Chapter XXIII

There were a couple of scenarios I came up with. I could kill her before she'd kill me. Or I could force myself out of the car, run away and leave the country. Maybe I should lie a lot and gaslight her until no one knew what we were doing here.

Another option was the truth.

"Riley?" I asked. "Not Mia?"

"What did the cow tell you?" Riley demanded. "How she begged me to take over? How she then tried to get rid of me, lock me up, undo me, as soon as I got her this body?"

"She says you were an experiment that is now trying to possess her."

"Bullshit."

"But you are… you know… artificial?"

"Dude. What the fuck. I'm not a robot. I'm just another shade of Mia, accentuating different parts of her. No biggy."

"You locked her in… I mean, she said you did."

"Yeah, well, what am I supposed to do? I've seen her notes. This wasn't scientific, this was her off the books pet project. Those psychedelics in the apartment are hers, she got all high on them and then did the hypno thing with the prototype gear. She wanted to become her OASIS avatar in real life, and it worked."

"You're not just any creation? You're her private avatar?"

"Mia posed as me in the OASIS. She wanted me to spice up her life. Go out, work out, fuck around."

That last part startled me and Riley noticed.

"Why do you think she needed me? She wanted to hit on that emo older guy next door. I'm designed for your pleasure, baby."

She was looking at me with determined eyes, then kicked back and laughed.

"Just messin'!" she screamed. Then after a brief pause: "Would be kind of hot though."

"I think the two of you need to sort this out before you both end up in an asylum," I said.

"Dude! I am not some evil AI that took over a poor girl's body. It's not fair the chubby dork can set me all up and then just erase me just like that."

"We're heading towards her professor. Your professor. He can, I don't know, check programming."

"I am not a robot!"

"I just want to get out of this alive," I admitted. "You're all freaking me out."

The girl smirked and gave me an expectant look.

"You haven't even gotten to the good part yet. Check me out, you dumbass. Why would you prefer the nerd over me as your neighbor?"

That actually was a valid point. Riley had been an overwhelming, but positive influence in my life the past weeks.

"Don't be the goody do good guy all the time," Riley whispered, slowly scooting closer to me. "Be bad, be selfish, be a rockstar. Make choices that benefit you."

She climbed over me, sat on top of me and squeezed her legs around me. When she came in for a kiss, the cab suddenly stopped. We were in the driveway of a big wooden house.

"Destination reached," the cab announced.

Riley looked up and her expression changed radically. She was in total shock.

"What the hell!" the girl screamed, jumping off me. "You pervert! Maniac! I ask you to save me and you… you… What the hell!"

I guess the sight of her professor's house triggered Mia back.

"You were coming on to me, well, other you was, I ehrm…"

She ran towards the door of the house and started ringing and bouncing.

"Need any more help?" I asked from the cab.

"No!" she screamed.

The longer I would remain part of this weird science tale, the bigger the chance would become I'd end up in jail. Or dead.

I had no trouble instructing the cab to take me back home. I didn't know what Riley exactly was. Just a different shade of the same person Mia was or an AI that reprogrammed her. I might've just signed her death warrant.

"I'm being selfish," I mumbled. "Sorry, Riley."