Double Edge | WATTYS 2023 SHORTLIST + AMBYS 2023 WINNER

EPILOGUE

May 7th, 2027

Months without monitoring. Months of freedom. The cool ocean air alongside Peru pulled me in. I was thankful Kimi still had family here, people willing to help me escape. They didn't need to, but she was family. And she loved me, which made my family her family, too.

With my hands in the pockets of my cargo shorts, I watched the birds in the sky. The sun was bright, unbothered by the clouds nearby. Its rays touched the Earth without remorse, but I needed the light. The heat was nice. It was natural, compared to how I lived my life.

"Papi!" Tiny feet hurried across the sand. I glanced back and saw Maggie hurrying over to me with a small bowl in her hands. Her pink dress blew behind her, her jewelry flapping up and down as she moved. When she reached me, I scooped her up without waiting a second. I playfully struggled to see what was inside the bowl.

"It's for you!" she squealed.

"Oh?" I blinked down at the bowl filled with fruit. They were cut unevenly, and some looked like hearts. "Did you do this?"

"Mhm!" She wiggled her little shoulders. "Kimi let me help!"

"Oh, she did?" I looked across the sand and at the little tent nestled at the start of the beach. My mom sat in a wooden chair with a book in her hair. Anthony swatted at a fly while Kimi pointed at the papers in front of him with a pencil. We may have brought him with us to save him from what had happened, but we wouldn't let him neglect schoolwork. He needed to learn.

Like Kimi, whose organized thoughts and ambitions helped get us this far. And her heart, big enough for more than just herself, saved me and my family from the darkest parts of my soul. When she looked up and saw me staring, she smiled and blew me a kiss.

I grinned like a goofy kid.

"Are you going to eat it?" Maggie pouted.

I glanced at her. "Of course, mamita, I—"

Words passed over my eyes. It had been months since my computers powered on. I remained dormant for a reason. We lived isolated to ensure that. But when the Paxton Corp. logo appeared over my left eye, I knew they were looking for me.

Gently, I placed Maggie back on her feet. "I'll eat them, baby, but can you give them to Kimi for a second?"

She looked up at me, blinking. "Okay, Papi," she said as she started down the beach. Without looking back, she added, "I'll keep them safe!"

I smiled at my daughter's love. And I kept that smile as a chime went off in my head. Buzzing followed. Connection established.

"Giovanni Solis," Griff's voice echoed in my head.

"Solís," I said, chuckling slightly. "I know it's been a minute, Griff, but how did you forget to say my name?"

"Where are you?" Griff's voice cut in and out. "We need to locate you and—and we need to reestablish a secure connection."

I turned and faced the ocean again to keep Kimi or anyone from getting suspicious. A bird flew low above the water for a fish to snatch. Just like Paxton Corp. searching for me. "I'm not going to tell you that, Griff. I thought you figured me out." I rocked on the heels of my feet.

"Do I need to remind you that I own you?" Griff growled.

"No," I said as the bird failed to grab lunch, but tried again. "But it looks like you lost me, so make someone else. That's what people do when they lose things, right? They just buy another one."

"Do you know how much you cost, Gio?"

I watched as the bird managed to catch something. It wasn't a fish, but an octopus. It carried it into the air, trying to fly away. Trying was the keyword. "Do you know how much I don't care?"

The octopus' tentacles wrapped around the bird's neck and torso. The bird, squawking into the wind, tried to bite at its prey when it turned the hunter. In seconds, both of them plummeted into the water. I laughed.

"When I find you... it'll be hell to pay, Gio," Griff hissed. "I'm giving you the opportunity now to come forward and surrender."

"Manual controls accepted. Resetting login controls."

"Ah, you see Griff," I rolled my head around my shoulders as I set my computer chip back to the factory settings, before the updates, before the little changes that happened for months, "I don't think I want to surrender. I've done that enough in my life."

"This time you don't have a choice," Griff shouted. I imagined him at his desk screaming into his phone; I knew his anger. Wasn't a good feeling when it took over, was it, boss?

"Factory reset complete. Power off?"

On the top of the water, I saw a small bump of the bird's head as it resurfaced. The octopus had won, and the bird, though dead, wouldn't be enough for a meal. The sea creature escaped. That was all that mattered. "I have choices, Griff. That's what you keep forgetting," I said, looking up at the sky. "And you'll find me when I'm ready to see you. But until then—" My computer's menu hovered over power off for more than a second. "Kiss my ass."

I blinked, and the selection was made. The call instantly severed. The soft buzzing in my head only lasted a second before it stopped, replaced by the waves beating against the sand. I settled into the tranquility of my freedom, my second chance at life. I was what I wanted all along.

"Babe?" Kimi had come across the sand and stood behind me. Her hand settled on my arm before I took it out of my pocket. Then she linked our fingers. "What happened?"

"Nothing," I said with a smile. "I was just the bigger person, that's all."

"What?" Kimi blinked up at me. The wind blew and pushed her loose hair into her mouth.

I laughed and freed the strands. Wrapping my arm around her, I turned her back towards the tent. "Hey, you ever seen a bird get killed by an octopus?"

"Um, no?" she whispered.

"Shit, it's something," I laughed. "Something you'd never think was possible."