The day starts by walking out of my room. It always does. No big deal. I look at the couch. There's Ludice in the same spot he was last night. I know he doesn't need sleep, but he could at least change clothes overnight. But, then again, all his clothes are so similar that he could be wearing something different without me noticing. Wait, no, that's the same shirt.

Gross.

I would think he hadn't moved at all, if not for what he's doing. He's munching on a cookie, staring off into space with his head in the clouds. I sigh.

"Are you even paying attention to the stream?" I ask.

He gives me a startled look. "Of course, yes, of course I am," he stammers. I know he wasn't. There's no way he was, when he's like that. I guess that's not a big deal. I just figured that since he's up all the time, he wouldn't mind killing time checking the stream for me. It's been acting up lately. Hell, it's been acting up forever.

The stream just flows by in front of the house in all its glitchy, purple and black glory. It was green and black when I got here, but working through the code I found the control for the colour pallet and it's been like that ever since.

"I didn't change any code, but that's because nothing really happened," Ludice says nervously.

"I see," I reply, "Well, that's all well and good, but I've asked you to please not touch the code. Just mark the error and tell me." I'm really glad he didn't mess with the code. The last time he did, it just made things worse. He didn't even remember what he messed with, so I had to look for it for months and slowly write up more code to overwrite what he had done until I could find it.

"Right. No touching the code," he says.

"Yeah. Now go back to whatever you're doing."

"Okay. If you need help, call me."

It rarely happens that I need his help- he's so clumsy- but I guess I am sort of glad he's here. He makes me feel somewhat normal, despite looking like a monster. He's got four eyes, claws- dull claws, thank god-, and his skin is as grey as could be. Even so, he seems so human. He walks and talks like a human, he even dresses in clothes that remind me of business casual, but I'm not sure. I was never an expert on fashion.

I guess Ludice is sort of my assistant. Maybe. It could just be another presence was necessary for my sanity. I need a clear head to focus on coding. I'm glad he's not always like this. He only talks like that when he's nervous. He'll probably come back in an hour and be himself again.

But until that happens, I'll be fixing the code, as usual. I turn left to the computer room. This is my home inside my home. I have to be in here. Fixing the code and checking the stream. It's been like this for a while. I don't remember how long. Less than a year, I think. I know because Ludice said he'd get me a present for our one year anniversary of working together. I don't know what he could possibly get me. But then again, just because I'm stuck here for god knows how long, doesn't mean he is. Someone had to have sent him, right. I mean, he just showed up one day, saying he was here to help me. Help me with what, he never said. He probably takes time off. Maybe while I'm sleeping he leaves and does his own thing.

I have no idea how, though. The front door just leads to the stream right off the step and there's a back door, but it doesn't open. Maybe he has the key. It doesn't really matter, I can't leave anyway. I don't know why.

I guess the idea is that I'm coding this game for someone. I think it's sort of like Sims. I have no idea why they chose me, as I've never coded anything before and had to learn it from scratch without any help. It was no easy task, but as soon as I figured it out, I became a pro almost overnight. The stream keeps me updated on glitches. If random numbers show up I match them to an error code and try to find the problem. The only problem is, there are literally 3 million pages of code for this damn thing, so it's never easy to find where the error is in order for me to fix it.

The stream is the basic way to check for problems. I've got a webcam pinned on it at all times, so I just have to check the screen it's on. I've recently found it primitive, since I've found the error report system. Whatever this game I'm coding is, it must be extremely popular. I get lots of error reports from various forums, never direct messages. I just get sent links to them from god knows who. I get reports of players' home bases being totally wiped out for no reason to players being attacked by other players without an invitation to fight. It's an absolute mess. The worst part is, I don't even have a copy of the game to play and check out the problems myself. I just check the error reports, change some code after searching for it for hours, and hope it works or changes something. How am I supposed to know if my code is working at all if I can't even check it at all?

I need a vacation.