Vito opens the door of her home. She's wearing an ombre sleeveless dress, with the color going from white to a sparkly light pink. Her long hair is in a ponytail running down her back.
"Vito!" She says. She takes a look at him. His hair is slicked back, and he's wearing a black collared dress shirt under a dress jacket with three buttons on the bottom and a red tie. "You're… wearing a shirt!"
"Aye, surprisingly enough so are you!" He says, uncrossing his arms.
"Okay, wack." Zoey begins to feel creeped out, recalling her bad memories from Vito in the past when she wasn't aware of Mike's DID, and crosses her arms as she walks away from him. This doesn't seem to phase Vito.
"Didja miss me, doll?" He asks. Her back is turned to him.
"Well now I'm not so sure!"
"Lmao" Eventually, the two begin going for a walk. Vito is wearing black sneakers, while Zoey has pink heels on.
"So, um… I'm really sorry that I apparently caused you guys to split again."
"Nah, you don't need to apologize. Not to me, anyway." As they walk, Vito stretches his arms, putting them behind his head as he speaks. "Believe it or not, I actually like being alive."
"Oh!" Zoey says, her hands over her mouth. "I guess I never thought about it that way. Does this mean the others are back too?"
"I'm sure they will be." He explains. "For now it's just me, though- because this kind of thing is my job to handle." They begin to stand in front of a forest.
"Stress?" Zoey asks.
"Sexual trauma." He says, turned away to her as he looks at his hands.
"Oh..!" Zoey cups her hands together and looks to the side, beginning to feel nervous. "Is it… is it okay to ask? I don't want to pry…"
"Where to start… We grew up in the foster care system. Which, mind you, wasn't all bad."
Vito thinks about three of Mike's former foster parents, one woman and two men. Their faces are blacked out.
"Many of the people whose lives we passed through were perfectly nice. The people we're with now- they adopted us officially when we were fifteen, and they're absolute angels. Couldn't have hoped for a more supportive couple."
There's a photo of Mike and his two adoptive parents. Mike stands in between them, smiling alongside them. The adoptive mom, a Hispanic woman, has short brown hair just above her chin, a pointed nose, and is wearing a red tank top exposing cleaveage and black pants. She's smiling while showing her teeth. She has her hand on her husband's shoulder, and only his nose and lips are shown. He is a buff black man wearing a black v-neck shirt, and his arms are crossed. He smiles, not showing any teeth.
"But we didn't get lucky every time."
Underneath, there is another photo of a woman with a large chest and black sleeveless dress. She has brown hair and her face is blacked out, and the photo has cracks over it. The scene goes back to Vito, and they're now in the woods. His smile has faded.
"There are some real sick fucks out there, Zoey." The background goes away behind them, and it's nothing but darkness. Zoey looks scared.
To be continued...