Page 35 of Soul So Dark

ME (8:19PM): I know

ALEX (8:20PM): So unmute

ME (8:20PM): No

ALEX (8:20PM): But I want to talk to you

I don’t make friends online. He should know why, but he’s a guy and is probably oblivious to it. I’m just like every other girl who naively thought I’d fit in with everyone else on the Internet just because I liked playing the same game. And if existing in the same space wasn’t a lesson, then being good enough to beat some of those raging incels was a master class.

A seventh-grader can only take so many rape and death threats before pressing mute and leaving it on. And tonight’s no different. I’m disappointed, but I don’t know the other names on my screen, and the last thing I’m going to do is open myself up to more abuse.

So, I don’t.

I could just leave, play games with Austin, and tell Alex the truth the next time I see him, that online gaming isn’t safe for girls. But I don’t do that, either. Instead, I keep playing on mute and no one seems to care.

About an hour later, I finally decide to respond to Alex’s last text.

ME (9:14PM): If you want, you can come over and play again sometime. It doesn’t have to be Tomb Raider.

My phone starts vibrating with a call and Alex’s name flashes across the screen.

“Hi,” I answer, putting it on speaker after realizing I’ve been wearing my headset for no reason.

“Did I scare you off already?” he asks. “I can turn it down to lame-ass mode if it would make you more comfortable.”

“No, but I don’t play with people I don’t know.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t like other players telling me they’re going to find where I live so they can rape me 50 times, slit my throat, and then skull fuck my dead body.”

Silence.

He asked…

“What if I likeTomb Raider?” he asks, not missing a beat as he moves through the map just as fast as I do. He’s basically my only competition at this point.

“It’s not multi-player,” I point out apprehensively.

“Didn’t you ever learn how to take turns?”

The corner of my mouth curls. “What if I’m more selfish than you?”

“I highly doubt that.”

“That’s right,” I sigh, “you share a brain with Colson, Aiden, and Mason. You have to be incredibly selfish and conceited by default in order to qualify for that exclusive status.”

“Shit,Dal,” he drawls, the tone of his voice reaching through the speaker and sending a cascade of goosebumps across my shoulders, “that’s harsh,” he chuckles.

“I know my brother,” I shoot back.

“But you hardly knowme,” he counters, “since you’ve spent the last seven years completelyignoringme.”

My brain glitches out for a moment. “Ignoringyou?” I blink and suddenly I’m hit by a skeleton archer.

I let out a small gasp and my mouth falls open in shock. How was I just killed by a skeleton archer? How could I have just been killed in such an idiotic way?

“Ooh,” Alex chuckles, “brutal.”