“Well it appears I can do lots of things with this little box. If you had stopped to read the instructions you would have found that you would revert to normal one hour after pressing the save button once.” Sandra said turning to where Alice lay, her key wound down and her legs finally stopped moving. From her sideways position Alice was helpless to stare up at Sandra as she gloated.
“But if you click it a second time… the changes become permanent.” Sandra continued. She moved the cursor to hover over the ‘save’ button, her finger raised to click. Alice wanted to beg. Wanted to plead. Wanted to close her eyes. But couldn’t. She could only smile and stare forward.
“I don’t think we are going to do that… yet.” She said smiling. “Why not have more fun with you. After all it’s just you here alone while your parents are off on a vacation for the rest of the summer, so I have two whole months to play with you.”
Alice felt her stomach dropping once again. Two months of being Sandra’s toy. Two months of being stuck like this? She wouldn’t. She couldn’t! Alice tried to turn her eyes to look at Sandra’s own gaze, but she couldn’t even manage that.
“You know… I could have a lot more than two months… if I did this.” And with a click pressed a button. Alice felt a now familiar tingle pass over her, and waited for a change to happen. Only this time it didn’t happen. Nothing changed. For a moment Alice was giddy, nothing had changed! Maybe the program was going to revert her! But then out of the corner of her eyes she saw it. The corner of her room was different. Where her dresser where her clothes should be was now a filing cabinet. That wasn’t right. How did that get there?
From the filing cabinet more things changed. The colorful blinds she had over her window changed into a light grey, the posters on the wall fading away, replaced by a large picture of a sun setting over an island by the sea. Her bed transformed into a desk, a sturdy oak desk with a computer and papers stacked atop it. Her own desk changed from a simply ikea desk to a matching oak set.
“Do you know what happened?” Sandra asked looking down at Alice, who realized she was now resting atop a pile of papers that had not been there before. “I used this machine to edit reality. Do you know what I edited?” She asked despite the fact Alice could no more reply than she could fly around the room. “I made it so that you have always been just a toy. That’s right. You never existed.” This is your parent’s office now… or has been… they never had a daughter.”
Alice was too stunned to properly form a reply. “What is she talking about. That’s absurd.” She said, as if the fact she was currently transformed into a toy was normal. Sandra didn’t reply and stood up, walking from the doom, leaving Alice alone, trying to comprehend what had just happened.
A few moments later Sandra returned. Holding a picture in her hand. “See this? Notice someone missing?” She asked holding up the picture for the toy to see. Alice looked at the picture but had a hard time processing it. It was clearly the picture of her and her parents at Disneyland when she had been younger. But now it simply showed her parents. I’m the place of her in the picture her father was presenting her mother with a bouquet of flowers. But no, that couldn’t be real. It had to be a fake.
“So I’m house sitting for them while they are on vacation. No one but me and you ever knew you existed. Now I can play with you for as long as I want. Forever..”