MonuMental: The Hack's Back

Chapter 4: Send. Send. Send

Chapter 4: Send. Send. Send

Willis couldn’t bring himself to play The Age of the Pigs. Pigs, pigs, pigs. Every time he closed his eyes he saw them. Brainless. Oinking. He’d had a good laugh at first. But something in him finally cracked.

He spent the next few days away from his console, moping about the house and avoiding the anxious looks from his mother. She always seemed to be around and to be glancing his way. Zeb would scoff if he witnessed the way she treated him. Arizona too. He felt like crap.

And now she edged up to him in the kitchen, a hand held out to pat him on the arm. ‘Everything all right?’

‘And why shouldn’t it be?’

Her hand froze. ‘Just doing what mums do. Watching over their kids.’

Willis sucked in a breath and expelled it. ‘I don’t need watching over!’ He didn't mean to yell so loud.

She turned and left the room.

Later, from the hall, he overheard her telling his dad to steer clear of his nibs.

He grunted to himself, kicked his open bedroom door shut, and kept away from them too.

There seemed to be nothing he could do to lever himself out of his gloom. And all because he didn’t like the v’game Zeb was making them play. How pathetic was that!

He dragged himself to bed extra early that night. Maybe he could sleep himself out of it. It would be nice to wake feeling a little more up. Even a teeny bit.

He woke after a mere hour and felt no less up. Indeed, it was as if the deep hole he’d fallen into had filled in ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­– with him buried at the bottom. He’d gone to sleep with the virtual pigs dancing before his eyes. But in his dreams, there hovered only one image: the face of a friend. And now, awake but with the memory of that face, he had a realization. It wasn’t The Age of the Pigs that had him feeling this way.

It was Ari.

He sat up.

What had he done to make her so aloof? He had to talk to her. But what could he possibly say? How would he even begin? Other kids never seemed to have problems expressing themselves.

He knew why he was this way. It was all that travelling around as he grew up. After his family had finally settled down, he’d met Zeb and Arizona. They were his first real friends. And he could speak to them in a way that did not normally come easy to him. Until them, apart from his parents – and let’s face it, parents don’t count, they love you no matter what – there’d been nobody who as much as gave him a second look.

Yet now Arizona was pulling away. Day by day, a distance grew wider between them.

He fell back on his bed and gazed into the dark, rifling through his options. Then he rolled over and checked his Zeepad. Sensing his shift in its direction, it softly glowed. Its display indicated it was shortly after nine.

She could still be v’gaming on her Plus. Once he wouldn’t have thought twice about contacting her anytime, but now he felt he had to plan it carefully.

He’d send her a message. It wasn’t as effective as talking directly to her but the idea attracted him. The other day, when he’d touched her lightly on the sleeve, she’d recoiled then wrapped her arms about her, shivering. The memory of it made him sick. Even Zeb noticed. Well, she could hardly complain about a message. No physical touch there.

He’d say how he felt and leave it at that. Get in. Say his bit. Get out.

Then wait.

Nice and neat.