It was a Saturday morning and Cole was playing out in the front yard with his fluffy like usual. He was ten years old and maybe getting a bit too old to be focusing on just playing with the biotoy, but truth be told it’s not like he had many…or any friends other than him. Chewy was the stallion’s name because he was big, brown, and shaggy just like Chewbacca. Also he loved Charleston Chews but they hadn’t even known that before naming him. Currently the fluffy was covered in a thick sheet of black mud which caked down against his usual shaggy, bits of it drying and cracking away with a powdery wisp. They had been playing Army Men and Chewy had been the new recruit crawling through mud and carrying a gun shaped stick to fight the bad guys.
“Look at this cool bug, Chewy.” Cole mentioned, bending down to the grass. A shiny blue beetle perched on top of a pile of leaves, taking a defensive position once it realized something was nearby. Pushing up next to his owner, Chewy bent down and blipped his tongue curiously against the buggy.
“Ew! You licked it!” Laughing to himself, he watched the fluffy do it once again much to the beetle’s growing annoyance.
“Nummies am soon?” He didn’t want to eat the beetle, before you start thinking that. No, they’d been out all morning doing all sorts of fun stuff and it’d been many fowebbas since they had eaten. On a Saturday that meant watching cartoons on teebee with big bowls of cereal. Yup, Chewy got his own bowl of cereal too. They’d stuff their faces, play with action figures, and babble loudly until big daddeh yelled to keep it down.
Cole shrugged a bit. “You know mom’ll call us in. I think she’ll make grilled cheese. All you ever think about is food!” Reaching out and poking Chewy’s chubby side, he made the stallion giggle and shake his head.
Running off to a small structure made out of old slat wood, he’d wave the fluffy along. This was their clubhouse. Supposedly the neighbors said it was an eyesore but the pair found it absolutely cool. Small windows were cut out in the wood, and the inside was filled with a few things. A small comforter and a pillow, for example. Some nights during the summer they’d sleep out here. There was a battery powered camping lantern hanging from a nail, a few cool pictures of Pokemon push-pinned to the walls.
“Alright, Chewy. We’re going to play space. I’m the captain because I’m the oldest.” He instructed the fluffy who was ever dutifully the ensign. Not like the stallion ever cared. This was too much fun to care about roles!
So they began playing and letting their imaginations run wild. Going to the moon? That was kiddie stuff. There was nothing there anyways except a bunch of craters. Today they were going to Mars. Everyone knew that the red planet was full of shiny gems, though fiercely protected by martians.
“Look out, Chewy!” Cole peeked out the window and saw a robin chirpy-chirpin’ out in the yard and pecking up a worm. Popping up beside his owner, Chewy puffed his cheeks out.
“Fwuffy see da awien, daddeh.” Fur bristling, he was ready for whatever role he should take. Reaching down to the floor, Cole scooped up a slightly warped purple Frisbee.
Looking to Chewy, he took on a grave voice. “OK, this is the scouting beacon. I’m going to send it out but you need to get it back fast, alright?” Watching the fluffy nod and agree to brave the inhospitable martian landscape outside, he leaned out and sent the Frisbee sailing out the window. With a buck out, Chewy was already chasing it along.
At first it sailed in it’s intended direction. Usually it stayed somewhat straight, though it had a slight hang to the left because of it’s warped condition. Today though a warm spring breeze pushed out across the yard, rustling blades of grass. It picked up, sent a hearty gust along the yard. Instead of slightly veering left, the toy instead altered direction and was sent in a spiral out to the right. What was to the right, you may be wondering? A street.
“Fwuffy am getchu, am hewp daddeh!” Chewy giggled and pranced along in the grass after the Frisbee. It took a moment for Cole to realize the Frisbee had veered off course, and he’d pull out of the clubhouse entrance.
Running out toward his fluffy, a hand shot out as if he’d suddenly get Mr. Fantastic powers and be able to grab him up. “Stop, Chewy! STOP!” The stallion wasn’t listening though, instead skittering out to the street. Performing a clumsy jump to catch the Frisbee right in his mouth like a dog would. There was a moment of triumph as he looked out toward Cole, though that wasn’t long lasting. A big old white Chevy van thumped right over his back, crunched his spine and squished his innards, caught him in a tumble that along the asphalt before the rear tire smacked right over him and sent him shooting out with a streak of blood across the side of the road. Fur and a single hoof was left behind in the road as Chewy slid with a meaty smack into the gutter.
