In an apartment in the middle of the ocean, a boy builds a robot, encouraged by words he never heard.
In a house in the middle of many, a girl drinks until she passes out, ignoring sermons she was never given.
The boy moves through scrap metal and spare parts and gazes at the memorabilia of movies made by the brother he never knew. Would his brother scream at him when he broke the TV? Would his brother pat him on the back and make a snide, ironic remark when he fixed? Would his brother think his robots are cool?
The girl awakes from a drunken stupor and walks through empty bottles and plushies, looking through the big empty house that belonged to the mother she never knew. Would her mother snark at her drinking? Would her mother be happy when she stayed sober? Would her mother be proud of her hacking skills?
Sometimes he imagines he lives in the past. He comes home from the high school he only knows from movies and his brother is at the kitchen table, pencil behind ear, tapping at his laptop, papers scattered on the table. He smirks and raises his glasses over his forehead. He turns to the boy and asks how his day was and calls him over to see if the new script is funny. The boy tries to contain his laughter but it's no use. At night, his brother is making cool beats in his turntables. The boy walks in nervously and starts rapping. His brother doesn't miss a beat, he just smirks. They make music for hours. When the sun rises, the boy is exhausted. His brother ruffles his hair, making a fake hurt face as if he was stabbing his hand on the boy's gelled spikes and he playfully smacks his head, pushing towards his bed. He falls asleep in peace.
Sometimes she imagines she lives in the past. She wakes up, early Saturday morning, head pounding and makes her way to the living room. There's a glass of water and aspirin and she can hear pencil scrawling. She walks into her mother's study and watches her write. Her mother doesn't like writing on the computer. The girl tries to be silent but her mother is ever vigilant and she turns, smiling. She invites her for tea. The girl would prefer vodka but she won't drink because her mother is staying home all day and it makes her happy when she doesn't drink. They have their tea and little sandwiches and talk about her mother's books and wizards, and the girl talks about all her videogame accomplishments and her mother chuckles and agrees to play one with her later. They stay up late playing something stupid and her mother is terrible at it but she does it anyway and when it's time, the girl gets shooed into bed and tucked in, even though she's way too old for it. She complains. She doesn't mean it.
But in the real world, the boy and the girl talk to each other. They are happy to be friends. But at night, when everything is silent, they mourn the family they never knew.