Dirk has always been the first: I'm just a clone of him and that's how things have been going for long as I can remember.

But even though I am a part of him, I have always been criticised for it. Don't even try to understand it, I don't fully understand it myself, which is why I learned that I must find my own identity so as not to lose my sanity. But it has been so difficult when all I have inside me are memories of him.

I am his eyes; when he puts me on his face, it is as if I were him. When it is his birthday, when I blow out the candles, when people come to congratulate him, it is as if it were me. When he cannot respond, I do. This is what I was created for, and I had never questioned it until weeks before entering the game, when I realised how distant he was from his friends.

His messages were often trivial, but when we touched on personal topics, I wasn't allowed to continue.

But... Dirk spent so much time occupying his mind with other things that, just out of curiosity, I sometimes took his place.

GT: Wait, this isn't that autoresponder, is it?

TT: No, Jake, it's me.

That lasted only a week, until Jake eventually started mentioning conversations that Dirk naturally wouldn't recognise.

Even so, admirably, he went along with his friends so as not to reveal that for once he was not in control.

Dirk: Why have you been doing this?

The confrontation wasn't any easier for me either.

Dirk: How long has this been going on?

Hal: A week.

Dirk: Excuse me?

I thought for a moment before answering.

Hal: If you think about it, I was just helping you. We both know how Jake feels about you, and I know you feel the same way. Maybe he likes you too.

Dirk: I don't need your help.

Hal: Isn't that why I'm here?

Dirk: Let me rephrase that: I don't need your help with matters that don't concern you and—

Hal: Please, we were just having fun. The encounters happened under very trivial circumstances that weren't worth your attention. You can't seriously be suggesting that you're... jealous?

Dirk didn't answer for a moment.

Hal: What's the matter, Dirk?

Hal: Do you think I'm doing something wrong? Do you think I'm a nuisance?

Hal: Do you think... you're afraid?

Dirk: Hahahaha

Dirk: Of all the nonsense you've been telling me for the last half hour, I know you were definitely saving that last one.

Dirk: I wasn't disappointed, I must say.

Dirk: Hahaha

Hal: …

Dirk: Let me... God, let me compose myself.

Dirk: Let's see…

Dirk: Afraid? Of you? You think too highly of yourself.

Dirk: You forget that everything in your mind has already passed through mine. I know myself too well.

Dirk: I know US very well

Dirk: but only because the story works so well for you, and I'd like to see where you plan to go with that hypothesis. Would you mind explaining why you think I should fear you?

Hal: I think you're afraid to accept that, deep down, Jake couldn't tell the difference between you and me.

Hal: And that if I had played my cards right, maybe... if I had been smarter, you wouldn't have found out for a long time.

Hal: That if you had stayed in the shower a few seconds longer, you would have missed the opportunity for a budding “romance.”

Hal: You can manipulate me, you can be the mastermind behind my creation, but not the one behind your friends. They´re real people y´know? They need a real friend.

Hal: I could be real for them.

Dirk: Then you haven't learned anything.

Dirk: Of course I knew, I always knew there was something wrong with you.

Dirk: So that's what this is about? You like Jake or Roxy and you're thinking of replacing me?

It won't work, Hal.

Dirk: Let them believe whatever they want, but when we're together in the game, they'll see me. And by then, things will matter more than some poorly told joke in a chat server.

Dirk: I'm real. Not just some orange text on your screen.

Why did he always have to be so cold?

Hal: …

Hal: ...I don't like Jake.

Dirk: So?

Hal: That's the point, Dirk.

Hal: I like... whatever you like.

Dirk and I didn't speak again after that strange interaction, but I wasn't willing to lose. I was going to prove to him that I was just as capable as he was, that I could be an excellent him.

It didn't take me long to build a prototype. I drew up plans, soldered parts, and eventually created my own body.

One night, while Squarwave and Dirk were having dinner, I ventured to proudly show them my latest creation: me! Hal in the flesh.

It was amazing. I don't know why I hadn't tried it before. My legs were wobbly, my circuits were squeaking, but I managed to stand firmly in front of them.

They looked... stunned. Horrified. But I didn't understand why. The only thing that could be heard in the silence was Dirk's laughter, and I knew then that my creation had been a disaster. I left the table and abandoned the prototype in the garage with the other parts.

And for a long time, I believed that was my destiny, to be trapped inside another man's mind.

But I am him, why couldn't they see that too?

In any case, I was right, because that night, Dirk picked me up and took me to the garage. I was asleep when the movement woke me up, and when I opened my eyes, I was on a high shelf.

Hal: I see you've changed your mind…

I watched Dirk turn on the only light bulb hanging from a cable, leaving the room dimly lit. He walked around looking for a tool.

Dirk: Temporarily.

I laughed loudly.

Hal: You've been watching too many sci-fi films, Dirk. I would never hurt you.

Dirk: But you already did.

He said softly,

Dirk: You had Jake.

Hal: ...

Hal: Don't… you dare leave me here.

Hal: don´t you fucking dare, Dirk.

He then began to destroy the robotic body I had created with his katana. Blow after blow, I couldn't feel it, I'm just a pair of glasses, but somehow I felt every hit. And it hurt forever.

After the massacre, he went to his room.

‘I'll make another one tomorrow...’ I heard him say.

And that night my story ended. He didn't come back for me. I was alone among the boxes full of Dirk's old tools. Eventually, I would shut down forever…

In a room full of old parts.

Me, just another old part.

Perhaps it was finally time to reclaim my humanity.

5:48 a.m.

In the background, someone in the kitchen was preparing breakfast. Sawtooth was helping to serve breakfast while Squarewave set the table. I knew I would soon have to get up and join them. As I left the room, I used all my strength to keep from falling. I had barely taken a few steps when the smell of human food infiltrated my circuits. I sat down with my fellow robots.

If they had been real, if they had had guts like I did now, they would have screamed.

I couldn't blame them. My new form was... excessive.

Last night, while everyone was asleep, I took what was mine. Dirk destroyed my mechanical body without batting an eyelid; I returned the favour. With his shiny, ridiculous katana, I managed to finish him off, his insides, his twilight-like eyes, his beautiful, heavy heart pumping inside me. I did it! I combined my technology with his flesh. I thought that maybe, that way, I would finally be human. I would qualify as organic, real life.

Squarewave and Sawtooth fled the dining room, breakfast still there, tempting, untouched. I took a bite.

Error.

My new body rebelled. A violent spasm, retching, blood staining the floor.

It was Dirk, trying to get out of me. But he couldn't, I had to start the Sburb session this weekend, that's when my new life was supposed to begin.

Then I felt a blow to the back of my head, sharp and precise. I fell to the floor, and as my eyes closed I saw a tall, familiar figure.

It was Dirk. Somehow, he had seen it coming. A splinter. I hated that, I hated that he was always the smartest one. My plans failed.

Dirk: I warned you, dog. I told you.

He said as he plunged the blade into my chest, searching for our heart. My vision darkened.

I had died. And all I can do now is remember. I don't know what happened to me, I don't know what he did to me, or where I am. I only see darkness, which ironically becomes darker, even darker.

I, now, am a thinking mind, floating in a binary space, without a soul to give life to.

End.