Hollow Twilight - A LitRPG Novel

Chapter 28

Reily didn't say anything. She sat on the bed, gently pressing into Reid from gravity. Her expression didn't change as far as Reid could tell. Just sitting and listening and waiting for him to talk.

He became very conscious of his jacket sitting on the floor. He had left it there when he had initially sat down and found himself staring at it. He should've asked about it, should've put it somewhere. Now he was just leaving a mess in somebody's house. It needed to be rectified.

"I should move that," he said, sliding off the bed and retrieving his jacket. He awkwardly shuffled to the only chair in the room and started to lay it atop of it then paused, checking with Reily. She was still just watching him, her expression flat. He draped the jacket and stood there.

He thought about Simon in the other room. He had made a comment before when Reily was talking near the door. Things weren't soundproof here. The last thing he needed was someone else overhearing the details of a missing person. No, the last thing he needed was Simon deciding to try Hollow Twilight himself after hearing about it through a wall.

Reid gulped down the rising lump in his throat and returned to sitting next to Reily. She did nothing to move out of the way and he soon felt her warmth all over again. This time it was slightly more bearable, comforting almost that she was going to stay beside him during this. She could've run the second he revealed he had anything to say about a teacher who vanished. But here she was.

"I think I need to explain a lot more actually, sorry." Reid checked to the side. Reily just nodded. "So this game I've been telling you about, it's not a game, sort of. It's like...I mean it acts like a game and you can level up and everything and...that's not really important actually. Ok, so, well like it's a portal to another dimension."

Reid paused. He listened to Reily's breathing. It was as slow and normal as it had been before. She was just watching him carefully.

"So if you play it," Reid continued, "you go through to this other dimension where you can use your powers, like a game, and you kill monsters and bosses and stuff. The Pariahs we were talking about. Also you're being way too quiet for this to be believable."

"You disappeared in front of me," Reily replied, instantly. "I mean I know you said you didn't and I figured that was true cause like why wouldn't it be but I was pretty certain you were just gone. And everyone else at the table was talking about this normally so yeah, I kind of have to believe it."

"And you aren't freaking out?"

"I plan on freaking out after you leave, I think? I'm pretty certain I will just maybe not when I'm already pretty embarrassed."

"Fair." Reid shook out his hands. He could feel the sweat along the creases of his palms. He rubbed them on his jeans to try and get rid of it but he knew it would be back again in a second anyways. "So we play that game, or not game, whatever, and we cross over to that world. You can form a Flock, it's like putting together a team for soccer.'

"Don't compare the two,' Reily interjected, face souring.

"Sorry. Well Mr. Crawford was in the Flock with us and we needed a bunch of us to take down a Pariah. So he came with us and his power was really useful, it helped us beat the boss it just...we were all exhausted and beaten, we were...going to die if we couldn't...and he was trying to recover from using this ability he has and it...got him."

Reily shut her eyes for a minute. She straightened up, shifting away from Reid's side. "He's dead?" Reid nodded but kept his eyes straight ahead, terrified to look at Reily. "He's just dead in some other dimension?"

"Yes," Reid whispered.

"Holy shit," Reily remarked. He could feel her leg trembling beside him. "Holy shit."