He laid there on the floor, too scared to move. To do anything. “Michael…” The voice tried to speak to him. Michael shakily sat up, hoping to ignore it. “That’s not going to make me go away.” It continued smugly. The room seemed to be spinning, preventing Michael from doing anything else. He managed to back up against his bed before not moving anymore to help his vision return to normal.

    “G-go away…” His voice came out barely a whisper even though he felt like he had shouted it. His throat ached due to his previous screams.

    “No can do Mich! You got your very own Squip now!” The voice went on cheerily.

    “I-I don’t get it! I never took the pill!” Michael’s breathing quickened as fear grew in him.

    “You didn’t have to.” The Squip replied. “I simply transferred my data to you from Jeremy.” Michael grew quiet along with the voice until the only sound in the room was his panicked breathing.

    “W-wait… Jeremy? Are you Jeremy’s Squip? What the hell are you doing in my head?!” Michael raised his voice, bristling in alarm. The disembodied voice laughed a little.

    “Yes. I am Jeremy Heere’s Squip, and you are his best friend Michael Mell. Technically I’m not completely in your head, I’m physically still in Jeremy’s. As I stated I simply transferred my data to your brain.”

    “I don’t understand… why?!” The poor boy couldn’t help himself from freaking out.

    “Michael, do calm down.” The Squip tried to speak.

    “Don’t tell me what to do!” Michael snapped as he pressed back more against his bed. He was trying to make sense of it all still. How was the Squip still alive? Why was it inside him now? His mind was clouded with thoughts as he tried to remember how to breath again. This sucked. It really did. He was all by himself. Well, he had this thing in his brain. His head was hurting, his chest was hurting, and he had tucked his hands away to control their shaking. After suffering a few more seconds his head shot up suddenly. Jeremy! Jeremy could help him, he would know what to do! Mr. Heere was gone so he would be alone anyway.

    “This isn’t a good idea Michael.” The Squip warned. Michael paid him no mind as he managed to stand up.

    “Shut it.” He growled as he recomposed himself. He really hated the Squip. The stupid thing had started this entire mess and apparently it wasn’t finished. “Not if I can do something about it.” Michael huffed as he quickly made his way downstairs. Practically running out the door, he regretted not looking for some Mountain Dew Red. Even if he had some there was no guarantee it would work since the Squip was technically not physically there. Michael was once again fighting for breath as he ran towards his friend’s familiar house, his shoes thudding against the pavement, each stride filled with growing desperation.

    Jeremy on the other hand, was sulking in his room. He felt bad for making Michael leave earlier. He knew he had been the reason and hated seeing his friend upset. To make matters slightly worse, he was stuck with the wrong laptop. “Why am I so stupid?” Jeremy sighed asking himself aloud. “It’s not hard to do, just tell your Dad! I don’t know… we haven’t really had a heart to heart talk in awhile. He’ll be upset when I tell him I’ve practically lied to him this entire time. Geez…” He was distracted from his self debate by the sound of frantic knocking coming from downstairs. No, not knocking. Pounding. Curious and slightly alarmed, Jeremy made his way cautiously down. Whoever it was sounded serious. He approached the door, debating on whether or not to open it. Finally he grabbed the doorknob and opened it to reveal a very out of breath and distraught looking Michael Mell.

    “Michael!” Jeremy gasped taking in his friend’s appearance. Michael took a moment to catch his breath, leaning over his knees for a little bit. At last he looked up and Jeremy could tell something was definitely wrong.

    “C-can I come in?” Michael panted out.  

    “Yeah! Come on in.” Jeremy opened the door wider and helped guide the exhausted boy inside. “What’s wrong? Something has to be, you never run for anything.” He tried to joke, but Michael wasn’t phased. “Sit down-”

    “I can’t. T-there’s something you need to know.” Michael brushed him off. He managed to stagger in front of Jeremy so they were facing each other.

    “W-what’s wrong?” Jeremy asked slowly, a part of him afraid of what his friend was going to say. The other boy hesitated for a brief moment before taking a breath.

    “You know your dreams?” Michael asked.

    “...What about them? They’re just dreams.” Jeremy answered after a beat.

    “Well, I-I started to think that they could possibly be linked to… to the Squip.” Jeremy froze slightly, but nodded. “Well I really really was hoping I was wrong. I mean there’s no way he could come back from after what we did to him right?” Michael rambled on pausing briefly to run a hand through his messy hair. “Yeah right.” He laughed a little. “Something’s happened. I don’t really know how but…”

    “What Michael?” Jeremy pressed, not liking the direction this conversation was heading at all.

