The A.I. Protoforms

Chapter Three: Definitions

         Jensi and Ivan shared one last look of fear before teleporting out of reality. A blinding, white light hurt Jensi's eyes as they approached slightly dimmer light. Finally, after what seemed like forever of approaching the dim light, they reached it.

        A cold gust of wind hit Jensi so hard, that he had to close his eyes and sit down.

        "Jensi! Hey! Hello, you good?"

         Jensi opened his eyes and saw Ivan looking down at him. "Wha-what happened?" Jensi struggled to say.

        "It seems we've been teleported to the middle of nowhere, which isn't the weirdest thing that's happened to us today. Definitely not the most dangerous..." Ivan said shaking his head, as if he was trying to forget.

         Jensi stood up and looked around. "I recognize this place. This is my street. We're not in the middle of nowhere, my house is right around that corner." Jensi pointed straight ahead, where the road turned at a curve."

         "Wait, how did that lady know where to send us with that device then? Did she know where you lived?" Ivan asked in a confused tone. "And I don't know where we are. How am I supposed to get home?"

         "You could just come to my house and spend the night. Then we'll just have to walk to school tomorrow and get my car." Jensi said nervously. He never saw himself talking to anyone, let alone asking them to come to his house. So much had changed in a span of two days and it was making his head spin.

           "Ok!" Ivan said excitedly. "That'll be fun, and since I live near the school anyway, you can just drop me off.

           "Wait won't your parents worry? You can text them now if you want or we can just go ahead and walk to your house..." Jensi replied, not wanting Ivan to get in trouble.

            "Nope, they're on a trip to see family. They'll be gone for another week at least."

            Jensi looked at him to see if he was serious. "Your parents would leave you for that long?"

            "Yep and sometimes longer. I like to stay and just learn about my own community before taking trips and learning about other cultures..."

            Jensi doubted that was true, but he didn't want to intrude so he just said, "Ok" and they continued their mile long trek to his house. Along the way Jensi noticed that Ivan was looking at the ground instead of his normal happy attitude. "Hey everything alright?" He asked him.

            "Of course everythings not alright!" Ivan snapped. "We just watched someone get shot who saved us from getting shot. You expect me to just walk away and act like everythings fine?"

             Jensi was shocked to see him talk like this, but he understood. After his dad died he felt the exact same emotions of hate, grief, and anguish. But much worse than this. Ivan may have never felt that, so it was understandable he was a bit emotional about the whole thing. In fact, the more Jensi thought about it, the more emotional he felt. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that a lot had happened in just two short days.

            He looked at Ivan who now looked like he was about to be in tears.

           "Hey... I know that nothing I say can fix what we've been through and nothing I say can solve the emotions you must be feeling, but I just have one thing to say. Sometimes life can seem hard and impossible, but that's when we must work the hardest to overcome it. If life was always easy, then what would push us to become better everyday? What would be our motivation to keep getting up in the morning?" Jensi said, surprised by the words coming out of his mouth.

               Ivan smiled, not as big as usual, but it was a smile nonetheless. "And here I thought I would be the motivational speaker of the two of us. I guess sometimes friends surprise you."

               Jensi started laughing and then realized that Ivan had called them friends.

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              They eventually made it back home. Jensi quickly told Ivan about a girl that went to their school. Her name was Amaya and the woman who died was her mom.

             "Oh my gosh." Ivan said. "That must be so hard on her. There must be something we can do."

             Jensi did not like the sound of that. He wasn't the most sympathetic person, he'd rather just worry about his own problems. Which, he knew, may be a bit selfish. But in this case, he felt it necessary and so he reluctantly agreed.

            They first decide to tell the police of the case. They had just witnessed a literal murder, so the police should be involved. They probably already know about it, but it wouldn't hurt to tell them anyway. Jensi thought. They were innocent bystanders. Well kind've. There was a possibility that sneaking back to the school and going in the school could get them in trouble. But surely a murder was more important, right?

             "Ok, so most local police are right beside the school, right?" Ivan asked. Jensi nodded.

             "So, let's go back to the school, get your car, and hurry to the police station..." Ivan said quickly, hoping that Jensi wouldn't comprehend what he was saying fast enough.

            Jensi did in fact hear it all though and actually agreed. Which surprised him even more than Ivan.

           We outran her one time, of course we can do it again. Jensi thought, trying to be confident and hoping his fears wouldn't come true.

            To his luck, nothing happened. Jensi and Ivan arrived back at the school with about 30 minutes of walking. Safe to say they were exhausted. Jensi started up the car and drove to the police station.

             "Wait..." Jensi said looking straight ahead as he pulled in. "Is that Amaya?"

             Ivan looked at where his gaze was fixed and saw a dark skinned girl sitting at the steps of the police station looking at the ground. Jensi parked the car and the two boys got out and walked over to her.

             Since Jensi had briefly talked to Amaya at school, he decided to talk first.

             "Hey Amaya, I'm Jensi from school. And this is Ivan. I know that you're probably going through a lot right now and nothing I say is going to even measure up to what you're going through, but..." He looked at Ivan for reassurance. Ivan nodded and so he continued. "But we think we might know what happened to your mom."

              Amaya looked up at him with tear stained cheeks and red eyes. "Wow, what a joke!"