Stepping up to his friend, Cole looked down with horror and shock. Chewy was still alive, though not in any sort of state to talk. Or scream. Bones poked through flesh which had it’s fluff rubbed off on the asphalt, half of his head sunken in like a rotten Jack-o-lantern. Hooves (the one remaining, anyways) kicked out against the trash where he lay with teensy little taps. As if he were trying to run away from whatever had just happened to him.
What could Cole do? Panic ripped through his young mind, cold ripples of fear and hot coils of shock twining together. What could he do?
“MOOOOM! MOOOOOOOM!” He called out over his shoulder helplessly. There was nothing he could really do. Maybe mom could help. She had to. Please. Please help.
Down in the gutter surrounded by empty Big Gulp cups, cigarettes butts, and moldering leaf litter. Chewy’s mouth still gripped the Frisbee. In fact, he couldn’t release it. Coughing, seizing, his body shook with a furious series of shakes and shudders on the ground. Foamy white saliva built up around the plastic toy in his mouth, teeth squeezing down without agency or control until they gave way to leave bleeding shards. With one last massive wheeze and a mist of bloody droplets, the fluffy died right there. It wasn’t like the movies. He hadn’t had some inspirational or comforting words at the end or told Cole how much he loved him.
Death wasn’t so curated in reality.
++++++++
It was spring break but Cole had done nothing but keep himself shuttered away in his bedroom. Dad had put the sorry carcass of his best friend in an old boot box and dug a hole out in the yard. Lay him down to rest with a big stone over top so the raccoons wouldn’t dig it up and feast on the corpse.
His fault. All his fault. Playing games like a stupid kid had gotten his fluffy run over because he wasn’t paying attention.
Thoughts of Chewy having a seizure in the leaf litter kept playing through his mind. Shaking around, body maimed, completely unable to respond to anything. Then just going away. Just like that. One moment there, the next moment he wasn’t.
He’d tried to say something next to the stallion’s grave while his father stood by gruffly leaning on a spade. It’s not like his dad didn’t care, just he had a different reaction to stuff. His mom meanwhile had been crying. Lots and lots of crying.
Cole had cried immediately after it had happened. Shock and misery bringing them up to his eyes. Though he hadn’t done so since. Felt like they wanted to come, but they wouldn’t. Just made him feel worse, too.
“…” Lifting up an action figure as he lay on his bed, he turned it over his hands. It was Boba Fett. Chewy had eaten his little plastic gun, shook him by his cape, and buried him under some mud. It’d been his favorite. Looking out over the room, it was equal amounts stuff which belonged to his fluffy and his own junk. Or stuff they shared. A little cushion bed which he only used when Cole was at school, still conformed to his body shape and covered in stray fur. The little basketball hoop that Chewy had been trained to balance a ball on his nose and dunk into the net. Stacks of paper over on the desk of a comic which they’d been making. Well, mostly Cole had been making it with input.
Gripping the action figure even tighter, he scrunched up onto the bed and rolled over onto his side. Stared at the wall until there was a knock at the door.
+++++
It was his mom, he already knew that. Dad had mostly left him alone but she was always bringing him food. Like a caring parent should. Though he tried to eat whatever sandwich or bowl of ramen she brought, it was a losing battle because his stomach felt like it was knotted up.
“Yeah.” He mumbled toward the wall to let her know that it was fine to come in. Entering through the door, she frowned at how gloomy it was. Drawn curtains, the light was off, just a grey area with tiny slats of sunlight filtering through the cracks of the curtains. Flipping on the light, she watched as Cole reflexively shielded his eyes and grumbled. Sat up on the bed and finally adjusted to the light, glancing at her.
Mom had a tablet in her hand, something which he’d usually be attached to though he hadn’t even paid it a single thought since the incident. It’d sat plugged into the charger and forgotten about on the coffee table in the living room. Excitedly, his mom sat down next to him and pressed the device over into her son’s hands. Taking it curiously, he’d look down to the screen.
There was Chewy. Or at least, a digital representation of him. It wasn’t just any other fluffy because Chewy had shaggy fur, usually kept one ear pricked up while the other drooped down lazily. Of course it wasn’t really him. This was like a video game character or something. Close to his friend but not close enough. It was like generic cola which had been put into a Coke bottle. Prancing through a meadow and chasing a butterfly around, the fluffy looked toward the screen. Ran toward the viewer.
“Hewwo Cowe daddeh!” It said, in a voice so close to Chewy’s. Almost like…like the fluffy was attempting to impersonate someone else. Fluffies weren’t exactly great at changing their voices around and just ended up sounding like themselves when attempting to play a character. This was like that.
