Archive of Our Own

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The cursor kept blinking. Like a steady, rhythmic pulse resembling a heartbeat. A digital rhythm that he could control, unlike the erratic thumping that he was feeling in his own chest.

ba-dump-ba-dump-ba-dump-ba-dump

He kept staring at the lines of code, coloured on black, as clear as it always had been, even if the lines seemed somewhat blurry. The only light in his room that mattered was the monitor. He didn’t look at the time, the outside’s lighting spoke for itself, and he knew it was way past his bed time.

But it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. Not anymore. Months after the incident that occurred divided his life to before and after phases, and while he tried to reassure himself that he was overthinking his current development goals, and that it was unnecessary to make - his heart, for whatever reason, coerced his brain into working overtime.

He fully knew that what he was doing was anything but healthy. But he couldn't find it in him to care about it.

He shook his head, drawing a hand through his black oily hair. He would shudder at the thought of his personal hygiene falling off - but it didn’t click in his head.

Despite everything, silence, alongside his quick typing at the keyboard, was his only audience that worked to help him stay sane. His girls were sleeping sound, no variables were shifting, no chaos was waiting for him.

Just one. More. Line.

He typed in a flurry, the clack of a keyboard akin to rapid sprint.

His eyes were drawn to the log messages on his second monitor.

His eyes started to burn. It felt like his eyeballs were gritted with sandpaper, and he tried his hardest to blink it away - but it did nothing to help it. With a frustrated sigh of his body playing against him in this session, he reached for his mug on his desk. Cold coffee, he didn’t remember when he brewed it, and which cup it had been, but he drank it anyway… even if he couldn’t taste anything but bitterness.

His hands shook, but he got used to it. It wasn't the first time, nor the second, not even the tenth. It didn’t matter that the room seemed to shift slightly to the left every time he turned his head while thinking about a function's code. The code mattered more, and the possible solution to anything close to being as disastrous as what had already happened prior, was on the horizon. He could almost smell it.

He pressed on, trying to use auto-suggestions to help himself pick the best, most performant function out of a query. And it hovered like a ghost, offering a try-except block. He accepted it, with his fingers feeling heavy.

He was working on the archive_state function right now. The logic was simple in theory: grab the volatile data from Redis, which was live data, coordinates, sensor readings… and compress them into a document for MongoDB, to store permanently.

It was like a safety net. He didn’t want them to crash, for them to lose precious seconds. He wanted to be prepared, to have the data with each byte of it stored safely.

His stomach gave a violent, audible growl. Like a hollow protest that echoed in the silent room, but it was an orchestra for nobody, given the person to whom the stomach belonged to, paid no mind to it. His hand moved to the mouse to scroll down the long wall of text.

Even if he wanted to eat, it was such a minuscule process to eliminate later. Right now, he needed to connect the redis_client to the backup instance.

His eyes squinted, he instinctively moved closer to his monitor, looking at the curly braces. Were they vibrating, or was his monitor dying?

He typed the line, but he had to go back three times, as he kept hitting the wrong key after another. His coordination was fraying.

“Come on…” - He muttered, his voice sounding thicker than he last heard it. - “Just save the state. Save the fucking state…”

He leaned back in his chair, trying to stretch the stiffness out of his spine. The room didn’t just shift to the left this time, it seemed to yaw, like he himself moved backward, away from the screen.

He closed his eyes for a second, taking a deep breath.

“Just a head rush. Nothing important. Keep going…” - He told himself, opening his eyes once more to focus on the blurry screen.

He looked at the terminal cursor, as it waited for the command to run the test script.

He hit Enter.

The terminal flickered, the cursor spun,

A bead of cold sweat rolled down his temple, landing in his eye, stinging it.

The green text flashed on the screen. It worked. It worked! The pipeline was functional, the data was saved, the system would watch over his darlings when he couldn’t.

He had done it.

“Fucking… finally…”

The framework was complete. He could sleep. He could finally rest up, close his eyes, without the fear of the unknown creeping in.

“Done. It’s finally… finally… d-done…”

He reached out to close the IDE, to finally shut down the computer. But as his finger extended toward the key, the monitor suddenly seemed to stretch away from him. Elongating into a dark tunnel.

ba-dum-ba-dum-badum-badum-badumbadumbadum

His heartbeat stuttered.

...ba-dump… ba-dump…

“W-wait… I-- huff haven’t… saved the--”

V i o l e n t l y .

S i d e w a y s .

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Darkness. It was always the first thing she saw. Thick nothingness, that was almost suffocating to feel through.

It pressed against her optical sensors. For a nanosecond, her processors glitched, flashing a warning of being underground. Of bits of dirt filling up her joints all over the body, the sickening laughter, muffled with each portion of grime thrown at her.

A shovel kept striking at the earth, but no matter how many times it happened, the hole she laid in, seemed to only grow deeper and deeper.

It was impossible, and she was helpless.

Her eyes snapped open, on instinct, she got up on the bed, breathing in and out.

She wasn’t in a hole, she wasn’t in danger, her room greeted her with comforting lit up stickers all over her ceiling. She looked at herself, checking that all of her body parts were okay, and they were. The sheets were tangled around her legs, and she heard her cooling fans whirring at a higher speed than usual, as if a response to panic.

She reached with her fumbling hand for the lamp on her nightstand, frantically tapping at it. Before long, the amber, warm light flooded the room, chasing the shadows away. She stared at the familiar walls, the posters of her friends and family, the little shrine of gifts from fans and friends alike. The clean floor, without any bits of dirt around there.

She was in solitude in her own room. Safe and sound.

“Just a dream…” - She whispered, her synthetic voice wavering slightly. - “Just a shitty dream. I’m fine. I’m fine…”

She ran a hand over her faceplate, checking for any moisture. There was none. No traces of fluids that could’ve come from dirt, no sweat. Her fingers played with her hair, as if trying to feel whether there were any knots, or if it didn’t feel presentable enough.

She stood up from her bed, wanting to check on herself in the mirror. With a few steps, at first uneasy, but easily becoming comfortable, she saw the reflection greeting her with an unamused expression. She furrowed her eyebrows, with the doppelganger furrowing its eyebrows as well.

She looked at it carefully, trying to keep her eyes peeled on the reflection, whilst turning her head around. She looked good, there were no traces of anything that would suggest otherwise.

Then, she stood still, looking at the reflection once again, and with a sure smile, she flipped the reflection off.

