I take my slip and leave.
I think about going to the park or the gas station to look for Ash’s car, since he said he was scanning the far side of the river today, but he could be done by the time I find him, or I may not find him at all. Tomorrow I’ll go and search again, but today I’ll leave it to him. I need something else to calm me down.
The house is quiet when I get home. I close myself in my room, put on leggings and a sweatshirt, and sink into bed with my laptop. I have an old wireless mouse Mom doesn’t use anymore, and a mouse pad from when she had a little office set up at home here during the pandemic. The pandemic is the only reason I have my own laptop. I had school and she had to work, so she bought me a used one from a neighbor three doors down. Despite being several years old and slow as hell, it’s still better than the junk Chromebooks they hand out for school, and it’s got the specs to run CoH.
The CoH installer is still up on the screen. When I close it, another window comes up. This one asks for a login. I type inthe account name and password I made yesterday on the game website when I downloaded, and it thinks for a minute before my screen flashes black, then is filled by the game window.
Children of Hypnos Online begins with a lobby screen. The background shows a twilight campus: a large fountain in the middle of a cobblestone quad, surrounded by stone and brick buildings and haloed by wrought-iron lampposts. The sky is overcast, and the sound of rain accompanies a haunting string melody.
At the top right of the screen is theChildren of Hypnos: Nightmare Queenlogo, the gold and silver script wreathed by red poppies.Nightmare Queenwas the last expansion. Alissa had said it was great. Beneath the logo are a few buttons.
Add-Ons, Credits, Help
On the left side of the screen is a long box labeled
Character Selection
There are no characters listed here, only a button that says
Create New
I click it.
