SURYA
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I look around the white room with my drowsy eyes. It used to be brown, but now it looks so colourless. I stared at the inanimate object in my room as my brain heard the noisy birds chatter and sing happily unlike me. I’m 18 now, still going to high school and as depressed as ever. That reminds me, I need to go to the therapist today.
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I reluctantly got up from my bed and went to the bathroom. I splashed cold water on my face. The water touched my curly roasted chestnut coloured bangs that reached my eyebrows. The water dripped down my long eyelashes and touched my tanned skin. My hazel eyes stared at my reflection. My parents used to say that I was handsome. So whatever they say is true. I'm better than anyone else, and of course I'm handsome. I take after my beautiful mother.
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I walked outside my room, only to be greeted with an empty hall. Guess that freeloader is not awake yet. “Jun!” I screamed. "What!" He screamed back, annoyed. Looks like he was already awake before I called him. "Breakfast is ready." "..." After some time, a boy with jet black hair, (inherited from his Korean mother), and smoky blue eyes (came from his American father). Came downstairs. He had wavy bangs that grew enough to cover his eyebrows and his face always made him look kinder than he actually was, making the girls and boys rely on him more without knowing the twisted thoughts in his head. He always had a smile plastered on his face except when he was with me, I always managed to tick him off.
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You might be wondering why that useless sorehead was staying in my house, rent-free. It’s because of an accident that happened to him when he was a bit younger. Well, it’s not exactly an accident. It's more like a… uhh, you know what, figure it out yourself you nosy person, who can’t stay out of somebody else's business.
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I grabbed a bowl, and poured the cereal in and filled it up with water. Jun looked over with a clearly disturbed expression on his face. "What the heck? Who eats cereal with water?" Jun said. "You're not the one to talk. You eat your cereal with orange juice, and people won't judge me, I'm rich and good looking, way better than you could ever be." I replied back.
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As I was washing my bowl, I glanced over to where the knives were placed. Not the reason you’re thinking of though. The knives glitched over from realistic to two dimensional. Yes, I know this isn’t normal. The therapist says that it is because I have derealisation. I’d rather look at the more realistic side though. The world we live in is a lie and we live in a virtual reality game. Everyone seems so dead inside, like they’re programmed to give the following responses. Sometimes the people even seem foggy! Don’t tell me I'm wrong with your ornament decorated brains.
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After a few minutes of getting ready, I called my driver to come by the entrance and hopped in my black Lamborghini Veneno. “Stop by Yang’s house,” I told my driver. I looked behind and made eye contact with Jun, in which we both understood that neither one of us was looking forward to this. The car came to a stop at a small white house, which was only two stories tall. I really need to buy her a bigger house, huh. Too bad she doesn’t take ‘pity gifts’.
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A girl with a beautiful appearance stepped out of the small house. They had wavy black hair dyed pink at the tips. Black eyes like coal, and pale skin. Their parents were Chinese after all, but they did not know how to speak mandarin. They had a lot of scars on their arms but they always had their jacket on so only a few people knew about it. (If you're wondering why I keep calling her ‘they’, it's because she has a split personality.)
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She got in the car and we headed off, towards the therapist’s office. "Well ain't today going to be a wonderful day?" I said sarcastically. I glanced at Yang just to confirm whether her delicate soul was still there. She usually acts tough, but I know she isn’t tough on the inside. After twenty minutes of comfortable silence, the car stopped in front of ‘TYHO’ which stood for ‘Talk Your Heart Out’. How cringy.
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I got out of the car and got in the office. Another therapist that will say the same thing. I entered the office and saw the usual layout of every other therapist's office. It was a small white room, which had two tiny brown sofas in the middle and a bookshelf and a desk at the side. Sure, it did look a little aesthetic, but nothing much that I couldn't afford.
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The therapist sat on the smaller sofa, opposite of the larger one. I sat down and folded my legs. “What brings you here today?” The therapist asked gently. “To get myself therapy?” “Have you ever seen a therapist or psychologist before?” “yes.” Geez, too many questions, how annoying. “Is it fine if you tell me what your problem is?” ‘Can I say no?’ is what I would have said if Yang didn’t warn me beforehand. “I have derealisation.” “Is it fine if you tell me how or when it happened?”