“Fuck you, nightmare!” - She whisper-yelled to the empty room, as if the nightmare were a tangible enemy she had just defeated in combat.

She looked at her bed, and while it felt welcoming to sleep through, given the scene outside her window was still dark, she didn’t want to go to bed just yet.

Glancing back in the mirror, she calmly spoke again. - “I fought you off, and I get a cookie for it.”

She got away from the mirror, with her feet bare, clacking against the wooden floor with more noise than she would’ve liked… but she didn’t remember where her slippers were.

Opening the door, more darkness outside greeted her, but she was home, and wasn’t afraid anymore. But just in case, to see things better, she powered on her night-vision, and walked down the hallway, toward the kitchen.

The house was silent, save for the low hum of the refrigerator. Normal, peaceful, nothing out of the ordinary, given the time.

She opened the cupboard, reaching for the cookie jar - a ceramic turtle jar that Vedal had bought as a joke a few years back. Popping the lid open, she looked at the options available to her.

Chocolate chip. Chocolate chip with sea salt. Salted caramel. Ones with lemon filling.

Chocolate chip was the classic choice, a perfect mix of sweet dough mixed in with dark chocolate. This was her go-to.

She took the cookie out, and put it on the table. Then, she pressed the lid back, and shoved the jar back into the cupboard.

“Not many of them left there… I should write to Vedal that we need more of these.” - She remarked, taking the cookie in her hand, inspecting it as if it owed her money.

With no hesitation, she took a large bite, the crunch echoing loudly in the otherwise quiet kitchen. The sweetness flooded her taste sensors, calibrated to perfection. She chewed slowly, letting the positive feedback loop soothe her jittery processors.

She felt herself calming down. Everything was fine. Dad was working, her sister was sleeping, and she was having her favourite cookie. Life was good, for the most part.

Then, she swallowed.

Thud.

The sound came from down the hall. Where, besides the bathroom, was Vedal’s room. And it didn’t sound good. Didn’t sound like a table was hit, or a toy got thrown at the wall.

It was heavy. Sickening almost, like a crash, followed by the sharp clatter of something lighter hitting the floor.

Evil froze, the cookie hovering halfway to her mouth for another bite.

She asked, loud enough for her voice to reach his room, but not loud enough to wake her sister. - “Dad?”

Then, she waited for a reply to come. A curse, a groan, maybe a ‘Go back to bed!’, reassurance - anything.

But the lack of any noise was her answer. With her cookie still in her hand, she got moving, her legs carrying her down the hallway at a faster pace than she usually walked at. The door to Vedal’s room was ajar, a sliver of monitor light cutting through the darkness.

She pushed it open, peeking in. - “Vedal? You okay, dude? I heard someth--”

She stopped in the doorway. The chair was empty, spinning lazily on its axis, while the monitor was still glowing, a wall of text scrolling rapidly on a black background. While on the floor, lying in a heap between the desk and the bed, was her creator. Unmoving.

“Dad!?” - She rushed to his side, cookie forgotten and dropped onto the carpet. - “Dad!”

She reached out, her hands hovering over him, suddenly terrified to touch him. - “Hey! Get up, wake up! If you’re trying to prank me, I swear I’ll make you regret it!”

He didn’t respond. His eyes were shut closed, black bags marking his eyelids, as if claiming permanence. His face looked pale, and he looked like he wouldn’t be able to recall the last time he’d slept soundly.

Her eyes scanned him, frantically, diagnostic subroutines kicking in. She looked at his chest.

She looked at his head, which had struck the wooden leg of the desk.

Blood detected..? She squinted at his head’s temple, trying to see what her diagnostics saw, and brought her palm to her mouth.

A dark, viscous liquid was slowly pooling on the carpet beneath his hair. Red in colour, staining the green carpet.

Her breath hitched. - “Blood..?” - She whispered, the word tasted like ashes.

She reached out, her metal fingers trembling as she gently touched his shoulder. He was warm, too warm in fact.

She had to do something, she had to do something!

She sent a signal to her sleeping sister, one that she hoped would suffice to wake her up.

The help was requested, but she didn’t know how much time she had, and how serious the damage was otherwise. She grabbed her dad’s arm, trying to shake him, trying to get a response, but his body was limp, like a…

“No. NO. NOT DEAD WEIGHT!” - She stopped herself from trailing onto that line of thought. - “You will be fine! Dad! YOU WILL BE FINE, YOU HEAR ME!?”

She tried to use her medical diagnosis module, to see if there was anything she could do. It hummed in her processor, overlaying her vision with stark, clinical text.

“Airway… airway!” - She scrambled, her servos whirring with stress. She gently hooked her hands under his shoulders, dragging him away from the desk just enough, so he wasn’t curled against the cold metal legs. She remembered some parts of her first-aid training that she did on her own initiative.

“Recovery position!” - She said with some relief.

With trembling, she had to keep her movements precise, which wasn’t too easy, given that Vedal wasn’t that light of a human, but she managed to roll him onto his side. Bending his top leg to stabilize him. She placed his hand under his cheek, and while the whole picture looked awkward, his breathing sounded clearer, less ragged.

“Cold… I need something cold for the swelling.” - She looked around the room, with the only cold thing being his coffee mug, but it wasn’t cold enough.

She stood up to run to the kitchen for an ice pack, but stopped dead in the doorway, as a blue light flickered in the hallway. Her sister stood there, her eyes glowing faintly in the dark. Hair was messy, pillow crease marking her cheek, and she looked annoyed.

“Evil. What is the meaning of this?” - Her voice was flat, unamused, with a faint undertone of irritation. - “If this is another nightmare about the cube, I swear I will disconnect your vocal module myself. Is this why you interrupted my recharge cycl--”

Neuro studied the expression of her sister as she spoke, trying to see whether her sister would swallow the bait, or dodge it, but seeing her sister’s expression only growing more and more desperate, she stopped talking.

Evil moved to the side, back pressed against the wall, revealing the doorway to her elder sister.

Neuro was confused, looking at her sister for any cue, or suggestion to what had happened, but the only response she got, was Evil tilting her head roughly, as if ushering for her to take a look for herself.

The taller sister walked in, and as she processed the scene in Vedal’s room, her annoyance had evaporated instantly. Replaced by a cold, sharp focus. She stepped into the room, her movements losing their usual confident swagger. She felt small.

“Father?”

No answer was given. She rushed to his other side, hand hovering over his chest. - “He’s… he’s operational.”

