Hard Wired Trilogy DeAnna Pearce (if you give a mouse a cookie read aloud txt) 📖

already knew, that this would happen one day, but as Advisor Williams said those words, her heart broke. Her family was shattering into pieces, and she stood helpless. Darkness crept in, and it wasn’t until strong hands touched her that she remembered her surroundings.

“Advisor Williams, grab that chair.” A stout nurse helped Ari sit down. “You really could have been a bit more tactful when telling her.” The nurse spoke over her head to Advisor Williams.

“We have treated these children with white gloves for long enough. They are expected to be adults and need to start acting like it.”

“Even an adult wouldn’t handle this well.”

“Her father has been hooked for years. This is familiar territory for her.”

The nurse’s voice was softer than before. “It may be familiar, but it doesn’t make it easy.” The nurse turned to Ari. “Ms. Mendez?”

It took a few moments, but she blinked and turned her head towards the nurse. She had an older face, a kinder face, with bright pink lips.

“Your brother was at a VR bar in the city. They called us when they couldn’t wake him. He’s resting but still hasn’t woken up.”

“Are you going to feed him?” Fear coursed through Ari. Her brother could starve to death and neither Ari nor her mother had the money to feed him. They would have to find money somewhere.

The nurse placed a heavy hand on her shoulder. “Of course, we will.”

Ari searched for the tubes, the plastic lines that Marco would need to survive. When she was unable to find them, the nurse showed her the tubes tucked neatly under his blanket.

“Ms. Mendez,” Advisor William’s harsh voice spoke behind them. “I have been unable to contact your mother, and we have some information to go over now that his placement is in question.”

The nurse stood straight with her hand on her hip. “Really, Advisor Williams? She is in no state to go over any of that. And there is a chance he could wake up in the morning.”

Of course, Ari knew this. Seventy percent of people that didn’t wake up after being unplugged would wake up after their body went through its normal sleep rhythm. It had happened often with Ari’s father, until one day it didn’t. Like her father, some people subconsciously created their own VR, not willing to come back to reality.

“Fine,” Advisor William said with an indignant huff. “But with this sort, things never work out in the long run.” And with those uplifting words, he left.

Ari moved closer, sitting on Marco’s bed. She grasped his hand through the light blankets, as if she could pull him back to reality. But she knew all too well that it didn’t work that way.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Ari woke to someone shaking her shoulder. She’d fallen asleep sitting in a chair with her head on Marco’s bed. She blinked several times, clearing her vision of the scratchy code that filled her dream. With all the studying and stress, she wouldn’t be surprised if she bled in code.

“Ariana, dear, it’s your mother,” said Nurse Carey.

Ari wiped the sleep from her eyes. For a few blissful moments of unconsciousness, she had forgotten about Marco being stuck in a virtual. Reality lay heavily on her shoulders as she stood and headed towards the nurse’s station.

Nurse Carey led her to her desk. Ari’s mother was on the screen, eyes red and puffy.

“I told your mother the situation,” Nurse Carey said softly. “I’ll leave you two alone for a moment.” Her shoes squeaked against the floor and with the whoosh of the door, a silence entered the room, threatening Ari’s sanity.

Ari swallowed. There was so much she wanted to say—wanted to scream really—but she held it in. If she opened the flood gates, they might never close.

Her mother broke the silence first. “They are going to send Marco home if he isn’t awake by the end of the week.”

“How?” Ari said. “You can’t afford to pay for both Marco and Dad.”

“Nurse Carey told me I can take a loan out against your education. You’ll have to pay it back once you graduate.”

Ari bit her lip and nodded. “Okay.” She would do whatever it took to save Marco, which sparked her next decision. “I’m going in.” Often when people were in VR comas, loved ones would go in to help convince them to return to reality. It didn’t work with their father, but it might with Marco.

Ari’s mother shoulders sagged. “I hoped you would. It might even be free compared to doing it in the clinic. But be prepared, Ari, that he might not want out.”

“I don’t care. I’ll drag his lazy—”

“That won’t help. Remember you play by Marco’s rules in there not yours. I’ve tried enough times with your father, God knows, to no avail.”

Ari knew that was true, and it cost more than a normal VR since they had to pay the medical staff to hook her father up to a VR. After missing Christmas for a couple years, her mother finally decided to spend the money on the living.

The hatred she had for her father resurfaced like a wave of heat through her body. She wanted to punch something, or someone. Something to make this fair. But that was the wish of a child. Life was never fair.

“I’ll see if they can let me do it today.” Ari glanced at the time and realized it was six in the morning.

“Call me after, okay? You can wake me. I don’t think I’ll be sleeping much anyway.”

“I’ll call or message you soon.”

“Thanks, Ari. For being there and taking care of this. I can’t leave work.”

“I know.” Ari clicked off the screen before the sob stuck in her throat escaped.

Her HUB soon vibrated with another message. There were several from Reed and one from Tessa. She started to message them back, but her fingers hovered over the keyboard, unsure of what to say. My brother is hooked just like my loser dad? Reed might not care, but it wasn’t any less embarrassing.