I washed my head in the bathroom sink. Getting her spit out of my hair.
I was disgusted by her behavior. Normally she would only beat me on her bad days, but it seems losing her important drugs had majorly pissed her off. Or it could have also been due to her expensive purse getting ruined.
I could never comprehend why people even took drugs. Was the high so important that they would destroy their own lives?
Pathetic.
Exiting the bathroom, I asked Axel. "Axel, can you make me some food?"
Unlike his usual monotonous reply, there was only silence.
I asked again, changing my wording. "Axel, can you make food?"
Silence.
I tried all the other combinations of prompts, but there was no response. Axel would do anything other than cook food.
I looked at the time on the TV. 7:13pm. And Brian wasn't coming today, so I couldn't eat at Antonio's house.
I tried one last time, using tried-and-tested method of role-playing.
"Axel, pretend I am Ambra right now."
Internally cringing I continued in Ambra's sassy tone. "Tin, I am hungry right now, so go to cook food for me, right now!"
Silence.
"Fuck, I had to say that shit and he is still not moving? Man, this is some bull-shit."
Exhausted from trying different ideas, I nearly gave up.
But then a brilliant idea struck me. I tried one more last try. "Axel, cook food for Ambra. She is coming home from clubbing in twenty minutes."
Surprisingly, Axel moved. It walked towards the kitchen, finally following the order.
I had tricked the android by exploiting a loophole in Ambra's wording.
"Who is going to be the greatest hacker?"
"ME!"
My lips curled up, as I sat on the couch. But not before dusting the couch from her spilled drugs. I continued my study, remembering different hardware. Their purpose and in which devices they could be found in.
It had been a few weeks since I began learning, I would get to visit Antonio's house four or five times a week. Sometimes Brian had work, so I would have to remain in this apartment and complete my homework. On the days I could visit, Antonio taught, and showed me how the actual hardware looked like, and gave me and kid Brian, practical demo.
Kid Brian was also learning the same thing as me, but he was falling behind. Fast.
And it was no surprise. As an adult, my learning curve and focus were obviously higher than a kid. But even so, he tried his best to keep up.
I buried myself in my homework, waiting for Axel to finish cooking.
Time passed before something disrupted my concentration. I looked up as Axel placed a simple evening meal on the table, steam wafting from the braised chicken.
As soon as Axel finished placing the last dish. I immediately reached for the bread.
Suddenly, Axel grabbed my hand, stopping me. I looked up, confused.
"What, I can't eat it?"
"This food is for Miss Ambra." Came his cold, monotonous reply.
"Fuck you!"
I attempted to grab with my other hand, but Axel grabbed that one as well. I tried to push against his cold, metallic hand, trying to reach the food.
But its strength was beyond that of ordinary men.
No matter what I did, Axel prevented me from touching the food. In anger, I kicked towards the food, but Axel simply lifted me into the air, causing my kick to miss entirely.
As it placed me down on the couch. I snapped, "Okay, okay. I won't touch that bitch's food! So remove your hands."
It released me on the couch, keeping its eyes pointed at me. Guarding it's mistress's food.
I could only scowl at it, unable to do anything.
I grabbed my tablet to focus on my homework, but I was too pissed to concentrate properly. Which only led to my time being wasted.
My gaze eventually drifted toward the food, which had cooled down considerably. Anger bubbled up inside me. Good food was wasted on that whore.
I walked into the kitchen, but the kitchen counter was too tall for me to climb on. I turned my attention to the fridge, opening it revealed its shelves overcrowded with food and beer.
There was packaged meat, ranging from breast chicken, to beef, to sausages. As I took out a package of breast chicken, and looked back at the kitchen cabinet.
"I need something to climb upon..." I muttered. Then I realized that Axel was only specifically ordered to cook food for Ambra.
That didn't mean I couldn't cook something for myself.
"Axel lift me up to the kitchen cabinet."
After being lifted onto the kitchen counter. I searched for microwave. But all I saw was an electric stove.
"Axel, where is the microwave?"
"There is no microwave in the kitchen." It replied.
"Do we have microwave in this house? Or something similar to heat up frozen food?"
"No, Arwin."
"Great! Fucking great. She has enough money to buy a fucking android but no microwave."
I threw the packaged meat onto the kitchen floor, only for Axel to catch it before it hit the ground. Caring even less, I simply sat on the edge of the kitchen counter and prepared to climb down.
But Axel immediately grabbed me.
"Don't touch me!" I shouted in response. As Axel gently lowered me to the floor.
I glared at Axel, before returning back to the living room. The cold food once again came in my view but I ignored it.
I turned towards my attention towards Ambra's closet.
There was bound to be some snacks in there.
I opened the closet and saw shelves filled with dresses. Some clothes were folded neatly, while others were hanging, mostly types of T-shirts.
Ignoring her clothes, I reached for the lowest drawer that my hand could reach for. Tugging at it confirmed that it was locked.
Why would a drawer need a lock? I didn't know.
I scrutinized the closet, but there was nothing that I could have reached with my height. So I turned towards the drawer cabinet next to the bed.
I opened them to only see all kinds of beauty products from face moisturizer to scented face creams, lipsticks and hair products.
There was nothing worth searching for. No matter what I did, it seemed I was going to sleep hungry tonight.
I slammed the drawers shut.
