I’ve seen reds before, not often but still. You can almost tell by their posture and facial expressions that something is off. I’ve never seen one like this though, she just sits there, like it’s normal. I hesitate, unsure what to do. The woman looks up at me, unblinking she stares. She looks so thin, too thin in fact. Her clothes are barely holding together.

I fight my desire to turn and walk away. “Hello, are you alright?” Sounds stupid, obviously she’s not but I don’t know what else to do. She is so at odds with everything else that it feels surreal. She leans against the perfect white of the walls. She sits on the beautifully tiled ground, across from her is flowery and vegetation kept healthy by city owned robots.

I no longer interest her as her head turn back to look down right Infront of her knees. Damn, I should run. Her HHI is 28. I can’t imagine what kind of fucked up shit you would have to do to land on a score that low. I notice the camera, one of the thousands present in this city. It is angled to look at the woman, maybe it sees me too. The system will see, if I approach this woman the system will know. My heartbeat drums at a faster and faster pace as I stand still. The surveillance camera moves, I’m sure of it. It now has a clear line of sight on me. I can’t, I’m scared.

I turn around and have to struggle with myself not to run. I walk in a brisk pace away from the alley and continue at that pace until I find myself at home. I open the door and triple check to make sure the door is properly locked. You need ID access to open an apartment door so there is no need to check really but it’s comforting.

The apartment is empty. I truly wish Emma was home right now but I already knew she was otherwise occupied.

The woman had a paper bag stuffed with something and a blanket like she was sleeping there. Why would she sleep in an alley? I’ve never heard of something like that. I have never talked to a red before, or well attempted too.

I notice myself just standing in the hallway. If ever a drink was in order then this would be the occasion for it. I’ve relaxed a bit at this point but I still need a big glass of something. We have bourbon, I’m not a huge fan but it will do fine.

Association with a red can have negative impact and ones HHI but more then that I’m terrified, I just realized, of what the reds are. Why are they reds, what did they do? For all I know she might hide a knife under the blanked ready to stab me. Her hair was all frizzy and dried, her lips looked split. I’ve seen plenty of women almost as thin as her but that is optional. The diet pills are common so people simply choice their weight despite what they eat. From her gaunt face I could tell the difference between women with a weird sense for beauty and a starving person. Starving. A concept from history class, a pervasive evil that haunted human kind for most of our history. A concept foreign to the modern world, as far as I know.

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That was what I thought but maybe I simply know too little. Well maybe the red woman was an outlier, she’s red so maybe she’s crazy and refuse to eat. Maybe she is in the middle of a drawn-out suicide. The notion sits poorly with me so the bourbon quickly evaporates from my glass.

*Ring*..

*Ring*…

*Ring*….

Oh, the ID. Ehm, I should answer. *Click*

“Hello”

Sasha shows up in hologram form.

“Hello Sasha.”

“You said you’d be here and help me with my exercises and, ehm, check my injuries.”

Ohh right. That was my plan for the day before Milly called. I don’t really feel up to it but I did promise her and I want her ready for the game.

“I’ll be right there. Sorry for not showing up on time, something came up.”

“Is everything good, you seem different?” Sashas concern is evident but I really don’t want to talk about it.

“It’s all good, be right there.” *Click*

I enter VR as usual but my mind was otherwise occupied. I keep thinking back to how my teachers from when I was little spoke with disdain of reds and how good people avoided them. How they are failures of society and judged to be detrimental to everyone. It seems I took the lessons to heart.

I meet up with Sasha and supervise her individual training regimen. Sometimes I comment or correct her but I still find it hard to focus. I barely register how she reacts to the medical treatment and physical therapy. The warm feeling of alcohol followed me to VR, thank the system for small wonders.

“Hey you are being too rough.” Sasha complained.

I notice how I’m kneading her and quickly turn my focus to the lass lying face down on the bed.

“Sorry, I guess I’m a bit absent minded today.”

“I noticed. Are you really okey?” I ponder her question for a while. I finally decide to ask a question I’ve been holding in.

“Your HHI score is 45. What did you do to go so low?” I know I get full score for rude.

“Waah? Eh..” She pipes down and moves her body a bit.

Eventually she angles her head to look straight at me. “There was an accident when I was young, my parents died and I was injured.” She stops and looks away again.

Oh shit I shouldn’t have asked. If I wasn’t so off balance, I wouldn’t have asked like that.

“There was only my older sister to take care of me and she was busy so I didn’t go to school or anything for a while. I failed the psychological check-up too.”

“I’m sorry Sasha, for what happened and for asking. It was rude of me.”

She nods. “No one ever asks like that.” Well no, because it is considered bad form to ask people unless you are family or close.

“At one point I was at 41 points.” Fear marks her face when she says it. That’s way to close to red for comfort.

“In that case 45 points might be a comfort; you will be back to 50 before you know it.” I try to be encouraging.

Sasha seems sceptical. “45 points are bad enough for normal people to look at me funny. Except for you, who even friend listed me out of the blue.” She snickers a bit and I join her.

“Thanks for telling me Sasha. Now, be silent and enjoy yourself. I’ll make sure to take it slow for you.”

With a mortified expression she simply turns her head to stare at the wall. I would have thought she would make some token complaint or something but no. If you make such obvious expressions of course I’m going to tease you. Is this why Milly tease me? Something worth thinking about.