❝This is crazy, and the longer I live, I'm becoming more and more convinced we all live in a simulation. And I'd like to send a big F-U to the person controlling my life; you suck.❞
Arline Varas was stripped from the possibility of a normal childhoo...
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› PROLOGUE ‹
Blotched food and dirt stains marked the stuffed teddy bear in the tiny hands of a dark-haired toddler. She didn't care that one of its button eyes had fallen out long ago and its single red bow was just asking to be restitched because all she cared was that she could pretend he was dancing to the sound of the beat of the song as she blubbered the words to the mixtape of Spanish songs her father had put on earlier. She was in her own magical world and her best friend was in it.
Behind the dark-haired toddler was a boy, about ten. He was resting on the couch, his thumbs drumming on his used Game Boy, doing his best to ignore his half-sister and his mother and stepfather. It was clear they were arguing about finances, something that became common in their household, and something the adults liked to think their kids were oblivious to. Maybe Arline was, since she was hardly three, but Gabian was ten and could tell tensions were high.
The music faded for a moment as it switched to another Spanish song, and the mutilated mumbling from Arline stopped. Instead of the gurgling he was accustomed to hearing from his baby sister, a shrill and elevated laugh bubbled through the air. Gabian's eyebrows furrowed, wanting to ignore her, but as her small hands clapped together with the continuous laughter, he decided to pause his game and look over at his sister. Color immediately drained from his face and the Game Boy slipped from his fingers and slid onto his stomach, where it remained forgotten.
"M-Mom?!" He shouted with a stutter, and the arguing in the other room came to a halt.
"What is it, baby?" Brenda yelled back from the kitchen.
"The—I-I don't..." He struggled to figure out what to say. "It's Arline...!"
At the mention of their youngest child, both parents dropped what they were doing and headed toward the living room. Brenda was first, her movements quick with her heart racing in her chest, wondering what could be wrong with her youngest to make her eldest sound so worried. And as she rounded the corner from the kitchen into the living room, her hand instantly found her mouth as a distressed shriek escaped her. Paulo, who was right on Brenda's heels, stepped into the room just in time to see the stuffed bear he had bought for his daughter drop to the ground an arm's length from Arline, who started wailing from Brenda's reaction.
"What the hell was that?!" Brenda spoke over her daughter's crying, looking over at her husband. "That—that thing was moving on its own! You saw that right?!"
Paulo didn't say anything. His eyes moved from the now limp toy, and to his confused daughter. His mouth went dry and his stomach churned, especially as Brenda kept pushing him to say something. So, instead of answering his wife, he moved past her and picked up Arline, who immediately wrapped her skinny arms around his neck. He patted her back and didn't stop her from hiding her blotted face in his shoulder, choosing to attempt to comfort her as he bounced her slightly in his arms.
