MEMINISSE TE
Chapter 3- Pro Certo Scio
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Faster than my consciousness
Beyond my self control
Just now I realized I will never change
The things before it's too late
"LST CNTRL" by Eralise
Beyond my self control
Just now I realized I will never change
The things before it's too late
"LST CNTRL" by Eralise
Heavy metal music blasted through his ear buds as he breezed down the street on his skateboard, the wind violently whipping through his bangs. He knew he should get his hair cut (like his mom had been telling him to do for three weeks), but the beanie kept it out of his eyes just fine. Besides, he had other things to be concerned about besides hair in his eyes.
Like all this stuff Mira'd been telling him about the world and people being fake. Freaky stuff like that.
Skeet didn't know if he believed her or not, or if he even wanted to believe her. Ninety percent of him fought against the idea. As if something in him rebelled against any notion of being in a video game. But the idea was pretty sick... and also kinda creepy. Skeet liked video games and VR as much as the next guy, but living in a game? What did that even imply? He didn't think too much about it; trying just gave him a headache and screwed with his cool vibe.
The rest of him, as hesitant as he was, had full trust in Mira. She had been pretty serious, after all. The look on her face hadn't been madness, but amazement. Shock, even. From Skeet's perspective, they'd seen each other a month ago, in an ordinary place where nothing weird went down. If that was Mira's experience too, then why had she been so amazed to see him?
He'd never seen her so shocked to see anyone before, much less her lifelong buddy. That was always all he'd been to her--- Skeet had known that for years. But her full attention had been on him in a whole new way yesterday. Skeet had been waiting years for her to pay that much attention to him. He'd just always hoped for the I-like-you variety of attention. Not that haunted stare she was giving him yesterday.
Maybe she was crazy, but as her friend, Skeet would give her the benefit of the doubt. The last thing he wanted to do was blow her off.
The donut shop came quickly over the horizon, and within seconds he spotted Mira sitting at one of the tables with two friends and a box of donuts. There was Adam--- Mira's best friend since first grade. Skeet also recognized the redhead with them as Mira's brother's friend, but he didn't know why Kai, of all people, would be hanging with Mira and Adam.
Or, no. It was because of the... the thing. Whatever it was. Something stood out about that trio, but he couldn't put his finger on it--- and he didn't feel like pouring any brain power into it right now, because Mira had just spotted him coming. She said something to her pals. When they looked in his direction, their jaws dropped open with that same look of shock Mira had given him at the door yesterday.
That should have worried Skeet, but he was (oddly) not alarmed. He rolled right up to their table, braked, and kick-flipped the skateboard right into his hand. He shoved one hand into his pocket, turned off his music, and leaned against the board. He nodded at Mira and company. "Sup."
Adam and Kai continued to stare at him, while Mira smiled back and waved. Kai spoke first. "Dude! You're... but how? You were..."
"Dead?" Skeet exchanged a glance with Mira. "So I've been told."
Adam turned to Mira, brow furrowed. "You knew about this?"
Mira shrugged. "I told you guys I had something to show you today."
"Well you never said that something was Skeet!" squeaked Kai, gesturing wildly.
These guys were weirding Skeet out now. Well... a little bit. But that didn't mean he couldn't have a little fun with their bewilderment. He sat down in the one open chair at the table, smiling. "Well I wasn't expecting to see you guys here either. Just Mira. So I guess we're even."
Mira gestured toward Skeet. "Guys, meet Skeet 2.0. Skeet 2.0, Adam and Kai were my teammates in the Hollow. That's why they're here."
The Hollow. Maybe that was the thing he couldn't remember about those three. Mira mentioned it a lot yesterday but the name never seemed to stick. That made sense.
Kai laughed--- a soft, nervous little chuckle--- and kept his eyes on Skeet. The little dude nudged the open donut box toward Skeet, trying very hard (and failing way harder) to pretend he wasn't super uncomfortable. "Uh... hey, buddy! ...Donut?"
