Chapter Text
Connor woke up, looked out of the window, and froze.
Somehow, he couldn’t see fully out of the window. A slither was all that was left, a slither of light, the rest blocked out by a tall mound of white.
Snow.
He rubbed his eyes, looked again. It was still there. This would be… happy, right? When it had snowed earlier in the month, he’d made snowmen.
Of course, that was only a little bit of snow. A few inches, not so much that he couldn’t open the window for fear that it would all come falling in.
Pushing quickly out of his room, Connor came into the living room and saw the exact same sight. It wasn’t quite as bad, levels only reaching halfway up the window. But outside… it was deep. So deep that if he stepped in it, it would go up to his knees. His middle. Maybe further.
He looked away. It was fine, it wasn’t as if he had to go into it. Right?
Connor.
He jumped, turning back around at the familiar voice.
“Amanda?”
No one replied. He sighed, shaking his head. Just seeing things. It was just all that snow, making him see things.
But then there were footsteps. Not outside, not crunching on the snow—no, they were coming down the hallway.
He spun back around the other way, came face to face—
With Hank.
“Fuck… you seen the snow out there?”
“Yes.” He brushed a hand over his front, hoping it hid the way he tried to get his breathing back under control.
“Shit’s everywhere. Well, looks like we’re not working today. Oh, no…”
“You don’t… don’t sound very upset about it.”
Hank gave him a look, then sighed, shaking his head. “Nah. Nice to have a day off. Although the snow day’s extreme. Gonna have to shovel a path out later to take Sumo for a shit…”
The dog in question, sitting in his bed at the far side of the room, grumbled at Hank’s words.
“Be more polite, Hank.” Connor chuckled. “He’s a refined dog.”
“Oh, sorry. I meant—”
“I don’t think any of us want to know what you meant.” He laughed, then stopped. Knock, knock, knock…
He turned back around slowly; sure that he could hear the sound of tapping at the window. But no one was there.
“You alright?”
“Oh? Yes. Just the snow… hitting against the window.”
“Right. Uh… I’m gonna get some breakfast. Don’t offer to cook.”
“I won’t.”
Hank gave him another long, studying look, before walking back into the kitchen.
But Connor didn’t notice. He wasn’t paying attention, instead walking back over to the window. He was sure he saw someone walk past. Maybe it was nothing. After all, it’d been like a blur, a dot in the corner of his eye. A bird, perhaps.
Still, he stopped at the window and studied what he could see of outside for a while. The thick layer of snow on the ground, barely trod on, a clean white coating over the city of Detroit.
“Connor.”
He turned back around, looking at Hank.
“Yes?”
Hank looked up from the cereals he was pouring out. “What?”
“What do you want?”
“I… what?”
“You said my name.”
“Uh, no I didn’t.”
“Oh. Sorry.”
He shook his head, watched Hank for a moment more, then turned back to the window.
Amanda stared back at him.
He reeled backwards, tripping over his own feet and landing on a heap on the floor.
“Holy shit, you alright?”
Splaying out his hands behind him and looking back at the glass, no one was there. No Amanda. Just a plain white expanse of snow.
“I… tripped.”
Hank panted minutely as he came to a stop beside Connor, crouching down to help him up.
“You know I don’t believe you. You saw something.”
“I don’t follow.” He replied, reaching out blindly for Hank’s hand, eyes still fixed on the window.
“Outside. Something made you freak out.”
“I… maybe a bird flew past.”
“I was watching ya. Nothing flew past.”
“Oh… Watching me?”
“Yeah.” Hank helped him up before starting to push him towards the couch. “I thought you were actin’ funny so I watched you for a bit. I’m allowed to, ‘cause it looks like something’s wrong.”
“It’s…” He looked up from where he was sitting, eyes locking with the glitching form of Amanda before she disappeared in an instant, “It’s… complicated.”
“Might be half eight in the fuckin’ morning but I’m all ears. Tell me about it.”
“I don’t…”
“Connor.”
He looked up at Hank. The man nodded for him to continue. He opened his mouth—
“Connor.”
And looked up again. Standing behind Hank, outside the window, hands pressed up against the glass frame. Amanda.
“Amanda?”
“Uh… no, it’s Hank.”
He ignored Hank, getting back up on shaky legs, moving back towards the window. This time Amanda didn’t disappear, although it looked as if one rogue breeze might knock her out of existence.
She stared at him, something… different about her, he noticed, as she watched his movements. Her hands didn’t waver from the glass. Her blue dyed strand of hair was hung down, framing the side of her face. Black eye makeup trickled down beneath her eyes like ghostly tears.
Despite everything telling him not to, he pressed his hands against the glass, a thin layer separating his and Amanda’s hands.
“Help me.” Was all that she said, before disappearing again.
“Connor, what the—”
He turned around quickly, almost colliding with Hank.
“It’s Amanda… she’s…”
“Wait, wait, wait. Are you talking about that AI lady up in your brain? The one who tried to get you to shoot Markus?”
“I… it looks like her. But it isn’t her. It can’t be.”
“Connor, you said you deleted that garden. Or whatever it was. You said that she was gone.”
“I… we have to help her.”
“What? Are you sure she’s… uh, actually there?”
“What are you trying to insinuate?”
Hank held up his hands. “Nothing, nothing. I’m sorry. I just don’t understand.”
“It’s fine. I don’t understand either. All that I know is… she’s out there. She looks like she’s trapped.”
“Out…” Hank jerked a thumb towards the window, “there?”
“No. I think…” He held a finger against his LED, spinning yellow.
“No.”
“Hank, I—”
“You can’t go up there. It’s broken. You told me that, it’s broken as shit. Made you go all funky for days after you went in there.”
“There’s no choice! I need to see what I can do. What’s going on up there.”
“Are you sure it’s not another virus? Maybe it’s makin’ you see things?”
“It’s real, Hank.”
“Alright, I believe you… But if you’re going in there, tell me a way I can help you.”
“What?”
“If you start glitching out again, I don’t want to have to drag you back to New Jericho to get you fixed up. I don’t think I can in this snow.”
He nodded. “That’s a fair point. I… I’ll set up something on entering the Zen Garden. That if you tap my LED twice, I’ll be forced out of the garden. But only use that if—”
“I got it. I got it.”
Connor nodded, sitting back down on the couch. “I’ll… I’ll go in now.”
“Okay. You got this. Don’t fall for any fuckin’ traps, you hear me?”
He smiled, then closed his eyes, and entered the Zen Garden.