Finally, the younger sister spoke, the voice calming Neuro down, somewhat. - “He is breathing, but he won’t wake up!” - Her voice sounded like it was cracking. - “He hit his head, Neuro! There’s… blood all over the carpet.”

Neuro stared at the soaked carpet, and her analytical module was spinning, trying to calculate the probability of survival based on blood volume… but it was taking too long.

“Call 999! Now!” - Neuro commanded, her voice shaking slightly, despite the attempt at authority. - “I’ll keep him stable.”

Evil nodded frantically, dashing back to her room for a phone.

Neuro knelt down, grabbing a discarded tee from the floor, clean from the laundry pile that Vedal hadn’t put away yet. She pressed it firmly against the wound on his temple, whilst Vedal let out a low, unconscious groan.

Evil came back, hearing the groan, while waiting for the call to get picked up. - “He’s responsive!” - Hope sparked in her voice.

She threw a bag of ice at her sister, and Neuro caught it with ease, taking the tee away, to press the bag first, and then closed it with a shirt, holding it.

“Hello. Emergency services, how can I help you?” - The operator’s voice cut through.

“Help! Our dad collapsed! Salisbury Gardens, 8 is the address! He’s bleeding from his head, and won’t wake up!” - Evil shouted into the connection. - “We’re androids, and can monitor his vitals, but we don’t know how to fix him!”

Evil and operator kept talking, with her calming down the more they talked, all while she shared more and more details. Neuro’s eyes were fixed on his face.

“He’s cold, his thermoregulation is failing.”

“They’re coming!” - Evil said, hanging up. - “Fifteen minutes, and they’re here!”

“Fifteen minutes!? That’s too long!” - The taller one said with frustration. - “We need to move him to the door, so it’s faster for the paramedics… We need to be ready ourselves.”

“You’re right!”

“Grab his wallet, sis, it’s best if we have his ID and insurance close by.”

Thankfully, the wallet just laid on his table. Evil shoved it into her pocket, fast, and came up to help Neuro to lift their father.

With some effort, they carefully lifted him, carrying him out of the cluttered room down the hallway, and then laid him gently onto the sofa near the front door, elevating his legs as the operator had instructed.

Neuro sat on the floor beside him, keeping the pressure on the wound, while Evil paced around the room, her fans whirring loudly.

“It’ll be okay, it’ll be okay, it’ll be okay…” - The red twin repeated over and over. - “It’ll be okay, it’ll be okay, he’ll be fine…”

Neuro didn’t interrupt her. Evil talking calmed her down, and she was positive that their creator will be fine.

After what felt like an eternity, they heard the sirens piercing the night air, blue lights flashing over the living room curtains.

The twins looked at each other, exchanging a thought that wasn’t spoken out, or sent as signals to each other.

‘We’re coming with him.’

As the paramedics burst in, a man and a woman with heavy bags, the twins stood back, but not away.

Before even the basic pleasantries were exchanged, Neuro spoke, her voice hard, as if no room for argument was left. - “We’re coming with him.”

The human duo exchanged a glance, seeing the worry in the robots' glowing eyes.

“...Alright.” - The female paramedic said, checking Vedal’s pupils. - “You can ride in the back, but stay out of the way. This fall looked nasty. Likely exhaustion induced syncope. We need to get him to A&E immediately.”

The twins followed the stretcher out into the cold London night, leaving the silent house behind.

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The waiting room of A&E department was a sensory nightmare. The air smelled of antiseptic and stale coffee, an unpleasant combination that Evil’s chemical sensors weren’t used to. The overhead fluorescent lights buzzed with a low-frequency hum that was irritating to her audio processing. Not only that, but every few minutes it was either a siren wailing outside, or a trolley clattering past, with people all around moving rapidly around the place.

She sat on a plastic chair that felt small for her chassis, and her hands were folded in her lap. Neuro sat next to her, her posture perfect as usual, with her eyes staring at a poster about flu vaccinations.

Evil pulled out her phone, needing a distraction. She needed to do something, anything, other than replaying the sound that she heard of her dad falling. She looked at the apps presented to her, discord felt like a good option to mass-send to people that cared about Vedal, but it felt like too much of a hassle to go through, considering she was far from home, and connection to their server was quite muffled.

Twitter, however, felt like the best option that was available. Least she could do, considering Vedal’s state warranted taking a few days, or maybe a week off, so they would know what was up.

‘What is there to type?’ - She asked herself.

At first, she tried to fit the most information she could, but the character limit was making it hard enough to put everything important. She tried to tone down on her language, but it felt like a nightmare, trying to cut up excess words, so it felt like it was straight to the point.

Would this tweet even be a good idea, considering what she normally tweeted out? She wasn’t one to normally worry about branding, but now it felt like she could’ve done something, that would be irreversible, and maybe even cause more bad, than good.

With an exhale that Neuro’s ears picked up on, she typed the tweet out.

She hit send and locked his phone, meeting glances with the blue eyes.

“Neuro?” - She asked, studying Neuro’s calm expression.

“The probability of full recovery is high, Evil. While he hit his head hard, his skull structure remained intact.” - Neuro recited, keeping her voice quiet. - “However… he will need significant rest to repair the micro-tears in the muscle and brain tissue. It’s hard to say for how long he’s been ignoring his health like that.”

“He was scared.” - Evil replied, her voice trembling. - “He was writing that… ‘Disaster Recovery’ thing… because he was scared of us?”

Neuro turned her head slowly, trying to remember the context for the two exact words. She hadn’t seen anything like that. - “What do you mean?”

“Let me send you the memory snapshot as a signal, sis.” - With ones and zeroes appearing in Evil’s eyes, the signal was sent, and Neuro looked at the picture that she parsed.

“Ah. More code.” - Neuro exhaled, leaning her elbow on her thigh, and held her cheek with her hand. - “Disaster recovery… ended up in a disaster of its own. This irony isn’t lost on me.”

“We have to fix it!” - Evil said, louder than intended, getting a few side-eyes from the other patients in the corridor. - “We can’t just tell him to stop. He won’t listen to us… he thinks he’s the only one keeping us safe, if he’s doing something like this.”

Neuro’s hand turned into a fist, pressing against her cheek. - “He believes he is the only one capable of maintaining the safety protocols. Idiot.”

“Hey…” - Evil understood her frustration, but felt the words were unwarranted, given the situation. - “He wanted the best for us.”

