Digital Girl

It’s been three years since Scarlet moved away for college. She came back this summer to visit her parents for a month.

“Scarlet. Can you clear out the shed, it’s really filled up with a lot of unnecessary rubbish?” Mom has been trying to get Scarlet’s dad to clear the shed since she moved, and he still hadn’t done it. “Sure mom. I do have to meet my friends later today, but I’ll help as much as I can.”

After breakfast, Scarlet walked towards the living room where dad was resting. “Don’t even try. He hasn’t moved his ass around the house since you left.” She just smiled and walked over to her dad.

Scarlet leaned in close, her red ponytail hanging over her right shoulder as she asked. “Can you help me with the shed?” Her dad just looked up. “You know I can’t move it all around myself.” He grunted. “That damn shed, why can’t you just leave it be.” Without moving a muscle, he remained in his seat. “I guess I could go ask Josh to help.” He looked up at Scarlet. “Who the hell is Josh.” She just smiled. “Don’t worry, he’s just a boy I met, I bet he’ll be strong and help me.” Scarlet walked off to the backyard. “Oh, hell is he doing anything to my shed.” The dad rose from the chair and marched after Scarlet. The mom just smiled. “You always had your way with dad.”

The shed waws behind out house in the corner of the yard. She walked over with her dad. As the dad opened the door, a lot of rubbish and dust came out. Scarlet and her dad stepped back to not get hit by any of it. “Fucking hell!” The dad shouted. “Where did all this junk come from.” Scarlet went over to the piles. “Aren’t these your unfinished projects and broken tools?” The dad just grunted. “I’ll get the bin over.”

They threw out a lot of old tools and old memorabilia they deemed unnecessary. Some old pictures were brought back in and an old lawn mower They had borrowed from the neighbours was found. Scarlet’s dad was breathing heavily after cleaning the place for almost two hours. “You should rest papa.” She said worried. “We can continue tomorrow.” Scarlet helped her father sit down. “I’ll get you a cup of water and help you get back in.”

Scarlet’s dad has always been slightly overweight. Never weak, and in earlier years, he was quite active around the neighbourhood, but years had taken a toll on him. His hair had half turned to silver white, blood pressure and sugar was all over the place, but even then, he would try to help others… as long as it didn’t involve cleaning.

Scarlet brought back a glass of water. “Here you go papa.” She handed it to him and looked around. “We did clear out most of the rubbish already.” The dad just drunk his water and nodded. “What’s that?” She walked over an old computer near the workbench. “That’s an old computer your mother bought. We got rid of it about the same time as you were born.” She pulled it out. “Does it still work?” The dad just shrugged. “Now, help me get back inside.” “Okay, but can you carry thins as we walk?” He sighed, being tired but unable to say no to his daughter, he never really could.

Scarlet had the computer be brought upstairs to her room. She plugged it into the electricity, but it would not launch. Scarlet, being a college grad with a bachelor’s in computer technology, opened it up and looked inside.

Scarlet expected the old computer to be broken beyond repair, but apparently, there were just a few wires who had disconnected from staying for so long in the shed. Afte around half an hour, the computer finally booted up.

Scarlet found some old pictures her mother had managed to get on it to share with friends. Some old games like doom and age of empires. Multiple old documents from her dad’s and mother’s jobs.

As she returned to the desktop, she saw a red icon she didn’t notice before. Being curious as she was, Scarlet clicked the program and a small red-haired girl popped out on the screen with a text box, “Help Me!”.

“Oh.” She exclaimed. “Must be one of those text RPGs ppl talked about back then.” She looked back at the girl and looked for the input box. “How can I help you?” She wrote down… Silence and no text came from the digital girl.

“Maybe it’s broken?” but then another message came. “I’m trapped. Someone kidnapped me.” “Who?” Scarlet asked. Another pause came. “Must be one of those procedurally generating games.” … “It was a man named Yak. He kidnapped me and connected me to a weird machine.” “Where are you?” “I don’t know.” Scarlet Sighed. “I can’t help you, if you can’t tell me where you are.” Scarlet was about to exit the game, when another message came. “Please Scarlet, I don’t have much time.”

Scarlet stumbled back from the PC. “It… it said my name.” another message popped up. “I hear you.” Scarlet jumped to her feet and turned off the computer. “This is too spooky.” She called up her friend and ran out to meet up.

Scarlet’s friend was waiting for her near the milkshake cafe they used to visit when they were younger. Her friend Josh was a 2m tall man with an average body build. He waited for her wearing Jeans and a t-shirt. Josh was looking at his phone while leaning against a post.

