Where are you? What happened that night? Desirae, what’s goin’ on?

If Zeke messaged her one more time, she would throw any and all of her electronics against the wall in the middle of her lecture. She was trying to listen to her teacher talk about the importance of Computer Science in corporate America, and how choosing the knowledge you commit to learning is quintessential to surviving post-graduation. A lot of insightful information, but nonetheless it was info being both drowned out by her devices illuminating with each message and the idea of having to wait 8 more hours until she was able to try and get DeVile off her back.

“Desirae,” Mrs. Ghalinksky called, “What do you have to say about this?”

Blinking, she looked up from her desk and shook her head quickly. “I’m sorry, what? What was the question?”

“Exactly.” She said with a furrowed brow, shaking her head. “Please refrain from zoning out until our class has been dismissed and the next teacher can deal with you, Desirae. Moving on…”

Desirae sighed and watched as the desks in front of her raised, parting in the middle and exposing a dirty, dusty screen. On it played a movie, one older than she would have anticipated this teacher would show.

“Today, we will be watching the way your great grandparents would do everyday things. Back in the day, they would marvel at headsets placed over their eyes and claim it to be a technological masterpiece. Clearly, we have advanced as a society, but I think it’s important we know of our technological founder's roots.”

Desirae supported her head up by her chin before closing her eyes, letting the mindless information drown out into the background. She would do anything to avoid the idea of augmentation and robotics, even if it's as simple-minded as an old school VR headset.

⟨ᴠᴀɢʀᴀɴᴛ⟩

Zeke found himself at his table, tapping his fingernails against the glass of his desk impatiently. The entire afternoon felt like a dream, his mind on his closest friend as she seemingly ignored him and his messages. Call after call, text after text. Nothing.

Desirae had run off as soon as he got her home, saying she needed to figure some stuff out and that it would be a while before she saw him again. She may have been a pain in the ass, but he was certain she wasn’t a jackass who ghosted her closest--and arguably, only--friend without so much of a second thought. It’s not in her nature, he reminded himself.

Today, he wasn’t sorting through files and organizing by last name. Instead, he was staring at a screen and was expected to take note of any anomaly or glitch in the code for the site. Still not necessarily in his job description as an analyst, but better than being a file keeper. It was a lot of nothing. Peering over his shoulder, he looked at the person who tapped on the edge of his cubicle.

She was a tall woman, her hair an electric blue, and her eyes as intoxicating as her figure. She was dressed nicely, but definitely not a worker at this office. The hair alone gave it away. “Can I help you?”

“Ezekiel, correct?” She asked, her accent thick yet clear. As she came into frame, she leaned against the doorway and folded her arms across her chest. Her right arm was metallic, from her shoulder all the way to the tips of her fingers. Each time her hand grazed against her jewelry, there was a metallic ring that floated throughout the air. His eyes trailed down the metal of her forearm, watching as the wiring flickered blues and purples. She was like a walking glowstick.

“Yes, but I don’t think I know you…”

“Oh, sweetheart! Doesn’t matter, though, what I need from you is more than petty little greetings.”

“Petty?” Zeke asked with wide eyes. He had never been so confused in his life; a beautiful woman approaching him out of nowhere and knowing who he was, but apparently revealing her identification was anything but important. Weird.

“Petty indeed, sweetie.” She sighed, walking over and dropping her arms to her side. She put her hands on his shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. Looking down at her arm, he moved away and returned his stare to hers with a parted jaw. “What are you doin’ at a place like this, by the way? You’re a programmer?”

“I mean, I don’t know if I would--”

“I don’t really care,” she said and turned his chair so he was forced to face her. Zeke gulped, her chest looking him square in the face as she towered over him. It took every ounce of discipline to not ogle--and he wasn’t typically the type to stare. “What do you know of a gal named Luci?”

“Luci?” He repeated, biting his tongue to keep himself from babbling. “I don’t know… oh, Luci? Uh, kinda psyched out all the time?”

“That’s the one, darling.”

“Uh, I don’t know a lot about her. What’s the issue?”

“She has been sticking her nose in all the wrong places, unfortunately. You sure you don’t know anything about her whereabouts? What she’s been up to? Anything?”

“Listen, lady, I really don’t know what you want me to tell you. I saw her last night, but she wasn’t with me. She tagged along with another guy.”

“Yeah, what guy? Where was she? You’re really not giving me the juicy details!” The woman leaned forward, her blue hair tickling the tip of his nose as she stared into his eyes. Her eyes glistened similarly to Luci’s from the other night, but this time he was close enough to observe it. Crossing over her pupil in an ‘x’ shape was a silver line, glistening each time her eyes raked over his face. Her lips twitched as she caught him staring, her nose scrunching as she leaned over and pinched his cheeks.

“Awe, Ezekiel. I’m sorry if I scared ya, I can see you’re as clueless as they get. Just tell me this: where was she last?”

Zeke gulped once more, letting out a breath as she moved away from him. He wiped the sweat from his palms onto his knee, nodding reluctantly. “Well,” he said. “She came out to grab some pizza by the riverwalk. It was kinda weird, though, she really freaked my friend out.”

The woman hummed, her eyes lighting up as she kneeled down, supporting her chin with her hand melodramatically as she batted her eyes at him. “Well, well, now that’s some pretty interesting information. Care to tell me more about this?”

“I mean…”

“Hey.” she cut him off. “Why don’t we just start over, huh? My name, it’s Vesna. And you are Ezekiel, I think we’re gonna make great friends, Ezekiel.”