The controller was covered in her own palm sweat. How long has it been since she left her room? What time is it now?
Her tired eyes glanced at the LED clock. 2:35 a.m.
"I've been playing this game for exactly 14 hours…" she yawned. "Where does the time go?" She closed her eyes.
I was gonna watch the planetary alignment on the internet tonight… but… it's freaking too late… I'm just too… tired…
She looked to her left at the end of her bed, where a strange assortment of stuffed animals lay. There was Marvin the Martian, Italy, Toon Link, Kirby, Luka Megurine, Soul Eater Evans, A 1up mushroom, and her absolute favorite: Wheatley CORE, from Portal 2. She picked up the round plushie and examined it, turning it over in her hands. She set this cotton CORE down next to her, before looking back at her TV screen, where Wheatley floated haplessly through space. This was her fifth time completing this game, as an attempt to get all the Achievements. Yes, finally! She could practically see her friends' faces when she says she unlocked all the Achievements for 7 different games in less than a week! All hail LemonDrop, the Gamer Queen!
… Well, at least she hoped they'd call her LemonDrop, and not by her real name. LemonDrop is a nickname her younger brother called her when she lived with her parents. She used to have a mass of bright yellow hair before she got it cut. She hates her real name, so she just told everyone to call her LemonDrop.
She stood up, before immediately sitting down before she got too dizzy. She blinked the muddle of fuzz out of her eyes and shook her head, trying to remember how to walk properly. She walked over to her window and pushed it open. (Or pulled it open. I don't really care how you perceive this part, it's just a window.) She looked up at the stars, and remembered Wheatley floating through space on her TV screen. Is it bad to be upset about that? Even if he did deserve it? It's just a game, anyway.
A flicker of a shooting star shot past the sky. She thought about making a wish, she never really believed in wishing anyway, but, just to be funny, she gave it a shot.
I wish Wheatley wasn't in space.
She laughed at her own pathetic attempt at a wish, and closed the window. She reached over to turn off her Xbox, and slipped into her bed covers, cuddling the Wheatley CORE plush against her face.
I am a pathetic human being, cooing over a fictional robot. But, there are worse people, probably.
She closed her eyes and let sleep overcome her.
Until bright blue light filled her room.
"Wha-?" she sat up in bed and looked at the clock. 3:24 a.m. She squinted in the bright light, coming from her TV.
"Did I forget to turn something off? What the heck is happening?" the light began to fade, showing Wheatley floating in space again. LemonDrop came to the conclusion that she had just not turned something off, or maybe a mouse ran into the button of the Xbox or something. She stood up out of bed to switch off the Xbox, only to find that it was unplugged. The TV's POWER Button light was dim, too. She looked at Wheatley on her TV screen, perplexed.
"Surprise!" Wheatley said. "Thanks to you, I'm not in space! Isn't that nice? Well, it's nice for me, right now anyway, but, um…"
"What. The. Fuck." LemonDrop said flatly.
"Okay then, you're a swearer. I see that." Wheatley declared. "That's fine. Probably. I don't know. I mean, I personally don't have a problem with it, but… I don't know. Anyway, come on now." Wheatley looked eagerly at LemonDrop.
"Are you talking to me?" she said, dumbfounded.
"Wha-? Just… Am I talking to you?! Of course I'm talking to you, who else? Would I be talking to… um… okay… there's no one else in the room here so… Okay, I got it now. Would I be talking to that cute little pillow you're holding? What is that, anyway? What is that some kind of… Oh! That's me! That's cute, really adorable, I knew you were special." LemonDrop tucked the Wheatley plush out of sight.
"…Am I dreaming or something?" She stammered.
"HA! Are you dreaming? You wish! No! Wait! You don't want that, because… Well, you're not dreaming let's, put it that way. So, are you coming or not?"
"…What?"
"Oh for God's sake it's… um… y'know, it's too difficult explain, so just, c'mon."
LemonDrop stepped closer to the screen, and Wheatley tilted forward a little.
"Now, you see that bar? That bar right above my eye? Just, go ahead and grab it. Just… be careful. I'm not exactly built for 'human contact' so… I mean, YOU'LL be perfectly fine, probably… I'll probably be okay too, but I'm not entirely sure."
LemonDrop reached her hand and lightly tucked her fingers around the metal.
"WAAAH! Not okay! Not okay!" Wheatley shrieked and cried as LemonDrop jerked her hand back. Wheatley's cries quickly turned into sniggers. "Haha, Ohh, just kidding, love. You fell for it, didn't you? Oh, you humans are so simple. Then again, that was superb acting on my part, if I do say so myself. You can go ahead and grab that bar again, it's okay. I don't bite. I don't even have teeth." LemonDrop once again placed her hand on the bar.
"See?" Wheatley said. "Perfectly fine. Now, I see you're wearing fuzzy pajama pants with a sponge character on them… also wearing pants. Just wanted to see what other humans wore. Just curious. Anyway, this is the part where you need to hold on."
Wheatley jerked back into the screen, pulling Lemon along with him. She closed her eyes. She heard a familiar sound, like going through a portal. She opened her eyes to see her and Wheatley floating through an orange portal Vortex, passing a bunch of numbers and letters, which lemon assumed to be the game's code script.
"Whoa…" she said in awe.
"Yeaah, pretty neat, huh?" Wheatley smiled. "This is part of the game. Sort of. Is this confusing to you? That I know it's a game? It like Schrodinger's Cat… thing. I simultaneously know it's a game, and I don't know it's a game, until you open the box… a metaphorical box, that is. But you've already… opened that box… so it's not real, I guess, paradox solved."
They floated through a bit longer, before a horrible screeching sound echoed through the coded walls.
"Oh my God! What…? okay, remain calm!" Wheatley shouted. "REAMAIN. CALM." The portal vortex reversed, and they were pushed backward.
"Okay, alright. This was NOT supposed to happen!" They backed into a wall of code, and it shattered into oblivion.
"i'M dIFFERENT… rATS cANNOT tHROW-i sHOULD rEALLY hAVE a gUN…tAKE tHAT sPACE!...-oNLY wANT yOU gONE… i'LL gET mY eNGINEERS tO mAKE tO sPAAAAAACE a cOMBUSTIBLE lEMON, cAROLINE Is IN HErE ToO…"
"Oh, bloody hell! Did you hear that mess? That was terrible! Okay, I think I know what happened just a minute ago, I think the game recognized a foreign error, you, no offense, and reversed the whole… code. So, it looks like we're going backward, to a one-way portal, and we're probably going to die."
