Chapter 2: New Year, Old Mistakes
A week has passed since that incident. Doctor Wakeman quietly drank a cup of morning coffee as she slowly shuffled around her quiet kitchen. She stopped to gaze outside her window; the white crystallized snow contrasted against the bright sun, which caused her to squint at the sight. Down the street at the end of the neighborhood, she could see the town had been preparing for the New Years' celebration that night.
She took a deep breath, and she found the moment alone to be relatively peaceful. However, no matter how hard she tried to embrace it, she felt a twinge of uneasiness and the pained guilt bubbling inside her. Her attention was taken by the sight of the stairs outside the kitchen that led to her daughter's bedroom. The past week, Jenny never left the house, let alone her room. Her door remained unopened, and an overwhelming scent of oil odor started to seep through the door.
Nora knew she hurt her and gave Jenny the space and time alone in hopes that it would help her heal emotionally quicker. But unfortunately, she is unsure if she has seen any improvements since Jenny still hadn't talked to her and when she would bring her some oil, Jenny wouldn't get it until Nora had headed back downstairs.
She sighed tiredly and booted her foot against the tile, unsure what to do. Sure, she could reprogram her and make her forget the entire incident-but, that wouldn't be the right solution. When she can, Doctor Wakeman tries to treat Jenny like she would a human rather than a machine, and humans take longer to deal with than machines.
Her thoughts were interrupted and she jumped as the phone on the wall started to ring. She shuffled over and picked the phone off the receiver. She placed the phone close to her ear and croaked,
"Wakeman residence, this is Doctor Wakeman speaking." She noted how dry her throat was when she heard herself speak and cleared her throat. She guessed that happens when you don't talk in your home for a week.
A familiar voice spoke, "Hey Ms.W, it's me, Brad."
She nodded, "Ah yes, hello, Bradley." It was silent for a minute and then Brad spoke again, "So…how was your morning?" He squeaked awkwardly.
She rubbed her forehead and groaned. She took a sip of her coffee, "it's fine…" She looked down into her cup, "My coffee is cold now…you?"
Brad hummed in the background; she could hear Tuck asking him about Jenny, and Brad shushed him. His attention turned back to the phone,
"I'm…fine, I didn't have breakfast yet. I guess I'm just not hungry at the moment." He let out a small yet forced chuckle at the last part.
She chuckled a little and then spoke again, she knew what was going on in his mind, "Bradley…it's going to take some time."
He mumbled with dejection in his voice. Wakeman heard him thump his head against the wall, "I know…it's just that..." He gulped, not wanting to finish his sentence as it hurt to finish, and continued while switching subjects, "I was just wondering if Jenny would perhaps want to come with Sheldon, Tuck, and me to the New Years' countdown tonight?"
Wakeman removed her glasses- rubbed her eyes, and shrugged, "I don't know if she will want to-Bradley, she still hasn't come out of her room. Even when there's an emergency, I end up sending XJ8 instead. Which usually would be a problem, but luckily they have all been minor so far-knock on wood."
Brad fell silent for a moment as he felt a pit in his stomach. He believed-no he knew- he's one of the main reasons she wasn't being herself and hiding in her room. Brad felt hopeless, but had to try to make things right. So he pleaded, "Please, Ms. Wakeman, we really want her to come and we will even take her to Mezmers and buy her some oil…And…and…Can you please just somehow get her to come?"
She shook her head, "Bradley…" He interrupted her,
"She didn't even get to go last year…please?"
Doctor Wakeman looked down to the ground and shoved her hand in her bathrobe pocket. It's true, she didn't. She pressed her lips together in thought and finally gave in, "Fine. I'll see what I can do."
Brad sighed, almost relieved in a way, "Thank you."
She silently nodded and hung up the phone.
She glanced back up the stairs for a second. She was hesitant but knew that she needed to try. She quickly grabbed a fresh can of WD-140 out of the fridge. She waddled over to the stairwell and climbed up the steps with her hand gliding on the rail.
