Welcome Home - REBOOT AU

Chapter 1

Melanie was reclining upon her bed, her thoughts reeling from the realization that she had inadvertently left the USB in her computer. She felt a familiar unease wash over her, the same ominous feeling that had haunted her throughout the day, as if the stars were aligned to set into motion some ominous event. She was facing the wall, her eyes unfocused and devoid of any visible object of interest, seemingly fixated on the void before her. Her thoughts danced and weaved in and out of her mind, but she was unable to quiet the restlessness that gnawed at her, and sleep seemed like but a distant dream.

Melanie felt uneasy, but she was determined to protect herself. She sat up in her bed, turned on her lamp, and reached for her handgun that she kept in the nightstand drawer. With her weapon in hand, she made her way to each window in her home, making sure they were all locked and closed. After finishing her security checks, she heard a peculiar sound, unlike anything she had ever heard before. It caused her ears to ring, but she forced herself to remain calm and investigate. As she approached her office door, she noticed a light seeping out from beneath it. She knew she had turned off her computer before going to bed. With her heart racing, she slowly opened the door, prepared for anything that might be waiting for her on the other side.

Opening the door to her office, Melanie was met with an unexpected and unsettling scene. The once bright and static-filled room was now as dark as the pit of the void. The sound the static noise had ceased, as if it never existed. Her fear now reaching its full potential, her eyes searched left and right, scanning her surroundings for anything of note. A sense of panic washed over her body, but she refused to succumb to her fears. She remained calm, making her way over to her desk, her eyes fixed on the monitor. Her instincts had not failed her, the light on the monitor's sleep button was no longer orange, it was now off. Her eyes roamed over the monitor, her curiosity reaching its peak, and she began to move toward the computer. She hesitated at first but ultimately decided to press the sleep button. As she did, her heart sank, for what she saw made her stomach churn in a way she had never had before. There on the computer screen was something, or rather someone, she never could've imagined.

As Melanie stood there in complete disbelief, lost in a whirlwind of questions and emotions, she was suddenly jarred from her stupor by a familiar voice ringing out from her computer's speakers. Wally's voice, sounding eerily clear and close, seemed to emanate from all around her. The realization of what was really happening hit Melanie like a ton of bricks, as the events of what had been transpiring suddenly became all too clear to her. With her heart pounding in her chest, she was now desperate to understand the answer to the most pressing question of all: "What was Wally doing on her computer?"

"You can see me..." Wally's words continued to echo in her mind as Melanie attempted to process what she had just witnessed. After his startling revelation, she saw a flurry of emotions flash across Wally's face, as if he were going through an emotional rollercoaster. It took him a few moments to come to his senses, at which point he tried to shut down the computer, but it ended up crashing instead. Despite the chaos, Melanie's mind was made up, and she immediately fumbled with the computer to turn it back on. As the device started up, she scanned the screen, but there was no sign of Wally anywhere. Relieved yet confused at the same time, she sat back in her chair, trying to make sense of what had happened. After thinking for a while, she finally came to a conclusion:

As Melanie's tired mind struggled to comprehend the bizarre scene that had unfolded in front of her, she found herself desperately clinging to the hope that it was all just a hallucination brought on by her exhaustion. Despite the overwhelming feeling of fear and confusion that consumed her, she managed to tell herself that it was all just a symptom of her lack of sleep, her imagination simply running wild in the dark hours of the night. Unable to shake off the overwhelming sense of dread that hung in the air, she dropped her gun next to her keyboard and stumbled back into bed, eager to close her eyes and hope that when she opened them again, everything would be back to normal. She buried her face into the pillow, feeling the heavy weight of exhaustion finally overtake her, and instantly fell into a deep, dreamless sleep, hoping that the strange events of the night would be a forgotten memory when she woke up.