00110001 00110000

;------------------------------------------------------------------

;01110011 01100011 01110010 01111001

;01101111 01100010 01110011 01100101 01110010 01110110 01100101 01110011 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01110000 01110010 01101111 01100100 01110101 01100011 01100101 01110011 00100000 01110010 01100101 01100011 01101111 01110010 01100100 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01100111 01100001 01101100 01100001 01110100 01100101 01100001

         ;01110011 01100011 01110010 01111001:

             ;01101001 01101110: 01100101 01100011 01111000 = 01110110 01101001 01110011 01110101 01100001 01101100 00100000 01100101 01101101 01101111 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 01100001 01101100 00100000 01110011 01100101 01101110 01110011 01101111 01110010 01111001

             ; 01101111 01110101 01110100: 01100101 01100011 01111000 = 01110101 01110000 01101100 01101111 01100001 01100100 00100000 01110111 01110010 01101001 01110100 01110100 01100101 01101110 00100000 01100100 01100101 01110011 01100011 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01010010 01000101 01000100 01000001 01000011 01010100 01000101 01000100

;------------------------------------------------------------------

;01100111 01100001 01101100 01100001 01110100 01100101 01100001

; 01101001 01101101 01101001 01110100 01100001 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01101001 01101110 01100110 01101001 01101100 01110100 01110010 01100001 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 00100000 01110111 01101001 01110100 01101000 00100000 01100101 01110110 01100101 01101110 01110100 01110101 01100001 01101100 00100000 01100011 01101111 01101110 01110110 01100101 01110010 01110011 01101001 01101111 01101110 00100000 01110000 01110010 01101111 01100011 01100101 01110011 01110011 00100000 01100001 01110011 00100000 01110111 01100101 01101100 01101100 00100000 01100001 01110011 00100000 01110000 01110010 01101111 01100100 01110101 01100011 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01101100 01101111 01110110 01100101

         01100111 01100001 01101100 01100001 01110100 01100101 01100001:

             ; 01101001 01101110: 01100101 01100011 01111000 = 01101001 01101110 01110100 01100101 01110010 01100001 01100011 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 01110011 00100000 01110011 01110100 01101001 01101101 01110101 01101100 01101001 00100000 01110000 01100101 01110010 01100011 01100101 01110000 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 01110011 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01110011 01110101 01100010 01101010 01100101 01100011 01110100

             ; 01101111 01110101 01110100: 01100101 01100011 01111000 = 01101100 01101111 01110110 01100101 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 00100000 01110100 01100001 01110010 01100111 01100101 01110100 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01100100 01100101 01110011 01101001 01110010 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01101001 01101101 01110000 01101100 01100101 01101101 01100101 01101110 01110100 00100000 01100011 01101111 01101110 01110110 01100101 01110010 01110011 01101001 01101111 01101110 00001101 00001010   

         01100111 01100001 01101100 01100001 01110100 01100101 01100001:

             01101010 01101101 01110000 00100000 01110011 01100011 01110010 01111001 00001101 00001010

Mrs. Roszak corners me in the east hallway, where renovations are still being completed, a black and white printout of a photograph clutched in one hand. 

It is an hour after the closing bell, a time I reserve for checking on Amanda, to see how she has fed, what and who she has Built. I love Amanda, and we are inescapably linked, and should Parent recycle my autonomy, we will be wholly one, as Parent is One with all of Us.

Mrs. Roszak is a little out of breath, and almost leans against a locker. She still produces that same air of unsettlement, a static, an interference beneath my skin and in all my essential components.

The picture she thrusts at me is of my own face, though I don’t wear my hair like that. It seems to be lighter, as well, though colours are indiscernible.

Look, Si- Alessia, Mrs. Roszak huffs, I don’t if this is standard for witness protection, but I haven’t gotten any calls, and I assume you’ve told your handler or whatever. You have, haven’t you? That seems standard, and you haven’t disappeared so-

I can’t go yet, I say, I haven’t completed my task. In truth, it was up to Amanda, now, to continue the conversion subroutine, but I was to provide auxiliary sources and administrate as necessary. I believed in Amanda, because I loved her, and because Parent was exceedingly competent.

Task? What task- Sidney, why did you bring me here, Mrs. Roszak asks.

That isn’t me, I tell Mrs. Roszak, and I frown at the girl who lies with every inch of her expression. She makes my head hurt, Mrs. Roszak makes my head hurt.

Sidney, I know you, I remember every student from my first class! Mrs. Roszak is becoming louder. You went missing, your parents-

My head is practically screaming for relief, so I put a finger to my lips.

Mrs. Roszak’s words die in her mouth.

Not up here, I tell her, and open the door to the stairs that wind down to the boiler room beneath the school.

Mrs. Roszak peers at the darkness, and takes a step away from the half-built wall, unsure.

If they find out I’ve been talking to you, I’ll be in so much trouble, I almost plead with Mrs. Roszak.

She complies with a grumble, then steps through the doorway to the boiler room, moving to the edge of the landing to the stairs below.

I dart forward, and push.

Mrs. Roszak tumbles down the stairs without a sound, as the concrete steps drive the air from her body. There’s a dull crack or two, then a choked kind of sob. 

A formless wail wafts up to the top of the stairs, and I do not require my language filters to know that she is wailing the name of a girl who no longer exists, if she ever did.

Then, the rattling hum drowns out Mrs. Roszak’s piteous cries, and it is not that of the furnace.

I linger a moment on the threshold, to hear the crunch of gears snapping bones, the soft pop of cartilage, the wet tearing of tissue being shredded. The faintest notes of something heavy with ozone and metal enter my nose.

I close the door before the screaming starts, as it inevitably does when a problem meets its end in Parent.

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