Monika ate dinner early and spent most of the evening in her room downstairs. One reason for this was to avoid Kate, but she also needed time alone to digest a day that had been unbearably intense. Even alone and comfortable on her bed, she felt so emotionally frayed that all it wouldn't take much for her to start crying again. She felt so disoriented that she wasn't even sure whether or not she should be upset.
Rob had said he wanted her in his family, but he didn't elaborate and she had been too nervous to ask. It seemed clear that she wasn't going to be playing the role of his wife. She was still learning about the United States, but she was pretty sure that you couldn't be married to two people unless you moved to some place called Utah. Could she talk him into that? They probably wouldn't want to make the twins switch schools.
Where did that leave her? Was she supposed to be his sister now? Or even his daughter? Gross. He was old but not quite that old…unless he got a girl pregnant when he was 14 or 15. If she had to start walking around calling him "Daddy," that would be all sorts of wrong. Monika heard the door open and then the boys rushing over to hug their mother. After some small talk about dinner, Kate said something that caught Monika's interest.
"So I looked up Doki Doki Literature Club," she said. "Are you two trying to play a prank on me?"
"I told you it was hard to believe," Rob replied.
"Oh stop," Kate giggled. "Girls from video games don't just show up at people's houses. If they did, you would have left me for Princess Peach a long time ago."
Monika frowned. That better have been a joke.
"Did you see a picture of her in the game?" Rob asked.
"No."
"Look," he said. She assumed he must have looked up a picture of the game on his phone. "The hair, the eyes, even that outfit she was wearing when she first got here. I'm telling you, it's her."
"It does look like her but…come on. Millions of people must have played that game. Why would she come here?"
"That part still doesn't make total sense to me," Rob admitted. "But I think it's because we live so close to the spot where I found her. The fabric between dimensions is weak there or something."
"Fabric between dimensions? Are you listening to yourself?"
"If you really don't believe it, we can just stick to the story about her flying here from Japan. Doesn't really matter in the end."
Kate must have been dumbfounded when she realized that Rob really was trying to tell her the truth. "But…I read what the game is about and if that's really her…she's in love with you."
"No she's not. She just thinks she is."
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"
"That's her programming," Rob said. "I really think that the more time she spends here in the real world, the more that old stuff from the game will fade away. We just have to be patient until it does. Besides, there's no way she could still love me once she actually gets to know me."
Monika was shocked. Why would he say something like that?
"That right there is why you got taken by surprise," Kate answered. Monika wasn't sure what she referring to. "I'm trusting you to keep this under control."
"We just need to get her out there," Rob said. "We've been basically housebound because of this weather, but once she gets out into the world, that should really help. She'll meet some handsome young guy and forget all about me."
Monika didn't want to hear any more. She wasn't sure what bothered her more - that he still didn't believe her love was genuine or that maybe, just maybe, he was on to something. She was fixated on getting out of the game for so long and Rob had been her best chance. But now she was out. Did it really make sense to pursue him so aggressively? Especially when it could get her shipped off to some stranger's house? He obviously had a kind heart, but her idealized image of the player had faded quickly after meeting him. He swore constantly, he was strangely lethargic most of the time and veered unpredictably from being deeply sensitive to frustratingly dense.
Maybe it made sense to play things his way, at least for a little while. That was one idea. The other idea was to kidnap Kate, see if that dimensional tear could open again and then toss her inside. Once she was inside the game, she could start a Doki Doki Scripture Club or something.
"Have you seen Kate?" Rob would ask. "Where did she go?"
"I don't know," Monika would reply. "She must have run off with some other guy. I guess it's just you and me now!"
That probably wouldn't work. Besides, she didn't think she could open up the tear again from this side. She was about to start reading when Rob and Kate got into another one of their petty disagreements, this one apparently about a container of applesauce.
"Why did you put this in the recycling?" Kate asked.
"Uh, because I finished the applesauce?"
"It's not clean. You have to clean it before you can recycle it."
