How long has it been? Days? Weeks? Months?! She couldn't remember. She was still alive, for some reason, but she felt like she has been rotting away for years. Maybe it has been years. She lost track of time a long time ago. He was gone. ThatMob was gone. Her brother and only actual friend, was gone.

She could still remember the day it happened.

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ThatMob has been very quiet this week, not a text, not a call, hell, even Twixxel seemed to have completely disappeared. Cherry has been trying to contact her brother for a few days, she was worried sick and so were their parents. This wasn’t like him to just disappear without a word and Cherry felt a pit in her stomach as she thought about her brother.

— “Maybe he just messed with his phone or his discord account and forgot to tell me! Yeah, that must be it! Him and Twixxel did something stupid again and they’ve been trying to fix it without telling anyone! But… Just to be sure, I should pay Mob a visit. It’s been so long since we saw each other anyway.”

The small bedroom smelled of cherries and cherry blossom, smells that usually soothed her down but now, they felt suffocating. She grabbed her phone and noticed that their mom had texted her again. When they were old enough to live on their own, Mob and Cherry had decided to go live in another country, at the time, it felt freeing and adventurous but now, it was kind of annoying how far away they were. The albino woman shook her head and focused on the message she got.

« Hey my little Cherry, how are you doing? You dad and I have been wondering would you and Mob want to come have dinner at home? It’s been so long since we shared a meal all together. »

A sigh escaped Cherry’s lips, it has been so long since she saw her parents so she wouldn’t really mind, and plus, now she had an actual excuse to go see Mob. She quickly answered her mother, telling her she’d be there and that she was going to visit Mob and ask him if he wanted to join. She also sent him a small text, asking him directly but didn’t get any answer.

— “Okay, well, I hope you’re home Mob cuz I’m not walking for nothing.” She glanced at the window, it was getting dark out, she’d have to be quick. “Maybe after getting Mob, we can go visit Twixxel too, just to make sure he’s okay too.”

It was settled, she got out of her bed and quickly got dressed, unlike Mob, she usually didn’t wear baggy clothes or hoodies but just this time, she’ll make an exception. She put on the hoodie Mob offered her once for her birthday, feeling slightly better even if the pit in her stomach was still there.

— “Why am I so nervous? I’m just gonna go see my bro! It’s not like he’s dead or anything.”

As she went to grab her keys, she froze at her own words. She looked back at her room, thinking about something Mob told her before going fully silent.

« Yeah… I installed a new mod, it adds a yellow ball that knows everything, if you have time one of those days, we could play together and I could show it to you. »

It felt like it happened years ago. She suddenly regretted declining his offer, at the time, she had been studying so hard for her exams but maybe she could’ve taken a small break to play with her brother, after all, it wasn’t like she had anyone else.

How much time had passed while she was thinking about all of this? She didn’t know. She shook her head, getting out of her thoughts and noticed it was now dark outside. Welp, she would just have to be extra careful. She grabbed her keys and exited her apartment.

The air outside was cold but it felt suffocating at the same time. Something felt wrong and she just couldn’t put her finger on it. Something weird she noticed was that most street lamp on the way to Mob’s house were off even though it was night time. Weird, she thought but didn’t think about it more than that.

Once she reached the building her brother was living in, she took a deep breath and rung. Minutes seemed to fly but still no answer. She rung a few more times before deciding to just enter with her spare key.

« It’s for emergency. But don’t come every day into my house unannounced either. » He had said with a chuckle the day he gave it to her. When was that again?

The elevator was out of order, it has been since Mob moved in, she wondered if anyone had ever planned to fix it. With a sigh, she opened the door that led to the stairs and climbed them up. Why did this idiot had to chose to live on the seventh floor?! Cherry cursed her brother for living so high up and was panting once she finally reached his floor.

As she faced his front door, it suddenly felt like the air around had turned icy cold, her legs had gone weak and she felt like she was going to puke. She used the wall next to the door to stabilize herself and waited a few seconds before finally unlocking the apartment.

At first, nothing seemed out of ordinary except for a strong disgusting smell lingering in the whole place and an insane amount of fly everywhere. She pinched her nose and covered her mouth so she wouldn’t have to take this foul odor anymore and so she wouldn’t accidentally swallow a fly while walking in the apartment. The whole place was dark, every curtain was drawn close.

— “Mob! You’re in there? Jesus Christ, Mob! Never heard of opening a window?! It smells terrible in there! And what the hell have you been doing?! Why are there so many flies?!”

The whole placed seemed empty but as she explored, she found Mob’s goggles laying on his couch, he never got out without them so now she was sure he was here.

