Birth of the newborn

Chapter 2

“-And it just crashed! Do you think you can fix it?”

“I’ll have it done in a nanosec, Mr. Detrin.” I assured, noting the stress wrinkles around the man’s eyes.

“It won’t be too hard.”

Sitting in front of the older man’s computer, I tapped the keys experimentally to see if the screen had frozen.

Fortunately, it wasn’t, and I easily got through to the computer’s programming software from there.

There was an error in the coding, and once that was cleared up, everything ran smoothly.

“All done.”

I couldn’t help a smirk at the astonished look on Mr. Detrin’s face.

“Already?”

“I said it would be easy.”

You’d think after fixing every computer in this school would make people trust me…

“Well, you can head back to your teacher now, I suppose.” Mr. Detrin replied, sitting at his computer in front of the group of bored sixth-graders.

Nodding in answer, I picked up my bag, checking that the Batman pins were secure.

Once in the hall, I hesitated.

School would be over in about ten minutes, and my English teacher, Ms. York, liked to yell at her students for being ‘illiterate monkeys’ around this time.

Considering that she didn’t like me (I’m nowhere near as good with writing as I am with math or computers), I decided to just head outside early.

I was on good terms with the hall monitors (after giving them demos of my games to try out, they never bothered to look anywhere else), so there were no worries about getting caught.

Unfortunately, this gave me time to think; a dangerous pastime where I’m concerned.

Last time I was allowed free-time to think, I blew up the toilet in my house and made the stairs into a waterslide.

Only this time around, I had something more troubling on my mind than whether or not I could even fit a firecracker into the toilet; my dreams.

They were the driving force behind my newest game, ‘Battle for Earth’, ever since I hit what my mother calls the ‘my-daughter’s-becoming-a-woman-quick-give-her-The-Talk’ phase.

Every time I close my eyes, all I ever see is that strange metal world bursting into flames and the burning red eyes of that metal monster.

What is that world I keep seeing?

Is it even real?

I can’t…

I can’t remember.

The bell’s shrill scream distracted me from my worries, and I kicked it into high gear out the front doors.

Dad always picked me up before heading to the high school for Sam, and he didn’t like me being late.

He was easy enough to spot, honking his horn and waving as he was, and I ran up to the car, swinging my bag into the backseat.

“Hey, dad.”

“Hello, sweetheart. How was your day?”

“Fine.” I lied, buckling my seatbelt once inside.

We pulled away as the middle school emptied of students eager for summer vacation, just before the streets were clogged with school buses.

Relieved that the long wait had been avoided, I relaxed into the car seat.