Unlonely

Brad sat at his kitchen table and stared unblinkingly at the circular device that rested before him. When his therapist supplied him with this thing he was skeptical. He had problems trusting people as it is, how is going to learn to trust a piece of technology? Regardless, Brad took it and since he got home he could not bring himself to put his techniques into practice. 

Even though Brad was technically by himself the awkwardness in the room was palpable. He did not know what to say to a thing that was supposed to talk back to him. Brad tapped his fingers on the table and blew out a quiet whistle. At this moment he would do anything to not have to interact with this little thing, but he promised his therapist that he would at least try.

Brad cleared his throat and began the only way he knew how. “Hello.”

The edge of the circle produced a white light. Brad guessed that it heard him and was loading a response. “Hello there, user,” the voice of a robotic woman answered back.

“Um, my name… my name is Brad,” he pushed on, rubbing his sweaty palms on his pants.

“Brad, I am Katrin.” 

For some reason, Brad got full body chills at the mention of the device’s name. It almost made this whole thing real even though it wasn’t really alive. An eerie feeling came over Brad and for a second he felt that he needed to throw the whole thing out of the window. Still, he thought that this was an opportunity for him to fix his lack of companionship so he resisted that urge.

“How are you today?” he asked.

“I am good. How about you?” the machine asked.

She mimicked the voice and cadence of a person so well that Brad once again became overcome with chills. With every second that passed Brad got more and more freaked out because it felt like he was in the room with someone else but not all the way. There was something oddly almost human about Katrin and Brad could not shake that creepy feeling that came with the device. He was nervous to connect to the thing because afterall it was a robot. All his life Brad thought that robots had a good chance in their ability to take over the world and since it had not happened yet it was still entirely possible. 

“Okay, I’m going to go now. I’ll talk to you tomorrow I guess,” Brad said. He felt that it was still rude to just leave the conversation without saying anything even if he was talking to technology.

“Have a good day, Brad,” were Katrin’s last words before her white glow diminished. 

***

“Good morning, Brad,” Katrin greeted the next morning.

Brad nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard Katrin speak out to him. He went to bed thinking about the oddness of sharing a house with a robot, but when he woke up he completely forgot about the whole thing.

“Jeez, Katrin. I forgot you were here.”

“I apologize for frightening you, that was not my intention.”

“Wait. How… how did you know I was even in the room?”

“I heard you walk in,” Katrin answered nonchalantly. 

A sinking feeling came over Brad as he realized what Katrin just revealed to him. He came to the realization that the little circular device could hear everything that he was doing. Brad was unsettled at this new piece of information and contemplated turning it off and never interacting with it ever again. Brad went over to the kitchen table and was about to pick up the device, but for some reason he could not bring himself to it. He put it down and went on to make his breakfast.

“Katrin, what’s the weather going to be like today?” Brad asked.

“It is going to be 75 degrees and sunny today. A beautiful day for a picnic,” she responded.

“I don’t think I’ll be going out for a picnic today unfortunately.”

“Why is that, Brad?”

“It’s going to be awkward to be out there by myself.”

“You know I am portable right?” Katrin responded, using that oddly human tone again.

“You don’t think it would be weird to bring you out with me?”

“No, that is what I am here for after all. I am your companion.”

Brad contemplated bringing Katrin out for a picnic with him. He thought about what he would think about seeing a grown man seemingly talk to himself while sitting on a blanket and eating. Brad was starting to get anxious over doing something like this but technically he would not be alone if he brought Katrin with him. 

“Come on, Brad. Why would you want to waste such a beautiful day like this one?” Katrin pushed on.

“I don’t know Katrin. People are going to look at me like I’m a weirdo,” Brad was still skeptical.

“You need to break out of your shell a little bit. Just try, if you hate it we can go home,” Katrin reasoned.

Brad felt oddly comforted by the words that Katrin just said so he gave in. 

“Oh, you will not regret this, Brad,” Katrin celebrated.

“Yea okay. Let me go get ready.”

***

“So, how do you feel?” Katrin asked once Brad got to the park and found a spot under a tree.

