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Halloween. I spent the whole morning finishing my costume: The Guide, from the game Pitstop in Purgatory. I had bought the cloth some months ago, and after days and days of sewing and adapting clothes I already had, I finally managed to make a costume that looked at least similar to his. I was so proud of it I could cry.
I went to the bathroom and wore it, then I left and looked at myself in the mirror. Gosh! It looked so cool!! I was almost scared. I kept staring at it until I heard a sound.
"Bah."
...That wasn't my voice.
I froze into place. Maybe I was just hearing things? Or maybe it *was* my voice, I just didn't notice myself saying things out loud.
"Humans are so predictable. I've seen this same thought process hundreds of times. It's incredibly boring."
Okay. Now I was pretty sure that wasn't me. I looked around, still in shock, searching for the source of the voice. Something in it was incredibly familiar. Too familiar. In a scary way.
"So you're the 'Void Cultist', am I correct?" I looked around my room, but couldn't see anything in my bed or in the hallway. "The name feels a bit overblown in my opinion, but I will give credit for the creativity."
My desk.
There was a Guide plushie on my desk.
It was so small it could fit the palm of my hand easily. Could be a keychain, even.
"A bold thought for a human." he said. His mouth didn't move. "Carrying deities like toys."
"...Guide?" I asked, flabbergasted by the concept, insanity, whatever it was happening in that moment.
"*The* Guide." he corrected me, and added: "For someone who considers themselves a fan, you were surprisingly slow to recognize me."
"Bah, give me a break." I said, without thinking much. Then I froze again. Gah! I'm so used to roast him while playing that I completely forgot--
He laughed. Realization was striking me as time passed -- he could read my thoughts! I felt the panic spreading through my body. But half of it was strangely calm. What the hell?!
"Anyway, what are you doing here?" I asked, trying to avoid my crazy mind.
"Watching, of course."
"Oh, are you interested in the cosplay?" I looked at it, smiling with pride.
"I would never feel a hint of interest in this display of..." the soft plushie eyes stared at me, the cotton hand gesturing vaguely. "Whatever obsession this is."
"At least I got it right." my eyes went from his clothes and my costume, confirming I got the details correctly. That was reassuring.
"You still lack something."
"What?"
"The eyes, of course."
I rolled my eyes. I spent the whole money on the cloth, so there was nothing left for the contact lenses.
"Well, I'm no deity, so this will have to do."
"Maybe not yet."
I stared at him, the tension in the air suddenly growing like he had pulled a string of an instrument -- or a bow.
"What do you mean...." I asked.
"You know exactly what I mean."
I swallowed. At that moment, I noticed the never-changing smirk on the plushie's face. It didn't move, I knew it couldn't, but somehow...
"Leave me alone..."
"Your words don't match your thoughts, Miss Cultist. Though, I can't say that's a first in human history."
Miss Cultist...? Was he really using that instead of my name...?
"Do you want me to call you by your real name?"
"NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Yes, that's what I thought." he remained unfazed. "So? What do you think?"
I closed my eyes. What did I think? There were too many answers to that question, as always...
"I think I..."
But when I opened my eyes, there was no plushie on my desk anymore. Was it a dream? A hallucination? All was left was just a lingering fear, a strange message written in the air:
"We'll meet again".