    “He’s back.” Michael looked at him with a pained expression as he tried to remain standing. Jeremy grew confused. If the Squip was truly back he would have known wouldn’t he? He felt alright, and he hadn’t heard the voice in so long. There had to be some mistake…

    “Where?” He managed to choke out. “I’m fine, it hasn't been bothering me-”

    “No no.” Michael cut him off. “That’s a part of the problem. It’s not exactly with you right now.”

    “I don’t understand, if he’s not with me then where...?” Jeremy trailed off. Michael held his gaze and shakily lifted his hand and pointed to his own head, tears starting to form in his eyes. There was a sharp intake of breath from Jeremy as he made the realization.

    “W-what? But… no!” He didn’t know what to do, his head trying to process the information.

    “Jeremy…” Michael whimpered. “I didn’t do this on purpose, I swear! I didn’t ask for this. I don’t know how this happened, I don’t want it to change me. I just want to be me!” Jeremy instantly felt bad. He knew his friend was probably freaking out right now. Michael had never wanted to change, he stayed away from the Squips. He knew what they were capable of.

    “Michael…” Jeremy instinctively moved forward in an attempt to calm him down, even though he himself was freaking out. “It’s gonna be fine, I-I’m sure it’s just a mistake. It doesn’t add up.” He tried to make sense of it all, but it wasn’t working out too well. What would the Squip want with Michael? How was it back and how did his dreams tie into it all? What about his friends, were they affected too? Oh gosh, what about Rich? Everything was overwhelming him all at once. Come on Jeremy! You have to keep it together, you have to be strong for Michael. He tried to stay level headed but he wasn’t feeling too great. Eventually it all became too much and he blacked out.

*        *        *        *

    “Jeremy!” Michael quickly caught him as he passed out. “Great…” He sighed worriedly.

    “What did I tell you?” The Squip made a snarky comment.

    “Did I mention that I hate you?” Michael replied irritably. He carefully moved Jeremy to the living room couch, hoping he’d wake up soon.

    “The feeling’s mutual.” The voice growled back. Once he made sure Jeremy was comfortable, Michael whirled on the Squip.

    “Well if you hate me so much and I obviously despise you, why bother? What is the point of all this? Why are you back, why can’t you just leave us alone?!” He shouted. The Squip tsked disapprovingly.

    “Quiet, you don’t want to wake him do you?” He said. Michael looked over at Jeremy with a slight guilty look.

    “Look you over glorified Tic-Tac, I just want answers.” He crossed his arms with an aggravated huff. The Squip chuckled lightly making Michael uncomfortable.

    “First of all, don’t talk to me aloud. You look ridiculous.” The boy felt his face heat up with a mix of anger and embarrassment. “Second of all, allow me to take a form that’s easier to communicate to you in yes?” Michael wasn’t sure if he wanted that. Reluctantly he gave a slight head nod and suddenly he heard the Squip’s voice from behind him. “There we go.” He whirled around to see a nicely dressed man with an almost soft bluish glow, who seemed pretty professional and well… just downright cool. Michael took a wary step back.

    “So you’re the one who nearly ruined my best friend’s life huh?” He accused.

    “If that’s how you see it.” The Squip shrugged as he fixed his outfit.

    “You look like the long lost cousin of Jake Dillinger.”

    “It comes naturally for people like Jake.” Squip commented as he moved carefully around the couch pausing to look down at Jeremy with a look of slight disappointment. “Some, not so much.” Michael eyed the computer cautiously, still not trusting him one bit. He wanted an explanation, and it seemed the answers would come soon. “You see Michael, Jeremy here failed me. What a shame too, he was doing so well before he got… second thoughts. We Squips are programmed with a goal, and I still plan on achieving mine.” The Squip’s eyes pierced into Michael.

    “Yeah right. You don’t really care about the users at all! You just use them!” He glared.

    “It’s a win win situation Mich. We make your lives easier. Happy. I made him happy.”

    Yeah, by crushing and leaving behind everyone who ever cared about him. Michael thought bitterly.

    “Ah but that was part of the problem.” The Squip scowled as if reading the boy’s thoughts. “Even as we progressed he just couldn’t stop thinking of you.” Michael froze.

    “Me?” He stood dumbfounded.

    “Yes. He kept thinking of you, how he wanted to share this with you. He wanted you by his side to talk to and be friends with like you’ve always been, he wanted you to live your dreams of popularity together.” Of course. It was normal for Jeremy to miss their friendship. “Oh?” The Squip sounded surprised. “How did I not see this? You… you actually have a thing for Jeremiah!” Michael cringed as his thoughts were voiced aloud.

    “W-what? No I don’t!” He tried to deny it.