"That again? Show me the law that says you have to do that."
"They can't recycle if it still has food on it!"
"Come on, it's applesauce. It's biodegradable or some shit."
"You think you're so smart but I know you're just lazy."
"Really? I'm lazy just because I don't care if our garbage is presentable?"
"You're just miserable to be around, you know that?"
"So I've heard."
That was enough. Monika got up and quietly shut the door to her room. Yeesh, she thought. Another day in paradise.
The next morning, she sat in bed and began researching movies on the laptop Rob had given her. He had so many and with no real plans yet for her future, Monika figured she might as well take full advantage of the collection upstairs. It was a little strange that the movies were upstairs while the big TV was down here in the basement, but it was a smaller space and the sheer amount he had collected probably outgrew the surroundings.
The room nearly shook as a large thumping noise came down the staircase just outside her door. She wondered if a huge object had been tossed downstairs, but it was just Andrew and Lucas.
"Wait guys!" she heard Rob call out. "Monika might still be sleeping!"
"Don't worry, I'm not!"
Upon hearing her voice, the boys rushed into her room. Andrew pointed to himself and then Lucas. "Monika, I'm the red fire truck and Lucas is the yellow fire truck!"
They weren't wearing red or yellow shirts, but she had learned that not much was literal in their world. Andrew turned and noticed her big white bow laying next to her bed.
"Ooh, a big rope!"
Lucas was suddenly interested too. "That's my rope!"
"No, it's MY rope!"
"Actually guys, it's my rope," she said. They chose to ignore her. They both had one end and began a sudden game of tug of war. Monika knew what was coming but felt strangely powerless to stop it. They were small children but something about their energy made them intimidating. Sure enough, the bow tore in half with a loud rip. Both boys fell back onto their rear-ends and then looked at each other.
Andrew held his end up. "This is my rope and that is your rope!"
Rob walked down the stairs. "Guys what's going on here?"
Lucas proudly showed off his half before they rushed past him and back upstairs. "Daddy, we have two ropes!"
"Did you two rip Monika's bow?" Rob asked with hands on his hips.
"We didn't rip it Daddy, we didn't."
"Don't gaslight me, Andrew." The little boy ran off to join his brother.
Rob sighed and looked at her. "I'm sorry, Monika."
"It's okay," she said. "Really, it is. I need a change with my hair. I just can't get it to work the way I used to anymore. Not to mention it takes forever to wash it."
"Well if you want, we can drive down to the haircut place. I've been putting it off for a while and now it's falling all over my ears."
She smiled. "Sure, that sounds nice."
Still doing her best to stay out of Kate's way, she waited in the basement until everyone was gone. Once she had gone to work and Rob had left to take the twins to school, Monika ventured out of the basement. On her way out, she took a quick look at the shelves above the television. There were mostly stacks of video game cases, but a figurine caught her eye. A woman with flowing blonde hair and a long pink dress posed with an open parasol. She also wore a small crown atop her head.
"Princess Peach, I presume?" With a flick of her finger, Monika knocked the princess over onto her back. That would teach her a lesson.
Rob came back into the house around the time she was finishing her breakfast. They stepped out into the cold and Monika realized she hadn't been outside since their coffee run and shopping trip. She was very grateful for her beautiful new coat. The two of them got inside into the car and once it was started, Rob began to set up his music.
"Hey Rob?"
"Yeah?"
She asked as sweetly as possible. "Can we maybe listen to something different? Something other than heavy metal?"
He nodded and scrolled through his device for a moment before setting it back down. A blast of synth and electronic-sounding drums assaulted her from the speakers. This was not what she expected.
"What kind of music is this?"
"I guess you could call it techno," Rob said. "Some people call it Eurobeat."
Monika took it in for a minute or two. "So it's just as loud as metal…and just as fast…but there's less guitar and there's a woman singing."
"Come on now, there are plenty of women in heavy metal too."
"Don't you have anything like…gentle?"
