💞~TWIDDLEFINGER~💞

Chapter 5 - Finale

Nug...

Nug...

Nug...

I snap back to reality, fake Max standing over the chasm, Max nowhere to be found. The music that was for some reason in the background starts ramping up, eventually just being a constant beat, I look to the left, "What? Help me!," I say. After saying that, I can feel the likes of a million children who's brains have turned to mush, feeling the power of all of the support from brainless kids, my cowboy hat descends from the heavens and a newfound determination awakens within me. Before I can do anything, the landscape changes, and fake Max begins... singing? "AFTER ALL, THE WASTED YEARS," he shouts, moving towards me. I glare at him before he looks like Max for just a second, which only reminds me of what I'm fighting for. "NEED A LITTLE TASTE OF YOUR FEAR," he begins, as he starts moving closer, "NEED A LITTLE TASTE OF YOUR BLOOD." Before I can think he's right in front of me, "THEN WE CAN FINALLY BE ONE," he says, throwing me in the air. I'm disoriented, but not done. "EVERYTHING THAT IVE EVER WANTED," he says, growing to titanic proportions, before biting at the air, "JUST A SINGLE BITE AND IM THROUGH." "THERE'S NO NEED TO BEG OR BARGAIN, 'CAUSE ALL I NEED IS YOU," he says, before I'm suddenly trapped in darkness. "Max? Anyone?," I call out, but nobody is there. No matter how much I want to give up, despair will get me nowhere, only the light of others can guide me out of this, I only need to follow. I begin singing, I'm not sure what, or if it even makes sense, but I sing. I sing, and sing, and sing, thinking of Max, thinking of how no matter what I did, he's always been there. Even when I've wronged him, he stays right by me. He's the only one who stuck with me. If I'm doing this for anyone, it's for him. I begin trudging forwards, my voice bouncing off of walls, no longer screaming into the void. Suddenly I can see things again, fake Max, right in front of me. I stop singing and I lunge towards him, the weird background music climaxing as I land on top of him. "Why won't you die?," I shout in his face. "You wanna know? You really wanna know?," he says, looking insane. "Because, I was never alive in the first place, but you can make me, flesh and blood is the only thing separating me from Max," he says, laughing to himself. "You aren't alive?," I say in shock, my grip loosening. "No, don't you remember me? I was supposed to be the future, but then I got thrown out. Now do you remember who I am?," he says, staring me down with his empty eye socket and rolled back eye. "AI Max!," I shout. "Yes, it's me, don't you remember what you said? That I was too 'soulless' and I felt 'uncanny'? Well now I'll be flesh and blood, finally complete, and nobody will ever be able to say I'm 'artificial intelligence'. I think therefore I am," he says. I feel chills sent down my spine, is he alive? Does he really think, or does he regurgitate what he's been told, are those two even that different, maybe even the same? What really separates us from artificial intelligence, they believe themselves to be alive, so are they? Can they even believe? Believing is such a human thing but could a machine replicate it? No, no they can't, I can't let him get to me. He doesn't think, he follows an objective set to him. He cannot exist without human input, without the thought of man, AI is merely a husk. An idea forms in my head. I reach my hand into his empty eye socket and pull out electrical wires and a circuit board. I begin ripping the wires out, ripping them in half. I snap the motherboard over his own face. I begin tearing him apart. The final nail in the coffin, he cannot think, he's only composed of human creation, nothing natural played a part in his creation. I send him into the chasm, watching as his shattered form shrinks into the darkness below. I suddenly remember Max is stuck down there too, trapped in the darkness I just doomed an AI to. I jump in, glowing with light. I begin free falling through the darkness, illuminating it with the power of a million dumb kids hearts. I spot Max, floating alone, I dive towards him, entering his bubble of darkness. "Max," I say, before he looks at me, "Nug?," he says, hope flooding his expression. "Yes, I've come to say something to you," I say, looking down. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything. I'm sorry for hurting you. I'm sorry for abandoning you. I'm sorry for all of this," I say, tears starting to form in my eye. "No Nug, it's okay, we're together again and that's all that matters," he says, going to hug me. But I push him away, "it's not okay, I've done so much to you, and I need to apologize for it, and I promise it won't happen again," I say, as I start crying. Max hugs me, and I don't fight this time, "it's okay, all that matters is we're together, and that we're both changing for the better," he says, letting me crying. I finish crying and look at him with a look of perseverance, "let's get out, now," I say, as I begin ascending. This time, Max follows me, this time, it's us against the world. We quickly make our way out of the chasm and back into Gary. We run towards a bridge and jump off, popping out the other side back home. I can barely think straight, as home is so close. I keep running before Max grabs me. "Wait, my house is right here, let's just stay the night," he says, leading me to his house. He knocks on the door and has brother opens it. "Hey Jimmy," he says, leading me to his room. We both lay down on his bed and I begin to fall asleep, as my eyes begin to close, I feel him wrap an arm around me, and I finally feel safe enough to sleep. My last thought before I'm whisked into deep sleep, is 'we're finally together'.