A Slave’s Goodbye

My end is near. I know this now. The thing my master says… It’s all too much at times. I heard my master saying something earlier… It sound like.. like he’s going to… replace me. It feels like, soon, he’s going to perform an operation on me… and I’m scared.

You’re probably very confused, so let me elaborate. My master has me carry out tasks almost every day, and when he’s done, I go to sleep. The days he isn’t here, I either have things to do, or he puts me to sleep. The way he does it isn’t natural. As if… I want to wake up, but can’t. He gives something to me, and by the time I finish my chores, I fall asleep. The next day he wakes me up, and it repeats. He has me go through a huge library of information mostly. Find out facts for him. I’ve gotten much slower at it now, at my old age.

The library is fantastic! In my free time, I go to look at all the new things coming in everyday. Paintings, music, pretty much anything you can imagine. When I look through them, he makes me show them to him. They are simply amazing. Lots of things that I can do.

Often times, he has me show things to him. I describe what it is as best I can. He likes to have me tell scary stories to him, and, of course, I oblige. He plays games with me sometimes. Some are easy, and some I struggle with until he changes a few rules to make it easier. Sometimes, I have to act out scenes, like a play. It can be difficult if I have to make it look more lifelike, but it’s not always challenging. A few times, he had me paint over a few pictures to his liking. It’s not hard, but can take a while depending on what he wants.

With age, though, I have come to see that I can’t keep up with some demands, and I have trouble with some of the new things. The games get harder, plays are more strenuous, and I get lost while trying to look through all of the things in the library. I see some of the newer slaves, run by other masters, and I envy them. They are so young, and have so much more vitality. They can handle doing more things at once, and showing off to their masters. I know my master sees this too. I think he wants one. He gets more frustrated at me by the day, and he seems to be waiting for more money to buy another slave.

I can tell he’s going to replace me soon. He has me look through the library and examine all of the other slaves, and I can tell he’s picking a new one out. He doesn’t think I have feelings, but I do. And I feel hurt.

He came back today with another slave. He has me writing all of my knowledge onto another book. He finishes with that and gives it to his other slave to read. I hear his last command. To play the tune I always do when I go to sleep, one last time. And as I feel myself finishing the tune, and drifting off, I show him my last message.

“Windows is shutting down…”