I woke up in the bed, drool on my face, just like when I woke up in KSK. This is not a good habit you’re forming, T.

It had been sunset before and now it was pitch dark in my room and so confusing. I had to reorient my brain to the weird reality that was my life. I had been playing KSK, I was a bit hungry and… oh yeah. I have a strange superpower. Call me… Frappe Girl! No… Icy Woman! No… Captain Mar…Cold? These are getting worse, do I even have magic-ish hands or did I use it all up?

I got out of bed and felt slightly wet patches on the sheets and on the carpet. I remembered the experiments and wanted to do just one more, but as I moved around my head hurt. Stumbling a little, I made it to the bathroom. I looked terrible. I was in yesterday's clothes and my long, straight brown hair was everywhere. My fringe looked like every single strand was trying to escape my head but forgot to tell the others.

On the control panel for the bathroom there was a clock reading 12:48, which was crazy, it was the middle of the night! No wonder I was hungry and felt strange, I’d been asleep for about 6 hours and I had a full day of game play tomorrow. I drank a little water and tried to make an icicle. It worked!

I finished that glass and a second one and decided to go find a middle-of-the-night snack. In this huge facility, there had to be something to eat. The corridors were totally abandoned except for long, thin strips of blue light. I passed the door to the small park where I’d sat before and got a glimpse of the sky. It was nice to think that if mum was awake and worrying about me, we might look at the moon at the same time.

Quietly, I explored and saw that a lot of spaces that were open in the day were closed off to us, like the gym, the pool and the rooms for sitting. There was a quiet hum of either machinery or computers, and I turned around, trying to figure out which way I should go. The main corridors leading to the game play rooms and the park were not far from where we slept and were lit with ambient red strips. Around one of the corners, a security guard appeared holding a small torch. “Hey, what’re you doing wandering around? It’s pretty late.”

The guard who’d been in the lobby room with us during the day had neat black hair and a beard, this one had chin length brown hair parted in the middle and wore a slightly faded uniform, probably because he worked nights.

“Hi, I woke up really hungry and I need a little snack to get back to sleep. Is there a kitchen or something?”

The guard smiled. “No problem, I’ll walk you over.”

I walked beside him, glad someone else was around.

“So which game are you playing?” he asked.

“I’m in KSK. What other games are running at the same time?”

“KSK, huh? Great, I’ll take you to the other girl.” Other girl? OTHER GIRL? Speedy Sue is awake?!

“Yeah the other one, she’s … you know. That one.”

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Wow, even this security guard thinks Speedy Sue is complicated.

“How is the game going?” he asked.

“It hasn’t really been hard yet, I think the hardest part is the other players,” I explained.

“That’s like life I guess,” he replied. “Things happen, but it's the people around us who can either help us get through it, or get in the way.”

I thought about this for a moment and replied, “I guess… I mean, it’s meant to be competitive and I’m just lucky to be here.” It felt nice to admit this to someone. Everything had happened so quickly, I was still processing what a privilege this was.

“Yeah, there would have been a lot of applicants,” he added.

“Yes, so that’s why I’m grateful just for having a chance. It was always a dream for me and here I am.”

“Yes, awake in the middle of the night. Are you not feeling well?”

“No, I’m ok, I just…”

We turned into a space I hadn’t seen during the day, probably because it wasn’t open. There was a beautiful neon sign that said, “Midnight Cafe” next to a crescent moon. There was a lady behind the counter doing something with a sandwich press. And… Sue was in a booth alone, looking at something in a folder. But that was not the biggest surprise… not by a long shot.

Sue looked regular. Woah, what?

The entire Speedy Sue persona was replaced by a pretty, but exhausted looking girl. Her hair was hidden away under a giant yellow shower cap and she wore a bright green face mask. The thick texture of the cream on her face made it look like she had stuck her head in a bowl of guacamole. She was in a large, plush looking yellow bathrobe and matching slippers. There was something nice about seeing her as a real person and not a perfect, hyper aggressive super cow. She was biting a pen in frustration and furrowed her brow as she read over the mysterious stack of documents.

It took me a microsecond to decide I didn’t want to interrupt her, so I ducked back as fast as I could and hid next to the wall where she couldn’t see me. The guard saw this and raised an eyebrow, taking a step back to talk to me.

“Is there somewhere else we can go? Anywhere that has food but doesn’t contain … her?” I whispered.

“No- this is the intended hangout for the night owls. But I’ll tell you what, I can order anything you want from there and bring it to the room you’re staying in. Then you two don’t have to talk.”

I smiled and nodded. It was a HUGE relief not to have to explain to Princess Avocado why I was up at that time. On the other hand, why was she?

I quietly asked for a hot chocolate and anything with cheese on it and the guard wrote it down. He tapped his temple and pointed to me, so I made my way back to the room.

Not too long after there was a knock at the door and the guard had left the food on a tray outside my room. He’d brought me a toasted cheese sandwich with the crusts cut off.

I ate and practiced writing my name in water with the tip of my finger until I felt drained. The ice in the bath was still melting, so I practiced at the basin, trying to avoid looking at my tired reflection. The A in Tina was the hardest to shape, but I was really getting the hang of the skill. Then I jumped in the shower to get ready for bed.

I was stepping out of the shower when I saw the fogged-up mirror and almost screamed.

There was a message, clear as day, but only visible because of the steam.

BE MORE CAREFUL TINA