CONTROLLED BY CHOICES

 As NANCY waited in the padded white room, she watched out of the window. James was already there, which she was very glad about. However, the meeting was delayed by a bit due to what appeared to be another employee speaking to James.

The employee offered the man something. It was like chocolate or something of the sort, but it was also very different. NANCY couldn’t comprehend what it could be at all. James didn’t mind the offer at all and just took it in. He shook hands with the employee before going inside the padded white room to do the check-up that he always had to do each day with the android.

“Hey Nan,” he gently whispered. “How’s everything going?”

“Oh, Mr. Finch! I’m so glad to see you again,” she sighed. Her entire system felt happy once again. It was as if just by hearing his voice speak to her, she would immediately forget about every bother in the world.

“Last time we met, we checked over a lot. We did leave off at ‘Motor Planning Interruptions’ if I remember correctly,” he guessed. He was readjusting his glasses while looking at the papers, and despite the answers being already marked, he doubted that he had done something wrong.

“We have left off there,” NANCY assured. “Is there something wrong? You look particularly nervous.”

James looked directly at NANCY for a while and simply shook his head. He didn’t want to make NANCY worry at all, so he simply went on with the evaluation once again.

He looked up at NANCY before beginning, and simply said to her, “I know these questions may sound bad, but I assure you that it is for your own good!”

NANCY didn’t mind any questions that would ever be asked by James. At least she thought that way. As long as she got to hear the beautiful voice of her dearest love, she felt as if nothing mattered. That song that she enjoyed so much was all she needed.

The gentle expression slowly turned into a more serious one as he began to read off the questions.

He looked at the paper and readjusted his glasses once more as he read out the first one.

“Do you find yourself thinking about the same thing over and over again?”

There was a long pause as NANCY heard this question. Her smile immediately turned into a sad frown.

However, she tried to hide it. She doesn’t want to make James worry about her at this very moment. At least not now.

She felt as if she had to tell him the truth, but she also didn’t want to tell him about the horrible truth behind her. If he knew there was something wrong with her way of thinking, not only would she be rejected by him, but by the rest of the company.

She finally got the answer she wanted to share.

There was only one word that came out of her mouth in response to this.

“No.”

James simply checked off the question and moved on to the next one. With each question that went by, the man constantly readjusted his glasses. It was as if he had nothing else on his mind but to repeat this action repeatedly. It seemed as if something was starting to bother him, but it was quite faint. NANCY, however, was quite a different story. She was losing herself internally.

Even though NANCY could keep herself in control, on the inside the things that she had to keep in were slowly eating her up like an infestation of bugs would consume wood and nectar.

She was often preoccupied with her unpleasant thoughts.

She found it difficult to get some things out of her mind.

The more the questions went by, the more she felt she could relate to them. However, there was only one phrase that she said would deny any of her true feelings.

“No.”

James was about to move on to the next question as he was supposed to until suddenly, something reacted within him. Both his eyes and his mouth went wide, and he dropped both the clipboard he was holding and the pen in his hand.

His face was completely red, and his heartbeat was starting to get into an irregular tempo. NANCY noticed that there was something wrong, and she quickly rushed over to James’ side. He held his head with both of his hands and his eyes were squinting.

A bunch of horrifying thoughts ran into his head all at once. He didn’t enjoy any of this at all. He didn’t understand why there were so many thoughts that he had no intention of acting upon. More so, why were these thoughts he was experiencing about unspeakable things? Especially with NANCY, who is now on top of him.

These things terrified him very much. He was losing all perception of the world, and the only thing he could do was breathe heavily. He tried to grasp the few bits of oxygen that he could. Despite what went through his mind, he kept his hands to himself.

NANCY could not even begin to explain how horrified she was. She held James in her arms and yelled out for help. With each screech she let out, the more she seemed like a banshee in the night. The workers there noticed what was happening, and they immediately hurried. NANCY couldn’t imagine what was going on. She couldn’t comprehend what was going through his mind at all.

As James was being carried by the workers, NANCY couldn’t help but follow him too. They all struggled to get him up due to his weight, but they all managed to get him out of the room. A few other employees brought out a stretcher on which James would be placed. In between the efforts of everyone present, they succeeded in getting James up there.

They tried to get to a safe place in the building while they contacted help. It was obvious what was happening here. Not only was James extremely panicked, but he was also under the influence of something else. He was intoxicated.

NANCY was alongside James, and she looked straight into his eyes the entire time. It was apparent he couldn’t think straight now. He stared mindlessly at the sky.

“The world is far from me now,” he chuckled nervously. Despite how terrible the situation was, he couldn’t think clearly and tried to diminish the severity of it.

NANCY was very preoccupied right now. She placed her hands on his head, letting the cold silicone skin she had onto his burning face. “The world isn’t far at all, James. I promise that we will get you help,” she reassured him. She was about to speak more until James interrupted her.

“Smoke.”

NANCY raised an eyebrow at him, clearly worried.

She shook him a bit before asking him, “What do you mean by smoke?”

James was hyperventilating. He tried to keep his composure as he let out his next words.

“I need to smoke,” he whispered out. “I do it around this time every day.”

NANCY frowned at him. They have now arrived at a safe place where James will be held while the medics arrive.

“You don’t need to smoke,” she insisted. She repeated once again, now raising her voice and sounding very upset. “You don’t need to smoke!”

James couldn’t say anything back, as he was losing himself slowly but surely. He looked up at NANCY once more, before he closed his eyes. For James, he had to rest. He’s been through a lot right now. James gave a slight smile before drifting off.

OOC: as you can see, I was fairly new to writing when I made this chapter. Yes, it doesn’t make sense now and I understand it. However, it is (unfortunately) very necessary