Skeet wasn't going to refuse a free donut. He dragged the box to himself and picked a chocolate glazed--- the best kind. The strawberry glazed looked pretty good too. And the regular old glazed? Too classic to pass up.
Kai leaned into one of his palms, eyes narrowed. "I said donut. Not donuts," he muttered.
Adam rubbed his chin, scrutinizing Skeet with the intensity of a laser pointer. "Skeet 2.0? So he's not... our Skeet."
"Nope." Mira met his gaze as he took a big bite of the chocolate glazed. "But somehow, whoever still has access to this game must have intervened, or else... by some miracle, a new Skeet was born."
OK. Really weird being talked about in the third person. Especially by Mira.
"But didn't Gustav cut off access to Hollow Life?" asked Adam.
"Maybe the game can create new characters on the spot?" Kai theorized.
Skeet finished the donut just as a new pang of annoyance kicked his stomach.
"Don't think so," said Adam. "Nothing in a game is created by accident. Characters and worlds have to be built from the ground up. Everything about a game is by design. Unless it's a glitch."
Skeet bit his lip, rapidly losing his cool. What was he, an object?
"Well he's definitely not a glitch," said Mira. "Look at him! He's every bit as normal and... real as the rest of us. He just doesn't remember the Hollow."
Skeet smacked the table hard with the palm of his hand. "OK, OK. Can we stop talkin' about me like I'm not here, please?!" he exclaimed. All three of his tablemates went silent. Skeet slumped back down in his chair, reeling himself back in. He folded his arms. "It's freakin' me out."
Mira scooted closer to Skeet and touched his arm, dark eyes apologetic. "I'm sorry, Skeet. That was rude of us." She glared something back at Adam and Kai. They seemed to get the message right away, both at once looking a bit sheepish.
"Yeah. Sorry, dude," said Adam. "It's just that... well, when you've gotten used to everyone around you being an NPC..."
"Well I'm not an NPC," Skeet insisted.
"All right, guys. Let's keep it civil." Mira looked Skeet in the eye. "Remember when I told you I could prove I was telling the truth?"
"Yeah. I remember."
Mira nodded toward Kai. "Fire, please?"
Kai blinked. "Me? Uh, OK." He held up one of his hands and, within a second, it had burst into a mass of golden flames.
Skeet backed away from the table so fast he nearly tumbled head-first out onto the street. "Whoah! What the...?" He drew a deep breath, at last processing what he was seeing with what Mira had told him. "Whoah-ho. Sweet power, dude!"
Kai chuckled. "Eh, it's nothin'." He passed the flame onto his other hand, tossed it into the air, and caught it back in the original hand. "Just a little pyrokinesis."
Kai seemed to know what he was doing, so Skeet pulled his chair back up to the table. He picked up his strawberry-glazed donut and started to eat it.
"Wait!" Kai's flame vanished. He leaned forward onto the table, fists bunched. "How did you know that was a power and not just me setting my hand on fire?"
"Mira already told me Hollow players had powers," Skeet replied. "Besides, what sorta moron would set his hand on fire to pretend he's got powers?"
"You..." Kai shrugged and sat back in his chair. "You have a point."
"Do you have your powers?" Adam asked. He now seemed genuinely curious. An object or not to these guys, at least they were asking him questions now. Like he was a human being and not some freak computer accident.
Skeet shrugged. "Like I told Mira, I haven't tried."
"Still?" Mira raised an eyebrow. "I told you about your super speed and you still haven't tried to see if you have it?" Skeet shook his head. "Aren't you even a little bit curious?"
Skeet thought about the question, chewing the last bite of his donut pensively. Like with the rainstorm question yesterday, he couldn't come up with a good explanation. "I guess not." That's weird. Why wouldn't I wanna see if I had superpowers? "I don't know where to start."
