Last Call to Reality

Hailey woke up at 6:00 AM, and it didn't feel early at all. If anything, she felt more rested than she had in awhile, and certainly more than she ever had at home, because there was just nothing to do. Besides eating, sleeping, and talking with everyone else stuck in the facility, all she could do was stare at plants. This boredom was existential, to the point where she would sleep for far longer than she ever had at home because there was just nothing to do while she was in the facility. That extra rest had initially been a blessing, because she caught up on sleep in a way she hadn't in a long time as a teenager who spent too long playing video games, or scrolling on her phone. However, at some point it was just a reminder of how confined their new surroundings were, and she'd wake up at weird times, her body screaming to do something, anything.

So, Hailey got up, stepping carefully over the puddle under her bed that was a sleeping Noah. Unlike Hailey, Noah had plenty do, as the slime girl needed to practice controlling her new body. That meant when Hailey went to bed, Noah was often still up, trying various things with her strange new body, and seemed to still be learning all these days later. It now felt like Noah was just humoring her when they talked about all the geeky stuff they used to back on Earth, out of sympathy for all crushing boredom. If it wasn't for that, she knew Noah had plenty to do just exploring her new body.

By contrast, often the only thing Hailey had to do was eat. The buffet opened at 6 AM and didn't close until 12 PM, a set of facts she had learned from bitter experience. That she had, at times, snacked out of boredom so much that it brought her pain had managed to break her out of that cycle, but begged its own unsettling questions. She couldn't talk to Noah about it, she didn't want to burden her only friend with her problems, but there was no else to talk about it with. Everyone else either had a more rigid schedule, like Felix, was too scary like Z, or felt... manipulative like Cameron. When she entered the mess hall, she found the demon of all people waiting for her.

"Can't sleep?" The demon asked.

"I don't need to." Hailey responded, the clinical levels of boredom emanating off of her.

"Good, I'm going to need your help with something later, but in the meantime, you get to be the first person to get a phone call to the outside world." The demon said.

Hailey shot up hearing that. "Really?"

"Yes, follow me and remember where we went, because I'll expect you to guide Felix there later." The demon said.

What followed was a walk through the meeting room, through its western entrance, to the left half of the bunker. This was a place Hailey mostly avoided, because it was full of rooms that either were training she didn't know how to do, like the gym, or had unclear, bizarre functions that set her on edge, like a room full of mirrors. In this case, the demon guided her to a door she hadn't noticed before, tucked between the door to a giant obstacle course, and the gym. When the door opened, it was a very small room, barely larger than a closet, with nothing but a bright light and a single black phone.

"This phone can call anyone, but you will only get to have five minutes to talk to them," the demon said. "Also of course, do not mention where you are. Understand?"

Hailey nodded, and the demon disappeared in a cloud of black smoke. She then turned around, took a deep breath, and called her parents. She knew this conversation could hurt, but there was so much she needed to know.

"Mom?" Hailey asked.

"She isn't here right now pumpkin, she's running an errand," Hailey's dad answered the phone. "Did you get held up in class or something pumpkin? You're usually home earlier than this."

Hailey wanted to answer with where she was, or even just ask how long it had been since school had been let out, but the demon's warning rung in her head. So instead, knowing this was quite possibly the last opportunity she had ever had to talk to them again, she said what she had wanted to years ago.

"I want you to know that both you and mom are wrong about the reason I am the way I am," Hailey said. "And I can assure you it wasn't because I secretly hate women or because of mom's pressure, although neither helped."

"Pumpkin, what are-"

"Please just listen, I don't have much time," Hailey said. "I am the way I am because what I experienced in 8th grade showed me that I shouldn't waste time I will never get back in the one youth I have. And I want you to tell mom that when she gets back, you certainly yell at each other enough to sneak that in. Understand?"

"Pumpkin... please come back to the house."

"I love you dad, and tell mom I love her despite her bullshit." Hailey then slammed the phone down, and then ran out of the closet, bawling her eyes out...

Unlike every other day so far, Felix was awoken by Vizrokoth, standing over his bed. Just seeing her presence caused him to bolt upwards.

"Felix, how great of you to join the waking world." Vizrokoth said in somewhat of a mocking tone.

