wonder what he was trying to do?" asked Scotty. He picked up a green computer chip and examined it.

"Probably trying to figure out what happened," said Kitsie while looking over his shoulder. She pushed her glasses up with her finger. “Aren't you curious?"

"About what?"

"You're not the least bit curious as to how we got here?" she asked.

"Yeah, of course," scoffed Scotty, feigning interest. He and Kitsie glanced down at the console. Within seconds, they began frantically searching for the pieces to put it back together.

"No, that piece goes there!" yelled Kitsie. She ripped a tool from Scotty's hands. "Let me do it."

"How do you know where it's supposed to go?!"

"Woman's intuition," said Kitsie as she put the loose computer chip into an inner the console's inner compartment. It fit perfectly. “I’m also mechanically inclined.”

Scotty crossed his arms while she placed the console's outer casing back on. "Well, let's see if this works." She turned on one of the few working TV monitors on the wall.

Scotty found an open outlet and plugged in the console. He took the HDMI cord that plugged into the TV and searched for a spot to plug it in. After a few failed attempts, he found the right input. "Gotcha!" he said, plugging the cord into the monitor. "See? I know what I’m doing."

Kitsie rolled her eyes and pushed the power button on the console. With a ‘BEEP’ it turned on. She and Scotty grinned with delight as the television auto selected the connected input. The start menu for Misfit Nation soon filled the screen. Both of their grins disappeared when the game’s intro music seeped through the television speakers, as if to taunt them with a sinister reflection of the life they came from.

"Our world never felt like a game when we were there," said Scotty. He stared at the screen with displeasure.

“It wasn’t a game. It may have been to Daniel, and everyone else here, but it wasn’t for us,” said Kitsie. She stepped up to the television and touched the screen with the palm of her hand. "This world chooses to see us as characters from a fake reality. I choose to believe that our reality was just…different. Just because something is different doesn’t make it any less real. "

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“I wanna go back,” sighed Scotty. “I don’t really like it here.”

Kitsie turned to face him and placed a loving hand on his cheek. “That’s because, despite the fact that it’s basically hell on Earth, our world is our home. It’s what we’re used to.”

Scotty looked into Kitsie’s eyes. “Are we ever going home?” he asked.

Kitsie opened her mouth to speak when the sound of the doorbell ringing cut her off. She smiled and patted Scotty on the back. “Let’s go see what’s going on upstairs,” she said, leading them both out of the basement. The two walked upstairs to see Andrew standing in the living room.

"Hey, have you guys seen Daniel?" asked Andrew. He took a fresh joint from his pocket and placed it between his lips.

"He and Lauren went to a wedding," said Jett, holding a remote in his hands. He arbitrarily flipped through channels with disinterest. "We don't know when they'll be back."

"That was today? Too bad I wasn’t invited,” he shrugged before the lighting the joint. He took a long drag, exhaled, and plopped down on the couch next to Ava. She scooted away from him. "Why don't you like me? Haven't a proved to be a nice guy?" he asked scooting closer to her.

"You're still disgusting," said Ava.

"You'll warm up to me eventually." Andrew smiled and addressed the others. "So, do you guys want to go do something?"

"What did you have in mind?" asked Rico.

Ava glared at Rico. "We told Daniel we wouldn't leave the house."

"Look, I don't know about you, but I'm bored as fuck," said Rico. "I have to get out of here."

“Yeah, me too,” said Jett. He tossed a TV remote to the side. “I’ve gone through 100 damn channels and couldn’t find anything to watch. What else are we supposed to do? Play with our peckers?”

Deandre shivered in disgust. “Nah, man, that’s fun for a while, but it gets messy after you do it too much.”

Ava stood up and faced the group. “We promised Daniel we wouldn’t leave the house,” she said, pointing a stern finger toward the ground.

Rico thrust out his chest. “Daniel does not fucking control me. I make my own goddamn decisions.”

Ava crossed her arms and clenched her jaw in frustration.

"Don't worry, Ava," said Andrew as he bounced up from the couch. He walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “I'll have you back before he gets home. He’ll never know.”

"So, where are we going?" asked Rico. Andrew smiled as the group followed him out to his car, Ava reluctantly being the last one out of the house.

They walked to the driveway and filed into Andrew’s van.

"Man, how is it possible that your car actually smells worse than before?!" yelled Deandre as he climbed in. Andrew rolled down the windows before backing out of the driveway.

----------------------------------------

In the basement, the television Scotty and Kitsie had hooked the console to was still on. The console beeped and caused the television to flicker. A shadowy figure cloaked in a black gown floated toward the screen. As the figure drew near, the shadow shrouding them dissipated to reveal a tall feminine creature with red skin and horns protruding from their head. It was Sheera, the villain from the game. She crouched down until her demonic face filled the display. She squinted her solid black eyes and peered through the television. The corners of her mouth lifted with an evil smile before she slowly reached her hand out to the real world on the other side.