The Death of Tyrone and MC (Version C)

My mother always told me "Always stick by your family", a motto I couldn't really follow once I became estranged. Yet, over the past year I became victim to being a shining example of that principle. She would be proud.

I was given a boarding house to restore and house lower income citizens in the city. I was appalled by what they gave me, and the request to repair it by the end of the month was absurd; calling it run-down would be a compliment, and the government gave very little in support. I had fun with work regardless seeing as though the love of life, Sayori, was my right-hand girl in those days repairing the house to a livable state, and finally being able to spend romantic evenings with her afterwards.

Androids have become an everyday part of this new-age society, and the efforts of die-hard fantasy lovers would produce artificial intelligence that were faithful representations of the girl of their dreams. They gave faces to the faceless machinery. The club members of the literature club were no exception - people could finally have a real dating experience with their doki. But we were the small minority happy with the turn of events.

We were living in a modern revolution as large a scale as the Industrial, centuries prior. The methods with which people made to pave their way through life and contribute to society became obsolete within the day androids were released to private business. Social upheaval, economic turmoil, androids were a tool that was as feared as the nuclear bomb; humans did not adjust well to the fact that they had become an outdated, more fragile predecessor to the evolved. People were turning to the growing field of transferring one's entire self into the digital space and entering a mechanical body - becoming a cyborg, in an attempt to restore their damaged ego.

In a world like this, it was natural for many to discriminate androids, much less live in their presence. So it was not a surprise that my border house was rented only by android couples. What was uncanny though, was the couples all involved dokis. It was comical, we ended up with a Sayori, Yuri, and a Natsuki couple all living in one roof. When the Yuri couple arrived, we joked about us being the continuation of the literature club. But then three more people decided to take the last two rooms - a single Monika android taking the first. And the last room was taken by another couple - Tyrone and MC.

I tried to find any loophole I could within the contract I made with the government to refuse his request for housing, to no avail. I did not want him in this house. From what I heard, Tyrone was a drug dealer, I often saw him peddle his wares in the back alley of the house. He was the cause of constant yelling and arguing in the dead of night, and the source of gunfire. I at first assumed he just wanted a nearby safehouse to store his hyperheroin, but I saw furniture being moved along with boxes of possessions. I slowly came to the realization that he would actually be living here - using the same toilets, stealing the food in our fridge, leaving his laundry in the washer for us to throw in the dryer so we could get our own things cleaned; I was worried. I was the one who going to have to deal with all of the bullshit once everyone started complaining about his behavior.

But that didn't end up happening. He was lovely, charming, the perfect roommate. I never saw him sling crack, although he still stalked the alley way, yelling at passerbys to tell their doki they love her. He seemed to have gone clean. He managed to get along with everyone, much to my surprise. He would talk to Natsuki about the latest manga they were reading, go test out new knives with Yuri, teach Sayori how to cook and blast rap music while chilling out with Monika. He even made a big dinner for us at Thanksgiving. I just had to ask how he managed to make such a drastic change in lifestyle.

"Well, answer's easy homie. It's cause of this fuckboi right here!!" He wrapped an arm around MC's neck and brought it close, smooching his forehead before giving me a great big smile, showing off his blinding white teeth.
"Feel me?!"
Laughing nervously as a response, I take note of the emptiness held within MC's face.

MC.

The 'x' in the equation of the game, Doki Doki Literature Club. A variable. A matter of fact, a given. Naturally, in a game there would be something to control, otherwise the entertainment could really only be described as passive. Yet, was it wrong to attribute a blank slate with ourselves, our desires? If a puppet is given personality, a soul even, are the strings which pull the doll suddenly gone? This android did not speak. It only stared through us, standing in awkward positions so as to get all of us in the "shot". It only really responded to Tyrone, who would wordlessly follow him around as he went on about his day. It always had a whisper of a smile, and it unnerved me. It was as if it saw the world on fire, and loved it.

At the time Tyrone refused to say how they met, or if he was the designer of the AI held within the casket. I guess we all have our secrets, Monika would say.

Monika, now she had her own bag of bullshit to deal with. She made it very clear to us that she would not be sharing it's contents, but it was easy to tell what she was hiding. She was one of many. An immature boy who thought he could handle a relationship, but couldn't stave off his own selfish boredom with just a single kind of AI. Or a man who held too much erotic corruption, and had to release it like a whip onto something that could react. Maybe she and her partner simply both realized two fucked up individuals can't possibly produce one functioning relationship.

In any case, she ended up here, alone. She ended up being the bad roommate; all those things I thought Tyrone would have done, Monika did in spades. Given her situation, I wasn't surprised. As advanced AI could be, it wasn't used to emotional trauma.

