Forlot - Books 10-12

Chapter Forty-One

TRIS' P.O.V.

Wow. That short speech struck my and Wendy's hearts. Did it do the same to you, readers? Can you feel your own heart crying a waterfall? If not...do you even have a heart?

The computer spoke the truth. What would we being angry at a piece of technology who resembled our deceased friend and stored her memories do? It would certainly not bring the real Kara back to life. Kara would neither know nor hear why we felt when she was long gone. Or...maybe she is...while she is suffering even more.

Also, telling a piece of software how you are feeling does not help any. Like what Wendy mentioned in the last chapter, technology has the disadvantage of not knowing the types of feelings that we humans go through because it cannot have the experience. In the hologram's mind, it...she...it calculated that it was absurd to express such feelings.

But despite that, the computer was right about one thing, and that was the fact that it could not be a replacement for the real Kara. Wendy and I had to drop it, forget it, and move on with our lives.

"Our apologies," I said. "We just...really miss her."

"I guessed that," Hologram Kara confessed. "Though, I am still not familiar with the grieving process."

"Look, we know now that regardless of your looks and acts, you are not Kara. And...you never will be."

"Good. You two are coming around."

"I am with Tris," Wendy piped in. "Replacing somebody with somebody else will never fill that emptiness in you. You have to move on and develop into a better person." She took a step forward. "May I ask you...computer...to do one more thing?"

Hologram Kara bowed. "I am at your command."

"Do you remember when I was giggling minutes ago?"

"How can I not remember? I have so much storage."

"The reason that I was giggling...was because I remembered a funny memory with Kara."

"Which one? I can pull it up and show you."

"That would be great. It...it was days before she died. It was the time that Kara and I got ice cream, and Kara somehow got some of her ice cream to spill out from her nose."

I put three of my fingers on top of my nose. "Ew! Gross!"

"She did not do it on purpose. At least, that is what she said."

"Memory found," Hologram Kara announced. "Memory downloading." She...it...she brought her hands close to her chest and had her palms inches apart. A white ball of energy formed between her palms, and she grasped it and handed it to Wendy. "Memory downloaded."

Wendy took it and ran a hand across it. She and I watched in amazement as the ball of light played the memory.

There were Wendy and Kara. Sitting at a table and eating ice cream. Well, Wendy was licking her ice cream. Kara was slouching in her chair and watching her ice cream melt off the cone.

The cheerful smile on Wendy's face was wiped off when she noticed that her friend - our friend - was...depressed.

"Kara, you have been down in the dumps for days now. What happened to your wonderful smiles? What happened to your sweetness?" She raised her nose into the air and sniffed. "And why do you smell like peanut butter that expired months ago?"

Kara growled and sat up. "I have been having bad nights lately. Sleeping problems. What do you humans - I mean us - call it?"

"Insomnia?"

"Yeah. That is it."

"Look, Kara. I am just looking out for your well being. I do not want you to harm yourself."

"What? I would never do that! Never!"

"Okay...why are you raising your voice?"

"I am sick of people smelling me and thinking that I smell like rotten peanut butter!"

"But you do."

"Ugh! I have had enough with this."

Kara opened her mouth wide, shoved both the ice cream and cone into her mouth, and swallowed.

Wendy was stunned. Her mouth was hanging open, and her eyes were bulging. Then she returned to normal...and laughed.

"What? What is so funny?" Kara demanded.

Little did she know that there was chocolate ice cream slithering from her nostrils.

The memory faded, and Wendy and I laughed together. What a memory to cherish.

As our laughter died down, a curious question came to mind.

How did the computer have all these memories? Somebody - human or alien - must have put them into the system.

"Hey. Kara," I said. "Oops. Sorry. May I still call you Kara?"

"If you desire."

"Do you happen to know who put those memories into you?"

"Into my programming? Why, yes."

"Could you give us a name?"

"First name or last name?"

"First name."

"Kara."

I was surprised. Wendy nor I expected that.

"Kara?" Wendy repeated. "As in...our best friend? Our Kara?"

"Yep. She created me and stored in everything that there is to know about her."

"Whoa. Another plot twist."

"Not really a plot twist," Hologram Kara remarked. "I can do lots of those things that do not involve Kara."

"Yeah, yeah," I said. "If you have all the memories, then you must have the memory of when she died."

Hologram Kara's face scrunched up. "Do you not hear yourself, Tris? How can she record it when she died from it?"

I did not like that response and was beginning to get angry. "How come she left her children when she wanted children in the first place?"

"How come she left us when we were her true friends?" Wendy questioned.

"Did she become friends with us just so that she could get close to us and take some of our DNAs?!" Wendy and I exclaimed in frustration.

Hologram Kara's eyes softened, and she sighed. "Wendy. Tris. In the tape, I was proud to call you both my best friends. Do you think that I was lying?"