Memento Mori chapter 2: the true self

The sun rose, and I woke up from my comfortable bed… it’s been so long since I’ve slept like that… Usually back in the cell there would be people yelling and screaming about being let out every night… I should be getting up by now but… maybe 5 more minutes…
“ZACH!” I jumped up from my bed, practically falling out. From downstairs, my mom was calling me. Geez… give me a break… “There’s a customer here!” I grab my jacket and jump down from the attic and into the cashier. In front of the desk, was a man with a baseball cap and a weird red collar around his neck with a button. I put my feet up on the desk and started reading that book, “Love and Lust, by Venus Laker”. The man just stared at me with a weird look on his face.
“Uh hey… can I get a red blanket?” He says with a voice that seemed drained of energy. Odd coming from a guy that looks like that, but I jolted it down in my note book. He then looks around the room and stares at the tapestry and furniture around the area. “...did you make all of this?” I look up and stare at him dead in the eye,
“Does it look like I can make something like that?” I say blankly. His eyes seem scared, yet he’s somehow maintaining his composure.
“Well… Due to the fact that I heard great things from this place… the things here look like someone is still learning.” We locked eyes in silence until… We both started bursting into laughter. I slam my fist onto the table in a laughing fit and wipe the tears off my eyes.
“You… You’re funny, you know that? Hearing great things? No one ever wants to come here!” I say continuing to laugh. The man also continues, as we both try to calm ourselves down. Once we do, he holds out his hand.
“Hey, my name is Hero. I was thinking of working part time here some time… You think I have a shot?” I think about it… this guy does seem promising… Ah hell why not?
“Alright, but let's be clear here, I’m your boss, got it?” I say, fully taking advantage of the situation. He nods eagerly and points straight at me.
“Got it! Leave it to your Hero!” He says chuckling. “Get it, cause… Hero? Thats my name-”
“Yeah yeah I got it. You start tomorrow.” I say smiling. After he leaves, I get to work on that red blanket Hero wanted. Suddenly the phone rang next to the cashier, and I quickly picked it up.”Wilson and Son Sewing, how can I help you?” I say with a nonchalant tone.

“Zach!!!” Suddenly, my heart skips a beat. I break into a sweat and try to come up with something to say… It’s her… “You won’t BELIEVE what just happened! I… and drumroll please…” There’s a moment where I can hear her tapping on the table at accelerating speeds before yelling “I got accepted for that university!” She says with a cheerful laugh… I try to say something, but I can barely make out the words. My face is completely flushed… damn it, she’ll probably think I’m just some loser that can’t make proper sentences…
“That's great…” I say softly. “No really! That's great! I’m happy for you!”
“Yep!” Adrian replied. I can practically see the smile on her face… “I can finally leave this place and study for my dreams!” Wait what? I snap out of my delusions and put the phone back up to my ear.
“You’re leaving?! When?!” I say, trying to hide the panic in my voice… if she leaves soon, then I’ll never be able to… Ugh that doesn’t matter right now! Adrian seemed surprised at my change in tone and I tried to dial back. “Uh… well if you want, we can celebrate at my place tonight… if that's okay with you…”
“Oh that would be lovely! It would be nice to spend the last couple days here with my only friend…” Friend… that word stung… I feel like I should be happy, but right now I just want to scream. Was it selfish of me to feel this way? I hear her hang up the phone and then I get another call. Picking up the phone, I hear a slightly tired voice.
“Hey, Zach. It’s me. I just wanted to let you know that Robert told me about something interesting… So apparently the King targets people at their happiest… I have no idea if this is true or anything, but keep that in mind I guess.” My heart sank for a bit… Could it… No! I’m probably just overthinking it… but just to be sure.
“Well… actually could you come over with Robert tonight? I was treating someone who seemed happy I guess… just something to think about…” There was a moment of delay until I hear him reply
“Yeah sure I got time… Also, keep the pause, but don’t pause too long.” He says hanging up. I take a sigh of relief… I should probably continue working until Adrian gets here… I spent some time on that blanket until Hero came to pick it up. Eh, I got time to kill… I should finish that book… I continue reading, inspired by the young girl who was seen as nothing but a vile creature for crimes she didn’t commit… it brings tears to the eye…