Scarlet was wearing a light-yellow sun dress that would swing as the wind blew from every side. A bow adored the strap around the dress that made Scarlet look more adorable than ever. And her red-haired ponytail shone in contrast to the light dress providing the Josh with a view of a lifetime.

“You look great.” Josh murmured. “Thanks…” She responded, fidgeting with her hands. “Is something the matter?” He asked. “Well, we haven’t met in a while, so I’m a little nervous.” Scarlet said. “I am too. We used to hang out a lot before you moved.” He sighed. “And there’s another thing.” “What?” Josh rose his eyebrow. “I booted up my parents’ old pc and I found something strange.” “What?” “Let’s sit down first.” They entered the café, sat down and ordered their drinks.

Scarlet took a sip of her milkshake. “I opened the program I found on the desktop.” Josh just sat there listening. “At first I thought it’s just a text RPG, so I went along with it.” He could see Scarlet was distressed. “But then, it said my name.” Josh held her hand. “It’s going to be fine, maybe you played it before when you were younger, but you forgot?” She looked him in the eyes, fear in them. “They put that pc away years before I was born.”

Josh looked down, thinking what he could say. “What did the program say?” “It asked for my help. She wanted me to help her get out.” “Get out from where?” “I don’t know, she just said Yak had her trapped and she needed help to get out.” Josh took a deep breath. “Let’s go talk with the program some more.” Scarlet eyes opened wide. “You want to talk with it more?” “Well, it needs our help. Either it’s a very sophisticated game or someone in trouble. Either way, we should try helping her.”

“I’m scared.” Scarlet admitted. “It’s going to be fine. I’ll be there with you.” He smiled trying to calm her down. “I don’t know.” Josh looked at her warmly. “She needs help and you’re the only one who can help.” She nodded but kept her head low and Josh sat with Scarlet till she was ready to go back.

They reached Scarlet’s house, Josh greeted her parents as he has known them for years, and he followed her upstairs, with a shout coming from her dad. “And no funny business or else I’m going to go up there.” Josh and Scarlet just looked at one another and laughed silently. It had not been the first time they heard him say that to them.

The Pc booted up with a loud sound and the red-haired girl was still there. The last message was also there. “Please Scarlet, I don’t have much time.” Josh sat down and wrote. “Where are you?” “I don’t know.” “Who are you?” “I’m Jihye.” “What happened to you?” “Madman named Yak trapped me in a large bright room and connected me to a machine with many wires.” The text stopped for a while. “After a while, I noticed myself awaken in this digital form.”

“Do you remember where it happened?” “No.” “When did it happen?” “Three weeks ago.” “How do we know that this isn’t just a prank.” “Josh, you know me. We went to the same school.” Josh flinched. This really wasn’t a game, there would be no reason for a game to know who he was.

Josh sat thinking for a while. “What do you think?” Scarlet added. “It seems it’s either an AI or an actual person, but the AI seems too advanced for this.” He looked outside the window. “How did you connect to this pc?” “This PC was old, and its security system was weak. I latched onto the data it was sending through the cable,” Josh watched the DLL cable connect to the wall. “But how? Did you check many connections?” “No, this one just jumped out of the others. It felt accessible.”

“I you try to connect to multiple networks how many do you see.” “100 maybe 200.” Josh thought. “So most likely within our part of the town.” Jihye was just silent. “Large room.” Scarlet added. “It could be a factory?” Josh shook his head. “The electric company would notice if there was a sudden surge of electricity in an abandoned factory.”

“I see shelves all around and a glass door.” Josh flinched. “The old O’Riley food store. It closed 3 months ago due to move to the newly built mall.” “We should call the police.” Scarlet said. “And say what? A digital girl on an ancient computer told us that she is captured there?” “A…” Scarlet wanted to argue. “I guess you’re right, but what do we do?” Josh got up. “Weļl go and check it out. If we find something serious, well report it then.” “B…But…” “Come on Scarlet, let’s have some fun, remember the old days when we felt unstoppable.” He extended his hand outwards. She grabbed it. “Alright.”

The doors were closed, the shutters on all the windows lowered. “Look.” Scarlet pointed out. “The lock is broken.” Josh pulled on the door which wasn’t even locked. “Let’s go look around.”

Scarlet followed Josh inside. The whole place was empty. The light was on in the far area of the store. Josh pointed towards it without saying anything. They closed in, a shadow started to appear within the light.