She proceeded down the hall and stopped right in front of Jenny's door. She took a deep breath and just hoped her daughter would respond. She softly knocked, "XJ9? I brought you some oil." She only was met with silence. She continued, "Your friend, Bradley, called and wanted you to attend the event tonight with them." Again no response. Desperately she added, "I think you'll have fun, and I'll even let you stay up past curfew!"
She waited for anything, something! Yet she still didn't respond. Her shoulders drooped in disappointment. She sat the can of oil down onto the carpet in front of the door- Ugh, wait; why is the carpet so wet and sticky? She observed the new dark stain growing on the mat and seeping out of the doorway. The overwhelming horrible scent confirmed it came from old spilled oil cans. She shook her head wearily as she stared at the spot, oh XJ9.
She resisted the urge to complain about the oil stain to Jenny as it wouldn't make things better at the moment. Still, she felt frustrated-it would take weeks to get rid of it, and eventually, if it didn't she would have to buy new carpeting for the hallway.
She mumbled to herself with hands on her hip, "Guess I'll have to activate XJ4 and see if she can do anything about…" She paused when she got a sudden realization and the answer to both the carpet and Jenny.
She smugly smiled to herself as she headed back down the stairs.
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Jenny listened on the other side of the door. She leaned against the door with her audio receptors turned at maximum volume and waited for her mom to leave the door. As soon as she heard her footsteps departing, she slowly opened the door and extended her arm to snatch the can, and quickly retracted her arm and shut the door.
She wandered back to her bed as she chugged the oil. In the past, she would have been elated to hear those words come from her mom's mouth and embrace her in a bone-crushing hug. Now, the words just left her with a bitter taste in her mouth and a sense of resentment. In the last week, her mother and her friends tried apologizing and somehow making up for it. But, how can you make up for something like that?
She drank a few more sips, the can still half full. She stared at it and lightly played with it in the palm of her hand-she wasn't thirsty anymore. She smacked her lips and tilted her head to process the flavor. She observed the label, WD-140, her favorite. Usually, she would down this drink in seconds; however, this past week…it just wasn't the same as it used to be. Perhaps it's the taste? Jenny read the contents and it was all the same as it always was. Or maybe it's…me. She thought to herself tiredly.
Jenny tossed the half-filled can into the overflowing pile of trash; the contents spilled onto the stack and over the carpet, which enlarged the stain on the ground.
She collapsed onto her bed, face down on the pillow. Her battery was fully charged, but she still felt exhausted. Her mother's mention of her friend's invite sat in her mind, a tiny part of her wanted to go-but she still couldn't face him. Besides, did the invite even mean anything, or was he just feeling sorry for himself? She wasn't sure, after all, it wasn't like he cared at all last year. She glared at the thought, the bitter feeling again rising in her chest.
Gears ground in her mind which gave her the equivalent of a human headache. She closed her optics and gave an exhausted groan. She felt her cooling systems go to their highest level to lower her oil pressure and calm her down. She tried to let herself relax and took some artificial breaths - In one two three, out one two three, in-
The door slammed open, and Jenny jumped and let out a yelp, she twisted her head to see XJ4 standing in the doorway.
"Hey, Jen-OH MY GOODNESS!" XJ4 hollered in shock as she saw trash building up all around the room and growing oil stains on the bed, walls, and carpet. Jenny rolled her eyes and frowned, "How did you get in here? I locked my door!"
XJ4 continued to gawk at the horrid mess that lay in front of her, she responded absentmindedly, "Uhm, this actually used to be my room once upon a time and I still have the key…" She rolled over to Jenny who was still on her bed and gave her a look of disgust, "What did you do to it?! It's a pigsty!" She waved her arms widely in emphasis, "Oil stains…EVERYWHERE!! You have piles of trash multiplying- you can't even see the carpet, Jenny!! And…" She looked up and gasped as her optics spotted the shattered fragments of glass, "You broke the window?! That's stainless glass, do you know how expensive this is? When I was active- I was never upgraded because of how expensive this glass was!"