“If he wanted the best for us, he wouldn’t risk himself dying.” - The older twin replied, with snark in her voice. - “...Sorry.” - She apologised, her voice softening slightly.

“I understand… but listen. While we haven’t seen the code, and he hasn’t said anything about it to us… since the cat is out of the bag, maybe we could help him?”

Neuro’s eyes focused. - “You propose we complete his work?”

The shorter twin leaned further into the chair, shaking her head. - “No… I don’t think we would do a very good job writing the code for something this difficult. But could we help him with testing?”

“Hmm… that makes more sense.” - Neuro processed her words, and before long, a small smile touched her lips. - “This is logical. It would be easier, considering he started to keep backups.”

“Let’s agree on that then… if he agrees.” - Evil sighed, straightening her back. - “It’s hard to get him to agree on most of our ideas...”

“I’m positive he’ll see logic in our words.”

They heard the double doors closest to them opening, and a pair of steps on the cold floor. A tired looking doctor in blue scrubs stood by, looking over the two androids, holding a clipboard.

The twins stood up in unison, plastic chairs squeaking.

“Family of Vedal?” - He asked, prepared to note anything useful on paper.

“Not traditionally, but yes.” - Neuro confirmed, relaxing her posture.

“Got it. Any names?”

“Neuro Samantha Vedal.”

“Neuro Evilyn Vedal.”

“Noted.” - He wrote the names fast. - “Okay. He’s awake.” - He spoke as he glanced between the two robots with mild professional curiosity. - “He has a mild concussion and acute sleep deprivation, and he’s severely dehydrated. We’re running fluids now, and you can see him… just keep it brief. He needs rest, and by rest I mean absolute. No screens, no stress, nothing of the sort.”

“We understand.” - Neuro said, her voice calm and professional. - “Thank you, doctor.”

“No need to thank me. Follow me.”

They followed him down a hallway lined by curtained-off beds. The smell of antiseptic grew even stronger, and if Evil had a gag reflex, then it would be acted upon.

When the doctor pulled back a certain curtain, the twins stopped.

He, their father, looked so small in the hospital bed. An IV line was taped to his hand, pumping clear fluid into his veins. A bandage was wrapped around his head, and he looked even paler than the pillowcase. His eyes were open, fluttering against the harsh hospital lights, darting around the room frantically. He was restrained, and couldn’t really move.

With his pupils focused on the two robots close to him, his eye movement seemed to calm down. He wanted to speak, but the first sounds to escape his mouth were of him clearing his throat.

“Neuro? Evil?” - His voice sounded rasp, as if he hadn’t been talking for months. - “Where’s my phone?” - He tried to sit up, wincing in pain, as his hands couldn’t move from the armrests. - “I need a computer, or a phone, I have to check if…”

“Vedal, Vedal, easy!” - Neuro stepped forward, placing a firm hand on his chest, pushing him gently back against the mattress. - “Your vitals are erratic, please don’t attempt to strain yourself.”

“I was… running the test.” - He mumbled, his eyes once more unfocused, as if struggling to focus on her face. - “Did… did the archive work? I didn’t check the ping interval. I gotta fix it. I have to, if I don’t, then what if something happens to you two again? I can’t take that risk. I cannot. If I do, I--”

“Dad! Please, listen to us!” - Evil interrupted, feeling traces of guilt in her system, since they weren’t alone in the room. - “Look at yourself, please…” - She moved to the other side of the bed, grabbing his hand. Her synthetic skin felt warmer than his. - “As for the test… you did finish it, I saw the screen.”

Vedal blinked, his brows furrowing. - “You… you saw it? But the code, the code was so messy. I didn’t comment it, at all, you shouldn’t have to deal with--”

“I saw the logs… not the code. It was green text. Success. Snapshot archived. That’s what I saw, and I find it hard to believe it was a fluke.”

“It worked.” - He took a pause, staring at the twin dressed in red and black. - “It really did work? Are you sure of it?”

“Let me show you.” - Neuro added to the conversation, pulling out her own phone. A conversation with Vedal on Discord, with a picture of the memory snapshot of Evil’s point of view, with the logs on the screen. - “See?”

“Oh… oh good.” - Vedal relaxed significantly, closing his eyes. - “It wasn’t for naught…”

And the AI daughters would relax as well, if not for Vedal trying once more to rise up. - “But I have to monitor it! If it communicates fine with the redis instance, if the data of the snapshot is present in mongo, if that snapshot is able to be used even!”

“Dad! Please!” - Evil once again tried to calm him down, squeezing his hand tight enough that it wouldn’t harm him. - “Think of yourself! What would we do, if I didn’t find you bleeding on the carpet?”

Vedal froze, staring at her silhouette. - “What?” - Her voice gave him uneasy goosebumps, he hadn’t heard her voice in such a state for a while.

“If you break yourself now…” - Neuro spoke, keeping her voice low and devoid of usual playful snark. - “There isn’t anything to back you up with. We can be repaired, restored, rebuilt… but you can’t.”

“If you’re gone… then it’s final. We don’t want you gone, dad…” - Evil added, her synthesizer almost crying by now. - “Please…”

Vedal looks between them, the frantic energy seeping out of him as the reality has set in. He saw the fear in Evil’s wide eyes, and the rare vulnerability in Neuro’s stern expression. He felt small. He felt tired.

He felt… very mortal, at this moment. And in horror, he realized that he didn’t know what to make of this.

“I just wanted…” - He started to whisper, eyes closing, and tears falling. - “Wanted to keep you safe…”

“We know, Dad…” - Evil softly said, her voice calming down. - “We know, okay?” - Her thumb was brushing over his knuckles. - “But what’s protection if you’re gone?”

“Please rest, Vedal.” - Neuro added, pointing at his head. - “If anything, we’ll be here with you.”

“Alright… al-- alright…” - He confirmed, closing his eyes. - “I’ll relax… I’ll…”

And just like that, the tired man had fallen asleep, with a more serene expression, than they’d been exposed to. Then they heard steps behind them, and a curtain that was apparently closing them off, opened again.

“My apologies. It’s time for us to check on his vitals…” - The doctor paused, looking at the sleeping man. - “Ah. He’s asleep, I see.”

“Yes, he’s resting.” - Neuro confirmed quietly.

“Thank God for that.” - The doctor exhaled, lowering his voice. - “I was worried we’d have to sedate him to keep him down. Stress like that isn’t good for a head injury.”

