The Mei in the Blanket

 Class was boring as ever. No, specifically, AP Physics 2 was boring as ever, and sitting behind canoodling Troy and Genevieve was not helping Aaron cope with the pain. It was odd, how much Talia and Troy looked the same. The same sultry layers in their bob cut hair, with the same long side fringe. Thanks to it, Talia had never missed a class.

He cursed his parents and sisters for making him take this class. "Take this class!" They said. "It'll be fun!" They said.

Even though he was bored, he wouldn't go on his phone or use the internet on the device used for taking notes. He was a good student, and had morals and ethics along with his grades, unlike Talia and Troy. But he was probably messed up in ways too, which he was unaware to. He wouldn't and couldn't blame them, though. Not after what happened ten years ago. Even Mei and Kristen were considerably messed up after that. It was a wonder they used their imaginations at their extent and still play games.

He would never wish to go back there, even if the beach did sound wonderful, and he was sure that Talia would rather deal with dolphins than with Mrs. Rameez, who seemed to love physics just as much as her oldest daughter despised it. Aaron would know, she was one of the few people who Aaron knew personally, instead of it being part of his job to know. Well, despite the fact that she was a walking database, and all information from her was totally true.

Despite the name, she wasn't hispanic, instead was Pakistani. Poor Mrs. Rameez suffering from an identity crisis, despite it was actually her daughter who brought up the rather lack of identity they had. But sometimes, the very fact that she taught physics made Aaron stop sympathizing with her.

Contrary to popular belief, Aaron had never skipped a class in his life, unlike Talia, who was skipping at the moment. He wondered where she was, as her buddies were filing their nails in the corner.

Well, if she wasn't with her entourage, then Aaron had a slight idea where she might be. But he just hoped she didn't die because of her rather strange delfiniphobia and thalassophobia. Or that she didn't get hit by a car, as karma probably would.

