Charlie had been gone for days. He came back one night and tried to drink himself under the table. He had started with the finest wine and worked his way to the sailor's port they used to make sangria from. His hair had been unkempt and stuck to the side of his head instead of flowing like it normally did. Lady Rossa was at wit's end.
Tonight she lay awake in her bed. The heat was sweltering, but she didn't want to close the doors that looked out over the bay. The moon had barely crested the water and there was a pulsing of blue light on the wall as waves reflected the moon's rays.
"Why Charlie, why can't you return." She wept softly.
A crack from the hallway brought her puffy eyes down from the ceiling.
"Charlie?" she questioned the night.
There was no response, she hadn't heard one of his new sports cars deep rumble home. He must not have come in, then again in this new world he could have flown in, or even appeared. As she turned her gaze to the water outside there was another crack.
With her mouth open in worry she pulled towards the end of the bed. She put her hand into the drawer on the stand next to her. She pulled out a rather small pistol that sparkled in silver. Her fingers covered the version of the program printed on the handle.
"Hello?" She called out slowly, her finger trembled towards the trigger.
There were some steps echoing in the hallway towards the bathroom.
"Lights" she cried out and all the lights came on in the house. They flickered for a moment and went back out. She wondered if the power had gone out, then looked at her clock, the light was staring back at her in little red digital dots. The minute dot winked at her.
This was creeping her out too much.
"Rover!" she called and a little dog popped up next to her.
"yes master?" the dog asked as it rolled over playfully on her bed.
"What the hell is turning the lights off?" she asked as she mentally flipped them back on.
In a moment they flipped back out and the dog furrowed its brow.
"searching, searching" it replied steadily to imply work.
"Located" it yapped as it sat on its hindquarters. Suddenly the lights went off in the house and a shadow loomed over her.
"AHHHH" screaming she pulled the trigger on her gun and hit rover squarely in the face. The dogs body slumped a bit mechanically then froze in place.
"Honeey." A slurred voice droned monotonously. "I knew tha dog ahs replacipal but wat if you got me?" Charlie postulated as he took a drink from his low baler.
"Jesus Christ Charles! I wouldn't be shooting into the dark if I knew it was you making a racket!" Mrs. Rossa replied coldly.
Charlie was visibly drunk, sweat was pouring out of his body and he held himself like a forgotten marionette.
"Whos it going too bee?" He replied as he rolled into bed.
"Well the chat lines have been crawling with all sorts of tales, Dark monsters and new viruses." Rossa responded. "My understanding is that there has been a breach in security after the U.S. CERT team was given access to the database. Now there are all sorts of." Rossa stopped as she could tell her husband had passed out already. The smell of whiskey permeated the room. Her vision glitched a bit, as she looked into the mirror. A woman with brown hair stared back, her mirror image raised her hand to her face. Somehow he found something worse. Tomorrow she would have to go talk to someone at the Office. Some editing needed to be done. Laying back in bed her trembling hand paused for a moment above him, it took her a long breath, but she felt comfortable for the first time all night. Rossa placed a hand on Charlie's back and soon joined her husband in slumber.