I wrote this while listening to the song above, thought that it might be interesting to share and let you listen while reading.

I believe this song is more fitting for the chapter.

Reporters, interviewers, TV hosts all hounded you. Trying to get a piece of that juicy story.

It was absolutely exhausting, having to relive what you went through over and over...

And over again.

This was also true for Tam and Hal. They had to tell every single detail about their teammates tragic deaths to the police.

But hey, at least you're getting paid. It was difficult, you had no active or passive income for a year and a half, everyone assumed that you're dead and all of your property was inherited by the appropriate persons from your will.

Yes. You had a will already set up at the age of 25. It's better that the people you care about inherit your property instead of it being absorbed by the government, you'll never know when will your last breath be.

You had to sign a mountain of documents, become a frequent visitor to the lawyer's office, contact every one of your relatives and even revamped your will in order to prove that you're (y/n)(l/n): the woman that was missing from that plane crash.

You were surprised that you were the 'only' survivor. However, you don't think that you're the only one who managed to live. There were a hoard of unrecovered bodies, you prayed that they did not encounter a 'Mayanka' of their own.

Your cousins who inherited your gaming setup, computer and digital storages did not tamper with it. They wanted to preserve it in your memory and you're very grateful for that, you didn't need to work from scratch again.

The airlines that crashed the plane? They gave you $200000 in total as compensation. You could sue them for a lot more, but you rather not tell your story again in court. You wanted to let your mind and Mayanka rest (for now).

It was expected that you became a local... maybe even international celebrity. Majority of the responses towards you were pity, compassion and supportive. You even had the opportunity to give several motivational speeches online, in universities and in campaigns. Sadly, that required you to mildly relive Mayanka's hell, you suffered numerous panic attacks in public. You were happy that most of them were understanding and nice to you.

Of course, there were bigots who accused you of lying just for fame and money. They downplayed your experiences, tried to tell you how to feel, tried to reduce you to your body... they tried to destroy you for being a woman and a survivor.

You received both hate and love. Words of support appeared in all your social medias, left by personal profiles. Whereas words of hate and death threats were left by anonymous accounts.

Rarely, hate come from accounts that had personal info. Even if that happened, the account would be deleted within a 24 hour span of posting that hate message.

You would snort at them, they are cowards who's just jealous and afraid of your strength. It didn't bother you at all.

You mentally prepared for that already and you decided not to give them the time of your day. They are just so many of them, by the time you finished educating one, ten more will pop up.

You will only focus on those who actually listens with compassion.

You addressed about Vuzinia and their cruel culture. It launched an international investigation against them. You didn't care to catch up with the news, but you heard that there were protests all over the world by feminists and human rights activists to try and 'abolish' Vuzinia.

However, you were disappointed to hear that Vuzinia is completely legal. It just does not have the legitimacy as a nation.

Once word got out that you're planning to make Cloudlight Memories based on your own experience, a big , multibillion gaming company offered to sponsor you and pay for your therapy.

You get to have many fringe benefits too, like company car, free, all expenses paid vacations overseas (it's not like you're going to use it anyways, due to your phobia of planes.), free meals, free medical benefits...

It sounded too good to be true!

Because it was.

"Wha— what do you goddamn mean I can't make him look like Mayanka!?" You hissed.

"Sorry, Miss (l/n). Legal issues, 'all characters are fictional and any resemblance to real life persons, dead or alive are coincidences'."

"That's stupid! Everyone knows that this game is about MY experience and MY abuser! What the hell do you mean fictional!?" The leader of the visuals department, gave you a sympathetic smile.

"I'm sorry. It's in the contract."

That's right. It was in the contract. You were too excited to have the funds and benefits to read the fine print.

All rights of your game will be reserved to that multibillion dollar company. They can change anything they want, that includes making everything 'fictional'.

But you didn't want to back down, you verbally protested, sent so many emails to the board of directors. You were about to turn to the public for help, but by doing so, the company is legally allowed to SUE you for defamation or breach of privacy.

'It's in the contract.'

In the end, you were forced to step down from your position of game director, to a mere worker who codes for the game.

You have no more say in the script, the backgrounds, the music and the appearances. All of that now are decided by the ones who are funding it, the tyrannous board of directors.

Mayanka's character is now a half man, half snake creature. He has white hair instead of pitch black.

Your co-workers can only shake their head in sympathy. There is nothing they can do, it's in the contract.

They reduced Mayanka's from being the main villian of the game to a minor one. Easily overlooked by most gamers if they do not explore a specific place in a specific time. The character's personality became 'sweet' and 'loving' that does not believe in rape or murder without good reason.

They changed everything! Even the entire premise of the game, it was supposed to be realisic, survival-horror, but now it's RPG romance, sandbox, fantasy adventure. They added in a bunch of irrelevant characters to hide the fact that YOU were the one who came up with the game in the first place.

You don't blame the scriptwriters or artists. They were in favour of your original Cloudlight Memories, but if the bosses want them to do this? They will make them do it. They call shots.

