a door suddenly emerged.

“congratulations, Piqueros! you have found an exit to the simulation.”

a voice rang inside our head as we watch the people around us evaporate into nothingness. it has been a few decades since we entered this damned world, hoping that we would really find ourselves. they ran countless experiments with us as their subject, observing our morning routine down to how we interact with each person that we met. they eventually found out that Maria have 4 personas inside her—

“kuro, grim, trux and chinchin, please head to the exit and leave the simulation.”

we looked at ourselves and seemed to reach a tacit understanding.

at first, it was weird that we have the same faces but we eventually got used to it. each personality differs from each other even though we were ‘molded’ from one person.

we came into this world with nothing but our own personalities and a single sentence rooted down into our brain— work together and find the exit. we asked ourselves, why work together?

we spent decades together and now we understand— it was to fully find out who we are. we guess that triggered the exit prompt?

“so... who's gonna exit first?” chinchin said.

we looked at her. silence filled the air as no one wanted to answer her question.

“aah, fuck it. let me go first and test the waters. i have no will to live after all— alive or dead, i dont care. take this as my contribution to the group.” grim uttered as she stood up and walked towards the door. we all have suicide ideations but hers is the strongest. we saw her heave a sigh before entering.

grim vanished, just like how the people around us disappeared.

since we heard the word ‘simulation’ we never ruled out the possibility that we are also a bunch of data. it's just too shocking to see someone— or something that we've known for decades disappear in front of us.

“so grim was just a data.” trux chimed.

“yeah. now, should we go in together or one by one?” chinchin said.

“well, it's too painful to watch someone disappear in front of us.” kuro said.

we held hands and entered the door together.

we watched ourselves in horror as we saw us slowly dissipating into the air. shouldn't one of us the real Maria?

before disappearing completely, we have a thought that crossed our minds. perhaps Maria have no real personality that she completely own. all of us were the result of mirroring the personality of the people she met just so she could fit in and satisfy the people's desire and expectations. perhaps once there was— twas lost and finding it is now impossible.

we have the one thing in common, though. it was suicide ideation. perhaps... that's a glimpse of who we truly are.