Kai stood up and stared Skeet down, then cracked his knuckles. "I know how we can figure out if he has his powers or not," the boy announced with a smile. He lit his hand again and keeled it backwards, like a pitcher. "Ready, Skeet?"
Mira was alarmed. "Kai, what are you doing?"
Adam stood up beside Kai and grabbed him by the shoulder. "Kai, maybe you shouldn't---"
"RUN!" Kai threw a blast of flames into Skeet's face before he could even think to react.
Yet he reacted.
Something like electricity zapped through his entire body. Before he'd fully registered what was happening, Skeet had flung himself away from the table and thrown himself down onto the sidewalk, far from the scorching heat he'd felt a mere split-second before.
"Kai!" That was Mira. She sounded... distant.
Skeet uncovered his head and rolled over onto his side. He was in front of the coffee shop now, and he didn't know what to think. He swiped his bangs out of his face. "What happened?" he muttered to himself.
"But look! It worked," Kai defended himself. "I saw how fast he reacted to my fire earlier, and I figured if he still had his powers, they might kick in if he had a reason to run!"
"You could have seriously hurt him!" Mira cried. "Or worse!"
Skeet stood and brushed bits of gravel from his pants. Was that what it felt like? To move faster than... than he could even think?
"But he's fine! Look!"
Skeet turned around to face the voices, just as Mira turned around to look at him. Their eyes met. She looked shaken to her core thanks to Kai's daring stunt, but Skeet was too dumbfounded to be angry with Kai for nearly burning his face off. He had quick reflexes so it was unlikely Kai would have hit him anyway--- but this? This power was insane! Skeet burst into a laugh. "Did you see that, Mira? I was like... the Flash!"
"See if you can do it again!" said Adam.
Skeet remembered the way the speed had seized his body moments ago. He felt a surge--- like an oncoming hiccup--- and zipped back over to the donut shop, where he halted beside the table. He wheezed another delighted laugh. "Dude! This is awesome!" Forget the skateboard--- he'd be running all the way home today!
To his surprise, Mira hurried up to him and started looking him up and down, mostly over his head and shoulders. She rounded behind him, where she fussed with the back of his hair for a few seconds. Skeet raised an eyebrow. "Um... what are you doing?"
"I'm checking to see if he singed you," said Mira. She came back around on his other side, still with an overly concerned look in her eyes. "That flame was right up in your face before you moved and I wanna make sure you weren't hurt."
Skeet snorted. "Pff. Nonsense. I'm too fast for him." He lightly smacked her shoulder and smiled reassurance. "I was never in danger."
"Well we didn't know that until a minute ago." Mira finally relaxed and let out a sigh. She smiled up at him with a strong affection that Skeet (if he wasn't mistaken) had never seen in her eyes before. "I'm glad you're all right."
Skeet's mouth twitched upward before he had a chance to stop it. He got that lightheaded, floaty, stomach-clenching feeling he always got when she looked at him like that. As little as he knew it meant in the long-term, he was glad she cared.
Satisfied with his safety, Mira turned back to join the others. Right as Kai was reaching for another donut, Mira snatched the box away from him. Kai balked. "Hey!" he squeaked.
"You tried to blow Skeet's head off; your donut privileges have been officially revoked. Besides, I paid for these." Mira closed the lid.
"I wasn't trying to blow his head off, I just wanted to get him to run!" Kai insisted, standing. He tried to snatch the box back from Mira, to no avail. Adam just shook his head.
Well, the special attention was fun while it lasted. Skeet's smile slipped from his face, the temporary high of Mira's expressed fondness simmering back down. He pushed it down further and forced a return to his default mode. Cool and careless. Mean and lean. A speed demon who was footloose and fancy-free.
Well. Footloose, anyway. Fancy-free? He sneaked another look at Mira, who had successfully defended her remaining donuts from Kai and now ate one in victory. His smile returned. No. Definitely not fancy-free.
