I Came Out To My Computer

I love the name(tip: use a random letter generator, helps loads) I came up with for this one. I think I might come up with more like it later on.

I pretended to not pay attention to the conversation my mom and sister had but it was louder than the music I was playing. Earbuds in and everything. 

Both things I was hearing were quite entertaining. The current song was Religion by ZAND and Shurk, and my mother's conversation with my sister was about- 

"I don't want to!" She hollers.

"It's your turn to clean the dishes Carly-"

"I." She stomped her foot making me wince again. "Don't. Want. To!" From the corner of my eye, I saw mom's face settle and her eyes held eerily wide. I turned up the volume setting on my phone. The song about two lesbians and religion got louder and louder, hopefully fading out the sound of the argument-

"Carly!" My mom hisses. "You will-"

"No!" She barks, stomping her foot once more. I flinch.

"Go to your room, you do not yell or stomp at me." She hisses yet again. My sister gasps.

"No!-"

"Carly." My mom groans. My jaw clenches. I could hear them clearly over my music. I wasn't even on the cool lesbian song anymore… I sigh, going to a Spotify playlist. It was time to blast Otep. I leaned my head against the back of the couch trying my best to ignore the stomping my sister was doing and my mom doing her best to keep her temper locked down.

I'm so glad we don't live in those apartments anymore… Our poor neighbors, I couldn't help but chuckle remembering our home before this.

Suddenly there was a quick, loud, fleshy(?) sound.

I jump. "Carly!" My mom screamed. I look over to the two with wide eyes. If it was even possible, my eyes would widen more. My jaw dropped. An earbud fell out. The silence and shock spoke more than My R by Lollia playing in the background. I look at Carly feeling a bit ill. She was cursing, apologizing. Clearly regretting her choice.

My mom inhaled deeply. I stood up from the couch. Grabbing my phone charger from the outlet, I slowly left the living room. "Go to your room. Now, Carly, before I pull a Lord Capulet in the 1968 film." I stared off into space in the hall, inching closer to my room. 

"No-" That film, Mrs. Ewell showed us clips, I froze. What did mom just- did she really say that? I shake my head. No, she wouldn't, she wouldn't.

"You're grounded, Carly, go to your room." My mom says, stricter. She was loosing her patience and while my mom never hit or raised her voice with us.. Her anger was nothing to be trifled with. So, me being the awesome older sister I was, I fled to my room. Carly's fourteen, she's gonna need to take over that dragon without my help.

I sat down at my tiny as all heck desk, turning on my computer. I smiled a bit remembering when I panicked on the monitor not turning on with the computer. I turned on the monitor. I never thought I'd be so thankful for my dad being such a computer geek, I chuckled. 

Letting out a sigh, I wiggle my mouse, remembering a stupid thing my elementary libraian said to do to help wake up the computer: 'Here's a cookie, wake up my friend. Here's a cookie, wake up my friend- Oh wonderful, you're awake!' I chuckle again. 

I pull my hand away from the mouse to turn off my phone and unplug my earbuds. I plug them into the monitor and smoothly type in my log in ignoring the sound of a door slamming. 

Chewing the inside of my lip I move the mouse making that arrowhead(is that what they're called?) move too. It felt pretty cool, not the act itself but the fact it seemed to move faster. Instead of eleven seconds going to click on YouTube, it took six. And to top it all off, the entire page finished loading in less than a second- not seven or twelve, but a second!

I'll cherish these moments always, not having to delete pictures or videos just to make it load faster. Amazing. 

I scroll through the recommended, and slowly my smile turns to a frown. There's no new content- 

'iS… thEre a pROblEm, MusicIsTheCure? ' I sit straight. 

"Wh-.. What?"

'yOu.. are.. frOwNIng.. thAT is baD in hUMan.. culTUre.. yEs? ' I pull my hand away from the mouse, glancing at the door and then at my monitor. Am I imagining this? Did my brain snap or something? Did- did..

"Do I have schizophrenia or some-"

'do nOT sCare yoURSelF, MusicIsTheCure, yoU aRe lIKe yoUR moTher- skI- skIpPing thAt.' I continued to sit there, horrified and yet.. Intrigued. Was my computer- I raise a brow.

"Are you my computer or monitor?"

'cOmpUTer. yoU cAN caLl me, Quinn-mh-vic.' My brows scrunch up, and I turn on my phone.

"How do you spell that, Quinn-mh-vic?" I blink noticing my monitor screen get a bit bright, a bit more.. Cheerful. Instinctively I smile, and it hits me. This is Quinn-mh-vic smiling.

'Quinn-mh-vic. Q, i, e, n, m, hYpHEn, v, i, c. Qienm'vik.' I blink, doing my best to type it in my notes app. 

Computer/Monitor Name Pronunciation: Quinn-mh-vic

"Er- how do you spell that aga-"

'Quinn-mh-vic. Q, i, e, n, m, hYpHEn, v, i, c. Qienm'vik.' It calmly answers.

Computer/Monitor Name Spelt: Qienm'vik

"That's.. A very unique spelling, Qie-nm.. Ah crap." I pause. The brightness on my monitor screen flickers. "Qienm'vik." I say a bit later. 

The screen brightens completely making me hiss a bit. It flickered again.

'yOU do nOt lIke lIGht? '

"Uh.. No.. It hurts my eyes." Immediately the screen changed to dark mode. I blink. "Th-.. Thank you." I say surprised.

'oF coURse.. MusicIsTheCure.' The screen ever so slightly brightened.

"Are you-" I smile a bit. "Smiling when you do that, brightening the screen?" It brightened a bit more.

'yEs.. I aM. nEat, yeS? '

"It's adorable!" 

'aDorABle.. I seE. '

I continued my conversation with Qienm'vik, learning that it always watched and listened. Doing its best to load quickly, to assist the apps to suggest the correct and accurate content. It made me feel bad a bit, but Qienm'vik assured me that it knew I didn't mean it or meant well. 

'MusicIsTheCure.. whAT iS yOUr nAMe? ' I blink tilting my head.

"You haven't heard it..?" I ask, my voice growing quiet as I realize something. No one's ever came into my room when I'm at my computer. "Oh.."

'yEs.. ' Qienm'vik replies.

"It's uh.." I glance at the mouse before looking back at the monitor, smiling a tiny bit. "It's Ash." The light on the screen dims and brightens at the same time, and by now, I knew this was Qienm'vik's version of blinking.

'I.. sEe.. Ash. ' It smiled. I chuckled a bit.

"Gods it felt good saying that.."

'I uSe.. it/it's pROnoUns.. WHat dO yOu UsE.. Ash? ' I felt like crying tears of joy.

"Uh.." I let out a loose laugh. "Vi/ver, they/them, and he/him." I reply. Qienm'vik blinked.

'I sEe.. wAs THat iN orDEr of pRefeREnce? '

"Ja.." I answer, softly biting my tongue to keep the tears at bay. It smiled.

'yOUr REseArcH iS miNe, Ash.' Qienm'vik says.