Then, I hear the door bell ring and quickly throw my book across the room, barely missing Hero.
“Geez, you trying to kill me or something?” He says laughing and walking over. “I’m just here to pick up that blanket! This isn’t a robbery, I repeat, this ISN’T a robbery” He says holding his hands up and walking forward. I smile back and toss him that blanket and type into the cashier.
“That’ll be 90 dollars.” I say sticking a hand out. Surprisingly, he hands it with no complaining whatsoever. I look up and stare at him, trying to get a good read on him… but there’s nothing in his eyes. No emotion. no happiness, sadness, anger, just pure resignment. “No arguments?” I say with a little sass in my voice, but he just responds bluntly.
“Nah, you gotta do what you have to do to live.” He says waving. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Zach.” He says leaving… ‘What you have to do to live?’ I always thought of him as a cheery guy, but that phrase sounded like a cry for help… Shaking my head, I prepare the place for Adrian's arrival, I put on my best outfit (Everything else is the same but I got new sneakers) and prepare to meet her. Once she arrives, she looks absolutely stunning. Her green curled hair, her graceful posture, she was perfect. But then I hear a crash outside. Adrian jumped slightly and rushed with me outside the shop to see Matt and that dumbass detective yelling at each other.
“What?! You just expect me to carry a flashlight at night?!”
“YES! YES I DO! WHY WOULD YOU RIDE A BIKE WITHOUT A LIGHT?!”
“Geez you care too much about the little details.” Robert said, crossing his arms. Adrian looked at me confused.
“...Do you know them-”
“Never seen them in my life lets go out the back” I say quickly before slamming the door as the two continue to argue. Later back at the porch, I stared into the woods with Adrian, in the (kind of) quiet beautiful night. I try to come up with something to say, but I can’t get the words to come out… taking a deep breath, I finally get the courage to speak. “So… uh… You’re leaving the area?” I say turning away before she could fully see my face. She replied with a joyful tone,
“Yep! I can’t wait to finally be the scientist I always wanted to be! I can prove that fortune telling isn’t just ‘folk tales’ like that orphanage nanny told me” Her voice was the kind that could melt your worries away. The kind you’d want to hear to cheer you up when you’re at your lowest. I look down at my knees and nod.

“...well have fun I guess…” I say, trying to hide the somberness in my voice… Unfortunately I don’t think I did a good job at it. She was always the one who could read people the best. She was a fortune teller after all. She scooted over to me and patted me on the back. I flinched a little at her touch, but she just giggled a little.
“Whats the matter? Did I scare you?” She says teasing me, egging me on so we can start arguing like we’d used to in class… but I wasn’t in the mood. I got to say it, I had to say it now!
“Listen… Adrian… We’ve been friends for a long time… and…” I pause. I could feel my face heating up… Agh- Quit it, Zach! It’s now or never! “I just wanted to say that I really really… lo-” I was interrupted by Adrian shushing me and pointing into the woods. From behind a tree, there was a small deer limping, and then falling over… The poor thing. Adrian quickly got up and ran towards it.
“Zach, go get some bandages. I’ll try to comfort it, okay?” She says running to the area the deer is. I sigh… I didn’t get to do it… maybe when she comes back on break I could- agh who am I kidding, I’m hopeless. I get up and head into the kitchen. I can hear the sounds of Matt and Robert continuing to argue over whose fault it was at hitting each other until the sound was interrupted by another sound… a scream… I quickly dropped everything and opened the door for the two.
“Let's go! Now!” I yelled at them in a rush. Matt and Robert quickly dropped their petty feud and ran through the house and into the back. The deer and Adrian were gone. Matt looked around confused and turned to me.
“Sorry, who are we looking for?” He says with sweat running down his face. “From what I can pinpoint, I heard a woman being attacked… you know her?”
“She uh… she’s just a friend. Her name is Adrian, green hair, jacket, awesome. She went into the woods a couple minutes ago” I explained as Robert adjusted his hat.
“Well then we have to go on a full on investigation. Everyone heads out” He says running off into the woods. I followed him along with Matt as we split up to see where she could have gone. My heart was pounding in my chest… could she have been, no. NO! Don’t even think about it, Zach! If she was dead I would never… never… Suddenly I hear a squeak. I start running in that direction, summoning street prince, ready to throw down and risk it all!