Skeet sauntered back up to the table and snagged his remaining uneaten donut. "Well, great seein' you guys," he said, "but I've got a superpower to try out. Catch ya later!" He put the donut in his mouth, saluted to Mira, and sped off down the road before anyone had the chance to object.
Or ask him any more questions, he thought bitterly. He'd had enough of feeling like a science experiment for one day.
Like all this stuff Mira'd been telling him about the world and people being fake. Freaky stuff like that.
Skeet didn't know if he believed her or not, or if he even wanted to believe her. Ninety percent of him fought against the idea. As if something in him rebelled against any notion of being in a video game. But the idea was pretty sick... and also kinda creepy. Skeet liked video games and VR as much as the next guy, but living in a game? What did that even imply? He didn't think too much about it; trying just gave him a headache and screwed with his cool vibe.
The rest of him, as hesitant as he was, had full trust in Mira. She had been pretty serious, after all. The look on her face hadn't been madness, but amazement. Shock, even. From Skeet's perspective, they'd seen each other a month ago, in an ordinary place where nothing weird went down. If that was Mira's experience too, then why had she been so amazed to see him?
He'd never seen her so shocked to see anyone before, much less her lifelong buddy. That was always all he'd been to her--- Skeet had known that for years. But her full attention had been on him in a whole new way yesterday. Skeet had been waiting years for her to pay that much attention to him. He'd just always hoped for the I-like-you variety of attention. Not that haunted stare she was giving him yesterday.
Maybe she was crazy, but as her friend, Skeet would give her the benefit of the doubt. The last thing he wanted to do was blow her off.
The donut shop came quickly over the horizon, and within seconds he spotted Mira sitting at one of the tables with two friends and a box of donuts. There was Adam--- Mira's best friend since first grade. Skeet also recognized the redhead with them as Mira's brother's friend, but he didn't know why Kai, of all people, would be hanging with Mira and Adam.
Or, no. It was because of the... the thing. Whatever it was. Something stood out about that trio, but he couldn't put his finger on it--- and he didn't feel like pouring any brain power into it right now, because Mira had just spotted him coming. She said something to her pals. When they looked in his direction, their jaws dropped open with that same look of shock Mira had given him at the door yesterday.
That should have worried Skeet, but he was (oddly) not alarmed. He rolled right up to their table, braked, and kick-flipped the skateboard right into his hand. He shoved one hand into his pocket, turned off his music, and leaned against the board. He nodded at Mira and company. "Sup."
Adam and Kai continued to stare at him, while Mira smiled back and waved. Kai spoke first. "Dude! You're... but how? You were..."
"Dead?" Skeet exchanged a glance with Mira. "So I've been told."
Adam turned to Mira, brow furrowed. "You knew about this?"
Mira shrugged. "I told you guys I had something to show you today."
"Well you never said that something was Skeet!" squeaked Kai, gesturing wildly.
These guys were weirding Skeet out now. Well... a little bit. But that didn't mean he couldn't have a little fun with their bewilderment. He sat down in the one open chair at the table, smiling. "Well I wasn't expecting to see you guys here either. Just Mira. So I guess we're even."
Mira gestured toward Skeet. "Guys, meet Skeet 2.0. Skeet 2.0, Adam and Kai were my teammates in the Hollow. That's why they're here."
The Hollow. Maybe that was the thing he couldn't remember about those three. Mira mentioned it a lot yesterday but the name never seemed to stick. That made sense.
Kai laughed--- a soft, nervous little chuckle--- and kept his eyes on Skeet. The little dude nudged the open donut box toward Skeet, trying very hard (and failing way harder) to pretend he wasn't super uncomfortable. "Uh... hey, buddy! ...Donut?"
Skeet wasn't going to refuse a free donut. He dragged the box to himself and picked a chocolate glazed--- the best kind. The strawberry glazed looked pretty good too. And the regular old glazed? Too classic to pass up.
Kai leaned into one of his palms, eyes narrowed. "I said donut. Not donuts," he muttered.
