Project Ultron

One.exe

The gates opened before me. Lieutenant Clemens didn't spare me a glance while he walked me out, but he tsked his tongue from time to time to show his disapproval. Juvie for a teenage girl was horrible. No one expects a good person to end up in there, so they assumed I had done something unspeakable. I had been under a microscope for the last months. I was done being monitored and judged. 

I knew Clemens thought I hadn't changed, that I didn't deserve my freedom back. And he might have been right about that, but the law didn't back him up. I had already done my days. I had only gotten in trouble once or twice while I was in there —not lately, and not on purpose the rest of the time. I had kept a low profile and, apart from a couple of fights that I had not won, I had kept quiet. Now the outside world was waiting for me once again. 

"I'll see you soon, Atwood," he said at the door. From then on, I was on my own. He was sure I'd be back, but I had no intention of proving him right. I ignored him and walked towards the tired-looking woman that waited for me next to a dark blue car: Leslie.

She had her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes narrowed at me. I wasn't sure if it was to protect them from the sun or because she was not happy with me. She'd had a haircut since I last saw her; she now wore it short. It was a mom-cut; it looked like waterfalls on the front and knives on the back. It suited her.

She drilled me with her eyes. To be fair, I didn't look good. I was wearing the same clothes that I had when I went in, and I only carried a plastic bag with a couple of belongings that I had gotten back: my wallet, phone, and keys. I was thinner now and my clothes had wrinkles all over. It was like they had shoved them in a drawer somewhere and forgotten. At least they didn't smell, but my denim jacket and black jeans looked wrecked. My white sneakers and my dark orange wool jumper were intact, though.

She just shook her head and got into the car. No words were exchanged. That told me I was in for a lecture. I had gotten to the point where I could completely ignore whatever came out of Leslie's mouth during those, but I still hated them. I got into the passenger's seat and looked out the window, not ready to have any conversation whatsoever.

She started the engine and drove away from the building that had housed me these pasts months. From time to time I checked on her. The rays of light that came through made her chestnut hair and honey eyes shine. She kept tapping the steering wheel with one finger, I guess trying to figure out how to approach any kind of exchange with me.

"How was juvie?" she asked.

I looked at her. The direct way was as good as any other. She didn't need to be careful with her words nor care for my feelings too much. She wasn't my mother; she was just my guardian. I was just additional work for her.

"Great," I replied dryly.

She tried not to take her eyes away from the road.

"That guy didn't seem happy with you," she pointed out, referring to Lieutenant Clemens.

"Yeah, he's a jerk," I responded.

"Did you learn anything?" she asked. She was fishing.

"There was nothing to learn," I stated.

"Are you still going with that version, Kira?"

She kept darting her eyes between me and the road but I had decided to completely avoid her and look out the window. The trees passed by us rapidly. They created a blur of brown and green that I hadn't seen in a while.

"It's the truth," I whispered, as I had done millions of times.

Leslie Harrington had been a good friend of mine while I was being bounced around the System. I would get moved from house to house around the state of New York every couple of months. She had been my only constant, just a System employee who had taken a special interest in me. She would visit me from time to time and just care about me. Two years ago, she decided to become my legal guardian and somehow, instead of us getting closer, it pushed us apart. She had become annoying and I had become unruly, according to her.