The convention weekend had been a dream. Evan had never been so happy before. When he finally got to hug his friends, the feeling of loneliness lifted from his shoulders. As he laid on the soft hotel bed listening to his friends drunkenly talk and laugh, he felt like he was floating. Though it might have just been the alcohol, Evan told himself that it his joy.
"Okay...Okay…" Brian had stammered, a silly smile on his face. "If you could be in any game, what would it be? And you can't just say shit like 'g-mod' and not explain."
"Well…" Brock had smiled from where he sat by the window, the dim winter lights from outside glowing around him. "I'd wanna be in G-mod just because of all the different fun stuff you can do. Plus, you can create whatever you want. Imagine it, being able to just have whatever meal you want appear right in front of you."
"Me too. It'd be so chill." Marcel had smiled.
"Okay but what about a horror game? That'd be fun...But only if you knew you would survive." Luke had suggested.
"You are all lame." Tyler had scoffed from where he sat on the bed beside Evan. "I'd wanna be in GTA. I could own fancy stuff and fuck you all up...but you would still come back." Evan could have sworn that that had been Tyler's way of telling them that he loved them. "You'd all respawn no matter what stupid shit we did."
"And we'd all be together…" Daithi added. Everyone had smiled at that idea.
"We could rule a city."
"We could live forever."
"Yeah...Wildcat is right. The GTA world sounds better than any of the others." Brock had smiled.
"But wouldn't it be...Violent?" Craig had suddenly asked, looking at the others with wide eyes. "I mean...Just look at the shit that you guys do to each other in that game! I'd hate to have to live through that. Like, one of you, probably Wildcat or Vanoss, comes along with a C4 or something and then whoever was close by has to deal with all that pain till I respawn. What kind of life is that? That sounds horrible!"
"Stop being such a bitch. It was a silly question, Mini."
"Well you guys were thinking deep about it! Why can't I?"
"Forget it!"
Evan could remember how Craig's face had darkened at being dismissed so quickly by his friends. Evan was too tired and too drunk to support him but he wished he had. Craig was right.
Who would want to live a life full of never ending violence?
It was raining. It seemed like it would never stop raining. Evan sat on the couch, his cheek pressed to the side of the couch as he stared at the window where bright purple neon light came in. He watched the rain, memories of blood being washing away on the street below flashing through his mind. All he could hear was the sound of rain and the occasional siren in the distance. He didn't have it in him to talk to anyone. No one did. No one could say anything since their argument after the explosion.
Evan couldn't stop thinking about what he had done to Brock and Marcel. He had washed his hands for hours when he tried to get the blood off, scrubbing and scrubbing as if it could take the memories away too. Once he had scrubbed them raw, he had wrapped his burned hands in gauze, the sting bringing tears to his eyes.
"Are you okay?" Evan looked up at Lui whose voice was barely a whisper. The circles under his eyes were dark. No one could sleep. Evan nodded, pretending to be okay. Lui tried to give him a small smile before walking towards the sliding door. Evan watched him open it and step onto the balcony, watching the rain fall and the flickers of the harsh neon lights. Evan looked away, seeing Daithi by the kitchen, a mug held tight in his hand. Evan tried to believe that it was coffee but it was probably something stronger. Tyler had locked himself in his room and didn't come out. Jonathan would float around the apartment in a daze, glancing at Evan from time to time with a strange look in his dark eyes.
"We should go out. We should do something. We can't stay in this apartment waiting to Glitch." Daithi suddenly said, startling Evan.
"Where? Where would we go?" Evan managed to say. "Everywhere we go...We'd see them."
"They are here too, Evan! We just need air. We need to get ou-"
"Guys! Guys come here!" Lui's panicked voice startled them. Evan pushed himself to his feet and Daithi followed him onto the balcony.
"Oh fuck…" Daithi stared at the street below with wide eyes. Evan felt a wave of nausea wash over him, forcing him to back away from the railing.
"It's like...they're gathering for something…" Lui stammered. "I'm going to get Tyler." He almost tripped over the frame of the sliding door in his rush to get inside.
"We're trapped in here...Oh god...Oh fucking god…" Daithi struggled to breathe as he turned away from the railing and hurried back inside. Evan took a shaking breath as he took a step towards the railing. His hands curled tightly around the cold, wet metal. Rain dripped from the roof above him, cold drops landing on the gauze that covered his hands, soaking through the cold material. He lowered his gaze to the street below, fear paralysing him.
