18. Chapter 18
You can only imagine how frustrated most of the other students usually are at the fact that Jenny can finish assignments at least fifty times faster than they could. Most humans would agree that their natural limitations are very difficult to live with everyday. Jenny was finished with all of her assignments in only seven and a half minutes. That may seem fast to us, however…
"What is wrong with me? I can usually get these stupid assignments done in half that amount of time. I'm getting slow," Jenny said staring at her right hand with apparent frustration in her eyes.
She knew very well the reason why she was slowing down. Being burdened with the thoughts of everything that had happened to her over the past few weeks was taking its toll. She knew very well the reason, but she was just too proud to admit it, even to herself.
She then thought about what the woman from the hospital said earlier that day.
"Something's definitely not right about her. She was way too calm when she gave us that explanation. Since when is anyone that content with the idea that someone is planning on doing something that could hurt a lot of people?" Jenny asked herself.
She thought about it some more, and then said "Come to think of it, I might be that way myself. Normally, I would rush off as fast as I could to find out more information, but I didn't. I treated it as if it wasn't serious at all. Maybe…maybe deep down inside…I want this. Maybe…maybe I don't really care what happens to them. They never really seem to care what happens to me, so why should I care about their fate?"
Continuing to stare at her right hand, she balled it into a tight fist and said "Why should I care; because I devoted myself to it. I promised mom, and I promised myself that I'd protect you ungrateful bastards."
She loosened her fist and let it drop onto the bed and said "I only really wanted one thing, to be able to live among you all, and to be accepted as a true member of your society. Was that really too much for me to ask? I wonder…if you people really want me gone that badly…then maybe I…then maybe I should be."
Jenny knew that what she was considering was wrong. In fact, she strongly disagreed with that course of action more than most things. Only, at this point, she felt as though she was running out of options.
"What the hell is the point of living if there is never any hope of getting what you want?" she asked herself as her voice began to tremble.
This time, it was XJ6's turn to do the cleaning chores around the house. She was walking past Jenny's room when she heard a faint noise that she felt necessary to check out. She was about to knock on Jenny's door, but stopped when she heard sobbing coming from inside the room.
"_She's crying again. I really wish she would just get over it already. This has been going on for far too long now. Our sisters and I learned to accept the fact that we weren't meant to fit in a long time ago, so why can't you? That's it, I'm gonna give her a piece of my mind_," she thought to herself.
She reached for the door handle, but stopped half way and thought to herself "_I can't do it. Man I hate having a sensitive side sometimes_."
She walked away from Jenny's room frustrated that she couldn't bring herself to be that harsh with her sister.
The company manager entered his office where a man that he was expecting to meet with was already waiting for him.
"Ah yes, Mr. Green. I've been needing to talk to you," the manager said.
"Well then, let's get straight to the point, shall we? I really do have other arrangements for this evening," Mr. Green said.
"All right then. Basically, we have a problem with our computer system," the manager said.
"A problem? What kind of problem?" Mr. Green asked.
"At this point, we aren't actually sure it can really be defined as a problem, but we are definitely concerned about it. One of our engineers discovered some new data that, despite ours and several other experts' best efforts, have not been able to determine what the data is or how it got there in the first place," the manager explained.
Mr. Green paused for a moment, and then said "Hmm…interesting. Well, what do you want me to do about it?"
"I was actually hoping you'd have a solution," the manager said.
"Yes, that would be the reason you called me over here, wouldn't it? How about this; I will take a look at it myself first, and if I can't figure it out, I will call someone else who just happens to be more talented than I," Mr. Green suggested.
"You are the one with the connections," the manager said.
"I guess you can put it that way. I will take a look at, but I can't today. I will do that tomorrow. But seriously, why didn't you tell me about this sooner?" Mr. Green asked.
"Well, I know that you are a busy man, and I was confident that we could figure it out on our own. Only, as you can plainly see, that didn't exactly work out so well," the manager explained.
"I see. I will take a look at it sometime between one and three tomorrow," Mr. Green said as he prepared to leave the room.
"Can I ask you something?" the manager asked.
"Go ahead," Mr. Green said.
"I hope you won't think I'm intruding by asking this, but why do you always seem so nervous?" the manager asked.
"Do I really seem nervous to you?" Mr. Green asked.
"Yes, actually. You always just kind of look that way. No offense," the manager explained.
"Hmm…that's odd. No, I'm not nervous. In fact, I'm rarely nervous about anything. What do I have to be nervous about?" Mr. Green asked.
"I wouldn't really know. Anyway, it's not that important. I was just curious, that's all," the manager replied.
"Very well then. I guess I will see you tomorrow," Mr. Green said as he left the office.
"_I swear, that guy always gives me the creeps, every time I see him. He always seems to have an eerie aura surrounding him so thick that I can almost taste it. It's probably just my imagination though_," the manager thought to himself.