Chapter 7: The Programmer

In the living room, there is a window that looks out onto the front yard. It wasn't a very good window, Marlene thinks bitterly as she feels a slight draft push against her as she stares outside. She glances down at her phone.

4:10 P.M.

'They're late.' Marlene gives a frustrated huff. 'They always are.'

She pockets her phone again and does a mental checklist. Purse? Check. Money? Check. Did she need a coat? Glancing back outside, Marlene decides the thick gray sweater she was wearing would do.

"I'm sure your friend will be here soon!" Sun assures her and Marlene had half the mind to tell him otherwise but nods instead. He was just trying to soothe her, Marlene reasons. That didn't stop a bubble of annoyance from rising in her though.

'Besides, I don't think I can really talk to him about this. I don't know if he'd get it and I shouldn't have the time to explain it.'

"I'm going to pick up the dry erase board today. Is there anything you would like?" Marlene asks, pulling up a note on her phone. Sun tilts his head, putting a finger to his mouth as though in thought.

It was quite interesting how he mimicked human gestures to get his point across. She supposed he must have picked it up from being around children all the time. Children were pretty expressive, weren't they? Marlene certainly thought so, but perhaps her energetic cousins were the exception.

"Do I want anything?"

"Yes. I asked if you wanted me to pick up something," Marlene repeats, assuming the robot misheard her. Was her question confusing?

"Oh…" Sun replies, giving a short pause before meeting her eyes, "Could you please grab glitter glue?"

Marlene blinks, wondering why that sounded familiar. Had he mentioned it a while back? Before she could respond, Sun was back peddling.

"I-If not, that's okay though! I don't need anything, really!"

"No, No, that's fine." Marlene waves her hands, "I was just thinking. Yeah, I can pick that up. Do you have a color preference? I can't promise, but if they have it in stock…"

From the window, Marlene could hear the fans whirring. Since it didn't happen too often, Marlene still couldn't be sure what exactly it meant. 'Deep thought?' Marlene guesses though she felt a little too silly asking.

"Blue?"

'Why was that a question?' Marlene wonders but nods. "Sure, I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks, Sunshine! I can always count on you!"

A warm feeling blooms in her chest when Sun says that. It relieved her that Sun felt like he could depend on her and, while the nickname still threw her off, Marlene was beginning to feel a little fond of it.

As a black car pulls into the driveway, Marlene smiles. With a wave goodbye, Marlene walks out the front door and slides into the passenger seat of her friend's car. She slides in too fast on the slippery leather seats and ends up having to scoot closer to the door to buckle her seatbelt.

"Hey, sorry I'm late!" Jesse apologizes, half-twisting in their seat to face Marlene, "I didn't realize I was so low on gas so I had to make a quick pit stop."

"It's fine," Marlene says as if she hadn't spent the last ten minutes frustrated. Regardless, she felt a little better knowing there was a good reason for Jesse's tardiness this time, "Stuff happens. Anyway, where do you want to eat?

"I dunno. What are you up for?"

That was a lie and Marlene knew it. They always ate at Chicken Cravings - a small fast food joint in the mall. Jesse was just too proud to say they wanted to eat at Chicken Cravings for the 50th time.

"Chicken sounds good. Do you want to see if Chicken Cravings isn't too busy?"

Jesse smiles as they pull out of the driveway. "Yeah, I like the sound of that."

Marlene didn't live too far out of the way - just far enough to avoid having relevant neighbors so the drive is a short one. As the scenery shifts from country fields to city buildings, they make small talk about their surroundings.

"Yeah, nice blinker…" Marlene says sarcastically after a purple van cuts them off, the seatbelt catching her as Jesse slams the breaks.

"And ya couldn't have decided to merge over two seconds earlier, dumbass!?" Jesse adds, flipping off the van though Marlene doubts they could see it.

That was for the best, Marlene decides as she watches the other driver - a rather strong-looking individual - park rather crookedly. Marlene makes an effort to point out a spot on the opposite end of the parking lot.

When they enter the mall, the noise of people talking and going about their day hits her. It almost feels nostalgic, but Marlene doesn't understand why it grates on her nerves. She had more or less worked at a mall like this - bigger even - so she wonders why this kind of atmosphere only affected her now.

It only occurs to Marlene after they place their orders that she was annoyed simply because it reminded her of her old job.

'This is ridiculous.' Marlene frowns as she fills her soda cup. 'I should be over this.'

But she isn't.

"How have you been?" Jesse asks, pulling Marlene from her thoughts and to a white square table. It was small and it would just barely have enough room to hold their meal. As Marlene pulls out a chair to sit down, it squeals and she shudders. The sensation reminds her of nails on a chalkboard and it most certainly did not lift her mood.

"I've been okay," Marlene says, wondering how much she could tell her friend before she was over-sharing. It wasn't that she didn't trust Jesse, but she still felt nervous about sharing her doubts. "Still looking for work. It's… more difficult than I remember it being."

"I still can't believe Fazbear Entertainment fired you," Jesse replies, playing with their straw, "You were the best. The new guy they got running around isn't any good. His area is always so disorganized and he hardly seems to know what he's doing. I swear, he must have had connections to get in. Kinda just has that vibe, ya know?"