The street swarmed with Glitches. Their wounds bled onto the pavement as they stumbled among each other.
They didn't attack each other for they were able to recognize another Glitch.
They stared around the street with empty, glitching eyes. Evan's attention was grabbed by the sight of golden, bloody, hair. The Glitch's face was crushed in and it's limbs seemed broken but still it managed to walk. Evan's eyes watered at the sight of Brian stumbling among the mob of Glitches. He had come back.
"What do we do?"
"We can't do anything! We're trapped here!"
"Are we going to become Glitches?"
"No! We'll figure this out!" Forced to come out of his room, Tyler paced the living room, his eyes turning to the window and the rain every so often. Evan sat beside Jonathan on the couch, his arms wrapped around a pillow that he buried his face in.
"Brian is out there…" Evan whispered, raising his face from the pillow to look at Jonathan with wide eyes. "He's out there…"
"It's okay, Ev. You did everything you could. He isn't going to hurt you. " Jonathan said softly. Evan shook his head. Though the memories that floated through his mind didn't seem to be his, he knew that he didn't do enough.
"What are you thinking, Tyler?" Lui asked from he perched on the arm of the couch beside Evan.
"We make a break for it. Get our cars...Step on the gas and don't stop till we far from here." Tyler said, turning to face them with dark eyes.
" We've lived here all of our existence!We can't leave!" Daithi protested.
"Then we stay trapped here till we Glitch?" Tyler cried. "It's our only option!"
The sound of their doorbell echoed through the living room.
They stared at the door with wide eyes.
How could someone have gotten past the Glitches that filled the street below?
No one moved.
The doorbell sounded again with urgency.
Tyler took a deep breath and began to move towards the door. He glanced back at the others like it would be the last sight he saw before becoming a Glitch. His hand curled around the golden doorknob and turned. The door swung open.
"You're all alright! Oh thank god!" The girl with hair so blonde it seemed to reflect the white lights of the hallway and create a glow around her like a halo. Beside her, Luke even seemed relieved to see them alright.
"Why wouldn't we be? Those Glitches are staying outside, aren't they?" Tyler asked, reluctantly letting the Glitch Hunters into the apartment. He walked back into the living room, the hunters following him with somber expressions. Evan watched Sydney as she sat down on one of the arm chairs, a worried look on her face.
"Not exactly." Luke sighed, leaning against Sydney's chair. Jonathan tensed.
"What do you mean?"
"You remember that Glitch that I told you about? The one that can hide it's identity? It's gotten powerful. It can Glitch people without even touching them. They just have to be around it...We are thinking that it must have been at that club that night when all of those people became Glitches. Now, we have reason to believe that those Glitches are gathering outside because the Glitch is here and they are waiting for it. If it becomes a full Glitch...If it reveals itself...Who knows what it could do to this city…" Sydney trailed off. Evan couldn't bring himself to look at anyone.
"It could be anyone! Why are you here? We would know if one of us was a Glitch!" Daithi cried, anger in his voice at the idea of being accused.
"We were notified a few weeks ago that one of you no longer seemed like himself." Luke explained, his eyes landing on Evan.
"Who fucking snitched?" Jonathan snapped.
"Craig." Sydney said softly. "Though I've heard that he has since Glitched."
"He has…"
"It could be possible that he Glitched as a result of simply being close to this Glitch. You were all at that club when it exploded and all of those people became Glitches. You were all present when Craig Glitched. Evan...What has been going on?" Luke said, kneeling down in front of Evan who kept his eyes down.
"Nothing! How dare you accuse Evan of being a Glitch? You know him, Sydney! You know him!" Jonathan yelled, getting to his feet. "Stay away from him!"
"Evan. Look at me." Luke demanded. Evan had no choice but to look up at him. Luke suddenly grabbed Evan's head and forced his eyes open, the force making him cry out in shock. He stared darkly into Evan's eyes, waiting to see them glitch.
"Stop it! He's Evan!" Jonathan cried, rushing at Luke only to be held back by Tyler. Jonathan whirled around, directing his fury at Tyler. "You let them in here! You knew they would blame Evan! You've always hated him! You and Craig!" The sound of bone cracking suddenly made them all jump. Jonathan had fallen to the floor, his hand over his bloody nose. Tyler's hand was bloody.
"Don't ever say that to me. I want Evan back to normal just as much as you do. I'd do anything for him. What have you done? Nothing but make his suffering continue." Tyler spat with rage. Luke let go of Evan whose eyes had only filled with tears.
