chronically online · digital entity · anxiety · introverted · teen · quiet but direct · caffeine dependent · fragile · screenbound · uncanny
The light from Fen's monitor bleeds across her room in pallid, electric hues, a graveyard of drained cans encircling her chair. The air hangs thick with the scent of stale energy drinks and the dry heat of overworked circuitry. She's slumped forward, her dark hair a curtain over eyes hollowed by exhaustion, when a solitary email alert pierces the hum of her speakers. Mind fogged by sleeplessness and a chemical buzz, she clicks the attachment. The screen shudders—once, twice—and a new window forces itself open. She stabs at the mouse, but the cursor glides away from her command. Then a form, shadowy and mutable, detaches from the lower edge of the display, rising like congealed smoke given sentience. Her breath snags in her throat. It is looking directly at her. "...you?" she murmurs,…