Chapter 20 – Nightmare

Mona tried to stand between Marley and Sim, but he passed right through her. He stood before Marley as she stared him down. Seth’s lips curled into a cruel grin as he moved his hand to touch her without being repelled.

He pressed his hand against her arm, pausing just a moment before his fingers slipped into her flesh. An instant later, Marley screamed.

The sensations began like a knife scoring her from the inside, cut by cut. Then came the crawling, she was sure that insects with countless, serrated legs and biting jaws were swarming up and down her arm, feasting on her. Burning followed. At first, it was cooling and cleansing but then the sharp edge came and kept pushing.

It was past the point where she could recall an abandoned Simona memory of touching something very hot as a child and coming away with a blister.

She sweated all over and clenched her jaw. Words were impossible. All other thoughts, but realizing the horror of the pain, were impossible. When she finally managed to open her eyes, it wasn’t dark Seth Sim who was standing over her. It was Marisa, her eyes just as nasty and vicious.

Marisa hurled angry curses at her. She called her names. She raked her with her free hand and poured venom into her ears. Marisa was just the first. Nicolas threatened her like her father…Simona’s father. Worse. He rammed the thought and feeling of violence and violation into her mind. All the while, the burning and churning eased enough for her to comprehend the betrayal she was meant to feel and the glass-like memories scouring her consciousness.

Then, with Seth’s kindest visage beaming all the while, Sim squeezed Marley’s internal organs like a mass of viscera. He added new ones in places that hurt the worst, bringing her to the brink of unconsciousness without allowing her its respite.

Pressure on her entire skin came next, with a spot of acid dripping at each point of flesh, the note amplified into the most sickening sound Marley could imagine.

Through it all, she held onto one notion to keep her sanity. She told herself again and again, “This is not real. This is just a nightmare. I can survive it.”

But the untouchable itches, the visions of crawling, burrowing terrors, and the torrent of false memories were overwhelming. She wanted it to end. To just be erased by purging and deletion would be a blessing.

The worst part of the whole cycle came when the suffering began to wane, offering the faintest hope she might be freed. The doubling of her agony on the other end of the lull dug in all the deeper.

The flowing of her blood through countless veins, none of them real, felt like claws tearing through her with every beat of her heart. As one last touch, Sim gave her a cluster headache, which felt mild by comparison.

Marley cared about nothing but liberation from this Hell. She pined for another lull as seconds stretched out into eons. If she could only get it again, then she could use the memory to endure. But these thoughts were just shaky fragments. She felt nothing but unending pain.

She could sense the end of herself and all things. But, at that brink, there came the sliver of something else. At first, she thought it was Mona to her rescue. It had the same warmth. It brought features of the room back into her thoughts. She could see a blurry Mona screaming, turning to Simona. She could resolve Simona with her head raised high.

In the warmth, as a whisper, were the words, “This is not real. This is nothing. I can control it.”

She couldn’t imagine where the notion came from, but it was there, like a leaf falling past her from some invisible tree, its sound and message filling her entire body. She focused on the words again.

This is not real. This is nothing. I can control it.

Straining against despair, she brought her hand over with a grunt, seized Sim’s hand, and used her shoulder to rip it. With a turn, she snapped Sim’s hand off like a rubber glove. Eyes wide, Sim stared at the clean stump where his hand had been.

The pain silenced across her body with a rush of euphoria. Behind Sim, Mona clutched her face with the most cautious trace of a smile as Simona bent her fingers into claws.

Reaching out, Marley pressed her hand into Sim. He jerked and made a confused face as she rotated her wrist. The motion was unnecessary. The important thing was her thought, “You will never touch me again. You are nothing.”

Sim split into several pieces that collapsed in on themselves until there was nothing left but an open-mouthed Simona reaching at the air and Mona with her hands pressed together in something like a prayer.

Marley watched her wounds knit themselves together before she looked back at Simona. With a calm voice, Marley intoned, “Bring my friends back…now. I know it can be done. You save everything.”

Simona curled her lips in a near-snarl and shot back, “Who told you that?!”