— “Mob? Dude, I know you’re in there! Your goggles are literally right there! Thi- this isn’t funny, Mob…”

Only silence answered her. She placed her free hand on her chest, her heart was beating insanely fast in her chest due to the panic she was feeling. Why was she panicking? Her brother was a nerd who didn’t know was sunlight was, who haven’t been opening windows for weeks and who was probably too busy napping to answer her. Yet, her breathing picked up its pace as she walked toward Mob’s bedroom door. There, the smell was even worse, it smelled like… She couldn’t even describe the smell, it was horrible, foul and it felt disgusting to breathe it in.

Once she reached the bedroom, she knocked and hoped to hear Mob telling her to come in, he didn’t. She gently opened the door.

— “Mob? Are you in there?”

Time stopped. Suddenly, the smell wasn’t that horrible anymore, she couldn’t even register it at this point, her brain has just stopped working. The street, usually so full of live and car had gone quiet and even the flies seemed to have stopped moving.

Mob was there. Laying on his desk almost like he had fallen asleep on top of it. Except it wasn’t Mob. A week is enough for a dead body to actively decay, especially in a warm environment. If it wasn’t for the clothes, which were torn in multiple places due to insects, she wasn’t even sure she would’ve recognize what used to be her brother. Almost every single inch of exposed skin was covered in maggots, flies and other types of bug she didn’t even recognize and the few places where there weren’t any insects were just exposed bones. His face hasn’t been spared either. It was facing the door, like he wanted to greet anyone who would come in even after death. A weird dark liquid was leaking out of his mouth and nostrils and his eyes, which use to be a beautiful emerald color, which used to be so full of life and will to live, were now dark and foggy. Mob was dead. There was a noticeable hole right under his chin and in the top of his head, if you had looked up, you could’ve even seen that the bullet went lodging itself in the ceiling, but Cherry couldn’t look up, she could only stare at the decay body laying before her.

Then, her whole body seemed to convulse as she fell to her knees and retched multiple times before finally throwing up. The smell was suddenly so much stronger, cars were so much louder, the flies seemed to have multiplied so much while she wasn’t looking. Everything was too much. Cherry kept retching as she tried crawling away from the body laying at the desk. When she finally managed to calm down, her eyes were wide with fear and tears were rolling down her cheeks. She couldn’t believe the sight. Her brother wasn’t suicidal. She was sure of it and she didn’t know anyone who could’ve wanted him dead. He was a nice guy with so many friends, who could’ve wanted him dead? No, no one had wanted him dead, as she kept staring at the body, she noticed a gun, a pistol, a M1911 precisely, laying on the floor right next to his gaming chair. Mob probably dropped it after… she didn’t even want to think about what he did.

— “Holy… Jesus… Fuck.”

No words could describe how she felt, no words could describe how sick she felt. She couldn’t find anything to say. She wanted to call out for her brother, for the only friend she ever had, the only person who ever cared about her, but no words could come out of her mouth, it was like her throat had closed up and wouldn’t even let air pass through. Now that she thought about it, she actually couldn’t breathe anymore or maybe she was actually hyperventilating, she didn’t know, she was lost and confused. As she finally looked back up at her brother, the word escaped her without her even noticing.

— “Mob?”

No answer. But something happened. His screen light up, showing the typical “you’re dead” screen. Then, without any reason, it was like someone clicked on the respawn button. For a second, she didn’t know why, she hoped that clicking this button would bring Mob, that he would suddenly wake up and talk to her. He didn’t move. Instead, a voice she had never heard suddenly called out.

— “Mob?! Are you here?! You’re still here, right?! I heard you! I knew you wouldn’t have left me! You’re here! Everything’s gonna be okay! Everything’s is perfectly fine! Mob! Mob? Mob, please, answer me… Mob?...”

With shaky breaths, Cherry slowly stood up, her legs were still wobbly but she slowly made her way to the screen, once she was right next to Mob, where the smell was strongest, where she could hear the insects and bugs digging through her brother’s body, she chose to close her eyes and do her best to ignore it all. She needed to know what that voice was.

— “Hello? Wh- who is this? What…” She struggled to breathe, the smell was unbearable. “ What happened?”

The voice didn’t answer right away. It stayed silent for a few seconds until it finally started speaking again.

— “You’re not Mob.” The voice had went cold, emotionless even. “I’m Verity. Mob’s personal helper friend.”

That was the mod he had told her about. She opened her eyes slightly, just enough to decipher a yellow form standing in the middle of the screen, the exact description Mob has given her. She closed her eyes again and let out a sob.

— “What happened?! Why is Mob- why is my brother- why is he…”

She couldn’t say it, because saying it was accepting it was real, was accepting he was gone.

— “He killed himself. He did it because he didn’t want to stay with me. He shot himself because he would’ve rather go back to Twixxel than stay here with me.”

She threw up again.

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Cherry couldn’t really remember what happened after. Maybe she called the cops to tell them about Mob’s… situation. Maybe she stayed there until they arrived. Maybe she listened to that voice, Verity’s voice, talking to Mob, or was he talking to her? She didn’t know.

