Alicekai'd 1.10: Secrets

 

       The party still battles on inside the commons building, but I'm enjoying sitting here and watching the (fake) clouds roll by against the domed horizon.

      At least if I'm stuck in a game, it's Sims. It could be something like World of Warcraft.

     I hear the rustle of khaki pants to my right.

 

     "Alice!"

     I turn my head. "Geoffrey?"

      He stops, and I continue to gawk at him. "What are you doing out here?" I ask.

      Breathless, he replies, "I saw you walk out. Is everything okay?"

     A quick giggle escapes. "Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

     "Um... Well..." He shifts his weight from one foot to the next, trying to recover from hyperventilating it looks like. "I mean... Well, yesterday..." He exhales in a rush.

     "Sit down before you pass out, you goober." I gesture next to me.

     Another exhale. "Okay." He almost startles me with the speed with which he does it.

     "Geez, Geoff. I'm okay."

     "And I see that. Now. But try to understand where I'm coming from. You broke down yesterday, and it was unresolved. I lost sleep worrying." He still catches his breath.

     "Did you think I would try to drown myself in the creek?"

     "No. Well, not really. I thought maybe the crowd had gotten to you." He takes a deep breath. "Nancy was always very good at hiding it when she'd get upset. However, being in a crowd gets taxing with trying to keep up the facade."

      "Well, I WAS kinda tired. I cried myself to sleep last night. I..." My face falls.

     "I'm freaking out, and I don't know how to handle it." I HAVE to tell him.

     He shifts so that his whole torso faces me. "What's wrong, Alice? Talk to me."

     "You're going to think I'm crazy."

     "No, I won't. Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye."

     If I weren't emotionally crashing, I'd crack up laughing with what he just said. "Geoff, you have to swear to tell no one. This is earth-shattering."

     "I swear it. Alice, PLEASE, let me help."

     "I'm not from this world."

     "Uh..."

     "I'm not an alien, if that's what you're thinking."

     "Well then, what?"

     "This world, the one you're living in right now, is a simulation." I let that sink in. "And I'm from the real world." I briefly wonder if telling a sim that will break the code and all this will end.

     It doesn't happen.

     I watch him, and I see it. He's wondering if I'm insane. "I'm perfectly serious. I woke up one morning here, and ever since, I've been trying to figure out how to get back. In the meantime, I've been making an attempt at a normal life."

     He leans forward, an unreadable expression on his face.

     "You think I'm crazy." I leave the statement hanging in the air, and there it rests about our heads like smoke around the top of a volcano. He keeps staring forward.

     I should've known this would happen. I shouldn't have told him. The man who quickly became my best friend and then confidant is going to drop me like a bad habit because he thinks I'm four cards short of a full deck.

     Finally, he speaks quietly, "Those bastards were right."

     It's my turn to be confused. "Uh, what?"

     "At the office. And they claimed to have proof. I couldn't debunk them, but I still didn't believe it." He laughs quickly. "Others have said they figured it out and could prove it, but we let them look like conspiracy theorists, fringe science."

     "At the office?"

     He turns to look at me with a small smile. "I work for S.I.M.S., Alice."

     "You said you were an accountant." I pause. "Shit." I just told someone in GOVERNMENT all that.

     I quickly turn, intending to make a mad dash for it, but he grabs my arm. "Hold it."

     "No! You're going to try to lock me up in some compound somewhere and study me!"

     "Don't be ridiculous. What would we study? You're a normal person here." Since I'm still struggling, he says, "Alice, cool it. Besides, I swore I wouldn't tell anyone, remember?" He pulls on my arm. "You can trust me."

     Oh, what does it matter? I'm doomed. Where would I hide anyway?

     "You... believe me?"

     "Yes, I do. I..." He clears his throat. "I can usually tell if someone's lying."

     "You're a secret agent?"

     He chuckles. "It's not as glamorous as all that. I'm in research and development." He pauses, "But Alice, seriously, I'm an accountant, understand?" He kind of looks like he's thinking 'there, we're even in telling secrets.'

     I squint my eyes. "I think my secret's bigger than yours."

     He backs his head up and smirks, "Well, I didn't think we were comparing sizes."

     I crack up laughing.

 

     He gives me an enigmatic smile now. "I knew there was something about you." His stare is like I'm an interesting specimen... but not in a science-y way. It's odd.

     "Of all the people for me to tell..." I pause. "Can you... help me?"

     "Well, I can damn well try."