You had friends who wholeheartedly supported you, trying to bring the powerful company to justice. They quit their high-paying positions in your honour, they made petitions and even physically protested outside the studio.

It gained a bit of media attention for a while until it suddenly...

Just stopped.

Money can really buy silence.

At least they still named that character 'Mayanka' and the name of it's TRIBE to be 'Vuzinia'.

It's not even potrayed correctly! In the game, they made Vuzinia this... SMALL society where the females are slightly inferior compared to the males.

You cried and cried. Who wouldn't? They stole your idea, tampered with it until it's barely recognizable and left you out of the major decision making process. The worst thing is, this was your own fault. You did not read the contract.

——

"Good afternoon, Ma'am. How can I help you?" A receptionist flashed you a smile. You looked around the lobby, it's so... futuristic.

"...Doctor Roberts... requested me here. I'm (y/n)(l/n)." Her face lit up.

"Oh! Thank you for coming, please wait a bit. Someone will come and fetch you shortly. In the meantime, would you like some refreshments? We have tea, coffee, an assorted array of cakes and chicken baked pie!"

"No—" you thought about it for a while.

"Y...yes, I'd like some of the cakes and a cup of (your choice), please." You gulped. Did you eat or drink today? Most likely not, this is probably your first meal of the day.

After coming back from that island, you DID develop an eating disorder. You're so reluctant to eat or drink, you have forgotten how to feel hungry or thirsty. You had to set a reminder in your phone to eat and drink, or else you would accidentally starve yourself.

You're working very closely with a therapist to manage this. You developed a phobia of meat and now you became full on vegetarian. You don't really like eating vegetables, but the smell, sight and even the thought of meat makes you nauseous. It reminded of you of cannibalizing those two poor researchers.

You never attended Miss G's and Mo's funeral. It's best that you don't, their family seem to resent you despite none of this being your fault.

"Alright!" She called someone from the desk telephone.

You went on to sit on the plush chairs.

There were a few magazines lying on the rack. You took one out and flipped through it.

There was an advertisement for Cloudlight Memories about how it's in progress. You bit your lower lip and let a tear of frustration roll down your sunken cheeks.

No. Just no. You closed the magazine and returned it to the rack.

You covered your face and wiped them.

"Here you go! A hot cup of (tea/coffee) and a few of our delicious cakes. Enjoy!" The same receptionist placed it on the glass coffee table in front of you."

"Thank you." You muttered, grabbing the cup by the handle and taking a sip.

Mayanka ruined everything.

Now you thought that your beverage tasted like one of his herbal teas.

Good thing back then Mayanka wasn't a baker. You can freely enjoy sweets and cakes without getting reminded about the horrors you were subjected to.

"Miss (l/n)?" You looked up, midchew. A man in his sixties, wearing a white labcoat called for you. His badge confirmed his identity to be the doctor who called you in.

"Yeah, that's me." You covered your mouth with a finger while swallowing the cake.

"Thank you for coming, please, right this way." You picked one last cake up and popped it into your mouth.

You dusted your hands and followed the elderly man through a series of hallways with sophisticated designs. It reminded you of the setting of a sci-fi movie.

"What am I here for?" You asked.

"We needed your help with something... rather, someone."

"This is about Mayanka, isn't it." You dreaded this moment.

"Yes, but not to worry. He's not a threat to you anymore." He swiped a card across a wall sensor.

The reinforced metal door opened to reveal a few faces that you have never seen before and a face that is sickeningly familiar.

Mayanka, floating in a clear liquid behind a bulletproof glass. His eyes are peacefully closed, you could see the scar on his face and from his forehead.

All sorts of tubes were attached on his body. The control panel showed you complicated data that you could never understand.

"Holy shit, he's alive? Kill him!" You noted the discomfort on everyone's face in the room.

"Mayanka is a valuable asset to us and... we're hoping that you could help us with our research—"

"If it requires me to sign a contract with size three font, count me out." You crossed your arms.

"N-no, ma'am. You see, his biological functions work much differently than ours."

"Yeah, I know. He ate his own dicks." The elderly man expressed an uncomfortable chuckle.

"The coroner was about to perform an autopsy on him, but he— almost magically, 'came back to life'. We found the coroner um... mauled...? to death." You inhaled a sharp breath.

"Lemme guess, the coroner was like... half eaten when you found them?" He grimaced and nodded.

"We tried sedating him using tranquilizer darts. However, they weren't effective at all, we had to shoot him in the back of the head with a handgun to stop his rampage. We took extra measures to ensure that he's properly contained... as you can see." He gestured towards Mayanka containment unit.

"He's only 'properly contained' when he's dead. Why didn't you finish him off?"

"We wanted to study his chemical and biological makeup, how and what lead to this abnormal progression. Right now, we're keeping him calm and unconscious by implanting false realities." He picked up an electronic tablet and toggled around it a bit.

He turned the screen around to show you. It seems like you're looking through Mayanka's point of view, it's glitchy, static ridden and uncanny.

It's showing Mayanka back in on the island, in his hands held a mildly distorted picture of yourself.