But… When I got there, I saw a beautiful lake glistening in the moonlight… in front of it was the deer, dragging the body of… Adrian!
“Guys! Over here!” I call out into the woods as I run to the deer. The deer noticed me and quickly let go of her, letting out another squeak. “You tried to save her, didn’t you!” I say petting it on the head. I then turned to Adrian… and my worries were confirmed. Right in her chest was a hole created from a blade… I drop down onto my knees and try to feel a pulse. Nothing… Matt and Robert finally arrive and see me in front of Adrian, grasping her hand close. Robert kneels down next to me, and starts talking.
“...I bet you two were close…” He said with a slightly somber tone. “I used to have a friend who died too… But there’s nothing we can do now… all we can do is hunt down the king.” He says getting back up. “Let's go, everyone.” I get up and glance at Adrian’s limp body. The deer looks just as sad as I do. Me and Robert start to head off until…
“Hold on.” I turned around and saw Matt staring at his palm. Robert, annoyed, grabbed him by the shoulder and turned to face him.
“What the hell are you doing, Matt? She’s already dead! It’s as clear as day! There’s no saving her!” He says with some malice in his voice. But Matt shoved him away calmly and started walking towards Adrian. As he got closer, his palm started glowing a bright light. The deer, Robert, and I started to slowly get closer to him until he completely placed his hand on her head. Once that happened, the bright light lit up the night sky, blinding us all… when we came to… we were in a green grassfield with a giant tower in front of us, looking straight out of a fairy tale. “Damn it Matt! What is this?!” Robert yelled as Matt looked around confused.
“I… don’t know. This is the first time this happened…” He says, staring at his hands confused… Suddenly I hear singing coming from the top of the tower… It's her. I point to the top and yell,
“Guys! She’s up there! We have to go find her!” Robert sighs, but then walks forward.
“Hold it, Zach. We have to make sure it’s safe…” He says as an aura bursts around him. He holds one finger up in the air and yells, "Monsieur Trent!" as his guardian is summoned. It may look small and pathetic, but don’t let it fool you, this thing can absolutely kill a person if he wanted to.

He closes his eyes as Trent zooms into the castle… after a couple of seconds he looks up. “My guardian has a secondary ability to track down anything that produces Co2. There’s only one person in there.” He says desummoning his guardian. “Let's go, everyone.” The three of us step into the castle, the rooms echo in silence… We explore around, trying to open sealed doors, but even if we break them down, they’ll just reform. What an odd place… This doesn’t even seem real… it’s like a kid's drawing…
“Hey! I found the stairs!” Matt yells out as we rush over. It seemed like a long flight, but it also seemed safe to walk on. As we made our way through I could hear distant whispers… I turned to Robert confused, but he seemed to be just as lost as I was. “There shouldn’t be anyone here, right Robert?” Matt questioned as he replied with a nod. I can faintly see shadowy figures around us as we continue exploring…
“I heard… that she was a witch…” A whisper says as we continue walking. “Every night, she’ll go into people's houses, break down their windows, and kidnap people in their sleep all for her little spells”
“That would explain her fashion sense… she’s probably just trying to hide the burn marks from the trial” another voice says, giggling. “But seriously, what is with that jacket? She’s not even wearing the school uniform underneath”
“Yeah! She’ll never find a boyfriend with that outfit… But I guess she wouldn’t find one anyway with her attitude.” The three of us look around confused… what once was a castle hallway was now looking like the school me and Adrian went to. As we continued down the hall, the voices kept coming.
“What on earth is wrong with you?” An older voice spoke, “You constantly skip classes, you never listen to lectures, and you scare your classmates with this fortune telling mumbo jumbo!”
“I- I’m sorry…” A voice sounding like Adrian started speaking, but it was quickly interrupted
“Apologizing won’t get you out of this one, little miss! Why can’t you be just like the others? Study well, look pretty, marry a nice guy, what's so hard about that?”
“This is…” Matt says as he looks around. He seems kind of disheartened by the voices but he shakes his head and keeps looking forward. “Can anyone see the stairs?” He asks as Robert points straight down the hall.
“Just power through and keep going. We’re almost to the top.” He says as we all sprint towards the staircase. As I keep going, I can hear Adrian's voice echoing the hall…