Adam rubbed his chin, scrutinizing Skeet with the intensity of a laser pointer. "Skeet 2.0? So he's not... our Skeet."
"Nope." Mira met his gaze as he took a big bite of the chocolate glazed. "But somehow, whoever still has access to this game must have intervened, or else... by some miracle, a new Skeet was born."
OK. Really weird being talked about in the third person. Especially by Mira.
"But didn't Gustav cut off access to Hollow Life?" asked Adam.
"Maybe the game can create new characters on the spot?" Kai theorized.
Skeet finished the donut just as a new pang of annoyance kicked his stomach.
"Don't think so," said Adam. "Nothing in a game is created by accident. Characters and worlds have to be built from the ground up. Everything about a game is by design. Unless it's a glitch."
Skeet bit his lip, rapidly losing his cool. What was he, an object?
"Well he's definitely not a glitch," said Mira. "Look at him! He's every bit as normal and... real as the rest of us. He just doesn't remember the Hollow."
Skeet smacked the table hard with the palm of his hand. "OK, OK. Can we stop talkin' about me like I'm not here, please?!" he exclaimed. All three of his tablemates went silent. Skeet slumped back down in his chair, reeling himself back in. He folded his arms. "It's freakin' me out."
Mira scooted closer to Skeet and touched his arm, dark eyes apologetic. "I'm sorry, Skeet. That was rude of us." She glared something back at Adam and Kai. They seemed to get the message right away, both at once looking a bit sheepish.
"Yeah. Sorry, dude," said Adam. "It's just that... well, when you've gotten used to everyone around you being an NPC..."
"Well I'm not an NPC," Skeet insisted.
"All right, guys. Let's keep it civil." Mira looked Skeet in the eye. "Remember when I told you I could prove I was telling the truth?"
"Yeah. I remember."
Mira nodded toward Kai. "Fire, please?"
Kai blinked. "Me? Uh, OK." He held up one of his hands and, within a second, it had burst into a mass of golden flames.
Skeet backed away from the table so fast he nearly tumbled head-first out onto the street. "Whoah! What the...?" He drew a deep breath, at last processing what he was seeing with what Mira had told him. "Whoah-ho. Sweet power, dude!"
Kai chuckled. "Eh, it's nothin'." He passed the flame onto his other hand, tossed it into the air, and caught it back in the original hand. "Just a little pyrokinesis."
Kai seemed to know what he was doing, so Skeet pulled his chair back up to the table. He picked up his strawberry-glazed donut and started to eat it.
"Wait!" Kai's flame vanished. He leaned forward onto the table, fists bunched. "How did you know that was a power and not just me setting my hand on fire?"
"Mira already told me Hollow players had powers," Skeet replied. "Besides, what sorta moron would set his hand on fire to pretend he's got powers?"
"You..." Kai shrugged and sat back in his chair. "You have a point."
"Do you have your powers?" Adam asked. He now seemed genuinely curious. An object or not to these guys, at least they were asking him questions now. Like he was a human being and not some freak computer accident.
Skeet shrugged. "Like I told Mira, I haven't tried."
"Still?" Mira raised an eyebrow. "I told you about your super speed and you still haven't tried to see if you have it?" Skeet shook his head. "Aren't you even a little bit curious?"
Skeet thought about the question, chewing the last bite of his donut pensively. Like with the rainstorm question yesterday, he couldn't come up with a good explanation. "I guess not." That's weird. Why wouldn't I wanna see if I had superpowers? "I don't know where to start."
Kai stood up and stared Skeet down, then cracked his knuckles. "I know how we can figure out if he has his powers or not," the boy announced with a smile. He lit his hand again and keeled it backwards, like a pitcher. "Ready, Skeet?"
Mira was alarmed. "Kai, what are you doing?"
