“Stalking is a crime, Armand.”He smiled sadly.“Guess I can’t pull the ‘mandatory reporter’ card on you, can I?The turns are super-duper table-ing right now.”
We sat in silence for a while longer, then he said, “I think you need to go inside.I can see you shivering.”
That likely meant he wanted to get back to the holiday dinner I’d interrupted.
“Aye.Er.I’ll talk to you later—”
“Actually, could you stay on the line?”My view whirled as he picked up the phone and carried me inside.“We’re about to do pies and watchSmoke Signals, you down?”
“What, sit there as the Ghost of Thanksgiving Past?”
“More like the Livestream of Finchgiving Present, but sure, you can be as Dickensian as you want, Big Guy.”Then he stepped into the bright interior and once again turned me to face the gathering.“Armand’s gonna stick around, cool?”
There was an utterly unforced and deeply humbling cheer that went up, and Mrs.Finch clasped her hands to her freckled cheeks.“See?This is why we need that Willy Wonka thing where you can send food through the screen—”
“Okay, but then why not sendhimthrough the screen?”Finch settled me against something on the table, so I had the turkey’s eye-view of this strange Norman Rockwell pastiche.
“We’ve talked about this, Robin,entropy.Losing a molecule or two in a pecan isn’t the same as losing a synapse or two.”She turned to me suddenly, and it was like being hit with a floodlight.“What was your name again, kiddo?”
“Er.Armand.”I hadn’t been so casually “kiddo”ed in months.
“Armand might come out a completely different person.”
“And tiny,” Delia added.
“And, he’d mostly be a head,” Matt pointed out as he helped Mr.Finch clear dinner dishes.“Which could work, I guess, if we got him some kind of mini Krang set-up.”
“Armand, go inside.”Skyler leaned toward the screen, trying not to look worried.“We really don’t want to watch you freeze to death.Please?”
So, I did, and I set my phone on the kitchen counter while I put the kettle on.They kept arguing about fictional physics, distributed pies and ice cream, and Mrs.Finch set up a film projector.
I spent the next few hours with them, silent on my little screen, puttering around my horrible little kitchen, slowly clambering out of my horrible little hole.It was perfect; Finch and Skyler were my friends, or friend-like entities, which kept me perceived and present, but the four other strangers gave me enough anonymity that I wasn’t overcome with shame and insecurity.It helped that they didn’t call much attention to my presence, just let me hover and feed off their warmth like the undead specter I was.I tried to keep my hands busy and avoid meeting anyone’s eyes for too long.
Finch was setting his phone in a charging port on the kitchen counter so I could passively join in the washing up, when a knock came at the door.My door.
Finch and I locked eyes.It was nearly four in the morning, there was only one person it could be.
“Answer it!”Finch squeaked, as his family, Skyler, andhisfamily all crowded around the phone, staring in at me like a fish in a bowl.
“Is that Lucas?”Matt asked.“It’s gotta be, right?”
“Go answer the door!”Skyler hissed.“Robin, hang up!”
The screen went blank as the knock came again.I very nearly injured myself getting to the door.
Lucas Collapses the World
November 25
He was covered in flour.It was sprinkled through his dark curls, a long streak across his cheekbone from where he’d surely wiped it with the back of a hand.He gaped, which is what I deserved for showing up at the deeply inappropriate hour of 4 a.m.
“Hi,” I managed, barely above a whisper.“Um.Can I ...come in?”Like I’m a vampire.Nice Barclay, very smooth.
He nodded wordlessly, staring at me as I stepped inside, as if I might disappear.Once I was fully in the living room, the scent of something amazing filled my nose.I cleared my throat.“You’re baking?”
Armand nodded again, breaking my gaze long enough to glance back at the kitchen nook, which looked like a Food Network show had exploded in there.“Er.Yes.Babka.”
Right, he’d said he baked when he was upset.Guilt gnawed at my stomach.“It smells great.”I braced myself to say what I needed to say, barely getting a handful of words out before Armand jumped in, overlapping me in a chaotic verbal soup.
