Geeky Turn On!

Another day, another dollar

 So I ended up playing Persona 2 from two in the morning til around seven AM. I was BEAT! But I knew two things to be true; first, if I went to bed now, my sleep schedule would be screwed beyond belief. Second, if I slept through the whole day, Dad would give me grief for it. So, no matter how messed up and tired I was, I HAD to endure it. Dang.

I decided to head upstairs and shower because I felt just DONE smelling like butt. I took a quick shower, by which I mean I only took twenty minutes. By the time I was out, my dad was outside the bathroom looking...I don't know, mad? Disappointed?

"Look who's up," he said, crossing his arms. "I'd be impressed if not for the fact I know you spent the whole damn night gaming."

"I'm up, right?" I said, shrinking under his gaze.

"Not entirely by your own choice," he said, shaking his head. "You need to rethink your life."

"My life's fine," I said to him, avoiding his eyes.

"One day you won't be able to convince yourself anymore," he said to me as he nudged me out of the bathroom. It was his turn at the shower.

So I headed back downstairs to change clothes; just my tank top, panties, and shorts. Did I have to leave the house today? I didn't think so...

My stomach grumbled; maybe if I was lucky, Sarah would make me breakfast. I haven't had any real, actual breakfast in a while; I mean, yeah yesterday I did, but that was different. I headed upstairs; the smell of pancakes hit my nose immediately.

"Morning, honey!" Sarah said, beaming a smile. "I made breaky! Come join us!"

"Sure," I said, sitting down at the table for breakfast. Sarah served me a large stack of pancakes and a frosty glass of milk; MAN was I hungry! I scarfed those pancakes down!

"This is nice," said Sarah as she sat down beside me. "You know what? I wish we could do this more often!"

"I guess," I said after swallowing the piece of pancake I was chewing. "Thanks, by the way. For breakfast."

"I make a delicious breakfast every day!" She said. "You're always welcome to join us!"

I got up from the table and left to return to my room. I sighed; none of my friends will expect me to be up this early, so I figured it'd be a good idea to check out some YouTube videos or shit. The last time I was up before 9 AM was Christmas, and back then I had a new game to play; at this moment, I ain't got nothing to do!

Damn...is this really my life? Am I really the kind of person who can legit say they ain't got nothing to do at 8 AM on a work day?

I shook my head and checked my email. I was being offered three hundred bucks for some system check for Stick Co.; easy money, really. I accepted the job; I knew I'd get a quick call back because whoever sent me this email sent it ten minutes ago.

"We have a new security system," wrote the dude. "We need it tested. How quickly can you do it?"

"I can do it right now, if you want," I wrote back.

"Please do," he wrote.

I bust out my burner laptop; I strictly use it for business like this. I got on Tor, did my thing with the whole hacking and junk which for LEGAL reasons I'm not willing to share with anyone. The company was small, but they had an online presence. They were being protected by a new anti-spyware and anti-hacking program called Jericho. I rolled my eyes; even I knew that Bible story.

Just as I thought; flimsy. Very, very flimsy. As soon as I cracked the password (abc123? Really?) I had access to ALL their stuff; from their budget to their expenditures, to even the names and the addresses of EVERYONE at that company! Heck, with just a few strokes of my keyboard, I could do a whole lotta damage, from doxxing everyone in the company, to even draining the company's BANK ACCOUNT!!!

"First off, get a new password," I wrote to the dude. "I cracked it in literally two minutes, and I was using a basic password breaker. Second, please invest in a stronger protection program; this one falls apart once the password gets cracked. Your company's bank account is at stake here, so do this as quickly as possible."

Ten minutes later, the dude wrote back. "Thank you for your service. We will stay in touch."

Three hundred bucks were sent to my PayPal. I smiled; another day another dollar. I DO have a job! It's unorthodox, but it gets me paid!

So I checked the rest of my emails; nothing but crap, and nothing from April either. Ah well. I checked the time; nine oh nine in the morning. I sighed; would it kill me to hop off to bed now and sleep till two? Probably, but like I said earlier; that'd put my sleep cycle all whack.

Damn...this is boring. And when I'm bored, I usually start going to dark places in my mind, places I don't like going to. I start remembering shit, and that gets my emotions all fucked up.

I remembered this one time in second grade when everyone's mom had come to class for some Mother's Day thing. Since I dissociated when the teacher had announced the activity, I had no way of knowing it was gonna happen. Anyway, everyone else' mom had come to visit, but mine. By that time Mom had run off with her rich boyfriend, leaving me and Dad all alone. I felt really left out, but the teacher let me have the day off so it was all OK.

I spent that day in my room playing SNES. It was a happy day, really. I mean, sure, I cried for hours on end, but it was OK! Really!

Why am I crying now? That shit happened two and a half decades ago! Oh God I need a distraction...

I booted up my ePSXe and decided to play some Suikoden 2. That's one of the best JRPG's ever; I LOVE Suikoden 2! I played the game for three hours, only stopping because it was lunch time.

I headed upstairs, calling for Sarah. When she didn't respond, my lips started to quiver, and my hands started to shake. My sight got all blurry, and tears fell down my face.

I was five years old. I was calling out to Mom, but I couldn't find her anywhere...

I gasped, pulling myself out of THAT memory. No thank you, I don't need to relive it! It's all in the past!

All in the past...

I got a call. I checked my phone; it was Gabe. "Hello?"

"Hey, Dorkwinkle, there's something at the store for you," he said. "Come down and get it."

I raised an eyebrow; what could he mean?