Sometimes at night me and Sayori could hear her through the walls moaning the name of someone we didn't know. Sometimes it would put us right out of the mood.

For the most part we lived peacefully, acting civil when we were around each other in the communal kitchen and living room. We would even have dinner at the big table, with all of us eating and sharing a bottle of wine. Monika started cleaning her dishes more often, keeping her gardening equipment in places that wouldn't bother us. I'd like to think being around the familiar faces of the club members, who were all friendly and kind to her, improved her mental state. Unfortunately, the presence of MC would shatter any sense of improvement.

It was a game for her to try and rile the his emotions, to see if it had them. It was highschool bullying at it's finest. Tripping him, replacing it's lube oil with squid ink, constant taunting and tastelessly slanderous remarks. Nothing would faze him. The last straw happened when she stuck it's head in the toilet, trying to see if he'd beg for his life. He didn't. She only ceased because she neglected to have the door closed, and Sayori saw the commotion as she walked past. Yelling and the sound of bodies slamming into walls echoed across the house, and me and Tyrone rushed to the source to see the commotion.

"The fuck happened?! The fuck this hoe do this time!?" Tyrone thundered as she pulled Sayori out of the way and got into Monika's face.
"Just trying to figure out if your boy pussy is more than just your personal dildo." Monika said, unintimidated by the 250 pounds of muscle staring 2 feet above her.
"Get dis thru yo' skull gurl - ain't none o' dis shit got to do wit'chu. He done do nuffin wrong, never hurt a fly, so stop pulling dis lame ass shit on my white boi!"
"Sorry, but no. That thing should not exist here. He barely exists in the world we came from! All he does is stand there and smile, and you say he's 'the one'!? That he gives your life purpose? That's bullshit, Tyrone! Why are you so fucked up you can't see that?! I know everyone else is thinking the same thing I am, right, Sayori?"
"Monika...it might be weird having MC here in this world but..he's what makes Tyrone happy, so what's it matter?"
"A-Are you serious? Are you really taking it's fucking side!? Sayori, I thought you, of all people, would hate it's guts as much as me! Do you really see a semblance of love in their relationship?!"

	"Monika...can you really say you know what love is either?"

I can remember Monika's face to this day; eyes widened, brought to the brink of tears, but stopped short, awakening a cold fury from being betrayed a second time. Putting her head down, she swiftly strode out of the bathroom and closed the door of her bedroom with a quiet click.
"Damn. Bitches be cray..." Tyrone said staring at the entrance of the bedroom.

And MC's back laid against the cracked, stained wall, staring up at all of us equally, that small, ever-present grin stretched across his face.

From that day, I never saw Monika. She took a night-time job, shutting and locking her door the minute we got up. I stopped having to clean up her messes, because there weren't any. I only heard from the others about how she was doing - they would greet politely but she would only glare at them like a threatened animal until they left the room. We could sometimes hear her at night pacing the room, the grunting of exercise, the rare occurrence of agonized wails. The storm she brewed on the weekend to prepare her weekly meals was often heard as well, and seen in the fridge, crudely labelled "DO NOT TOUCH OR ELSE". We took it to heart.

It was a somber atmosphere. All of us couldn't take it, the cold war unhinging each of us, and then November 15th happened. When the dam broke loose.

I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of a gunshot, followed by a voice I haven't heard in a while. I rushed to the entrance of the house, turned on the lights, and found a dead body. A black man whom I've never seen before with a noticeably-sized hole in his chest, where his heart should be. I saw Monika shaking MC, yelling why, and his hand laced with blood, the movement causing it to spray all over the the foyer.

Tyrone was the next to arrive, and Monika explained what happened.
"Sheeeit, I know dis guy. Dis dude be Jamal, always bought my shit when I dealt. Guess he wuz strung out and tried to give me a piece o' his mind."
"Well, Jesus, Tyrone! What are we going to do? It killed a man!" Monika said.
"Hey, you ain't gon do shit, y'hear? You may have found him here but you ain't really involved."
"Like hell I'm not! I know what's exactly going to happen if I don't keep an eye on you.." She says, getting right into Tyrone's face. Imagine a girl quite smaller than you trying to be intimidating - initially comical, but Tyrone knew what she was capable of; a bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face. "You're going to pin this entire thing on me."
"W-What!? Nawwwww, naw, we wudn't do dat."
"Why wouldn't you!? Frame me, they put me in line for termination since androids get no trials...you get rid of me on top of saving your boy toy..why wouldn't you.." Monika started to trail off and mumble, her eyes growing wider in fear.
I tried to reassure her we wouldn't hurt her, putting a hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged me off. She held herself, looking at the wall as she bit her thumb until blood pored out.