Jenny groaned, clearly not in the mood. She sat up and rested her face in the palms of her hands and mumbled, "It's been a long week…What are you doing here?"
XJ4 shook her head and folded her arms, "Sis, this room is a disaster, sheesh!" She observed her older sister and lifted Jenny's head in her hands. Her face wrinkled and one of her hands formed into a wax brush, "When was the last time you got waxed?"
Jenny growled and pushed XJ4 forcefully to the ground. "Get off me! What are you doing here?!"
"Well, mom sent me up here to come to check on you…" XJ4 winced in horror, "And clearly, you're not doing well." Jenny scoffed, figures! mom never did care for my space! She probably just sent my sister to get me to forgive them!
Jenny narrowed her optics and shrugged, "Well, I'm fine! You can go now, XJ4!"
XJ4 stood up, turned one of her hands into a duster, and brushed herself off, "Ehm…You're not."
Jenny placed her hands on her hips and shot in defense, "Oh, so now you're gonna tell me how to feel?!" A flood of rage filled her optics.
XJ4 put her hands up to cover herself. Jeeze, this is going to be more complicated than I thought. "No, Jen, I'm not telling you to do anything! I just was told to check on you…as well as the oil stains." She continued as she softly placed a hand on Jenny's shoulder, "I also heard you were invited to the New Years' celebration and…I think you should go."
Jenny stared at her incredulously and folded her arms, mom clearly told her to do this… "Oh? Why's that?"
XJ4 softly smiled, "Because I think it would be good for you to go back out there and ya know-get reacquainted with society…you can't just lock yourself in your room forever, Jenny."
Jenny scoffed and retorted as she waved her hand dismissively, "Said the one who's been stuck in the basement for years deactivated." Right as she said it, she regretted saying it but felt like XJ4 needed to hear that with how much she was hurting.
XJ4 glared at her as those words hurt, "Well, at least I had company thanks to our other sisters…You're all alone in here moping to yourself!" She got into Jenny's face and practically yelled the last part of her sentence.
"Maybe, I want to be alone! Have you ever thought of that?!" Jenny shot back her voice squeaked at the end as she felt her oil pressure rise and her chest tighten. She clenched her fists, "So, why should I go back out there? I want to be alone and everyone hates me!" She sighed and mumbled as her shoulders slumped, now overheated. "No one even cared I was gone before- and…and…" She couldn't speak anymore, her throat tightened and her optics were on the verge of tears. The entirety of the incident still mocked her deep down and pained her worse than any villain she had ever fought. XJ4 gazed sympathetically, and seeing her sister so upset withered her anger away.
"Jenny…" XJ4 now spoke in a softer tone and placed an arm around her. Jenny shook her off, rejecting her sister's attempt to comfort her,
"Forget it, it's…I'll be fine…I think I just need to lie down."
XJ4 watched as Jenny collapsed back on the bed with a loud thud. It was silent between the two for a moment. Jenny closed her optics, and her face looked peaceful, but XJ4 knew that that wasn't the case. She leaned close to her, thinking about what to do next. XJ4 knew what it was like to be tossed aside, but not to this extent.
"Jenny…I know it hurts, but they do care, we all do…" She sighed and reluctantly sat on the stained bed with a stench that overwhelmed her, but she continued, "I know it's hard, but would you be willing to give them a second chance and just go tonight? If not for them, at least do it for me…please?"
Jenny cracked open her optics and looked into her sister's pleading eyes, she didn't want to. She grimaced and XJ4 continued to beg,
"I'll clean your room while you're gone and this will be the last time I ask, I promise! Just please go! I hate seeing you like this."
Jenny let out a huff, she just couldn't say no-especially to the puppy face XJ4 was making. Finally, she groaned in defeat, "Ugh, I'm probably going to regret this…fine, I'll go."
XJ4 smiled as she pulled her sister off the bed, "Let's get you cleaned up! Because, seriously, you don't smell terrific."
