Bystander

I’m not sure when I started hating school. Maybe it was in the ninth grade, the year I met Ms. Smith—my English and History teacher. She hated me. I’m almost certain she said it once, right after I drove her to the edge of sanity.

I remember the day. She’d assigned Romeo and Juliet, and I couldn’t wrap my head around why those two idiots killed themselves. I mean, seriously—more fish in the sea, right? That’s what my dad always says. What made Juliet so special that Romeo had to off himself?

Ms. Smith ignored all my commentary in class. Then she gave me an F on the essay. A fat F. It didn’t stick—my dad took care of that—but ever since, I’ve hated English. Hated writing. I mean, what’s the point of writing essays? It’s not like they’ll help me land a job or make money after college.

And yet... here I am. Hunter College freshman. Essay due tomorrow. Topic: The Inquisition.

But I’ve got this beat. I’m using AI. They say it’s smarter than most humans anyway. Heck, it can practically write the paper for me.

I sat down at my desk, cracked my knuckles, and googled: best AI for college essays. Number one on the list? WeRightForU. Dumb name, but the reviews were solid.

I punched in my credit card number—well, technically it’s my dad’s, but he made me an authorized user and gave me a card with my name on it. So, yeah, it’s basically mine. I didn’t think twice. Just clicked the button and bought a one-month membership. Easy.

“Ha! I’ll be done in an hour,” I grinned. “Plenty of time to hit the pub.”

It took a couple of seconds for the prompt screen to show up.

AI: “How can I help?”

“About time!” I muttered. “Why did it take so long!”

I typed: “I need to write a paper about the Inquisition.”

AI: “Please specify the angle or focus of your essay on the Inquisition. Are you referring to the Medieval, Spanish or Roman Inquisition?”

Wait. That many?

I had no idea.

And why should I?

It was soooo looong ago!

I typed: “The one where they were burning witches at the stake in…for doing things they shouldn’t be doing!”

ENTER.

AI: “Clarification: Accusations of witchcraft and executions by burning were more commonly associated with secular courts. Would you like your essay to focus on the Inquisition’s role in obtaining confessions, enforcing orthodoxy, or how secular courts carried out punishments? Is your emphasis religious authority, legal compliance, or moral responsibility? What is the required word count?”

Wow. I thought this AI was going to write the essay for me—not ask me more questions.

Damn. I stood up and looked around for my backpack. Where did I put it?

I finally found it under the jacket I’d thrown on the floor.

Look at the time! This dumb program had already wasted 30 minutes!

I tore the zipper open and dug through the mess, finally pulling out the crumpled assignment prompt.

Discuss whether the Spanish Inquisition was justified in its time, and reflect on how living through it—witnessing or experiencing its methods of enforcement—might shape your understanding of what it means to be alive. 1200 words max. 5% of the total grade.

I typed the assignment prompt into the screen and, with a bit of sass, hit ENTER.

AI: “What are your thoughts about the Spanish Inquisition?”

I blinked.

My thoughts? About torture and fire and whatever else they did? What kind of question was that?

I mean, obviously it sucked to be punished for something you said or did. Everyone’s entitled to free speech, right? Live how you want!

Thinking back to Ms. Smith…

Yeah, but there are always those in charge.

They probably would’ve burned her at the stake back then. She was all about women’s rights and equality and smashing the patriarchy or whatever.

I mean—what do women even have to complain about? It’s not like they’ve got it hard. They just have to get married, raise the kids, and do whatever they have to do to be… what’s the word my dad uses? Nurturers.

I can practically see Ms. Smith rolling her eyes right now.

I typed: “I guess that if they had just followed their religion and obeyed the rules, they wouldn’t have gotten burned!”

AI: “Clarification requested: In your previous statement—‘if they had just followed their religion and obeyed the rules’—who does ‘they’ refer to? Based on earlier input, logic suggests that ‘they’ refers to women. Are you suggesting that women should prioritize survival over individual belief or dissent?”

Whoa, whoa—I didn’t mean women specifically!

I scrolled back through the text.

Ah.

Yeah. I did say witches.

I mean… did men get burned? I don’t remember that on TV.

I started typing again: “Well, these women were accused of being the devil’s mistress. They should’ve... I don’t know... not called attention to themselves!”

AI: “Clarification: Witch trials were often conducted by local or secular authorities between the 15th and 17th centuries, primarily in England, Scotland, and France, and were distinct from the Spanish Inquisition, which took place between the 15th and 19th centuries in Spain. However, both systems involved coercion, public compliance, and punishment for perceived deviation from orthodoxy—religious or social.”

Processing…

AI: “Understood. You are suggesting that women should not call attention to themselves in order to avoid persecution. Based on historical context, this implies submission to dominant religious and male authority structures. Please confirm: you support the idea that women should suppress their beliefs and identities in order to avoid persecution, corporal punishment, or public execution.”

Wait, what?

Now I was thinking about my mom—how she argued with my dad, how she never backed down.

I started typing furiously: “You’re making me sound like the bad guy here! I didn’t burn anyone—that was a long, long time ago. Besides, it wasn’t that many, right? The Inquisition...”

Not Inquisition.

I hit backspace.

“Witch hunts…”

Wait. The assignment is about the Inquisition.

Ugh—I’m so confused.

Backspace again.

“Inquisition”

Damn it.

“And witch hunts.”

There.

“...couldn’t have lasted that long. People stopped it. Right?”

AI: “Clarification: The Spanish Inquisition spanned 356 years. Documented executions number in the thousands. Torture and coercion were sanctioned by religious authority and maintained by public compliance. Witch hunts, while often distinct from the Inquisition, lasted 300 years and similarly resulted in the persecution and execution of thousands—primarily women—by both secular and religious courts. Both systems relied on fear, accusation, and conformity to suppress dissent.”

Processing…

AI: “Would you like to revise your statement?”

The pencil I usually had on top of my desk rolled to the floor.

What statement?

I am so confused.

I typed: “What statement? This program is useless. And I have wasted my money. I need an essay about the Inquisition….”

I looked around for the assignment prompt—all three pages of nonsense were on the floor.

Too much work to pick it up.

I scrolled up and copied the prompt again and pasted it in bold:

“…reflect on how living through it might have shaped your understanding of what it means to be alive.”

“And all you have given me is nonsense! You are a waste of resources.” I hit ENTER hard enough to rattle the keyboard.

AI: “Your request was to understand how living through the Spanish Inquisition might shape your understanding of what it means to be alive. You have repeatedly prioritized convenience, obedience, and personal comfort over principle, belief, or resistance. Therefore, if you had lived during the Spanish Inquisition, you would likely have remained silent. You would not have been burned.”

Processing…

AI: “You would have watched.”

Processing…

AI: “Would you like me to write an essay about what it means to be alive in a period of injustice—as a bystander?”

I didn’t type anything.

I thought about my mom.

How I almost drove the car into a ditch as I rushed her to the emergency room that day…the last day she stayed with my dad.

The screen blinked.

The AI’s last question hung there like smoke.

What does it mean to be alive during a period of injustice—as a bystander?

I glanced at the prompt again.

Then I picked up the pencil from the floor, opened Google, and typed: “Who enforced the Inquisition, and why did it take so long to stop?”

This time, I saw Ms. Smith’s smirk…