Nexie | Drowning | The Mimic
Kara would get so angry with her mother for trying to instill fear into her that Kara just kept trying to face more and more of the things that scared her, whether it was to rebel against her parents or to try to overcome anxieties that haunted her dreams. Each time she felt that tingle in her feet, in her hands, or in her stomach, she knew it was a fear she had to break through.
Kara Walsh is a bit of an adrenaline junkie, always pushing herself into danger for the thrill of it, and to prove to herself that she's not afraid. Her friends aren't as daring, though, and so when they finally get to the special VR Resort attraction, she's disappointed when they choose Coaster City instead of the much more wild Water Park. So when they decide to wander to the arcade, Kara splits off and begs the cute line attendant to let her go into the Water Park, just for a little bit. She even begs to have hypertime, which will make her think she's in there for an hour rather than five minutes. And once she's there, she's ecstatic, up until she starts seeing a mysterious, zombified girl that begins to stalk her across the park, begging for her to never leave.
The eighteenth Tales from the Pizzaplex story, and the second of the sixth book, Nexie.
Tropes related to “Drowning”:
- Ambiguously Brown: Lola is described as having "light brown skin."
- Ambiguous Situation: It's left unclear ''what'', exactly, the Drowned Girl is. The existence of her having a family home and photo implies that she's not a simple glitch, but some kind of ghost trapped in the VR park. But then... who is she?
- And I Must Scream: Kara spends what feels like days wandering through the Water Park, desperately trying to avoid the Drowned Girl. She then breaks all her bones and is dragged into a pool to slowly drown, all while her body is sitting normally in the real world, killing her within her own mind.
- Bathtub Mermaid: When Kara first sees the Drowned Girl out of the corner of her eye, she thinks it may be a mermaid, and the VR experience may be a fantasy theme.
- Be Careful What You Wish For:
- Kara wanted to get into the Water Park. She never got to leave.
- In addition, Kara thinks about how she had always wanted to be left alone to do her own things, as she always had people surrounding her. "Now, in some weird way, she got what she wanted."
- Brainy Brunette: Lola, who has "brown hair with pretty waves" and is a very intense planner.
- Clashing Cousins: In Kara's flashback, she thinks about how Peggy was sometimes a know-it-all who never listened to her.
- Control Freak: Kara sees Lola as this.Well, she thought, that would be Lola's fault that they'd missed out since her best friend always had to be in control.
- Cool Board: Ten-year-old Kara was an obsessive skateboarder.
- Creepy Child: The Drowned Girl, a persistent attacker towards Kara.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Kara falls from a great height, breaking every one of her bones. She is then dragged, helplessly, into a pool, where she slowly drowns as the Drowned Girl clings to her. This all happens in VR, but when the machine is turned off, she's already dead.
- Desperate Plea for Home: After falling from the water slide, Kara begs the girl to let her go home. The girl doesn't let her go.
- Downer Ending: Lola and Francine hadn't meant to be separated from Kara, and Zach hadn't turned on hypertime, so Kara should have been out in a few minutes. When they reach her, they find her dead body.
- Extreme Doormat:
- Francine; while her friends thankfully don't abuse this personality trait, she has a habit of not sticking up for herself and doing whatever they say."I'm thirsty," Francine said. "Is anyone thirsty?"Lola said, "No," and Kara shook her head."I'm not really, either," Francine said, looking around, and twirling a strand of hair around her finger.
- Zach is very easily convinced to do anything Kara wants, including leaving her unattended in the attraction.
- Francine; while her friends thankfully don't abuse this personality trait, she has a habit of not sticking up for herself and doing whatever they say.
- Face Your Fears: Kara always runs head-first into things that make her afraid, in order to make herself feel braver.
- Freudian Excuse: We find out that Kara's impulsiveness and adrenaline-kicks all stem from an incident in her childhood, where she and her second-cousin Peggy climbed a tree, only for Peggy to go too far on a branch and fall. She remembers being afraid, and Peggy making fun of her for it, only for Peggy to be the one injured, with Kara feeling guilty because she wasn't close enough to help her. The incident made her parents paranoid for her safety, and Kara started rebelling by leaping into danger.
- Girlish Pigtails: On young Peggy.
- A Glitch in the Matrix:
- Kara originally guesses that the VR girl is this in some way. It's unclear if she's right or not.
- She eventually finds an unfinished room, full of "empty dark space," likely an unfinished area.
- Guilt-Induced Nightmare: Kara states that she's had a lot of these following Peggy's accident.