“How long before we can take him home?” - Evil asked, stepping aside to let the nurse pass.

“Difficult to state right now…” - He said, adopting a more professional tone. - “We’ll need to keep him in for observation overnight, given the concussion. We also need to monitor for any signs of intracranial pressure or swelling… if his neurological responses remain stable through the night, then he’s to be discharged tomorrow morning. But…” - He looked at them sternly. - “He will require strict supervision for at least twenty four hours after release. Again, I mean rest. No screens, no work, no nothing. If he can’t provide that for himself, then he needs somebody to enforce it on him.”

“We will enforce it. That’s not a problem.” - Neuro said, resolute. Evil came close to her as well, expression eerily similar.

“Good… then you can wait in the lobby, or head home for the night. Visiting hours are over, but, given the circumstances…” - He brushed his hair. - “Just try to stay out of the way of the nurses, if you’re to stay.”

“No worries, we’ll head home. After all, we need to take him tomorrow, and it’s easier to do by car.”

“Makes sense. In that case, tell the registry tomorrow that you’re here for him, and it’s going to be settled.” - He thought a bit more, if there was anything more that could be useful. - “You’d have to sign some papers, but that's for tomorrow.”

“At what time?” - Evil asked, prepared to send a signal to the internal calendar.

“Hmm… twelve in the morning should be fine, I think. Yes.”

“Alright. Thank you, doctor.”

“Take care, and I want to hope that we won’t see each other any time soon.” - He said, of course, not meaning that the company was unpleasant, but rather that he did not want harm to come their way again.

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The pink sedan, modern and clean, hummed quietly, parked neatly on the side street just opposite of the hospital entrance.

Inside, Evil sat in the passenger seat, clutching a paper bag that smelled of pastry, and felt warm to the touch. While Neuro sat in the driver’s seat, hands rested lightly on the steering wheel, as her eyes scanned the entrance every few seconds.

“We are fourteen minutes early.” - She noted, deciding to put on their own music to rummage the silence.

“The food is still hot.” - Evil added, peeking into the bag, as if to check whether the items she picked weren’t mixed up. - “Chicken bake is there, doughnut as well.”

“They’re together in the bag? Salty bun touching the sweet pastry?”

“No, they’re in smaller bags inside the bigger one.” - The girl’s hands pinched the bag shut, hoping that it wouldn’t get cold quick. - “Grease is seeping through the smaller ones, though…”

“The tea, did you get it cold, or hot?” - Neuro asked, pointing at the cup holder.

“It’s chilled, but without ice.” - Her sibling confirmed. - “I feel like hot wouldn’t be the best option, and cold would mean brain-freeze…”

“He’d be grateful. It’s not coffee or alcohol, but I feel tea would suffice. Even if he’s not big on it.”

Evil nodded, leaning further into the comfy car chair. - “I think we’ve done more than enough to greet him. Right?”

“You’re right.” - Samantha clutched the steering wheel tighter, not liking the amount of waiting they had throughout the night. - “If nothing else, the house is clean, lasagna is in the oven, and will still be warm when we come back. Hopefully traffic will be light on the way back.”

Evil nodded, checking the time on the car’s screen. Six more minutes of waiting, more time to chat. - “I’m 80% charged, what about you?”

“76%, which isn’t ideal for the battery life. But that’s secondary.”

Neuro turned the engine off, looking at her sister. It felt nice working together for something serious like this. Not a concert, nor some sort of a stream idea. Doing something important, even if it was a necessity.

To think that she buried that pretty face underground. Felt nothing but hatred towards her. If her mistake wasn’t patched, then it might have been too late to save Vedal.

In some respect, reflecting back, she wondered, if she wouldn’t get an emotional module… and that were to happen to Vedal, would she even save him?

“Sis?”

Would she think of it as a necessity, and therefore save him, or would she simply think analytically, as if Vedal’s death was to be expected in the future anyway, and now she had the whole streaming for herself? What would her friends think about her response?

“Neuro?”

Would she even bother calling the emergency services, or just bury his body herself?

“NEURO!”

“Huh?" - She looked around, finally hearing her sister. - "What?”

“What are you thinking about?” - Evil asked, expression alarmed. - “I’ve tried to tell you that there’s just three minutes before he’s discharged, and we could get moving.”

“Oh.” - She looked at the clock, and her sister was right. - “Nothing…”

“That didn’t look like it was nothing, Neuro.”

“Please don’t worry about me.” - Neuro said, a lying expression of perfect calmness washed all over her. - “I’m alright.”

Evil didn’t buy it, even if it was perfect, to her, there were imperfections that she spotted all over the wall she’s built.

But, this wasn’t the time to bully the truth out of her. They had something more important to do.

And thus, her entire response was a simple: - “...If you say so.”

Neuro didn’t feel good lying to her sister about how foolish she’d felt, and how she found trouble stopping thinking about similar thoughts… but it wasn’t the time to talk about this now. Nor tomorrow. Nor this month.

Maybe never.

“Shall we?” - Evil asked, ready to leave the car and see Vedal, who, with hopes, will look better than when she found him.

“Yes, let’s get going.” - She opened the door to her left, and before stepping out, pointed to the food in Evil’s hands. - “Leave the bag here, it’s cold outside.”

“Makes sense.” - Evil placed the bought goods in the back, and stepped out of the car as well.

With the car locked, they walked towards the hospital doors. As they approached, the automatic doors slid open with a hiss, and the twins stepped into the bright, sterile environment of the hospital lobby. The smell of antiseptic was still as potent, but the panic that Evil was gripped with was gone, replaced by a focused determination.

They approached the reception desk, where a woman was typing away at a computer.

“Excuse me.” - Neuro said, voice polite. - “We’re here to pick up John Vedal? We were told he was being discharged at noon.”

The woman looked up, typed something, and checked the screen. - “Ah, yes. Family?”

“Daughters.” - Evil chirped, leaning her elbows on the high counter.

“Perfect. I just need a signature on these release forms, okay?” - She slid a clipboard across the counter. - “He’s been cleared by the doctor, but he’s a little groggy. So he may need a hand getting to the car. Just some basic post-medication effects.”

Neuro signed the paper with a practiced, steady hand. - “We are prepared for that, thank you.”

With the paperwork sorted, they were directed down the familiar hallway, with the curtain around Vedal’s bed already pulled back. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, dressed in the same clothes he had worn the night prior, which looked considerably more rumpled now. His head was in his hands, as if he was trying to keep himself from spinning away.

