American Ink

It was twenty fifty, and humanity had to adapt quickly to the radiation that was everywhere by building radiation resistant walls and tunnels that connected cities together. Cities became giant mazes that took hours to navigate, but it was better then being microwaved alive.

In addition to taking longer, the other downside to the tunnel system was you didn’t want to be stuck in a tunnel during rush hour when they occasionally leaked.

Justin was giving someone a tour of his art gallery, American Ink, when Jenny walked in.

Jenny, Justin’s girlfriend, came in wearing a pretty yellow shawl on her head. It matched her bright yellow dress, blonde hair and golden eyes.

It had been a solid two months of dating. This meant Jenny was due to break up with Justin again.

I always wondered what he saw in her. His assistant, Talia, clearly had a crush on Justin and seemed like a much better match.

Jenny whispered something to Justin.

“What? Again? Why, Jenny?” Justin shouted.

“It’s time. I’m bored. Go help your customer,” Jenny said coldly, then turned and exited to the tunnels.

Justin punched a hole in one of his paintings. His customer was gawking at him.

Justin took a deep breath, turned to his customer and very calmly said, “sorry about that, sir. Which painting did you want, again?”

“Well, I wanted that one. But now there’s a giant hole in it,” he replied.

“I apologize. Is there anything else in the gallery you’d like to look at?” Justin asked.

“I think I’ll come back another time,” the man said. He walked out into the tunnels.

Talia grabbed the helmet piece of a bright yellow hazmat suit that everyone was required to carry in case of a radiation leak. There was a brief period where people protested the new law requiring people to wear them, just like they protested Covid laws three decades prior, but those idiots all died in the last radiation leak. The only people left were the people smart enough to listen to the law and protect themselves.

Talia went up to Justin, put her hands on her hazmat helmet, and in a mocking voice said, “look at me, I’m Jenny. I’m a spoiled, demanding bitch who always gets my way then dumps my boyfriend for no reason, again and again, after he’s spent hundreds of thousand of dollars on me. Ooh la la, I’m so special.”

In a rage, Justin ripped the hazmat helmet off of Talia’s head and threw it on the ground.

“I’ve told you to stop doing that. Don’t mock Jenny. You know how I feel about that,” Justin said.

“But why? She literally just broke up with you. And this isn’t even the first time,” Talia said.

“Because I love her,” Justin whispered and wandered into his office. Justin had very loudly locked the office doors.

His loud cries could still be heard throughout the gallery.

“I don’t understand why he loves her so much, Jeff,” Talia said to me.

“Love is an emotion I am unfamiliar with as well,” I said.

“No, I get love. I just don’t get why he loves her specifically,” Talia said.

I stared blankly at her.

“I do not have an answer,” I said.

“Never mind. You wouldn’t understand. Your kind never does,” Talia said and walked away. A bell rang as another customer walked into the gallery.

Justin didn’t come out of his office. Talia gave the customer a tour.

“Is everything alright? I think someone’s crying in there,” the customer said and pointed to the room.

“Yah, he’ll be fine. He just got dumped… again,” Talia said.

****

Two weeks had passed and Jenny came waltzing into the store like nothing had happened.

“Do you know where Justin is?” Jenny asked me, still wearing her yellow shawl and dress. She was also wearing a dark pair of sunglasses.

“Don’t tell her,” Talia shouted.

“I will retrieve him,” I said and knocked on his door.

“Bitch,” Talia mumbled.

“Justin, you have a visitor,” I said and knocked on the office doors.

Justin opened the doors, saw Jenny and walked over to give her a hug.

“I made a mistake. I want to get back together,” Jenny said.

Talia overheard this and rolled her eyes. Then she stuck her fingers in her mouth and made a barfing motion.

“Why are you wearing those sunglasses?” Justin asked and reached to take them off. Jenny tried to push his hand away but couldn’t.

“Jenny, your eye… what happened? Who did this to you?” Justin asked of the dark black shiner on her eye.

“It’s fine. I’ll be fine. I just owe some money to some people, but I’ll be fine,” Jenny said.

“No, this is not fine. I don’t care how much money you owe, this is not ok. Marry me,” Justin said.

“What?” Jenny and Talia said at the same time.

“Marry me and I’ll pay the money you owe. You’ll never have to worry about anything again,” Justin said.

Jenny took a moment to speak, a smile slowly forming on her face.

“Yes! Absolutely yes. I love you so much,” Jenny said.

Talia’s face turned bright red. She ran over to Jenny and ripped the yellow shawl off of her head.

“Talia, what the hell?” Justin said as Jenny turned around to face her.

“Can’t you see this little bitch is just using you for your money? The second you pay off her debts, she’ll leave you again,” Talia said.

“You don’t know that,” Justin shouted.

“Don’t be stupid, Justin. Get your head out of your ass and stop thinking with your penis. I do know that,” Talia shouted. The only customer in the store had heard the shouting and walked out.

“Why don’t you mind your own business. Your shouting just cost Justin a customer,” Jenny said to Talia.

“Oh, I’m going to kill you right now, bitch!” Talia shouted and grabbed Jenny by the neck.

“Get… off… me…” Jenny choked out.

“I love Justin and he should be with me, not you. You’re just a using, manipulative slut using your legs to get Justin’s money,” Talia shouted as she was strangling Jenny.

Justin knocked Talia off of Jenny.

“I’m sorry, Talia. I don’t feel the same way about you. And I can speak for myself. I’m going to have to let you go,” Justin said coldly.

“After everything I did for you, you’re still going to fire me? You son of a bitch!” Talia shouted and ran at Justin, fist in the air.

Justin pushed Talia to the floor. She began to get up but to Jenny’s delight, Justin put his foot on Talia’s neck started choking her.

“You shouldn’t have disrespected Jenny,” Justin said and spit on her.

I would have stopped Justin, but I was his personal Android, programmed to obey him.

All I could do was watch until Justin gave me a new order.

“Jeff, call the police. When they get here, verify that Talia attacked Jenny and I, and that this was self defense,” Justin said.

“As you command,” I said. Jenny’s smile was now glowing.

I would tell the police what really happened, if I could ever find a way to remove my obedience chip without activating the safety shut off protocols.