- Hair-Contrast Duo: Strawberry-blonde Kara versus the black-haired Drowned Girl. This also applies to her and black-haired Peggy.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Francine, who "made it a point to always be nice to everyone."
- Hall of Mirrors: After escaping the unfinished room, Kara ends up in a mirror maze.
- Happiness Realized Too Late: Kara, when she climbs up the waterslides towards what she thinks is the exit, thinks hard about how she would be better in the future and "never take things for granted again."
- Hates Being Alone: The Drowned Girl's motivation.
- Hazardous Water: As the Drowned Girl cannot leave the pools, Kara desperately tries to avoid the edges of the pools. Something that's hard when you're in a Water Park.
- Hope Spot: When Kara thinks she spots an exit and begins climbing the slides in order to reach it... and then falls.
- Hot-Blooded: Impulsive, short-tempered Kara.
- I Want My Mommy!: Peggy does this in Kara's flashback.
- Kindhearted Cat Lover: The Walsh family has a Siamese cat named Cupcake.
- Light-Haired Swimmer: Strawberry-blonde Kara.
- Mind Prison: Kara gets trapped in the Water Park after the Drowned Girl manipulates the time limit.
- Madness Mantra: The Drowned Girl's "Don't leave me alone."
- Monster of the Week: The mysterious Drowned Girl.
- Mysterious Past: Kara seems to wander into the Drowned Girl's past when she goes through a door in the half-finished area of the park. She walks through a dark, water-logged house full of black mold, lit with candles, and finds a girl's bedroom with a broken music box, mildewed plushies and smeared paintings. She then finds the parents' room, bloodred and full of floated dead roses, with a floating picture of the girl and her parents, showing they were from a different time period. After climbing to the second floor, she finds a single room, a gray bathroom with water spilling over the tub and the Girl inside, implying that she may have drowned in her tub.
- Neverending Terror: Stuck in hypertime for an indefinite period of time, Kara can only wander around the park trying and failing to find an exit.
- No Full Name Given: Lola, Francine, Zach.
- Ominous Music Box Tune: The music box in the Drowned Girl's room plays a creepy song, and then gets stuck on the same note. Kara closes the box, only for it to open itself and start the song again.
- Oral Fixation: At the start of the story, Kara keeps blowing her "sour apple" bubblegum.
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Paranoia Fuel: Not only is the Drowned Girl following her in every body of water, if she lets her guard down for even a moment– stopping to think, or sleep– the girl will be able to start dragging her into the pools. - Past Experience Nightmare: When Kara falls asleep in VR, she dreams about Peggy's accident first, and then of her breaking an arm when she was ten.
- Power Trio: Kara, Lola and Francine had been friends since middle school.
- Pubescent Braces: It's mentioned that Lola had silver braces when she met Kara on their first day of middle school.
- Quirky Curls: Kara's got "wild strawberry blonde curls her mother always said couldn't be tamed."
- Rising Water, Rising Tension: As Kara explores the Drowned Girl's home, the water begins to rise, threatening to catch her before she can find the Girl. This happens again when she's in the mirror maze.
- Socially Awkward Hero: Francine, who's not as confident as her parents and friends.
- The Strategist: Lola is described as a "master planner," always having lists and schedules while Kara is more impulsive.
- Teen Rebellion: Technically, it started when she was ten, but Kara started acting out because of her parent's overprotectiveness following Peggy's accident.
- Third-Party Peacekeeper: Francine, between both of her friends and both of her parents.
- Thrill Seeker: Kara, who always rushes into things for the thrill of the danger.
- A Tragedy of Impulsiveness: Kara's Fatal Flaw is her impulsiveness and the fact she pushes herself into dangerous situations just to prove she can survive it. Because she can't survive this.
- Tragic Villain: The Drowned Girl, who seems genuinely afraid to be alone.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Zach, who had no idea that letting Kara into what should have been a five-minute simulation would result in her death.
- Year Inside, Hour Outside: This is how Hypertime is supposed to work; it makes the player think they've spent an hour in the park, when it's only been ten minutes. Zach accidentally sets Hypertime to "zero" instead of "one," which should mean that Kara only lasts for the normal five minutes. However, the Drowned Girl seems to have done some manipulation of the program, as Kara ends up there indefinitely.
- You Remind Me of X: The Drowned Girl specifically reminds Kara of Peggy, her cousin she'd failed to help.
- Youthful Freckles: On Kara.
