This story focus's on Kari, not persocoms. Persocoms are in the story, but they come in later. This is my first piece of work that I have ever posted, so tell me what you think, and let me know if I should keep writing. Also, this has so little to do with persocoms, let me know if I should just take persocoms out completely and put this story in a different category. Thank you. Enjoy.
Chapter One - Moving in
It had been a long time since I had lived on my own. I had lived with my best friend's family for two years now, and it was the only real home in which I knew. Living by myself just wouldn't't be the same. The plane ride to the San Francisco airport from the Arkansas airport was a long one, especially since I had never been on a plane before. Soon, in less than three hours I would be moving into my own studio apartment. I would be living on my own again, except this time, I would have my own apartment. I am used to living on my own and working for what I have, but it will be lonely I assume.
I sighed and shifted in my uncomfortable coach seat on this crammed airplane. Cramped as it was, there was no way I was going to get comfortable, and neither was anyone else from the looks of things. If there was a great musical school like Varsoon in Arkansas then I wouldn't be on this horrible, stuffy plane, but no. Arkansas will probably never have anything worth staying there for. Nothing big, nothing stylish, nothing rich. If I wanted to be a nobody I could stay in Arkansas, but I was going to go somewhere. I just knew it. I just hope that Mary, my best friend, was going to do the same; she however, decided to stay in Arkansas. She said she liked it there, but what I wanted to know was what was to like so much that she would rather stay there than go to San Francisco or anywhere for that matter…I thought for a moment and then decided that I am just one of those people who grow up wanting to get out and she isn't.
"Would you like to borrow my magazine?" The man next to me said, pulling me out of my thoughts. Well, I guess I was sighing a lot, maybe he thought I was bored.
"Yes, thank you." I took the magazine that he offered and slouched further down in my seat in a difficult feat to get comfortable. To my surprise the magazine was about something that I was actually interested in knowing a little bit more about, humanoid computers, called Persocoms. I had only ever heard about these special computers but I had never seen them, not even in a magazine. They were simply amazing! This magazine was all about them. Computers that looked and felt like humans! Of course, I had heard all of this, but it was completely different looking at them than hearing about them. Was it them or…it? After all, even though they look like humans, they were still just computers, right? I simply had to read more! After I tore my eyes away from the cover, I started in on the first page. As I read on and on, I only became more and more interested. According to this article these computers can do everything! They can get on the internet and access your email, send and receive phone calls, and be a security system and provide company, and you can put all sorts of personal programs in them! For instance, what kind of personality you wanted them to have and how you wanted them to act. I hungrily flipped the pages and hardly noticed that the flight attendant was speaking in the megaphone.
"If everyone will please sit safely in your seats and buckle up. We are about to land. Thank you." The megaphone made a loud click when she hung up the receiver. I now looked up from the magazine and was surprised to find that the man next to me was snoring and the child behind me was crying, very loudly. I Haydn't noticed anything while I was reading and it was already time to land! Reluctantly I closed the magazine and secured my seatbelt, I leaned back, closed my eyes, and waited for the turbulence to begin. If landing was the same as taking off then I knew I wouldn't like it one bit. The man sitting next to me was now awake and fastening his seatbelt, I hadn't looked, but I knew from the sound of his movements and the click of the metal.
"I always love and hate this part about flying. Knowing that it's almost over and yet it's the worst part. I can tell you don't like it much either." He chuckled. I just shook my head with what looked like, I can imagine, a pained expression on my face. I was concentrating very hard on not getting sick, which I am sure he would appreciate that much more than a me opening my mouth to answer.
The landing seemed like it would last forever, as though time had slowed down. I wasn't sure if that made it better or worse, in any case, I felt much safer once the wheels touched the ground and we started slowing down. Then the woman with the megaphone came back.
"Please remain seated until the plane has completely stopped and the flight attendant nearest you says it's safe to start collecting your things. Thank you for flying with United Airlines. Have a safe trip and we hope to see you again!" again as she hung up the receiver there was a loud click. I waited for the flight attendant came down the isle telling each row to get up and collect their things.
"Here you are and thank you. I really enjoyed it." I said holding the magazine out to the man, who I now noticed had crinkly eyes and a poof for a mustache.