Dragging the neatly folded clothes and threw them against the floor. Taking clothes one after another and scattering them on the floor. Until there was no clothes left in lower shelf.
*Huff
Axel walked towards the nearest scattered clothes and started folding them up neatly.
My scowl only deepened.
As I kicked any piece of clothing that was within my reach. Again and again, I kicked them, spreading them farther across the floor.
One particular dress flew farther than the others, and something fell out of it.
It was a small cloth purse. Something that could easily fit in the palm of hand.
Curious, I unzipped it.
A cloud of black dust rose from inside. It was filled with black sand or was it called iron sand?
"What the fuck is this?"
I spilled some on the floor, only to realize its danger a bit too late.
The spilled black sand continuously released small amounts of barely visible, light-grey smoke.
I immediately covered my nose and backed away from the spilled 'sand of death'.
I barely stopped myself from throwing the small purse away. I zipped it shut and immediately ordered Axel to clean the spilled black sand and put the cloth purse back inside that piece of clothing. And ventilate the room immediately!
I ran toward the bathroom closing it shut behind me, before washing my hands and face thoroughly.
"Holy shit! She is fucking crazy!"
"How the hell did she come across Black Death? How crazy was she to have that drug?"
"Fuck! Fuck! Fuuucck!"
I blew my nose, to remove any particles that I may have accidently inhaled, but it was useless. I had already breathed in the fumes.
The only thing I could do was brace myself for the trip that was bound to be coming.
From inside the bathroom, I shouted for Axel, "Is the room properly ventilated and cleaned, Axel?!"
"Yes, Arwin. I have cleaned the room. Now only thing left is to fold Miss Ambra's clothes."
I cautiously twisted the doorknob. Peeking at the floor where I had spilled 'Black Death', to find it cleaned.
The outside door was left open for ventilation.
"Close the door after 10 minutes. I am going to sleep, and clean up this place."
I turned to look at the cold food one last time and swallowed.
'Damn it'
Placing my small mattress, against the floor. I got ready to sleep, I had already begun noticing the white light in the room were starting to change colors.
I laid on my bed, eyes closed. Praying that when I wake up, everything would have passed and I wouldn't have to suffer any after effects.
***
I had woken up early, hunger pangs constantly gnawing at my stomach. But I ignored them for the sake of cleaning myself up.
But while brushing I had begun to notice that my mind was unusually clear. My mind raced from one thought to another, plot points that I had forgotten or foggy memories were starting to become crystal clear again. I could almost remember every detail.
My first thought went back to 'Black Death', only to realize something more important. I immediately got out, toothbrush still in my mouth, as I grabbed my tablet and started to scroll through the pages on the PDF.
I only needed to read description twice, or glance at the images. And every detail from diagrams to description would get burned into my memories effortlessly.
'This is fucking amazing.'
I spent the whole day devouring information.
I only took short naps just to reset my brain, whenever I noticed a dip in focus. By then, I had already completed about 60% of the things I needed to remember.
But my focus was still heightened.
I could have focused on completing my homework, but another eureka moment hits me.
I should have focused on remembering as many plot points and minor arcs of my story. Although I couldn't take advantage of them, it was still better than nothing.
Ring
My head snapped towards the door, as Axel opened it.
Brian looked at me with a smile which turned to confusion, he asked, "What are you doing, Arwin?"
"Ah am doong my hommwark?"
"While being naked?"
"Whaa?"
I looked down and finally noticed that I was naked, with only a towel wrapped around my waist and toothbrush still in my mouth.
Only then did I notice the ache in my jaw.
I took the toothbrush out, and repeated, "I am doing my homework."
"Yeah, I can see." He replied, one eyebrow raised. "You know? You have a study session today, right?"
"Yes! Uh just give me a minute."
I immediately got up and went to bathroom. Gurgling water in my mouth to remove the taste of toothpaste, before putting on my used clothes.
I was out within two minutes, clean and ready to go.
A faint smile tugged at Brian lips, he said. "Let's go kiddo. Wouldn't wanna make your big Uncle Antonio wait, do you?"
I quipped, "Uncle? Should I start calling my teacher, Uncle Antonio now?"
Brian stopped mid-step, his expression freezing. "No! No, he's your teacher right? So you should give him the respect he deserves."
"But you said—"
"You know what I said and what I actually meant... right?" He asked, his eyes practically pleading with me.
"Hmm, I don't know?"
I feigned ignorance.
As Brian followed me into elevator, and began explaining, in great detail what he had actually meant.
I listened quietly.
And definitely not with a grin on my face.
---
AN: This is a new ch, and the last part of ch 14 was also newly added segment.
CH Facts: Some drugs can affect how focused or alert you may feel.
Prescription stimulant medications used to treat ADHD can increase the activity of two important neurotransmitters: dopamine and norepinephrine.
As dopamine is involved in motivation, reward, movement and cognition, while norepinephrine plays important roles in alertness, attention and arousal.
I am not a medical professional, so I am not going to pretend I can properly explain the medical side of this topic. This section is only meant as a general interest fact, not a medical advice.
If you're interested in the neuroscience behind the subject, you can check out the YouTube video "The Drug To Master Reality" by Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell.
And, just to be absolutely clear: I am not encouraging anyone to use prescription medication or any other drug to improve studying, concentration, or performance (Coffee works well enough for you guys). So do not take medication that hasn't been prescribed to you.
This is simply an informational note included.