THE MOMENT
"Hahahaha!" Heather forced a laugh; she hoped Jason would start laughing too. "Going offline! Like the world is a video game!" she punched Jason's shoulder lightly.
"Aawww hell. I should've known," Jason grumbled to himself. "Of course my only friend would be an NPC."
"Jase,.." Heather grabbed his hand and looked into his eyes. "This joke isn't funny anymore. You're scaring me." Heather did not get scared easily or often, but this particular fear hit a nerve. Her whole life felt like one big scripted event up until she met Jason three years ago.
Her mom made the same meals every week. Even if Heather requested something different her mother would say, "Of course dear!" then continue serving the same meatloaf every Monday. She learned she could get straight A's in school just by making an attempt to turn something in. She always felt like no one paid attention to her. Everyone was doing whatever they were going to do whether she was there or not; then, she met Jason.
Jason made things unpredictable. People paid attention to him and anyone that was with him. Heather was quick to work herself into his friend group, and she was glad she did. He didn't know it yet, but she fell in love almost immediately.
"You're... scared?" He asked with a tilted head and narrowed eyes. "You don't know what you -"
"NO!" Heather interrupted him. "I'm a normal human and your best friend. That's all I need to know," she said.
"Holy Hell...," Jason said. He stared at Heather with wide eyes as if he'd never seen her before.
"Nononononono," he dug his phone out of his pocket and quickly swiped through several screens. "Phew, okay. Put that on hold for a bit so we can talk." On his phone a countdown timer was blinking; paused in place with 23 seconds to go.
"Would you stop!?" Heather asked. Jason shook his head but held his palms up to try and calm her down.
"Hold on, hold on," he said. "There's nothing to be scared of, this is all really awesome."
"What's awesome?" Heather asked. She shifted her weight to one leg and crossed her arms while glaring at Jason.
"YOU!" he said. "You're awesome! Okay. You know I'd never lie to you, right?"
"So far," Heather replied with a raised eyebrow.
"I'm not making this up, I can prove everything to you, but you need to trust me. There's nothing to be scared of, okay?"
"Let's hear it."
"This whole Earth is a game server. You're an NPC...," he said. Heather clenched her fists; she was glad he took a moment to calm her down. As scared as she was, she did trust him. Even if it was programming, she felt trust for him and her feelings were the only thing she could act on.
"...but you're not a normal NPC. If you were, you'd know it. Instead, you think you're human.
"I am," Heather replied. Jason nodded.
"Yeah, I guess. I've heard this happens sometimes, NPCs wake up. The popular theory is they're human souls born into NPC bodies. Oh no!" he said. He started tapping on his phone again as if he'd just remembered something.
"What?" Heather asked.
"Hold on...," he put off her question so he could concentrate. After a few moments and swipes, he nodded to himself. "...okay. I had to disconnect the Server from the network. The owner likes tracking awakened NPCs, I didn't want her coming for you."
"So... I'm really an NPC?" Jason shrugged.
"You started off that way. But now you know enough to decide for yourself; you don't have to remain1 an NPC. Either way, you'll still be my best friend," he said. “And now that you’ve woken up, we can have even more fun.” Jason held his phone out Heather. She grabbed and pulled, assuming he was giving it to her.
He pulled away with the phone still in his hand and Heather was left holding a small glassy rectangle.
“You can make a character now,” he grinned.