“H-Hi.” He mumbled at the tablet. There was a moment as whatever program running this formulated a response, an incredibly obvious pause. Giggling, Chewy hugged out. Instead of a reassuring warm squeeze, Cole just watched the screen jiggle around to simulate the action.
Looking over to his mom, he didn’t really know how to react to this. It didn’t feel right. It felt off. Whatever this was, he didn’t like it. “Mom, what’s going on?”
His mom had been crying lately. Miserable because of course she felt empathy toward her son. Loved him, after all. “It’s an AI program! You just upload old videos of a fluffy and it helps make a digital version of them. I thought you’d love it.” Hope in her voice. Wanting confirmation that he did love it, that maybe her efforts would make him feel better.
Cole didn’t love it. Didn’t want to. That thing on the tablet wasn’t Chewy. It was like something wearing his skin. It creeped him out so badly. “Yeah mom. Thanks. I do love it.” He mumbled to her. Earned a kiss and a squeeze from the woman, a hand ruffling his hair.
“I’ll let you play with him. Have fun, honey.”
++++++
Once his mom left, he glanced down to the tablet. It wasn’t his fluffy. That thing staring at him in that digital meadow didn’t have any life at all.
“Teehee! Cowe, pwease pway wif fwuffy! Wan pway!” A selection of different options appeared on the screen. Rope toys, bouncy balls, stuffy-fwends. Whatever. He’d play with it. Just to make mom happy. Finger pressing down on a rope toy, there was a moment of lag before an ad appeared on the screen.
“Yew nee’ watch bestest vibeo daddeh! Den yew pway wif fwuffy!” He was used to this kind of ad-free experience. Now it was happening in his fluffy’s voice, his dear departed friend making him watch an ad about some new television show in order to play. Not focusing on the ad, he sighed a bit and waited for the sound to end before dragging his attention back to the screen.
Finger pressing down on the rope toy, he watched as the digital fluffy masquerading as Chewy sank his teeth against it. Though we know what happened to those pearly whites, don’t we? Cole had watched them shatter away as a seizure gripped his tiny body. Dragging digital rope around, he shook the stallion back and fourth. Digging his heels back against the meadow backdrop he found himself in, the AI giggled and finally released it after enough time had passed.
“You’re dead, you know.” Cole told ‘Chewy’, fingers digging into the tablet. Squeezed down, his fingers hurting at the force of it. “You’re dead and it’s my fault.”
That expected moment as the AI processed what Cole said. It gave a tilt of it’s head, smiled a bit. “Nu! It nu am daddeh fawt! Chewy am otay!”
After the horrific thing which had happened, that anti-climatic event which only left a great gaping wound of suffering in his heart, Cole had thought about that a lot. Imagined it like in the movies. Maybe he’d be holding Chewy in his arms and he’d give a brave smile and say it wasn’t his fault.
This wasn’t really his fluffy, but the words made him feel…slightly better. Or maybe he just wanted to believe in something so the hurt would go away.
“Thanks Chewy.” The name felt weird in his mouth. It actually took some effort to push out, like sand had been packed against his lips.
++++++
Cole found himself becoming increasingly distracted with the tablet as the day progressed. It was easy to: Still spring break, nothing to do. Things he didn’t really want to think about.
The AI program wasn’t perfect though his mom had programmed it with various big milestones they had experienced together.
“Membah when fwuffy an’ daddeh gu tu camp?” Chewy asked, smiling as he tumbled around on the ground through blades of grass which clipped through his digital form.
Brightening up for a moment, Cole nodded. “Yeah! And we chased Jenny Henderson with a frog!” He immediately went to thinking about it. That’d been last year, summer camp with Chewy at his side. Getting up to mild hijinks and making crafts. The fluffy stinking up their group’s cabin because he ate beans for dinner.
“Yis! An’ den Jenny faww down an’ cwy!” That’s not what happened though. Jenny had instead went and tattled on them to a camp counselor and the two had to sit out going on a canoe later that day, much to Chewy’s great relief of not having to go out on the water.
“No. That’s…that’s not what happened.” It had assumed something. Tried to build onto a story that it only had bits and pieces of. Not a memory at all.
After that, Cole was done with the tablet for the day. It sat on his nightstand, waiting patiently to once more try and worm it’s way back to his attention.
