Headsets For Fear

PRESENT 17 : NORA

Forty two days later

She still hadn't told me what the deal with Callan was.

I was growing more frustrated with each and every passing day, though I was careful not to let my annoyance be revealed to anyone. I grit my teeth and went to work everyday. Alex had asked me the reason for taking a holiday, but I had chosen not to answer.

Callan seemed to understand that something was piqueing me, and tried to ask me about it. What should I say to him? You see, the game thinks you're a terrible person. And I think I believe a software that has no physical existence.

A bank had been hacked, recently, and huge amounts of money had been stolen. My team was currently investigating the matter. The interest in the game murders had dwindled, since no new patterns in the murders were being found, and there was no fucking lead that we could go after. Though the investigation was still ongoing, there wasn't anything being done except the routine interrogations. Thus, I was determined to find something of use after my encounter with the game. This had to end, after all. It couldn't go on forever. The lives of people mattered.

Also, I was waiting for Alex today. I had decided to would reveal about the game to her and Margot.

I had figured out that except the evening, the game didn't really remain connected to my brain. I had conducted several risky tests, and all of them proved the fact that the game was not always active. It needed rest, too.

Therefore, I wanted to make the most of the time I had everyday.

I went to her office and knocked.

"Come in," she replied. She was surprised to see me. I usually didn't come and visit her office unless it was something urgent.

She raised an eyebrow to ask a question.

"Alex, I want to say something urgent. I should have told you before. Do you have some time?"

"Y-Yeah, it's alright," she replied. "Tell me. What's the matter?"

I told her everything, from how I came across the game to everything it had told me that week. During the course of the conversation, Alex's eyes grew bigger and bigger with shock, and I was sure they'd burst out by the time I was done with my story.

"Fuck," was all she said in reply to my story.

I nodded. "It's true."

"And do you believe what she said about Callan?"

If I totally refuse, it would be telling a lie. "I'm not sure what to believe."

Alex tugged at my hand, and I could see that she was getting desperate. "Nora, it's all a lie! Don't believe what that bitch says. Callan wouldn't do anything against us."

I looked at her resolutely. "It's no harm in seeing what the game has to show me, Alex. I know what I'm doing."

"How so? You're just as vulnerable as everyone else is."

I shook my head, remembering that no one knew about how Andrew had trained me to protect my brain.

I told her about everything - about the tests Andrew used to perform on me since childhood, how he helped me understand the nature of fear and how to combat it. I told her about what I had learned about the game from the Beckett Murders, and how I had been using it all this time to make the antivirus.

She slowly took it all in, asking only a few questions in between - like how the experiments had an impact on me, and why Andrew trusted me so much in the first place.