Previous interviews are found here.
The button clicked, the lens came into focus, the same bone White Room was on display and sitting on a singular large table, upon a small pillow was a fiery coloured stallion with a very satisfied expression.
“this is Professor Henry Gascoigne, conducting interview four of five with subject S–47, otherwise known as ‘Danté’”
Henry cleared his throat behind the camera, paired with the sound of a small stack of papers being straightened out as they lightly tapped against his desk.
“good morning, Danté, you seem to be well”
“yus, am feew bettah”
“would you like to explain why?”
“nu, nu mowe tawkies, dummeh docta!”
“that is not a very polite thing to say. I would like to remind you that your crate privileges can always be taken from you again, should you decide to no longer cooperate with any of the researchers”
“…”
“now that we better understand one another, I would like to return to a topic of discussion from yesterday”
“otay… Wat-eber”
“very good… I’d like to talk about a more positive subject for a while, Let’s begin talking about your human mother”
“towd yew ebery-ting”
“Danté… remember our discussion about lying?”
“…”
“now, why do you think that Mary reached out to you the most?”
“cus smawty am dah bestest”
“do you believe that there were secondary reasons?”
“nu”
“would you like to know what I think?”
“nu”
“I’m going to share it with you regardless”
“…”
“I believe she reached out to you because you were the one available. Your real mother clearly had her hooves full with your special needs sibling and your brother himself had conditions and sensitivities that made him unviable for Mary’s emotional needs”
“su?”
“if my line of thinking is correct, Mary would have loved you equally to your brother”
“WIAR!”
“please calm down, it is after all just a theory”
“nu cawe! Am wie! Smawy git mowe wuv an huggies su dat meansie am bestest”
“do you know what the term ‘over compensating’ means”
“nu…”
“it means that you are trying desperately to make things right with one thing, so as to make up for a lack of something else”
“…”
“that is what you are doing right now, isn’t it?”
“…hmmf…”
“I will take your puffed out cheeks as a silent confession”
“nu cawe… Nu saysie it su nu am twue”
“that is what we humans call ‘lying by omission’”
“hmmmf dummeh docta tink yew no su mush, dummeh docta nu no nuffin, nu no any-”
“why do you watch your brother sleep?”
“wat?”
“you heard exactly what I asked, did you think that we wouldn’t clean the lens of the camera in your crate?”
“…”
“specifically you watch him breathe. We have even noted that you become noticeably under duress when his breathing slows too much for your liking”
“am smawty, am pwotec bwuvah”
“I’m sure that it is part of the reason, but why specifically monitor his breathing?”
“nu wan tawkie bout it!”
“Mary’s son was kind enough to hand over a copy of her medical paperwork to the Institute when he handed you over”
Henry began shuffling through papers while occasionally glancing over the top of them to make small mental notes of the smarty’s visible discomfort.
“it says right here that your owner was chronically ill and had become depressed… that means that she was very very sick and could not get better”
“…yus…”
“and based upon these dates it appears that her sickness worsened gradually, not long after your biological mother had passed away”
“nu wike dis…”
“did you watch her sleep too?”
“yus, pwotec fwom sickies!”
“but you failed”
“…”
“I believe there was a secondary reason that you have refused to elaborate on or even hint towards”
“nu saysie it”
“when Mar-”
"PWEASE NU! NU WAN MEMBA!
“-ary died, she did so in the dead of night, correct?”
“STAWP, PWEAS!”
“was it perhaps one of the very few nights that you did not watch her?”
"NU WAN! NU WAN! MUMMAHHHH!
“STOP THAT!”
“eep…”
“now… answer me truthfully”
“huuhuuhuuu”
“when you found Mary the next morning, hanging by her belt… how did you respond?”
“…”
“Danté?”
“wan…”
“yes?”
“…die”
“and that was the only thought running through your mind?”
“…yus… Huuhuuhuuhuuuu…”
Henry then slid a small box of tissues that he had already prepared and left on the side of his desk over to the smarty.
“and do you still feel that way now?”
“yus… Nu… Danteh nu no…”
“do you feel guilt for not being present? For not being able to watch her? Or stop her, even?”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“Dant-”
“IT AWW AM DUMMEH BWUVAHS FAWT!”
“really now? Please explai-”
“IFV DUMMEH BWUVAH NU TAYK AWW OB MUMMAH TIMSIE DEN MUMMAH NU GO FOWEVA SWEEPIES! AN IFV MUMMAH NU GU FOWEVA SWEEPIES DEN MUMMAH MAWY NU WAN DIE! HAYT DUMMEH BWUVAH! HAYTCHU! HAYT DUMMEH MUMMAH FOW WEAVIN! HAYT EBERY-WUN!”
“and I believe that is all the time we have for this morning. I will give you 30 minutes alone in the playpen to calm yourself before you are returned to your crate… thank you for your cooperation today”
“…t-tank yew…”
Henry scribbled down a few extra notes before placing an unlit cigarette in his mouth.
The button clicked, the screen fizzled, and the video ended.
Interview 5 can be found here.