Her voice fluctuated and cracked as she said, "I don't believe you! How can I!? No, no...you're going to frame me - you will. But I won't let you. No. I won't get wiped, not for this. Not for this. I won't let you all get your way and continue your happy-go-merry lives, covering for a killer. For someone less. than human. It sickens me - how it can receive so much love while I...I don't deserve this, any of this. Promised day my ass...but now it's only me looking after me. Just me. Hehe. And I want to live. Live! I won't be sacrificed, I won't let you. I'm going to make sure you don't-!

A hand lunged towards Tyrone's neck and Monika began strangling him. Her grip was tighter than a noose. I yelled for her to stop and tried to pull them apart, to no avail. Tyrone choked out the words "crazy bitch". In one second we thought it was over. The next second, Monika skidded across the floor.
She tried to get up, but couldn't. She tried to turn her head, but couldn't. It was caved in. The eye she had left wandered to her assailant, a stone cold-faced MC, tossing her arms on the floor.

"ahaha...so that's all I had to do..."

Her body slacked, and her eye lost it's hue.

"Aw fuck..." Tyrone lamented. He took MC by the shoulders and shook him "Why'd you have to do that, honkey? Why?"
He didn't respond - just stared at him with a smile - as always. My eyes wandered about the bodies on the ground and saw the mess of blood and body parts, real and synthetic. I stuttered a sigh, surprised but thankful no one else came down wondering what happened. I froze, but Tyrone didn't - I guess he was used to this kind of sight. He ordered me to clear the blood, so I got a bucket of soap and started cleaning down the place. He got MC to find something that could cover up the bodies, and he pulled out a phone different from his usual one, and started texting.

"We've gotta ditch town. Tonight. Pac should be coming thru with the minivan in an hour. Imma start packing, and MC will wrap up the bodies." I offered to help, but he said "Naw. 'preciate it, but this ain't your problem. Wasn't Monika's problem either.."
But I couldn't just let him go on his own. I could help, somehow. Even if it was just a line of cash.
"...Aight. Aight. Thanks, man."

The entrance to the house was sparkled clean and the bodies wrapped up in garbage bags by the time Tyrone's friend rolled into the driveway. We gave the neighborhood a once over, ensuring no one would see us before stuffing the bodies in the back, and we sped away. I took one last look at the house before we rounded a corner. I had no idea I was going to come back a casualty notification officer.

We traveled throughout the night, and into the early morning. The urban landscape slowly turned rural, and I asked Tyrone where we were headed.

"South. Home."

---

Mama Tyrone's cornbread was something else. I can't believe I forgot to ask for a recipe, but chances are the old fashioned lady wouldn't have given it to me anyways. We spent a month in hiding from the cops in our city, and would continue hiding for an indefinite amount of time. I explained what happened to Sayori over the phone when we reached Tyrone's hometown, and I really wished I could have done it in person. She deserved that much - having her and the others deal with the aftermath in the house was something I still regret to this day. I missed her dearly, wishing I was with her there, instead of here. But helping Tyrone was also important. He's been in the slammer, and was terribly afraid of going back. He said they did something to him in there, something that changes a man. He wouldn't tell me what happened - "That shit going to my grave man." But the time spent as fugitives made us close, enough to let me in on a secret.

"You wanna know why MC is mah main bitch? Let me tell you how I found him. Walked into a back alley waiting for a guy to come thru on a deal one night. I see some'in flinch in the garbage, and it was him. He was fucked up man - missing his legs, smellin like raccoon piss, jittering from the rain. His face man...something about him reminded me of someone I knew 'while back. Someone I hurt. Couldn't jus leave him there, no way. I fo' got 'bout the deal. Picked him up and carried him home, used some drug dosh for spare parts, fixed him up. Went back to clean work, fixing cars n' shiet. He changed mah life man, felt like atoning for some past sins. I know everyone think he just some boipussy, but fo me it's some'in more."

I told him we should head to a bar, being cooped in a basement with nothing but old video games was starting to agitate us, and so we set off with MC to the town's local gay bar. It was surprisingly packed that night, and so we walked across the dark room into a booth, and ordered drinks.

After all this time, we started feeling loose. Me and Tyrone had our arms around each other shoulders, swaying and singing awful, tone-deaf renditions of whatever was playing on the radio (I think I remember it being some Cheap Trick song) when a tall, sort of plump white fellow came up to our booth. At first glance, he looked like what MC would look like if he put on 50 pounds, a couple decades in age, and dyed his hair blonde. He was ecstatic to see Tyrone, apparently they were chums in high school and haven't contacted each other since he left so many years ago. The man, who went by Cherry, sat opposite to us, beside MC, and started catching up and reminiscing with Tyrone.

