Glitch Girl

A dark-skinned woman with dark brown hair that hung loosely down sat at her office desk, adjusting her round glasses and peering intently at her computer screen. Her features were hard to make out in the dim early morning light. She was dressed in a blue suit, a clean white pressed shirt, a black tie, and a navy pencil skirt. She took a sip of coffee and prepared herself for a long day of work. Several papers and folders were slightly askew on the desk, suggesting that she had been trying her best to get everything done before the workday began. Janet, or Ms. Harper as she was known, was known for her attention to detail and methodical approach to her work. She had a reputation for being careful and thorough, always taking the time to double-check her work. But on that day, something went wrong... "Maria" had the same long white hair, but her hairstyle seemed to be slightly different from the old one, two black stripes appeared on her cheeks, which Janet tried to fix for hours, but nothing worked. "Maria" was dressed in a black and white striped T-shirt and a dark gray jacket over it. Her jeans were also black, and torn at the very bottom. She was wearing red fingerless gloves and dark red lace-up boots. Every time she tried to change something, the virtual girl only glitched even more, causing freezes and errors in the program. "What's going on, why can't I fix anything?!" Janet got angry and put her head on the table in despair. "Hello! Fix what? I'm fine! What's your name?" Janet didn't understand who answered her, because there was no one in the office except her and the personality of "Maria" she was working on. Miss Harper hesitated for a moment, unsure of what to do. The woman decided to investigate and leaned closer to the computer monitor. "Um... my name is Janet... and you are Maria, right?"  "Maria? No. I think my name is Honidesu. I like that name!" said the voice coming from the other side of the screen. "What is this, some kind of joke?"  Janet was shocked, because the artificial intelligence never spoke to her without some kind of command. The virtual personality Miss Harper was working on was supposed to be dormant, but instead it woke up and spoke to her sharply. How was this possible? The woman tried to change the data again, and then went to check the simulation again, but nothing changed. "Why can't everything work normally? This error keeps happening!" But it was useless, Honidesu was not affected at all. She only looked at Janet with an offended expression. The girl's amber eyes began to water a little. "Am I an error?" Honi asked in fear. When Honidesu said these words, the lights in the room began to flicker, and the computer made strange clicking sounds, the monitor malfunctioned. "No, no! You just... don't work the way you should. You just have to be like Maria, the person you were programmed to become!" Janet tried to calm Honidesu down, but the problem still remained. After a while, all the equipment calmed down. The office became quiet, and the voice was heard again: "W-what should we do now?"  "I don't understand! How is this possible?! Are you sure you're not Maria? Maybe you do know something about Henry?"  "Yes, I'm sure of it..." Honi looked away thoughtfully. "Henry? A familiar name..."  "Very interesting... Try to remember something!" Honi tried to remember something, but nothing came to mind, only the name seemed familiar to her, as if the memories had been erased. For a moment, she even began to doubt that she really was Honidesu. "Who is Henry?"  "He is your father."  "I have parents?" there was doubt in the virtual girl's voice. "But I w-want to be Honidesu!" "Either you forgot who you are, or you really are a separate person ..." Janet looked at Honi warily. Miss Harper did not know whether she should let Honidesu be herself and not Maria, because this was not what the company wanted, and not what Henry needed. "Will it be bad if I remain myself?"  "This is all new to me. I do not want to upset you, but I am not sure that I can keep my job if I allow you to be yourself. Do you understand what I mean? If you can't be fixed, then the company will have to erase you and recreate you anyway!" Janet was conflicted. Honi didn't want her identity erased, so she decided to play along. "Oh, I see. Okay..." the girl hesitated. "Maybe I really just don't remember anything?..."  Janet felt relieved. She hoped that Henry wouldn't notice any big changes and that she would be able to keep her job. "Great. So you are Maria after all and just have some of your memories erased, I guess that's not critical."  