roommates - a family photo story part 2

from /roommates/ "Pink sun over Paradise" Edition
h ttps://desuarchive.org/trash/thread/52593213/#52612132
h ttps://desuarchive.org/trash/thread/52662413/#52669918
part 1: h ttps://pastebin.com/Lbz7KUSn
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>You thought you were done with him
>You thought that after Jeremey's ceased to exist months ago that his soul had been put to rest
>So why is he back?!

>The others would probably tell her that "its just a plush" and "a coincidence ", hell she would probably believe them if it weren't for the fact that she's been haunted by the golden bear on numerous occasions before.
>There are already so many things about this photograph that can't just be chalked down to a coincidence, the Goldie plush is just the icing on this cake of confusion and headaches

>What does it all mean?
>Was this all Goldie's doing?
>It would explain the downright paranormal urge she had to look at the photo
>But why?
>Why does Goldie want her took look at this?
>Is it cause he trusts her with Mike's secret?
>Her and Mike are the only people to ever see him so that would make sense
>But why now? How did he even get this?
>Can spirits just travel between worlds?
>...
>Its best to hold off on all of these questions that will likely never be answered, her head already hurts enough already

>She glances at the photo of the human family again, and she realizes something else about it that she overlooked
>Something big
>Where is Mike?
-
>If this is a photo of his family than where is the man himself?
>You look at the three males again
>Its obviously not the dad, and the two brothers have the wrong eye color, amongst other differences
>These people might look like Mike, but none of them ARE Mike
>Even taking into account he might be a child in the photo, no one hits the mark
>So where is he?
>It has to be his family right?

>Maybe he's the one taking the photo?
>Perhaps he is the unseen oldest brother of the family? That would explain it!
>On the contrast maybe this photo was taken before he was born
>Judging by some of the wear and tear of it, it seems pretty dang old

>Other theorize form in you're head of who exactly Mike is to these people
>Cousin?
>Uncle?
>Dare she say Grandchild?
>Like everything else about this image, it just gives more questions and confusion then any kind of answer.
-
>She really needs to stop looking at this thing, its driving her crazy
>Fortunately whatever feeling or instinct thats making her firmly grasp the thing seems to have relaxed

>She places the frame on her nightstand and goes to sleep
>Or a least... she tries to
>She's just laying there for hours, unable to sleep
>Her head is full of questions, theories, and headaches
>Before she even realizes it, its morning

>It takes her a few minutes to muster the energy from her tired body to get out of bed
>She goes to the bathroom and looks at mirror
>Man, she looks like shit

>After a nice hot shower she feels better, but still quite tired
>Now her main concern is just how is she gonna confront Mike about this whole thing?
>The best course of action would be to call him, tell him he forgot his old bag and that he should come over to pick it up, and then ask him to come to her room to discuss something personal.
>She doesn't care if the others (mostly Rackham) get any funny ideas from it, she just really needs to speak to him about this in private
-
>Before you do anything, you need to put some food in your body
>Something like this shouldn't be done on an empty stomach
>After a breakfast consisting of toast and stale cereal you decide its time to give Mike a call
>A few moments later he picks up

>"Hey Beanie! Whats up?" he seems to be in a good mood, you don't know if that'll make the confrontation better or worse

>"Hey Mike, I was just calling to tell you that you forgot the bag you brought with you last poker night, come pick it up whenever you feel like it."

>"I had the felling I was forgetting something. Thanks for the heads up Beanie, I'll be there in a minute!" Well its better to get this over with sooner rather then later

>There is a knock on the door, it must be him
>You pick up the bag, quickly answer the door

>"Hey Mike, here's the bag." You hand it over to him

>"Thanks Beanie, I completely forgot about the thing. Man I knew I had amnesia but this is ridiculous." He chuckles a bit at his own joke

>You internally cringe given what you're gonna discuss with him but laugh along
>You then steel yourself and get to the real point

>"Mike... there is one other thing I wanted to tell you but felt like it was better to say it in person... and in private. It's something very important, come to my room and I'll go into the details." You tell him in a serious, no bullshit tone
-
>"Uh... sure thing Beanie. Lead the way." He wasn't expecting the sudden shift in tone and is a bit confused and worried. Poor guy probably thinks he did something wrong

>The two of you head to your room, and you lock the door

>"Sooo... what the hell is this about Beanie?" He says curiously

>It would be for the best to not discuss anything human related and focus purely on the family and Goldie
>There is still the possibly that Mike will explain that his family are just a bunch of mutant chimps and that the human similarities are just one big coincidence
>You might be denial but you honestly wish for that to be the case
>Time to rip off this bandaid
-
"Last night... when I realized you forgot your bag, I found something that was exposed through one of the pockets. I was gonna push it back in but the moment I touched it... I had an insatiable urge to just take a quick look. I'm really sorry about violating your privacy but what I found... is something I have to talk to you about."

"Hey, I forgive you Beanie. There isn't even suppose to be anything personal in that bag, it's just a bag used to carry stuff like junkfood and gym equipment. What could you ever find that you would need to talk to me about it." He says that last sentence pretty nervously, does he already know about it?

