MICH : LEVEL 11

DAY 234 : B-DAY, SECONDWEEK, HORUS, YEAR 1

CENTRAL 23 : CENTRAL DISTRICT 5 : WORRIED

Against my better judgement, I follow Jessie back.

I’m not invisible. Nor am I particularly hard to spot with my luminescent Forever Blanket. But I can move through crowds quite exactly like they’re not even there. Which is apparently enough to follow her all the way home, completely unnoticed.

Well, one of her escorts notices me.

Also too many bystanders to count.

But Jessie doesn’t. In fact, she doesn’t seem to notice much of anything at all.

And no one tells her. That’s what matters.

So, having followed them the whole way back, I see the whole thing play out.

And then it finally happens. Darreck finally, FINALLY shows his true colors.

I’m about to jump in when I… FEEL someone touch my shoulder.

But… That’s impossible. My blanket is still equipped.

While I’m trying to figure out what just happened, he grabs her.

And then they grab him. All of them. I can’t even see how many Mods there are.

I don’t have time to fully lament the confusing unintuitiveness of moderators and modifications both being colloquially referred to as ‘Mods’ before they’re all just… Gone. The Moderators, I mean. The Modifications are still there, as far as I can tell.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

But I’m distracting myself. Not from the relief, but rather the unprecedented self-loathing.

I knew what he was. And yet, I did nothing.

I could’ve stepped in two months ago. I SHOULD’VE stepped in over one month ago. I was right there, looking at her while she looked right back in that stupid alcoholic ice cream shop.

But I didn’t. Instead, I just froze. And once she ran, I did likewise. In a different direction altogether.

I don’t run now though. Now, I stand here. And I watch as the Admins take the first chance they’ve had over all the months of me being able to freely act, but neglecting to do so. They even told me as much…

After things settle, after they leave, I just sit outside the douchey rich-guy-appartment on half a bench. And I think. And lament. And obsess.

I don’t want to leave her broken like this. Because that’s what she is.

I owe her better than that.

She’s broken and I want to fix her and I… Can’t.

I’m not stupid. I recognize patterns at least as well as the next guy. Quite a bit better, actually, judging by my career record.

But… I keep failing. Little as I want to admit it, I have to confront the fact that I am NOT what she needs right now.

Not like I’m her family or anything… Or even a friend. I’d like to think I kind of was for a minute there. But that time has clearly passed. Especially seeing as she thought I was Jameson.

I still don’t get why she never caught onto the fact, what with our different personalities and all. Maybe she just wanted to believe her big brother was with her… And who’s to say I didn’t lead her on, pretending to be someone actually qualified to give her any advice at all?

But what if I could find someone exactly that qualified? And from Richmond… Who died in the last ten years or so… Someone who once knew a girl named Jessica… And maybe even a boy named Jameson.

Once upon a time, I researched everyone either of them ever had dealings with. I still have it all memorized. Even without Eidetic Memory, I could never forget anything that went through my mind that day… Frozen in RAM. Recently accessed, and forever static.

Wait… That’s it! That’s what I can do! What only I can do!

And so I will.

Three things to start…

First, I get up from my chair.

Second, I walk to the train station.

Third, I send a Friend Request to Oneshot.