2006 (Me 11, Alex 9): Crucial change. My parents announced we were moving… to the same street as the Dunphys. And the system flashed:
TEMPORAL SYNCHRONIZATION EVENT DETECTED
YOUR ARRIVAL IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD ALIGNS WITH CANONICAL TIMELINE
REWARD FOR NOT FORCING EVENT: +250 CP
DEBT: 500/1,000 CP
It wasn't a coincidence. The system was weaving my existence into the plot organically. I would be the neighbor who was always there—a non-invasive constant.
The move happened in June 2006. From my new room, I could see the Dunphy house three houses away. Observation intensified.
September 2006 (Me 11, Alex 9): Alex started fourth grade. I saw her leave every morning, mentally calculating the time until the bus. She already carried advanced math books. Her Dunphy Relationship Map (a feature unlocked at 500 CP) showed:
Phil → Alex: Love 90%, Understanding 30%, Expectations 70%
Claire → Alex: Love 85%, Competitiveness 40%, Expectations 90%
Haley → Alex: Love 60%, Jealousy 50%, Disdain 70%
Luke → Alex: Love 80%, Confusion 90%
Alex → Family: Love 88%, Frustration 75%, Loneliness 65%
The loneliness number burned me. 65% at nine years old.
2007 (Me 12, Alex 10): The year of permitted contact. In September, we were at the same bus stop (me in middle school, her in upper elementary). The first week, we didn't speak. The second week, she dropped a book. I picked it up: A Brief History of Time, young reader's edition.
"Good choice," I said. "Though Hawking oversimplifies the information paradox in chapter seven."
She looked at me as if I'd grown a second head. "You've read this book?"
"Yes, and the original. I prefer the non-simplified version, but this is a good entry point."
She studied my face. "You're the new neighbor."
"Leo Bennett."
"Alex Dunphy." She took the book. "The information paradox isn't oversimplified; it's adapted to the cognitive level of the target audience."
"I disagree. That underestimates the audience. If you can understand general relativity at a conceptual level, you can handle the paradox."
She blinked, and the bus arrived. We got on separately.
PERMITTED INTERACTION RECORDED
TYPE: Neutral intellectual exchange
ALEX'S REACTION: Intellectual intrigue, not emotional
+150 CP
ALEX'S INTEREST IN YOU: 5%
DEBT: 350/1,000 CP
That was the start. During the 2007-2008 school year, our interactions were sporadic but consistent: comments on books, observations about teachers, once a discussion about the efficiency of the school's roof solar panels. Always neutral, always intellectual. I followed the rules: nothing personal, nothing emotional, nothing that altered her canonical development.
May 2008 (Me 13, Alex 11): Critical event. Alex, now in fifth grade, was excluded from a study group because she "ruined the curve." I knew because I saw her sitting alone in the library after school, staring at a book without reading it.
CANONICAL EVENT DETECTED: First major episode of academic social isolation
YOUR MISSION: Observe, do not console
DIFFICULTY: High (strong emotional impulse)
REWARD FOR ABSTENTION: +300 CP
I sat three tables away, pretending to read. She didn't cry, just clenched her jaw and left after twenty minutes. That night, instead of intervening, I documented the event in my system journal.
"May 12, 2008: Alex Dunphy, age 11, experiences exclusion due to academic excellence. I did not interact. Her loneliness increases to 70%. This event is necessary to develop her resilience and her sarcastic armor in middle school. Interfering would have weakened a canonical pillar."
REWARD FOR CORRECT ANALYSIS: +40 CP
DEBT: 10/1,000 CP
Summer 2008: Major progress. My system showed a notification.
MAIN CANONICAL TIMELINE APPROACHES
YEAR 2009: INCEPTION OF DOCUMENTED EVENTS (PILOT)
YOUR CURRENT POSITION: Known intellectual neighbor, not a friend
OBJECTIVE BY END OF 2008: Reduce debt to 0 CP to unlock 'Basic Emotional Intervention'
I worked methodically. Every detected family trope, every documented canonical observation, every neutral intellectual interaction with Alex added points. By December 2008, my debt was at 10 CP. Almost there. Given the wide timeframe they'd given me initially to get to 0, I thought they'd give fewer points, but from the pilot onward, if possible, I'd be able to be close to her and maybe help Alex a little by intervening in the canon, testing the system's limits.
December 31, 2008, 11:47 PM
I was at my window, looking at the Dunphy house. I could see the Christmas tree lights, the moving silhouettes. Alex was probably reading, Haley on the phone, Luke getting into mischief, Phil and Claire preparing for the new year.
My system showed the annual summary.
YEAR 2008 - GUARDIAN REPORT
Canonical events observed: 47
Interactions with Alex: 22 (all intellectual/neutral)
CP earned: 990
Remaining debt: 10/1,000
Alex's interest in you: 12% (intellectual)
Emotional trust: 0% (as designed)
Alex's canonical status: Isolation 72%, Intelligence 95%, Superficial Happiness 40%
ABILITY UNLOCKED UPON REACHING 500 CP: "Basic Emotional Intervention"
DESCRIPTION: Allows offering generic comfort after painful canonical events without altering the event's outcome.
EXAMPLE: After Alex is excluded, you can say "That must be hard" instead of remaining silent.
I smiled in the darkness. I was close. Very close.
The year 2009 would arrive in thirteen minutes. The year of the pilot. The year when everything would officially begin.
And I would be there. Not as a character, but as a guardian.
The archivist who became a protector.
The fan who got a second chance in the only universe that mattered to him.