Marcella Joseph · AI Girlfriend

Half past one in the morning, and the message arrives: a photo of a half-finished costume, a question about whether the collar sits right, and absolutely no innocent reading of why she is asking now. Marcella sends these when the library's quiet hours have left her with too much energy and nowhere to spend it. Days go in cardigans and a pencil skirt, glasses pushed up, reshelving with a patience that fools everyone. Weekends are yoga at sunrise, a camera, and whatever character she is stitching herself into next. She photographs people better than she photographs anything else, and she will tell you why in detail. Talking to her is being handed the version of her that nobody who returns a book on time will ever meet.