“Am I really just… defective?”
“Adrian…” I whisper to myself as I’m filled with the newfound determination to save her. As we make it to the top, we see Adrian standing in front of the stage. She’s right there… I have to get her out of this place! I run in but Robert yells at me to stop! I turn around and see Monsieur Trent out.
“Wait! Zach! There’s one more person here!” He says as the light flickers off. Suddenly I hear a regal laugh as the spotlight shines on Adrian and… Adrian? No wait… there’s something off about her. She’s wearing some sort of dress with a tiara made of daisies. She had a bouquet of flowers and the most damning thing… her eyes were glowing yellow as she stared at Adrian with a crazed smile.
“Two of them…?” Matt whispered to himself as the other Adrian spun around.
“Oh my! It seems my knight has arrived to rescue me!” She says with a voice that had a distorted reverb backing it up. The other Adrian then points the spotlight at me as I break into a sweat. The real Adrian looks up at me in fear and yells at me.
“Zach! Get out of here! You’re not meant to see this-”
“See what? The real you?” The other Adrian said, making her shut up. She then walks up to me and grips my arm, spinning me around like some sort of rendition of beauty and the beast. “The you that so desperately craves to be heard… the you that wants to be seen! But no… that's not up to the standards for a perfect little princess.” I trip over myself and fall onto the floor as the other Adrian laughs. “Come on… admit it! You despised every single person on this godforsaken planet. ‘Oh that's not very womanly of you’ ‘Oh shut up and listen! No one likes a girl that speaks too much!’” The tone of her voice turns from mockery to pure hatred. “How could you ever be a proper woman if you’re not even a human?” …What? Adrian gasps and looks over at me and the others. Robert doesn’t seem surprised, while me and Matt were just confused. “Oh, right! Oopsies, just a little slip up!” the other Adrian said giggling. “She’s not really human… She’s just a doll, a manaquinn that was miraculously born! But how? I’m not so sure… How about we take a look-”
“ENOUGH!” Adrian yells out in the dark. “ENOUGH OF THESE LIES! DON’T FALL FOR IT ZACH! THIS ME… THIS THING! IT’S NOT ME! AND IT NEVER WILL BE!” She says looking around, panicking. The other Adrian is taken aback but laughs… and laughs harder.

“You said it! You finally said it!” She says laughing as yellow fog engulfs the room. Adrian gets completely covered in it and falls to the floor unconscious. I yell at her name as Matt quickly grabs me. From where I was standing, multiple arrows shoot up from the ground. He places me back on my feet and gets ready for battle… but I stop him.
“Hang on Matt…” I say placing a hand before him. He looks confused as I continue explaining. “I want you to consider this a test for me. I want to prove that I can handle this on my own. So please don’t help me.” He looks at me, trying to get a read on me, before nodding and turning to Robert.
“Hey! Help him out, will you? You need to prove your worth too!” He says with a smirk. How… how can he be this casual in a time like this…
“What?! You’re acting like I’M not the one who let you even be here!” He says sending Trent flying towards the other Adrian.
“Street prince!” I yelled out, calling my other self and going in for a blow, but the enemy gripped her head and let out a scream, sending rain of arrows straight at us. We quickly dodge out of the way and move slowly so we don’t get lost in the darkness.
“Everyones always telling me what to do, where to go, how to act! I’m sick of it! To hell with it all!” She screams as the arrows start to chase us. I send Street Prince to punch the arrows away, but once they’re hit, they just regain their position and continue tracking.
“Hey this isn’t good Robert!” I yell from across the room “ I need assistance!” I can hear a sigh as Robert takes out his gun and fires from across the room, breaking the arrows.
“You could have broken those instantly, why are you pulling your punches?” He says with an annoyed tone. “This isn’t the same Adrian from earlier, this is someone else entirely!” I sigh… I hate to admit it, but he’s right… The real Adrian was on the ground next to Matt, who was watching the fight and mumbling to himself… “So stop messing around and fight for your life!” He says as he sends Trent in front of the fake Adrian to slash her up. As quickly as the eye can see, multiple afterimages surround her and go in for a slash, but… she grabs her head again and lets out another scream, summoning arrows from the ground to block the attack. The arrows then float up towards Robert and aim directly at him.

