"It's tradition. My grandmother said a broken heart is only healed by another broken heart. That if someone makes you cry, you have to make them cry too. So they understand."
Jay looked at her with a mix of concern and amusement. "Gloria, he's a kid. You can't... do something to him."
"Who says I can't?" Gloria smiled, but it wasn't a warm smile. "I'm not going to do anything. I'm just going to watch. And if he hurts Alex, I'm going to make him regret it. Not with violence. With something worse."
"What could be worse?"
"In Colombia, we have an expression: 'He who laughs at love, weeps for love.' And I'm going to make sure Leo understands that expression. With cousins. With threats. With looks that make him wonder if he's going to make it home that night."
Jay let out a laugh. "That's very Colombian of you."
"It's very woman of me," Gloria corrected. "And you should agree. If someone hurt your daughter, wouldn't you do the same?"
Jay thought for a moment. "I'd call a lawyer."
"That's very American of you," Gloria said with a smile. "But I prefer my methods. They're more... effective."
And in the darkness of the car, with the city lights glowing in the distance, Gloria smiled. It was the smile of a woman who knew things others didn't know, who saw things others didn't see. She had seen, in the pool, two young people floating together in the water, their hands almost touching, their eyes shining in a way that could only be love.
And she had decided that whatever happened, she would be there to protect Alex. With whatever it took.
That night, the system recorded:
Organic connection with A.D.: Consolidated.
Gloria Pritchett has identified the nature of the relationship between user and A.D. Accuracy: 96%.
Gloria Pritchett has expressed protective intentions. Perceived threat level to user: moderate.
Probability that Gloria will take action against user if user hurts A.D.: 100%.
The user has been warned.
The path continues.
Monday, 6:47 AM
I woke with a strange sensation. It wasn't pain, nor fear, nor that anxiety that had accompanied my first years in this world. It was something more subtle. An absence. Like when you stop hearing the hum of an appliance and only then notice it had been there all along.
I opened my eyes. My bedroom ceiling was the same as always: the stain in the corner that looked like a map of South America, the crack running through the light fixture, the faint dawn light filtering through the curtains.
But something was missing.
I blinked. The system interface, which had been present at the edge of my vision since I woke up in this world at eight years old, had vanished.
It wasn't there.
No numbers, no warnings, no progress logs. Just the void where the translucent window reminding me who I was and what I had to do had once been.
I sat up in bed, heart racing. I closed my eyes. Opened them. Nothing.
"System?" I murmured, feeling ridiculous.
Silence.
I got up and walked to the window. Dunphy Street was calm. The lights in Alex's house were still off. Everything seemed normal. But I didn't feel normal.
I sat at my desk and opened my sketchbook. My hands trembled slightly as I flipped through the pages: drawings of planes, houses, trees. The notes on perspective Alex had taught me. Everything was there. But the voice in my head that once recorded every trope, every event, every opportunity to earn points... that voice had fallen silent.
And then, I saw it.
On the last page of the sketchbook, in handwriting that wasn't mine, a message appeared:
Personal Evolution System - Final Version
User: Leo Bennett
Current age: 14 years
Time in this universe: 6 years, 4 months, 12 days
The system has fulfilled its function.
Initial diagnosis: Pathological canonical obsession. Risk of replication in new environment.
Current diagnosis: Successful integration. User has developed their own identity. User has established organic connections. User has chosen multiple paths.
The system is no longer necessary.
I read the words once. Twice. Three times. My fingers traced the letters as if I could feel them, as if touching them could make them more real.
Retained skills:
Scientific Intuition (Level 2) Artistic Perception (Level 1) Enhanced Physical Condition (Level 1)
These skills are now part of the user. They do not require system maintenance. They will develop with practice and time.
Final restriction:
The user cannot manipulate or interfere in Alexandra Dunphy's romantic relationships. The user cannot use knowledge of the future, enhanced skills, or privileged position to influence her decisions. If she chooses to have a relationship with someone, the user must respect it. If she chooses not to, the user must respect that equally.
This is not a limitation. It is the condition for any connection between you to be real.
Final warning: The system will not intervene again. The user's decisions from now on are entirely their own.
The path continues.
I stared at the page for a long time. I didn't feel relief or fear. I felt something quieter, deeper. Like when you finish a book that has accompanied you for years, and you close it knowing you'll never read it again, but that its stories stay with you. It was strange—in the stories I'd watched or read, they sometimes portrayed the system as something omnipotent that stayed with you, guided and controlled you. For this one to leave me... it gave me a feeling that so many stories didn't seem true in practice. Perhaps.
I closed the sketchbook gently. Then I simply put it in the desk drawer, along with the books Alex had lent me and the notes we had exchanged.
And then, I set to work thinking about what I was going to do now with my life. Without the system, but with greater potential thanks to it.
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