What a shitty movie. The main character promises to go shopping with a girl, and on the way there he gets run over by a car, the end, roll credits. What was the point of all this? That coward didn't even make the slightest move when she asked him over before. Grow some balls, man!

Snoring noises

Tse, the movie was so boring my two girlfriends fell asleep in my arms.

And here I only agreed to watch this trash trilogy because you two wanted to.

Hmm... something feels wrong but I can't put my finger on it.

On my left, sleeps Amelia, but for some reason, I feel I want to call her Lucia instead... Was the movie so stupid it rotted my brain?

And the other... who is this redhead? For the love of me, I can't remember her name. I haven't the slightest recollection of her but still feel like I should know her.

I look around the cinema, it is half empty. Not many have watched that crap flick or are waiting for the sequel to start. Can't blame them for the former.

I can't even make out what our seat neighbors look like, they look kinda blurry? Am I going blind? No, it is just dark, yeah, that must be it.

I free myself from the grab of the two sleeping girls and try to make my way to the bathroom, maybe grab some fresh popcorn on the way back. I almost stumble over some beer bottles, gotta watch out not the wake the two beauties.

Outside the room, there's no one around except for the lady at the counter waiting to sell tickets, beverages and stuff. Her face is just as blurry as the neighbors'. Weird.

Maybe I should really get some glasses. Should even make me look smarter, perhaps the two girls would like that.

Again this nagging feeling that something is off...

I finish my business in the bathroom and wash my face. I check my face in the mirror for the scar across my cheek, still in place. Not a hint of grey in my blond hair, still sharp brown eyes. No other flaw to my perfect hunk b0dy.

...wait, why do I see myself in the mirror? Since when do vampires appear in the mirror?

"What is this bullshit?!", even my voice is wrong, quite a bit deeper than before.

I should be a vampire, I chose to be so myself. So why am I a regular human now? I don't even look the slightest bit like myself. Who is this jock?

I try to open my menu to get some hints but nothing appears.

All of this is just wrong... 

"I guess this is an illusion or some lotus eater crap? How do I get out of it?"

Crack

The mirror just broke and revealed something I know all too well: a glitched space.

I remember now, I drowned in that new Glitch Zone. But shouldn't I be dead then? Or mutated beyond recognition? A dream world of a boring, peaceful life doesn't exactly line up with that expectation.

But now that I think about it, I never found a mirror to check whether vampires in that reality have a reflection in mirrors or not.

Uncrack

After thinking that, the mirror repairs itself, hiding the glitch area again.

"Wah, you goddamn!"

Smash

I broke the mirror again.

"And this time you stay the fuck broken!!"

Some blood drips from my hand, I cut myself on the mirror's shards.

I take some of the tissues and wrap my wounded hand in them to stop the bleeding.

Now what?

"Can I please leave now? I already know that this is just a fake. Just point me to the exit and no one needs to get hurt."

Of course, there's no response.

Even if the menu doesn't work, I might still be able to cast spells.

I try to gather mana as I did previously but nothing happens. No, that's not entirely correct. For a moment I did feel a tiny bit of mana gathering but not enough to form a spell.

If this nightmare can even suppress the usage of spells that should be free to cast then I most likely have none of my skills available to me. Shit.

Frustrated, I leave the bathroom and explore the cinema some more. Or rather, try to. All the rooms that aren't the bathroom or the auditorium of the trash I viewed are closed off, even the exit is locked.

So what can I interact with on this pixel hunt? The bathroom, the auditorium and the ticket seller.

Sigh

Where's the goddamn walkthrough when you need it? I hate these types of games...

While wandering around, I notice that the makeshift bandaid around my hand is gone. No wounds or anything left to see either, as if I never broke the mirror. Strange things are going on here.

The auditorium still shows the credits scene, the screen doesn't progress at all as if time was frozen. But the sleeping girls are clearly breathing, so is it just a lazy illusion that has no clue on how to proceed?

I investigate the screen itself, and no one complains that I'm blocking the view. Aside from it standing still, nothing else looks out of place.

Then I punch it and the broken screen reveals another glitched area. I didn't care about the movie anyway.

No idea what that achieved, I've thoroughly proven that this is a fake but nothing else happens.

Just fake people looking at a fake movie that is on pause.

Well, that leaves one more option.

I walk outside again and talk to the lady at the counter, her face is still as blurry as before, "Hey, uh, did you check your make-up recently? It is a bit... runny."

Instead of answering, she outright melts and leaves behind another glitch hole in the nightmare.

Come on, rule of three, this should clearly count for something!

...

Still nothing.

Out of ideas, I check all doors again, maybe one randomly opened.

Negative.

I'm out of ideas. I hate this kind of nonsensical point-and-click game.

Although, there are two I haven't interacted with yet.

I go back to the auditorium. The two girls are still asleep.

I look again at the girl I thought of as Lucia before. She looks nothing like my Lucy, not even the hair color matches. If nothing else, she would make for perfect cheerleader material.

Better not tell Lucia that I got that close to a different girl or she'll kill me...

"Hey, wake up", I try to shake her up.

She replies in a sleepy tone, "Uwah!? What's wrong, Johnny? I had such a nice dream."

So this guy's name is Johnny?

The other girl stays asleep.

"I can't believe you're trying to sleep. Just look around you, we're in a literal nightmare."

She looks around but is confused, "What are you talking about? Did you drink too much alc again? I think so, you do reek quite a lot. You really need a shower."

"Yeah, yeah, later. Have you really looked around us? Nothing moves, neither the other viewers nor the movie screen itself."

"What kinda bullcrap are you sporting this time, Johnny? Are you out of your mind?"

I facepalm, "Then it is better to show you."

I drag her to the front but she futilely tries to fight back, "Wha-? Hey, what are you doing? Let go!"

I stop in front of the glitchy tear in reality, "Do you see this?"

She looks at me as if I had lost my mind, "What? The damn screen? What about it?"

"You don't see that?", I point at the glitch area. Maybe a bit too close.

"What? How? Your hand is totally in the screen...", she examines the screen around the hole.

Can't she see what is going on? ...probably not. All parts of this illusion seem to be preprogrammed, they can't react to what isn't, or rather shouldn't be, real.

After a moment of fumbling around in the screen, she accidentally touches the green-black reality error, causing her to melt into nothingness as well.

Shit, I... didn't want that... I didn't mean to...

Even if she was just an illusion this hurt... a lot... why? She's...

Memories, I see memories. Fleeting moments I shared with her, with Amelia. ...or rather the person who this form originally belonged to.

...

Probably a leftover from whatever modified my body and fiddled with my mind. Yeah, that's it, just a lingering attachment that was forced upon me... again.

Same as with my affection for Lucia, it wasn't by my choice or natural development, no, it was forced upon me.

I hate it. Why does everyone and everything always want to dictate what I am, think, do or feel?!

Be it devas, that arrogant Therese bitch, other monsters, glitches, whatever caused this illusion... all are the same...

Fuck.

This.

Shit.

...

"Hey, uh, dear, have you seen Amelia around? The two of you were gone when I woke up", suddenly the red-headed girl stands behind me, yawning.

"She's... moved on. Anyway, who're you supposed to be?"

She scoffs, "Really, Johnny? You don't recognize your childhood friend? Does Daisy Smith ring no bells? Gods, we've been together since middle school and now you're already losing your mind."

So she's the Daisy from the false memories I had? ...she's grown quite pretty.

"Whatever. I know you're just a fake like all the others."

She pouts, "Now you're just needlessly cruel. I put on all of that make-up just for you."

Why do I even bother to explain it to her? She isn't real either... Even if false, lingering attachments are scary, aren't they?

"Not what I meant. Just look at the people around us. We're making quite the scene here but no one reacts. They are just props in a fake play surrounding us."

She begins to melt, "What do you mean, J-", but before she can finish, she's already gone.

Again, more memories flash before my eyes, showing me moments 'I' shared with this person... they are fake, I know them to be false, they are not mine and yet... I felt some attachment to these girls.

This was such a nasty experience.

Before I can mentally recover, the rest of the stage also melts away, leaving behind a vast black nothingness.

I'm finally back to my real self, my own vampiric body.

3QGN73

In case it wasn't clear by now, we already know every single moment of Jared's past life: absolutely nothing.