Virtual Reality ✔

It All Goes Down Now

"Are you serious?" Duncan exclaimed. "If it weren't for me, you all would've been searching the wrong places! Everyone would have wasted their life, yes I saw your numbers. They were so much lower than mine and Graces and Parkers. I saved our team. Just back off."

Instead of backing off like was suggested, Victoria had decided to take a step closer to him. Duncan was a bit taller than Victoria, but she hadn't seemed affected by it. "Saved our team?" she asked coldly, adding a cruel laughter. "We could have won, but our team got slowed down by you."

I cringed at her unpleasing choice of words. When all Duncan did was stare at her with anger, she took that as a sign to continue. "Don't deny it. You're the reason we failed. You were too slow and held us all back. We were finally winning and you are the reason we broke the streak."

Duncan took a deep breath and walked away, most of the cameras followed him, including Parker. I stayed behind and walked over to where Victoria was. Amberline stood in confusion. I could see the look in her eyes, she was trying to figure out who to be. The friend we had come to know, or who she was for the camera.

As I approached, Victoria had spun around and spat, "what do you want?" I tried ignoring the cameras and talked to her how I would in any situation that this would have happened in.

"You shouldn't have done that," I said, unable to form a better response.

"What?" She asked as if she already knew what I was going to chastise her about.

"No," I said, though I hadn't agreed with her calling him that; she was already expecting it and ready to defend herself. For only a moment shock shone in her features. She soon returned to her angry state and before she could say anymore I said, "You shouldn't have blamed him. He really did help us, and it was unfair of you to target him because he was a little slower than the rest of us."

"What I do is none of your business," she replied in a dismissive tone.

"This time it is my business, Victoria. It affects our team and therefore it directly affects me," I told her.

"And, tell me, how does this affect the team?" She scoffed.

"You're degrading my team's confidence. Studies have shown that confidence directly affects a person's performance. Besides that, your dignity is on the line for lashing out like that. Especially on your own teammate," I told her, crossing my arms in anger. I hated that she persisted on looking down upon the people I cared about. Not just Duncan, but she also looked down on Parker. I will admit, I have come to care for them both a lot more than Victoria and Amberline.

"Whatever, but I'm not apologizing," she told me.

"I'm not asking you to. What I'm asking is that you learn to stay calm, this is a competition and we won't win all the time. You can't get angry every time we lose," I told her and turned away. Amberline came towards her after I left. None of the cameras followed, but they turned to watch me leave.

Across the lobby I approached Duncan and Parker. Duncan was calmer than he was when he walked off. I was glad, because I really needed to surround myself with a better atmosphere. Other teams were finishing and I knew Jasper and the rest of D3 were happily spreading the news of our team turning against each other.

"You didn't have to do that," said Duncan. He was looking down and his eyes looked a little glossy, as if he were going to cry not long ago. It reminded me that we were all human, though it hadn't brought me joy to see him so upset.

"I did, really. She can't treat our teammates like that," I told him, trying to be comforting. I touched his arm. Right as I did it, though, I instinctively pulled back. It seemed so innocent to me until my dream from last night instantly replayed in my mind.

"I agree," said Parker quietly.

We stood together in silence, I wasn't sure what the others had been thinking about but I knew that in my mind, horrible images of The Monsters played back. It continued until someone grabbed my shoulder and spun me around. "What did you do?" asked Jasper furiously.

"What do you mean?" I asked quietly, unable to find my full voice. His grip tightened and my heart raced, remembering the last time I was in a situation like this. It was years ago, when I had to be with The Monsters everyday.

"Don't play dumb, you know exactly what I'm talking about!" He exclaimed.

Duncan came forward and separated us. Well, more like separated Jasper from me. "Hey, why don't you explain yourself," he said, voice tinged slightly with anger, but he had remained calm enough. It was much different than when I walked up to him not long ago.

"You guys scored higher than us. That couldn't have happened, we finished first," Jasper explained very briefly.

"What?" Asked Parker as he walked away from his corner and over to the leaderboard. Both Duncan and I followed and though Jasper wasn't entirely convinced we had nothing to do with it, he found our shock surprising. When I looked at the leaderboard, we had in fact won. When we asked, the people in charge said that we couldn't see the reasons for the results but had assured us there wasn't a mistake.

"Looks like the people in charge are on our side," commented Duncan. I smiled at how he'd picked up the name I'd always used for the people who'd conducted the competition.

"That, or D3 took a lot more damage than us. Maybe they started in the buildings and most their team was harmed like Victoria and Amberline were," I suggested. He shrugged and we made our way to the other two in our group. It wasn't important how we won, just that it happened. When we told them that we had won, they both reacted differently. Amberline was excited, and she was real again. Victoria, on the other hand, just stood there silently.

After we told them our explanation behind how we'd won Victoria said, "I'm sorry."

Duncan looked taken aback, and he wasn't alone. I guess it was true Victoria liked winning, but we had never expected her to be one for apologizing. I especially hadn't expected it because she'd been so against it earlier. "Thanks, it's okay though. I deserved it," he said shyly. Another surprising event of the night. Duncan was usually sure of himself and not afraid to make a joke of anything.

"Really, you were the reason we won," she had countered. Duncan had accepted her apology but remained modest about it. The rest of the day went on as normal, and as I thought back to the competition I was glad to remember that Parker had stuck with Duncan and I, those who would help build him up and not tear him down.

We were all casually sitting in the living area of our flat, keeping to ourselves as much we could. I announced that I would be going to bed early, and started heading to the room. I was just about to lay down when I saw the door open slightly with a few knocks. I answered and found that it had been Duncan.

"Yes?" I asked, hoping he wouldn't ask about earlier. As I thought about it, it had felt weird to be so concerned for Amberline. It was like intruding into her personal life, and I shouldn't have been so upset by an attitude change.

My hopes had been crushed when he said, "about earlier..." he looked to me, wanting to make sure he wasn't crossing any lines. When I hadn't stopped him he continued, "I wanted to know why you seemed so upset, I mean, I don't want you to feel uncomfortable or anything."

"It's okay. It's not a lot, just Amberlines act. She seemed real for so long today, and then when the cameras came it was all ruined," I explained and tried not to cringe at how I cared too much about someone else's business. Duncan stared at me intently, and I asked, "so why'd you want to know?"

He shook his head and said, "nothing, just making sure the pain from the games hadn't gotten to you." He smiled, and I smiled back. Although, part of me thought it was more than that. I couldn't tell if he couldn't believe my intrusivness or if there was something more; something better. I refused to think about that question further because both outcomes had brought about a kind of emotion I hadn't welcomed.

"I can handle the pain, don't worry," I told him jokingly. It seemed I decided ignore the fact that I knew he wasn't telling me the whole truth.

"I have no doubt," he looked back then left me to sleep, and so I did.