DELETED ≠ GONE
"You're alive."
My voice sounded strange.
Maybe because I didn't believe the words myself.
Player 03 stood outside my apartment.
Motionless.
The red avatar was exactly as I remembered him.
Same clothes.
Same colors.
Same face.
Even the smallest details were identical.
For eleven years, Player 03 had not existed.
At least, not anywhere I could understand.
And now he was standing in my hallway.
I waited for something to happen.
A flicker.
A distortion.
An error.
Anything.
Nothing happened.
Player 03 looked past me.
Into my apartment.
Then he asked:
"Where are the others?"
I knew who he meant.
"Player 02?"
He nodded.
"Player 04?"
Another nod.
"Player 05?"
I swallowed.
"They're gone."
Player 03 looked at me.
For a long time.
Then he shook his head.
"No."
"What do you mean, no?"
His expression changed.
"They were never gone."
A cold shiver ran through me.
I let him inside.
I wasn't sure why.
Maybe some part of me recognized him.
Maybe I still believed he was really Player 03.
Or maybe I simply didn't want to be alone.
He walked slowly through the room.
Looking at everything.
The window.
The desk.
The wall.
The table.
He stopped.
"That was there."
I looked at the table.
"What?"
"The table."
"That table has always been there."
He shook his head.
"No."
He pointed toward the window.
"And there was water outside."
I looked outside.
Roads.
Houses.
Trees.
No water.
"There was never any water here."
Player 03 stared through the glass.
"Not for you."
I turned toward him.
"What does that mean?"
He didn't answer.
I sat down at the computer.
The file from earlier was still open.
PLAYER_03
STATUS: RESTORED
MEMORY: 71%
ORIGINAL DATA: 43%
IDENTITY MATCH: 92%
I read the numbers again.
"What does this mean?"
Player 03 stood behind me.
"That I remember things you've forgotten."
"What things?"
"The deletion."
I looked at the screen.
71 percent.
43 percent.
92 percent.
Then I noticed the last number.
Not one hundred.
"What happened to the other eight percent?"
Player 03 looked at me.
"I don't know."
That answer frightened me more than anything else.
"Tell me what happened."
Player 03 sat across from me.
For a moment, he didn't look like something that had returned from the dead.
He looked like a player.
A normal player.
Someone trying to remember something terrible.
"We were in Server 01."
"I know."
"No."
He looked at me.
"You don't."
Then he began.
Server 01.
Sunlight.
Buildings.
Six players.
Then the world began disappearing.
Player 04.
Player 03.
Player 02.
Player 05.
Player 06.
One after another.
I remembered it.
But Player 03 remembered something else.
"Guest 666 tried to stop us."
I looked up.
"What?"
"He stopped us from leaving."
"That didn't happen."
Player 03 stared at me.
"It did."
An image appeared in my mind.
Myself.
Player 01.
Standing in front of Guest 666.
My hands were against his chest.
Holding him back.
"You stopped him."
I shook my head.
"No."
"You did."
"That never happened."
Player 03 looked down.
"I know."
Silence.
"Then why do you remember it?"
His answer was quiet.
"Because I saw it anyway."
Another image flashed through my mind.
Player 06.
Standing alone.
Looking at me.
You have to come back.
Then it disappeared.
I couldn't tell anymore whose memories I was seeing.
Mine.
His.
Or something else.
A sound came from the computer.
Join-Sound.
I turned.
The screen displayed:
PLAYER_04 HAS JOINED.
Player 03 went completely still.
"No."
"What?"
"He's too early."
"Who?"
He didn't answer.
The world flickered.
Server 01 appeared on the monitor.
The old map.
Empty.
Wind moved across the landscape.
Then someone appeared.
Player 04.
The same avatar.
The same clothes.
The same face.
He stood in the middle of the map.
Motionless.
Then chat appeared.
PLAYER_04:
where is player 03?
I typed:
PLAYER_01:
he's here.
A pause.
Then:
PLAYER_04:
no he's not.
I looked at Player 03.
He was standing beside me.
"I'm here," he whispered.
The chat remained silent.
I blinked.
Player 04 was suddenly standing in my room.
No door opened.
No sound.
One second, there was nothing.
The next—
he was there.
I stepped backward.
Player 04 looked at me.
Then at Player 03.
His eyes narrowed.
"You're not Player 03."
Player 03 stepped forward.
"Yes, I am."
"No."
"I am Player 03."
Player 04 shook his head.
"The real Player 03 is still there."
My stomach tightened.
"Where?"
Player 04 looked at me.
"In the server."