Adam stood up beside Kai and grabbed him by the shoulder. "Kai, maybe you shouldn't---"
"RUN!" Kai threw a blast of flames into Skeet's face before he could even think to react.
Yet he reacted.
Something like electricity zapped through his entire body. Before he'd fully registered what was happening, Skeet had flung himself away from the table and thrown himself down onto the sidewalk, far from the scorching heat he'd felt a mere split-second before.
"Kai!" That was Mira. She sounded... distant.
Skeet uncovered his head and rolled over onto his side. He was in front of the coffee shop now, and he didn't know what to think. He swiped his bangs out of his face. "What happened?" he muttered to himself.
"But look! It worked," Kai defended himself. "I saw how fast he reacted to my fire earlier, and I figured if he still had his powers, they might kick in if he had a reason to run!"
"You could have seriously hurt him!" Mira cried. "Or worse!"
Skeet stood and brushed bits of gravel from his pants. Was that what it felt like? To move faster than... than he could even think?
"But he's fine! Look!"
Skeet turned around to face the voices, just as Mira turned around to look at him. Their eyes met. She looked shaken to her core thanks to Kai's daring stunt, but Skeet was too dumbfounded to be angry with Kai for nearly burning his face off. He had quick reflexes so it was unlikely Kai would have hit him anyway--- but this? This power was insane! Skeet burst into a laugh. "Did you see that, Mira? I was like... the Flash!"
"See if you can do it again!" said Adam.
Skeet remembered the way the speed had seized his body moments ago. He felt a surge--- like an oncoming hiccup--- and zipped back over to the donut shop, where he halted beside the table. He wheezed another delighted laugh. "Dude! This is awesome!" Forget the skateboard--- he'd be running all the way home today!
To his surprise, Mira hurried up to him and started looking him up and down, mostly over his head and shoulders. She rounded behind him, where she fussed with the back of his hair for a few seconds. Skeet raised an eyebrow. "Um... what are you doing?"
"I'm checking to see if he singed you," said Mira. She came back around on his other side, still with an overly concerned look in her eyes. "That flame was right up in your face before you moved and I wanna make sure you weren't hurt."
Skeet snorted. "Pff. Nonsense. I'm too fast for him." He lightly smacked her shoulder and smiled reassurance. "I was never in danger."
"Well we didn't know that until a minute ago." Mira finally relaxed and let out a sigh. She smiled up at him with a strong affection that Skeet (if he wasn't mistaken) had never seen in her eyes before. "I'm glad you're all right."
Skeet's mouth twitched upward before he had a chance to stop it. He got that lightheaded, floaty, stomach-clenching feeling he always got when she looked at him like that. As little as he knew it meant in the long-term, he was glad she cared.
Satisfied with his safety, Mira turned back to join the others. Right as Kai was reaching for another donut, Mira snatched the box away from him. Kai balked. "Hey!" he squeaked.
"You tried to blow Skeet's head off; your donut privileges have been officially revoked. Besides, I paid for these." Mira closed the lid.
"I wasn't trying to blow his head off, I just wanted to get him to run!" Kai insisted, standing. He tried to snatch the box back from Mira, to no avail. Adam just shook his head.
Well, the special attention was fun while it lasted. Skeet's smile slipped from his face, the temporary high of Mira's expressed fondness simmering back down. He pushed it down further and forced a return to his default mode. Cool and careless. Mean and lean. A speed demon who was footloose and fancy-free.
Well. Footloose, anyway. Fancy-free? He sneaked another look at Mira, who had successfully defended her remaining donuts from Kai and now ate one in victory. His smile returned. No. Definitely not fancy-free.
Skeet sauntered back up to the table and snagged his remaining uneaten donut. "Well, great seein' you guys," he said, "but I've got a superpower to try out. Catch ya later!" He put the donut in his mouth, saluted to Mira, and sped off down the road before anyone had the chance to object.
Or ask him any more questions, he thought bitterly. He'd had enough of feeling like a science experiment for one day.