    “Your thoughts tell me otherwise.”

    “Stop going through my mind.” Michael mumbled uncomfortably.

    “It’s apart of the package, I collect data from your mind so I can help you with your goals.” The Squip said matter of factly.

    “I don’t have any goals ok? Other than to get rid of you.”

    “Not so fast. Jeremy may have failed me but you, you could help me.” The Squip offered smoothly. “Maybe you could convince him that this is the right way, the only way. He’d listen to you, his Player 2.”

    “Player 1 actually.” Michael corrected smartly.

    “...Of course. What do you say?” The Squip’s eyes gleamed as he proposed his offer. Michael scoffed.

    “As if I’d actually help you! No way. When Jeremy wakes up I’m going to tell him everything and we’re going to find a way to control alt delete your crazy computer ass.” He turned away from the Squip. It huffed in annoyance.

    “Actually, you aren’t going to tell Jeremy anything.”

    “What?” Michael turned back around.

    “When he wakes up you are going to tell him that none of this happened. It was all a dream, I’m not here, and everything is fine.” The Squip instructed.

    “No way! I’m not lying about this!” Michael argued. He wasn’t going to let this thing get the best of him.

    “Yes. You are, or else there will be… consequences.” The coldness in the Squip’s voice sent chills down Michael’s back. He didn’t like this, was it actually trying to threaten him?

    “What… what do you mean?” He asked slowly, a part of him not wanting to know the answer. The Squip chuckled darkly and motioned over to where Jeremy was.

    “I’m still technically linked to Jeremy, meaning I can take whatever actions deemed necessary to hopefully change your mind.” Michael’s eyes widened. He didn’t like the sound of that at all. He looked over to Jeremy who had started moving a little, a slight grimace on his face as if he were in pain.

    “No no stop! Don’t hurt him, I’ll do it!” The words left Michael’s mouth before he could even give it a second thought. The Squip grinned, clearly satisfied.

    “That’s more like it.” Jeremy was peaceful once more. The computer knew just what to do to have Michael in its hands.

    “What exactly do you need me to do? I don’t understand why me of all people-”

    “Because I had already tried with Jeremy! The dreams were a way to try to convince him to change his mind on his own accord, but clearly that didn’t work out so I figured I’d go with my second best choice. As I stated before, I just need you to act like nothing's wrong and as time goes on, you can bring up the idea of possibly letting me back in.” The Squip explained. Michael had a growing suspicion that he could maybe use to his advantage. “By then, it should be easy to finish my job.”

    “You’re weak aren’t you? That’s why you can only do so much right now isn’t it?”

    “I can do enough.” The Squip answered sharply. “I’m recharging. I just need more time, and that’s where you come in.” Michael looked away, refusing to meet the Squip’s eyes. He didn’t want to do this. Of course he didn’t want to! That’d be helping the enemy. But if he didn’t Jeremy would get hurt. Just that thought alone made his heart hurt. He couldn’t let his friend suffer, especially if he actually had a chance to stop it.

    “I don’t know man…” Michael trailed off not knowing what to do.

    “Come on Michael.” The Squip said lowly, an electric wave washed over it, and soon he had morphed into Jeremy before Michael’s very eyes. “You’re my favorite person remember?” He mocked, putting his arm around the other boy. Michael stiffened, his heart jumping a little. He looked into the unfamiliar blue eyes of his ‘friend’ a moment before shoving him off.

    “Alright! Fine, I’ll do your dirty work. Can you please change back?” He didn’t like this manipulation. Squip Jeremy shrugged before returning to normal. He seemed pleased with himself.

    “Perfect.” He purred. “This is going to be good for him Michael, you’ll see. We both want the same thing here, to make him happy.” Michael closed his eyes and looked away not wanting to believe he’d actually done this. When he opened them again the Squip was gone. He heard it’s voice in the back of his mind. “He’s going to wake up shortly, remember what I said.” And that was it. Michael quietly made his way over to where Jeremy was laying, sitting on the end of the couch next to him. How was he going to do this? He felt like crying, but he knew he couldn’t just yet. Everything had to seem fine. Jeremy couldn’t know about what he’d done.

    Michael was still determined to find a way to get out of this. Things were going to be a lot harder with the Squip being able to possibly know whatever he was thinking. He knew he had to think of a good cover story to tell because he could already guess that Jeremy would be full of questions. It had to be believable, though he totally sucked at lying. He was almost done crafting his story when he felt a shift next to him as Jeremy started to wake up. Michael regretfully put on his best fake smile.

    “Michael?” Jeremy asked, looking around in confusion.

    “Hey Jer.” Michael answered quietly as he messed with the couch cushion.

