“We play every Saturday. Always. I’m not going to tell you again. Friday night is too exhausting, after a work week, and Sunday is a religious day.” Keke leaned back on the leather passenger seat, reaching for another beer.

“Religious!” Sonny couldn’t contain his laughter. “I know for a fact that none of you go to church.”

“This is our religion.” Said Mason semi-seriously, taking the key out of the ignition. “We worship at the altar of dungeons and demi-gods. We are the priests of role-playing games and the keepers of multisided die.“

“Then why are we at a mall at ten o’clock at night?” Kylie lowered her cat-eared headphones from the back seat, her voice more like a mouse than a cat. “Isn’t it closed?”

The parking lot was empty and dark. Keke would go anywhere with Mason, including made-up dungeons, dark monster-filled caves, or even the back seat of a sedan if it wasn’t occupied by two nerds from Psychology. She took a swig and thought about her character, Morgana, a level 20 witch queen from Ankiril. Unlike Morgana she was big. Not big like fat. Just big. Tall and round in the thighs and arms. Why did it matter though? Like Morgana she was bold, fearless, and always got her way. A powerful woman. She was chaotic good who wanted to be chaotic evil but Mason, their dungeon master, wouldn’t allow it. He said it would be more fun if the characters didn’t try to kill everyone they meet.

Kylie made some annoying anime sound after Sonny brought out the VR goggles. “Uwu! I want one!”

Keke stared back towards her with a stern glare. “What does uwu even mean?”

“IDK. I think it’s an Asian thing. Like loli. Sonny would know.” Kylie made a stupid anime motion. Cringy. Keke flung her arm over the headrest and smacked the Manga schoolgirl in the mouth. “Ohwu!” The white girl frowned.

“It’s a racial misappropriation thing. White people love anime. They think it somehow makes them Asian.” Sonny had the VR goggles on already. They were smaller than their predecessors, light weight, more like visors. He fidgeted with the air, adjusting the settings. Sonny wasn’t like his silly dwarf character, Fester the Dark Jester. He was calm and usually kept to himself, dedicating his time to hacking people instead of becoming friends with them. Sonny the nerdy tech expert. Someone Keke would boss around if he wasn’t part of the team. “Take one.” He handed out the goggles.

“What the hell are we doing here, guys?” Keke was fed up and only slightly tipsy. She was generally known for being feisty. The beer added to that feistiness.

Mason lifted his head from his notebook in the driver seat. “I’m not a huge fan of new technology. It tends to push people a part but Sonny wanted to try something different so whatever.” There was a reluctance to his handsome face. Or was it annoyance? Indifference?

“And the mall’s the perfect place. We need plenty of space. None of us care about breaking and entering, right?” Sonny led the rogue group of role players to the back door of a department store. He had apparently already hacked into the camera feeds and put them on a recorded loop so they couldn’t see them breaking the glass door.

Once inside the mall was completely empty, free from human distractions. The stores were all closed up. Sonny had them put on the goggles and haptic gloves and initiated the virtual program. All of a sudden, they were in a fantasy world, the virtual sunlight changed the drab dark mall into a bustling medieval castle courtyard with non-playable characters dressed in tunics and dresses. Keke looked at her hands. They were still black but contained her power rings. Her long dark dress with two red stripes went down to her feet, to the cobblestone floor.

The others were gawking at the environment, except for Mason who appeared as a white transparent ghost, invisible to the NPCs. The other two appeared fully rendered in their own outfits. Kylie was Tia and appeared as a swashbuckling pirate, curved double swords on her back, half-human, half-feline. Kylie joined late in the campaign and was disastrously inexperienced. Her charisma was at a high level and she used that to scam her way into many orc camps. But this eagerness became a hindrance as she would always upset some large group and turn them into a frenzy.

Sonny appeared as the short Fester, the sickly-looking court Jester, wearing a motley patchwork of orange and black with pointed shoes and pointed hat. They each had their purpose and secret motivations. Kylie, the cat pirate thief of Fayharbor wanted to be given gifts from the others. She got off on it. Keke, Morgana the witch, sought chaos and death, a lawful good who wanted to be a chaotic evil but Mason, the DM, wouldn’t allow it. Sonny, with his crooked smile, liked to spread mischief and misery whenever he went. They were a rogue’s gallery of heroes who hated being heroes.

This place, this castle, should be Steelbreach, the gray emerald of the Eastern Isles. This was the town where they were meant to speak to the priest of Malor in regards to the stolen artifact of the kraken. All eyes were on them. Peasants, soldiers, even noblemen gave suspicious glances. So many white faces of judgement. Keke wondered if they were looking at her skin color. She knew the contempt well.

“I mapped the mall blueprints to these castle grounds. We can go anywhere in here and to the town outside. Even room to maneuver if a monster shows up.” Sonny, Fester, looked at the wispy Mason.

“I can’t confirm or deny that.” Of course. Mason held all the secrets and plot points.

Fester and Tia explored the grounds with enthusiasm, too much in fact. Keke couldn’t stand the light hearted banter and often found herself bullying smaller characters, finding it nearly impossible to treat Fester as anything other than a pain in her ass.

“I found an apple! Mine now, bitch!” Fester was juggling with a single apple stolen from a peasant trader who reached out helplessly. He ran around her and beat her shin with his Jester staff. He drew a spell in the air, the nebulous spell, and turned the female trader into a human, flesh pretzel. The citizens gasped while Tia giggled and hissed at the wiggling mess of arms, flesh, and blood.

Mason rolled his eyes while Tia grabbed one of the fleeing peasant teen boys. Keke pointed a finger with her power ring of pain and zapped the woman out of her misery. Mason said, “I sometimes wonder why I started this game with you guys. Always so cruel.”

