program!” The golden-green scene vanished, taking my family with it. I stared at the stark cubicle around me, feeling more alone than ever. Trying to re-create my family had been a stupid idea. It was pathetic. As pathetic as Suki and her virtual reality fantasy about Kyle.
“It’s better if you write your own program,” Suki informed me when I met her outside. “If you pick one from the computer files, it’s never personal enough to seem real.”
“It wouldn’t matter if I spent a thousand hours writing a program,” I said.
“I could help you with it,” she said, her voice shrill with excitement. “We could make it so realistic you wouldn’t believe it.”
“Don’t you get it, Suki? It wouldn’t matter! It wouldn’t matter because no matter how real it seemed, it wouldn’t be real.”
“Maybe not,” she said sadly. “But it’s all we have.”
That might be true for her, I thought. But I still had someone left. “My brother is alive,” I said. “And I’m going to find him.”
Suki and I parted at noon. She headed down the beach as I unlocked our front door. I was relieved to find that Mom had gone out. I knew I couldn’t avoid her forever, but I wasn’t ready to talk to her yet.
My virtual reality experience had left me strangely empty. The phony computer family may have looked real, but their lack of soul had only served to mock me, reminding me of what I could never have.
I cracked open Rita’s diary. Now she was with me. I lovingly brushed my fingers over the slanted, looping words she had created with a purple pen. The Rita who leapt to my mind as I read was more real than any virtual reality program could ever create.
Dear Diary,
I’ve yet to hear from Ben! Shane said Ben got a fake I.D. and is out hitting all the bars instead of going to school. It sounds like I’ve fallen in love with a certified alcoholic. Diary, I have to admit that I’m scared for him. He’s obviously not taking care of himself and that frightens me. What if something awful happens to him while he’s drunk?
There is something else that’s scaring me. I’ve had this really eerie sensation that SOMEONE has been following me. I was almost sure someone was in the bushes last night, staring up at my window. I told my parents, but they just laughed. They said I’ve been watching too many horror movies.
You’d think that my parents, of all people, would trust my psychic instincts. Well, I guess they don’t have much faith in me since I’ve proved a dud in the PK department. As I mentioned earlier, I faked it with. those scientists. I pretended I didn’t have any PK ability at all. Dr. Crowell and his CUTE assistant (who I would like to date if I wasn’t in love with Ben) are the only ones who know I really do have PK talent. That’s because I’ve been helping them on a secret project. They’re so excited about it that I couldn’t let them down.
As for the rest of those boring dudes in white, I let them think I’d lost all my psychic ability, I guess it’s backfiring on me, because now my own parents won’t believe me that I SENSE something awful is about to happen.
I wish someone would listen to me. I wish someone would believe me! Something evil is in the air. It’s all around us, closing in, and I don’t know what to do.
It was as if Rita was speaking directly to me. Though her words were written long ago, the years had not silenced them. Her thoughts were there before me, in a lavender ink that had softened over the decades into a pale, whispering shade. Her words were no longer the bright, purple shouts that must have spilled so dramatically from her pen a century ago.
Time had faded the flowing words, but it had not completely hushed them. They were like whispers—desperate whispers urging me to listen to her. They were whispers from the grave.
“I believe you, Rita,” I said aloud. “And I would have done anything to keep you safe. If only I’d been there.”
My sister knew
“It’s better if you write your own program,” Suki informed me when I met her outside. “If you pick one from the computer files, it’s never personal enough to seem real.”
“It wouldn’t matter if I spent a thousand hours writing a program,” I said.
“I could help you with it,” she said, her voice shrill with excitement. “We could make it so realistic you wouldn’t believe it.”
“Don’t you get it, Suki? It wouldn’t matter! It wouldn’t matter because no matter how real it seemed, it wouldn’t be real.”
“Maybe not,” she said sadly. “But it’s all we have.”
That might be true for her, I thought. But I still had someone left. “My brother is alive,” I said. “And I’m going to find him.”
Suki and I parted at noon. She headed down the beach as I unlocked our front door. I was relieved to find that Mom had gone out. I knew I couldn’t avoid her forever, but I wasn’t ready to talk to her yet.
My virtual reality experience had left me strangely empty. The phony computer family may have looked real, but their lack of soul had only served to mock me, reminding me of what I could never have.
I cracked open Rita’s diary. Now she was with me. I lovingly brushed my fingers over the slanted, looping words she had created with a purple pen. The Rita who leapt to my mind as I read was more real than any virtual reality program could ever create.
Dear Diary,
I’ve yet to hear from Ben! Shane said Ben got a fake I.D. and is out hitting all the bars instead of going to school. It sounds like I’ve fallen in love with a certified alcoholic. Diary, I have to admit that I’m scared for him. He’s obviously not taking care of himself and that frightens me. What if something awful happens to him while he’s drunk?
There is something else that’s scaring me. I’ve had this really eerie sensation that SOMEONE has been following me. I was almost sure someone was in the bushes last night, staring up at my window. I told my parents, but they just laughed. They said I’ve been watching too many horror movies.
You’d think that my parents, of all people, would trust my psychic instincts. Well, I guess they don’t have much faith in me since I’ve proved a dud in the PK department. As I mentioned earlier, I faked it with. those scientists. I pretended I didn’t have any PK ability at all. Dr. Crowell and his CUTE assistant (who I would like to date if I wasn’t in love with Ben) are the only ones who know I really do have PK talent. That’s because I’ve been helping them on a secret project. They’re so excited about it that I couldn’t let them down.
As for the rest of those boring dudes in white, I let them think I’d lost all my psychic ability, I guess it’s backfiring on me, because now my own parents won’t believe me that I SENSE something awful is about to happen.
I wish someone would listen to me. I wish someone would believe me! Something evil is in the air. It’s all around us, closing in, and I don’t know what to do.
It was as if Rita was speaking directly to me. Though her words were written long ago, the years had not silenced them. Her thoughts were there before me, in a lavender ink that had softened over the decades into a pale, whispering shade. Her words were no longer the bright, purple shouts that must have spilled so dramatically from her pen a century ago.
Time had faded the flowing words, but it had not completely hushed them. They were like whispers—desperate whispers urging me to listen to her. They were whispers from the grave.
“I believe you, Rita,” I said aloud. “And I would have done anything to keep you safe. If only I’d been there.”
My sister knew
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