I opened Server 01.
The screen flickered.
Player 03 stood in the middle of the map.
I looked back.
Player 03 stood in my room.
I looked at the screen.
Player 03.
I looked back.
Player 03.
Same face.
Same clothes.
Same position.
Two places.
At the same time.
"That isn't possible."
Player 04 stared at the screen.
"This is Server 01."
Player 03 looked at him.
"You remember."
Player 04 shook his head.
"No."
Then, quietly:
"I remember two versions."
I opened the archive.
PROJECT MEMORY
The files appeared.
PLAYER_01 — RECOVERED
PLAYER_02 — ACTIVE
PLAYER_03 — RESTORED
PLAYER_04 — RESTORED
PLAYER_05 — UNKNOWN
PLAYER_06 — ARCHIVIST
Then one line changed.
PLAYER_03 — DUPLICATED
I stopped breathing.
Another line changed.
PLAYER_04 — DUPLICATED
Player 04 looked at the screen.
Then the third line changed.
PLAYER_01 — DUPLICATED
Silence.
I stared at my own name.
Duplicated.
My first thought was that it had to be an error.
Another corrupted file.
Another broken system.
But I had spent too long believing that.
The world had never been broken.
It had simply been telling me things I didn't want to hear.
A new file appeared.
RETURN_01.mov
CREATED: 2015
I clicked it.
The video opened.
Server 01.
The six players stood together beneath the sun.
Everything looked normal.
Too normal.
But the camera angle was strange.
It was directly behind us.
Close.
Much too close.
All six players were looking toward it.
I saw myself.
Player 01.
Then I turned around.
"Who's there?"
Player 02 looked in the same direction.
"There's nobody there."
Player 03 pointed toward the camera.
"Yes, there is."
The video froze.
A black screen appeared.
ARCHIVE ERROR
CAMERA OWNER: PLAYER_06
I stared at the words.
"Player 06 recorded this."
Player 04 shook his head.
"No."
"How do you know?"
He looked at me.
"Because Player 06 was already gone."
I couldn't speak.
Then I heard it.
Boom.
Silence.
Boom.
Another.
Boom.
Player 03 and Player 04 turned toward the apartment door.
It was open.
Guest 666 stood behind it.
He stepped inside.
No distortion.
No flicker.
Just footsteps.
He stopped in front of us.
I stared at him.
"Did you bring them back?"
Guest 666 shook his head.
"No."
Player 03 stepped forward.
"Then who did?"
Guest 666 looked at him.
Then at me.
"You did."
"Us?"
"You remembered."
Player 04 shook his head.
"That's not enough."
Guest 666 looked at him.
"It was enough to begin."
Guest 666 walked past Player 03.
Then stopped.
"You didn't come back."
Player 03 looked confused.
"Then what am I?"
Guest 666 answered:
"A memory."
Player 03 stared at him.
"Whose?"
Guest 666 said nothing.
He looked at me.
"Ask him."
My heart started beating faster.
"Ask who?"
He pointed at me.
"You."
I couldn't breathe.
"What am I supposed to ask myself?"
Guest 666 didn't answer.
The monitor behind him flickered.
MEMORY RESTORATION
Then:
PLAYER_01
A second line appeared.
ORIGINAL STATUS: DELETED
My blood went cold.
"What...?"
The screen went black.
For several seconds, there was nothing.
Then one message appeared.
[UNKNOWN]: which one of you is real?
Nobody moved.
Three answers appeared.
Almost simultaneously.
[PLAYER_01]: me.
[PLAYER_03]: me.
[PLAYER_04]: me.
I stared at the messages.
Three players.
Three identical answers.
And suddenly, I couldn't remember typing mine.
POST-CREDIT
Black.
An archive window opened.
PROJECT MEMORY
The cursor moved down the list.
PLAYER_01
The status changed.
ORIGINAL DATA: INCOMPLETE
Then:
PLAYER_02
ORIGINAL DATA: INCOMPLETE
PLAYER_03
ORIGINAL DATA: INCOMPLETE
PLAYER_04
ORIGINAL DATA: INCOMPLETE
PLAYER_05
ORIGINAL DATA: UNKNOWN
The cursor stopped.
Then moved to:
PLAYER_06
The screen remained still.
A new line appeared.
ORIGINAL DATA: VERIFIED
I stared at the word.
VERIFIED.
Then:
PLAYER_06 HAS RETURNED.
A pause.
One final line appeared.
GUEST_666 — ORIGINAL: UNKNOWN
Boom.
The screen went black.
White text appeared.
DELETED ≠ GONE