Chapter 5 – Again With Another Player?
Morning came.
Bright.
Normal.
Too normal.
Vera groggily rolled out of bed, her head pounding like she had spent all night being hit by a thousand tiny keyboards.
"Ugh," she muttered, dragging herself to the bathroom, "I feel like I fought a spaghetti monster and lost."
Daily routine.
Shower.
Wear a baggy T-shirt and shorts.
Brush her hair just enough not to look dead.
Grocery run.
Buy the essentials: frozen pizza, three liters of Coke, and a suspiciously large pack of batteries.
(The cashier stared. Vera stared back harder. The cashier blinked first.)
Back at home, Vera collapsed into her chair, cracked open a Coke, and munched on a slice of pizza.
She opened her phone casually.
...And froze.
Right there — on her home screen —
The Skull App.
Back.
Upgraded.
Fancier.
Shinier.
Instead of the cartoonish skull, it was now a sleek black icon — the skull sharper, grinning wider.
A soft notification pinged:
> "Ready for Round 2, Vera?"
Vera stared at it for a long moment.
"...Well, I already bought the pizza," she shrugged, "might as well die full."
She tapped the app.
NO countdown.
NO questions.
NO warning.
The second her finger touched the screen — reality sucked her in.
FLASH.
Vera landed hard on a cold, cracked floor — a crumbling bedroom lit by weak moonlight.
"Oh no," she deadpanned. "Not this dump again."
She stood up, brushing off dust — and noticed something immediately different:
Another bed.
Another phone.
Another... player.
Vera squinted.
Across from her, sitting on the other bed, was a woman — older than Vera by a few years.
She wore a gray hoodie, her face hidden in shadow, but there was a sharpness to her posture.
Like a weapon drawn but not yet fired.
Vera raised a hand lazily. "Yo."
The woman tilted her head slightly in greeting but said nothing.
Pop-up text appeared between them:
> "PLAYER 2 CONNECTED."
"CO-OP MODE: ACTIVATED."
Vera read it.
Paused.
"Oh," she said flatly. "Co-op. This is either gonna be awesome or I'm gonna get stabbed."
The door creaked open by itself.
Without waiting, Player 2 stood — smooth, confident — and walked out.
Vera stared after her, unbothered, still chewing on her pizza.
"Wow, rude," she said. "Didn't even wait for the pizza queen."
She grabbed her torch and followed.
The world outside had changed.
Instead of endless dark halls —
They now stood in a massive maze, like a giant hedge labyrinth, walls covered with creepy vines and thorns.
Floating signs hung above the maze paths:
> "TRUST OR DIE."
"TWO MUST ESCAPE."
"SEPARATED YOU FALL."
"Neat," Vera said, "if I had abandonment issues, I'd be crying right now."
She looked over at Player 2, who still hadn't said a word.
"So... you talk or are you just here for the dramatic brooding?" Vera asked casually.
Player 2 smirked — just a little — and motioned ahead.
Time to move.
GAME STARTED.
The walls began shifting — doors slamming shut behind them.
Timer ticking down fast on their phones:
30 minutes.
Or else.
The Maze Games:
First puzzle:
Two levers — one causes the path to open, the other releases a screaming monster.
Vera, being Vera, flipped one instantly.
Screaming monster.
"Oops," she said, backing up casually. "50/50 odds, what can you do."
Player 2 pulled the other lever calmly — opening the correct path — and shot Vera a look like: Seriously?
"Hey," Vera said, "I'm here for comic relief, not intelligence."
Second puzzle:
A bridge that needed two players to step on pressure plates at the exact same time.
"Ready?" Vera asked.
Player 2 nodded.
They counted silently.
THREE. TWO. ONE. STEP.
The bridge creaked, swayed — but held.
Vera fist-bumped the air. "Teamwork, baby!"
Player 2 almost — almost — smiled.
Third puzzle:
A giant stone face that asked riddles.
The riddle:
> "I am always hungry, I must always be fed.
The finger I touch, will soon turn red.
What am I?"
"Uh," Vera said immediately, "me after eating spicy pizza?"
The stone face growled.
"Okay, okay, fire," Vera corrected quickly.
The door opened.
"Still think I was right the first time," she muttered.
After endless running, dodging monsters, solving puzzles by the skin of their teeth —
They reached a giant door.
Above it:
> "ONLY TRUST OPENS THIS DOOR."
"BOTH MUST ENTER TO WIN."
Vera glanced sideways at Player 2.
Player 2... finally spoke.
A low, familiar voice, slightly distorted, but strong:
"Ready, partner?"
Vera raised an eyebrow.
"I don't even trust my microwave to stop at 0:00 without lying to me," she said. "But sure, let's do this."
Together, they pushed the door open.
BLINDING WHITE LIGHT.
FLASH.
Both girls stumbled into another broken room —
And the pop-up comments exploded in front of Vera again:
> "THAT WAS SO COOL!!"
"I SHIP THEM."
"THE OTHER PLAYER LOOKS SO FAMILIAR WTF?"
"Vera and Player 2 forever!!!"
Vera groaned, smirking.
"Great," she said. "Now I'm in a horror game and a fanfiction."
But Player 2 wasn't looking at Vera.
Player 2 stared at her own phone...
Where a new message blinked:
> "WELCOME BACK, VERA."
Player 2's hands clenched — ever so slightly.
Vera caught it.
And something —
something dark
something familiar
brushed the edge of her mind.
But she laughed it off.
"Another day, another creepy mystery," she said, stretching. "Bring it on, weird app."
(End of Chapter 5.)