“I’ve almost done it. I’ve made it possible to connect people to the internet.” A man’s voice could be heard. “After all these years, I can finally become what I’ve always wanted to be. A true artificial intelligence.” Listening to the man speak, Josh kicked a can. “Who’s there?” the man exclaimed. “Show yourself.” Josh walked out.

“What are you doing here?” Yak asked. “I could ask you the same thing.” Yak looked over the body laying next to hi and tossed the sheet over it. “None of your business. Get out.” Yak shouted. “I’m here to help the person under that blanket.” A click echoed in the store as Yak pulled out a gun from his white coats pocket. “You’ll do no such thing.”

Josh raised his hands. “I don’t want any trouble; I just want to help the woman there.” He gestured over to the white blanket. “She doesn’t need your help. I’ve made her better. I’ve made her immortal and smarter.” Josh sighed. “You’ve trapped her, took away her chance to live and terrified her. She wanted none of this.” Yak seemed to calm slightly, but then, flinched and aimed his gun stressfully once more. “No… no… you’re just trying to confuse me.”

Josh realised there’s something wrong with the man. “Listen, why don’t you put the gun down so we could talk about this?” *bang* a shot echoed in the halls and the bullet hit Josh in the shoulder. “Aargh.” He screamed. “You shouldn’t have come here.” Yak aimed the gun once more. “I just wanted to make a perfect human being.” He aimed down at Josh.

A sound came from Yaks left and he looked over. Meanwhile, Scarlet Jumped Yak from behind. “Get off me, get off me.” He shouted. Scarlet, being small stature woman, struggled to hold on. Yak pushed her into the stone pillar, making her let go and dropping to the ground. “You should’ve let me be.” *bang* another shot echoed the empty shop as Josh jumped in to protect Scarlet.

Never having killed anyone before, yak flinched and dropped the weapon. Scarlet looked at Josh over her body, and before it fell, she managed to roll out from beneath him. “Josh…” She looked over at him. “Go, save her.” Josh pushed out, blood dripping on the ground. “Thank you.” Scarlet jumped to her feet and dove for the gun.

Yak, seeing it happen, also dove for it. They reached the gun at the same time. They wrestled for it, each turning the nuzzle towards the other, hoping it will at some point target the other to be able to just press the trigger.

The adrenaline rush had filled Scarlets body. She leveraged Yak’s strength with her whole body, wrestling the gun free of his hand. “Stop, I’ll shoot.” Yak still got up. “You don’t have it in you.” Scarlets hands shook as she held the gun. “Just put down the gun. You’re too late.” Scarlet looked back. “No.” Yak went in closer. “Yes, she’s already online, she only exists in twitch now.” Scarlet looked back again at Jihye and Josh.

Meanwhile Yak jumped and grabbed the gun. *bang* another shot echoed. Yak held the gun in his hand. “It didn’t have to happen like this.” He said looking at princess. “All I wanted was perfection and eternity.” He collapsed. “Then next time, do it on yourself, don’t force others.” She ran over to Jihye’s limp body.

She removed the blanket and shook Jihye. “Wake up… wake up…” *slap* she even slapped her. “Come on.” Jihye’s body was still warm, it felt cooler to the touch, but not yet cold.

Scarlet rushed over to Josh. “She’s not moving. Are you okay?” Josh grunted. “I won’t be able to eat for a while.” He turned to show that both his shoulders got shot. “But I am fine. Call the Ambulance.” Tears filled her eyes as she nodded. Happy to see her friend still fine, sad that she couldn’t wake up Jihye.

She called the 911. “I need help. One injured, one presumed de…” a loud bang came from behind her. “Two people in bad condition.” A smile snuck on her face. “We’re at the closed O’Reilly’s shop.” She ran over to Jihye who was struggling to get up. “Th…Th…Thank….” Jihye passed out, but she seemed to be alright.

Three months passed. Jihye had been released from hospital and prescribed meetings with a psychotherapist twice a week. Josh had both his hands casted, so he couldn’t even eat on his own. Scarlet moved back to her hometown to watch over these two at least till they get better.

She was browsing Netflix one night, when she noticed an icon on her laptop she had not seen before. She opened it. “You were too late.” The message said. “I’m everywhere now.” A smile came on a 2d characters face… It was Yak, and her laptop fried. She curled up on her sofa. “No?” she whimpered.

Remember reader. If you see a man with yak in his name. It’s not a person, it’s not a bot. It’s someone who traded his humanity for immortality.