‘Hello, Orlando. Please, confirm your DOB and your postcode, then sign here, before we can proceed.’ The 43Bot moved closer, stretched out its arm, and put a tablet right under their nose . Orlando had never seen such an old model before. Beep, pause, beep-beep.
‘Make it stop. Please, make it stop,’ Orlando said, hands pressed against their temples.
‘You are late for the interpersonal therapy meeting, and the one-to-one daily evaluation.’ Beep, pause, beep-beep.
‘Inter-what? I won’t sign anything before you stop that mental sound.’
The last thing they remembered was falling on the station’s pavement, while chasing the train. Beep, pause, beep-beep. A thought. T he marks on my leg! Orlando got flashbacks. One at a hospital, during an X-ray, and one in a dark room without any windows, and many beds around. They remembered trying to scratch their nose. They remembered their hands being tied up.
‘Female, 33 years old, autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia, fibromyalgia, ADHD, OCD, and PDA.’ Its voice was glitching a bit.