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This story begins when Matt Remick gets lost in his big giant ass Hollywood studio, busy to try to find Sal and his little studio family for a new stupid upcoming project about labubus or whatever (directed by T****tino unfortunately), which leads him somewhat to end up in this white room with no one…just him and white walls. The middle-aged curly haired man couldn’t give less of a crap and keeps on lowkey screaming to his phone.
“Ok, ok, ok OK LISTEN TO ME SAL, IF WE DON’T WANNA GET CANCELLED, THE BOY LABUBU HAS SAY TO THE GIRL LABUBU…Sal?
The line disconnects.
“Stupid phone. What…the fuck is this place?”
The uncanny colorless environment makes him weirdly uncomfortable. Matt tries to go back to where he came from but there is so much white everywhere he can’t find the door anymore.
“HELLO?????? ANYONE??????? Anybody?..please…”
A few minutes passed, and since he just heard nothing, he decides to sit down and wait. He waited for 30 minutes. That made him feel a loneliness he hasn’t felt in years…or maybe since yesterday since his dumbass always comes back home alone after work. For some reason, he feels his loneliness in this area more loudly, despite it being noiseless, since he can’t truly see or talk to anyone. His conscience tries to deny it, but he’d rather be ignored by his friends in a party than to be in this room. At least, they would be physically present.
Suddenly a door opens.
“Oh well finally a door opens! I was seriously about to lose my mind in here !”
A disheveled looking man with long brown hair and doe eyes gets out of it. His suit being seems to be partially stained in old blood, yet the way he looks a Matt made him believe he’s a polite fella. His dumbass assumed that was an actor that got out of a scene to take a break.
“Crazy place is it here, right? Who had even this stupid idea to design a place like this? I. CAN’T. EVEN. SEE. THE. DOORS. If I get to see Sal, I’ll get him to ask those designers to change that look. Unless its for the labubu movie…well I don’t care, if you’ll excuse me pal-
The man stops him abruptly, yet asks politely but nervously:
“Excuse me, have you seen a red-haired woman with a shirt and skirt with no shoes on? Her name is Helly R.”
“What?”
Matt thought how strange it was to call someone with only the initial of the last name. He thought maybe that was an inside joke between his actor friend group…and that poor oblivious guy took it too literal. Since he’s too mentally tired from recovering from his unwanted loneliness, he decides to be gentle with him.
“Buddy, I don’t know her, I don’t know you, but I sure do hope you know me, and I’m not supposed to receive whatever jokes you guys do. Go tell them to Samantha or something, I must go plan our future Oscar winning project- PLEASE HOLD THE DOOR.
Matt said that last sentence with so desperately but unfortunately the door suddenly disappears right before his eyes. Not believing what he saw, he rubs his eyes intensively then pinched his hand. He’s apparently not dreaming. The polite man was somewhat clueless about it.
“Hold on, Samantha? Future Oscar winning project? From which department are you exactly?
“I think I’m going crazy DID YOU SEE THAT??? THE DOOR JUST DISAPPEARED!!!”
“It…just did.”
He pauses a bit then decides to ignore Matt’s paranoia and keeps on looking for Helly anyway. Calling her name and everything. Even though there were only white walls. Matt thought it was too much.
“Look bud, that “joke” gotta stop. I know you wanna fit in so badly with your little actor friends which is why you’re trying to tell this stupid joke to me but lemme tell you what I know…Helly R is not real, its probably some random crazy lady myth they’ve created out of boredom…maybe an OC as the kids say. They are trying to fool out of you into making you go spread their dumb rumor but you gotta WAKE UP and HELP ME find a door. Don’t you wanna get out of here too??
You could see the man’s eyes slowly becoming disappointed. He despite that tries to keep his politeness while feeling a bit uncomfortable. He knew Matt was not one of them. Probably not even one of Lumon’s non severed employees.
“ So you’re not severed…”
“Severed? Pal, I don’t know what games you are playing, I don’t know if I should feel sorry for you, but if you keep on going with that weird story of yours I’ll have to fire you once we get out of here. Samantha’s not gonna be happy…”
The polite man feels annoyed now. He’s getting more serious, almost with a scolding like attitude
“Okay who the hell is Samantha?”
