8 Phoebe’s Condo

Once William exited the building, he was no longer under the cover of the structure and was exposed to the sun rays that stabbed at his eyes. He let out a groan, shutting his eyes closed and stopping in his tracks. His hands were occupied, so he was unable to rub his forehead to dull the pain that ruthlessly pound at his skull. "I'm fine....." William replied. "I'll call them when we get in the car," he continued. He forced his eyes to open before continuing to walk towards Phoebe's car, throwing away the crushed granola bar after passing a trash bin. When he got into the passenger's seat of Phoebe's beloved car, he immediately pulled out his cell and called the nearby pharmacy that he will be arriving soon and will need another bottle of his prescription. With that out of the way, he burrowed his head in the space between the car seat and window. It was getting worse.

He hated having headaches. Along with causing him to be irritable, it also impaired his ability to function. While having severe migraines, he is reduced to a rock - unable to move or think - which angers him further because he will be wasting time. It was a vicious cycle of self-induced anger. William's doctor was concerned about the male. If he continued like this, his heart with suffer from all of the stress the man is experiencing. William was already showing some symptoms of stress which are lack of appetite, insomnia, and dependency on cigarettes. He ran his fingers through his hair, pushing his black locks back before the strands fell back to their natural resting place.

Phoebe as usual sped off to her destination, if Willy wasn't in his top form then it would be like one side of the brain failing. She double parked in front of the pharmacy and quickly picked up the prescription for Willy. She would toss the bottle to him once she got back in the car.

William held the bottle in his hand, quickly opening the bottle and swallowing two pills without bothering to wash it down with water. He snapped the bottle's lid close before he ensconced his head back into the small crevice. He stayed like this until they arrived at Phoebe's condo.

She watched him take the pills quickly as if someone would snatch them away. It made her chuckle, she then started to receive a phone call. She answered it and it automatically played through the car speakers.

"What's up Rhea?" Phoebe would adjust the stereo volume so it doesn't hurt Willy's head to much.

"I have everything set up at your apartment, monitors, keyboard, mouse and a better computer itself. If you have time I'll tell you about the controls right now." Rhea ran down her list of items she had set up for the investigation.

"You're so awesome Rhea you've gotten that together pretty quickly. Are you sure you don't wanna be my personal assistant?" She chuckled at the thought as she said it

"N-no way! Working with you all day would be torture.i would probably get calls from civil servants demanding apologies about all your misdemeanors" Rhea teased her and covered the speaker so she couldn't hear her laugh

"Torture? No way I'm pretty sure Willy doesn't think I'm torturing him...I'm not that bad...just a few assaults." Phoebe thought about how aggressive she really was, she thought about the man she just cuffed to a wall and what he could do to get back at her.

"Alright, I'm gonna go over some hot keys and basics with you alright." Rhea immediately start to brief her on the aspects of the game.

Phoebe hung up the phone once they arrived at the home. She would park into a vertical parking space and hop out the car.

She lead the way up three flights of stairs and she saw a package in front of the door. "Ah Rhea's present is here" she entered a PIN number into the door panel to unlock the door. She would pick up the package that was about 2 feet tall all around

"We're all set up Willy, I'm going to start up the game and do the customizations and you can make yourself at home, eat , nap then give me some support alright."

She said asking for a long shot as she sat the package on the table.

William set the files on Phoebe's dining table, spreading them out in a way that each paper was visible.

Phoebe took off her driving gloves, pulled her hair into a ponytail, pulled off her jacket and placed it on a rack and washed her hands before touching the desk Rhea had set up. The desk was covered with sticky notes. She placed the sticky notes on the dining room table for Will's use

Phoebe wasn't really big on games so she seemed pretty amateur to using the equipment.

She started up the computer and started her tasks booting up the game."here goes nothing, Hex you like confident? I'll give you confident."

William did none of the options Phoebe listed, declaring all of them as unproductive and a waste of time. Why should he eat when he had already eaten a bagel this morning? He also gotten enough sleep the previous night to last him three days at the minimum, all thanks to Phoebe and her sneaky ways. Besides, rest wasn't necessary now that the prescription drugs were in his system. He could feel the pain slowly fade from existence with every passing moment. It was a slow and gradual decrease, but he felt tremendously better than when he was in the car. The throbbing pain was now down to an annoying and aggravating ache that was only semi-difficult to ignore. William's eyes scanned through the sticky notes that were recently placed on the dining table by his partner, taking in all of the information these small bits of paper had to offer. If someone were to see William, he would be, for the most part, reading something. His eyes would be fixated on the lines of text, whether it be a work-related file, a personal book, or a news report on his phone. As a child, he wasn't allowed to enjoy the standard entertainment like television or video games. Going outside was no option either, so the young boy turned to books to occupy his time when he wasn't cramming his small head with knowledge and skill to appease his demanding parents. They were both extremely greedy - greedy for money and success. His parents would be rolling in their graves if they knew he was in law enforcement instead of business.

"If you encounter Hex, abbreviate all of the words you can and don't use any punctuation. Basically, write like an uneducated teenager of today," William advised. Looking at all of the transcripts, most of the victims were very, very illiterate. Hex's grammar and spelling, on the other hand, were flawless. He didn't miss a period, had perfect punctuation, and spelt every word correctly. The killer didn't completely butcher the English language like most of these MPVW players did. "And when he asks you if you want to meet each other, do not hesitate or deny. Jump at the offer eagerly," William added as he sat himself down in the dining chair. A thought slowly began to take form in William's mind. It was about the reason behind the murders. It was just a speculation; nothing more, nothing less. Maybe... Just maybe the killer was bullied, probably cyber-bullied. A picture - something - was released onto the internet for everyone to see. The teen boy's early life was ruined. The grudge sits dormant for years. A recent event in his life acted as a trigger, sending him over the edge. MPVW was currently the leading online virtual game, but still why this game? It would make more sense if he targeted people on social media, not a game. Unless...the individual who bullied the killer excluded confidence online, but is cowardly in real life