Turning over he, saw that Janessa Smith was already gone. The prior night after the awkward blowjob was a blur of washing himself and then collapsing into bed, his emotions a confused mess. He knew Smith had gotten into bed with him, but beyond that, he didn't know if anything had happened to him while he slept. He couldn't trust her, yet, her raw desire for him was, in of itself, attractive. That knowledge about himself disturbed him in a way it never did while he was watching monster girl porn.

"Today, starting at 1:00 PM, there will be a contest that will last, at most, until 5:50 PM," Vizrokoth said. "Your attendance is mandatory."

"I figured," Felix said. "Although it reminds me of how I don't really feel like the master."

Vizrokoth took Felix's head in her hands. "Can you honestly tell me you didn't enjoy what Janessa did to you?"

Felix hated the question, in part because he couldn't honestly answer it either way. He wasn't the type to enjoy pain, but he wanted to be desired. And someone forcing themselves onto him because they so, badly, wanted him... that did feel good. But his body liking it made the whole thing worse, because it meant he enjoyed being violated, and that created a whole mess of emotions he still couldn't unpack.

"I hate to say this but I am here for reasons besides helping you figure out your sexual desires," Vizrokoth said. "You have two things you need to get to today before 1, and both are important."

He nodded, while trying to inch out of bed in a way that would let him grab a pillow and hide his junk in the process, but without much success. Felix knew that Vizrokoth had almost certainly seen him naked before, but that didn't make this any easier.

"First, you get one phone call with the outside world, and I suggest you take advantage of that." Vizrokoth said without any of the playful tone Felix was used to from her.

"Is this because you're going to alter other parts of my life as well?" Felix asked, pleading and resigned all at once. He had no power over this demon, and doubted she would be merciful.

"I might," Vizrokoth said with finality. "There's a second thing, which replaces your typical meeting with Austin. Given the competition takes place before you and Austin would've had a date, I'm going to try an experiment."

The demon's tone had a note to it Felix had never heard before: uncertainty. She was always so in control and confident, which made sense given her immense power. What kind of being could possibly make her uncertain, or barring that, what sort of situation?

"You are going to try to date Austin from 9-12:50," Vizrokoth said. "If I deem this a failure, I will change when and where the competitions happen. However, you need to meet me halfway, and try. Understand?"

The demon took on a terrifying stare with that last part, causing Felix to nod again, frantic in his efforts to get her to stop staring like that.

"Good boy," Vizrokoth said. "Now go get breakfast and that phone call."

The demon then disappeared in a cloud of black smoke. Felix sighed as went to breakfast, as he knew who he was going to call, but had no idea what he would say to them upon doing so. Heck, he didn't even know where the phone to make this call was. When he arrived at the mess hall, he could see that everyone else had gotten a version of the same talk from Vizrokoth, judging by eerie quietness of breakfast, and the speed at which people ate, left to go elsewhere, before coming back to finish.

After Felix finished breakfast, which for him was a Belgian waffle with a side various fruits and a glass of apple juice because of the sense of finality over everything, Hailey sought him out.

"You done?" Hailey asked. He could see tears around her eyes, and realized

"Yeah." Felix answered while wiping himself down with a napkin.

"I'll show you where the phone is." Hailey replied while leading Felix out of the room.

Hailey lead Felix on a path that he could tell she had taken before. She lead him to a room barely bigger than a closet with a black colored phone. He wasn't sure if he remembered seeing a stationary phone like this in real life before, or if he had only seen them in movies and stuff.

"Please remember that your call can only last five minutes or less and not to say anything about where you are to the person on the other end," Hailey said. "Got it?"

Felix nodded and Hailey then ran off to give him some privacy. He took a deep breath, focused on what he was going to say, and called his mom.

"Mom?" Felix asked, his voice ****. He really hoped it wasn't dad, he didn't need his father's bullshit at the moment.

"Hi sweetie, you still at school?" Felix's mother asked. "... Are you in detention again?"

"In a way... but, mom, I just want to know, I love you," Felix said while crying. "I really, do love you, and I'm sorry I can't be a better son!"

He almost dropped the phone from crying so hard. Instead, Felix just cried about how he couldn't live up to her expectations, how the school had lied about what happened with Zachary, and how he was sorry that he kept having all this drama wherever he went.

