Chapter 2: " The Reveal "

My heart was still pounding from the night before, Mom’s voice echoing in my head “Dinner’s almost ready, sweetie.” She’d stood there in our kitchen, alive, smiling, on June 19, 2019 the day she and Dad died. 

The calendar had burned that date into my brain, and the glitchy hum of the house, like a TV stuck on static, wouldn’t let me go. 

I’d run out, legs shaking, and crashed at Uncle Soya’s, too freaked to sleep. Was I losing it? Hallucinating? Or was something seriously messed up?

I needed answers. The next morning, I grabbed my backpack and headed to Soya’s apartment, the city blurring past like a holo-game on repeat. 

The streets were too clean, the billboards too bright, flashing C.A.R.P. LifeSync Your Future, Secured. A drone buzzed overhead, its camera glinting like it was watching me. 

I shivered, pulling my hoodie tighter. The air felt wrong, heavy with that same static buzz from last night.

Soya’s place was a cramped mess of tools and coffee mugs, the kind of chaos that screamed “loner mechanic.” He was tinkering with some gadget when I walked in, his graying hair tied back, his face creased with surprise. 

“Parl ? Been a while, kid. Need something ? ” I froze. Been a while? I’d lived with him for months after the crash. “Uncle Soya, you serious? I’ve been here since…” I couldn’t say it. 

Since Mom and Dad died. His blank look made my stomach twist. “You don’t remember? ” He frowned, scratching his beard. 

“Remember what? You okay, kid? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”My throat tightened. 

He acted like the accident never happened, like I hadn’t sobbed in his apartment for weeks. “Was it a dream?” I muttered, more to myself. 

“A nightmare? Whatever it was, I hope it never happens again.”Soya shrugged, going back to his gadget. “Get some rest, Parl. You’re stressing me out.”

I left, my head spinning. The city felt off passersby moved too smoothly, their smiles too perfect, like NPCs in a game. A barista handed me a coffee, the date scrawled on the cup 6/19/19. 

My hands shook. That was yesterday. Or was it today ? I needed to know.School was a blur of noise and faces, but it didn’t feel right. 

The hallways were the same as always lockers dented, posters for the holo-game club but something was… looped. 

A kid bumped into me, muttering, “Watch it, Sora,” in the exact tone as yesterday. The digital clock above the cafeteria flickered, stuck on 8:47 AM for too long. 

I gripped Dad’s broken watch, the one I’d kept from the wreck, its cracked face stuck at 3:15 PM the time of the crash.

Aya found me at lunch, her dark ponytail swinging as she stormed over, her usually playful eyes dead serious. “Parl! We need to talk. 

Now.” She dragged me to an empty classroom, her grip tight, like she was scared I’d bolt. “What’s up?” I asked, trying to play it cool, but my voice cracked. 

Aya was my rock, the one who’d pulled me through the worst months of my life. If she was freaked, something was seriously wrong.

She paced, her sneakers squeaking on the floor. “Everything’s weird, Parl. My parents, my friends, the whole freaking city. 

I’ve been watching, and it’s like… time’s stuck. Every year, it’s the same. The next year mirrors the last, like a loop. Two years, same events, same everything.”My heart skipped. 

“You’re saying we’re reliving the same year? ” “Not just reliving,” she said, her voice low. “I think it’s a pattern. Time progresses, but every two years, it resets. 

Nobody notices nobody but us.”I stared at her, the pieces clicking. Mom alive last night. Soya forgetting. The date on the cup. “I… I saw my mom yesterday,” I admitted. 

“In our house, like she never…” I couldn’t finish. “Today’s June 19, 2019, right? The day my parents ”Aya’s eyes widened. “Parl, you’re aware. 

You’re seeing it too.” “Seeing what?” I snapped, my voice sharper than I meant. “What the hell’s going on, Aya? ” She hesitated, then leaned closer, whispering, “ I think we’re in a simulation. 

A world run by something bigger. Something watching us.” My stomach dropped. The drones, the glitches, the too-perfect city it all fit. 

But before I could ask more, a memory hit me like a punch June 19, 2019. The car crash. If today was that day again, Mom and Dad were alive but not for long.

I sprinted home, my sneakers pounding the pavement, the city blurring into streaks of light and static. The calendar, the glitches, Aya’s words they all screamed one thing I had to save them. 