You heard demented sobbing coming out from the device, liquid drips down onto the picture, forming wet patches.

"...so, what you're saying is, he's in an induced coma... and I'm seeing what he's dreaming? Why is the quality so bad? It looks more like those nightmares I'd have during a fever." You cringed when the screen showed you 'dream Mayanka' killed a generic-faced human.

"This is the best we can do, we have yet to improve our technologies."

"Then, what's my job here? You guys seem to be doing just fine, you can study him all you want." You tapped your foot impatiently on the ground. You do not want to be in close proximity of Mayanka.

"We just need to take 3D scans of you, a voice sample and a personality test." You furrowed your eyebrows in confusion.

"Why?"

"You see, we managed to keep the test subject— Mayanka, dormant because he's content in his false reality. But... as of late, he's becoming increasingly difficult for our system to keep him 'asleep'. Without a 'realistic' false 'you' inside his paradise, we can't keep him from breaking out of his... um, let's call it a 'mental prison'." The man coughed into his hand.

You paused for a while and rubbed your chin in contemplation.

"I'll do it. I don't care what you do to him, just... just keep this monster away from any breathing creature." You resisted the temptation to spit on the glass.

"Thank you, miss (l/n)."

"But YOU sign my contract." Your addition took them by surprise.

"Very well, we will—"

"Give me a couple of days to prepare it, I'll come back with the contract and a lawyer." You have a feeling that they're going to commit identity theft if you don't prepare a contract.

"Apologies, Miss. This is highly a confidential project—"

"Then find another way to contain and research about him. I'm leaving." You gave him a dismissive wave.

"WAIT!" You snapped your head back.

"...I believe we can work something out." The man in the labcoat sounded defeated.

You grinned in victory.

"Thanks. Anyways, why is it so crowded in here?" You understand the other three researchers in labcoats, but there is this woman that looks out of place.

She's absolutely stunning, gorgeous and beautiful, standing around your height. She has smooth, brown skin and a pair of beautiful baby blue eyes, her curly, caramel hair tied up in a messy bun.

She's wearing pastel baggy clothes, making her look adorable in your eyes. It looked like she didn't want to be here, regret and fear is expressed on her face.

The woman looks... oddly familiar.

"Who the hell are you supposed to be?" You didn't bother being friendly, seeing Mayanka's face already ruined your month. She widened her doe-like blue eyes at you before looking away.

"...hi..." she muttered, her voice is unnaturally high pitched.

"Hello to you too. What's your name?" You asked.

"Um." She gulped and hugged her arms.

"My—My name Meyanna. I are girl..." Meyanna had a very heavy accent and she struggled to form her english sentences.

Your mouth slowly opened in shock, your (e/c) eyes began to push out of your sockets.

That name. That dreaded name. It ignited a fire within you, your fingers contracted to it's tightest.

"What is she doing here?" You asked the researcher, clenching your teeth in the process.

"She— she volunteered to have her scans taken. 'False' Meyanna helped to keep Mayanka busy for a while."

Your laboured breathing scared Meyanna and everyone else in the room. A vein started throbbing on your temple.

"...okay." You smacked your lips.

You forced the fakest smile on your face.

"Hey, all of these are... confidential... right? Whatever happens here, stays here?" You asked the researchers.

"Well, technically— yes."

"Good, that's all I need to know." You tightened your fists. You then turned back to the woman of interest.

"Meyanna."

"A-ah?"

"Do you believe in... 'Roh'?" You kept your hands behind your back.

"N-no..." she meekly replied.

"Cause I'm gonna turn you into one, you bitch." She screamed when your hands shot out to pull on her hair.

Living with Mayanka made you stronger and faster, you managed to give Meyanna a few minutes of No-Holds-Barred Beatdown. The researchers couldn't pry you off her, you only had one goal and that was to show her the pain you and Mayanka faced from her abuse.

"MISS (y/n)!" Finally, you let go. You left Meyanna in a bloody mess, she lost a few tooth and a chunk of her scalp was ripped off by your feral claws.

Bruises decorated her entire body, her eyes were swollen shut and her thin arm was awkwardly bent. Her plump lips became even 'plumper' with blood leaking out of it's cuts. Her nose was bent and blood dripped down her nostrils.

"What have you done!? She's going to—"

"She's going to what, exactly? Sue me? She's from an unrecognized country called Vuzinia. I'm an official American citizen. She have no legal rights to press charges on anyone nor does she have any legal protection. She can't bring the public into this, you said it yourself, this project is highly confidential. I know you guys will do anything to keep this a secret cause it's unethical." All the researchers were speechless.

"She sickens me." You spat in her bludgeoned face.

"Plus, I didn't kill her. I'm not breaking any serious international law, soo..." you gave them a nonchalant shrug.

"Happy researching. I'll be on my way. Dr Roberts?" You pointed at the door.

"O-of course." He swiped his card on the sensor, the door opened with a hiss.

"...And tell Meyanna to return the favour to her parents, tell her to beat the shit out of them if she has he chance. Tell her to do it for me, Mayanka and herself."