Help, My Son's A Robot And I Can't Relate To My Robot Son!
I'm making a book about a dad who found out his son is a robot and his marriage is slowly falling apart. Will his problems be resolved? Or will he end up like his father? Find out when I finish the whole story, here's CHAPTER 1.
CHAPTER 1: The Notice And Finding
Life has been feeling weird lately. I mean, how could it not? My son's finally hitting puberty and maturing, but he's not doing the things I did when I was going through puberty, like making bad decisions, kissing girls, making bad decisions, getting HAIRY, and just… a LOT of bad decisions. The one thing I was excited about when I first became a parent was getting to help my kid through stuff like this, like how my dad wanted to, but couldn't, and his for him, and so on. Except he's been doing just fine on his own. He hasn't even needed me to hand him dinner, he just extends a very robotic looking arm and hand until it hits the plate. I’m pretty sure he doesn't even eat dinner, although I have been seeing him sneak in bites of bolts and screws. My wife noticed this, too, except she's a lot more smarter than me. I guess she got suspicious, and started bringing up the idea that our son might be a robot. Of course, like any reasonable parent or person, I didn't believe her. Except, deep down inside, I knew… MY SON IS A ROBOT! Just got that feeling, ya know? THE FEELING THAT MY SON IS A ROBOT. I immediately panicked, but my wife, Rose, managed to calm me down. I had questions, a lot of questions. Has he always been a robot? Has he replaced my son? WHERE IS MY SON IF THIS ISN'T MY SON?! Rose had the same questions, and more, but neither of us had answers. I raised the point that we're not sure if he even is a robot, and we should test to see if he is. Of course, we're already certain that he IS a robot, 100%, but I think we both needed hope to believe that he might not be a robot. We didn't know how to test him safely, and without him figuring out that we were testing him. We had no idea if he, or it, was like The Terminator, I hated that movie, and would try to kill us if we found out it was a robot. Rose didn't agree that we SHOULD waste our time testing what we already know, and risk death if the robot found out. So we didn't. But I did. Sometimes, I just don't know about that woman. I still love her, though. Love actually wasn't the reason we married, but that's a story for later.
Well, now me and Rose can say with certainty, even though we could before, that he is a robot. I, surprisingly, managed to figure out that A.I. can't lie, so I just asked him. Or it. Or them. I'M NOT FAMILIAR WITH ROBOT PRONOUNS. Anyways, my son said “Yes, father. I am a robot. When will you plan on telling mom?” I paused, a single tear falling down my eye that I quickly rubbed away. That hurt. Not the fact that my son was a robot, the fact he called me “father” and Rose “mom”. When he was younger, he would say “Mommy!” Or “Daddy!”, and I was expecting some in-between like “Dad”, but he skipped straight to father. I guess that means he respects me more. But I don't want to be respected. I want to be his dad, not some businessman that gives him orders and pays checks. I continued to ask him questions. We continued the talk as normal. “Rose already knows, we talked about it before. I'll still tell her.”
“Good idea.”
“I have more questions.”
“Tell me, I will answer.”
“Are you my son? And if not, what did you do TO MY SON?!” I quickly managed to calm myself down, but I realized I didn't need to. He didn't react to anger, or my previous sadness that I'm sure he saw.
“I've always been a robot. I was younger than, learning through experience like a normal kid. I didn't feel emotions, but I thought I did. I acted like a normal kid, I WAS a normal kid. Until I figured out I was a robot, and now I act like this. I'm sorry if this upsets you, I truly am.”
“It… I… I'm fine. Thanks. For talking.”
I quickly walked away, to Rose. “So, did your idea work?”
I tried to force a smile, but Rose could see through it. She's better at everything, even things I didn't know she could do.
“Sure did!”
“Well, is he a robot or not?! Don't keep me waiting!”
“Yeah, he's… he's a robot. We had this whole deep talk, he called me father, I don't wanna talk about it. So… how do you feel about all this?”
She didn't answer me, and instead walked away, tears glistening in her eyes and falling to the floor. I walked after her, but she went to her room and locked the door before I could even try to help her. I'm gonna try to teach my son emotions, but I don't know if it will work. I'm hoping it will. I want him to feel emotions, I want “Dad!” back, because I never got to feel it. I'll try tomorrow, but for now, I have to sleep. I wonder if robots sleep. He did before, but that was before he knew he was a robot. I want to relate to him, but I don't know how. “I'm gonna find a way. I'm gonna find a way. I'm gonna find a way…” I thought, before drifting off to sleep on the couch. I hadn't slept in a whole day, and I forgot how good it felt to finally go to sleep, even if it is on a couch, without my wife, and knowing my son's a robot. Even if I can't bring him back to emotionally being a human, I'll still love him, and Rose will still love him, and he'll still love us, even if he can't. I just know it. If there's one thing I know more than Rose, it's that that WILL happen. My dad used to say that no matter what, even when no one else was, he would be there for me. That happened when I was only seven. I really hoped he could keep a promise, but it turns out he couldn't. “I'm sorry son, I can't do this anymore… Just know… I love you.”
Those were his last words to me before he shot himself when I was only eight and a half, just a year and a half after he made the promise. I still love the man, and I don't blame him. He was going through a rough divorce with my mom at the time. And to top it all off, he lost his life savings in a bet over the 1986 superbowl. I remember it clear as day, I was seven and a half at the time, I'm thirty six, now. The game was the New England Patriots Vs. Chicago Bears. I was rooting for the Bears, and cheered and laughed and cried happy tears when the Chicago Bears won. I was a kid who wouldn't stick to logic and always rooted for the underdogs. I got confused when my dad panicked and ran out with three men chasing him, but I realized one and a half years later when… Well, you already know. He shot himself. It's hard to bring up. Traumatizing, really. I don't wanna be like that for my son. This whole time, I've been calling him “Son”. Rose is the only one who's called him by his real name, Todd, and maybe I should start. Maybe it will help us bond. Maybe. Hopefully. No, it will. It will… won't it? That's the only question I need answered.