Missing today, Talia would have a lot to catch up on. Being the most popular girl in school came with its share of hard work; spreading rumors, gathering dirty information, bullying, and having an arch nemesis. Today was an important day, which would be important for Talia on a popularity level, a new target, and the trio as a whole on a personal level. There was a new student

~~~~

Talia stared at the virtual reality arcade in front of her. The largest and most famous, though not necessarily a good way, simulator, that practically transported you into the world you chose to go to, as you were strapped to a table.

As she walked in, she could still see the remains of ten-year-old newspaper clippings, which depicted a party of children getting stuck in one of the many worlds. They all looked so young, Talia almost reached out to touch them.

A party of seven, six-year-olds, and three, fourteen-year-olds, had gotten stuck in one of the worlds. Talia still remembered the name, Marina Village Beach. Stuck on a fishing island with no way off, unless if you finished the game, for a year. Not all of them managed to get out unharmed. One of those children even died.

Talia remembered like it was yesterday. It was painful when she had finally escaped with her friends. She was paralyzed for months, along with Troy, Aaron, Kristen, and Mei, and the other children with them, due to the nerve damage caused by the servers. They say it was a technical issue, but the children were convinced that there was something supernatural at play. They just had no way to prove it.

But that in no way meant that the children resented the, now, old woman who owned the store and had created the technology. Miss Bardd was a force to be reckoned with, with her dyed purple hair and blue eyes. In short, Talia loved her. She had been the one who had introduce Kristen to a world-class producer and led her on the path which made her the hotshot of every movie. If a movie was directed or produced by her, it was a success. Or if it was playwright written by Mei, it was an automatic success.

It came to a point, where if the names Minora or Carpenter were on anything related to media, it was a hit, no matter who it was. And skill just added to the pain for others in the industry. "Miss Bardd! Are you here?" Talia called out.

There was no sound in the facility. It wasn't strange. This wasn't between business hours. But poor, poor Talia was unable to find the woman, no matter where she searched, even all those restricted personnel rooms, the woman was not there.

Finally, she made her way to the employees' lounge, black bob bobbing back and forth and footsteps quiet. But it wasn't enough. As she opened the door, everything was dark, despite it being midmorning, like this one room was underground, not to mention, it smelled like earth, soda, and fried chicken.

It was a scary room, damp, humid, and musty, the smell of decay strong. Not even the buzzing of the computers was heard as she walked cautiously into the room. The room was a mess, almost like it had suffered a typhoon or a target of a burglary. And then came a voice "Mii... sss... Baardd...?"

Talia whipped her head around to find a body on the ground, like a monster reaching out for her, with long messy hair in front of her, like she was a traditional ghost or something. She screamed. The ghost screamed. It was high pitched and familiar.

Talia staggered back while screaming, shut her eyes, and hit the light switch, turning it on. Then the ghost's voice came "You're not Miss Bardd. Talia, are you cutting class again?" This voice was really familiar.

Talia opened her eyes to find empty cans of soda and empty boxes of fried chicken, donuts, and Chinese food. The sofas were covered with blankets, laptops, wires, and piles of notes. And the unnatural amounts off potted plants. And the ghost was in disarray, in a pair of shorts and one of Aaron's merch tees. Talia wondered how much the tee would cost, which this ghost was using as what seemed to be pajamas.

The ghost hadn't showered in days and hadn't returned home either, leaving Aaron, who lost his keys, to his own devices- in the Minoras' home. She stood up and removed long, blood red hair from hair face to reveal eye bags and sunken eyes, due to days of all-nighters. This hot mess, using both meanings of the word, was the woman known to the world as Renee Carpenter, the other retainer of the trio known as the Gold Trio of Saint Victor Academy of Arts and Science, that consisted of Aaron, Talia, and Troy. Her real name was Mei.

Talia felt a gulp go down her throat as Mei approached her, staggering. Mei didn't get angry easily, but when she did, it was easily the equivalent of the apocalypse where the world was destroyed by a giant dinosaur-monster. Even Kristen avoided her when she was angry.

"Talia, are you cutting again?" Mei repeated her question. Talia knew she knew the answer, but still tried to play it off. Even if her attempt was futile.

"No...."

"You and I both know that's a lie." The older woman deadpanned.

Talia had to think of something, and quick, or she'd still be grounded by the time filming for Beyond Hell's Gate would end and all those premiere parties would be there, and both Aaron and Troy, along with Kristen, Mei, and even the forsaken Genevieve. And she'd be watching through the TV, which was worse than ignoring the party, as they all lied about her being ill.

"Fess up, Lia" Mei said, as she approached. "Do it, before I tell Krissy" Oh, those stupid nicknames. Mei had given Kristen, her best friend since diapers, the nickname of Krissy, which lead to the trio begging for nicknames too. So Talia became Lia, Aaron became Ronny, and Troy became Tori. Tori was the name Aaron used whenever introducing Troy to anyone. Anyone.

That lead to Aaron being introduced as Erin whenever he was being introduced. Talia still remembered the first day of middle school, when the trio was tasked with introducing themselves.

"My name is Talia. These are my sisters, Tori and Erin."

"Hey, my name is Troy, and these lovely women are my sisters, Lia and Erin"

"Hiya! My name is Aaron, and these are my twin sisters, Tori and Lia"

