Standing outside one of the bedrooms that neighboured his own, Lauri awkwardly shifted from one foot to the other. Reaching towards the door, he stopped himself, pulling back a moment later.
'It's not like I need this, right? It's not like I need to know more.'
Putting his hands together, Lauri took a step back.
'But, this… Internet? Nama says it holds all the knowledge in the world, like some kind of giant library, with hundreds of thousands of books…'
Letting out a deep and remorseful grown. Lauri knocked on the door three times before taking a large step back into the middle of the hallway.
Lauri's light sense was still restricted, he had no intentions of spying on anyone in their own personal space. A man had his principles to uphold, after all, and Lauri didn't want to accidentally see something he couldn't unsee.
Shivering, Lauri heard footsteps behind the door, a second later it slid open.
Ashley tilted her head slightly.
"Can I help you?"
Lauri felt slightly deflated, Ashley's tone was a lot less welcoming than their first interaction. It was to be expected from how their interaction had ended earlier.
"I, I need your help."
Rubbing his hands together, Lauri shyly looked at Ashley, waiting for her response.
Her eyes narrowed.
"Help you, why should I help you after you acted when I was just asking you a question?"
'She has a point, I probably wouldn't help someone who acted that way.'
"Well, you see. I have a lot of questions, about this world… and well… How do you use a computer?"
The expression on Ashley's face froze. Lauri thought it was annoyance slowly turning into, confusion.
About to say something, to try and explain himself further, Ashley bent forward holding her side, a laugh escaped her lips. Lauri looked on, his own face now took on a confused look. A few moments passed by and Ashley had finished laughing, letting go of her side she wiped her eye.
Lauri stared at the girl, feeling like he might be being mocked.
"Are you mocking me?"
Ashley shook her head as she took another second to compose herself.
"No, no. I promise I'm not trying to mock you. I just thought of two things. Either I wouldn't see you until the Summer Equinox, or maybe I'd bump into you in the hallway, and you'd apologise. But asking for my help using a computer, I hadn't expected that."
Lauri looked away as Ashley reminded him of his own embarrassing performance.
"Yeah about that, I'm sorry for lashing out at you in the cafeteria… I'm kind of, going through something… To say the least."
'I can't exactly tell you that the director of this compound tried to dominate my soul, the same director who slaughtered everyone I know and love was brutally slaughtered in a single night by one of the director's subordinates.'
Lauri's mind grew hazy as he thought about that.
'Was it, really, really, just one day ago? What was I doing yesterday, I guess, Laurence and I had just gotten home… And I went to lie down…'
"Lauri! Lauri hello! Earth to Lauri"
Ashley's voice brought Lauri back to reality. Blinking, Lauri shook his head, rubbing his face he frowned slightly.
"Ah sorry, my mind was far, far away… You could say it was in another world."
Ashley glanced around the otherwise empty hallway and then back to Lauri.
"I don't think you're using that expression correctly but, sure. Yeah, sure thing, Lauri. I can help you with your computer problems."
Lauri began to walk back to his room as Ashley followed behind him. Stepping into his room, Lauri hurried over to the desk and took a seat. Walking in, Ashley's attention was immediately drawn to the screen above Lauri's desk. Specifically, the small hole where a network of cracks branched out, looking like a spider web.
Stopping halfway through his room, Ashley gestured to the screen.
"What, um, what happened there?"
Mindlessly tapping the keyboard with his two pointer fingers, Lauri quickly looked up. Squinting, he turned back to the keyboard.
"I didn't like the view."
Scratching her chin, Ashley stared at the screen for a few more moments before continuing on.
"So, Lauri, what exactly is the problem? You seem to, uh."
Ashley watched in confusion as Lauri randomly tapped the keyboard.
"I saw Nama do this, she was helping me plan my lessons and, well. She pressed these 'keys', that's what she called them, at least. Keys, they open the door to the gateway of knowledge that is the internet."
Remaining motionless, Ashley covered her mouth for a moment. A small chuckle escaped her lips.