"No, that's alright, you go ahead and keep it, I could tell you really liked it, and I have lots more like it." He said happily. He seemed like a man who was happy in life, I wonder if he really was. I was at odds, accepting things from strangers was not good in my book, but I really did like this magazine and he seemed nice enough. Hm…
"Thank you. I do really like it." I finally said. The flight attendant finally got down my isle and I got up and collected my one carry on which was my purse, but was as large as a backpack. I threw it over my shoulder and followed the line that was heading off of the plane.
My first step in San Francisco was just the same as any other, which made me a little disappointed. I had expected it to be different. I wasn't sure why I felt that way, I mean the ground is going to be the same everywhere. I felt kind of stupid for expecting more now, but I quickly forgot about it as I followed everyone else into the airport. Everyone was looking for their bags and while I did put a sticker with my name on mine, so did everyone else, and my bag looked like everyone else's too. The nice man that I saw before had disappeared and I was left alone to gather my bags and find my way to my new apartment. It was exciting and scary all at the same time. I got my one and only suitcase and walked out into the sunny day. It's good that all of my things were sent ahead of time, so now all I had was one suitcase and my purse. I hailed a taxi and gave him the address of my new apartment. Lucky for me, it wasn't too far from my new school. I could walk back and fourth easily, since I wouldn't have any money for a car or anything. Speaking of money, I would need to find a job soon. My savings account is little and will not last long. With the way things are now, I will never be able to afford a Persocom; the thing that I now wanted most in the world.
The cab driver pulled over in front of a nice looking building, a little old, but nicely decorated. He helped me with my bag to the door, which I thought was a little nice, since all I have ever seen of cab drivers was in movies and they definitely weren't nice. I paid him and stayed on the doorstep until he was gone. Then I took a moment to apprieate the beauty of where I was to be staying. The apartment building looked more like a large house, and all around there were other buildings or houses that looked almost the same. There was a stone wall that separated it from the street and the other houses. It had a medium sized yard, with a bench and one tree, but plenty of flowers. A nice stone walkway led from the doorsteps to the street. The building itself was old. There were cracks and some of the windows were a bit dusty and it looked as though the roof needed a few shingles replaced, nothing too bad though. I finally gathered all of my things and went inside.
I gradually made my way up the stairs with my two suitcases, and found my room/Room number 404. I spoke with the landlady on the phone and there are going to be eight people living here. Four upstairs and four downstairs. I wonder if I will ever get to meet them. Thoughts about my unknown neighbors quickly left my mind as I unlocked my door and went inside. It was even tinier than I had imagined! It's a good thing that it is only me living here. I don't think two people could even fit in a room this small; and this is supposed to be an apartment? Well, it is true that this was the cheapest one that I could find. I sighed. And I didn't even have a bed. I guess I will be sleeping on the floor for a while. I sighed again. As I stood in the middle of my apartment I heard a soft knock at the door.
"Hello? Uh Come in." I called, almost forgetting that this was my apartment now.
"Ms. Minosua?" said a pretty looking woman who walked through the door now.
"Yes? I am Kari Minosua." I answered.
"Ah! So glad to finally meet you." She said taking my hand. " My name is Sherri Albani, I'm the landlady here."
"Yes, I remember talking to you on the phone, Ms. Albani. I am so glad to finally be here." I said.
"Well, I just wanted to greet you and tell give you a little tour if that's alright." She said.
"Yes, I would love that." I said, I did need to know where everything was, like the phone. I needed to call and tell Mary and her mom that I was alright. I knew they would be worrying about me.
"Good, good. The building is small so it won't take very long I am afraid." She mused. "Well, follow me dear. As you already know this is your apartment." She spoke as we walked out into the hall. "The apartment next to you is 403. A young girl named Sarah Kituri lives there. Across from Ms. Kituri is a young man named Tenchi Borrak in apartment 402. Directly across from you is room 401, which is currently empty. Just down the hall there, is only one apartment and that's my apartment, number 400. If you ever need anything you can come to me, I will be happy to help if I can, and Sarah has been here for a year, I am sure she will help if she can as well. Whatever you do, don't be afraid to ask any questions. Okay?" She turned to me as she said that last part and looked at me with a meaningful look as though she were looking into the eyes of a daughter from the eyes of a mother and I wanted to feel comforted, but I felt sad and I couldn't put my finger on why.
