They put on pyjamas and went to bed. After a few moments, Greta rolled over and dropped her arm over Peggy’s shoulder, and everything slipped even further into place. Everything that had been wrong before was right and anything odd or uncomfortable was gone. They should have waited. They hadn’t needed to speak to Dell. They should have trusted that everything would come clear. What happened to anyone else was none of their business. They had what they had, and they needed to protect it now it was back. The Tamagotchi phone beeped. Greta leaned over and picked it out of its charging dock. It was scuffed badly now, the white washing into grey. There was a message from the number that had been calling for years. Peggy leaned over and held the phone, so they were both holding it – one hand each. The message said, U here ANYTHING. Lt me no. The phone beeped again. U dn’t hve to tell H. The room swam a bit and they looked at the small grey screen for a long time and then the monster went to sleep, and they needed to turn off the light of the screen so it could sleep in the dark.

They doubted they’d sleep, so they got up. Crept quietly out of the room. They sat in the lounge on the couch. They could have made camomile tea but instead they just sat in the lounge and looked at the wall. They thought about sleeping on the couch. Watching a movie in the dark. But eventually they got up and walked back into the bedroom and got back into bed, where they would be awake for a while yet. Lying on their backs, one arm bent above them, their heads resting on their forearms, the Tamagotchi phone on the pillow now between them.

‘Dell,’ said Peggy.

‘Yeah.’ Greta shifted a bit. ‘Once upon a time,’ she said, ‘it was always Dell.’

Peggy rolled so she was holding Greta across the waist. ‘And Dell was a superhero,’ she said.

‘Who was trying to help us,’ Greta said.

‘From the future,’ Peggy said.

‘Sending us messages from the future.’

‘Dell knows how to navigate time. Dell knows how to navigate everything and she’s going to save us when she works out how to save us.’

‘And that’s where she was,’ Greta said.

‘Heidi and Dell have never been Adelaide again.’

‘No.’

‘And there were times when Heidi had no idea where Dell was.’

Greta rolled so she was facing Peggy and pulled herself up on her elbow. ‘Heidi was the bad guy all along.’

‘Heidi said she was dead.’

‘But Dell was trying to save us.’

‘And we all live happily ever after,’ Peggy said.

‘Because Dell is the unsuspected hero,’ Greta said.

‘Like Thomas Anderson,’ Peggy said. ‘Dell is like Neo.’

Greta kissed Peggy and they were almost asleep, but as they drifted off, they both said, ‘Or the Terminator.’

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