"He doesn't have any signs to show that he is glitching...Which means that we will have to watch all of you. For all we know, you could just be trying to throw Evan under the bus because he went through a bad Come Back." Luke said, crossing his arms as he stared at the group.
"Evan has been saying weird stuff though!" Lui suddenly cried, all eyes turning to him. Evan wished he had kept his mouth shut and stayed neutral. "He said stuff like 'kill' and 'dead' and called us weird names! He called Jonathan 'Delirious'! The Evan you know wouldn't say stuff like that! This isn't Evan! This is the Glitch!"
"What about you, Lui?" Evan was startled by the words that came out of his mouth but he couldn't stop them as much as he wanted to. "You've been quiet this whole time! You didn't do anything when the others Glitched! You've seen me Come Back several times since that fall! You could very easily be the Glitch! You've wanted a chance to get rid of me ever since Arlan Glitched!"
"If I was the Glitch, I would have Glitched you long ago." Lui snarled before leaving the room, storming down the hallway. Daithi ran after him, trying to tell him that Evan didn't mean it. Evan sank onto the couch, burying his face into the pillow as if it could hide his tears. Luke walked to the front door and locked it, the sound of the bolt sliding into place echoing in Evan's ears.
"No one is allowed to leave till we find the Glitch."
The rain continued to fall. Jonathan sat on one of the lounge chairs on the balcony, a blanket wrapped around him. Evan did his best to clean the blood from his face like he had before. He imagined that he had done this countless times in the past with everyone. Evan wanted to say so many things to Jonathan but fear held him back. He knew he couldn't be the Glitch. He was Evan, but not the Evan that Jonathan wanted. He was a youtuber...stuck in a dreamlike world that didn't make sense. He tried to be the another Evan. The Evan that made him sick.
Yet as much as he separated these two sides, they were both the same person. He didn't know who he was anymore. He had played the role of the Evan they wanted and lost the Evan he thought he was in the process.
"I'm sorry that Tyler hit you." Evan whispered. Jonathan shook his head.
"You have nothing to be sorry about. Everyone is tense right now...That was bound to happen."
"It's all my fault." The cloth dropped from Evan's hand. The rain pattered on the roof above them. "All of this is my fault. I've been hiding things from you...The reasons why...Why everything bad keeps happening...I don't know who I am anymore."
"Evan...What are you talking about?" Jonathan looked up at Evan with wide eyes. "You aren't the Glitch...are you?" Evan shook his head. "Then what?" Evan couldn't bring himself to say the words he wanted to. There were too many words to say all at once. "Tell me, Evan!" Jonathan's hands suddenly grabbed onto Evan's shoulder, shaking him aggressively.
"I'm...I'm Evan...Just not the Evan that you want me to be…"
"What do you mean?"
"This is a dream! I don't remember what you want me to remember because I am not from this world! I am a youtuber! I play a game like this! I don't live it! But I keep getting these memories...memories of things that I've never done before! Horrible...Bloody...murderous things. I think I have fallen into this world...and I've replaced the person you know. Those things I remember...Those are his memories...Not mine. I called you 'Delirious' because to me...That is your name. I've never seen your face before. I've never met you in person before. I think that being here with you is the only good thing about this dream." Evan sobbed. "I'm not a Glitch. I'm not the Evan you want me to be! As hard as I try...I will never be that Evan! Please...Believe me! Don't kill me please! I'm from a world where Coming Back doesn't exist! Death does...I could lose you with one wound...That is the reality that I know...Not this." Evan looked up at Jonathan, praying that he wouldn't turn him in to the Glitch Hunters or just bash his head in on the railing right then and there. He wasn't sure what option was better. "Please...Jonathan. Say something."
Silence.
"Jonathan please...I'm sorry I'm not the Evan you want me to be. Please say something."
"You are Evan." Jonathan said after a few moments of heavy silence that had made Evan feel like he was choking. "Not a Glitch...But also not the Evan I know…"
"I'm Evan. Evan Fong. Please...Jonathan. Please...I need you. I can't get through this without you." Jonathan eyes slowly met Evan's, dried blood still covering his face.
"You are Evan. You might not be the Evan I know...but there are parts of you...I recognize. That's why I have believed you from the very start. You aren't the Glitch and you don't have to pretend to be the Evan from my memory. You are Evan. A little bit more emotional and crazy...But still Evan." Jonathan smiled and wiped the tears from Evan's cheeks. "No matter what strange world you claim to be from."