Sophie was pushing the last bits of cake around her plate with the tiny fork, silent. She had asked lots of questions but seemed to have exhausted them. She was frowning and looking into her plate, thinking.

Elaine wished she would said something. Wished Sophie would help her.

“How bizarre” said Sophie, and then finally looked at Elaine. “What did the IT Office say?” she asked.

Elaine felt her face redden.

How did she not think about that?

In harmony with her thought, Sophie asked: “You did notify them didn’t you?”

“Uhh..”

“Woman!!”

“I just..”

“What did they say at the gym?”

“That they would look into it”

“And..?”

“Haven’t heard back yet” Elaine almost whispered.

“Wait. Am I the only person you’ve told about this?” asked Sophie.

Elaine nodded. “You know what…” she said after thinking for a moment, “I thought… I had moments when I wasn’t sure it was really happening. I know it is, but at the same time it’s so strange that I can’t believe it’s really happening”.

“This man is harassing you and you’re doubting yourself” Sophie said, dryly. She shook her head. “Why are we like this?” she asked.

Elaine thought that was a rhetoric question and didn’t attempt to answer. Sophie was right. Instead of taking action against him, she had been questioning herself.

“I will go to IT tomorrow” Elaine said.

“Yeah, that’d be a good idea” said Sophie. “Are you not afraid of being on your own at home? Why don’t you ask your mum to come over for a few days?”

The idea of inviting her mother over was so ridiculous that Elaine dismissed it in real time, but something else Sophie had said was giving her an uneasy feeling. Was she scared of being home alone? Not really. Then what?

“Maybe you shouldn’t be alone right now?” Sophie was saying. She seemed uncomfortable. Elaine knew that her friend was thinking about the possible danger this man could be to her, but didn’t want to panic her so she wouldn’t say it out loud.

Elaine hadn’t seen the man in real life though so she wasn’t concerned about that. Not yet at least.

Again, she experienced that uneasy feeling.

“I’ll have IT look into it and I’m sure they’ll find him in no time” Elaine said.

Sophie sighed. “And then what?”

“I don’t know” Elaine shrugged. “I guess they’ll take care of it?”

“God, this is creepy” Sophie said. “Want to come stay at mine in the meantime?”

“I don’t think it’s necessary. I never saw him live, he’s just on the VS” Elaine said. But she felt like that wasn’t true, without knowing why. “He appears when I’m connected to the Collective Server actually. He must be there all the time looking for me”.

That thought made her shudder. “I really don’t think he’ll approach me physically though”.

Sophie wasn’t convinced and you could see it on her face, but she said nothing.

Elaine wasn’t so sure herself anymore, but she didn’t say anything either.

After a brief silence, she asked the server for the bill.