8. Wallace

When I started my car I felt like I had the power in my hands.

My life was pathetic, I could say that I had never lacked food or a roof over my head, but I had always lacked love or sincere friendship.

My father was a congressman, but he was no fool, I knew he made money illegally, which made my family immensely wealthy. I felt disgusted every time I used one of the family cars, in a sense threatened, it was as if I felt that at some point someone would fall from the sky and attack me with a knife.

I wanted to escape, I wanted to rent an apartment with the money I had earned as a gamer and forget that I belonged to a family of gangsters, but for that I needed to fix my car, I could not abandon it after the hard work it took me to get it.

At least I was grateful that Aaron hadn't asked too many questions. He had concentrated on doing his job, that at some point my nerves had disappeared.

Aaron was someone with too much self-confidence that gave him the power to be able to dominate someone like Carter. I could tell where that confidence came from, other than being a genius with technology, I couldn't forget the fight he had with Master Dolph. He was like a ninja stretching so he could dodge any blow that was aimed at him, not even Carter had that ability.

As I pulled my car out of the hold and began to ascend, I could remember the feeling of having my own car. No matter how I drove, I could even crash and I wouldn't have to explain how it happened. It was a sense of relief and well-being to think that I was the only one who could cause my death.

"I know a good restaurant..." I started to say, feeling nervous that Aaron might like it.

"I don't care, going to a restaurant means wasted time and I need to go to my workshop to continue working" Aaron interrupted as if he didn't care about eating.

"come on, you've earned a good meal" I said as we walked out of the dome.

"I don't like to repeat myself Wallace, there must be a way to make it clear to you that I don't want to go to a restaurant" Aaron insisted.

I shook my head, there had to be a way to repay my debt to Aaron, after all I had fixed my car, the first step to having an independent life.

"we'll stop by for fast food" I said with a smile" we can stop by before we go to your shop, it won't take us five minutes".

Aaron didn't answer, it seemed he had won that battle.

Aaron was showing me the route to get to his shop. He told me about a fried chicken store where we could stop by and they would serve us quickly.

When I arrived at his shop, I parked in front of the metal building. I noticed a two-story store that spanned the number three area of town. It was a central location that was not in the uptown, touristy part of town.

We could see how several metal walkers towered above us, forming a huge spider's web that hid the entrance of sunlight. If it were not for the artificial lights, everything around us would be plunged in darkness.

Aaron approached the tent curtain and used his face for the security camera to detect him.

The shop's curtain began to rise, and on the second floor, a sign was illuminated that read mechanic and appliance shop.

Aaron walked in, leaving me to follow him.

"Master Aaron" I heard a robotic voice coming from a cleaning robot" it is an honor to receive you".

"shut up Bill" Aaron said to his cleaning robot.

I watched in disbelief as I walked into the workshop. What looked like scrap metal was piled up on the floor and stools that it was impossible to know where to step.

Aaron moved a couple of pieces of the main stool making room to accommodate the fried chicken.

"Are you going to eat?" he asked without looking me in the eye, he was concentrating on uncovering the box the chicken was in.

"I'm going now" I replied, feeling harassed by the gaze of his cleaning robot.

"master has brought a friend" Bill pointed out" let me introduce myself...".

"shut up Bill, he's not interested in being your friend" Aaron said pulling a smile from my face.

Bill focused on me, as he pulled me and Aaron close for some fried chicken.

"What do you do with someone like Bill" I asked as I ate " I thought it was illegal to own government robots."

"had I known that, I wouldn't have gone to the trouble of rescuing Bill from that receiving center" said Aaron, "believe me, I regret that decision every day".

"he seems to be a good robot" I said.

"I'm starting to like Master Aaron's friend" said Bill.

"I told you he's not your friend. Listen Wallace, even if he seems like a good robot to you, he's got a shitty personality. Sometimes he refuses to work, he loves to gossip and watch people when they sleep, it's like inside his intelligence chip he's been infected with the mind of an unbalanced woman."

"And yet you got him" I said with a smile on my face.

"I really like Wallace" Bill said standing a few inches from my cheek, watching me and making his hands forward as if at any moment he was going to skin me.

"shit" I said spitting my food on the floor as I felt uncomfortable.

"What have I told you about approaching people?" asked Aaron, " you shouldn't be here in the first place, go get on with your work."

Bill clenched his tongs in protest, but eventually flew off to the back room.

"shit Wallace, sorry, that was awkward" said Aaron.

I excused him and the next thing we chatted about was how I would pass him my notes so he could catch up on academy classes.

I laughed inwardly at Aaron's sincere words. In the end it was what was left, a noble gesture to make it more sincere.

When I finished eating and noticed that I was only taking Aaron's time, I decided to leave. I figured if I got home early, I could play for a while and get some money out of it.

...

I drove back to the dome and parked my car in the cellar. I had a sneaking suspicion that everything would be fine for the rest of the afternoon.

I entered the mansion with great care. A voice stopped me from going to my room quickly, it was as if something detestable had spoken to me.

My brother Jon was smoking blue smoke in the main room.

Blue smoke, although not considered a drug, was highly addictive and had health effects such as sudden mood swings, weight loss and skin blemishes.

My brother Jon was an obnoxious being, barely beating me by two years and using his time to torment me. He was thinner than me, his face was lanky, his hair was dyed yellow. He wore several piercings in his ears as if that made him cooler, but it only made him look stupid.

He had failed the academy tests, and instead of seeing it as a failure, he saw it as a triumph, so he didn't have to work hard at anything, he just spent his time stuck in vices and pleasure.

He was with his friend Kyle, a muscular boy about his age who lived two mansions away from ours. His hair was black, his eyes blue, his skin fair and his expression perfect. He must have been about five feet nine inches tall. He didn't have any piercings or anything that deformed his beautiful face, even so, blue smoke came out of his mouth accompanying Jon in his adventures.

"I thought you had already forgotten about that piece of junk" said Jon referring to my car.

At least he gets it with my money and I'm not a worthless kept man, I thought, feeling tears begin to well up in my eyes.

I didn't answer anything, I didn't have to answer, Jon's expression showed a certain anger, you couldn't converse with a person who was in a vice and the drug was controlling his brain.

My eyes met Kyle's for a second and I watched the lust in them. I swallowed saliva for a second and went up to my room. I hated the feeling of being around Jon.

I had to move fast, with the money I had saved I had to start renting an apartment and move out as soon as possible. Maybe I could ask Aaron to help me with the move.

I grabbed my virtual reality goggles from my dresser and plopped down on the bed. It was time to earn some money to make that story possible.