Sparks

Chapter 40

I do a double-take and slowly back up until my back is pressed against the concrete. "What?"

"Did they hurt you?" it asks.

"Wh-why would y-you care?"

It huffs a displeased breath. "Did they hurt you or not? It's a yes or no question."

I don't respond and it sighs. "Fine. Then I'll just stop talking."

"Do Jacob and C-Carrie know you can talk?" It doesn't respond. I call up the stairs, "Carrie, it can talk! Can you give me a hand?"

"She."

"What?" I ask, my first word without a trace of a stutter.

"She. I'm a she. Not an it like some sort of animal, thank you very much."

I nod slowly. "I'll b-be sure to tell my friends." After a minute of thought, I ask, "What's your name?"

"You're still avoiding my original question." It - she - coughs into her hand. Her voice becomes a little rougher.

"What question?"

"Why were you crying?"

I sigh heavily. "If I tell you, will you tell me your name?"

She smirks. "Only if you tell me yours."

"I think I had a panic attack. From the sound of the gun and the seeing someone else get shot, probably." She winces, an expression I can barely see due to the dim lighting. "So are you going to tell me your name?"

"Jamie."

I tilt my head. "What's that a nickname for? Jane or something?"

"James, actually. My middle name. Named after my dad." I, startled, begin to cough.

"You have a dad?"

"No."

"Then wh-"

"He's dead," she replies abruptly.

"...Oh." I think for a second. "What about your m-"

"Dead."

"Any... siblings?"

"Also dead."

I look awkwardly down at the ground. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine."

Footsteps echo on the stairs and I look up. It would appear to be Carrie.

"You need any help down there, Aryn?"

"Did you say she couldn't talk?" Carrie's face contorts in confusion.

"No, it can't. Why?"

"She just talked to me."

She looks from me to Jamie and back again to me. Then she sighs and shakes her head. "You know what, I'm tired. Take this to Jacob. Go over the camera footage. I'll keep watch. Brought a book." I nod and run upstairs.

Jacob's in the tech room, as usual. I slam the door open and he turns around quickly.

"Aryn! Don't slam the door! Has something gone wrong?"

"No, I have good news!"

"What?"

"She can talk! She's smart, and she doesn't seem murderous, just a bit sad." Happy tears fill my eyes and I smile more widely than I have in months. "W-we don't have to kill her now. She's not a monster!"

Jacob sits back down and looks at me skeptically. "Right. And by 'she,' you mean it." I roll my eyes.

"She said that her pronoun is she."

"Do you remember what I said all those weeks ago about the flowers?" I shake my head. "The thing is, Aryn, that this thing shouldn't exist."

"What? B-but she can talk, and think, and -"

"It's a murderer, Aryn. And what you need to understand is that its existence is wrong."

"Where are you going with this...?"

He stands up and walks a few paces towards me, staring directly into my mind. "It doesn't matter if it's sentient, Aryn. Regardless of its intelligence, it's still a weed, and it's choking out the prettier flowers."

I stand in silence for a few moments before my hands fly to my head and shakily try to unclog the barrette. "No, no, see, it's all on video! You'll see that I'm right! W-we don't need to hurt her, we can just... we can..." Jacob snatches the barrette out of my fingers and plugs in the cord.

Play video?

He selects the yes option.

Playing...

A picture of the cell appears, then it's quickly overtaken by static and glitching of the screen. I furrow my brows. A minute passes and the screen goes black.

Error! Overheating. E

rr

o

The console makes an unpleasant short screeching sound and the image cuts out. Jacob unplugs my camera and peers confusedly at it.

"Well, that's really strange. This specific model is designed never to overheat. It should not physically be able to."

"You still have to believe me! We don't have to kill her! She's - she's human! She's just like us!"

He stands up and walks out of the room, barely sparing me a glance. "I thought we ingrained it into you that it's an it." Pausing in the doorway, he adds, "Aren't you gonna come along? We're gonna go see what we can do about this whole alleged talking thing."

I follow closely behind. "Thank you so much for hearing me out, Jacob, I promise I'm not lying -"

"Shut up. My temper's running short and you're treading the line of it." I quickly obey and just quietly follow him down to the basement.

Jacob opens the door to Jamie's cell. "Ladies first." While his words are chivalrous, his tone is anything but so I quietly do as he says. He follows right behind me.

When we get down he leans against a wall, not paying attention to anybody. "So I've heard you can talk now, hm?"

Jamie doesn't respond, choosing simply to grin.

"Oh, I know you understood me. Answer my question."

She only grins wider.

This would seem to rile Jacob up, as he approaches the cell door. "You think this is funny, you imbecile? Answer my question or you really won't like -"

Crack.

Jamie's pulled a stone out of the concrete on the wall. My mouth drops open at the completely nonchalant display of strength.

"So you're destroying the cell now? Why don't -"

She begins to laugh, quiet chuckling at first, and then full-blown uproarious laughter. The sound is rougher than I'd thought vocal cords could produce and almost painful to listen to. Like nails on a chalkboard.

Crack.

Another stone comes off the wall. She sets her two pebbles in front of her, the beginning of a row.

Jacob starts saying something but she interrupts him in a sing-song voice.

"Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?"

Crack.

"With silver bells..."

Crack.

"And cockleshells..."

Crack.

Jamie looks sharply up at Jacob, grinning a deranged smile.

"And bastards all in a row."

So I forgot to update the chapter yesterday, so I'm going to be posting two chapters at once. Have fun and vote for both of them!