"Mike... I found a photo of your family in there."

>"...What?"

>His look of pure shock tells you all you need to know, he knew nothing about it

"H-How? I never had anything like that in there!" He's starting to panic a bit

>"Goldie. I don't know how but he's responsible for it"

>"...What the f-k. I thought we were done with this haunted bullsh-t! Jeremey is probably a f-king washing machine at this point and the company is dead, shouldn't Goldie be resting in the afterlife?! And whats he gotta do with my family?!" F-k, that made it worse

>"Calm down Mike! I think it's best if I show it to you instead of trying to explain further."
-
>You pick up the photograph from the nightstand and approach Mike
>You offer it to him

>"Here you go Mike, your family."

>He picks up the frame with a shaky hand and looks at it
>A long, hard look
>You stand there patiently, watching his face go through a plethora of emotions ranging from confusion, fear, and doubt
>Over a minute passes
>Mike finally looks up to you with the cold look of a statute

>"I don't know who any of these people are."
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Continuing from the last thread

>You did not expect that answer, he doesn't recognize them at all?
>You feel a bit sick in the stomach about such a thought

>"Y-You couldn't have forgotten what your family looks like Mike! Not even a hint of recognition?" Now you're the one thats starting to panic a bit

>"Beanie, I literally do not know who the hell these people are, they aren't my family! I am aware painfully more than anyone else how bad my memory loss is sometimes but I think I remember what my Mom and Dad look like, and that is not them. And I've never had any siblings either. I was an only child of a relatively simple family. That is not some assumption or half truth, that is a FACT!" he practically screams that last sentence

>Mike rarely ever gets this serious, and you've never seen him so worked-up like this in a long time
>The last time was the night after he saved you, the night he was terrorized by nightmares and driven to absolute hysteria after he mentioned seeing Goldie and learning that he is in fact dead
>You know, it seems Goldie's shenanigans is as bad for Mike's mental health as it is for your own, why doesn't he bother his brother or April instead of two people he never knew when he was alive?
>Then again the last thing those two need is being haunted by someone very close to them, especially Fred.

>You finally muster a response to yet another curveball from Mike

>"If these people are absolute strangers to you then why the hell are they so similar to you? Why did Goldie decide to place that picture in your bag?Who the hell are these people and why is Goldie affiliated with them?!"

>"Thats what I wanna know to!" Mike responds instantly

>Welp, it seems you and Mike are on the same boat on this entire photo fiasco.
>Both of you are already yelling and you haven't even gotten to part of asking if he and the people in the picture are humans
-
>For a few moments the room is silent, you both awkwardly look at each other
>You and him need calm to down, any more screaming and Fred's gonna be banging on the door asking what the fuck is going on
>The tension worsens as Mike probably realizes what the next thing you are going to say is about

>"Mike... even if these people have nothing to do with you they still raise another question that I think you can already guess. They all look like-"

>"Humans, they look exactly like humans." He abruptly cuts you off before taking a pause

>"Guess I couldn't really hide it forever." He mutters under his breath before continuing

>"They look like humans because they are humans." He says as if it where a concrete fact

>"Just... like me." he takes a deep breath

>"I am 100% the real deal. I've never been some hairless chimp or bonobo with a freak skin condition, I've always been a human. I've just been vaguely hiding it because of how the world perceives my so called "mythical and godlike" species. If word got out i'd probably be taken to Area 51 for dissection or be abducted by some nutjob humie."

>"But I honestly think the biggest reason why I kept it a secret for so long is because of how all of you would think of me. I was afraid if you discovered I was a human you guys would fear me or just be downright disgusted given the experiences you all have had with "humans" in the past. I was afraid that instead of you all viewing me like a regular freak, you would all view me as a monster instead." After that last sentence he goes silent, looking away from you, most likely afraid of what you might say to this revelation
-
>You take a moment to comprehend this revelation
>And you honestly did not expect how ok with it all you are
>You thought you'd be speechless, flabbergasted, at a loss for works about this admission to being the most mythical creature in existence
>But in reality you feel like you've been told something you already knew ages ago
>Ever since you laid eyes on Mike and confused him for a Humanatronic you've had an ever-growing feeling he was the real thing
>At first you chalked it down to hanging around BonBon to much, but as the weeks and soon months went by, the idea of Mike being a human went from being a silly misunderstanding to a very likely possibly
>It seems you've already been slowly accepting the fact that Mike is a human for months, all you needed was to hear it from the man himself to confirm the obvious
>Plus, you already exhausted all your shock and disbelief on the insanity that is the family photo of that human family

>And what he said about thinking everyone would hate him for it... thats just plain stupid

>"Mike. You went into a den full of killer robots, got your ribs crushed, and saved my life in the process of risking your own and you think I'd hate you cause the animatronics of some crappy pizza place are supposed to look like your species? Nobody here would ever hate you for such an asinine reason you idiot!"

>"Beanie... you really think that?"

>"Mike, you could be a rotting purple corpse brought back from the dead and I'd still consider you one of my closest friends."

>All he does in return is give you a big, dumb smile before he hugs you and mutters "Thanks."
>Honestly after all of this stress, you really needed a hug to