"You know, we've never really figured out how it all occurred in the first place," Aarav said. "I really think we should start from there."

"What are you talking about? Mr. Sacury mentioned that it was through the placement. We already know the how," Camila responded, crossing her arms.

"I think he means how the placement was done on every student," Dorian jumped in. "That's what doesn't make sense. I'm doubtful any of us would forget if some piece of tech was shoved into us."

"How could you possibly forget what those creatures were doing that day?" I asked all of them.

   How didn't they also witness what I saw occur in the classroom with the screaming girl and the monsters wielding those guns happen with the other students? The confused looks I was receiving didn't make any sense to me. Even more so when I watched their stares morph into horror as I described what had happened with the girl and those monsters in the classroom anyway.

"Hold on." Dorian interrupted my narration with a held up hand and head shake. "If that's the case, how are you the only one in this room who witnessed that?"

"What do you mean 'the only one'?" I asked. It was my turn to be bewildered. "Didn't you guys go back to your classes after lunch? You couldn't have missed what happened."

"Beth," Camila walked closer to face me. "Do you think what happened to that girl was the same thing that everyone else in your class went through as well?"

"Yes... Probably?" I flinched at the collective sighs they released. "I fell asleep for, like, two seconds okay? The classroom was empty when I woke up. By the time I caught up with the rest in the hallway, those monsters had already gotten to them... I assumed anyway."

"But you never saw that happen," Aarav pointed out with squinted eyes.

"Well, what did you guys see then?!" I snapped at them, not liking how I was being painted as a deranged liar.

"In my class, everyone just rose from their seats a few minutes into the documentary at the same time and headed toward the entrance. The teacher had stepped out earlier and hadn't returned so there was no one there to stop them." A clouded expression dictated Aarav's features as he continued with his story. "Anyone who I tried to speak to ignored me. When I found Dorian, he said the same thing had happened to him and he was equally lost. We tried to find a teacher or any other staff to ask what was going on but it seemed like they had all disappeared without a trace."

"And that's when we saw them," Dorian added with a clenched jaw, referring to the monsters. "We barely made it out."

   The atmosphere in the room turned dire.

"I think that's more than enough proof that the placement was through another means, don't you, Beth?" Camila chipped in, nodding toward me. "Maybe one of those weird screen things? You know it's not really for people to come out unscathed from hypnosis..."

   I could barely hear Camila over my staunch focus on the deceptively informative papered board. A knowing ache shot through my head as eyes remained glued to what was suddenly the most interesting puzzle piece. I moved to soothe the pang on my temple I had had for a week now when two recent memories came crashing so hard, I was almost literally knocked off my feet.

"Beth!" Rav had rushed over to catch me mid-stagger. "What's wrong?"

   I squirmed from his hold to snatch a distinctive picture from the board with much force, nearly ripping it in the process.

"Hey!" Camila snapped, after failing in her attempt to snatch it from me. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Guys." I said, the energy surging through indescribable. "What if what we saw in school was merely an aftermath of the placement? What if it had already been done?"

"We had been with each other since morning on the Saturday of Liberation Week. If it had been done hours earlier, don't you think any of us would have noticed?" Camila shrugged.

"Not if it was twelve hours earlier, from the 'comfort of our homes.'" I gestured that last phrase with crooked fingers.

   The silence in the room was short-lived by Rav's yelp. His shout was laced with excitement, an indication that someone in this room had finally tapped into my train of thought.

"He gets it." I laughed in relief as Rav skipped over to throw his arms at me in a bone crushing hug.

   Dorian stooped down behind us to pick up and stare at the picture I didn't realise I had dropped in Rav's moment of frenzy.

"Oh." Dorian said, raising his gaze from the picture and handing it over to Camila. His stoic face turned pale as realisation rushed into his thoughts at a quick pace.

   I didn't pretend to stifle my gloat when Camila eventually noticed what was going on.

"The Virtuo Glasses," she whispered with a smile tugging at the ends of her mouth. "The Virtuo Glasses was what caused the placement."

"There's no other reason Mr. Sacury would put the message in those glasses," Rav tapped his head with a chuckle. "And I wasn't the only one who got the 'touch your temples' part of the message was I?"

"The Virtuo glasses was the only thing that could have gotten that close to making the placement and it was given to the whole school," Dorian added.

"The girl in the classroom was probably one of those who didn't go to the dance, one of the loose ends they had to tie by doing the job themselves. They've probably been able to get to those who didn't go either." I sighed.

"But I was the only one who didn't go." Rav's voice was choked with confusion. "How on earth on are any of you still here?"

   Camila explained herself first, "On that night, I was starting to get a headache after a while so I took mine off for some minutes to freshen up. When I wore them again though, everything was black. I couldn't see anything anymore. I just thought it was a glitch or something wrong on my end. I didn't want to bum anyone out about what had happened so I didn't bring it up the next day. No one else did either so..."

   It was difficult to concentrate on what Camila was saying when the memory of that night was being a persistently clear, repetitive image in my mind.

"What?" I snapped out of it in time to notice the stares I was receiving.

"What happened to you on that night, Beth? Why are you still here?" Camila queried with a side glance.

"I, um, I remember taking them off to go for some snacks, yeah," I nodded. "And just like you said, it was like I had lost signal or something. I couldn't see anything else thereon out."

   Her raised eyebrow suggested she believed otherwise.

"Oh come on," I said, putting on my best glare. "Is there any point to lying? What would I gain from doing so now? It just wouldn't work by the time I got back. I don't know what happened, okay?"

   But I did.

   This lingering memory was an indication I had worn it the whole time, particularly when the placement happened. I was taken back to the unprecedented pain I had felt in my head when I crumpled to the ground in my garage as darkness took over. Tali wouldn't stop apologising when I awoke. I recalled our fixated gazes of understanding on her smoky laptop and the glasses, thinking we'd found the cause of the Virtuo's malfunction.

   I tried to maintain my stance, hoping my expression wasn't a giveaway to the revelation I couldn't shake off.

   The very syncing of the laptop and the glasses I had blamed Tali and made her dump the creepy chip into Clearwater River. The syncing that triggered a level of anxiety I could have never foreseen when I was convinced Zavlon would find out. The syncing that had me convinced I was being watched and jail was just a matter of time. What I believed had caused the glitches in Mr. Sacury's message. What I wouldn't stop blaming myself for allowing to happen in the first place. I don't how and may be wrong, but i'm pretty sure that syncing had hindered the insertion of the mind control device into my mind.

   The very syncing that had almost killed me, saved my life.

A/N: Don't you just love epiphanies 😳?

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Published: 29th September, 2021.