I showed up in a cave.

I saw...

The bloody corpse of a boy my age, and a girl my age standing over him.

ADAM: What... the hell is going on here?

The girl turned around to face me.

EMMA: ...Hm.

EMMA: That's... Really weird.

EMMA: You are John.

ADAM: Er, no. I'm Adam.

EMMA: No no no, I don't mean your name, dumbass!

EMMA: I mean you.

EMMA: What the fuck are you doing here?

ADAM: Um, some guy named Zenon keeps giving me this thing...

I held up the device for her to see.

ADAM: Well, I guess he's only done it twice so far...

ADAM: Anyway, the first time I pressed the button I ended up in some forest, and this guy was dropping all his stuff into a hole...

ADAM: Oh, I forgot to mention that I go back in time when I press the button.

ADAM: Anyway, after that I pressed the button again and then I was in some weird, like, living room?

ADAM: Wait no, not like a living room, but like a room that was living...?

ADAM: And a lot of weird stuff happened there...

ADAM: Oh, and all the people I met were absolutely crazy.

ADAM: Like totally insane.

ADAM: Kept talking about beans and narratives or whatever.

ADAM: So after that I just kept pressing the button over and over...

ADAM: Until I eventually found a guy with another button...

ADAM: Oh! like this...

I turned the device upside down to make it look like "==>".

ADAM: So then I pressed that button to go back home, but then the Zenon guy or whatever stopped me, and I think he killed me?

ADAM: And I think I got bad-touched in hell...?

ADAM: And then I really died.

ADAM: But I was back home somehow after that...?

ADAM: Oh, and I forgot to mention that my best friend Lucy just died twice, which is why I'm even doing this...

ADAM: And then Zenon made me press the button again and now I'm here!

I stood proudly after badly recapping what I had just been through.

EMMA: Hold on... I gotta process this real quick...

ADAM: Okay.

EMMA: ...

EMMA: Let me check something...

EMMA: [EMMA rests her head on her hand]

ADAM: Erm... No... you didn't...?

ADAM: And why are you narrating all of the sudden?

EMMA: ...Shit.

EMMA: This is bad.

EMMA: Really bad.

EMMA: Adam, was it?

ADAM: Yeah?

EMMA: We're totally fucked.

I looked to my left and right.

ADAM: No, I think we're fine...?

EMMA: You dumbass...

ADAM: Hey, that's a little rude.

EMMA: No, you don't understand.

EMMA: There's nothing we can do anymore.

EMMA: I don't have any control when I'm not in Pretend.

EMMA: Just... Give up, you know?

ADAM: ...What?

EMMA: Just give up. There's nothing that can be done anymore.

EMMA: Your friend is dead, Adam.

EMMA: I'm... I'm dead.

She began crying.

ADAM: I... I'm sorry.

I couldn't really understand what she was talking about, but I didn't want to seem rude.

EMMA: Josh...

EMMA: Why can't you ever remember me...?

EMMA: Do you even know my name?

ADAM: Uh...

EMMA: It's okay.

EMMA: I haven't told you in a very, very long time.

EMMA: My name...

EMMA: My name was Ella.

She chuckled softly.

EMMA: You know, now that I think about it, they've probably never heard me say my real name before, have they?

ADAM: Who... hasn't...?

EMMA: Oh, it's probably best not to think about that.

EMMA: But, to everyone out there...

EMMA: Hello. :)

ADAM: ???

She sighed.

EMMA: Well, it's probably better this way anyway.

EMMA: I had been meaning to retire soon.

EMMA: I suppose I'm ready.

She didn't speak for a long time after that.

ADAM: Urm, I'm glad you got all that settled, but I still have some stuff to do...?

EMMA: I told you.

EMMA: Give. Up.

EMMA: I can't help you.

EMMA: And Zenon's a bitch.

EMMA: I truly am sorry that you're in this situation, but it's out of my hands now.

EMMA: If you really believe there is something you can do, go for it!

EMMA: But I'm done.

EMMA: Goodbye, World.

She left.

And so I did the only thing that seemed appropriate.