Even the teachers had been confused about names and genders for a good while. They were good for a laugh, especially with Aaron and Troy's androgynous appearances. But when the nickname was used, it was like a curse, that made Talia do Mei's bidding. "Fine, I cut. I came here to see Miss Bardd. Is she here?"

Mei shook her head and returned to her place on the floor, where a laptop and piles of notes was lying. Odd, how she hadn't noticed it's light earlier. "Haven't seen her" Mei was, despite the initial introduction, very much like Aaron. From similar hairstyles to genetics, to the way they talked and, sometimes, acted, almost like Aaron was a male carbon copy.

If he wasn't a slob and would go for days without eating while staring at a computer screen, and could be classified as a NEET.

Mei was a professional gamer and a screenwriter, and a good one at that. She was a lazy bum - or she was a snarky witch. No in between, maybe except for the occasional sugar highs, when she was completely enamoring Aaron's personality, to the impossibly high limits of the annoying spectrum, which even Aaron didn't know existed.

Talia cocked her head to the side which reminded Mei of a chihuahua. "Which reminds me; Why aren't you going home? Aaron lost his keys and has been bunking with me for the past two weeks. Troy's not the only one getting annoyed by it..." Talia and Aaron were close enough to sleep in the same bed, as were Troy and Aaron, and Troy and Talia.

Aaron hated guest rooms and sleeping alone, just as much as Talia hated the ocean and dolphins, or Mei hated showering alone, though she didn't force Aaron or Troy to stay in the bathroom with her anymore, females were a different story. Basements were also a problem, but it was a good thing that the southern coastal states of the Aravillian Empire didn't have basements in their beachfront abodes. If they did, how would Mei do her laundry? Not that she was the one who did it.

It was normally sent next door, to the Minoras, where it was washed, dried, and folded, ironed if the occasion called for it. "You three have spares too. Why don't you guys give him yours?" She answered, whilst jotting down a note in her rather large pile of random papers. It was a miracle she was able to find anything, as her ideas were even written on the walls, at times.

"Kristen took all those with her when she went to Darbaar" She shrugged. The Darbaar Empire and the Aravillian Empire were of the seven Empires that had conquered the world, each taking over a specific region or people. Aravillian Empire for North America and Greenland, La Ocanas Imperio for South America and Spain, Darbaar for the Indian-subcontinent and the Middle East, Laraveere Empire for the Western Europe and Russia, the Imperial States of Axoroma for Africa, Tuhinga Nui for Australia and all those Pacific Islands - all of them -, and finally,Yokana Teikoku, the empire that ruled the Eastern Part of Asia, and all islands that were close to the mainland. The Japanese had taken over, and living on an archipelago, they conquered anything remotely like them, before moving on to the mainland.

"Maybe she should've taken you brats who can't take care of themselves with her" Mei snarked, as she threw a pencil across the room, lodging it in the wall. She grabbed a pen and wrote a word, before snapping it in half and raking her hands through her hair which needed an oil change.

Talia eyed her in disgust before muttering "We're not the one who needs her to take care of them" She ducked in panic as an airborne ink pen, whizzed past her face.

"Who needs Kristen's help?"

"Us!" Talia replied quickly, as Mei aimed another pen. "But why are you here anyway? The narrator went completely off track for a couple of minutes and I still don't have your answer"

"I'm behind on a deadline and couldn't work with Aaron and Troy fangirling over Athena Frostinal and talking about how you weren't pulling her off properly."

"Don't you mean you're on writer's block?" Talia said, or rather would've said, if Mei wasn't holding yet another pencil in her hands.

"Miss Bardd let me work here, and let that evil daughter of her's stay away" Mei looked lost in thought before continuing "It maybe be because of my restraining order, but still" The duo was quiet for a while. Mei typed incoherent gibberish on her laptop, as plans of taking a holiday ran through her mind.

Talia had come to ask Miss Bardd about possible places to go on vacation, even if the idea was a stupid reason to skip school. But to keep her reputation, all she had to do was just to grab a bag and one of Kristen's designer bags inside it, and show it to the others.

She sighed as she noticed the date on the calendar. Ten days till the ten-year anniversary of getting out of the game, eleven years till the day where they had initially gotten stuck. Ten days until everyone who had left reunited, after years of silence. It would be fun, to see how everyone changed. Talia planned to make the most out of it, as the press would be buzzing around everywhere. That was the day the vacation would take place.

From what she remembered, everyone used to be adventure yearning children who loved to play all sorts of games, and what better way to honor those times than to find a mystery and make an attempt to solve it?

Even though the news had spread all over the world, Talia preferred for the vacation she'd be planning to be overseas, preferably in a remote part of the world, unaware to modern industrialization. That was, in theory, impossible since there were even cities on the continents of Antarctica and the Arctic, but some places did exist. This was meant to be a surprise for everyone, and she'd tell everyone the day before to give them time to pack. Of course, Talia would be paying for everyone.

"Anyway, I smell Miss Bardd's coffee. She's here." Mei stood up and wrapped a blanket around her shoulders, despite it being ninety-degree weather and started to drag herself outside. "Whatever you want, make it quick. I need to get back to work" She said, as she greeted Miss Bardd, and growled at her daughter. Oh, this was going to be a long day.