A jolt of realisation hit him as he stepped back out of the room. He felt something tighten around his neck like a vicious viper, it caused him to choke on his breath.

The body in there. That was a real body. Bloodied and strangled, remains of electrical wires around the neck and a pained expression to match. The clothes, torn and twisted, stiffened by the blood that dried there. The skin underneath, torn to shreds by what could have only been an overly vicious attacker.

Atlas felt a pain in his chest and the world began to spin around him. He couldn't understand how this was possible. How was something like this in his house? Was Harper aware of this? It was something he didn’t want to think about too hard.

How that body was so clearly...his.

"Surprise…" Harper chirped with a cheerful tone from behind him.

Atlas steadied himself against the wall and stared at her, wide-eyed and as pale as he’d ever been.

“Harper, is that me? I’m dead? In there?" He shook, pointing at the studio with a nervous finger.

“I guess so…?” She shrugged dismissively.

“I’m dead?” He repeated with an added amount of intensity.

“I mean, I suppose that’s what it looks like? I dunno how true that is-”

“Harper, I’m dead! That’s my body, on the floor dead! What is going on? Is this some sort of sick joke?! Am I being recorded?! What is this?!"

Harper’s expression was blank, a default state of nothingness. She shrugged at him without a blink or redirection of her eyes, it was all very robotic.

“I dunno, I just found you there after last night. You see what I mean by ‘glued to the floor’ now, right?”

Atlas quickly hopped over, unbalanced in his step, and shut the door not wanting to see the body any longer. He felt sick and terrified to his core. Nothing had ever filled him with such fear before.

“This isn’t some sort of VR thing, is it? You’re kidding right, like this is actually a joke? Is that a prop in there? A dummy?? Harper, you have to tell me. Oh, it has to be VR doesn't it!”

He patted down his hair, face, and then his chest and back, feeling for anything remotely machine-like, highly suspicious of some sort of technology being used. The only thing he found was a torn open hole in the chest of his sweater, a complete copy of what he had seen on the body in the studio. After finding nothing else, he glared at her, expression as stern as ever.

“This isn’t funny. You can’t be messing with my head like this, I want to go home. I want to go to my new home, away from this.”

Harper simply laughed at him, her face suddenly lighting up with joy.

“You’re at home already, silly! I can’t do anything about that! And you look like you've seen a ghost, you poor thing. Lay down for a bit, calm your silly freaky nerves, take a rest, you’ve had a hard day."

With a glare of acidic hatred, Atlas quickly grabbed the handle of the studio door and tore it open once again with his newfound determination.

The sight was as horrid as he had remembered it the first time.

However, now he noticed the clear distress around the room. Equipment had been thrown around causing damage to the walls, there was a large crack on the display of the television, and the mess of blood extended across the carpet and onto the couch. As horrifying as it was, it was truly an amazing feat that this had happened without anyone knowing. As far as Atlas was aware, no one knew anyway.

There was a long pause between the two of them before Atlas shook his head and closed the door yet again. Seeing that the studio was indeed the same as his old house, it had only just hit him that he'd been in the same place the whole day. In fact, he hadn’t even left his old house, but everything was fuzzy, so he didn’t understand what was going on. What had he been doing all day to have only realised that just now? Was he just waiting around aimlessly for her to arrive? It seemed too coincidental.

He adjusted his sleeves slightly to cover his wrists again and took a deep breath through his nose.

“So, what happens now, Harper? How do you expect to get out of this situation? I assume you know what's happened here? If you're not going to tell me what's going on, you can at least put a stop to it, right?"

Harper was staring directly at the boy, yet her focus was distant. Atlas, of course, assumed this situation was a joke and proceeded to treat it as such. After all, Harper was an actor with access to an abundance of props. He cleared his throat, trying to garner her attention as she stared off into the clearing of the hallway.

“Earth to Harper, hello? Where’s your brain right now? We've got a murder to solve here.”

Harper closed her eyes and laughed softly, followed by a sigh.

