"Neo Pollen!" A shrill voice shouted.

Neo jerked from her sleepy state in her chair, she felt her fingers spasm, asking to be used. "Yes ma'am?" She used her voice instead.

"Do I pay you to sleep!?" Her boss shouted, though it sounded more like a screech.

"No, ma'am." Neo answered.

Neo zoned out the rest of the conversation, only answering with yes ma'am or no ma'am.

When her boss left, Neo went back to work, or she planned to, but the computer monitor timed out, Neo didn't have a screen saver, so she was met with her face being reflected off the black screen.

Neo studied her appearance, she looked at her brown hair in a ponytail, she gazed into her brown eyes, and wondered why she felt like she was looking at a stranger.

Neo shook the thought off, and raised her hands to the keyboard, but then she froze again.

Her hands twitched.

Her hands always twitched, since she was a kid they twitched.

Doctors told her she had Dystonia, it caused involuntary and repetitive muscle contractions, it also made it difficult to speak. There was no cure, she had to take prescription drugs to 'improve the symptoms and quality of life.'

But then they changed their mind. Then they said she had Huntington's disease. It caused nerve cells in her brain to degenerate progressively, giving her some movement and cognitive disorders.

It was why her body tensed at weird times, why she would jerk and twitch, why her balance was poor, why her body was stiff, why she had difficulty using her voice, and why she had attacked a classmate with black hair and amber eyes, her brain was failing, and taking her body with it.

Huntington's disease didn't have a cure either, it was the same basic treatment only now she had physical therapy.

That therapist was a light in Neo's dark world, he was kind, supportive and charming in a goofy way.

So, why did she stop going?

Neo couldn't let him be her light, not when she felt like she was missing the one thing that truly mattered.

Neo didn't know what it was, but when she found it, she would know.

{Prologue End.}

This is part of my ATLAS AU.

Inspired by [The Matrix] with some ideas from [Wanted].