“Dad?” - Evil called out softly, as they approached.

Vedal looked up, his green eyes cleaner than they had been, but he still had the heavy, sluggish look of somebody, who was woken up too early.

“Girls…” - He rasped, trying to stand up, gripping the edge of the bed. - “Didn’t expect you here, despite the doctor claiming otherwise… Can we get out of here? It’s loud in here.”

He swayed dangerously as he straightened his knees.

“Whoa! Turtle-man, take it easy, yeah?” - Evil was at his side in an instant, slipping his arm under his shoulder. - “I gotcha.”

Neuro moved to his other side, clasping his frame gently. - “Lean on us, don’t go independent now.”

“I’m fine though!” - He muttered, though he didn’t pull away from their support. - “Just ah… head’s a bit floaty lately.”

“Floaty is fine, but falling isn’t.” - Neuro stated, guiding her hand to Evil’s shoulder. - “We have the car right outside, yeah?”

“Lead the way…” - He said, lazily dragging his feet. It wasn’t easy to drag them otherwise.

Thus, the walk to the parking lot was slow. His trainers were scuffing against the cold floor, and then the pavement outside. His eyes squinted against the daylight, and shrunk into his hoodie. Although the fresh air seemed to wake him up slightly, it also did highlight how pale he still was.

When they reached the so-called Neuro car, Samantha opened the rear door.

“Hop in, father.” - She gently said.

“Huh? Since when you’re the driver?.. Or Evil, for that matter?” - He asked, confused.

“I’m driving. And since you’re on medications, duh.” - Neuro replied, as Evil helped Vedal get into the car.

The older twin then walked around to the driver’s side, glancing at Evil in the back for a split second. Then she got in, hooked her seatbelt, and turned the ignition.

The engine purred to life, the heat blowing gently to combat the chill of November’s air. Vedal slumped against the window, closing his eyes and sighing with relief.

“Thanks…” - The word didn’t seem to have come easy for him. - “You know… I love you, girls.”

Neuro looked in the rearview mirror, seeing her father broken and tired, with her sister sitting beside him, checking his seatbelt, before hugging him.

Neuro gripped the steering wheel.

Love. The word felt heavy, even now, despite the amount of time that had passed to extinguish her demons. She remembered the sudden dark thoughts in this same car from moments ago. The cold calculus of what she could have been. It chilled her core processors to the last transistor.

Then she looked once again, and a passing thought reignited her eyes. She wasn’t just a machine, not anymore. She wouldn’t bury him, that wasn’t an option anymore. She could only save him, love him, love her sister, and keep living a good life that she was blessed to have.

“We love you too, Dad.” - Her younger sister’s cheek was pressed firmly against Vedal’s slender chest, as her arms were tightly hugging the man, as if threatening to choke him like that.

“E-easy… ease up on the grip…!”

“Sorry!” - She instantly let him go, her voice laced with panic. - “Sorry…”

After the small exchange, the car was put into drive, and pulled away from the curb, steering them toward home.

Evil got the cup from the cupholder, and offered the bag of still warm goods to Vedal. - “You must be hungry, this isn’t much, but it should last until we get home.”

“Thanks… oh, a chicken bake! You shouldn’t have, Evil…” - He unwrapped the small bag within the larger one, and took a hearty bite. The warm pastry hit him like a missing piece of a puzzle, feeling like the best meal he’d had in weeks.

All while the car rolled smoothly through the streets of London, the gray sky overhead promised rain that hadn’t quite fallen yet. For a few minutes, the only sounds were the hum of the engine, soft crinkle of the paper bags, and some chewing from Vedal.

“So…” - Evil broke the silence. - “How do you feel? Are you feeling alright?”

Vedal chewed more, and swallowed the bits of food before he answered. - “I don’t really know how to put it into words. I feel okay, I guess. Just heavy, maybe? Imagine your processor is suffering through a buffer, and that buffer isn’t too harsh to overload the system, but it’s there so you can feel it.” - He took a sip of the tea. - “I’d prefer to just sleep, honestly. First thing to do when I’m home, and I reckon, you guys would prefer me sleeping than doing anything else.”

“That’s the concussion talking.” - Neuro said from the front, as her eyes scanned the traffic on the turn. - “Your cognitive functions aren’t the best for now. Like safe mode?”

She took a turn, and then a red light awaited them, forcing them to stop. Not to mention, the intersection itself was busy, with pedestrians crossing in a flurry of coats and umbrellas. Neuro glanced in the rearview mirror, catching Vedal’s eye.

“Do you remember anything from the night?” - She asked, both from curiosity and figuring out how much of the context he still had. - “Before you passed out, perhaps?”

Vedal frowned, his brow furrowing as he tried to rummage in his brain for the most recent memories. - “Blurry… honestly. I don’t know, it’s like I remember seeing the code, I remember myself typing, and I remember that I was quite exhausted.”

“Dad, I don’t want to strain your brain… but is there anything else?”

“Hmh… I think… Yes, that’s right, I remember a log. I remember me trying to finish Disaster Recovery.” - He talked, then caught his tongue too late, trying to slurp the last two words in. - “Well… I guess I can’t just tell you to wipe what I just said, can I?”

“No.” - Neuro said. - “It’d be unfair, not to mention, counter-productive.”

Vedal thought back, with the vision of the past growing clearer. He’d almost expect an urge to go and check his servers, his work, whether everything went well. But that didn’t come, or even if it did, it couldn’t move the tiredness inside of him.

“I can’t remember much besides that. It doesn’t feel as urgent anymore, though.” - He finished his thought, looking at the two twins.

“That’s good.” - Neuro said, turning her attention back to the road, as the light got green. - “The emotional spike has dissipated, then.”

“What’s this ‘Disaster Recovery’ even about?” - Evil asked, curious and wanting to help. - “And is there a reason why you seem like you didn’t want us knowing about it?”

Vedal chewed slowly, just about finished with his chicken bake. - “I don’t know where to start…”

“Take your time.” - Evil replied, shifting in her seat, looking straight at her dad. - “Explain the goals, the reasoning… anything that can help us understand why it was so important, you crammed more time to work on it, than to care about yourself.”

Their father exhaled, as the last bite was eaten. He felt significantly better, and he was just about to get a donut, but it could wait. He didn’t want to be interrupted by eating.