"Sweetie, it's going to be okay! Look, let me come pick you-" The call cut out, as he had run out of time.

He slammed the phone down, and bawled his eyes out until someone else came to get their call. By that time he had to leave for his date with Austin...

Noah's phone call could've been to her parents, but she decided instead to call Carter. He had been a good friend of hers back when she had a human body, and knew everybody else in her former friend's group at school. That was what she missed more than anything else, even her parents, because that friend's group had made her high school years a blast. More than that, because of the change in her voice, she couldn't call her parents, and expect any recognition, so instead focused on calling a friend that she figured she could trick in this situation.

"Carter?" Noah asked, after punching in the number using her new solid hands.

"Yes?" Carter asked, confusion in his voice. "Who are you, and why do you have Noah's caller ID?"

"I'm... a niece of his you haven't met," Noah said. "I don't have much time, so I need to ask you two things very quickly."

"Uh okay-"

"What day is it, and what time is it where you are right now?" Noah asked.

"Uh, it's 4:30 on a Friday, why?" Carter asked in response, becoming more incredulous. "Is this some kind of weird prank?"

So, time dilation, or some other kind of time manipulation. Noah thought about the implications and they were grim, but pressed on, knowing time was short.

"No, there's an event we have to coordinate with Noah," Noah said. "Look, you may not see Noah for a bit, and if you don't, he wants you to know that you, and everyone else in his D&D group are the best friends he could've asked for."

"... Wow, I... are you sure that's what Noah said?" Carter asked. "That doesn't sound like something he'd say."

"Oh, something happened that made him appreciate life a bit more you could say." Noah said.

Afterwards, they talked about a nerd thing until time ran out. Noah, sad but in control, left the room with the phone to go prep for the upcoming event as best she could...

Z knew who to call, and it was not Zachary's father, despite his crying insistence that he get that closure. If it wasn't for this being the day of the competition, she would've shoved him into the ancestor urn for the duration of the competition. No, she was going to call one of her superiors that got her jobs with the Yakuza, and try to get some details about what, if anything, had happened on her world. This particular superior, who was codenamed Mr. Ice in reference to his cold demeanor and diamond rings he wore everywhere, was in the know about everything happening on her world.

However, after punching in the number, and the phone picking up, Z heard something that upset her.

"Z, where are you?" Her fixer, sounding far more emotional than he ever had before, asked. "I've been trying to get a hold of you for weeks, and shit has gone crazy here!"

What followed was a weird rant about some kind of apocalypse. Z couldn't even follow it, his speaking was too fast and stressed. She had never heard him this stressed before and that made her worried as well.

"Stop, Mr. Ice, I can barely understand what you're saying!" Z screamed. "Slow down, and tell me what is happening."

She heard a deep breath over the line before Mr. Ice said, "Look, you were once one of the last of your kind, but now, yokai are appearing everywhere, and they are massacring us en masse. I had been hoping to hire you to get my ass out of the country, but... honestly, that probably doesn't matter now."

"Why? You know I can defeat yokai, even if I don't like doing it."

"Nature itself seems to be rebelling!" Mr. Ice continued to scream. "I've seen photos of people killed by plants from the Western hemisphere!"

Z had heard rumors about this but had dismissed it as just that: Rumors. A bunch of countries in the western hemisphere had news blackouts, but they had assumed that was because of a political scandal or stuff relating to a war. But this... this changed everything.

"Everyone who had the ability to has fled into a bunker, and honestly if you can I recommend you do so as well. I won't be able to contact you again. And Z-"

The call was cut short by the time limit. Z had to resist the urge to slam the phone down, because... that could've been it. The prophecy where civilization was overthrown, nature would return, and she join her fellow yokai in taking **** for all the slights of humanity was at hand! But... it was all for nought, because she wasn't there. Instead, she was in a bunker, stuck with a bunch of people on a fucking dating show...

Winters was eager to call. Benjamin Winters had wanted to call his wife, while Kei Winters wanted to call her gay husband. She had married a man that needed to look straight to his parents so much that he wouldn't care she was fucking teenage boys. The knowledge of this deal, once again, horrified Benjamin Winters. Both of their spouses had the same phone number, which begged a question: Whose was going to answer?