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Oh gosh, here it goes again. “If you really want to know, sure. It started when I was eleven years old. My parents were kinda sweet and none of them left for the milk yet. My dad was always strict. My mom was kind. I still remember making fun of my dad's fat stomach. He would get so mad and my mother would laugh... Then one day, when I was in my room, my parents came in and interrupted my screen time. "Surya, we're going out. Come with us," my mom said. She still had a smile plastered to her face. I faked a cough, and told her I felt sick, which she replied to as "Wow betta. You were fine earlier when you were playing, no? All of a sudden, you have a fever. Seriously, make up a better excuse," I laughed. Oh how I miss those days. "Okay, fine, remember to take the food out of the fridge." She left as I continued playing my game, ignorant to everything that happened to my parents.”
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“What happened next?” The therapist asked. “Oh, you know. The usual car accidents and stuff that was plotted by your evil uncle who wanted all your money but didn’t know that they wrote down a will.” “Umm, I don't think that's normal.” She said, slightly concerned. “It’s quite common in Hindi movies…” I said. “Okay, how does this problem make you feel?” “How do you think a person would feel after losing their parents? Happy?” “Of course not, I just wanted to see if your parents abused you before.” “Why would- you know what, I’m not even going to ask.” I said, rubbing my furrowed eyebrows.
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I glanced at my watch. Uhhhg, I still have 46 minutes left and then I can leave. This is going to take a while. I could guess what she would say next. It would probably be- “What positive changes would you like to see in your life?” She said, proving my thought. “Umm, my death? Escaping this program?” She said nothing but started noting down some notes. Maybe she wants my signature? Why else would she keep glancing at me like that.
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After the therapy session (and a heck ton of questions), I got out and told my driver to pick Jun and Yang up and drive them back home. I’m going on a short walk. I put my hands in my pocket and put my hoodie on. Jun would have said that I looked like a stalker or a weirdo. Like he is one to talk. Honestly, he’s a two faced prick, unlike Yang. Yang is calm and looks really depressed, I mean she is depressed but like… you know, she just gives off that vibe. Scarlet, her split personality, is the exact opposite of her. She is bright and cheery and loves joking around. She’s like a kid. She has a childish personality too. Jun however, will always be a prick.
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I still remember the first time I talked to Jun. It was at the playground. He had unattended bruises and he looked way smaller than me when I first met him, and was hiding near the slides, legs folded, head on his knees. He was crying very, very loudly, it was hard to just turn back and pretend that I didn't see that. So… I went up to him and squatted next to him and said, "Are you crying?" Very smart asking someone the obvious little me. "No, it's just that there are onion cutting ninjas everywhere. What do you think I'm doing?" He raised his face up. His eyes were bloodshot red and his cheeks were red. His fat stream of tears flowed down his somewhat chubby cheeks.
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Sure, our first impression was pretty bad, we got along quickly after I shared my Detective Pooch toy with him. "Here, you can have this. You seem like you need it." "What's this? A toy?" I gasped. 'Does he not know who Detective Pooch was?!' Okay, it had never occurred to me that he doesn't watch the same channels I watch. But thanks to this, we bonded pretty quickly. After that, we used to meet at the park every Saturday and Sunday.
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Jun was oblivious to common sense. He thought that it was normal to get neglected, I obviously wanted to teach his parents a lesson, but Jun never wanted me to. Then one day, Jun suddenly went missing. Well not missing, but he never came to the playground ever again. At first,I thought that he was angry at me for trying to eat his crayons, but then I became more paranoid and visited his house.
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I looked through the window and saw a woman with black hair and facial features like Jun, sitting on the chair, crying and weeping while holding Jun. However, her eyes told me she didn't do it out of love, rather she did it because of obsession. That face disgusted me and I ran back home and went into my closet. That day, I kind of understood what hell Jun's been living in. It was more like a 5% understanding, but it still grossed me out. I didn’t tell my parents about it ‘cause he didn’t allow me to, and I respect privacy, but maybe I should have told my parents. Well, not maybe. I definitely should have told my parents. Maybe his parents would have been caught earlier.
