Chapter 9 – “The Simulation of Sunstreet” (Part 1)

  

  Narrator (Piper’s thoughts): The first thing I noticed wasn’t the silence. It was the smell—warm, sweet, like chocolate… and something pretending to be real.

  Scene 1 – [THE STRANGE HOUSE]

  Piper woke up on a soft couch in a clean, pastel-colored living room.

  The carpet was spotless. The air smelled of vanilla and fabric softener.

  From the kitchen came the humming of a woman’s voice.

  She stepped in—tall, polite, and smiling in a perfect red apron, holding a chocolate cake on a tray.

  Woman: “Good morning, sweetheart. The cake’s ready.”

  Before Piper could speak, the woman walked through a nearby door and shut it behind her.

  Click.

  Piper blinked.

  Piper: “Wait—what?”

  No answer.

  Only the smell of the cake.

  She sat down and ate it. It was delicious. Too delicious. Like it had been made to satisfy every craving she didn’t know she had.

  Scene 2 – [NO WAY OUT]

  Piper set the plate down and walked to the door the woman had gone through.

  Except… there was no door.

  Just a wall.

  Piper (uneasy): “Okay… no. No no no.”

  She stepped outside.

  The world greeted her with bright artificial sun, perfect cloned houses, and humans with too-white smiles, mowing identical lawns and washing identical cars. Some where playing with each other. Neighbors talking with one another, laughing like a grandpa got told the best joke in history.

  The sun didn’t move. The clouds didn’t exist.

  And the smiles never stopped.

  Piper walked next door and rang the bell.

  A man answered—shirtless, tanned, beaming.

  Neighbor: “Great day for a tan, huh?”

  Piper (flat): “Can I check inside?”

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Neighbor: “Of course, neighbor. Go on in!”

  She entered.

  Same house.

  Same cake.

  Different wallpaper.

  Scene 3 – [REALIZATION]

  Piper stepped out again and closed her eyes.

  [Seismic Sense: ACTIVE]

  The vibration patterns under the neighborhood… were identical. Every house had the same foundation, same sound signatures.

  It wasn’t a neighborhood.

  It was a loop.

  She walked down the main road—straight. Focused. Determined.

  Until she looped back to the same house. Again.

  She almost screamed. Almost.

  But she stopped herself.

  Scene 4 – [THE GREY HOUSE]

  She floated a few inches using Telekinesis—unstable, shaky.

  Piper (gritting teeth): “Come on… lift.”

  A woman on the sidewalk watched her.

  Older. Wiser. Her smile was real. Soft. Tired. Maybe in her 40s or younger.

  She wore a grey sweater. Her hair was burgundy, curled like Piper’s.

  Woman: “You don’t look happy, sweetheart.”

  Piper (startled): “I… don’t know how I got here. I need to save my friends.”

  The woman sat beside her on the curb.

  Woman (warmly): “If you remember who you are, nothing can trap you. Even this place. Don’t give up, dear.”

  Piper’s eyes widened.

  Piper: “…What’s your name?”

  Woman: “Mrs. Orin.”

  Piper’s breath hitched. She turned—but the woman was already walking into her grey house.

  Scene 5 – [ESCAPE FROM THE LOOP]

  Fueled by emotion, Piper clenched her fists and floated upward—higher this time.

  The air grew cold. The sky rippled.

  She focused all her energy into her hands—

  [PK Starflare!]

  The sky cracked like glass.

  She burst through.

  Scene 6 – [THE BARN AND THE JELLO FIELD]

  She landed in a serene grassy field under a normal blue sky. A barn stood at the top of a hill.

  Inside: animals.

  Frozen. Suspended mid-movement.

  Chickens in mid-peck. Goats mid-blink.

  Time had stopped.

  Piper backed out, disturbed.

  Piper: “They’ve been frozen in time..”

  As she walked across the field—

  The grass morphed into jello.

  Piper (groaning): “Oh COME ON. Θ?λω να βγω ?ξω!!”

  She bounced.

  Once.

  Twice.

  The third bounce launched her into the sky—

  And she broke through another surface.

  Scene 7 – [THE TEST ROOM]

  Now:

  A small, grey, concrete room. One flickering bulb overhead. A table with two chairs.

  Piper sat. She looked down to the chair across her.

  The other chair was empty—until a figure with a TV screen for a head entered, dressed in a pressed black suit.

  The screen flickered on.

  No words.

  Just a bright red button.

  The figure pressed it.

  [BEGIN TEST.]

  A series of questions scrolled across the screen.

  Mathematical patterns. Abstract logic. Memory puzzles. Trick questions. Personal trauma disguised as “data.”

  Piper’s breath quickened.

  A message blinked under the timer:

  “Fail, and you stay here forever.”

  Her hand trembled.

  

  Narrator (Piper’s thoughts): “Is this a test? Or is this what happens… when you start to forget who you really are?”

  TO BE CONTINUED…

  END OF CHAPTER 9 – Part 1