Jenny protested with a whine, "I think I smell fine!"
XJ4 winced as she grabbed an air freshener off the nightstand to spray her down, "That's because your nose-blind, Jen."
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11:45 PM New Year's Eve
Brad checked his watch, where is she? He wondered. The trio- Brad, Tuck, and Sheldon all sat at the round table at Mezmers finishing off their jumbo sundaes while the untouched oil shake sat beside them at an empty spot.
Tuck piped up in concern, "She is coming, right?"
"I don't know Tuck." Sheldon shrugged solemnly as he finished off his sundae. "We need to go now though if we want to get to the town square in time for the countdown."
"Guess Jen will have to meet us down there, we could take the shake with us." Brad slipped out his wallet, took out some cash to pay for their shakes, and handed it to the waiter.
The boys stepped out on the walkway and headed to the town square. They stopped when a six-foot-framed figure stepped out in front of them from the side of Mezmers, they smiled and ran up to her. "Jenny! You came!"
Unfortunately, Jenny didn't share their enthusiasm and just shared a blank expression. Her pigtails drooped and her optics were half open. Brad handed her the plastic cup of the oil shake, "We got you something! It's…kind of melted now though…sorry."
Jenny observed the melted and now room temperature liquid. It looked very unappetizing but still attempted to be polite. She shrugged and replied in a quiet voice, "Uh…thanks. I guess. Uhm, shall we get going?" She fiddled with the straw for a moment as they began to walk again. The silence on a cold night usually is peaceful, instead, they all just felt tense.
Tuck gave a weak, innocent smile, "I'm glad you came! It really isn't the same without you…We're…"
Jenny not wanting to hear another apology, abruptly replied not letting Tuck finish his sentence,
"Ok, how about I just fly us there…you know, so we're on time." And I can just get this night over with already and go back to bed! Ugh…Why did I let XJ4 talk me into this? She bitterly thought to herself as she wrapped all three of them in her arms, activated her pigtail jets, and took off into the night sky.
When they arrived at the town square she landed amongst the large crowd of people and sat the boys down on the pavement. Jenny gazed around her surroundings, feeling very uncomfortable and a sense as if she was being watched.
"Alright, we made it on time!" Tuck chirped.
"You ok, Jen?" Asked Sheldon, raising an eyebrow. Jenny folded her arms and appeared stiff, she mumbled quietly, "I think people are staring at me." Even after being proven innocent, she probably should have figured some people would be still uncomfortable around her after the last time.
Brad smiled sympathetically, "No, they're not, I promise you're fine!"
"Yea and you're with us! Everything will be just fi…" Sheldon was interrupted by a woman holding a child, screaming and pointing toward them,
"It's that rogue robot! She's back to torment us some more!"
A man in the crowd yelled in horror, "Look! She has those three boys hostage!!"
"What?!" Cried the boys in shock and Jenny started to back away behind them in terror. Brad waved his hands in protest, "Wait, no! Jenny's innocent!!"
"Get her!" Cried an angry citizen who threw a snowball which slammed into Jenny's chest, which caused her to be thrown back a little bit. She formed a shield to protect herself. "This is what you get for terrorizing humans, you rusted piece of junk!"
Sheldon yelled in a fury, pushing back a few people in the crowd throwing snowballs at her, "Stop it! Jenny's our friend! Don't do this!"
Brad added as he fought back, "Last year was not her fault! Stop!" Unfortunately, their words fell on deaf ears as the crowd kept on with the attack.
Jenny's optics started to water as the cold icy snowballs smacked her everywhere. Her chest started to burn and her throat tightened. She began to shake, her body began to signal to her brain of slight water damage. She looked down at her arms and could see rust had started to form as the snow hit her.
"Mommy, is she crying? Asked a small child in the crowd, genuinely confused. The woman sneered at Jenny in response, "No, honey, it's just wet…it doesn't have feelings like a human."