"You, you need to turn it on."
Lauri blinked.
"T- Turn it on?"
As Lauri's cheeks turned a light shade of red, his eyes slowly turned to the blank computer screen.
"I don't follow, how do I… Turn it on?"
"Oh, that's easy."
Reaching forward, Ashley pressed a button in the corner of the screen. A second later the black monitor lit up, and a blue screen with text appeared.
Lauri slowly read the text.
'Username? Password? I don't know what an account name is, but a password. I need some kind of secret code… I wonder what secret code Yang is using to hide the secrets of the world from me.'
"So now here you put in your account name and password, if you don't know it you can find it on your com."
As Lauri gave her a blank stare, Ashley reached into her pocket and pulled out a strange device: a glass surrounded by a thin sheet of metal.
'That doesn't look very durable like I could break it just by dropping it.'
Gently shaking the device with her fingers, Ashley smiled.
"Your communicator. Government standard issued communicator that all new Sicklies get?"
As Lauri gave no sign of recognition. One of Ashley's eyebrows raised in confusion.
"You didn't get one? Funny, I'm pretty sure everyone gets one when they come here. Well, everyone usually gets a communicator when they come here… Strange. No matter, you can use my login."
Quickly typing in her username and password, Lauri watched in awe as the screen changed again.
Stepping back, Ashley gestured to the screen.
"It's all yours now, Lauri."
About to turn away, she turned back with a strange expression on her face.
"Just, uh, don't look up anything weird on my account. I'd appreciate it."
Studying the screen, Lauri scratched his chin.
"I, I don't know what I should look up… If you knew nothing about this world, where would you start searching for information?"
Turning back with a hint of surprise, Ashley smiled.
"You have come to the right person."
Pushing Lauri aside, the chair he was sitting on easily rolled away. Ashley moved the mouse and tapped on the keyboard.
"Whilst I could recommend you the public files distributed by the government, you don't seem like the type of person who'd be interested in reading pages and pages of word vomit. So try this on for size. This should be more to your liking. It's one of my favourite webnovels, the name is a bit chunky, but you know how it is. Don't judge a book by its cover."
Lauri's eyes came to rest on the screen.
At the top of the screen, the name of the novel was written in large text.
'Lost In the Stream, A Story of Loss, Love and a Lifetime of Finding It Again.'
Glancing at Ashley, Lauri tilted his head slightly.
'Why do I feel like I've made another mistake asking her for help.'
Although he felt slightly apprehensive at the name of the novel, Lauri couldn't help but feel a small sense of calm seeing Ashley's smiling face.
"So... This is your favourite novel, huh?"
Profusely nodding, Ashley turned her bright gaze to Lauri. Looking him in the eyes, she turned away, grabbing at her hair.
"I've always wanted to talk about it with my friends... But well, yeah. It's not a very good story anyway so I doubt anyone would be interested in it.."
Frowning, Lauri looked back at the screen.
"Thanks, Ashley, I'll give it a read."
Ashley's bright expression grew even brighter, hearing Lauri's words. About to say something, her stomach let out a loud grumble. Lauri and Ashley looked at each other for a second before Ashley took a step away.
"Ah, would you look at the time? I should be trying to get some sleep, I'll leave you to it."
Unable to think for a second, Lauri called out to the girl as she quickly scampered away.
"I'll save you some of my food tomorrow, Ashley, if you're still hungry."
Stopping at the door, Ashley paused.
"Ash."
Lauri blinked.
"What was that?"
Looking over her shoulder, Ashley's infectious smile shone at him. Lauri wondered if he wasn't unaffected by bright lights, would the girl's smile have made him have to shield his eyes?
"Don't you remember? My friends call me Ash."
And with that the girl disappeared, heading back to her bedroom.
As the door slid shut, Lauri tilted his head.
"Her friends call her Ash, but she doesn't have any friends?"
Blankly staring at the door, it took Lauri a minute to process what Ashley's last remark meant. Slightly smiling, Lauri turned back to the computer, beginning to read his new friend's favourite novel.