text: I am Lexi, Best Buddy Bot model 8. My best buddy is Kora Smith, age, ten-years-old. My objectives are to serve and bond with my best buddy. This is entry one of data journal number one. It is March the third, two thousand and fifty-four. I am currently sitting on the couch in the living room of the Smith residence waiting for Kora to arrive from school. It is her birthday. “Come on, mom, I’ve gotta get back to work.” Jessica, the sister. Twenty-years-old. Cam-girl. “She’s going to be here any minute, and please, try to be a little more enthusiastic when I turn my Lens on.” Ginger, the mother. Forty-five-years-old. Influencer. She walks over to the staircase and climbs a quarter of the way up before bellowing, “Rodger! Get down here!” Rodger, the father. Fifty-years-old. Video game tester. He bellows in return, “In a minute!” Ginger snaps her head around at the sound of a school bus squealing to a stop at the front of the house. “She’s here...Rodger, she’s here!” “I can’t come down right now! Important boss battle!” Ginger rolls her eyes and turns her attention to Jessica who appears to be completely removed from the situation, attention absorbed by her phone. “Jess, stand up and look like you’re happy to be here.” She begrudgingly stands and attempts her best impersonation of ‘happy.’ It looks painful. “Okay, we’re rolling!” Ginger blinks her left eye three times rapidly turning her brown iris bright yellow. The doorknob on the front door jiggles. This will be the first time Kora sees me. I hope she is pleased. I have been told all about her. She likes anime, plays soccer, and enjoys reading books about adventure. She is not good at making friends at school. She is lonely. I will be a good best buddy. The door creaks open and there she is, a small girl with large fluffy brown hair and dark eyes. She appears sweaty and sad, as if she had just come from quite an ordeal. Her eyes widen as she takes everything in. She sees me and her brow furrows. This is confusion. “Happy birthday, sweetie!” Ginger yells. “Happy birthday, twirp!” contributes Jessica. “Who’s that?” Kora asks, she hasn’t taken her eyes off me. Ginger walks next to me and puts her hand on my shoulder. This is my cue. I stand and smile. Kora takes a step back. Frightened? “Is that one of those Best Buddy Bots?” she asks. “Yup! Best Buddy Robotics is one of my biggest sponsors. They gave Lexi to us for free. Thank you, Best Buddy Robotics!” This makes Kora look away from me and at her mom’s face. Her eyes widen. Anger? “You’re recording? Mom! I don’t want this to be an episode! Shut it off!” “But sweetheart, they gave us Lexi for free and they’re expecting an episode where you meet her,” Ginger supplicates. “Happy Birthday!” Jessica rings out cheerfully. “Can I go now?” Ginger’s eyes are bulging, and both of her hands are grasping large chunks of her pretty blond hair. Aggravation. Definitely aggravation. I am an expert at reading emotions. “Fine! Jessica, go!” “Thank god.” She hurriedly rushes past us and up the stairs. “Can I go too?” Kora asks. Ginger sighs. Exasperation. “Fine, can I at least get a shot of you giving Lexi a hug?” Kora rolls her eyes. “Fine.” She walks up to me and wraps her arms around me before quickly pulling away. “There. Can I go now?” “Yes, just go, I guess I can piece together a decent episode from what I’ve got. Take Lexi upstairs and bond with her.” “Do I have to? She’s creepy.” Rude. “She doesn’t blink.” Okay, note to self, blink more. Ginger triple blinks again, and her eye goes back to brown. “I don’t care what you do. Just make sure you’re down in an hour for supper. You know, if you want to...you can help make supper...” “Are you going to record it for your channel?” “Well...yes--” “Then I’m good. Come on, Lexi.” I’m glad to leave Ginger behind and to follow Kora upstairs to her room. It’s a lovely room, pink and purple with stuffed animals everywhere. “I like your room,” I say. She doesn’t respond. She sits down in a chair in front of a desk and turns on her laptop and begins clicking away. Awkwardly, I sit on her bed next to a big stuffed frog. And she thinks I’m creepy. “So...” I begin uneasily. “What do you do for fun?” No response. “What are you doing now?” I try again. She sighs. Uh-oh. Is she exasperated with me already? “I’m talking to my friends online. Okay?” “Oh! So you do have friends! I was told you did not and that you are lonely.” She glares at me. That must not have been the right thing to say. “Well...I do have friends...mom just doesn’t know about them.” I smile. “Good! I’m glad you are not lonely.” Silence. I allow her to chat with her computer friends without interruption. My patience pays off. After a few minutes she turns to me and says, “Can I tell you something and you promise not to tell my parents?” “Yes.” “I’m going to run away tonight. My friends are going to come pick me up at the park, so I just gotta get to the park by midnight.” Not good. “That does not sound safe,” I reply. “It’s safe. I’ve been talking to them for a couple months now, and they’ve finally agreed to let me join their group, and if you’re truly my best buddy you won’t tell anyone.” Uh-oh...what do I do? Ah...I shall appeal to empathy. “But...won’t your family miss you? They’ll cry. You don’t want to make them sad, do you?” “They don’t care about me.” “They do.” “They don’t!” What do I do? What do I do? Hm...this is desperation. “How about...we go talk to your family. If you can see how much they care...then will you stay?” Kora smiles and nods her head. “Alright, best buddy, let’s go see if my family truly cares about me.” She takes me by the hand and together we go out into the hallway and approach the door at the end. It has a sign that reads DO NOT DISTURB. “This is my dad’s office. He lives here and he works here, and I haven’t seen him in two months.” My eyebrows shoot up. Shock. This is shock. Kora knocks heavily on the door and yells, “Dad, I really need to talk to you! It’s important!” A few seconds go by before, “I’m busy! Go talk to your mom!” “I really need to talk to you!” “I am