Upon entering the number, Winters heard Benjamin's wife, and for the first time, it was Kei Winters having an existential crisis. Did this mean she didn't actually exist? Or did it just mean that the phone could only call one reality? If it was the latter, why did it choose Benjamin Winter's reality instead of hers? These questions raced through her mind to the point where she didn't hear any of the conversation Benjamin Winters had.

The actual phone called passed in a blur, as it was just Benjamin Winters re-iterating his love for his wife, despite her having no idea who he was from the change in his voice, before the phone cutoff. Kei Winters took that moment to seize control before Benjamin Winters could cry about his spouse not recognizing him, and stormed off frustrated for one of the first times while she had been there, furious she hadn't been able to check in on her home life. That she had a potential existential crisis on her hands didn't help...

Smith, for the first time in a long time, called her ex-wife, Susan. Their marriage had fallen apart over the aftermath of an... infertility issue. Between an inability to give her a child and some stress she often carried home from work as a human man, their marriage had fallen apart. Janessa had almost not even called her, knowing she sounded different, but decided to check in one last time anyway.

"Who is it?" Susan answered.

"It's... a friend of James Smith." Janessa Smith said. She knew her angelic voice was going to complicate this call.

"Oh, umm... okay," Susan answered, clearly aroused now. "What did you want to talk about?"

"James Smith is sorry about how things went down," Janessa Smith said. "There were a lot of things he said to you that he now regrets."

Janessa wasn't lying. The past few days at the bunker, especially her interactions with Felix, had in this moment made Smith question every single decision she had made as a human with her ex-wife. Had she rationalized things she shouldn't have, and ignored evidence that didn't fit her preferred view of the world? All the while, Susan talked about how she really hoped they could meet in a way that was clearly because of the effect of the fallen angel's voice, not because she sought any kind of connection with the talker on the phone. Felix wasn't impacted this way, why were all the other mortals?

"Hey, uh, my husband came home, but please call me back if you can?" Susan's voice was pleading, **** for more attention. Smith could hear the man she had remarried to, Robert, in the background.

"Don't count on it." Smith slammed the phone, angry that she wasn't able to have a conversation with Susan without it becoming sexual. After all, she thought she heard her ex-wife orgasm in the fraction of a second before she hung up...

Vizrokoth was, for the first time in awhile, worried. The issue with how the competition interacted with dates had come up, and The Producers were very frustrated with her attempted fix of squeezing in a date before the competition happened. That frustration had proven to be understandable on their part, as looking through her various cameras and other senses, the demon could see the date between Felix and Austin was a disaster.

Not a fun disaster, oh no, that would've been fine for Vizrokoth, as it would boost ratings and keep the Producers happy. The problem was that any drama this relationship had left had already been milked dry by the conversation Felix and Austin had Thursday morning. Hence, it instead an endless series of Austin trying to start up a conversation with Felix, failing because of her own narcissism, and bawling her eyes out at her upcoming fate while Felix either ignored her by eating, or just stared at her, cold as ice. She could already imagine the comments calling it repetitive, or just wanting to skip over it to get to the competition already, while others were furious about seeing a contestant in all likelihood go out without a fair shot at avoiding elimination. That Austin was a narcissistic asshole didn't prevent her from having a small but vocal fanbase, although she suspected most of them were trolls trying to get attention by sticking up for a hated member of the harem.

How would the Producers respond to all this, and if they were angry, what could Vizrokoth do to reassure them? She doubted they would honor a request for extra days to account for this problem, and it would mean breaking the careful week-by-week schedule she had setup. No, that deviation was unacceptable, she would need to use a more... radical solution. While the contestants did have to stay in the hotel for the duration of the season, she knew it was permissible to expand the size of the location, and never said the hotel had to exist purely in one dimension, so maybe...

A tentative solution began to form in her mind. While it continued to come together, she typed out an email apologizing for her experiment in date scheduling, and promised to rearrange details about the contests to ensure that everyone got a full date with the master before another competition happened. Vizrokoth knew the Producers had forgiven worst slights before, so hoped that she had caught them in a good mood...