Unbeknownst to them, the words cut like a knife into Jenny's core. They never saw her as a living individual, just a machine. Her optics flooded with fluid. I knew this was a mistake. She painfully thought to herself.
Brad wrapped his arm around her to console her. "Jen, don't listen to them!" Followed by Sheldon shouting at the mother, "You don't know what you're talking about lady!" Despite all the commotion-Jenny was no longer listening. She scowled, pushing Brad away from her. She triggered her pigtail jets again and, without hesitation, surged off before any more physical damage was done. She didn't bother to pay attention to her friends calling after her to come back amongst the people cheering that she was gone and that Tremerton was safe.
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Dr. Wakeman paced back and forth, awaiting her daughter's return and hoping she was enjoying her time. She would usually be in her lab this time of night, even though it was a holiday, however, stress overwhelmed her which made her stay upstairs.
XJ4 approached her and gasped in exhaustion,
"Cripes, mom…Her room was a disaster area! I just finished cleaning up! I didn't know that it was possible for a robot her size to down that much oil in a week! Gosh, you'd think she was an airplane or maybe even Armagedriod!"
The doctor shrugged and rubbed her forehead tiredly, it was hard to see Jenny like this, and just hoped things would go back to normal soon, "Very good, XJ4, I see your cleaning program is still efficient! I'm sure Jenny will appreciate it dear."
XJ4 rolled over to the kitchen, grabbed a can of oil from the fridge, and took a sip.
"Let's hope so. I had to throw some stuff out…yea it was bad, ugh." She felt a shiver of disgust run through her system just thinking about what she had to endure through the past few hours.
Without warning, the door busted open with Jenny stomping inside. Wakeman and XJ4 were startled by her appearance. Jenny's entire body was covered in rust and dirt. Her pigtails drooped as her shoulders were slumped and looked like she had been crying.
"My goodness, XJ9, what…what happened?" Wakeman rushed to Jenny's side along with XJ4.
Jenny slowly turned her head with a deadpan expression, not wanting to burst out in tears again. She replied monotonously, "I…I don't want to talk about it…I'm going to go to my room." She trudged through the room to the stairs as XJ4 and Wakeman both looked forlorn. "XJ9, I need to run a diagnostic check on you before you go up, you took a good amount of water damage," Wakeman commented as she tried to reach for Jenny's hand.
Jenny scoffed and rolled her optics as she yanked her hand away. She has a finished blueprint of XJ10, why should she care? It's not like mom did before! If I'm damaged, she can easily replace me! Unaware of her mom's concerned expression, she shook her head, "I'm fine…I'll just dry myself off."
XJ4 rolled over again next to Wakeman's side, looking up at Jenny,
"Jenny, you can tell us what happened."
Jenny paused for a minute and mumbled, "It's nothing really…just…the usual people not liking robot stuff…nothing special, I'm gonna lay down." She then scurried up the stairs and waved dismissively before Wakeman or XJ4 could say anything.
Wakeman sighed and mentally slapped herself, she should have expected this to happen. It was announced to the public that XJ9 was innocent, but not many people believed it. "Poor girl." She whispered to no one in particular.
"Well, maybe she'll feel a little better once she's seen what I have done to her room." Noted XJ4 hopefully.
They jumped when they heard Jenny scream.
"Jenny, is everything alright?" Cried XJ4 in a concerned tone. Loud footsteps were heard as Jenny marched back downstairs confused and frustrated,
"XJ4…Where is my bed?!"
Wakeman blinked in shock and turned to XJ4 who giggled nervously and shrugged, "Well, heh, I did say I threw stuff out…" Which earned a facepalm from Wakeman and a frustrated cry from Jenny.
"That bed…was my ONLY FRIEND!" Jenny started to advance her way towards XJ4 with a menacing death stare and 'breathing heavily'.
XJ4 gulped and quivered in fear, "Oh my…Well, I'm going to be downstairs now, goodnight everybody!" She hurriedly bolted through the basement door and locked it to prevent Jenny from following her downstairs.