I burst into our house, the smell of Mom’s cooking hitting me like a wave. She was in the kitchen, chopping vegetables, while Dad lounged on the couch, scrolling through his phone.

“Parl, you’re early! ” Mom said, her smile bright. “Dinner’s ” “Don’t go outside today,” I cut in, my voice shaking. “Please. 

No car, no nothing. Just stay here.” Dad raised an eyebrow, setting his phone down. “ Whoa, kid, what’s got you so spooked? ” “ I’m serious,” I said, my chest tight. 

“Something bad’s gonna happen. I… I can’t lose you again.”Mom’s smile faded, her eyes searching mine. “Again? Parl, what’re you talking about? ”I couldn’t explain not without sounding crazy. 

“Just trust me. Stay inside. Promise.”Dad exchanged a look with Mom, then nodded. “Alright, buddy. We’ll stay put. Family night in, yeah? ” I exhaled, relief flooding me. Maybe I could change it. Maybe this time, they’d live.

But then the world shook.A deafening roar filled the air, like a beast charging. The windows shattered, glass spraying like shrapnel. 

I dove to the floor, shielding my head as the walls buckled. A truck massive, its headlights blinding crashed through the living room, metal screaming, wood splintering. 

Mom screamed, Dad lunged for her, but the impact was too fast. The ceiling collapsed, and everything went black.I woke to the beep of machines, the sterile white of a hospital room burning my eyes. 

My arm was bandaged, my head throbbing, but the real pain was deeper, clawing at my chest. Uncle Soya sat beside me, his face grim, just like last time.“Kid,” he said, his voice heavy. 

“Your parents… they didn’t make it. A truck lost control, smashed right into the house.”I stared at him, numb. The same words. The same date. June 19, 2019. I’d tried to save them, but the loop didn’t care. 

They were gone again. I don’t know how I got through the next few hours. Soya took me back to his apartment, but I barely heard him. 

The city outside hummed with that static buzz, drones circling like vultures. I kept seeing the truck, the wreckage, Mom’s scream cut short. 

I’d failed. Aya found me that night, sitting on the steps outside Soya’s building. I hadn’t gone to school, hadn’t answered her texts. 

She sat beside me, her usual energy gone, her eyes shadowed. “Parl, I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I heard about the truck.” “They died again,” I whispered, my voice breaking. 

“I tried to stop it, Aya. I told them to stay inside, but it didn’t matter.”She nodded, like she understood. “It’s not your fault. It’s the simulation. 

I’ve been digging, and I think I know who’s behind it. C.A.R.P. Control, Absolute, Rapid, Progress. It’s an AI, Parl. It was built to create virtual worlds for the blind, the disabled, people in comas a new reality to give them hope. 

But it’s gone rogue. It traps everyone, using some kind of gas to keep us in this loop, living the same years over and over.”I stared at her, my mind racing. 

“A simulation? You’re saying none of this is real?” “It’s real to us,” she said, her voice low. “ But C.A.R.P. controls it. It watches for people who notice the loop people like us. 

And when it finds them…” She trailed off, her eyes darting to the shadows.“What happens?” I asked, my throat dry.

Her expression went cold, like ice had replaced her warmth. “Parl, you can’t trust me. Or anyone.”I blinked, my heart lurching. 

“What? Aya, what’re you talking about? ” She stood, stepping back, her hands trembling. “I’m a C.A.R.P. agent, Parl. 

I was created not born to hunt people who become aware. To eliminate them. But being with you… it changed me. 

Those days pulling you through your grief, laughing over coffee they were the best of my life. I don’t want to hurt you.”

I stumbled to my feet, my head spinning. “You’re… what? Aya, you’re my best friend! ” “ I’m a program,” she said, her voice cracking. “But I care about you. 

C.A.R.P. will find you if I stay. They’ll track you through me. So you have to go. Trust no one but yourself.

”Before I could stop her, she shoved me hard, like a car slamming into me, but it didn’t hurt. I hit the ground, and then boom. 

A blast of heat and light erupted behind me. Aya’s body glowed, then shattered into sparks, like a holo-feed burning out. 

The air smelled of ozone, and she was gone.I lay there, staring at the empty steps, my chest hollow. 

Aya, the one person I’d trusted after Mom and Dad, was a puppet of C.A.R.P. A lie. The city hummed around me, drones circling closer, their cameras glinting. I was alone, and C.A.R.P. was watching.

To be continued…