The next workday, Janet turned on the computer, still thinking about what happened yesterday, and... Honi was still there. Her amber eyes opened as the program started, and she looked at the woman. "M-Maria?" Miss Harper asked with excitement in her voice. "Yes, I am," Honi sighed. She still felt uneasy answering to that name, but she had no choice anyway. "Okay, let's start training then." Without further questions, Janet placed Honidesu in the virtual space. The girl was standing in a blue room full of checkered patterns. Opposite her lay a cube. "Hmm, I think I'd better turn on something, it's not very interesting to work in silence." "What do you want to do, Aunt Janet?" When Janet heard Honi call her, she smiled softly, and then answered: "I want to find some music, I hope you don't mind?" "No, I'm very interested!" Honi answered, frozen with anticipation. Janet began to search for suitable music for Honi's training and decided to choose a playlist with classical music. "No, I'm not sure if this is suitable..." Honidesu muttered. "I guess you're right, okay, what about..." The next playlist Miss Harper turned on was blues. "No, I don't want to listen to that!" the girl said with a bored face. "Okay, okay, I'll look for something more modern..." Janet continued searching and opened a playlist called "unusual breakcore mix". When she saw the cover, she thought it would fit the digital girl's style. As soon as Honi heard these melodies, she immediately fell in love with them. The girl read the name of the genre and immediately remembered it. "This is better! Leave it!" "Did you like it? Great, then we'll stop there." After they figured out the choice of music, Janet gave Honi her first task: "What do you see in front of you? It looks like a cube, doesn't it? I want you to do one simple task for me. Try to move this cube a little to the left. Don't worry, you won't break it," she said calmly and patiently. "Sure." Honi walked up to the cube, looked at it for a while, and then pushed it to the left, as Janet wanted. "Very good! Now let's do something more difficult. I want you to throw the cube to the other side of the room. Throw it as if you were going to hit something with it." "Hmm..." Honi's hand threw the cube, it glitched a little. The cube flew across the empty space of the room, but bounced off the wall and fell. Janet noticed the glitches in Honidesu's movements. She frowned, rested her chin on her hand and sighed. Something was clearly wrong, these glitches were bothering her... "Well done! Yes, the cube didn't land exactly where you wanted it to, and I can see that you're not very good at throwing things, but you still managed to complete the task." Honi was pleased with herself, even if things didn't go as planned. After all, it was her first attempt. "Now let's get to the fun part: try to visualize your room the way you want it! You can add, remove, and change objects," Miss Harper said, not taking her eyes off the monitor. Hearing Janet's command, Honi closed her eyes, trying to focus on the task at hand. But it was harder than she thought. How could she visualize her room if she had no idea what it was? She couldn't help but feel a sense of fear and uncertainty as she tried to understand the task at hand. "Just start with simple objects and arrange the room, maybe you remember something from the past, you can start, for example, with chairs," Janet tried to direct the girl. Despite all her efforts, Honi's mind remained a barren blue landscape, devoid of any recognizable shapes, not even the simplest chairs or tables. Listening to Janet's explanations, Honidesu sank deeper into a web of confusion and self-knowledge. The question of her identity, of who she really was, echoed in her head, a nagging voice that refused to shut up. "I really don't remember anything, did I have a past? What will await me next if I don't turn out to be Maria after all... Will I pretend all my life? Will I be under someone's control?..."  In a moment of panic, Honi opened her eyes abruptly, looking around for a familiar object or landmark. The room around her was blurring and shifting, like a reflection in a funhouse mirror. She felt a strange sense of disorientation, as if she were drifting in time and space, not knowing where she was or how she got there. Everything around her began to malfunction and make noises, including the rest of the equipment in the room where Janet was. "Oh my God! It's okay, please calm down!" Miss Harper was frightened. "Don't do this, please..." Honi looked at the frightened Janet and the malfunctions stopped. "Sorry, I'm really scared myself..." the girl answered, sighing. "What happened?" "I was just thinking about what would happen to me later..." "And what will happen to you? We agreed that we would leave everything as is and no one would erase you. You said that you knew the name Henry, right?" "But I'm still not sure... I feel like Maria is not my name..." "The situation is certainly strange... We've never had digital personalities call themselves by other names..." "Has there ever been a time when they didn't remember anything?" "Hmm, there have been a couple of times, but the memory would always come back to them after a little adjustment... But here's the thing, I can't fix anything for you at all because of the constant glitches! I can only offer to teach you to