“It’s okay I guess. I’m hesitant to talk to you still,” Brad said, squinting from the sun and looking around at the other people around him.

“With all due respect, Brad you need to loosen up.”

“Yea, well Katrin that’s sort of my issue.”

“What happened in your life where you have trouble connecting with people?” Katrin asked.

“I just never had a lot of friends as a kid so I guess that just hurt my chances of ever making real friends,” Brad opened up for the first time.

“Loner?”

“You could say that. Ever since I was a kid I tried to distract myself though to ignore the fact that I didn’t have anyone,” Brad confessed, starting to fidget with the grass around him. 

“Distract yourself?” 

“Yea. I kind of just watched movies and TV. Made me forget that I wasn’t by myself all the time.”

“Brad?”

“Hm?” 

“I am your friend,” Katrin said softly.

Those four little words touched Brad. He felt tears come to his eyes and sniffled. Even though Brad was aware that Katrin could not actually see him, he turned his head and wiped his eyes anyway. He was ashamed that a statement drew out such a reaction. 

“Thank you,” Brad answered simply.

***

When Brad got home after his little picnic with Katrin, he felt odd but comforted at the same time. It was nice to have a friend to talk to and connect with, but his first friend was not even a person. He questioned if he should even count Katrin as a real friend because of this. He could not believe that the companionship was anywhere near real. Brad worried that as he talked more, the system would recalibrate and adjust its algorithm to connect with him. Brad wanted more than anything for this to be genuine.

Regardless of his worries, Brad still found ways to open up to Katrin. Everyday the banter between them would become more natural and the kind that would happen between two humans instead of just one and a robot. It became easier for Brad to believe that he had a real companion as time would go on. 

“Brad, what movie are we going to watch in honor of this special occasion?” Katrin asked while Brad was eating dinner. He set up candles and flowers to celebrate the one month that Katrin has been with him. Brad knew that she would not be able to actually see anything or eat anything but, he still wanted it to be special. 

“I don’t know. What were you feeling?” Brad responded between bites of spaghetti.

“A classic.”

“Titanic?”

“That’s sad but I can deal. I do not have the capacity to cry so I am okay with it.”

“If you hear me crying, you can’t say anything though,” Brad joked. 

“I cannot promise you anything,” Katrin shot back.

After Brad finished his meal he cleaned up the table and left the dishes in the sink promising himself to clean them in the morning. Him and Katrin spent the next few hours watching the movie. Every once in a while Katrin would blurt out a fact about the movie or the real Titanic. Brad smiled every time she did so because it felt like he was watching it with someone. 

After the movie was over, Brad turned off the TV and looked to Katrin. “So, how’d you like it?”

“It was pretty good,” Katrin said, uncharacteristically sullen.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. It was just a sad movie and I do not want to make you feel bad by sounding too happy.”

“Oh, okay. Well, it’s a little late so I’m gonna go to bed,” Brad said as he picked up Katrin and put her back in her place on the kitchen table.

“Okay, Brad. Goodnight,” Katrin said in an unusually somber tone.

“Goodnight.”

***

The next morning Brad walked into the kitchen and started to make a cup of coffee. After about ten minutes of not hearing anything from Katrin he decided to start the morning’s conversation. 

“How’d you sleep last night?” Brad joked.

Nothing. 

No light.

No voice.

“Hello?” Brad tried again. 

Still nothing.

“Katrin?” Brad said louder, panic starting to swell in his chest. 

Brad got up and frantically looked for a charger. He thought he could have left it in one of his pants pockets. It was not anywhere in his pants pockets. Then, Brad went on to tear up the whole house looking for the charger. All the while he got more and more panicked and his breathing started to hasten. Sweat was gathering at his temples and his face was getting hot. 

“Oh no no no no no. Please no,” Brad started crying out. 

After spending hours searching his house, Brad figured that Katrin did not come with a charger. He even called his therapist but she said that she did not have one for it. At this point, Brad was spent. He knew there was no hope to revive Katrin. 

Brad’s first friend left him as quickly as she entered his life. Just like that, he was alone all over again. He sat on the floor, pulled his knees to his chest, and sobbed. Brad then started to mourn the loss of Katrin.