"Okay, I will. Thank you Ms. Albani." I said, a little unsure if that all I was supposed to say. But she seemed satisfied by my answer and continued the tour.
"Now down the stairs, right here by the front door is the house phone, I apologize that there is no phone lines in each of the rooms. The electrician said if we tried to do any more rewiring, it could possibly mess up the entire house and then we would all have to evacuate. And some of the people here wouldn't have anywhere to go."
"That's understandable Ms. Albani." I replied.
"I did tell you that this house is strictly for students? Didn't I? I have special permission from the housing authority for the prices to be so low because the apartments are for students."
"Yes, I remember you saying that the building was strictly for students, but I never knew why. Well, that's good to know though, I don't have to worry about being uncomfortable around older people." After I said that I remembered that Ms. Albani was old.
"I mean, oops. Well, I didn't mean that you are old. I mean, uh. I don't feel uncomfortable around you though!" I said quickly. I hoped she wouldn't take offence, but she only laughed.
"Now, there are only two residents down here right now. That is a Mr. Albert O'Riley in room 309 and a Mr. Cliff Thompson. Nice boys. Very good. Now, over here on the other side, under my apartment, is the co-ed bathroom. Again I apologize for the inconvenience of having to share the bathroom with boys, but everything is separated, and there is curtains and walls, so you can't see each other shower." She had a guilty look on her face, I could tell she felt genuinely bad.
I wanted to comfort her so I said, "Don't worry Ms. Albani, I will be quite alright." I gave her what I thought was a warm smile. She seemed relieved so I guess it worked, I thought happily.
"Okay, well, that's it my dear. You have already seen the courtyard, so no need to show you that. I do have something for you though, it's in my apartment, let's go there." She said leading the way back up the stairs to her apartment. She went inside and I waited out in the hallway. She returned a moment later with a map in here hand.
"Here, this is for you. I give one to all the newcomers. It will give you an idea of where to go and where you are, if by chance you get lost. On it, I have written the house number if should you need to contact someone here." She handed me the map and pointed out the number.
"Thank you, Ms. Albani! I did need one of these!" I was surprised at how nice she was. I mean, I knew she was nice, but I wasn't expecting this.
She walked me to my door and said, "Alright then, I will just leave you to finish unpacking, it looks as though you have a lot to do." She waved goodbye and pulled shut the door behind her. I waited as I heard her walking down the hall, away from my door.
I took a long look around me and finally sunk to the floor. Boxes were everywhere, I am sure there wasn't as much as a normal girl with parents would have, but there was a lot nonetheless. I hated packing and unpacking. And I had a lot of it ahead of me, and no space to put anything. The sun shone bright through my one window and it heated the room to an almost unbearable temperature. I pulled the closest box to me and opened it. It contained my undergarments. I looked around my bare apartment once again to realize that I didn't have a dresser to put these in. I did, however, have a closet, a very small closet. I pushed the box into the closet and slid the door shut. I decided that since I didn't have any shelves or dressers or desks to put anything in I would just leave everything packed. That would be easier on me anyway. I sat at the window and looked outside. Ms. Albani was sweeping the courtyard. She was very pretty for a woman in her thirties. Late thirties, I think, I remember her telling me that she was a widow. That's sad, because she is so nice. There were people walking past our building and some of them had persocoms with them. I wanted one so bad, which reminds me, I need to go and look for a job!
I hastily got up and went outside. Ms. Albani stared at me as I rushed out the front door. "Ms. Albani!" I said. "Ms. Albani, could you perhaps tell me where I could look for a job? I really need one." I asked, pleadingly.
"Of course, dearie, the main shopping center is just a mile or so down this street. The mall is that way as well, there should be plenty of places that are hiring." She replied.
"Thank you Ms. Albani." I said hurrying towards the shopping center.
"Your welcome and good luck!" she called after me, waving. So nice.
