The Scarlet Sweater

1. Our Story Begins

Jeni was wearing a Scarlet Sweater that marked her shame. The people of Louisville High School saw her sweater and laughed. They knew she had done something terrible to deserve such a punishment! So, after exiting Mr. Schwartz's office, she stood on a lunch table and took in her public shame. She smiled about it though, with a child clinging to her chest. She beamed, as though she were proud about committing such an awful grievance.

As she stood there, Mrs. Baker walked up and frowned... "How could you?" she whispered.

Children of all ages passed her, laughing and pointing. Slowly, her smile turned to a frown. She wasn't enjoying it anymore.

The baby she held looked up at her and said in a deceivingly low voice, "I hope you're happy. Not many people would be so proud of committing... PLAGIARISM." A shriek came from the gathering crowd - the utterance of such a foul word had shocked Mr. Schwartz. Jeni was pushed from the table and sent to... In school detention.

Whilst in detention, Mr. Schwartz menacingly loomed over Jeni, casting an evil shadow upon her body. Her child was looking into the distance, as if the dialogue of before had never occurred. "Wouldst thou like to elaborate upon thou's sinful deed?" he asked.

"Why are you talking like William Shakespeare?" she asked.

"Because... I think it makes the situation seem all the more serious." Mr. Schwartz replied. They sat there in uncomfortable silence for the next fifteen minutes before Jeni laughed maniacally, kicked over Mr. Schwartz's desk, and ran from the room (the infant still clutching her chest). Unfortunately, Mr. Bausch was waiting for her - he caught her and returned her to detention. She decided to accept her punishment in humble silence... NOT.

At the conclusion of her detention she decided to move into the locker furthest and most secluded from all other people. As she watched the child grow, playing in the bottom of her locker, Jeni became concerned that the baby was... A pirate-er of movies.

One day, as the two of them sat on the ramp she asked the child, "What ARE you?"

The little one laughed and said (in her LOW voice),  "Ha, MAWM! You know what I is. I is yo' little baby child. I be laughin' and playin'." Jeni, her brow furrowed, exclaimed, "YOU ARE NO CHILD OF MINE! YOU STEAL THINGS... FROM THE INTERNET!"

With a smirk, the baby looked up at her and said, "So do you, Mother. So do you."

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO..." Jeni screamed!

“Please, ma,” the child exclaimed. “I is not one of yo slaves. I know you was returned to detention fo’ leavin’. That’s like da slaves from the Reconstru’tion eera.”

Jeni turned her child away from her, slipped off the shirt, and yanked the back compartment off. The batteries clattered to the floor, forlorn. Jeni wiped her hands on her blouse and continued along with her way.

Upon discarding the batteries, Jeni dropped the robot baby in the garbage can. Upon hitting the bottom of the can, the baby let out a garbled whine (which was weird because the batteries were gone, but oh well). The noise scared Jeni so she ran off to her secluded locker. Taking deep breaths to calm herself, Jeni grabbed the books she needed for her next class. She didn’t grab her laptop, though. It was taken away as punishment for her… cheating. While walking to American Lit. where they were reading The Scarlet Letter, Jeni thought about how different her situation was from Hester’s - yet there were uncanny similarities as well…...but she couldn’t think about this now. She’d think about it tomorrow.

After all, Jeni thought, Tomorrow is another day! She averted her attention to her path, where she found she had stepped into a dark and mysterious alleyway that smelled of dank urination and rotting flesh. She flipped around on her heel and saw the battery-less child, lying at the entryway. She wondered how this lifeless piece of plastic and artificial intelligence could’ve ended up there. Without thinking, she ran past the body and back to her house, where the PLAGIARISM had occurred.