Everything looked the way I’d left it when I got home. I took a long shower, washing the burned zombie stench off me, and carefully cleaned the scratches and scrapes all over my face, arms, and legs. After wrapping my ankle, I changed into the clothes I’d already set out on my chair the night before the Zombiegeddon competition and put on my puffy black down coat.
My roller bag was already packed and ready to go. My one-way ticket printout, secured inside the front zipper of the second suitcase. My new disposable phone, activated and prepaid for three months, in my backpack along with my flash drive loaded with all my important files. My family photos, the ones of Mom, Dad, and me, were tucked inside a padded envelope with my other important belongings. I’d left all the empty silver frames behind.
Deep inside my chest, sadness pushed its way up, making it hard for me to hold back tears. Now that the time had come, saying goodbye to my life was harder than I had expected.
Jeeves rolled up toward me as I made my way to the front door. “Good evening, Kate. It’s time for me to take your vitals.”
“Not now. I’m on my way out,” I replied.
“Incoming call from your father,” he chirped back. “A new feature with the latest software update. Video chat!” The screen on Jeeves’s chest flicked on, and my dad’s face appeared in high-definition color. It was something Digitools had been working on for years.
“I’ll be home in an hour. Another late night at the office,” he grumbled into his whiskey glass. He sat up in his chair and squinted. “Wait, where are you going? You have school tomorrow.”
The lump in my throat burned. I didn’t answer. I gulped instead.
“Jeeves,” Dad barked. “What is Kate wearing?”
“Plaid shirt, jeans, black coat, and beanie, sir.”
His eyes narrowed even more, like he had the power to look into my soul. “Does she have anything else in her possession?”
“Yes. Two suitcases and a backpack, sir.”
Dad slammed both hands on his desk. “Jeeves, detain her until I get home,” he growled. “Kate, I don’t know what you’re planning, but we need to have a serious conversation when I get there.”
“No!” I shouted, my stomach in tight knots.
“You don’t have a choice, Kate. My house, my rules!” he yelled.
“And that’s why I can’t stay,” I fired back. “I can’t live like this anymore. In this house, under your watch, like a prison. It’s not anything like how it was when Mom was here.” Every day, every minute, his overzealous overprotection left me stifled and lonely. I needed him to be my dad, not my bodyguard. My face softened a little as sadness flashed in his eyes. “I miss Mom, and I know you do too.”
By mentioning her, I hoped he’d see we were both coming from a place of unhappiness and hurt. That he would be fatherly and not treat this like another hostile business transaction. Because this wasn’t a negotiation. My conditions needed to be met, or I’d walk away.
“Dad, I have to go.”
His face instantly rehardened. “No! Jeeves, do not let her leave that house. She’s grounded. I’m coming home right now to handle this.”
The screen went black. All the doors in the house locked at once with synchronized clicks.
What a dramatic way to have the last word.
An unblinking Jeeves stared back at me. I squeezed my suitcase handles tightly, turning my knuckles so white I lost sensation in my fingertips.
“I need to go, Jeeves,” I whispered. “I’m sorry.”
“You must stay,” he responded. “Your father said you need to stay. He gave an order.”
Each software update had given Jeeves more humanlike responses. Maybe he’d understand where I was coming from. “You’ve been with me a few months, Jeeves. You’ve taken my vitals every week. Do I seem happy to you?”
Immediately, he replied, “Based on my observations, you do not. Your frowns far exceed all other shown facial expressions.”
Well, that was depressing. “Do you want me to be happy, Jeeves?”
“What I want doesn’t matter.”
Damn it.
Time for a drastically different approach. “Okay, Jeeves, hypothetically speaking, if I were to cut off the power in the house with the switch box in Dad’s bedroom, what would happen?”
“I would still be functional, as I am battery powered. The house would remain locked but could be disabled with a manual override.”
“Thanks.” Problem was, hypothetically speaking, Jeeves would stop me from cutting the power.
He added, “I must ensure your safety. Keeping you out of danger is my number one obligation. You are your father’s top priority, Kate.”
Barely suppressing an eye roll, I muttered, “Yeah, well, I don’t believe that.”
“Affirmative. Your father built me just for you.”
“Wh-what do you mean, he built you just for me?”
This new information about Dad left me baffled. Why would I need Jeeves?
“Your father assigned a number of Digitools engineering teams to develop and upgrade my operating system. To serve and protect Kate Anderson.” He saluted me. “Keep you safe and protected.”
Was this Dad’s way of trying to be a good father? Or was this his way of outsourcing his parenting job because he was never home?
Was this love? Or outright rejection?
All of this was too much to process. Rubbing my temples, I tried to squeeze all of these questions out of my head. I already had a one-way ticket away from here. I had my theater and screenplay dreams to fulfill. I didn’t want to follow Dad’s footsteps and move up the ranks in his behemoth company. I had my goal, and Dad had his. To stop me.
I tried the front door. It was locked, of course. No one could get me out except for Jeeves or Dad.
To leave, I needed to think more like Jeeves and Dad.
“Hey, Jeeves, can you please take my vitals?”
“My pleasure!” Without asking me why I’d switched gears to enthusiastically participate in his health monitoring, he checked my blood pressure and oxygen, and pricked my finger for blood analysis, the part I hated the most.
“Your blood sugar is dangerously low. You are also dehydrated,” he reported back immediately.
“That’s right. Could you get me something to eat and drink? I haven’t eaten or drank much today, or the last few days.”
He whirred away, giving me a brief moment to run to Dad’s bedroom. I shut off the main power in the house. Within seconds, the emergency lights flicked on.
“Oh dear.” Jeeves’s voice echoed down the hallway from the kitchen.
I unlocked the doors by flipping a switch in the control panel in the master bedroom. With my luggage in tow, I stepped out onto the porch.
Poor Jeeves. He’d be rolling around and around the house until my dad came home, looking for me with a sandwich, fruit, and juice on his flip-down serving tray. Failing in his mission to keep me confined and fed, like a round-the-clock correctional officer.
I pulled open the iron gates, which had defaulted to an unlocked position. My heart raced as each one slammed closed behind me.
Waiting for the taxi I’d prearranged to the airport, my burner phone—the one I’d be getting rid of soon—buzzed with a message. Or rather, dozens of them, all from Nate. I scrolled through them all by the time the cab pulled into the top of the driveway.
Another message from Nate.
Last one, I swear. Thanks for the shirt
I responded with five words. Thanks for the cryptocoin
A long text from Raina: Your dad is calling here and texting me nonstop. Daddy Warbucks sounds legit worried and sad. Are you LEAVING leaving? Bish, you better send me your new contact info if you are
My hot tears fell on the screen. Why are you shudder-crying, Kate? You wanted this.
I shut off the phone forever.