Zoe's smile disappeared, but she was still grinning on the inside.
"Now, are you going to help me with that machine or not?"
"Okay," she said, heading toward the master bedroom with her brother/mother, which was weird enough without him calling her dear. Was he being indocrinated to act like their mother, or some 1950s-like idealized version of motherhood?
She checked out the device. She hadn't really been this close to one, but everyone talked about them. And she still remembered what had happened to her friend...She forced that thought out of her mind.
The device looked simple. Goggles, earphones, a machine to run it. "Looks fine to me. Try it on," she said.
Zoe turned and was about to leave when...