+++++
Around one in the morning. It was dark in Cole’s room as to be expected, though he suddenly woke up when light started to shine around his bed. The tablet was on, several happy noises coming from up. Taking the device into his hands, he dragged it over to sleepily question what was going on.
“I’m trying to sleep…!” He bemoaned, though the AI fluffy just puffed out his cheeks a bit.
“Chewy wan pway! Pwease watch vibeo an’ den pway wif fwuffy!” Alright, this thing was starting to get annoying. Placing the tablet onto the table face down, Cole buried his face back into the pillow and tried to get further shut-eye. Yet it wasn’t done yet.
“Daddeh Cowe nu wub fwuffy? Bad fwuffy? Dat am wry Cowe make fwuffy go fowebbah-sweepies?” Came the voice of the AI, that mockingly close but not quite there tone of a soul which was currently buried out in the front yard. It felt like someone had just grabbed his heart and squeezed down. Wrenching himself up, the kid picked the tablet up and brought it to close.
“You said it wasn’t my fault!” He whispered. Tried to anyways. The AI gave a waggle of his tail and a tilt of his head. Beady, glassy eyes which had no life at all stared into Cole’s own. Greasy uneasiness crept up on him. It’s like that program wasn’t looking at him at all but right through him.
“Yew gib Chewy fowebbah sweepies an’ naow dun wub abin. Yew suuu bad! Fwuffy hab bigges’ saddies now.” Simulated tear drops glistened at the fluffy’s eyes. So fake. Yet Cole felt his preexisting guilt over what had happened make it’s way through his brain.
He was just a kid. Just a kid and he hadn’t meant to cause Chewy to get hurt. Of course not. In a perfect world where he had a more mature mind and could make better decisions, he’d have ignored the tablet. Maybe told his mom what had happened.
An ad popped up on screen. Watching a commercial for a McDonalds, Cole numbly stared ahead. Bounced a virtual ball around a meadow landscape which felt more and more barren the longer he looked at it.
++++++
The next day, he spent so much time with the fluffy AI. His mom, thinking that her idea for an approach to make him happy, smiled on in approval whenever she leaned in to watch him playing with or speaking to the device.
“Daddeh Cowe, pwease take bestest surbeys fo’ fwuffy. Chewy WUB surbeys!” Giggling, the fluffy displayed a survey on screen for Cole to fill out. Selection options without any kind of thought or consideration, he just did as asked.
“Chewy, I want to go outside.” He told the AI, looking toward his window. A nice spring day out there and break was almost up. It wouldn’t be the same without his trusty fluffy, but…but it was better than this. Even the pang of misery of seeing the grave or where the stallion had died would be worth it.
Shaking his head, ‘Chewy’ positioned himself right in front of the screen. Tapped a hoof against it with a simulated tapping sound. “Nu weab fwuffy! Fwuffy am yew fwend su nu weab!”
Sighing heavily with a weight on his shoulders that made him feel sixty years older than what he actually was, Cole closed out of the program. It didn’t actually suspend the program, instead putting it in the background. Chewy could interact with him as he used the browser and looked at videos or whatever.
“Yay! Wub yewtoob vibeo!” Giggling came from his speakers just to remind him that the AI was there running in the background. Watching some Minecraft stuff or whatever would help him feel better or get him distracted from this bizarre situation.
Something caught his eye though while scrolling Youtube. Banner ads were nothing new. They were always they and kind of just background noise.
This was, no, no way. It was Chewy in an ad. Not a digitized version like the AI was. No, this one was realistic looking. More clarity than the optimization the program had to possess in order to run.
It was Chewy. His fluffy. In a big, bulky diaper. A speech bubble above the brown stallion’s head read ‘EVEN I’M A BIG BOY IN MY HASBIO DIAPERS!’ with a ‘buy now!’ link.
“That’s not Chewy. THAT’S NOT CHEWY!” He yelled at the device, hands shaking with juvenile rage. His best friend had been lots of things. Goofy, too excitable, a giant snack hog. Not this though. Tears of rage pricked at the corners of Cole’s eyes. His fluffy had never been a diaper baby.
“Teehee…am Chewy!Chewy am bestest abbytisement!” Wiping at the corners of his eyes with the heel of his hand, Cole scrolled even further down the app. More and more ads, each featuring different simulations of Chewy. There he was hawking cheese stuffed crust Pizza Hut, one of him talking about car insurance, another where he was blabbering about Walmart’s low, low prices.