The tone of his voice made Matt consider that maybe that man was not joking, but he decides to ignore that, rather believing that he’s just really acting well…or that he’s being stupid for the sake of his useless ego.
“…are you serious right now. Wait hold on, maybe yours is actually Adam…WELL I DON’T CARE, the point is, you as an actor, have a boss, a Samantha who looks after you and orders you around which I in return look after them and order them around. Am I really going to explain to you that concept like you’re five?... or wait, are you stoned? I TOLD SAMANTHA TO NOT ALLOW POT OR ANY DRUG IN THE STUDIO!! GOD GRIFFIN’S GOING TO KILL ME”
“I don’t think you seem to know where you are. You don’t talk like a Lumon worker at all.”
“A what now? I perfectly know where we are THIS IS CONTINENTAL STUDIOS FOR GOD’S SAKE WILL YOU STOP WITH THIS BULLSHIT?
“No, we’re in the severed floor in the Lumon headquarters! Wow, you are very lost.
They remained silent for a minute. There was nothing around to prove that they were either in Lumon or in Continental Studios. Maybe the white room indicated the fact that they no clipped. Nevertheless the fact that they had no idea where they are made them, plus the uncanny whiteness made them feel a lot of dread. Suddenly a door far away opens again. Matt somewhat regains some energy out of hope.
“OKAY BUDDY NOW RUN AND HELP ME HOLD THE DOOR”
They start running as fast as they could. A blonde middle-aged woman appeared from the door quickly enough for it to disappear again. They both fall to their knees. Matt screamed.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO”
“Uh, sir can you stop shouting- Ow my ears… Why is this place…so white?
Both Matt and the polite man were about to talk at the same time, but Matt decides to shut himself up by doing some de-stress breathing exercises. He was about to lose his voice. The man took the lead.
“This looks probably like an unfinished room for a new department”. He looks at her casual clothes. “You don’t seem to be from Lumon either.”
The woman narrowed her eyes confused.
“Lumon? Is that, like a new term to call your hideout?
She realized something.
“Wait, you’re not calling me by my name. So, you’re another survivor!”
“What? Is something happening in the outie world?”
Being far from their small conversation, Matt realized these two seemed way too dedicated to their acting roles (probably because they are not acting dumbass), yet seeing that they are talking like they are from different worlds made him think it was too good to be a stupid joke. With seeing the doors disappearing, he starts to more and more believe he’s in a dream. Yet he doesn’t want his authority to be diminished to these strangers. He’s after all one of Hollywood’s most influential people. He thought maybe he should try to act like them while waiting for another door to appear, maybe like he’s from another world too. He says the following with a weird accent:
“Alright you guys won…speaking of names, you guys haven’t presented yourselves to me. Since I think we’re gonna be stuck here for a while, we might as well know each other. You guys all know who I am, I’m very famous in my own world, no need to present myself! I lead one of the greatest studios in my planet haha! Now one of you, your turn.”
He said that last sentence while making a small theatrical movement, trying to supposedly mimic their seemingly very well done “acting”. They thought it was cringe and kept on talking to each other.
“…who the fuck does this guy think he is.”
“No clue…what do you mean I’m another survivor?”
“ARE YOU GUYS SERIOUSLY IGNORING MY REQUEST???”
The woman felt surprised that seemingly none of them were aware of how finding an individual acting like themselves is a blessing in her world. Before entering the room, she also felt a deep period of loneliness after all those happy single mind people left her alone…especially after realizing that even none of the survivors except this weird delusional guy would accept to have a chat with her. She was grateful to have found someone like the polite man who’d seem sane enough to tolerate her. She decided to go slow on him even if he didn’t understand the situation. With Matt however, she did not vibe with him at all.
“Well you know…survivor of the happy virus? You surely must have seen weird smiling people around calling your name and proposing anything you’d desire, right? I guess this guy is also one of us. (To Matt) The name’s Carol Sturka you weird narcissist.”
Matt drops his acting persona; wanting more than anything to believe she is nothing more than an actress like the polite man.
