Sara and Laura's faces went slack when they saw all of my counterparts filling the alleyway. The shoe blade dropped from the air. All thirty three of me spanning from babies to teenagers to adults.
"No." Was all Sara said, "There's no way this is him,"
Laura shook her head, "I know, he looks so useless. I still think he's a test,"
"Why would they test us? We're literally trying to keep the whole thing from crashing and sending all the work spiraling into nothing but numbers and letters,"
"Okay. But there's no way this is our issue." She gestured at eleven year old me with his leg in a boot.
I felt suddenly very offended and I wanted to know what was happening, "What do you mean?"
"We have to delete him either way." Laura said as if I had never spoken.
"Woah, woah, woah. No one is 'deleting' anyone until I get some answers." I said stepping in between the two children.
Both girls sighed simultaneously, "I don't see why we can't talk to it," Laura said with a shrug.
"So I'm an it now?" I asked indignantly.
"Of course you're an it. You've always been an it. You're not a person, you are a series of numbers and letters. You were coded by a man in real life." She sensed my upcoming question, "No, not the main simulation you came from. Real reality, where we live." She gestured at Laura, "I don't even know why I'm talking to you, but Laura has a soft spot for watching the simulations. She undoubtedly wouldn't even delete you except that your little glitch here. Is on the verge of shutting down the system. And if that happens, well..." Sarah scoffed.
"What simulation? What do you mean glitch?"
"You. Aren't. Real. None of this is. It's an experiment created by a friend of ours to prove that simulated people could make rational decisions without the help of a computer. Which, if you've seen the main simulation, clearly doesn't work."