Chapter 1
The day my stepsister, Sarah Wiley, pushed me into oncoming traffic, my fiancé, Jason Goodwin, was smiling as he gently wiped the blood splattered on her face.
"Don't worry. She's just some worthless trash," he said.
What he didn't know was that in the horror game The Abyss, where I worked part-time, all the horrors had suddenly stopped their killing spree.
On his throne, the Dreadking stroked my cold employee badge and murmured, "Don't be afraid, baby. I'll take you home and clean up the trash."
*****
My name was Mia Summers, and I was a janitor.
I worked on a horror game called The Abyss.
Today's task: Clean up Slaughterhouse 03. Make sure 99% of the blood was gone. Should take about 4 hours.
I grabbed my bucket and mop, weaving around the twitching limbs scattered across the floor with practiced ease.
A ghost dude, just his upper body, intestines trailing on the floor, tried to grab my ankle.
Unfazed, I pushed his guts back in with my mop. "Man, could you scoot over? You're messing up my cleaning zone."
The ghost dude froze, and bloody tears streamed down from his hollow eye sockets.
It looked like I made him cry.
I sighed, pulled a clean rag from my pocket, crouched down, and gave his face a quick wipe. "Hey, don't cry. See? Now that your face is clean, are you feeling a bit more refreshed?"
The ghost dude froze, looking like he was pondering something.
I left him to his thoughts and went back to work, scrubbing away.
The pressure washer blasted the congealed blood off the walls, and the sharp tang of disinfectant drowned out the heavy, metallic reek of blood.
When I polished the last corner to a mirror shine, the whole slaughterhouse was so silent that it felt almost holy.
Except for the Dreadking on the throne. He was the ultimate boss in The Abyss, the Dreadking everyone dreaded, Ryn.
He was a mass of twisted shadows and blood-red eyes, the living embodiment of chaos and carnage.
Right now, he was drumming his tentacles on the armrest, clearly annoyed. The spotless environment was really getting on his nerves.
"Mia." Ryn's voice was like echoing from the depths of hell, icy and chilling.
"Yes, boss, I'm here," I answered, keeping it respectful.
"Why bother making this place so squeaky clean?" His huge single eye stared down at me. "Tomorrow, it'll be packed with blood and flesh all over again."
I set down my mop and walked up the steps.
Under the terrified stares of all the horrors, I made my way to his throne. I gently picked up one of his black tentacles, pulled out a fresh silk handkerchief from my pocket, and carefully wiped away some imaginary dust.
Then I lowered my head and pressed a kiss to the tip of his icy tentacle.
"But, boss." I looked him straight in the eye. "I like you best when you're all cleaned up."
I thought even if he was the Dreadking, he looked way hotter when he was squeaky clean.
The air went dead silent.
That massive head was stitched together from a hundred blood-red eyes. I could see it plain as day that every single eye turned bright pink in a flash.
He was blushing.
"You... You're out of line," Ryn sputtered. His tentacle recoiled as if he'd touched something scorching hot.
The horrors around us were shaking like leaves, totally convinced I was about to get torn to shreds any second.
Man, he was getting shy again. We'd kissed plenty of times already. I sighed quietly, grabbed my bucket, and got ready to call it a day.
"Later, boss. See ya, guys." I gave them a wave and slipped into the staff corridor.
Only after I was completely gone did the whole slaughterhouse burst into hushed gossip.
"She actually kissed His Majesty."
"His Majesty didn't tear her apart. And his eyes went totally pink."
"Love. This is damn love."
Ryn listened to his minions gossiping, his massive body curling up a bit, all those pink eyes fluttering bashfully.
*****
Stepping out of the game pod, I was back in the real world.
Honestly, reality was way scarier than The Abyss to me.
My apartment was a suffocating, icy place, every corner reeking of contempt.
I had finished changing when the door suddenly got kicked open.
Elaine Wiley, my stepmother, stood in the doorway with a sharp, mean glare. Behind her were my stepsister, Sarah, and my fiancé, Jason.
"Mia, how dare you show your face here?" Elaine barked, pointing right at me. "Do you even know what people are saying about the Wiley family? They're calling you a curse, a bad luck charm."
I kept my head down and stayed quiet.
Guess it was time for today's bullying routine.
Sarah clung to Jason's arm, sounding all soft and fragile. "Mom, don't blame Mia. She didn't mean it. But today is Jason's birthday.
"If she showed up at the party in some thrift store clothes, and people realized she works as a janitor, it was kinda embarrassing."
She hesitated, her eyes rimmed with tears, looking like she was the victim here.
Jason immediately wrapped her in his arms, shooting me a look full of contempt and icy disdain. "Mia, I warned you not to show up at those kinds of events and make a fool of yourself. You've completely ruined the Goodwin family's reputation."
I finally lifted my head and stared at him. "Jason, our engagement was set up by your grandfather. If you think I'm such an embarrassment, go tell him you want out."
"You!" Jason was left totally speechless by my words.
He wouldn't dare. His grandfather, Shane Goodwin, liked me a lot. He'd even said that if Jason ever tried to break off the engagement, he'd yank all Jason's shares away.
"Mia, how could you talk to Jason like that?" Sarah said, her voice quivering and eyes shimmering with tears, looking like she might break down any second. "Jason wants you to live well.
"Being a janitor isn't exactly respectable. We could help you find a better job."
Yeah, right. Easy for you to say. You guys cut me off, so I was forced to quit school and hustle for a living.
Not wasting another second on their drama, I turned around and started packing my things.
"That's enough," I said coldly. "I'm done living here. Is this what you wanted?"
Elaine shrieked, "Get out! You should've left ages ago. Take your crap and get out of my house."