Coming to Reality

Chapter 7

In the last chapter, Toasty and Rico barely escaped being caught and then rejoined Bob who had found out the way out – the only thing was, he still needed to work it. Also, the rest of Rico's squad joined Rico and they all waited for a wait out…except, Rookie refused.

"Rookie, give us one good reason why you don't want to come back with us besides the fact that you don't want to be judged and called out on your mistakes," Jet Pack Guy said.

"There are all these awesome things here! Like, they have these things called 'cars' and when I'm old enough to drive on-"

"Rookie, you'll never be able to drive a car – that's basic. Why would penguins drive cars? Rico can't do it, Jet Pack Guy can't, Dot can't, Toasty can't and you can't and neither can anyone else. Why? Because you are penguins and you are supposed to be hanging out in your natural habitat…but instead, I brought you here," Bob interrupted.

"Well, you know what? You can't make me," Rookie crossed his arms and smirked.

"Where are you going to go, Rookie?" Dot asked.

"Bob, won't you let me stay here with you?" Rookie asked.

Bob rolled his eyes. "It'd be hard doing so…" he paused as the agents gave him a look that persuaded him to say 'no'. "And since I've already got hard things to do like school…"

"You aren't even at school…it's a weekday. You don't go to school," Rookie said.

"It's spring break," Bob said (don't ask, I needed a reason and this really doesn't take place in spring but he does go to school).

"Ah, whatever, can't you please?!" Rookie said with a hopeful look.

"Rookie, I'm sorry, but I think you need to go with Rico and the others. They need you on the squad. There is only one communication leader in the EPF. That's you," Bob said.

"They can get a new one," Rookie pleaded. "Please?!"

"They can't just randomly select a new one," Bob said.

"How do you know how this works?!"

"Because I've seen it happen before," Bob said.

"Rookie, you have to come with us. And the more you annoy Bob, the less work he'll get done and the less work he gets done, the longer we wait to go home and we'd like to go home today," Rico said.

"Yeah, well, I'll have it done by tomorrow morning," Bob said.

"Tomorrow morning?" asked Rico.

"It's only like 5," Bob said. "Besides, I can't keep working around the clock. When you got here, I was on the computer a lot, but now I'm on it…a lot," Bob said.

"Can't you just wait to sleep?" asked Rico.

Bob looked at him like he was crazy. "Are you kidding me?! No."

"What? Why?"

"I've gone two days without it. I need sleep. You don't understand what it is like to not sleep,"

"I actually do," Rico said. "Because sometimes, I'd go to my igloo and there'd be gunmen there – or I'd go to my igloo and I'd hear noises from my basement and guns cocking,"

"Yeah, so?"

"I didn't get any sleep those nights. I don't count being knocked unconscious as going to sleep." Rico said.

"Well, good for you," Bob said. He turned back to his computer.

"Good for me? You're the one who CAUSED there to be gunmen in my igloo! You're the one who CAUSED me to get shot billions of times! You're the one who CAUSED me to almost die! You're the one who CAUSED my life and my squad's life and everyone else's to be a lie!" Rico yelled in a frustrated tone.

"Boss, what're you –"

"This guy – Bob – has made up our lives. Our lives are lies. He makes up these random stories about our lives and publishes them to sites – I don't even know what the purpose is – but sites and people read them and are all like, 'OMG YOU'RE SO CREATIVE!' and other stuff like that! I don't know how he does it but somehow, they flow towards us and we somehow magically do what he writes about!" Rico was angry. "He's made our lives a lie! He won't admit it!"

Bob sat there in shock. "Are you kidding me?"

The other agents were silent. Rookie was frightened. Toasty was ignoring everything. She was sitting there tapping her phone (as usual).

"NO, I'M NOT KIDDING YOU. I NEVER SHOULD'VE JUMPED DOWN THAT PORTAL. ALL THIS? IT'S A GUILT TRIP. I NEVER WANTED TO MEET YOU. I NEVER WANTED TO. EVER. AND YOU KNOW WHY? BECAUSE YOU'RE CAUSING THIS MAYHEM IN MY LIFE THAT IS MAKING ME THINK THAT I'M DOING SUCH A GOOD JOB WHEN IN REALITY – I'M JUST LIVING A LIFE OF LIES!" Rico screamed.

"RICO," Bob was steaming. He grabbed Rico and took him out of the room as the others just sat there and watched in shock. There was dead silence.

"Told him not to shoot his mouth off," Toasty said as she continued to tap her phone.

"Rico!" Bob was mad. They were in another bedroom. It was huge. No one was around.