"Oh, I'm sure he isn't so bad," Marlene rationalizes, though Jesse's words bring a smile to her face, "maybe he just needs some time to learn the ropes. I was like that too when I first started way back."

"You always gotta be the optimistic one, don't you?"

Marlene's smile grows tight as she laughs nervously. 'If only you knew,' she thinks, taking a sip of her drink, the fizzy texture hitting her mouth.

She didn't believe she was an optimistic person in the slightest. There was always something to worry about - a gesture or a word that would catch her off guard and put doubt in her mind. Sometimes, Marlene thought she worried about things she ought not to. Would an optimistic person do such a thing?

Or was optimism more about choosing to vocalize the good instead of the bad?

Their numbers get called and Marlene finally gets to eat what she ordered. She gets a few bites in, savoring her crispy chicken strips when Jesse pipes up again.

"I know there's a while before Thanksgiving yet, but have you decided what you're going to do for the holidays? I know you mentioned that it's… a stressful time for you."

Ah, the holidays.

One of the few times a year her presence in the family felt obligatory.

'What are you, my therapist?' Marlene thinks as she glances away. She hadn't really been putting much thought into it but her answer was the same as last year.

"I'll be visiting my family," She replies, picking at the edge of the table with her nail, "It can be… a lot. But I still love them, so…yeah. I'll be visiting."

A lot was being kind. Being in a crowded house with people she struggled to talk to wasn't something Marlene was particularly excited about. Still, at least her younger sister - Hannah - would be there to make things more tolerable.

Her father would be a different story.

Marlene was positive she'd have to sit through a speech of "I told you so's" if her father found out about her losing her job at the Pizzaplex. Though that conversation wasn't a matter of if so much as when Marlene was sure of that.

As for her mother… Well, Marlene hadn't spoken to her in years.

Looking back, their relationship had always been a bit strained. Or maybe nonexistent was the correct word. When Marlene was little, she hadn't really noticed how odd it was that her mother wasn't around much despite their parent's marriage. At the time, Marlene just thought her mother was busy with work, like dad always was. But then her half-brother - Raymond - was born from her mother's affair and that put the puzzle pieces together.

Her parents got divorced soon after, though not before her dad adopted Raymond as his own.

Perhaps to anyone else, that would be weird but it didn't bother her dad. According to him, their marriage had been on the rocks for years. He just kept clinging to the idea that one day, she'd turn back into the person he married. After Raymond was born, that hope shattered.

Marlene remembered the day her father brought Raymond home vividly. When she was twenty-one, she and her father were sitting in the living room. Her father was holding Raymond- a tiny thing with dark fuzz covering his head. Still angry with her mother at the time, Marlene had asked him why he adopted Raymond; her father gave her an answer she didn't quite expect.

"Your mother and I talked and we agreed on this. She… isn't prepared to mother a baby. And she didn't really know what she wanted until he was born. I adopted him because I wanted to, Marlene. That's all there is to say."

She didn't know what surprised her more at the time: the fact her parents had a rational conversation or how calmly her father handled the situation.

"Anyway." Marlene glanced at the different restaurants in the food court. There were a lot more people in line now than there were a few moments ago. "Where do you want to go first after this? I wanted to pick up some art supplies while we're out."

"I never really took you for the crafts kind of person. Were you always the artsy type?" Jesse gives Marlene a bewildered look before adding jokingly, "Because damn, I thought I knew you."

Marlene takes a sip of her drink, her mouth suddenly feeling a bit dry as she wonders once again how much she could tell her friend.

'Ah yes, I've been meaning to tell you. It may come as a shock but have you heard of that friendly Sun character from the daycare? You know, the one that got destroyed in the fire? Guess what? He wasn't and he lives with me now! How quirky is that?' Marlene thinks sarcastically for herself. A very helpful thing for one to do when one's friend is waiting for a response.

"I've got a new roommate who likes crafts and my stuff is so old. Like, dried-up glue sticks and broken crayons kind of old. So I wanted to get some new stuff."

"A roommate?" Jesse says as they scrunch up a napkin in their hands to remove the grease from their fingers. "Since when?"

"Not long," Marlene assures, absently putting her hand down to grab more chicken only to realize she had eaten it all. "It's only been a week or so."

"Ah, okay," Jesse leans back in their seat, looking far less invested, "I wasn't sure if it was a detail I missed somehow. You wanna walk around then? Maybe hit up Q-Mart for the art supplies?"

Marlene nods and replies with a quick "sure," before they drop off their garbage in a bin and head to the other side of the mall.

There was a buzzing in her pocket and an unknown number pops up. Normally, Marlene would let it go to voicemail but Marlene swipes the answer key.

"Hello?"

"Hello, is this Marlene Devyns?" An elderly woman's voice rings through the other end. Her voice is rather high-pitched, though not in a screechy sort of way. If Marlene had to describe the voice, she would have to say it reminded her of a cheerful grandmother.

"Yes."
"I am Lori Hartfort from PhoneUs. I am calling in response to your application for the calling center position. Is now a good time to talk?"