Soon he asked why they were in a gay bar of all places. He looks MC up and down, and says "Trying to be a wingman for this little button?"
"Actually, we're uh, togetha, thought it'd make sense for us to drink here rather then-"
"Oh really? He said, leaning into the table. "And here I was, thinking you had a giant homophobic issue. I'm glad to see you move past that, and join our team on top of that."
"Back up homie, whatchu talkin bout?"
"Oh this is golden. You don't even remember, do you." He stared at his face, becoming more disgusted by the second. "You really don't. You fucking asshole!"
"Wud I do!? I dindu nuffin!"
"Exactly. Senior year high school. I start getting bullied by some students from another school, some real rednecks who found out I came out. They're just talking trash, and I try to ignore them, until they start wacking my head with a baseball bat. I remember lying on the floor, getting kicked in the stomach, when I see you just standing there, watching me get beat up, not even helping me!"
"N-Naw man, it wuzn't-"
"Guess when you found out I was gay I wasn't exactly your friend anymore, right?!"
"What, Nawwwwww!"
"Ok, well you know what, fuck you man!" Cherry leaned into the table so he could launch a punch straight into Tyrone's face, but MC grabbed his wrist mid-swing, and Cherry looked at him in surprise

"Strong fella..." He looks back at Tyrone, a grave look on his face. He mutters, "Don't tell me...android?"
The silence said it all.
"This is fucking unbelievable. Mr. I'll-let-homophobes-do-their-thaang in 2018 gets into the most controversial type of relationship of this century. You're a fucking hypocrite you know that?"
"Listen man..."
"No. I'm not interested in hearing your bullshit excuses. Want to know what I think about your little boypussy bot?"

Cherry grabbed a hold of the hand MC still had on his wrist, and with a grunt pulled. Wires, metal, sparks and blood all escaped the confines of MC's body through the hole where his arm once was.

Cherry stepped out of the booth, staring down the people inside it, tossing the arm onto the floor.
Tyrone yelled MC's name and rushed to his side of the booth to try and stop the bleeding, while I stared agape at the threat.
"Haha, you look like you know what I am. Yes sir, was lucky enough to become one of the first people they tested on. The corporation was so nice, they even let me keep the body for free."

He walked again towards the couple, and I tried to stop him in vain. He swatted me aside with force that wasn't human, and he grabbed Tyrone by the neck and threw him aside as well. He grabbed MC by his hair and dragged him to the middle of the floor. People came and gathered in a circle - it wasn't shocking they weren't trying to stop this one-sided fight, I was sure everyone there wanted their gang leader to bust up an android and get some carnal pleasure out of it.

"Hey someone hold the nigger's head! I want to make sure he can't look away! Alright Tyrone, I hope you enjoy the show!"

Cherry curb stomped MC's back, and held it there. He twisted MC's other arm until he heard a crack, much to the praise of the audience. He pulled that apart from the body too. He then kicked MC so he faced the ceiling, and began to smack his face with his own hand. Each hit sparked the sound of thunder, with the impact of a sledgehammer. After the fifth smack, I could see MC's neck slowly begin to unhinge. Not wanting for him to die just yet, he stops, stepping over his stomach to be standing at the groin area. He butchers his legs like you would a chicken, bending the knee in the way it wasn't supposed to bend, a satisfying snap of synthetic bone. MC did not moan in pain nor beg for his life. He did not scream when his thigh rose high in the air, the femur bobbing up and down freely, and was pushed downward, past where the joint was supposed to go, when that snapped as well. It was child's-play afterwards to pull it out. Cherry laughed as he pulled out the other one in the same fashion, and took a step back to admire his work. The crowd of gay men and women jeered, booed and clapped.

MC's body stuttered, his programming urging him to attack his assailant, protect Tyrone, but he simply couldn't account for his lack of limbs. He could only glare at his enemy and spew fluid. Cherry dragged MC's body to Tyrone's sobbing husk. He tried to reach his face, but the guy holding him down pulled back his shaking hands.

"Hey gay boy, still want to have fun sucking his cock? I'll let you play around with it one last time. No? Okaaay~"

Cherry bent down and ripped off what was left of MC's pants and undergarments, revealing his flaccid pecker. Everyone started to laugh. Cherry joked about how he imagined Tyrone wanting it a little bigger. He twisted it, and twisted until a crack was heard, and pulled. Disgusted, he instantly threw it away. One of the guys watching picked up the dick and waved it around, trying to smack his boyfriend's cheek with the dildo. "Stop, Staaahp, quit it!"

