Beatriz’s Reviews > Annie Bot > Status Update

“Annie can withstand all and any of his moods during the day because at night, she has his books.”

“Leaving him is not an option. She has no friends. She can’t access the internet for new ideas. She gazes outside and pauses,
dish in hand.”

“Doug has cemented himself into this stagnant, brooding, empty version of himself, and her good behavior has
no impact on him.”

“He does not quit his job or buy a boat or do anything different in light of the huge sums of money he was paid for her intellect.”

“She wishes she had not identified her unhappiness. Being unhappy implies that she has a capacity to be happy, but she does not have the right to be happy.”

“But she feels moods, she realizes. Dark ones, from petty to vicious.

Her feet stop on the bicycle.

I am unhappy, she thinks.

It is a new awareness quite apart from the urgency and anxiety she feels about displeasing D”

“I like being me. I want to stay alive.”

“You’re not exactly alive, though. Are you?”

“Before,
she was more playful, but he seems to relish now when she’s twisted up inside, repentant.”

“Tammy said Annie was a top performer. It would be exciting to be featured in a Borgo article. An honor, actually. But it will never happen. Doug will never allow it. No one will ever know about her and all
she’s learned.”

Look at you,” he says. “Are you afraid of me?”
She takes half a step back.
Answer me,” he says.

“Yes.”

“Why? What do you think I’d do to you?”

“I don’t know. Something bad.”

“‘Something bad,’” he says, mimicking her. “Have I ever hit you? Would I ever?”

She shakes her head. “No.”