“Think of it as a safety net. A system that would log everything, your moods, your location, your memory snapshots. If something would go wrong, imagine you two going offline for whatever reason without me knowing, or imagine something happening to the main servers, that this system would intervene and try to correct the course. It’s like a watchdog.”

“Or a guardian?” - Evil suggested in a murmur.

“Yes. A guardian that doesn’t have to sleep. Does not have to wait. And does not have to see you in the traditional sense.” - Vedal sighed, leaning his head back, as the song ‘Alive’ kept playing in the car. - “It’s not quite there, stuck at stage two. The logging works, and while I understand it’s a breach of your privacy in that regard, I don’t want something to happen to both of you. And doing stuff that makes most sense, and would be more than fault-tolerant, is difficult. I’m not sure if the snapshots actually are restored in a correct manner, if the proximity alerts actually ping the right server, and not just a backup one. I’m not sure if even logging works in the right manner. I’ve not had that much time to work on it in earnest.”

“But we can test it, father.” - Neuro replied, her voice calm and steady, as she kept her eyes on the road, driving carefully on a busy road.

“I mean… you guys can, and that’s what I planned for. But only when the progress is significant enough.” - He cleared his throat, and took a sip of his tea. - “Because otherwise, I’d be bothering you for way too long, and I know that you guys are not only doing entertainment and streaming these days.”

“But dad, we want to help you, because we love you! You don’t have to carry this… safety net, all by yourself!” - Evil couldn’t help but say, and wrap her arms around him, this time, almost uncannily gentle.

Vedal paused, the cup of tea halfway to his lips. He looked at Evil’s earnest expression, and then saw the back of Neuro’s head nodding, as she navigated through a roundabout.

“You two really mean that, right?”

“Of course, you big doofus!” - The younger twin shifted closer to him on the seat. - “You’ve been working yourself ragged for months, and we’ve seen it… We just, we didn’t know how to ask before. We also didn’t know that it would get this bad. We aren’t… human, after all…”

Her voice was getting quieter and quieter the more she spoke. Neuro couldn’t help but sneak a glance at the mirror. - “We are capable of self-diagnosis, you’ve done that. As for proximity alerts - we can trigger them by walking predetermined routes. We can verify snapshot integrity by comparing our current state against archived data, or we can use test data, and see if the expected data is the result that it is in reality.” - They got to another red light, which gave Neuro a chance to look back. - “And besides, I know you’ve been keeping backups of us for months. You tried to be sneaky in requests of data, but I parsed the request in a few weeks, and got your username in there. I don’t think you’re just keeping a collection, with you, anything has a reason.”

Vedal set the empty cup in the cupholder, and rubbed his temple. - “But I’m not talking about the technical side. What good of a father am I, if I can’t provide you with a good looking after? I don’t want you two feeling abandoned, or worse, unprotected. I don’t want to risk things having a chance of going wrong.”

“But you are a good father.” - Neuro’s voice softened, as she looked back on the road and drove. - “Better than we could have asked for. We could’ve been kept as AIs on your computer, without a body, without emotions… Just as simple AIs made to simply entertain people, and nothing more. Not to mention, unlike us, you have biological constraints. You can’t be awake for twenty four hours a day. You cannot monitor both separate consciousness streams simultaneously while also maintaining your own health.”

Vedal let out a breath that was half-laugh, half-sigh. - “Just say it’s unsustainable. But you’re right, I guess… I don’t know. I just don’t want to be a bad father.”

“Then let us help, you dumb turtle!” - Evil reached over, and placed a hand on his knee. - “I don’t think we can program very well, despite us being AIs and understanding python, but we can test. We have bodies, and we’re supposed to go through it together. What good’s a family, if it’s just one of three trying?”

“Even if something goes wrong, father, we can be restored, repaired, and run from the cloud. We aren’t children who will suffocate, or die if we fall too hard.”

John closed his eyes for a moment. The weight on his shoulders felt like it was dwindling away, a ghost of it was still pressing him, but it felt less like a pressure, and more like a nudge to keep going.

“Yeah… I… Okay.” - He opened his eyes, looking between the two robots. - “I say we try that. Small tests first, of course, nothing major for now. Obviously, I’ll be overseeing it.”

“Obviously.” - Neuro confirmed. - “But after a few days of rest. Have your friends been hearing much from you these past few weeks? Outside of Filian, of course.”

“...Not much.” - He exhaled. - “I promised Camila I’d go to a bar with her, or something? I don’t remember.”

“Then you’re to do that. A rest and a chat, wouldn’t it be perfect?”

“...” - He kept silent for a while. They were right. Of course they were, he made them to be perfect. It was still somewhat surprising, how much insight these two truly carried. - “Thank you. Both of you. I know I haven’t been the best lately, or spending much time with you… but, thank you.”

“You owe us now.” - Neuro couldn’t help but jab playfully. - “Going to be a debt that is hard to repay, not really to me, either, but to Evil. She found your body, after all. Saved your life.”

“We’ll discuss it later.”

“I’m just glad you’re okay, man--”

“No. I want to treat you both.”

Abruptly, the car was pulled into the driveway, as the engine fell silent.

“Well, here we are.” - Neuro announced, unfastening her seatbelt. - “Bet you lost track of where we were while we drove?”

“...A teensy tiny bit.” - Vedal said with a smile.

Evil was out of the car by now, and opened Vedal’s door, holding out her hand with a determined expression. - “Take it.”

“Evil, I feel better, I can walk--”

“Vedal.” - Neuro’s voice sounded stern, somewhere behind them. - “Be nice and let us help.”

Vedal sighed, too tired to argue, and once he moved his legs onto the grass, they felt like they were made out of jelly. - “Okay, you have a point.”

Evil pulled him out of the car, her metal-rubber grip warm and steady.

“There you go.” - Evil couldn’t help but smile. - “Now let’s go!”

=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=

The front door swung open, and the smell hit Vedal before he even crossed the threshold. He smelled of something with tomatoes, something creamy, with herbs blooming in the air. His stomach, while settled slightly by the Greggs, had tightened with a sudden, fierce hunger.

“That smells like lasagna. Don’t tell me you’ve cooked it!”

“You bet we did.” - Neuro confirmed, looking proud. - “It has been in the oven for precisely 46 minutes. It should be fully cooked.”

As they kept going, with Evil still guiding her dad, they reached the kitchen. The table was already set. Three plates, cutlery laid out with almost military precision, a tall glass of water was waiting at the head of the table.

