Part 9

Wake Up



Someone at the Matrix knew, right? Must know. Had to know. I'd woken up an hour before I had to be up for school in the hope that someone would have something.



Where were we all going to go now? Were the discussions lost forever?



I'd never been so happy to see a BBS.



Even this stuff was a relief to read. The world wasn't going crazy. Just LCL.



And the sysop knew what was going on.



Well, for a given value of "knew", at least.

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Message to: J. Rook

Hi

You've really got no idea what happened? Wow. I'm shocked. I think we all are. LCL was a great place, it's a real shame this had to happen.

I'm really sorry. But thanks for running it!
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There was something else there, too.



For educational purposes. I checked the clock. Damn! Time to get in the shower. I teetered for a moment, and then dragged myself away from Amy.



Until the evening. It was easier to concentrate on school that day, as long as I could keep from thinking about Emilia and diverted myself into thinking about what had happened to LCL instead. It worked. Mostly.



Bring on the Gibson.



After a while, I went for my sketchbook, and doodled aimlessly.



Then I turned the page.



I began drawing a face.



Quite round, but not too round.



Friendly, smiling.



At first the hair went down past the shoulders.



Then I took it in a bit.



And a bit more.



Close crop. Much better. I smiled and began filling details in properly. I didn't think in terms of technique. I just went with what felt right.



Eventually, I noticed I was in.



I made a mental note to ask Emilia why some people swear so much. Then I remembered what had happened, and it pricked at my forehead gently.



Well, they sounded more intelligent than the guys who hung out on Matrix, at least.



Whether they were, or just talked more like it, I wasn't sure.



For a board about this one guy's books, they didn't seem to talk about him very much.



I sighed and started typing.

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Message to: GibsonBBS

If you lost touch with someone, how could you find them again?
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I posted it and shut Amy down. I logged back in later that night, but nobody had even noticed my message.