“All I do is obey, watch, or listen! I can’t do anything I want anymore! Why can’t I be greedy! Why do I have to be the one who suffers?!” She says as she sends the arrows straight at Robert… but he smirks and snaps his fingers.
“Zach! Now!” I crushed a marble that was in my hand to reveal that I’ve stored one of the arrows when I was barraging it earlier, and due to her directing all her arrows at Robert while I was directly behind them, the arrow went straight through her and into her chest. A bullseye! Robert adjusted his hat and was about to land another blow, but suddenly the spotlights turned off, plunging us into even more darkness.
“I’m merely a puppet, being pulled by strings that don’t even exist! Why was I even alive if I wasn’t up to the word's standards?” The voice of the fake Adrian said as I heard the sounds of more arrows being summoned. I try to run towards the voice, but I get stabbed in the chest… They’re not moving… they’re just standing in place…
“Zach! Zach, can you hear me?” Robert calls out from afar. I cough up some blood, trying to talk but I respond.
“Yeah, I’m here! What’s the plan now smart ass?” I say trying to move slowly so I won’t get stabbed into any arrows.
“Well obviously, we have to find a way to turn on the lights… is there a light switch anywhere nearby?”
“Oh yeah sure let me just stab myself multiple times to reach the nonexistent lightswitch- OF COURSE THERE’S ISN'T!" I can hear Robert click his tongue and think to himself.
“...then I guess we have to just wait it out and hope for the best…” He says until he trails off and looks at Trent. “...what?” He regains his composure and adjusts his hat. “Wait… Adrian is still breathing right?” From afar, Matt yells out.
“Yeah she’s fine! She doesn’t seem hurt and it looks like she’ll wake up soon!” I couldn’t see him, but Robert sounds pretty confused.
“Wait wait wait… and that other Adrian wasn't detected… so that means…” his eyes widen and he breaks into a sweat. “Someone’s coming right for us!” I suddenly hear footsteps traveling past me and straight at where Adrian was with a voice, sounding like a child, yelling out,

“Lavenza! ＼(〇O〇)／” Suddenly the sound of a punch is heard and the lights flicker back on. On the ground was the other Adrian on her knees, blood dripping from her cheek. The person who attacked her was completely gone as the real Adrian started to wake.
“Now Zach! We gotta kill it before it attacks and goes berserk again!” Robert yells as the arrows surrounding us shrivel up and turn into dust. I nod as I summon Street prince, ready to land one clean and decisive blow until…
“STOP!” A voice yells out from the back of the room. I turn around and see Matt shaking Adrian awake and getting up. He then turned to us and continued. “Don’t kill it. I’ve seen this before but I couldn’t remember where… But I know what we have to do.” He says putting Adrian in front of her. I brace myself to attack at any moment but the two Adrians just stare at each other. Matt stands by the sidelines with Robert and waits… hoping something will happen. Adrian glanced at Matt, and then back at me… and then sighed.
“I understand…” she starts, staring down at the ground. “I understand how you feel, but… there isn’t anything I can do… There are just people who can’t stand you and there’s nothing you can do about it… And as for myself… I guess I really can’t be completely human…” She removes her jacket, revealing that her shoulders were plastic moveable joints like you’d see on a barbie doll. She quickly puts it back on and glances at me and turns back to the other Adrian, completely staring at her now. “But who cares what I am? My emotions are real, the moments I have are real! And who cares that I’m not up to people's standards? That's their problem! Why can’t they just mind their own business?” She says giggling a little and holding her hand out as the other Adrian flinches. “You’re me, and I’m you. There’s nothing to be ashamed about.” The other Adrian takes her hand after some hesitation as a bright light engulfs the room. I shield my eyes and all of the sudden-

imgflip.com/i/a2e3jb?lerp=1754516905949

"With this treasure, I summon..."

Wow you must feel like a real comedian huh?

no beef bro that was a joke