Vilja threw her head back and expertly dripped eye drops into her eyes. She blinked rapidly as the cool moisture settled in. She capped the eye drop bottle and returned to staring at her computer monitor. On the screen was a mind map of notes. She exhaled through her nose. How convenient it was to do this digitally instead of physically. Physically, she would have had to buy a corkboard, and it would end up looking like a cliche covered in papers and pictures linked with push pins and yarn.

Sure, she was obsessive, but she didn't have to play into it like that. Digital notes were cleaner.

Using this cyber corkboard, she was attempting to map out any and all instances where she might have been made aware of Ville. It was astonishing how precisely her parents had kept him hidden from her. She had graphed out much and yet had nothing.

Asking her parents directly was out of the question. She hadn't spoken with them in years and for good reason. This conundrum only reinforced this decision.

How was it possible that Ville was kept from her? She pressed the palms of her hands to her temples. Thinking about this was giving her a headache. There were no answers. She hated when there were no answers.

She gradually, like slowly pulling off a band aid, got herself away from the computer desk and stiffly walked to the kitchen to drink some water. Her body felt tired despite doing nothing but sitting. She must have been tensing her muscles.

As she sipped on her water, she tried her best to cease deliberating about Ville's presence, or lack thereof, for a moment, but it wasn't stopping.

"I'm going to have to video call him soon," she thought. "We need to talk about this promptly."

She went back to her desk and pulled up DChat.

---

ENTERING ANON SPECTATOR MODE FOR DROOM "@Virus, @Virus v2.0 Direct"
DATESTAMP 2023-05-19
---BEGIN TRANSCRIPT---

Virus v2.0: You there?

Virus: ...Yes, now I am.

Virus v2.0: Hey, about that video call, can we do it sooner rather than later?
Virus v2.0: Tomorrow?

Virus: Sure.

Virus v2.0: Great.

---

Thank goodness. His confirmation moderately eased her stress. She would hopefully have answers soon.

---


By Adaline Guerra