She was dissociating, have been for a long time now, it’s only when her father’s voice registered in her mind that she finally came back to her senses. She was at the hospital? When did she got here?

When she looked up, she was met with her parents. She had never saw their dad cry, endermen didn’t cry, well, they could, just not water, and yet, his face was covered in this oil endermen cried instead of tears. Their mom wasn’t crying though, she usually cried very easily, being terribly sensitive and emotional, yet, she wasn’t. It was somehow worse. They both sat next to Cherry in silence and after a few minutes, her dad pulled her in his arms and her mom hugged her from behind. She didn’t even register the warmness or the noises their bodies made which usually comforted her and calmed her down, it felt wrong but she didn’t fight them.

Her dad tried talking to her, getting her to say something while her mom was completely silent, just like she was. The old man tried to ask what happened, if she knew anything but Mob’s sister stayed silent.

After what could’ve possibly been hours, a doctor came to them, pronouncing the words they all expected, the words which broke them all beyond repair.

After that, Cherry went home, her dad begged her to come with them so she wouldn’t do anything stupid, even her mom spoke up and asked her if they could at least walk her back to her house. She declined and left without another word.

When she got home, she broke down. She cried until her body was empty of that oil, she sobbed until her throat couldn’t produced a sound and she screamed until she believed she was deaf. For three days straight, she was almost in the same state as Mob, barely alive, barely moving.

One of Mob’s friend, Grox, she believed, had texted her, somehow, he had learnt about what happen and was telling her he was terribly sorry for her loss and that her brother was an amazing person and that he had been happy to be friend with him. She didn’t answer.

A few days after the hospital visit, she had started writing in a journal.

At first, she was just writing down how she felt, then, slowly, she started using it as a way to talk to Mob.

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« Hey dude. It’s been a few days since I found you... in your room. I miss you. I always thought I was lonely, I mean, I don’t have any friends, except for you, I never go out and don’t talk to anyone, but I’ve never known loneliness until now, now that you’re gone. »

« Hey bro! It’s been a month since the accident, I hope you’re doing alright up there. They found Twixxel’s body in his apartment last week… I hope you’re having fun with him up there. From what I heard he’s been gone for longer than you. I’m sorry for your loss, Mob. I know how close you guys were. »

« Hi Mob! I’ve started going out again, not willingly tho… But I didn’t have any more food and I haven’t eaten in so long I was probably slowly starving to death but then dad called and I didn’t have any other choice to go get something to eat. The world seems darker now that I know you’re not in it anymore. I miss you. »

« Hey, remember that mod you told me about? I think Grox somehow got it. He posted a video where he tries it out. I think it said your name at some point. It spoke to me the day I came to check up on you. I didn’t know it was sentient. You probably didn’t either when you installed it. »

« Heya man! I think I’m slowly starting to accept you’re gone. It still hurts like a bitch but… Crying over it won’t bring you back. Hell, you’d probably beat my ass if you saw me in the state I was in. You’d have told me I still had many reasons to live and all. It would’ve been nice if you would’ve been there to say so yourself. »

« Grox’s dead. No one really knows why he died from but… I know it was Verity. I got your computer when you died, never dared turning it on again. But I finally got brave enough to do so a few days ago, saw the videos… I’m so sorry I wasn’t there. I should’ve been there like how you’ve always been there for me. I’m so fucking sorry Mob. »

« I made a friend today! He reminds me a bit of how stupid you could be at times, it’s nice to finally have someone to laugh with again after all this time even if it’s not you. That’s okay, I know you’re laughing up there with Twixxel. »

« I got a text from someone I don’t know today, on discord. It was a link to download a Minecraft mod. I know what’s gonna happen. I’m coming, big bro. Just wait for me. »

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I closed my journal and looked at the laptop sitting on my desk. I then looked down at my arms, they were covered in scars. Some were pretty old, probably from when Mob had just died, some were more recent. I grabbed a piece of paper and wrote a goodbye note for my parents and friend. I was probably not going to die right after but I wanted it to be ready for the day it’ll happen.

I wiped my dry tears away and stood up from my bed, making my way to my desk. I sat down on my gaming chair and glanced at a picture sitting next to my laptop. It was Mob and I when we were kids. I smiled before turning back to my screen, the discord window was still open. I stared at the link for a long time before clicking on it.

After I did, Minecraft opened on its own just a few seconds later, giving me the option to create a new world, which I did and a few seconds later, I spawned in a single biome plain world, just like Mob has. I didn’t move at first and jumped when I heard a voice behind me, I turned around and was met with a cardboard box.

— “Just wait a little bit more, Mob, I’ll be right there.”

I clicked on the box and it suddenly floated in the air before sinking into a yellow ball which fell down on the ground with a few pained groans. It then turned toward me and froze for half a second when he noticed my appearance before opening his mouth to talk.