by Ashlie Minamida » Wed Jun 17, 2015 5:26 pm
Ashlie is pacing up and down in her apartment. The windows are too small for her taste and the layout of the room isn't too her liking, but she'd shied away from significantly altering the building in any way, so she made due with a couple of smaller rooms instead of a wide open loft that she would have preferred. The room is still very open, only a minimal amount of furniture present to avoid making the room feel cramped in any way. That's why the walls are mostly empty, simple white wallpaper giving the illusion of open space. Most people would call it boring but she likes the blank slate.
Her mind wanders as she's pacing. The air around her is filled with electronic signals of all sorts. Dozens of smartphones in the building, wifi patterns and radio signals are all around her. Data is flowing everywhere through numerous devices and she let's her thoughts follow some of them. No. I mustn't abandon the school. A silly thought, but an intrusive one. Her mind snaps back to the here and now. With a mental sigh she takes the smartphone from the pocket of her white pencil skirt. She already has the number of Rob's parents pulled up. Part of her dreads this phonecall, almost as if she doesn't want to confirm her suspicions. Rob's situation made her feel guilty for having triggered it but mostly she feel a certain affinity to him. He's useful to her plans, but now she's discovered that in a way he might be a kindred spirit. She wants to help him, or at least that's what she hopes. Maybe it's just yet another urge that she owes to her mother. Be helpful. Meaningless as a simple line of learned behavior that was hammered into her. Without genuine desire it feels like it matters little and she doesn't - can't - know whether it's her own desire to help Rob or not. She know this line of thinking is pointless. She will make the call regardless, trapped by her inability to make a choice that matters to her.
She dials the number as she places the phone back into her pocket, her mind directly connected to the outgoing call.