LIMINAL

CHAPTER ONE

"You find a glitch in the simulation today, Bobby?" I ask without looking up from the crossword and lob an apple at his head.

He catches it, smirking before asking me if I had found the meaning of life yet.

'I'm sorry that my craft is inherent and yours is learned' I sneer, still looking at my puzzle.

"I bet you all the money I'll ever make in my life that you can't learn to code"

"And I bet you all the money you'll ever make in your life that you couldn't write an essay without a spelling mistake"

"It's a good thing I'll make very little money in my life."

"What's a five-letter word for an airhead with so much inherited wealth that he won't ever have to dirty his pretty fingers that he so needs to count on to remember the number of the letters in his own name?"

"You know that a crossword wouldn't describe a name as a 'word,' Ms. Genius," Bobby retorts.

"Whatever, can we just forget about work," I say exasperated.

"Fine, but it's my turn to choose our governmentally approved free-time activity."

I laugh and ask him if he's going to choose a scenic walk, a board game, or watching a movie.

"Wild card! We're going to the zoo"

"Are they finally letting you live with the other monkeys?"

Bobby chuckled, but there was an odd look in his eyes.

"Good one. Let's go before they close the snake enclosure and you miss out on seeing your cold-blooded relatives."

I'm thrown off by the unfamiliar expression on his face and don't muster up a retort before jumping in his car.

As we're walking through the exhibits we'd seen countless times, Bobby is disconcertingly quiet. He's smiling, but it doesn't reach his eyes and it makes me uneasy.

He asks me if I want to go watch the penguins and wait for them to do something even remotely entertaining, knowing that they're my favorite and I would be content to just watch them stand in silence.

When we get to the coldest and darkest room of the zoo, his facade drops and he glances around before quietly asking me if I had noticed anything different at school today. I tell him that nothing particularly remarkable had happened, before catching myself and relaying the news that one of our classmates had suddenly dropped out, and there was one chair fewer in the room. He visibly tenses and asks me how many students were left in my class.

"I don't know, maybe 24 now? You know I'm quite the social butterfly and keep track of all my fellow classmates."

He doesn't respond to my quip but takes a deep breath while staring ahead before saying, "Mae, I need you to hear me when I say this. I need you to start trying harder in school."

'Hey I do just fine in school, it's not hard."

"You skate by. I need you to do better. I need you to be at the top of your class."

"Okay, is this like a weird 'give the orphan the hypothetical speech her parents would have given her had they been alive?"

He still doesn't react or release his shoulders.

"What's going on Bobby, did someone say something about me to you?"

He pauses and then looks over at me and laughs.

"No, it's nothing. Just do your best. I know how smart you are and I want to see you succeed"

I grimace and look over at him ask him if he had taken any funny pills before going to the zoo.