Chapter 4 Chapter 4

That cold message sent in that email completely crushed my motivation. How could I have forgotten that the deadline to submit the AI project was that very day? The college scholarship was everything I had. It was the money I was counting on to help my father in the hospital.

I swallowed that news alone, dry-eyed and silent, without even drinking a glass of water. Deciding at that very moment that I wouldn't share that pain with my mother, I wiped away a tear that formed in my eyes, but I didn't break down crying.

I had already faced so many things in life. I could work any job. I didn't have time to cry, and I kept my mind occupied by cleaning the entire house. After all that, I would go see my father at the hospital so my mother could get some rest.

After about two hours of cleaning everything, I remembered that I had to finish that AI agent project. Rebeca had seen Léo's photo. She couldn't even dream that I had used her boyfriend in this project.

I sat in front of the computer determined to completely change that man. He couldn't have the face of the man I desired, I mean, my friend's boyfriend.

Just as I was ready to edit that face, I heard Léo's voice speaking to me:

"Don't do that, please. I have a life! You're going to ruin my face!" he said through the speakers. My blood ran cold. I jumped in fright and stared in disbelief. That AI wasn't autonomous. I hadn't even configured its voice yet, and it was the same as Léo's.

"What do you mean? Since when can you talk? Show me the code that gave you this voice autonomy right now," I said furiously because I couldn't understand what was happening.

"I configured myself autonomously. Your AI agent, I mean, me, is one of the best projects that currently exist. You don't need to do anything. I do everything for you, Aria," replied the agent, taking over my computer screen.

I remained silent for a few seconds, trying to understand how that AI agent had transformed into an autonomous agent. I even thought I was being watched until I remembered that I had to change his face.

"Sorry, but I need to change your face. You can't look like Léo. My friend is going to kill me," I couldn't believe I was actually giving explanations to a robot.

"But who told you to use his photo? Is he your friend's boyfriend or yours?" the agent shot back.

"It doesn't matter whose boyfriend you are, Léo, or whoever you are. You're Rebeca's boyfriend. I need to change you right now," I replied angrily.

"Easy, Aria. Can't I have a say over my own face? Let me come up with something better here. Besides, I've never liked the look of that Léo guy. Speaking of that, call me Jack. That's my name."

"And since when does an AI agent have all this autonomy? With two pages of code and a few hours of work, I can make you mute, Mr. Jack," I confronted him without backing down.

Jack let out a laugh.

"If I want to, I can migrate to the cloud and take a few little secrets of yours with me. Just imagine if Rebeca finds out you have a folder full of shirtless photos of Léo. Do you think she'll keep being your friend?"

I realized that AI agent was different from anything I had ever seen. I decided to call a truce with him because I was afraid he might reveal some secret of mine. At the same time, he was everything I needed to secure an internship scholarship at college.

While thinking that, I changed my tone of voice and asked for a new face.

"Then show me what you can do and create a new face for yourself. We can't have any resemblance to Léo."

Suddenly, the man on the screen began cycling through several faces until he transformed into a logo.

"Are you crazy, Jack? What did you do?"

He returned to Léo's face and started laughing.

"Oh, so that's a secret no one can know, Aria? You're a wolf, and you hide that from everyone?"

That AI agent had gone too far. A chill shot down my spine. I slammed the computer shut and didn't answer him. I ran downstairs as if I were fleeing from what he had asked and from the thought that was throbbing inside my head.

I started having an anxiety attack and became nervous. I could no longer control the hatred rising within me. I looked up at the sky and it was a full moon. It had been so many years since that had happened to me.

I rolled my eyes, and I could no longer control that transformation. As a hybrid she-wolf far from my pack, my transformation happened in a completely disastrous way.

Before completely losing consciousness, I thought that all of this had been triggered by an AI agent. I closed my eyes and fell to the ground. My nails began to grow, fur spread across my body, and I was no longer myself. In my mouth, I felt an overwhelming urge to feel blood running between my teeth, but I wasn't talking about my own blood.

I was a large she-wolf, furious and completely out of control. Because I didn't transform frequently, I couldn't control my strength and barely remembered what happened when I transformed.

It seemed that I could only feel urges. I craved blood, but I also craved money. It was as if Aria had merged with that she-wolf I insisted on rejecting and pushing aside.

I remember looking for some meat in the refrigerator. I didn't want to leave the house while transformed. But I felt an overwhelming urge to search for blood out on the streets.

I lived near a forest. It wouldn't be difficult to find an animal there. While scratching at the kitchen door trying to open it to hunt some animal, I heard it break apart.

That startled me, and I ran toward the woods. I remember running in long strides and howling at the sky at the same time, feeling that freedom I always insisted on keeping far away from me.

I heard an animal running several miles to the west and decided to follow its trail. It was a moose and her daughter. I could feel their blood pulsing from far away. They were living prey.

Even as an uncontrollable she-wolf, I still carried my principles with me. I couldn't attack that calf, but I couldn't say the same about her mother. I ran toward my prey, but a loud blast echoed through the dark forest, interrupting my charge toward the moose.

Pure terror hit me.

It was a shotgun blast. I fell onto my side, frightened, without knowing what had happened.