Keke upturned her brow. “What do you mean? We’re the Reject Lunch Crew. We’re friends because no one else wanted to be our friends.”

He looked dejected, even with the 3D facial reconstruction. “You guys never listen. Never try to do good. Never try to put your differences aside and achieve something greater than what you are a part.”

“Psh, whatever. You wanted to build this game and we’re here for you. Don’t be crying to me if you don’t like it.” Keke heard the bloodcurdling cries of the peasants over herself. “This is reality. These are real people. Society, bitch.” She motioned to the others, Tia pulling the teen boy into an alcove and kissing him. Fester was juggling pedestrians with black magic like a circus freak.

“If this is society then we’re all doomed. This is what hyper connected people look like. They become their true selves while ignoring everyone else. You guys…you’re never present. Present in the fact that you’re not focused on the moment. You’re either in your phones, drunk or high, enamored by some hateful activity or prejudice.”

An old priest in a crummy robe stepped out from the main hall, “What in God’s name…?”

“Don’t tell me about prejudice.” Keke refused to listen to any white person who had opinions on the subject. “Guess it’s my turn.”

Mason sighed. She stepped forward and spread out her gem covered fingers. The sky turned dark as she approached the center of the courtyard. This was her moment to shine. It started raining. This was her rain, dark and acidic. The remaining bystanders melted around them, screaming in pain and horror. Shrieks of the white peasants were music to her ears. Her black dress fluttered in the chaotic winds of her next spell. A purple beam shot from her pointer finger and impacted the head of the priest. His body crumbled as the skull was pulled from his mangled flesh. Melted bodies reached their arms out from the flesh piles. She smiled. Tia remained protected in the alcove while Fester used a spherical shield of protection.

The skull shot into her open palm. She lifted it up as the essence of the priest’s brain poured into her own mind, giving her the ability to soak in his knowledge. The skull fell to the ground, useless.

“The kraken artifact is hidden in a chest in the main hall of the castle. The priest was going to make us go on a pointless fetch quest to Northshire Keep, to kill the dragon there. I just saved us four hours of game time.” Laughed Keke. She clapped her hands and the rain stopped. The courtyard was a mess of bones, black rain, and smoke. Even the blue castle banners were singed.

“I’ll grab it!” Shouted Fester doing a somersault.

“Halt!” A flurry of unsheathed swords came from the courtyard entrance. “Your murdered our sacred priest. Prepare to die.” Several armed soldiers were poised for attack. Keke swore she heard a faint whisper that said: “What are you doing here?”

Keke was closest to the guard who spoke. Tia unsheathed her own swords while Fester fired several dark skull projectiles, turning several guards into ash. Poof. White turned black. “I am Morgana, daughter of the Demi-Goddess Sephani, summoner of the dead, plague of Wyndshire, she-witch of the Shadow Ruins. But I’ll be happy to just strangle you to death.” She took the man’s throat in her hands. It felt so real, especially seeing the soldier’s expression turn from hate to exquisite fear. An evil, forced laugh came out of her. Air wasn’t able to escape his throat. She smiled and looked for Mason but he wasn’t there.

When she turned and removed her goggles she saw the empty closed shops with their barred shutters, the stationary mannequins looking like prisoners. Sonny and Kylie were flailing their arms, enjoying the virtual slaughter. Where was Mason…?

Her foot kicked something soft. She looked back around. A body lay at her feet, a real one. She gasped. It was a security guard based on his outfit. “Oh God…oh no.” Flipping him over he had held an expression of anguish. She desperately checked for a pulse. There was none. “Oh God, oh God.” To the right of her foot was a piece of paper. Instinctually she grabbed for her phone to call 911 but realized that she just killed a man. The only thing she could feel was her beating heart.

“Guys! This is bad…So bad.” Keke felt lightheaded. The others took off their VR goggles and made exclamations but she couldn’t hear them. Her hands shook as she picked up the paper, unfolding it.

It was written with a pen. Mason. He was the only one who used pen and paper anymore. Her heart sank as she read: “Dear rogues, you have screwed me too many times. You are horrible people. I tried to be nice. I tried to be accommodating but you three always find a way to screw things up. You’ve done terrible things in the world I created, horrible vicious things to the characters I created. The only thing that makes me happy anymore is finding ways to hurt or kill your characters, hoping that I would hurt you personally in some sick way. I refuse to allow your toxic behavior to seep into my life. I’m done with you. You guys are scumbags. You truly are rogues. Scoundrels. The worst humanity has to offer. But it was meant to be a game, a pretend persona, but you made it too real, too dark. This is my last game. By the time you read this the cops should be on their way. Go to hell.”

Keke dropped the paper. The bastard…He betrayed them, betrayed her, and abandoned her. How could he think that of them? Mason had been the only person she ever liked but she didn’t know what he was anymore or what she was. Nothing made sense. She wasn’t as evil as he made her out to be. She couldn’t be…Sure she bullied a few nerds in school but that was life. How could he just walk away!

Flashlights appeared at the other end of the mall followed by the warble of radio chatter, cutting through the deep thrum in her head. Sonny and Kylie’s voices were distant and low, like whispers, running away in the other direction. The cops put their hands up but she couldn’t hear them. It didn’t matter what they were saying. She had lost him, her best friend, who didn’t seem to consider her a friend at all.  Left looking like a damn fool, caught in the act, cast aside like garbage, she lifted her head from the body, finally knowing who she was. Embracing it. A ruthless bitch. A cold-blooded killer. A knavish rogue.