"Get off me! You're nothing but a liar," Rico said, still mad. "I don't like you and I don't care what you do to me! Hell, you can kill me in one of your 'little stories',"

"Rico! Just…" Bob paused in anger. "Let me explain everything! Then you can go to bed and wake up and leave. When ever you want to!"

"Fine! I'm listening!" Rico said in a very mean tone.

"Those stories? I don't create them and you don't magically do what I say," Bob said. His voice went to normal in a calm tone. "I observe what YOU do. What you do is put down into my stories,"

"What?"

"You killed the Killer? I took note of that. I wrote that down and created a trilogy out of it. Because that's what it was! I watched what you did and I typed it up and I posted it and everything. You get very positive feedback," Bob said. "It's not just beneficial for ME, it's also beneficial for you!"

Rico started to lose his anger and realize what an idiot he was. Bob wasn't a liar – he was an observer. He started to get embarrassed and felt stupid.

"I'm not lying. I'm observing. You're doing it. I take note. Is that a good summary?" Bob said. "Can your brain comprehend that?"

"Yes…" Rico said after a bit of silence. He was talking slowly with a fixed gaze. "Yes…it…it does…"

Bob turned around and shook his head. He left the room in anger.

Meanwhile, Rico was realizing what an idiot he was for thinking all of those things and telling his squad all of these things. He never gave Bob a chance to speak and what Bob was telling him was the reality of what was happening.

"I'm such an idiot," Rico shook his head and waddled out.

Rico didn't know where and when he fell asleep but he and the others eventually woke up and it was light outside. Rico remembered the events from last night. He also remembered the Bob should be done by now.

"Oh, boss, what happened last night?" asked Jet Pack Guy.

"JET….PPPPPAAAAACCCCKKKK…GUYYYYY….GETTTTTT OFFFFF…." Rookie was underneath Jet Pack Guy!

"Aaaaaah, sorry, Rookie!" JPG hopped off of him.

"You fell asleep sitting on me!" Rookie said, rubbing his neck.

"Sorry…" JPG said. "I'm curious as to what happened last night,"

"So am I…I fell asleep out of nowhere…I don't even remember making it back into the room…" Rico said.

"That's because I brought you back," Bob spun his chair around. There was a giant lever on the desk with a big red knob on it. "I worked on the way back and it's ready,"

"Great!" Rico said.

Toasty was still sitting in the same spot as yesterday, tapping her phone.

"Toasty, is that all you do?" Rico asked.

"I don't know, but Dot has caught on," Toasty noted Dot sitting next to her doing the same thing.

"Girls and their phones now a days," JPG said, sliding his phone back into his pocket hoping they didn't notice.

"Alright, well, I'm guessing it has something to do with that lever," Rico said.

"Yes, it does," Bob said. He pulled the lever and the room briefly shook. A giant hole in the wall appeared. It was filled with a purple swirling mass – the same that appeared in his igloo.

"Well, I guess this is it!" Rico said in a happy tone. "See ya, Bob!" he said quickly as he waddled to the portal.

"Yeah, you too," Bob shook his head as he looked back at the computer screen. He started typing again.

Rico looked at him. "Bob…are you okay?"

"Okay? Yeah, I'm…" Bob sighed. "Fine…"

"Are you sure?" asked JPG.

Bob shook his head. "Yes, I'm fine. Now get moving. It's not like you care anyways,"

"No, but Bob, we –"

"I said get moving," Bob said. "You want to leave more than anything right now, so do so,"

"But Bob, we...can't leave you like this,"

"Like what?"

"Mad…" Rico said, hoping that was the correct answer.

"Mad? I'm not mad…except of course for the fact that you never wanted to do anything with me the entire time you were here," Bob said.

"What are you talking about?" Rico asked, confused.

"Since you got here, all you've wanted to do is go back. You haven't wanted to interact with me at all. I brought you here to do stuff and give you a break from the EPF. I wanted to talk to you and everything,"

"Isn't that what we d-"

"'Isn't that what we did?' That's what you want to play?" Bob raised his voice. "NO. We did nothing that I had planned! You confronted me and accused me of lying! You've cared more about leaving then getting to know me at all! I worked so hard on this experiment just to have it put in ruins because you don't care!" Bob yelled.

"But Bob…"

"No…I don't care! I worked around the clock all night just to make you happy. I know how much it means to you to leave! I worked for you and did it. Now go! I don't want you here anymore! You're not worth it!" Bob got up and stormed out of the room. He murmured as he left, "I can't believe this is who I created,"

Rico started to realize several things. His mind and everything started swirling around.

"Well, let's go," Toasty got up.

"Wait," Rico said.

"Boss, what?"

"Just…wait…" Rico said. He shook his head and closed his eyes in anger and said no words. He just stood there like he was thinking. Except he was thinking – long and deep.