"There's nothing to solve here. The clues are all out in the open now."

As she opened her eyes to look at him, Atlas noticed the cold change in her eyes. Like the shine of sunlight in the winter, it was both calm and intense.

"What do you mean-"

He was cut off by a finger in front of his lips suddenly.

"You know Atlas, you didn't have to turn up. You really didn't. Now the plan is ruined even though this was all supposed to be a secret. No one had to find us here, not in my secret little production, not in my perfect play. This crime scene was mine to solve, not yours."

Atlas remained quiet for the time being. The ferocity in Harper's eyes frightened him enough to halt his arguments then and there.

"A dance, Atlas? Just one last time if you'll have me. Perhaps a tango this time? One of my favourites, just for fun."

Harper suddenly switched her attitude again and bowed politely. Atlas denied instantly with a pained expression in his eyes.

"No, no I don't want to dance with you. I obviously left for a reason, Harper. We're not supposed to be partners anymore. And after this…thing I’ve just witness, I don’t think I can ever see you the same way again."

Harper stood up from her bow and her expression suddenly soured. Atlas stepped back, feeling the outburst that was about to be upon him. Harper stamped her foot to the ground, eyebrows arched in anger.

"ATLAS. HOLATIA. YOU WILL DANCE WITH ME, THIS INSTANT!"

Suddenly, she reached her arms out and went to grab Atlas by his wrists. She was so lightning fast that he didn't even have a chance to react. However, the aggressive action was very short-lived as she failed to hold onto him, completely phasing through.

"STAY STILL YOU IDIOT, YOU CAN’T REJECT ME!!!"

Again, she swiped her hands at the boy with such a powerful force. Atlas could only stand still, in awe at what he was witnessing. Her hands were completely warping through him as if he were made of water. Harper was so frustrated that she shot a punch at him, but it slipped right through onto the wall behind him, leaving a mark as a result. Her eyes widened in fear, and she was silent for a moment.

"Why...why are you…"

Her words shook, full of unease, knowing that she had no power over him. She retracted her hand slowly and cradled her fist due to the impact with the wall.

"Why...is this…like...that…"

As she continued to mumble to herself, Atlas reached out his hand to tap her on the shoulder, just as a test. As it was just with Harper’s attempt, his touch completely phased through her, as if it was the work of holograms. He did this multiple times before he muttered some words of his own.

"Absolutely stunning… I have no idea what this means."

Something within Atlas caused him to smile just a tinge. Perhaps it was because the realisation had just hit him, perhaps it was the fact that he knew Harper had no chance at harming him. Whatever it was, it was a sure relief to him. But then a thought struck him, like an arrow to the head.

"Please tell me…my parents…know about this?"

Harper’s gaze shifted away from him for a second, she was formulating a way to hide the details of the situation even though there was no point anymore. She wasn't eager to respond anymore, her words were stunted and harsh.

“They’re probably fine, they don’t know anything yet. I just made ‘em leave for a bit. A couple of plane tickets is enough to convince any parent to leave their spoilt kid behind.”

Atlas raised a wary eyebrow. Harper’s change in demeanour was interesting to him.

“Well, what about your friends at the academy? Surely, they’re suspicious? I mean, there’s no logical reason as to why I would leave one day before the big speech. I guess you have a plan to fix that issue too, huh? Now that I'm-”

Again, Harper lashed out at him, this time grabbing hold of his hands and locking her fingers between his. With a bright and cunning smile, she assumed the tango position, raising both their arms high. Atlas simply went along with it, even though he was confused as to how her contact had worked this time.

"Oh, I know it's complicated…you don't have to say anymore."

She pulled him out of the hallway and into the open space of the dining room, spinning around to her heart's content. It was certainly the messiest tango that Atlas had ever been a part of. Even if he wanted to appreciate the dance, he could barely keep up with her deranged steps.

"There's nothing complicated about this, Harper. You're a cold-hearted murderer, the evidence is all here as you said."

