Gavin’s scream echoed through the office. Conversations around us fell silent as he fell back into his chair, clutching his bleeding nose. I glanced down, and my eyes widened at the crimson drops on my knuckles.
“You botfucking bitch!” Gavin hissed through blood-stained teeth. The substance seeping out of his nose quickly colored his white shirt red.
“Oh my god.” John jumped up, looking from Gavin to me as he stumbled back like he couldn’t believe what just happened. “Wow, what the fuck? What was that for?!”
“What the hell, Morgan?!” I snapped out of my trance to stare at Joey’s horrified face as he rushed toward me. He glanced at Gavin, and for a moment, the look that crossed his face looked an awful lot like satisfaction. “I mean, I’m sure he deserved it, but—here in the office?! If Arya…”
“What in the name of the shareholders is the meaning of this?!”
We all jumped at Arya’s shrill voice.
I slowly turned to face her, heart racing in my throat.
“This botfu—I mean, Morgan just punched me.” Gavin spat out my name, pointing a shaking finger in my direction before aggressively taking the tissue John handed him.
“I’m no botfucker.” The defense had slipped out automatically, as if I were trying to convince myself more than him.
“Morgan?” Arya turned to look at me with a mixture of disbelief and confusion.
I glared at Gavin for a few more seconds before looking down.
“He’s abusing his AI girlfriend – and bragging about it, too.” The moment I spoke the words, I realized how ridiculous they sounded.
Snickering around me, like needles poking shallowly into my skin. I knew it – they already thought there was something wrong with me, and now my actions had confirmed it.
Arya nodded slowly, her confusion increasing with every second.
“Morgan – my office.” She narrowed her eyes, her tone tolerating no talking back. “Now. Everyone else, get back to work.”
She spun around to walk into her office – her high heels clicked on the ground with every angry step. I lowered my head to ignore mycolleagues’ prying eyes as I rushed after her, anxiety weighing heavy on my stomach.
Whispers and smothered laughs around me. Were they making fun of me?
No, Morgan,I sternly told myself.There is no proof they’re talking about you. They might be laughing about something completely unrelated.
Arya loudly closed the door behind us, my body tensing at the noise. With her lips pressed into a thin line, she gestured to the chair.
I sank down like a punctured balloon, taking a quick glance around the office. Arya’s desk was spotless, aside from a slender console with no labels and a smooth rectangular display panel lit up in pale blue. On the wall behind her, a vertical array of dotted lights blinked softly in asynchronous patterns – the kind of tech that looked like it belonged in a server room, not a manager’s office. I wondered if this was how she kept tabs on us.
“Care to explain what’s going on?” My manager crossed her arms. As she leaned back in the chair, I got the uncomfortable feeling of being back in high school after getting into another fight.
There had been too many to count. Sarcasm interpreted as truth. Concern mistaken for hostility. Flirting dressed as kindness until the guy grabbed my face and kissed me in an empty corner, completely out of the blue – for me – so I responded by breaking his jaw. Those few times I thought girls wanted to be my friend, only to find out they actually pitied me. More often, I assumed girls pitied me, only to realize after years of extensive therapy and self-evaluation that maybe they had actually wanted to be my friends, but now it was too late.
Over the years, I’d learned to get most of my emotions under control… until someone pushed me at the wrong moment.
“He…” I swallowed hard while my hands started picking the dry skin around my nails. I forced myself to make eye contact, hoping it seemed natural. The bright light and her glare made my skin crawl. Eyes were generally unpleasant for me to look into, but hers held such heaviness, just the sight of them wore me down. “It was vile. He was talking about the things he did to his AI girlfriend, even bragged about how she could do nothing to stop him and that was the fun of it…” I clenched my teeth as another wave of rage spilled over me, followed by the unhelpful urge to add a black eye to his bleeding nose. I hadn’t felt this kind of rage in a while, a rage that years of therapy, breathwork and meditation couldn’t tame – buried under layers of composure until injustice jerked it out.
Arya sighed out, a sound that seemed to rise all the way from her toes. She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. Suddenly, I spotted the wrinkles around her eyes, marked by stress more than age. Of course, she was under pressure – otherwise, you don’t make it as a woman in this field.
“Morgan, you do realize that bots do not have feelings, right?” she said finally. Her face twisted into a grimace at the words, as if she couldn’t believe her job involved explaining the difference between humans and bots to Gen Beta.
I scoffed – the indignant sound had left me before I could stop myself. “No, you don’t understand,” I snapped, firmer than intended. “On a psychological level, how someone treats something defenseless reveals how that person would treat a human if they could get away with it. Our true selves show when we think we can’t get caught.”
Arya frowned slightly before shaking her head. “It’s great that you have such compassion for… machines,” she muttered. “But, and I can’t believe I have to say this, my office is not the place for activism – much less physical violence. If you wish to advocate for AI rights, join one of those annoying drone swarm protests that flood our city every few months.” She sat up straighter, pushing the glasses higher up her nose.
I looked at her for a few seconds before lowering my eyes.
“Morgan, can I trust such accidents will never happen again?” she insisted, dark eyes piercing into mine. I could feel her gaze even without meeting it.
