My father was intense. And terrifying.

I knew that the numbers weren’t wrong. 

But I didn’t know what had actually caused the experiment to fail. 

I didn’t have any explanation to give him, and that was making me scared.

“Got stuck with giving the debrief, huh?”

“Hija de tu…” 

I clutched at my speeding heart as I looked over at Valeria, who had snuck up on me.

“You must have been thinking real hard if you didn’t hear me walking up to ya.” She added with a laugh.

Valeria was the only other scientist in the building who was around my age, although she appeared younger due to her fashion choices and bright voice.

When she wasn’t in the lab working on something, the front of her lab coat was covered in enamel pins and patches of whatever anime she was currently hyperfixating on. Her lanyard was also bejewelled and heavy with charms. 

You could always hear her before you saw her.

“Was it Sebastien’s doing?” She probed.

“Yeah. With backup from Victoria.”

“Figures.”

“And Walter.”

“I expected better from Walter?”

“Really, you did?” I asked flatly.

I heard the jingle of charms hitting pins as Valeria shrugged.

“He usually doesn’t get involved in the hazing? At least he didn’t when I was the target.”

“Maybe it was because he had a crush on you.”

“Eww. Plus, he’s married. He’s already someone else’s eww.”

“Victoria and Sebastien are married too, and don't tell me that nothing is going on between those two.”

“Oh, you sensed it too?”

“Anyone with a pulse can sense something is going on with them.”

We had reached the end of the hallway.

“Bueno, aquí te dejo. I have to go and submit some data before the weekend.”

“Isn’t that Xavier’s role?”

“It is, but he asked that I do it tonight. He's heading out early so that he can attend a LARPing event this weekend. “

“That’s surprising.”

“It's not really. A bunch of these nerds are into role-playing. Apparently, there’s a huge community of them here. They go all out too, creating whole towns and hiring actors…”

“I meant, it’s surprising that you agreed. What’d he bribe you with?”

Valeria nervously played with her lanyard.

“He’s buying me the limited edition plushie of Asmodeus from My Demon Roommate can’t do Math.”

“You need therapy. Or at least a financial planner.”

“Ay, cálmate. We all have our vices. Nos vemos.” 

She waved as she turned away, stopping suddenly and turning back. 

“I’ll text you in an hour. If you don’t respond, I’ll send out a search team.” 

She chuckled as she skipped away, all her pins and charms jangling.

And I was left alone, facing the large metal doors that led to the annex.

The path to my father’s office.

I wondered, only half-joking.

But will the search party find where he’ll have buried me?