The cassette tape sat on her pillow like it had always belonged there.
Black plastic. No label. No brand. Just a single word scratched into the side with something sharp:
Juno.exe
She didn't own a cassette player.
She didn't know anyone who did.
But when she opened her desk drawer, there it was — a dusty Walkman she didn't remember buying. Batteries already inside. Headphones coiled neatly like a trap.
She stared at it for a long time.
Then she pressed play.
---
The tape hissed.
Then a voice crackled through the static.
Her voice.
Younger. Softer. Laughing.
"Okay, okay, this is so dumb. But if you're hearing this, it means something went wrong. Like, really wrong."
Juno's breath caught.
"I don't know how much you remember. Maybe nothing. Maybe everything. But just in case — here's what matters."
A pause.
Then:
"Your name is Juno Elara Reyes. You were born in a blackout. You hate strawberry milk. You kissed Jamie Patel in a movie theater and laughed halfway through it. You're scared of deep water. You love thunderstorms. You never finished that book you started in ninth grade. And you're real. You're real. You're real."
The voice cracked.
"I don't know if I'll still be here when you hear this. But if I'm not — don't let her win. Don't let the Admin take you. Don't let the mirror version overwrite you. You're not a file. You're not a glitch. You're Juno."
The tape clicked.
Then silence.
---
Juno sat frozen.
The Walkman buzzed in her hands.
Then the tape rewound itself.
Automatically.
She didn't press play again.
She didn't need to.
She remembered.
Her full name.
Her first kiss.
The book she never finished.
It all came rushing back like a flood of light through static.
She opened the group chat.
you: i remembered
🧃ava.exe: what
you: everything
👻riley_irl: holy crap
🕹️milesAFK: she's got a backup
🧃ava.exe: that's not supposed to happen
🧊lucas: i gave it to her
🧃ava.exe: lucas—
🧊lucas: she deserves to know who she is
you: what happens now
🧃ava.exe: now the Admin knows you're resisting
👻riley_irl: and it hates that
🧊lucas: be careful, juno
🧃ava.exe: it's going to escalate
---
That night, her phone rang.
Unknown number.
She didn't answer.
It rang again.
And again.
And again.
She turned it off.
It turned itself back on.
The screen glitched.
A new message appeared:
"You're not real. Let go."
She threw the phone across the room.
It landed face-up.
The screen showed her reflection.
But it wasn't her.
It was the mirror version.
Smiling.
Mouthing something.
She leaned closer.
It was saying her name.
Her full name.
Over and over.
Like a spell.
---
She grabbed the Walkman and hit play.
The tape hissed.
"You're Juno Elara Reyes. You're real. You're real. You're real."
The mirror cracked.
Just a hairline fracture.
But it was enough.
The reflection stopped smiling.
---
She didn't sleep.
She sat on the floor, headphones on, listening to her own voice on loop.
A lifeline.
A firewall.
A heartbeat.
---
In the morning, her phone buzzed.
[Group Chat: The Offline Ones ☠️📴]
🧃ava.exe: you okay?
you: i think so
🧊lucas: the mirror cracked
you: yeah
🧃ava.exe: that's good
👻riley_irl: it means she's scared
you: the Admin?
🧃ava.exe: no
👻riley_irl: your reflection
🧊lucas: she's not done yet
you: neither am i
---