The Voice Inside Me Was An AI, Not A Demon Chapter 03

The Voice Inside Me Was An AI, Not A Demon Chapter 03

Adrian nodded too. “It’s just a leg injury from a fall. We can’t let her use that against us.”

I’d knelt the entire night, both knees scraped raw. Then I’d broken my leg in the fall.

To him, that was “minor.”

It shouldn’t have mattered. I’d lost control of my body. But hearing those words still felt like a fist closing around my heart.

My mind drifted, and suddenly I was back in the year Adrian’s mom died.

The kids at school taunted him for being motherless and threw mud at him. I was the one who charged in and chased them off.

I spent most of my childhood hurt that my parents didn’t love me. But seeing him lose his mom forever made something click. I decided I could be brave for him.

After that, we were inseparable. We told each other everything.

When he was sick and missing his mom, I sat by his bed all night, swapping out the cold towel on his forehead every time it went warm.

Whenever Angelica set me up, I’d take whatever punishment my parents handed down without flinching. But the second I saw Adrian, everything I’d been holding in would spill out.

When did everything change?

I couldn’t pinpoint it.

Maybe it was my thirteenth birthday. Angelica wore a velvet dress our parents had bought just for her. I wore one of my mom’s old sweaters, too big for me. When Adrian came over, his eyes went to her first. His ears turned red.

Maybe it was the spring camping trip in ninth grade. Angelica pinched me by the lake on purpose. When I shoved her back, we both fell in. Adrian dove straight for her without a second of hesitation.

He told me later he’d thought she was me.

But we had the same face. She looked like a princess. I looked like a charity case. How do you mix that up?

Then Angelica shifted in Adrian’s arms and turned her head toward me.

She flashed me a smile, bright and triumphant, and her thumb found the controller.

A silent command fired through the chip. [Smash the glass.]

My free hand, the one without the IV, grabbed the glass and hurled it to the floor.

“Rafa! How long are you going to keep this up?”

Adrian seized my hand, his patience finally gone.

“We just want you to grow up and stop treating Angie like garbage. We brought up a few things you did, and you’re already smashing stuff and throwing a fit.”

“I was actually thinking about getting you that exam. But this? This proves you’ve been faking it the whole time.”

Angelica ducked behind him, her smile wider now, though her voice still dripped with hurt.

“Adrian, I just talked to Cassian. He said possession can come back, so we should try blessed water first and see how she reacts to the ritual objects.”

She pulled a small glass bottle from her handbag, dripped water onto my forehead and wrists, then held a protective charm up to my face.

I’d been lying on the hospital bed like a mannequin. Rigid. Empty.

Then my neck spasmed, and my eyes dragged themselves toward Adrian.

Angelica’s eyes went wide. She gripped the bottle like she was watching something unholy claw its way out of me.

I didn’t know what happened. Something inside me fought the chip with everything it had, and for one second, I broke through.

My eyes locked onto Adrian’s.

There was so much I needed to say. I wanted to scream for help, demand answers. But I couldn’t force out a single sound.

Adrian frowned. “Rafa, you…”

Something wet slid down my cheek.

His eyes went wide. “Why are you crying?”

Angelica’s face shifted.

She reached into her pocket and pressed something.

Pain detonated at the base of my skull, right where the chip sat.

Everything went dark.

I had no idea how long I was under before a sliver of consciousness came back.

When I opened my eyes, I was sitting in a corner of the living room at our Crestview Heights house.

The place was unrecognizable. Blue and gold ribbons wound around the arched windows, and champagne glasses sparkled beneath the chandelier. A banner stretched across the fireplace: [Congratulations to Angelica on Her Admission to Aldercrest University!]

The acceptance letter sat in the center of the long table.

My SAT score. My application essay. My design portfolio. The photo was even my face.

Only the name was Angelica’s.

Guests drifted through the room in clusters, crowding around her with congratulations.

My dad walked past me and shot me a look. “Today is Angelica’s day. Don’t make a scene.”

I heard my own voice answer, flat and hollow. “Okay, Dad.”

He nodded, satisfied. “You’ve been a lot more cooperative lately. Cassian’s second cleansing must’ve finally done the trick.”

Adrian found me later. He couldn’t quite meet my eyes.

“Rafa, I know this wasn’t fair to you.”

“But Angie’s not well. She’s been fragile her whole life because she could never measure up to you.”

“If she can’t use your scores to get into Aldercrest, she’ll never get another shot at her dream.”

“You’re smart enough that even if you skip a year, you’ll figure something out.”

“We’ll get married when we’re old enough. You don’t need some big career. You could just… take care of things at home. That’d be enough.”

“Rafa, just let this one go. For her. Okay?”

I nodded. “Okay, Adrian.”

He visibly relaxed and walked away.

He didn’t notice my index finger trembling at my side.

Every ounce of will I had left went into that tremor, screaming for him to look, to notice, to help me.