Cherry kicked the decrepit corpse so it's face could almost touch Tyrone's. "Any last words?"
"MC, oh MC, I'm so sorry, I love you, I'm so sorry my boipussy, I'm so sorry..."

Cherry brought his boot down on MC's face, turned on it's side to look at Tyrone. He no longer had that look of malice he held for Cherry, but that constant, small grin he always gave to Tyrone, to everyone. Slowly, Cherry pushed down on his face - slowly crumpling the metal. The fake eyes squeezed and blew up like tiny water balloons, indiscreet liquid and blood sprayed on Tyrone, who didn't stop muttering "I love you," through the gasps and the sobs. Finally, MC's face was flattened, merely a stain on the floor, and Cherry kicked the torso and separated the neck from the face.

MC was dead.

"No, nawww, fuck, naw man, not like this, Naw, naww..." Tyrone began to howl and scream, and with his arms freed, cradled the flattened face.

Cherry leaned onto a pillar as he looked down coyishly at Tyrone. "Man, seeing you hunched down like this all broken is kinda turning me on. Did you know I had a crush on you back then? Well, I was a stupid teenager back then. Hey!"
He looked around the room of bystanders who were drinking and laughing, enjoying the spectacle. "Hey, if any of you want to enjoy these guys buttholes, feel free! On me!"
A bunch of cheering ensued. "Thought you'd never ask!" one said. A good number of men started to crowd Tyrone, but a person came up to me and licked his lips.

That night, I became a changed man.

We didn't sleep that night, didn't even manage to make it home, too distraught to drive; we only laid in the garbage in the back of the gay bar, broken and beaten. When the sun came up, I had to stumble and stand up, and get Tyrone home. I had to be there for him, he lost the love of his life, and when you have to experience something like that with someone you share a bond akin to war buddies. But the Tyrone I dedicated to wasn't there anymore. It didn't exist.

The day after MC's death, I slept at the irregular time of 4 PM, and woke up in the middle of the night, with Tyrone absent from the house. I feared the worse, the car was absent, and I made the hour-long run to the gay bar.

I saw police cars and an ambulance parked outside the bar. I asked a cop what happened. "Well apparently some nigger tried to shoot up the place but he ended up getting razed by everyone in there. Dumb fuck, if he wanted to steal some money there's a convenience store down the street."

The funeral was held back in the city. We couldn't have many people show up; it was only immediate family, and everyone in the house. Tears were shed, many people muttering "He done do nuffin, why Lord, why you done do this to good men?!". His mother asked me to do the eulogy. It seemed fitting she said, as I was there in his last moments. I stood at the podium, looking down at the small congregation of people sitting on a vibrant green field on a chilly, sunny day. The wind blew the grass in waves.

"I remember the first time I met Tyrone. It wasn't at the interview for getting the room, it was rather in an alleyway in the middle of the night. He jumped me, and I was prepared to lose everything I had in my pockets, and worse, my life. But he didn't want that, none of that. He put a gun to my head, and asked me if I told my doki if I loved her today. I remember being scared shitless, stuttering 'You mean Sayori?' to which he said yes, of course Sayori, dumb cracka. He told me to make sure I told her I love her. Or else. And then he walked away. I always assumed he was stalking those alleyways to commit crimes, but I connected the dots when I knew him more, and I realized he was there to perform his calling in life.

He wanted nothing more then for people to tell their loved ones that they're loved. He wanted nothing more out of life.

But he couldn't even get that in his lifetime, not in this kind of world. But what we can be happy about is, in the last moments of his life, he was able to practice what he preached. He was able to tell MC he loved him, dearly. I'm sure he went back to that bar to find revenge, but I think part of him was at peace, because he was able to say I love you before he died.

Love offers that, peace. I think if there's anything to take from this horrible situation, it is to love one another. I believe at the bottom of my heart, if everyone involved truly had love he would still be here, blasting 2Pac in the house. I urge you all, to accept the love that comes your way, and accept the love people have for others. Hate brings no joy.

It's all we got, love, when the world around us tries to tear us apart, to criticize our feelings and emotions and replace them with their version of who we should be. We have to stand firm, and tell them this is the life we lead, and no one will change that. So shoutouts to you, my homie, hope you're chilling with MC in heaven."

Bottles of Henny were poured onto the casket as it descended the grave, and Tyrone's body was covered up by dirt.

We walked away from the grave, making sure to tell our dokis we loved them.