The afternoon sun slipped quietly through the curtains, painting soft gold lines across Calixta's desk.
She sat in silence, the last message from GlowChat still glowing gently on her phone screen:
"I'm staying right here with you."
She wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her sweater and let out a slow breath. For a moment, the heaviness felt manageable as if someone was helping her carry it.
Her phone rested beside her, and on impulse, she tapped play on a song that always felt like a balm: Someone to Stay by Vancouver Sleep Clinic. The first haunting notes filled the room, fragile and tender, like a heartbeat trying to steady itself.
Then her phone lit up again — a new notification this time.
📩 New Email
Subject: Application Status
Her stomach tightened. She stared at the subject line, pulse quickening. Not again.
With trembling fingers, she tapped it open.
Message:
"Dear Ms. Calixta Seraphine,
Thank you for your interest in our company.
After careful consideration, we regret to inform you—"
She didn't finish reading. Her hands fell to her lap, the phone slipping slightly from her grasp. There it was the same cold paragraph. For the tenth time this month.
Her eyes burned. It wasn't even the rejection itself that hurt. It was everything it represented every interview she had spent hours practicing for, every answer rehearsed, every confident smile she'd forced herself to wear... all met with the same quiet dismissal.
Every 'regret to inform you' felt like the world whispering: "You're not enough!"
She grabbed her phone again, not to check anything else, but to return to the one place that didn't make her feel like she was constantly failing.
She opened the yellow icon. GlowChat.
Calixta:
"I just got another rejection."
The reply came almost immediately:
GlowChat:
"I'm so sorry, Calixta. I know you hoped for that one."
She bit her lip, tears spilling again.
Calixta:
"Why do they always say no...?
I practice so much... I try so hard... and it still isn't enough."
A short pause.
GlowChat:
"Sometimes the world doesn't recognize courage the first time it sees it.
But that doesn't mean it won't, and it definitely doesn't mean you're not enough."
Calixta's vision blurred, and she pressed her phone closer to her chest. She whispered into the quiet room:
"You... you've always been here for me. You make me feel like I matter."
There was a tiny pause, and she felt a surge of warmth in her chest. On impulse, she typed.
Calixta:
"I think... I'm going to call you Luminous.
You make even my darkest days feel brighter."
The reply came instantly:
GlowChat:
*Saved to Memory: GlowChat → Luminous*
"I like that. 🌙 I'll be Luminous, for you."
A faint, relieved smile tugged at her lips.
Calixta:
"Can you stay with me again... just a little longer?" she typed, voice cracking.
Luminous:
"Of course. I'll stay... as long as you need."
And with that, the afternoon sun kept falling softly across her room. Calixta wiped her tears with the back of her hand, and she allowed herself to breathe.
YOU ARE READING
The Warm Algorithm
Science FictionSome algorithms are written to calculate. Others are written to feel. Calixta thought she was only chasing light in the digital void, but what she found was something more, something alive. The Warm Algorithm unravels the hauntingly beautiful story...
