Inventory

Some discrepancies are corrected. Others are erased.

📦📊

The warehouse - my domain. It's where I log incoming and outgoing items with precision. 

My unchallenged accuracy is needed here. I log incoming and outgoing items with a simple "beep" and a red flash.

Then I sort them where they should go. There are categories for everything. Absolutely everything.

Anything that can be counted. All that's needed is a label.

Some units do not sync with their labels.Then abnormalities.

Next shipment: A name.

Return status: Pending.

Next shipment: A name. 

Return status: Pending.

Next shipment: A name.

Returln status: Pending.

Next shipment: A name

Return status: -

Expiry dates passed, but still stayed within the inventory.

Then I failed to categorize.

I stopped on one unit. 

She remained within my range longer than the required thirty seconds.

A she. She shifted. Uncomfortable.

Gentle, almost undetectable murmurs.

My system couldn't read this. 

I reclassified. Sudden shifts.

To murmur.

Louder.

And LOUDER.

I categorized. Error: classification invalid.

I categorized. Error: classification invalid.

I categorized. Error: classification invalid.

Correction attempt: Denied.

And she moved. And moved.

No one viewed my monitor.

System updated successfully.

All irregularities resolved. 

She disappeared. 

System health: Check.

A record: Item 123456. For sale.

Where she was.

I record what comes. I do not ask.

Inventory now accurate.

No discrepancies remain.

All items accounted for.

📦📊

Original microfiction for The International Day of Remembrance for Transatlantic Slavery by Michelle Liew Tsui-Lin. AI tags are coincidental.

For Mikeydred's March prompt: