Clashing Obsessions

Chapter 5 - Kalix

He's a genius. An actual computer genius. Which is annoying, given that I'm usually a little frustrated by people who are better than me.

Not that OutlawResolve is necessarily better than me, but there's no denying that he's good. Suspiciously good... but then again, maybe I'm a little suspicious of everyone. All hackers are, and we've all been even more on edge since the UNBI started investigating us more closely.

Anyway, I've been looking into his work all day, and almost got caught twice being distracted in school, but it was worth it. I normally like to keep up-to-date on my competition, at least vaguely. I usually don't research their projects in depth, but Outlaw, well, something's different about him — something about him just doesn't fit with the hacker cliché of a grumpy loner compsci nerd who can't get a girlfriend. There's a complexity to his code that I haven't seen anywhere else. His programs are constantly evolving, the later ones completely different than his first few jobs. He's learning, not just copying and pasting like so many others. Something tells me he isn't just doing this for extra cash — I think he's passionate about it, like me. Who knows, maybe he also has a boring life and needs an escape.

Not that I'm trying to psychoanalyze him or anything. I don't know his motives, and it's none of my business, anyway. I don't even know him. Besides, let's just say, if I were to plot my ability to understand people on a cartesian plane, it'd be in the third quadrant — negative on both axes.

OutlawResolve wasn't the only distraction to my school day, though. This morning, I got a message from my older sister that almost made me drop my plate of waffles.

She's coming to visit this weekend.

Idra is possibly the only good thing about my family. My dad's dead, my mom basically doesn't exist, and any extended family I have lives on the other side of the world and couldn't care less about me. They all lead normal, meaningless lives, going about their days like typical bricks in the wall. My sister, on the other hand, is anything but normal. She's only 22 — six years older than me — and already has an excellent, well-respected job at the government Peace Department. After having only worked there a year, starting right after graduating university, she's already risen to an exceptionally high position in the agency for someone of her age and experience. Not to mention, she maintained a social rank of A since the end of high school, above average by any standards, but especially high compared to my rank of C. What can I say, I'm not a people person.

Yeah, my sister's amazing, but am I excited for her visit? Not in the least. She's not just a good, successful person, she's perfect. Annoyingly perfect. Miss Idra Raven, the young genius. It's like she never does anything wrong, and everyone knows it, too. They all look at her the way I wish someone — anyone — would look at me. Like she's worth something. It makes it hard not to hate her sometimes.

Not that I do hate her... Of course I don't, she's my sister, and I'll always love her. Not to mention, she's the only one in my family who actually cares about me. Still, her visits always make me uncomfortable, like I'm nothing compared to her.

The more I think about it, the more I always wonder if I'm nothing at all.

Why could she be coming home this time, anyway? She doesn't visit often, usually just for the holidays, unless she has a good reason. I think she doesn't like to see my mom the way she is. It's not something I like to think about, but maybe it's easier for her to pretend we don't exist.

Seriously, though, I need to stop trying to psychoanalyze people. Roxanna's always been good at that kind of thing, but I can never figure anyone out. Computers make so much more sense than humans.

Algorithms always follow logic, doing what they're programmed to do, and... that gives me an idea. Maybe if I make a list of all the possible reasons for my sister's visit — recent events, changes in our family — I'll be able to deduce the most likely one. Yeah, that way, when she arrives, I'll be prepared.