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After my stroll, I walked all the way home and contacted my driver that I was already home. I walked in my bedroom and body slammed the bed.I don’t know why, but I was tired. I slowly drifted off to sleep. The next thing I knew I was near my body. Oh death has really taken its time to haunt me.
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The very next day was grocery day. Meaning me and Jun would have to get out of the house and actually shop for stuff. “Jun!” I screamed. “Get your lazy butt out of the couch. We have to shop for groceries today.” “Okay. Okay I'm coming…” He came down wearing a loose hoodie with sweatpants. “What the hell are you wearing?” I asked in a sharp tone. “What. It's comfortable.” “You ARE NOT going to be going out like that next to me. Wear the black turtleneck shirt I bought you for your birthday. And while you're at it change your pants to something nicer.” “Okay, mom.” “Don’t use that attitude with me, young man!” I said in a sassy voice.
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After a while, he came down. “Do I look fine now?” “You still look stupid, but it’s bearable.” I replied back. Honestly he looked great. Back when we were in school, before the summer vacation started, all the girls and some guys were swooning every time he walked by. Sure, I’m handsome too, but I have a terrible personality. Not to brag or anything, I was ranked the handsomest at the academy. Jun was ranked the prettiest looking guy at school.
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Well, anyway. We exited the house and went to the mall. “Wait, weren't we going to the grocery?” “Well, I changed my mind. We barely have any clothes for you so-” “You decided to take me to the mall. Great. Just another way of relieving your stress through shopping.” “You know me too well.”
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“We reached our destination,” said the driver. I hopped out of the car and practically dragged Jun along. People watched us with their faces red. I know that I’m handsome, but people don’t bluntly stare at me when blushing. “Umm, Surya?” “What?” “You can let go of my hand now.” I stared at our hands, now interlocked with each other. “It’s a bit crowded. We can keep holding our hands like we did when we were kids.” “Yeah, right. `Like we did when we were kids’.” he quoted. Darn it. Why is the crowd just a bunch of fujoshi's?
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“What are the two cherry tomatoes doing here?” Said a voice behind us. “Y-Yang!” “Geez it’s Scarlet. 4 o’clock remember?” Scarlet said. I looked down at my watch. It was 4:13. Wow, when did time fly? “Seems like you guys were enjoying it, huh~” “Scarlet teased. Why are you here? I’m pretty sure your mom is worried. Maybe I should call her and inform her that you’re here.” Jun said. “Geez, you guys are no fun. And stop blackmailing me.” She pouted. “Girl, get lost. I’m here to buy this useless guy some clothes. He looks like a beggar.” “Wow, rude. That’s an offence to the beggars.” “Yeah I agree.”
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After blackmailing Scarlet and buying some decent clothes for Jun, we went back to the mansion. “Thanks man.” Jun thanked me. “You're welcome. You know how much trouble I had bringing you out though?” “Aaand, there goes my gratitude.” “You punk!” “Btw, I made you mee goreng.” “Has anybody ever told you that you look good sometimes?” “Yup, a lot of people have.” He said looking at his phone. “Good night.” I said. “You too.”
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After eating, I plopped onto the bed and took out my phone. I stared at the games on my phone. Why play them when you are in one yourself? Still doubting me? Maybe this may not be a game but this should be a world someone created. Want proof?
Why can you hear me? Also, DNA acts like coding systems. They have certain codes for each and every strand. Functioned exactly like a computer. If human technology was more advanced, it is highly possible for that to happen. Making NPC’s and programming them to have emotions.
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And whoever is listening to this, Maybe you are in a programmed reality too. Anyways, gotta sleep, enough storytelling for one day right? Am I even looking at the right place? If you want to continue this story, go on to the next page. Learn the backstories of the other people, I really don’t care. Good luck.