Mike peered into Jeff's room, the heavy stench that develops in "lived in" bedrooms greeted his nose. "Hey Jeff did you..." the room was empty "want some breakfast..." Mike finished flatly.
Mike stepped into the room unsure if he was more furious or sad that Jeff was causing such a mess of the family... over the last year Jeff had been acting much more independently, which is to be expected in the teen years, but he had been doing so in ways that feel secretive and disrespectful.
It was a 50/50 chance between sleeping all day or being gone before anyone else is up. He is never around to help with chores, and he has made it clear that Mike, his step dad, could do no right. They were never particularly close, but recently, Jeff's emotional absence has included his mother and making plans on top of family functions.
Mike's options were limited, ground Jeff until Jeff respects him, continue to reach out and hope Jeff magically realizes Mike doesn't have to be the nice guy, or let his wife handle Jeff when she's already feeling hurt by him...
Mike glanced over at the computer realizing the monitor was on. He walked over to turn it off when the phrase "Perfect Punishment Package" leapt off the screen in large bold font. Two distinct ideas immediately crossed his mind, the first being that his step-son was planning on intentionally hurting someone, the second being kink related.
Mike froze mentally preparing himself for what he had to do. As a parent, now aware of a situation, he had to be sure Jeff wasn't going to hurt someone else's child. Mike froze again, realizing he was hoping that he was about to find Jeff's porn site and feeling beyond awkward.
Nervously he grabbed the mouse and read the description several times... "Is this some kind of intention based Wicca site?" Mike muttered relieved that he didn't find porn or weapons. He clicked the "target" field not realizing that it wasn't a website and hoping to see a history of prior entries.
Mike's heart skipped a beat when he saw his name, his wife's name, and Jeff's name as available target's now certain Jeff is putting the whole family's information out on the internet. Incensed, Mike clicked on Jeff's name and clicked next, determined to figure out what this site is about and resolving to have a serious discussion about privacy when he see's Jeff next...
The program gave a popup asking "What about Jeff makes you angry?" Mike scoffed and began thinking of suitable punishments for exposing the family... A second later, "Deeper concerns, such as personality flaws or deeds specifically filled with malice, are more helpful." Mike recounted the last 5 years where Jeff simply refused to give Mike a break or meet him half way with anything, and it has just gotten worse. Mike was beginning to feel sad again.
"Good! Know that your grievances are accounted for and reconciliation will be possible after a week!" The program had taken the emotional state of the user into account to determine desired outcome. Mike was confused by the program validating his emotions. "Is this some kind of therapy website?"
"Please bring the emitter within range of Jeff." The last popup didn't have an okay box or X in the corner to close it. Mike couldn't do anything, didn't know what "the emitter" was, or where Jeff is. So after contemplating the "website" and a good bit of fruitless clicking he turned off the monitor like he originally intended and went back to breakfast after disabling the WiFi.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jeff came home around 7:30 and went straight to his room without letting anyone know he was home. He realized several years ago that not being around means less chores and less having to do things he doesn't want to do. Also earbuds with the lights off and the door shut grants plausible deniability when ignoring people. Which is why he didn't hear the computer beep when the Chronivac detected him in range and began asking him questions.
After several minutes of fruitlessly reading Jeff's mind the Chronivac switched gears and forced Jeff to recount his feelings toward Mike.
Jeff was watching some videos about a guy making homemade thermite and despite how sciencey it got, the ignition followed by molten metal made up for it. Mid video Jeff began thinking about all of Mike's shortcomings. He's out of shape, he drinks, he smokes, he plays poker until late every other Friday night. Mom could do so much better. Jeff didn't care when they were just dating, he even kind of liked the guy, but out of nowhere they decided to get married! Mike isn't a doctor, or a lawyer and 13 year old Jeff was just fundamentally certain his mom could find him a better step-dad. He hadn't reevaluated those feelings since deciding he didn't like Mike after hearing about the engagement.
"Thank you, processing!" the Chronivac chimed.
Jeff thought he heard something and looked to his computer, the monitor was off so he assumed the PC was asleep and he was hearing things.
"Analysis complete! Initiating changes."