"You have no proof?"

She shot at him with a harsh questioning tone, which caused him to reconsider his conclusions. Maybe she was right, after all, she might have only been an accomplice to the crime. Not that it mattered if this was all a simulation.

"Convince me otherwise, then."

Harper simply laughed and she jumbled up her footing of the tango, causing Atlas to trip for a moment. However, she held him up with a surprising amount of strength.

"Why would I hurt someone like that? Especially you, I'll never find someone like you. Irreplaceable!"

A rotation around the dining suite caused Harper to swing herself into the cupboard on the wall, causing plates, cups, and items of fragility to crash to the ground. Atlas cringed at the sound and sight, but the girl seemed unaffected.

"Never ever, never ever! You're just too perfect, too talented, I can't possibly have another dance partner! That's why I came here to your house and stopped you from leaving! Right?"

Atlas practically bolted his feet to the ground after that revelation, and Harper desperately pulled on his hands to get him to move. It was a hopeless effort.

"You stopped me from leaving? As in moving somewhere else? To another city?"

Harper's eyes dipped to the floor in shame.

"That was just a lie I made up...but it was pretty believable, right? Look at you, you're freaking out again, like a little nervous worm!"

Atlas pried his hands away from the girl, his expression suddenly very cold and unforgiving. His hunch was right all along, and he had the biggest right to be mind-numbingly nervous about the situation. It set his nerves on fire instantly, like a match to a dry sheet of paper.

"You liar...you dirty liar! You did kill me! Of course that was the truth, look at me! I'm see-through, I'm a ghost! What's wrong with you?! What on earth have you done?! How am I supposed to explain this to everyone?! How am I going to...go on living?"

His voice softened towards the end and his expression saddened. Was it worth yelling about? After all, the deed had been done, there was no going back as far as he knew. Harper turned away from him with a sigh and a wink.

"Well, I can leave you in peace now if you want. I only checked-in to see if you were still alive."

She took a few steps away from him, but something stopped her. Feeling a tightening on her right wrist, she looked down at it to find a wavering string growing from the base of her palm. Atlas had noticed this too on his own wrist and stepped back, startled at the sight. The crunch of glass echoed beneath him as he placed his foot down. They watched the spectral strings grow like snakes slithering towards their prey and the two eventually met in the middle, joining them together like a permanent tie. Harper gasped in awe.

"Wow, it's like a string of fate."

"More like a set of handcuffs."

Atlas huffed a sort of sarcastic laugh, pulling on the string curiously with his thumb and forefinger. He didn't realise that what he had said was as true as it got. Whatever this strange tie between them was, Harper didn’t give Atlas a chance to ask about it, simply switching the conversation to a new topic.

"Well, I have to go now, so don’t stop me, okay Atlas?"

Harper looked up to Atlas from their meter distance and smiled. It was a cruel smile, the smile of someone who knew they had no escape but had so much to run from. It greatly unsettled Atlas.

"I don't think you're going anywhere now. Not until you fix this mess, and whatever else supernatural is going on here. How about you think about your mistakes, reflect on what you've done, and then I might consider letting you leave."

A small grin grew on his face, knowing that he had craftily used Harper's own words against her. This did not sit well with the girl and her eyebrows arched in anger.

"You dare-"

"Oh, I do."

He interrupted, feeling a wealth of confidence in his position in the conversation. He felt he had the upper hand here, being almost untouchable to her.

"You've done something wrong, and I'm not just about to forgive you as if it was all a convincing mistake, Harper."

Harper glared at him, silent for a short moment as she dwelled on her response.

"You think you're in control, you don't know what's happening either. You don't know anything Atlas!!"

With that outbreak, she tugged on the luminescent string on her wrist, causing Atlas to stumble forward with a gasp. He didn't expect such brute force from the girl and neither did he expect such a stone-hard glare from her sharp hazel eyes.

At that moment, he truly felt the weakness crawling up his back, his confidence retreating into the shell it once came from.