He sighed, reached over, and unplugged the monitor from the wall. Some ghosts, he decided, were worth more than a stable frame rate.

Leo stared at his reflection. The driver had reset. The GPU was talking to the display again. Everything was working perfectly.

In that absolute darkness, Leo saw her. Not on the screen, but in the black glass of the monitor. His late wife, Clara. She was sitting in her favorite chair, knitting something that looked like starlight. She looked up, smiled, and for a glorious half-second, the world was quiet.