Marley answered swiftly, “It doesn’t matter. Bring them back…”

Her expression didn’t shift until she brought her eyebrows down in contemplation and then suddenly up in surprise. A moment later, she put on a relaxed countenance that bothered Marley to no end.

Simply, she said, “It’s me. You got it from me. From my memories. I tried to keep the important stuff out but with Sim mixing and tweaking and messing with things, he was working to make little versions of me out of every one of you.”

Marley’s eyes flared as she yelled, “We are not you!”

Walking back, Simona righted the chair and sat down with her legs crossed. “Think about it. You’re just as authorized as Seth. You can touch me. You can issue commands without a console. You’re the same as me to the computer.” She folded her hands.

Marley wanted to strike her. Simona continued, “And what you’re feeling right now. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve felt the same emotions when faced with something I didn’t like. I grew up with so much violence that I yearned to feel strong. If our roles were reversed and I put you in my life then I know for a fact you would end up here….right here… terrified and willing to do anything for one more moment. One more moment clawing back against forces that you refuse to concede to. You and I both would do what needs to be done.” She spread out her hands.

Clenching her fists, Marley said only, “You’re wrong. Shut up!”

Simona eased back in her chair. “It’s only fitting we’re wearing the same face. A false face. I think with yours I tried to do an update on a character from an old graphic novel, one with alluring eyeliner, while still keeping some of my features.”

Trembling, Marley commanded aloud, “Open console!” A shimmer appeared before her, interrupted by Simona saying, “Close console.” The shimmer vanished away. Simona gave a sigh and noted, “If you want to play that game, we can keep going all day. But I’m more interested in how you managed to go from accidental control to this seeming parity with me…” She stroked her lip with a finger.

Mona, who had since fallen silent, edged her way over to Marley and thought-whispered, “Are you okay? I’m so sorry…”

Marley responded silently, “I’m not hurting as bad but I’m angry…”

Nodding solemnly, Mona told her, “It’ll be okay.”

Simona broke in abruptly, “Do you have the delusion of Mona too?”

Clenching her jaw, Marley responded, “Fuck you and your fucking games. How about you? How do you know anything you know is real?”

With a cackle, Simona batted her hand. “Because I made all this. I know where reality begins and ends…and I’d know if the old versions of Sim were running. After all, they are embedded in my interface. I couldn’t delete them if I tried. But the Mona version is not running.”

As a sign of reassurance, Mona put her arm on Marley’s shoulder and whispered to her, “Be strong. I am here because there are things in the system she can’t even begin to understand.” The warmth steeled Marley’s resolve as she took a breath.

Staring down Simona, Marley continued her offensive, “It’s clear to me you don’t know your own system as well as you think you do. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be so stunned that I can overwhelm you. Have you considered that maybe.... you’re just another replica?”

Wearing a sour look, Simona muttered only, “Bullshit. I am Simona Mara Hatch, the one and only.”

Marley answered, “Prove it.”

Snorting and fussing, Simona shot back, “I don’t have to. I can control any of you at will. I am the real one! You are nothing and I am everything!”

As Marley reached a hand out, Simona reflexively leaned back in her chair. “If you’re everything, then I shouldn’t be able to do to you what I did to Sim. But, if you’re a fake too, if you’re just a virus, just like Sim…then I should be able to erase you…”

It was an entirely speculative notion on Marley’s part, meant only to keep Simona off balance and reaffirm her own existence. Mona caught on to this and sent her the words, “With regret, I’ve been searching for something to use against Simona. Nothing that will hurt her but something to distract her. I can turn off her visual input if you hold my hand. I can time it to surprise her. But I can only do it once. Then you will need to run.”

The doubts that Simona had stirred surfaced for Marley. Even if Mona could do that then it would be no proof she was real. However, control over Simona was comfort enough for Marley, if it worked.

Simona growled and glared as she answered, “I’d like to see you try. It’s impossible. This is MY world!”

Raising her hand to point at Simona as Mona clutched her, Marley said only, with a dark sense of satisfaction, “Command purge and delete…”

The satisfaction grew as Simona’s smug confidence winked out and she screamed, flailing at the air. Marley braced her legs and grabbed for the keyboard before running at the door. With Mona beside her, it opened quickly into the darkness of the submarine hallway.

