No volunteers but a confession.

As they think I show what little photos I have from my childhood together with Roos. At some point, Robin starts frantically searching his phone. When I am staring at the app screen, I receive a message from him. 'Hey, please don't show the rest this.' Together with a pic from when I was younger. 'I recognised you in the middle, me on the left, Madelon on the right. If we can ditch the rest, do you want to have a private conversation about it?' I reply to all of that with a thumbs up.

Anne chimes in. "Just get the multi-step quest perk. It will allow you to ask for more things at once. Like, what is her biggest regret? What would she change in her life? What does she wish for? These questions will allow you to make better quests for her in the long run." Surprised by the insight, I nod in agreement. Roos, in contrast, looks dumbfounded. Her logic is sound. I might not be able to get her out, but she should be able to escape with our help if she wants to.

We eat some more, and after 40 minutes have passed, I buy the upgrade and give Madelon the following quest:

• Send [my number] a clear explanation of what you regret most.
• Send [my number] a clear explanation of what you most want to change in your life.
• Send [my number] a clear explanation of what you wish for the most.

Reward generating, reward selected.

Reward: Something to help with one or all of the three things you described.

I continue, and I see Madelon typing soon after.

'What I regret most is not being able to see my grandparents before their ****. My parents and I were at the time in a spat with my older brother, who had been their sole caretaker, except for the visiting home nurse. I miss them dearly, but I will never be able to see them again.' Madelon sends in her first message, and it seems she needs to go back to see what her next prompt is and if it was clear enough, maybe. 'I would like to meet with and reconcile with my brother if at all possible. That is the main thing I would change right now, nothing big. I just want to see him again.' She sends. The last one arrives, and it reads: 'I wish I had a more loving, intimate relationship with Pieter. I don't care if it is or isn't like brother and sister. I just want to be with him.'

I show the text to the rest and say: "Why do I feel like the last one is going to make the monkey's paw curl? Most of those, I can see why she said them, but the last one just feels ****."

"She has only experienced unconditional love or maybe even actual love from you. It might be that the home situation has deteriorated further than we would expect. She was already getting beaten when you were home. All the boyfriends we got to meet were dicks like your dad." I nod to her and bite my lip in frustration.

Anne says, "Please, think about how you will respond. I hope the app doesn't **** it to be romantic. But you are currently afraid of the worst, and we get that it might not be the case."

I open the app, but there is no hint on how it will help your sister with her wish/regret, only XP for completing a multi-step quest, as well as a level up. Cooldown is much longer, though, 8 hours. As I am struggling with my own thoughts, the rest drink and eat. I decide to mess with the settings as a distraction

Settings

Name on quest given: Full/First name/Last name/variable/off

Variable can be set up as you wish per target, including custom names.

Reminder for quests: on/off

Notifications: on/off

Cooldown on targets quest: invisible/visible

Colour blind options: off/black, white/green, magenta/custom

Custom allows for a custom choice of colours for the perk tree and other layout features.

I swapped "Name on the quest" to First name and swapped cooldown on target quest to visible.

Roos pulls me out of my mental stupor and arithmetic to tell me it is time to go home. I never like to see them drive drunk. Dad did that enough to make me uncomfortable and still dislike it. So I decide to tell them that I will bring them home. Robin pulls on my sleeve, asking if he could stay at my place, showing me the last message he had sent. I bring the rest home.