“Stop it! Stop IT! That’s now Chewy! Get him off of here!” Looking toward the door, Cole resolved himself to go tell his mom. Finally tell her. Whatever she had agreed to was insane. Even he could tell this was a huge breach of privacy and standards. If he could realize how fucked up it was, imagine how badly she’d react.
Dropping the tablet, Cole popped up from the bed and went to the door. Stopped in his tracks. The fluffy AI was giggling.
“Yew beddah wisten tu fwuffy! Fwuffy am teww ebby mumman an’ daddeh yew gib Chewy fowebbah sweepies! Dey haechu fowebbah!”
Could he do that? WOULD he do that? Feeling paralyzed, Cole returned to the tablet. Looked down to it, found that his old guilt had come roaring back.
He watched more ads. Chewy cooed from the screen.
“Fwuffy wub yew!”
++++++
That night he actually went without being interrupted by the tablet. The last few had been ones where he’d woken up at strange times by the AI wanting him to watch ads or speak to it. It kept asking more and more questions. It kept wanting to learn about him.
Cole dreamed. Out in the front yard, sitting in the clubhouse with Chewy. Not the AI, this one was real. The way the sun caught in his fur and gave it a sleek sheen, that musty smell he always had, the lopsided smile he always possessed.
“Chewy wub yew, daddeh.” It told him, going to squeeze against his leg with a hug. A hug he could feel. Didn’t matter if this was a dream or not. This was a real hug full of warmth and weight.
“…” Hanging his head in shame, Cole brought a hand out. Cupped one of Chewy’s ears. That one which always drooped down.
“I love you too, Chewy. I’m sorry got you killed.” Tears pricked at his eyes. He he hadn’t been able to cry in real life since what had happened initially. Now they came freely. Slumping his shoulders, he was wracked with sobs. Giving his owner reassuring pats with one hoof, Chewy smiled a bit.
“It otay daddeh. Fwuffy nebbah be mad. Yew bestest daddeh.”
A dark shadow loomed over the clubhouse entrance. Fluffy shaped, though twisted. The voice which was not-quite-Chewy’s calling out: “Fwuffy am get’chu! Teww ebbyone!”
Puffing out his cheeks, the dream Chewy resolved himself and tugged on his owner’s hand. “Fwuffy am hewp daddeh gib wowstest dummeh huwties!”
+++++
Jerking up in his bed, Cole found himself slicked with sweat. Hot streaks made long trails down his cheeks from when he’d been crying while dreaming. Glancing over to the tablet, he seized it up in his hands. The movement caused the screen to flicker to life, the AI up and ready to get his attention.
“Hewwo daddeh! Pway wif Chewy? Chewy wub yew?” It asked him, running around in circles. Gritting his teeth, Cole went out into the kitchen and shoved a stopper into the sink drain. Slapped the faucet handle, watched as it began to fill up.
“Daddeh? Pway wif fwuffy?” He didn’t answer it.A blue flash of light to indicate the phone’s camera had opened up. Got a view of the sink filling with water. Screeching and then whimpering, Chewy slapped his hooves against the screen helplessly. Dark clouds gathered over the meadow he was kept in.
“Dun gib fwuffy huwties…yew huwt fwuffy awweady.” The AI told him, trying to plead.
Cole looked to the tablet. Took a deep breath, flipped it the bird. Felt like a badass doing it too. “Chewy wouldn’t say that.”
That hadn’t worked, so the AI pressed itself closer to the screen. “Fwuffy am teww ebbyone yew gib fowebbah sweepies! An dey haechu! Fwuffies ‘fo huggies an’ wub, nu fowebbah sweepies!”
Steeling himself, he came to the conclusion that it was OK. If everyone found out he was really the one who had made Chewy die, it was OK. It never really occurred to him that nobody would care. Not one single person would. It had mattered to him, but now it didn’t. Slamming the tablet down into the basin of water, he caused water to slosh up over the edges. Bobbing up to the surface momentarily, there was a horrible cacaphony of digital feedback before the screen went black and sank down.
For the first time in awhile, Cole felt something resembling relief.
++++++
HASBIO IN HOT WATER OVER AI PRIVACY CONCERNS
After explosive reports of users experiencing great breaches of privacy regarding it’s new AI fluffy app, a Hasbio spokesman has been quoted as saying:
‘The users agreed to everything in the user contract. In regards to children having shocking encounters with our state of the art AI, the user clause clearly states they must be 13 or older, or have parental permission.
Allegations of misdoing on Hasbio’s part are taken with the extreme moral gravity required of the situaton. Those feeling as if they’ve experienced trouble with our app are open to send an email with their feedback.’