A long pause. The laptop battery hit 5%.

They sat on a dock that faded into view only when he looked directly at it. Lydia's legs dangled over pixelated water. A heat haze effect made the far shore wobble.

Lydia turned to face him. For the first time, her face wasn't a static expression. She looked tired . Like a character who'd been waiting for someone to load her conversation tree for twenty real-world years.

Outside, the rain began. It hammered the tin roof of the lake house. The real world — with its moving vans, its unsaid things, its people who vanish into the suburbs — was still there, waiting.

The save file was named SUMMER_FINAL_v0.8.3.