    “What happened…” Jeremy took a moment to think before he suddenly seemed to remember. His eyes widened as he sat up quickly. “Oh my gosh Michael! Are you ok? The Squip, I should have known… it hasn’t hurt you has it?!”

    “Woah calm down! It’s alright…” Michael put a hand on him to calm him down. “What are you talking about?” He forced the words out. Jeremy frowned as he searched Michael’s eyes.

    “T-the Squip. You said…” He seemed uncertain of himself as he tried to explain. “You said that he was back, in your head.”

    “What? No… nothing’s wrong. My head? I thought we were past all this Squip stuff.” Michael went on with his lies as much as he wanted to tell him everything.

    “But you were here, and you were so scared… somehow the Squip was…I don’t know, in you?” Jeremy kept on. “It felt so real, I must’ve passed out.”

    “Jeremy, I just got here. I came back to apologize for how I was acting earlier, but you were on the couch. I guess you fell asleep.” Michael gave him a concerned stare. “Maybe you dreamed it?”

    “No but I didn’t! Did I?” Jeremy looked like he was having a crisis. “I thought I was getting better.” Now he just sounded defeated, paining Michael to hear. He scooted closer to try to be comforting.

    “Hey it’s okay! It was probably nothing. Look at me, I’m alright. So are you. There’s nothing to freak out about or lose anymore sleep over. It was probably just a nightmare.”

    “Y-you think?” There was a slight shake to Jeremy's voice. “Maybe I'm going insane.”

    “Don't think like that… it's okay. You've had a rough couple of months. We all have. Look, I'm still my plain old self.” Michael squished his cheeks to lighten the mood. Jeremy cracked a smile as he recognized the familiar tactic. Whenever the other was down, they would do something silly to help make them feel better.

    “I guess it is kind of silly.” Jeremy sighed at last. “I'm just getting worked up over nothing.” There was a silence for a moment. “You said you came here to apologize? Why?”

    “I was kinda being a little bitter earlier is all. I shouldn't have left you.” Michael looked down.

    “No, you shouldn't feel bad. I keep saying I'm going to tell Dad but I always back out of it somehow. I made you a promise I would.” Jeremy tried to interject. Michael realized if Jeremy said anything now the Squip wouldn't be pleased.

    “It's alright, really! You don't have to tell him if you really don't want to.” He coughed.

    “But I thought you wanted me to. Do the right thing and all?” Jeremy stared at him confused.

    “I do! But I mean right now you're alright, I'm just saying if you need more time I understand.” Michael struggled to stay calm. Jeremy sat still for a moment and Michael was starting to worry he wasn't convinced until finally he nodded with a small smile.

    “Yeah, ok. Thanks man.” He paused a moment. “I just don't want you blaming yourself. We're gonna get through this.” Each word said was like a sharp pain to Michael.

    “Don’t worry.” Everything he said was practically him stabbing Jeremy more and more in the back. “Try to not think about it so much alright? I guess if either of us are going to move on it's better to just look ahead.”

    “Maybe the key to moving on is to talk about it.” Jeremy said not looking at him anymore. Michael knew what he meant. For some reason he instantly shut down, not wanting to bring up what they both were remembering.

    “Maybe.”

    “Tell him you have to leave.” The Squip’s voice spoke suddenly, nearly making Michael jump.

    But-

    “You need to go now.” The Squip commanded without hesitation. Michael sighed and faced Jeremy.

    “Well, I'm glad we aren't still rocky around each other anymore. It's late… I should head back to my place.”

    “Are you sure you want to go?” Jeremy asked, a part of him wanting to ask his friend to stay. Michael hesitated. He really didn't want to go. He felt his pent up emotions threatening to show, so he knew he needed to get out of there.

    “I'll be fine. Try to get some rest, I'll see you at school tomorrow. Maybe you can check in with Christine. I'm sure she's missing you.” He answered giving a weak smile. Jeremy, accepting defeat, nodded.

    “Alright. Thanks for coming over.” He said. Michael’s response got caught in his throat, so he just gave another nod before heading out. He walked in silence all the way back to his house. His parents were still out, leaving Michael alone with his thoughts.  

    “Happy?” He asked the Squip not caring if it was aloud. No one would hear him anyway.

    “Good job. This is gonna be great, just keep it up.” It answered much to Michael’s dismay. He felt numb as he made his way to his bedroom. This was going to hurt, but he knew who he was doing it for. The things I do. Because I love him… He didn’t finish his thought. Once he made it to his room, he laid down not caring if he was still in his regular clothes. It was only then that he allowed himself to cry. The Squip didn’t stop him. It was silent the rest of the night.