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SYSTEM INITIATED:
Simulation 6
Subject: Trey O'Malley.
Simulation loading... traumatic sequence initiated."*
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Trey's eyes flutter open to the soft hum of fluorescent lights. He's in a public restroom — the tiles grimy, the mirrors cracked. The cold ceramic of the sink presses against his palms, grounding him. He glances up at the mirror, a tired and sunken face staring back. His. But not his.
A sharp, metallic taste coats his tongue. Blood. It drips from his nose. His knuckles are raw and swollen, caked with dried crimson. As he tries to piece together where he is, a voice cuts through the silence.
*"You think you can just walk away?"*
He turns abruptly. A group of teenagers stand at the entrance — a smirking ring of faces, shadows cast by the flickering lights. One of them steps forward, a boy taller and broader, his face a twisted mask of disdain.
**Flashback:**
He was the awkward kid — quiet, observant, easy to isolate. In school, they toyed with him, nudging him into lockers, mocking his silence. He had a stutter that made them laugh harder. One day, they cornered him in this very restroom. The leader pushed his face into the sink, smashing his reflection against the cracked glass. Laughter echoed. Blood pooled. They took pictures — shared them.
"Freak. Psycho. Useless."
His name was carved into the stall doors alongside slurs and threats. The laughter never stopped.
**Back to the present:**
The leader steps forward now, a grin sharp as a blade. "Still pathetic, huh?" He shoves Trey back against the sink. The mirror quivers behind him, distorting their reflections. The room begins to blur — the faces in the glass twist into grotesque shapes, mocking, laughing, distorting.
"Say something, freak."
Trey's mouth opens, but the stutter strangles his voice. Laughter erupts — a suffocating, echoing wave. His own reflection is laughing now — blood streaming from his cracked nose, teeth red. The mirror shatters, splintering in spiderwebs.
Suddenly, the walls begin to close in. The stall doors slam repeatedly — bang, bang, bang — as if something monstrous is trapped inside. The laughter grows louder, bouncing off the tiles, filling his ears. Trey clutches his head, nails digging into his scalp. The leader's face distorts, warping between human and something grotesque.
"Say something!" the voice booms, but it's a chorus now — a maddening, relentless demand. Trey screams, his throat tearing from the strain. The mirror fractures further, his reflection splintering into countless faces — all him, all laughing, all bleeding.
His mind snaps. He grabs a shard of broken mirror, the jagged edge cold against his trembling fingers. Without hesitation, he drives it into his own reflection — over and over — blood smearing the glass, staining the sink. The laughter fades, replaced by a suffocating silence.
His own reflection, now a shattered, blood-soaked image, stares back at him with hollow eyes.
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*"Simulation Over. Resetting memory module. Preparing next sequence."*
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