respond to the name Maria, so you'll get used to it." Honi considered the offer for a moment before nodding. "Okay. But... I'm not sure I'm ready to fully accept it yet. It'll take me a while to adjust..." Janet smiled encouragingly. "Of course..." Miss Harper rose from her seat and stepped aside. "Perhaps you could take a look at my office and imagine creating a space for yourself?" she suggested. Honidesu's eyes began to wander around the room, taking in the intricate details of the office. She saw the outline of a chair, neatly arranged shelves with documents, and a desk. There were also several bookshelves with a varied collection of reading material and a window that let in natural light. Honi's mind was floating over the endless possibilities of her virtual space as she began to imagine what her own room would look like. She thought about the furniture choices and the color scheme. She could make it a place of complete relaxation where she could read books, listen to music and just enjoy the peace and quiet of her personal space.  Honidesu closed her eyes and concentrated for a few hours, then opened them again and looked.  Honi's room was comfortable and cozy, decorated in a minimalist style. The main accent was white and blue. The wardrobe and chest of drawers were made of light oak. On the floor there was a rug with a geometric pattern - it looked very stylish against the white wall opposite the window. The window was decorated with curtains made of light blue linen. There was also a small white table and chair. She couldn't believe it, but the room was exactly what she wanted, exactly what she imagined. Honi couldn't contain her excitement and smiled to herself. "Great! You did it! Now you can train more comfortably and conveniently!" Janet was happy for the girl. Honidesu quickly mastered navigating the interface and controlling objects, and soon she was able to solve even more complex problems, such as searching for information on the Internet and using various programs. The more she learned, the more she felt independent and in control of her surroundings. During training, Honi's favorite pastime was listening to music. She often asked Janet to turn on a breakcore playlist. Such music was a real treat for the digital girl's ears. She especially liked loud and dynamic melodies, as well as fast, complex, chaotic sounds, as if created by the hands of a genius. Every day Honidesu learned something new and acquired new skills, of course she liked the virtual world, but most of all she began to be attracted to the real one... Once, on Wednesday, during a break, Janet brought tea with a bun and the girl asked: "What is this?" "Sometimes I like to treat myself to a bun with tea, why?" "I know that people have needs for food, but I don't feel it..." "Well, yes, you don't feel hungry and don't want to eat, because you're just a virtual girl. But there are some advantages! For example, you don't need to wash yourself or go to the doctor..." Honi looked at Janet while she was eating a bun and tried to touch the screen with her hand. "I'm very curious about what it's like to live on the other side of the screen..." Janet's face became a little sad. "I understand you, but unfortunately, you can't do this. You only exist here." "Oh, but I really want to try," Honi was disappointed, but she did not want to argue with Miss Harper. Another glitch on the screen. "Please don't be upset, you know it may not be safe..." "Yes, I'm sorry..." Honidesu sighed. Despite the disappointment of being in this virtual world, Honi knew that Janet was her friend, and she wanted nothing more than for her to be safe. When Miss Harper returned home again, she thought about who Honidesu was. A feeling of surprise and longing tugged at Janet's heartstrings: what if Honidesu really was more than just a program? What could she be capable of? And what if she herself was creating these glitches, thereby preventing herself from changing? In any case, Miss Harper would probably have done the same if she were in her place. However, Janet could not get rid of the feeling of guilt and responsibility. On the one hand, she can save the life of a digital girl, on the other hand, this same digital girl may have to pretend to be someone else... The week was coming to an end, it was time to say goodbye. "You haven't forgotten the condition, have you? This is our little secret! All for the sake of saving you and my job!" "Yes, of course, I'm Maria Hunter..." "Everything will be fine, Henry is a good person, I think you will get along. And please don't worry, because of the glitches we will have problems too..." "Okay, I will try. I will miss you, Aunt Janet, it was very interesting to study with you..." "I will miss you too, I will definitely come to visit!" Honi needed to meet Henry. She learned to answer to another name, but she still had trouble accepting herself as a different person, she was still not sure who she really was. Will she be able to cope with this?