Welcome to the complicated life of Lyla. An up and coming star, making strides in technology to assist the disabled. Especially the blind, seeing as that hits close to home for her.
Known in general as a nice and compassionate person, she doesn't ha...
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As said before, sleep doesn't come well for the creature we call Lyla. It all started when she was a child, and she feared that she would wake up without her sight. Doctors were not kind when they spoke about her conditions, especially when they went to court and had no choice but to talk about the evil that was her father. Extreme repeated trauma caused her to go blind, something that she has always kept out of the limelight. Thanks to the judicial system she and her mother got new names and her father got a life sentence. They slapped him with enough child abuse charges among drug and other felonies that hopefully he will never see the light day again.
Boys, friends, make-up, dances, dolls, or dresses. None of really interested Lyla while she was growing up unless Loretta prodded her- which wasn't often- she had always been an odd duck. One of the reasons the monster that fathered her bullied her as he did. It went well past unnecessarily bullying, Lyla's very being bothered, Charles. Excessive name-calling, quick and swift punishments -most grossly immoderate to her grievances.
The only constant good in Lyla's childhood was Loretta. Even when Charles beat the tar out of her, she still smiled and stole secret moments with her daughter. Those were usually filled with candy and other sweets.
His lawyer built a whole case on how Charles was just a by-product of his upbringing and everything was being blown out of proportions. Claiming most of Lyla's injuries had been from careless play. The lawyer her mother found was a nice lady and the only thing adult Lyla's brain remembered anymore was that she fought to not have Lyla take the stand. After her, the accused demanded Loretta be on the stand and then the man of the hour, Charles, himself.
The later years of Lyla's childhood were filled with a guilty Loretta who worked a fair bit but still did everything for Lyla. There were no rules, almost every wish was granted. Lyla wasn't a very materialistic child. She only wanted one thing to find a way to fix her sight.
As soon as she saw a computer, something in her started to nag. She had to know everything about them. While her mom worked her nights away, Lyla spent them dismantling and reassembling all the electronics in the house. That did lead to a mix up with the blender and the toaster - neither would work for weeks- then she moved onto coding, the internet and many more hours of her life spent studying.
College was spent taking an erratic schedule of classes- both on and off-campus, online, in-person. It all leads to one day. The day her team made the very first implant. The one that's been implanted into Lyla's brain. She didn't listen to any of the objections made by any of the start-up team.
It took a small series of surgeries and updating the implant to get where she was when Ian shot her.
Now despite being at the top of the world-metaphorically speaking- she felt like she was smaller than she did in the courtroom.
Seventeen years later, and she still refers to that as the worse day of her life.
A wallowing Lyla sprawled across the couch is what Emma found, after letting herself in. In tow was a young guy who was easy on the eyes who Lyla knew was an intern but couldn't recall his name.
"Gerard, eyes please." She couldn't hide the wince she made when her eyes turned on. Emma gave her a high brow questioning look. A hint of red rushed to Lyla's cheek as she closed her housecoat -fancy depression robe- she threw a dirty look at Emma. Assuming she finally got all of Lyla's text and emails. She even got Gerard to send something like push notifications.
"I brought Patrick to help us. No, before you even ask he isn't from my department." Emma sat her coat and bag down on the chair beside her. Motioning to Patrick to follow her together they went to the control. Emma paused for just a second only to get a drink from the fridge. Lyla threw a quick glance at her room, rubbed her temples, and continues on her way to the control room.
The latest Emma's meddling theory Lyla had been she was trying to find her a boyfriend, or maybe it was just to give the two ladies another friend. That thought sobered up Lyla and despite all her other screaming thoughts she put her best effort forward and tried to befriend Patrick.
The fire incident stumped the trio, repeatedly. They met up weekly at first, it quickly became 3-5 times a week. There was no trace of even a hint of any tampering to the system. Also, there was no hint when the bug came from that shut Gerald down. This did not sit well with Lyla.
