Diary of A Programmer (Completed)

Chapter 22: The Present and the Future

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

_______

Almost 2 years had passed, but memories of Vera during her time as an intern and psychiatrist felt just like yesterday. Sure, it still haunts her and makes her feel like she wasn't worthy to even live.

Busy, she somehow felt grateful that she had to suffer like that; she had to feel pain to gain lessons, but in a hard way. She has also realized and learned now that everything that happened wasn't all her fault. It happened because she was too young back then; she didn't understand back then the procedures and processes as to why and how she should deal with those patients she had to deal with as an intern and even as a first-time psychiatrist.

Nobody is experienced at first, actually...

She has now stopped beating herself up and blaming herself for everything that happened.These are her thoughts while flipping every page of her diary with attached photos of her actual memories with people around that diary.

She didn't attach those photos just for any reason, but she attached those to remember every patient whom she took care of but failed to save. It is not to beat her up as well, but to be her inspiration to the business she built while in the process of healing...

_____

A year ago...

Time had passed, and slowly Vera was regaining herself and could now distinguish the reality and the fiction she had made and believed all her life. The world she built on her memories and diary.

A simple therapy that made a big part of her, to her surprise, was Ms. Thea, one of the nurses that took care of her during her time in that facility. All the parts about therapy and the clinic were also part of her diary, which she just created.

The people who stare at her are also just the patients like her; they know her very well because she's one of them at that moment.One time when she was outside of the facility and was accompanied by Nurse Thea, she sat on the bench...

She thought at first... It was just a normal day where she could stare at the view outside.

But then she was shocked when she heard a voice say, "Hmm, hi, Vera!" from a man she thinks is in his late 20s.

She just stared at the man and came back to staring at the view outside of the facility.

The man didn't take it as a rejection but took it as a sign to continue speaking. "Look, I know it's hard to accept everything that happened to you, heck! If I was in your situation I would really lose my mind... Imagine entering college at the age of 15 and graduated at the age of 19? After that you had to take medicine in order to earn PhD? That's a mind-blowing and overwhelming! But you did, you managed to survive, it's actually good you're taking a rest for now. But this isn't the type of rest I wanted you to have. That's mind-blowing and overwhelming! But you did, you managed to survive, it's actually good you're taking a rest for now. But this isn't the type of rest I wanted you to have. I also want you to free yourself from everything you no longer have control. For the things that happened because you're young and inexperienced. Sure they lost their lives but don't be so hard on yourself, you weren't their Physiatrist at that moment, you are just a nineteen years old intern who didn't even get to experience puberty because adult responsibility comes at you early"

For a moment it made Vera stare at that man.

For a moment she suddenly wants to cry, a tear she's been holding back for years escaped her eyes...

With that, she just hugged her brother, Neal Ashton Aebram.

Whom she had forgotten for a long time because of the big responsibilities she had to handle.

She forgot that she still has her brother. Even though they grew up not having parents, her brother, who is five years older than her, made sure she got everything she needed.

She never felt they were lacking parents or she lacked love.

Because every obligation, whether it is physical, mental, or emotional, she got it all from her brother.

Everything just changed when she had to study in a far place, which is away from her hometown,the Philippines...

The time when she had to be an exchange student from Brazil after passing the exam for acceleration.

That made her forget she still has one and only family she can lean on, not only a brother but also like a parent.

After that encounter with her brother, slowly she has managed to recover again.That's where the CopeBot project started; that's where she and his brother, who happens to be a programmer and developer, got her inspiration for her diary...

They have made the CopeBot come to life; this time it's in reality...

______

That CopeBot has boomed around the world keeps inspiring a lot of people.

At first it wasn't part of her plan to earn from that app; she just genuinely wanted to help people in need around the world using what she learned and what her brother knows.

But then some big companies approached her to buy that app but gave her full control over it with just a minimal subscription and everything because they saw a lot of people were using it.

She refused it over and over again...

But one company had caught her attention; it's their strategy to make this app permanently free but make it profitable by imparting some merchandise like the mugs, t-shirts, and notebooks where they can write down things they like, just like something personalized about that app.

They also suggest she make a book out of her experiences and how she coped with that pain in disguise.

Of course she doesn't like the idea of making it profitable, but when she realized that she wants to help and invest more in things like projects like hers.

She suddenly accepted the proposal of making it into a profit to donate that profit to the less fortunate and to the mental health facilities like that both in Brazil and in her hometown, the Philippines...

Now she has her physical store, which she named Cope Store, where all basic necessities for someone who suffers mentally and merchandise from their app, CopeBot, are available.

It has at least a minimum of 15 branches now, both in the Philippines and Brazil.

And she planned to expand it more; marketing was the easiest because the products she produced are all affordable...