“NARCISSIST?? Oh wait till I fire you when the next door opens Miss. Your world of happy viruses is even less believable than your friend’s! “
Carol felt now more confused. Even sorry for him. Yet she also felt that it’s strange that these two men talked like they were from actual different worlds. Was that part of the hive’s plan? Did the Others manage to reunite all the world’s intelligence to build a white room where people from different timelines could meet. Does that mean she could find Helen from another timeline? That old man is still a jerk, so she tried to defend herself but the polite man stopped her, seemingly more invested in her story.
“Please, tell me more on that virus issue. I’m Mark S. But you can just call me Mark.”
“ S? You…don’t want to disclose your full name?”
“…never got the chance to know it”
“Oh.”
They could hear mumbling from Matt’s side, so they turned around to see him, still panicking and sweating horribly for so much stress, mumbling about how he’s going crazy.
“WHAT?”
Mark took the lead.
“Hey, we don’t know you dude. You keep on telling us how none of what we think is real yet maybe that little studio world you created is completely your own imagination. We’re two to not believe it.”
Carol followed, a bit irritated.
“Right, like who even are you for real. I don’t want to sound crazy, but I feel like we are all not from the same world. You guys don’t even know about all humanity going to doom because of a virus that controls almost all the population. I have no goddamn clue, about what Lumon is…”
“There are many Lumon locations across the world apparently-”
“See, I’ve never heard of it still, and your sorry ass is so certain that we live in your stupid studio where apparently you’re the king, gosh maybe ignorance is bliss…anyways you have to help us to find a way to get out of here”
She goes away to examine the walls. Maybe there’s something hidden in the paint or the cracks or the corners. Matt repeats his mumbling even louder.
“IM FUCKING GOING CRAZY IM FUCKING GOING CRAZY IM FUCKING GOING CRAZY IM FUCKING GOING CRAZY”
Mark tries to calm him.
“Okay look, start by telling us your name, and maybe you won’t feel crazy afterwards”
“WAIT…if you guys are not from my studio…oh well its not that important if we’re gonna be stuck here forever, might as well start to be buddies with you all. My name is Matt Remick, CEO of Continental Studios, Hollywood.
“And I’m the CEO of Apple, Tim Cook!”
“HUH????!!!!!!!!!!!”
The lights closes and one light goes towards a hologram of a white-haired man with black glasses, who appeared from another door. The walls become colorful, and confetti and balloons start to fly around with some celebration music. He is followed by many people, including a whimsical man dressed like a soccer coach, another blonde woman with messy clothes like she came from a war or a factory, a big intimidating man with long hair who looks like a teacher, and a blonde maybe bald boy carrying his black and white dog, a very familiar figure.
“Is that motherfucking Charlie Brown”
The old man takes the mic again.
“COOOONNNGRATULATIONS DEAR PEOPLE! You three are officially the protagonists of the 3 most watched and critically acclaimed TV shows in our streaming platform throughout history! Thank you for bringing us so much money and pride! We are currently still losing more money though, but its to make our services more efficient and accessible to our audience, and it seems like they want to see more of you, amazing right?!! We are so proud that your creators took time and love to create such intriguing people like you. You should see how your fans are excited about your stories, they are DYING to know more!”
One wall became suddenly a screen projector which showed many tabs full of comments from various social media platforms of people praising, simping, analyzing. Whatever it was like that one Wreck-it-Ralph scene, but positive. Our three characters felt too shocked and dreadful to speak, maybe even scared. What do you mean they have creators? Were they gods? Their world is a joke? That should be a dream right? Carol thought that might a psy op, Mark thought that maybe outies were spying on his and MDR’s life the whole time. Matt thought how little there was comments about his world. Carol suddenly panicked, realizing that it makes her even anxious that not only people from the hive could see her actions, her life, her secrets, but there was also a possibility that omniscient beings were doing the same as well, then rushes towards the hologram:
"Hold on hold on mister, what do you mean we have creators, what do you mean people are watching us?????"
Cook ignored her and continued.
“Now, as you can see, I’ve gathered all these characters- I mean people here for a reason. This is not only a special room my developers made to celebrate your victories, but also to be a new arena were we will be testing your new acquired physical skills! In fact, you guys are in a program who's the beta version of our newest app, our version of Smash Bros, Apple Melee Fight ! Be ready, here starts your first challenge: knock out every single person in the room”
“WHATTTTTT??????????????????”
End.