He looked down at his own hand. The palm had grown a small, velvet question mark.

The door slid open. No one was inside—just two dentist chairs with welding helmets attached, and a fog machine that smelled like burnt birthday candles. A laminated card on the seat said: CHOOSE YOUR RIDE: 1) THE BONE GARDEN. 2) MILK MOON. 3) THE UNINVITED GUEST.

Maya snorted. “Edgy.”

“Maya?”

He turned to run. But behind him was another Leo, wearing the welding helmet, smiling. The other Leo said: “I’m the backup save file. You’re the autosave they overwrite.”

Leo was falling through a ceiling of teeth. Below him, a dinner party stretched forever—a table miles long, set with porcelain plates and chrome cutlery. The guests were all mannequins wearing his mother’s face. They turned in unison.

“I don’t—where am I?”

In the fluorescent-lit food court of the Palisades Mall, Leo Martinez clutched his phone like a talisman. On the screen, a grainy bootleg video looped: 3D MEGA RIDE SIMULATIONS – THE VOID EXPERIENCE.

The velvet thing reached out. Its touch felt like déjà vu and static electricity. Leo’s bones began to list—like an app crashing, one system at a time.

“You’re late,” they said, in his mother’s voice.

“The Uninvited Guest is always the last to know they’re the entrée.”

Behind them, the sign flickered. New text appeared: 3D MEGA RIDE SIMULATIONS – NOW HIRING TEST SUBJECTS. YOU ALREADY SIGNED THE WAIVER. SEE YOU TOMORROW, LEO.

“Those aren’t rides,” Maya said. “Those are bad dreams.”