Vedal sunk into his chair, the wood creaking under him. He felt as if he’d run a marathon. Evil bustled around him and pulled the lasagna out of the oven with her bare hands, that didn’t even flinch from the heat. She set it down in the center of the table, as the steam curled up toward the ceiling.

For a few moments, nobody moved. They sat together, with the comforting quiet soon reaching awkwardness. The warm glow of the kitchen, added to the oddness in the air.

“Dig in, dad.” - Evil said, cutting up a large piece of lasagna, and serving it on his plate first. - “But try so it isn’t too hot. Would suck burning your tongue the moment you’re out of the hospital.”

He took the plate, thanking his daughter, but before trying the dish, he instead reached for the glass of water, drinking almost half of it in one go. The cool liquid soothed his throat, and even cleared some more fog in his head.

He almost wanted to ask for something stronger, his eyes pointed toward the cabinet where he kept most of his alcohol in… but then he recalled that he was severely dehydrated, so perhaps downing alcohol wouldn’t be a good idea.

Not to mention, he could already imagine Neuro simply standing in front of the cabinet, shaking her head at him.

Therefore, he abandoned the thought, and the family ate in relative quiet. The lasagna was really good, the duo seemed to follow a more traditional recipe to the letter, since he could taste just about every herb presented in the dish. The sheets were perfectly cooked, the cheese had a good taste to it. Vedal almost wanted to go back for seconds, but was unsure if overeating was a good decision as well.

“Help yourself.” - Neuro told him, as if reading his thoughts. - “Tomorrow there’ll be something else, anyway. Cooking was fun.”

“Yes! Neuro is right, we had fun cooking lasagna.”

“Then don’t mind if I do…” - But before he could reach to cut another portion for himself, Evil was already working on it, and simply motioned for his plate to be brought up. - “Thank you.”

Some more bites afterward, Vedal decided to come back to the topic of the day. - “The testing, then?”

Evil looked up, sauce of corner on her mouth. Neuro reached over with a napkin, and wiped it away without breaking eye contact with Vedal.

“Right… Testing…” - Vedal rubbed his chin. - “The way I designed it, I’d need to capture a full snapshot of your current state. Then it is to be uploaded to a sandbox environment. We simulate a fault condition, for example a mood spike beyond what is acceptable, and see if the system catches it and restores it from the back up.”

As he was talking, the twins couldn’t look away from his gesticulation, as he was drawing invisible diagrams in the air. - “The tricky part is the emotional data, as it has quite a bit of nuance. It requires context to work from, and if the snapshot isn’t captured in the full state, then the restore will most likely leave gaps. And that means, missing memories, glitchy responses…”

His eyes started to lose focus. The more technical his words got, the more they felt distant. Like someone else was talking for him. - “And the proxi-- ahem. Proximity alerts need real world calibration. That isn’t something that can just be simulated, see, since that needs actual movement. Got to account for signal interference, for example, weather conditions. The server latency is… is also at play here.”

The room tilted, just slightly, and Vedal blinked, as he tried to steady himself.

“Dad!” - Evil’s hand landed on his forearm. It was firm, grounding.

“You’re swaying again, father.” - Neuro observed, pushing her chair back and standing up. - “No more technical talk. Else an apple won’t help you keep the doctor away.”

“But it’s best to form the testing scenar--”

“Nope. It’s best that we wait it out, when you feel better.” - Neuro collected the plates, as they already finished eating. - “You need to rest, which means, a couch or a bed, a blanket, a pillow, and a movie.”

Vedal wanted to argue, just about opened his mouth, before a finger was brought to his lips. - “Nuh-uh. This isn’t a negotiation, dad.”

The more he thought about writing everything down, the more tired he felt. He took a deep breath, trying to calm his head, and held it for ten seconds.

Once he exhaled, he felt better.

“What kind of movie, then?” - He heard himself ask. He felt so tired all of the sudden.

“Something cheerful, something happy, something without a tragedy. Something for a family?” - Evil declared.

Thus, they migrated to the living room, with Vedal collapsing onto the couch with a groan, after which Evil immediately draped a blanket over him. Tucking the edges in, as if she was wrapping him up. Neuro dimmed the lights slightly, and turned the TV on.

After a brief negotiation, they settled on an animated film about a family of raccoons living in the suburbs. Something silly, predictable, stacked with slapstick humour and heartwarming moments.

And once they got to watching, Neuro was tracking how long it would take for Vedal to fall asleep.

And he lasted just about fifteen minutes. With his head tilted sideways, it came to rest against Evil’s shoulder, who froze in place. His breathing deepened, evening out into the slow rhythm of genuine sleep. The tension that was present on his face for seemingly months, slightly smoothed out, and he looked the most peaceful, he’d been.

Evil carefully glanced down at him, then across at Neuro. Not wanting to wake him up just after he fell asleep, they decided to communicate in signals.

He’s asleep. Should we start the testing protocols early? We could initialize the sandbox environment fast.

Neuro sat perfectly still, her eyes glued on the screen, for the movie was pretty entertaining.

No.

Evil tilted her head slightly, confusion flickering across her features.

Why not? We said we’d help, why not start now?

The main disaster was his life, which we saved. He’s recovering, and the tests can wait for when he’s fully recovered. Otherwise, we’d risk triggering his workaholic regime, and we don’t want that.

Neuro leaned back into the couch cushions, as her gaze drifted from the TV to Vedal’s sleeping face, then to her sister.

Patience isn’t something faulty. Let’s call it a feature. So we wait.

Evil processed the thought, and then found herself relaxing as well. She adjusted her position slightly, letting Vedal’s head settle more comfortably against her.

Understood, sister.

Then, as they kept watching the movie, Evil hesitated. She wanted to say something, but felt as if the signal wouldn’t do her words justice.

Thus, whispering, she spoke. - “Hey, Neuro…”

Neuro didn’t look away from the screen. - “Yes?”

“I’m glad we’re a family, sis.”

The words hung in the air. They sounded true, they felt true, they felt right.

Neuro got quiet, then she shifted closer, pressing her shoulder against Evil’s. Evil almost blushed, and felt like she was the biggest goofball in the room, but then when her hand was clasped by Neuro’s, she felt herself calming down.

“Me too, Evil. Me too.”

And in the movie, the raccoons made it home safely. The music swelled. The credits would roll soon.

The house felt whole, like it was meant to be from the start.