"Sure," Rob answered. "But I only like to listen to exciting stuff when I'm driving."
Seeing that this was going nowhere, Monika kept quiet and tried to enjoy the music. She didn't necessarily dislike the heavy metal, but it wasn't exactly background music to enjoy while looking out the window. This song was a little more palatable; the lyrics sounded sweet despite how fast the tempo was. She was still curious to hear Rob sing, but decided not to ask this time.
The hair salon was a small space within one of the many small plazas that dominated the main road through town. On a cold weekday morning, it wasn't all that crowded.
"Would you ever consider dying your hair?" Monika asked Rob as they walked in.
"Not a chance. I like my skunk stripes."
They were both seated in the salon chairs almost immediately after entering. While Rob instructed one of the stylists, Monika stared uneasily at herself in the mirror. Her hair had really gotten out of control.
"Goodness, you have a lot of hair, don't you?" A middle-aged woman approached Monika and draped a black apron over her. "What are we doing today, miss?"
"Well, I usually tie my hair back but my bow ripped this morning. I think I need to really shorten it, maybe cut it down to about 18 inches or so?"
"You got it," the woman said. "I'll even give you a scrunchie for no extra charge."
"Thanks."
"Now how about these bangs? It must have taken you ages to get them so long."
"I like them but it's just not practical anymore to have them so long," Monika said. "Maybe cut about half off?"
"Sure thing."
About fifteen minutes later, Monika had a shortened version of her previous hairstyle that would surely be easier to manage. Rob had been done for a while and was at the counter.
"How do I look?" she asked him.
He smiled. "Like you belong here."
The woman at the cash register gave him a strange look but didn't comment. Monika felt a pleasant lightness as they walked out of the salon and smiled when she saw her new look reflected in the car window.
"I thought of a song I want to play for you," Rob said when they began driving again.
"Are you going to sing it?"
"Nah, the singer's voice is so beautiful I wouldn't dare."
The song started softly and gradually got more upbeat, but thankfully didn't sound like a bombing raid like most of the stuff he listened to. The woman's voice was indeed very beautiful, but Monika didn't really understand why he had chosen this song…until the first chorus.
Oh Sinéad, for the first time
Life is gonna turn around
I'm telling you, you will like it, I know
Oh Sinéad, it's the first time
Only you can set it free
Oh Sinéad, come break away with me
She briefly rested her head on his shoulder. "Thank you, that's really thoughtful."
"Sometimes it's easier to get my feelings across like this," he said.
Once they arrived back at the house, he had to leave for work. Instead of heading downstairs, Monika decided to wander the house for a while. She was particularly interested in the pictures hanging on the walls. In the kitchen was a collage of pictures from Rob and Kate's wedding. There were no skunk stripes in Rob's light brown hair and even though she hated to admit it, Kate looked beautiful in her wedding dress.
In the dining room were several pictures of places the family had been. Rob and Kate holding much smaller versions of the twins in front of a wide waterfall. A bizarre rock formation jutting out of bright blue water. A vivid sunrise casting red and orange over a city skyline. In another hallway, Monika found a picture of Rob and what looked like a younger clone of him. This must have been his brother. She couldn't believe how similar they looked. Behind them was a gorgeous vista of rolling green hills. It was striking, but what Monika was drawn to was Rob's smile. She hadn't yet seen him grin like that.
The bulletin board on his desk had a map of the United States with the location of all the national parks. Travel was clearly a passion of his, but it couldn't have been easy with two small children. Hopefully when the weather finally let up, they might have a chance to take some sort of trip. This town was nice, but there was a big world out there and she hadn't seen any of it.
She caught a glimpse of several small cases on the desk. They were pills of some sort, but none of the names seemed familiar. Monika went to fetch her laptop from downstairs and placed it on his desk. This might have been an invasion of privacy, but curiosity got the better of her. She entered the names of all the medications into a search engine.
They were all different types of pills, but they had one thing in common - the treatment of depression.
"Oh no," she whispered.