Jenny wiggled the doorknob and shouted for XJ4 to return to no avail. Wakeman rubbed her eyes in exhaustion. She watched her daughter yell for her sister.
"XJ9." Jenny didn't listen and kept pulling on the knob. It was clear, like her, that Jenny was worn out because the door wasn't budging. "XJ9, honey."
Again, Jenny ignored her and kept going. Jenny mumbled to herself, "Stupid-erg- XJ4…Just wait till I-ugh. XJ4!"
Wakeman finally grabbed Jenny's shoulder and forcefully pulled her away, "XJ9!"
Jenny faced her mother and shot back, her optics practically widened, "She tossed my bed!! Where am I supposed to sleep?!"
"I know she did, but I'll find a solution, ok?" Wakeman consoled her in hopes of calming her down. But, instead, Jenny glared and elbowed the door with force. "Can't you make her go get it?"
Wakeman shook her head, "No, it's already late. But I can get you something else to sleep on." She hoped Jenny would find that reasonable, but to her dismay, Jenny started to shake, her lips trembled, and her optics furrowed. Wakeman placed her hands on Jenny's shoulders, she spoke in a soft, gentle voice, "Hey, it'll be alright dear, I'll take care of it, I always do… I think you just need to…"
Jenny folded her arms and leaned against the door as she gazed towards the ground, "When you say take care of it…does that mean replacing it?"
"Well, yes. We can go to the store tomorrow, and I'll buy whatever mattress you like."
Jenny scoffed and shook her head, "I figured that's what you meant…Whenever something important is missing, you don't look for it-you just simply replace it." Her optics narrowed as she looked into her mother's eyes and felt the same pained feeling. Wakeman froze when she realized what her daughter meant, now rendered speechless. "That's always your solution." Jenny's voice cracked as tears started to stream down her face.
"XJ9…Jenny…That's not the same thing…" Wakeman whispered in an attempt to both defend herself and comfort her. She had no excuse for what she had done but still tried to fix it. She tried to wrap her arms around Jenny and hold her.
Jenny removed her hands and pushed her aside. "Whatever…Just…Just leave me alone." She marched over to the couch and picked it up, "I'm taking this, good night."
Wakeman watched Jenny haul the couch up the stairs, now disheartened. When Jenny was out of sight, Wakeman collapsed in the remaining chair in the living room as she blankly stared across the empty space. She was aware that she made a mistake this past year with XJ9, but she tried to fix her errors! Right? She gave her space, didn't bother her about crime duty and had XJ8 do it. As well as, alongside Jenny's friends, apologize to her and find ways to make it up to her. She thought in a week, Jenny would improve, but there had been no progress.
That conversation with her showed that there wouldn't be any changes anytime soon. She wracked her mind in an attempt to think of an answer, but the horrid thought lurked in her mind.
Or maybe, I finally failed her as a creator and a mother. Tears started to well; she didn't want to believe it. She gazed up the stairwell and just hoped Jenny would forgive her soon.
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Authors Note: Second chapter is done! Sorry for the delay, I just got busy with school and tbh, this chapter did take a bit longer to write. Thanks again for reading and I hope you enjoy the chapter! Please leave a review, I would love to hear what you thought about the chapter. :) Also I finally got the paid version of grammerly so hopefully the formatting and everything is better lol Let me know what you think!
Also thanks to all who reviewed so far and I hope you enjoy the future chapters as well :)
Anon 1- I decided to start over, mostly because I didn't like the old version very much and just wanted to flesh out Evil Jenny's character more. I also feel like the new version will be easier to follow along compared to the old version since my ideas changed so much and honestly I didn't like it lol.
Anon 2- I'm glad you like the new version so far! And hmm...that's an interesting way to look at it!
Aspiring Creator- Aw, thank you! I appreciated your feedback! Yes, I am planning on Brad questioning wether he should be forgiven or not in the first place in a future chapter :)Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and the future ones! Thanks again for reading!