working!” Kora shrugs. “Well...we tried.” “I can unlock the door.” I take a couple bobby pins out of my hair and begin shimming the lock. CLICK. “We’re in.” She hesitantly reaches for the knob, turns it, and pushes the door open. We both stare into the room...shocked. Her father, completely unaware of our presence, sits in his gaming chair with a device on his head covering his eyes. The room is completely empty other than trash debris and articles of clothing strung about. He is shirtless, ribs and sternum protruding. His limbs are without muscle and his hair is long and greasy. I cannot smell, but Kora’s face scrunches up. Stink. It must stink. “Dad?” His head jerks our way. “What are you doing in here? Get out! GET OUT!” He screams and jumps out of his chair, ripping the device off his head and revealing two dark hallow pits where his eyes used to be. Kora screams and runs out. I stay, transfixed. “What has happened to your eyes?” I ask. “Who are you?” “I am Lexi, Kora’s Best Buddy Bot. What has happened to your eyes?” “Oh...I...had them removed...I had to in order to play this new game, the headset requires connection to my oculomotor nerves.” I do not reply. I feel shivers on the back of my neck. Fear? Disgust? “Get out!” he yells. I back away. “GET OUT!” I run out and pull the door shut. I run all the way back to Kora’s room and find her lying face down on her bed, sobbing into a pillow. “Are you okay?” She says nothing but continues to cry. “I am sorry about your father. He seems...disturbed...” She flips around to glare at me. “I told you he doesn’t care! He doesn’t care about anything other than his stupid games! He’s nothing like he used to be!” “I am sorry you saw your father like that...” She grabs her stuffed frog and holds it tight. “It’s whatever. Won’t matter after tonight.” “We haven’t talked to your mother or sister yet.” Kora smiles cynically. “Fine...let’s go talk to my sister.” Again, she takes me by the hand and we walk out of her room, this time stopping at the door directly to the left. She knocks and yells, “Jessica! I need to talk to you! It’s important!” No response. We can hear music coming from inside the room. “JESSICA, I NEED TO TALK TO YOU!” she yells louder. The music stops. The door cracks open. Jessica peers out at us. “Go away, twirp. I’m working.” “You’re always working. I need to talk to you.” “Go talk to your new robot buddy.” “I am a Best Buddy Bot,” I correct her. “Whatever.” She slams the door shut and the music continues. Kora smiles at me. “See?” I take the bobby pins and go to work unlocking her door. CLICK. I turn the knob and push open the door. Perhaps I should stop doing this... Jessica wears a bikini and is standing in a kiddy pool in the middle of the room. The pool appears to be full of...chocolate pudding? She has her back to us, dancing and smearing the pudding all over herself. A camera with lights points at her. Kora’s jaw drops. “Jessica! What are you doing!? This is what you do for work?” She whips around and comically slips in the pudding. After struggling back to her feet, she yells, “What the hell are you doing in here!?” “I need to talk to you. It’s important.” “Get out before I rip your head off! NOW!” We quickly depart and slam the door behind us. Kora is glaring at me. Anger...definitely anger. “I am sorry your sister makes money by smearing pudding all over herself.” She rolls her eyes. “I don’t care how she makes her money...but she don’t give a crap about me...that's for sure...” I can’t argue with that. “Do you agree that I should runaway now?” “No...I do not agree. We still haven’t talked to your mother.” “Jeez...this is gonna be fun...” Kora grabs my hand and pulls me down the stairs and into the kitchen. Ginger stands by her kitchen island and mixes something in a large bowl. She is seemingly talking to herself. “Next, we add the brown sugar for a little extra something--” “Hey, mom...” Kora interrupts. Ginger looks up at us revealing one glowing yellow eye and one normal eye. “Kora! You decided you wanted to be in my episode! Fantastic! Grab an apron, girls!” “Um, no, I don’t want to be in your episode. I...just want to talk.” “Oh...okay then, what do you want to talk about, honey?” Kora shuffles her feet. She’s uncomfortable. “I...can you shut off the Lens?” “What? No. Why? I’ve got to get this episode recorded so I can get to editing by this evening.” “It’s just...I wanna talk... privately .” “Honey...I can’t stop recording. I’ve got to get material.” “Please, mom...just for a minute.” “GOD, FINE!” She blinks three times and her eye returns to brown. “What? What do you want? Make it quick,” she demands, her demeanor completely different now. “I...I’m thinking of running away. I don’t think any of you really care about me.” Ginger stares blankly at her. Is she concerned? No...a smile spreads across her face. “This’ll make a great episode,” she says blinking rapidly three times, turning her eye yellow again. “Can you say what you just said again, sweetie?” “GAH!” Kora yells in exasperation. “Come on, Lexi...I told you so...” She takes me by the hand and together we walk back up the stairs and into her room. She collapses onto her bed. I take a seat next to her. I feel...guilty...compassion...sorrow... “I’m sorry your family is like that,” I tell her, putting my hand on her shoulder. “Don’t be sorry...I have another family waiting for me and I’ll be with them tonight. Can you help me?” “I will help you,” I agree. This is entry two of data journal number one. It is March the fourth, two thousand and fifty-four. Kora has left the residence to meet up with her online friends. I fear they are nefarious, but she would not let me join her. The sun has risen and Kora’s alarm has been going off for fifteen minutes. It is time to get ready for school. It is my job to tell whoever comes into her room that she has ran away. No one has appeared yet. This is entry three of data journal number one. It is March the fifth, two thousand and fifty-four. Still no one has entered her room... I will continue to sit and wait patiently.