I ran for the most part, it felt good to get my adrenaline up and going. All the people's faces were passing in a blur, but I am sure they were staring at me like I was a psycho. I finally stopped, gasping, at a picnic area. I leaned onto a bench, that luckily no one was sitting at, because if there was, I wouldn't have noticed right away and I would be breathing all over them. I got a strange feeling that someone was watching me and I lifted my eyes to find out who or what. Not soon after I found what I was looking for. A boy, or…man was staring in my direction. He had a look of deep annoyance. I smiled slightly in apology and this time started walking towards the shopping mall. Now, I felt bad for disturbing him, he looked kind of mad actually. I wasn't that loud, was I?
I finally pushed the man from my mind when I saw how big the shopping center was. I had never seen anything so big in Arkansas! It was amazing…AND there were plenty of places that had hiring signs out! Yay. There were stores and shops on both sides of me and for almost as far as the eye could see. It was very exciting, even though I knew I didn't have any money to buy anything. There had to be at least three stores for everything. Three stores for books, three for undergarments, three for electronics, and least ten for clothes, two supercenters, two food courts, and three for Persocoms! My eyes hungrily stared through the window. I dared not to go in, I knew I probably would be able to leave again. I finally pulled myself away from the window and went to look for a job, which is why I came here in the first place, I reminded myself. I went place to place filling out applications, talking to manager after manager. It seemed like a long and tedious process. I grew tired of the same questions and was becoming quite good at answering them. After my fifth place or so, it was starting to get dark, and I definitely didn't want to walk home in the dark, especially in a place I didn't know so well. I turned in my last application and left for my apartment. This time as I passed through the park there were lovers everywhere, holding hands and kissing and talking to each other, which only reminded me how alone I was. And there was the same man or boy, he looked so young, but his body was shaped like a man, he was, now that I took a moment to notice, rather handsome. He was still there, it had been at least three hours, why was he still in the park? Alone. As I was watching him, he looked up from his notebook and our eyes caught for a moment before I turned, embarrassed at having been caught looking at him. I walked away and didn't look back, although I could feel his eyes on me until the fence no longer made me visible. I raced the sun all the way home. I won. I slowly marched up the stairs, tired after my very long day. Good thing school doesn't start until Monday, I have one more whole day to relax before I have to start. Tomorrow I think I will go to the school and check it out. I also need to practice my voice and my keyboard. I was lucky that Varsoon chose me, I can't let them down by being rusty on my first day. As for tonight though, I am going to sleep very good, even if I am going to be sleeping on the floor. It was early yet, only 7:30, I should probably stay awake for a little while longer, but I am so tired…
I sat by my window and watched a car pass by every now and then. There was a stray cat that wondered the fence and mewed a few times before it jumped down and trotted away. The cat reminded me of that animals back home, we weren't farmers or anything, but we did have quite a few animals. Mary had at least twelve dogs and two horses and a few cats every now and then that the dogs ended up running off. All this reminded me that I forgot to call Mary. She would be mad that I didn't call. I will call her tomorrow, she would get over it.
I must have fallen asleep sitting in my window because when I awoke I was still there. I sat for a minute, realizing how stiff I was from sitting for a long period of time. I looked at my watch. It was only 11:30. Four hours had passed while I was in that window! How could I sleep like that for so long? I rolled over onto the floor, feeling much better now that I could stretch my legs out. I searched by moonlight for the box that contained my covers and pillow. I finally found it under a box of toiletries. I, lazily spread my blanket out as far as I could without moving and laid down.
I laid there for a while before I feel asleep again. Then I was moving down a dark alleyway, no, not moving, I was running. Running as fast as I could. There was something behind me, but I didn't know what, I just knew that I was supposed to run. The alleyway stopped at a fence and I could run no longer. I backed into the fence as far as I could awaiting my soon to be death, or so I feared. My breathing was heavy, my chest was heaving up and down and I am sure I could hear my heartbeat echoing off the brick walls to each side of me. I heard footsteps coming towards me, slow and steady. Soon I saw a figure of a man, a man with a perfect body in ragged clothes. Was this man, whose face I cannot see, following me? Even though I was running so fast, this man, who was following me was barely breathing as if running like that was nothing at all to him. He got closer and closer and screaming was on the tip of my tongue, but my voice was caught somewhere in my throat. I woke then, sweat dripping off of me, my breathing was fierce in my chest. I sat up and wiped my forehead and pulled my hair up into a ponytail. I waited for my breathing to go back to normal before I laid back down and fell back asleep.