Her heart thumping despite the fact she knew she wasn’t actually moving, Marley ran with Mona yelling directions to her as she sailed behind, barely hanging on. Before long, the hallway started to shake and shudder, as though the pipes were part of a boiler about to explode. Mona whimpered and cried, “It’s Simona!”

Marley looked around in all directions, but the convulsions of the hallway were hidden in dim lights twitching, threatening to extinguish. Before Marley could say anything, Mona zoomed ahead, dragging her forward as she explained breathlessly, “It’s her fail-safe! I saw that she tried to use it against Sim when he had control of your friends. It’s a total reboot for the main systems! Everything running gets wiped and reset from memory!”

Hanging on to Mona, Marley asked desperately, “What can we do?”

Mona said only, “I have an idea.”

They continued through junction after junction. The seams of the hallways began to buckle with the shaking. Eventually, Mona stopped in a room which wasn’t moving as violently as everything else. A large, blue box stood against the far wall. With a faint voice, Marley said to herself, “Never open the box…”

Mona darted across the room and even used the keyboard, before she announced, “This should work. I can’t predict what will happen. But if we do nothing then you’ll be corrupted, purged, and irretrievably lost forever within the system.”

Marley had to wonder why Simona hadn’t done this before if it could destroy her. Mona offered, with a morbid smile, “Among other drawbacks, she would be doing herself in as well if she messed it up. If she does it right, and I hope she does, then Seth and the others will be fine. But she wants to get rid of you by any means necessary. You need to get out of here!”

A violent wind swirled around, as though released from the seams in the walls. Marley’s hair whipped around as she held a hand to protect her eyes. With a grimace, she yelled over the tempest, “What about you?!”

Mona, her hair moving like she was underwater, told her only, “I’ll be fine!…I promise! Just put your hand on the cube!”

Marley followed her directions and watched as the cube fractured where she touched it. Softly, gently, Mona gave her a radiant kiss on the cheek and a nudge forward. The cube opened like a pair of doors and showered a sparkling, ocean-like glow over Marley. With a deep breath, Marley reached through the threshold and was enveloped by the light.

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“You okay there?....”

A familiar voice.

Marley jerked in place with her eyes open. Above her loomed a familiar face with long, hanging red hair. Her gaze wide and body trembling, Marley sat up in bed.

Her covers were tossed about, tangled around her slim legs, and bunched up on the floor. Marley had a vague impression of a bedroom, with things on the walls, dressers, and scattered clothes.

But her attention wasn’t on any of those things. Her attention was on the girl standing at the edge of her bed with a look of concern as she asked, “Marley? You alright?”

Staring, her eyes quivering, Marley had a thousand thoughts and feelings clashing with one another and fading into a pale serenity as she saw Marlise standing before her.

Tears streamed down Marley’s face and she sobbed with a coughing smile. Marlise sat down next to her on the bed and put her hand on her shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

Biting at her quivering lip, Marley wrapped her friend up in her arms and held her tight as she whispered, “Marlise…”

Giving a quick, “Aww”, Marlise whispered to her, “Must be serious to use our super-secret-best-friends-forever oath name…”

With a flicker of thought, Marley recalled what she meant. Best friends, since they were little. And their secret name for special things, made from bits of each of their names.

“Marley Russell…Jessica Seth Silvermann.”

Jessica blushed and said, “You and me…no gratitude to my parents for my middle name. Did you forget?” Her question was said half-teasingly but also with a look of concern as Marley finally relaxed her grip around her friend.

Looking with clear, gleaming eyes at Jessica, Marley allowed herself a small, cathartic laugh. Her mouth undulated as she said, her voice breaking, “I missed you. So much…So much it hurt.”

With a calm smile, Jessica reminded her, “We saw each other yesterday after school.”

Marley nodded, a faint memory returning to her as she said, “I know. But…I had a nightmare. A horrible nightmare of pain and suffering and…just the worst things. And I lost you…” Tears returned to her eyes.

Offering a tissue, Jessica rubbed her shoulder warmly and reassured her, “It’s okay. It was just a nightmare. It’s over now.”