“My head is a mess. Random things just pop in and out and I don’t know what to do with them. If I’m lucky, I can make out a full sentence, but mostly, I just have to make do with phrases and bitten-off words.” Rajeen shook her head as she glanced at the girl sitting on the bed. She hated doing work like this the most. Trying to make sense of what an Abnormal was thinking just from the chaos in their heads made her want to strangle them. She felt filthy whenever she had to do a testimonial on them, but she had no choice. She was a Senser and she had to do this kind of work. After all, not only was she perfect for this deplorable position, she was also unqualified for any other position she was biologically permitted to have. No matter that she felt they were tainting her; she couldn’t be choosy. It was either this or starve.

The door opened and Rajeen quickly looked back at what she was writing. “Are you almost finished now? My little Jenny needs her rest.” It was the girl’s mother coming to check on her. ‘Fuck you…’Rajeen thought, ‘if you’d just killed her at birth you’d have a lot less trouble and I wouldn’t have to be here writing what she “supposedly” feels. Why couldn’t you have called me when she was already dead?’ But Rajeen kept her mouth shut. Couldn’t have clients taking back money they’d already paid her.

“I’m almost done Mrs. Timothy. Jenny’s a very obedient girl and she isn’t fighting me at all. You should be proud of her,” Rajeen replied, sickly sweet. ‘Gawd…when do I get to stop sucking up to these idiots? Dammit! I wish I had a little more power. If I wasn’t such a low-level mind-merger, a Senser, I wouldn’t have been stuck with these demeaning jobs. ’

“Really, that’s good to hear.” Mrs. Timothy quickly bustled over to Jenny’s side and started wiping her forehead. “You hear that Jenny dear, you were a perfect little Sendin. Not many people can just go under without fighting off Sensers you know.”

‘Yeah right’, she had to hold back a snort, ‘this Abnormal, a Sendin, I had to drill her head before I could even get far, nearly drilled mine in the process, too.’ Rajeen continued writing what little she could sense through the chaos in Jenny’s head while keeping an eye on the mother at the same time. ‘Any minute now she’s gonna’ start blubbering and crying. I have to do this fast.’

After two minutes of stroking Jenny’s forehead, Mrs. Timothy started to cry and let out little gasping sounds.

‘Here we go’, Rajeen rolled her eyes behind the monitor where Mrs. Timothy couldn’t see her and started typing faster.

“She was such a good little girl, you know. She always smiled…”

--‘like a vacant-eyed doll probably’—

“…and laughed…”

--‘like an idiot, which she is’—

“…and she was always cheerful…”

--‘did you figure that out from brainless laughter coming out of her mouth?’—

“…I thought the disease would get her later, like it happens with most children. I thought she’d get at least ten more years, but…”

Rajeen hurriedly swiped the Timothy’s data card on her laptop’s data port before she had to listen to any more of the woman’s blubbering. “Uh…I’m done now Mrs. Timothy. That’ll be three-hundred datacreds please.” Giving the card to Mrs. Timothy, she lifted her hand so the woman could see the AIChip on her wrist and start the transfer.

“Wait, don’t I get to read the testimonial first?” Mrs. Timothy said, while wiping her tears at the same time.

“No Mrs. Timothy. It’s against Senser rules. You can only read the testimonial after I’ve left the house. You might not like it and want me to change it. In order for a testimonial to stay uncorrupted, a Senser must be at least outside of the vicinity before it is read.

“Oh…Okay.” She passed her Cred Card over the AIChip in Rajeen’s wrist. “But won’t you at least stay for a snack?”

‘And do what, listen to you blather on about your dying daughter?’ Rajeen smiled apologetically. “Oh I can’t Mrs. Timothy. I have another call after this, (thankfully, a dead one). I can’t afford to be late.” Rajeen walked towards the door with Mrs. Timothy following her.

“All right then. But do come to visit anytime.”

“I’ll bear that in mind Mrs. Timothy.” Rajeen walked faster outside the house to where her hovercycle was waiting, leaving Mrs. Timothy by the doorway. She hurriedly sat and put on her helmet then passed her AIChip over the HCycle access pad. The cycle came to life, and lifted two feet from the ground. As she lifted out of the holopad, she heard Mrs. Timothy shout a thank you behind her.




“Who was that honey?” Mr. Timothy walked to stand behind his wife in the doorway.

“It was that dear sweet Senser we paid to write a testimonial for our daughter.” Mrs. Timothy said, while closing the door at the same time.

“Sweet? Last time she came here she couldn’t wait to leave?” Mr. Timothy smirked.

“Well. Who wouldn’t act like that, with the kind of daughter we have?” Mrs. Timothy calmly replied as they started walking to Jenny’s room where pitiful cries were starting to come from.

“That’s true.” Mr. Timothy said as he opened their daughter’s door. “Well, at least now, our job’s about to be finished. It took us years but she’s finally going to die.”

“Yes, and it was quite expensive too.” Mrs. Timothy said, looking impassively at her daughter.

“Imagine, an Abnormal in the family. Well, I hope this will be the last.”

“Yes, I hope so too.” Mr. Timothy said as they gazed at their daughter together. Looking on as she gasped and choked, letting out pitiful mews and finally…stopped moving.

“We’re done.” Mr. Timothy said.

“Yes. We’re done.” Mrs. Timothy replied.

The twist at the end was a bit unexpected. It leads a person to think that there's more to the story than you are letting on...which I presume was your purpose in the first place. But because of the unexpected twist at the end, it leads to more questions rather than a satisfactory legion of answers. More information on Sensers and Abnormals would be nice. You could also extend your story a bit. You have a nice plot going, and I love it that your character is a mite cynical. I don't know what to think of her though. Don't you think she just sort of disappears at the end?