With no word from Sally after five minutes, Justin called the police from his cell phone. The emergency dispatcher told him a car was on its way to her address. Justin ran a search on his computer for Sally’s number and dialed. No answer. He left a breathless message.
After half an hour with no sign that Sally had returned to the game, Justin discharged her from Shadow Stroger Hospital and drove her back to her Shadow condo. Periodically he tried to start a discussion just to see if he could see some sign of the real Sally. Although her avatar hadn’t gone entirely lethargic from her absence, she showed no signs of warmth toward him, either. Shadow Sally thanked Justin politely and perfunctorily and let herself in with her key.
Speeding through wide gaps between early-morning reverse commuters, Justin got his avatar home before dawn. He gave his Shadow mother a ridiculous story about going for an early-morning jog, then shut down the game and hopped into his real bed. It was almost time to get dressed for school. He removed his sweatshirt and his pants and pushed them down to the foot of the bed with his feet.
He heard the phone peal down the hall. His mother hushed it on the fourth ring and a moment later rapped on his door.
“Justin?” Martha Finn called.
“Yuh?” he said with manufactured grogginess.
“It’s for you. It’s a girl.”
Justin wondered if Sally had the guts to call here. If her name would show up on caller ID. If his mother would recognize her voice all these years later. He rolled out of bed and unlocked the door and opened it just enough to slip his hand through the crack. He gripped the phone and pulled it back inside, shutting the door behind him.
“Sally,” he whispered, even though his mother might have the extension to her ear.
Silence.
“Are you okay? What happened? Where’s Coyne?”
Nothing.
It occurred to Justin that it might not be Sally on the other end. It might be Coyne. But how would he know who Justin was? Or where to find his number? Sally and Justin had never spoken outside Shadow World, not since he was a kid anyway.
“Sally, are you all right?” he asked again.
“I’m fine,” Sally said finally. “The police came. He’s gone.”
“Thank God.”
Neither one of them said anything more for at least a minute. Justin couldn’t explain the awkwardness. Despite their close friendship in Shadow World, it was almost as if they were strangers in real life.
“Anyway,” Sally said.
“Anyway,” Justin said. “I’ll meet you in the game later. After school. We’ll talk then. You’ll tell me everything.”
“All right. Good,” Sally said, and then, before she hung up, “Wait a minute, Justin…”
“What?”
Another long silence. A sigh over the phone. “Nothing. No. I mean…” It sounded to Justin like she was crying. She said, “Happy Birthday.”
Justin at Sixteen