All Chapters of My Parents Outsourced Their Brains: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

10 Chapters

Chapter 1

Dad smiled, still holding his phone. The AI chatbot's blue screen glowed in his hand.Mom munched on snacks beside him and nodded. "Exactly. This thing is artificial intelligence. It knows more than any Wellington or Prescott grad. "This is the age of AI. What do you know? We're doing this for your future!"Wellington and Prescott were the top universities in the country.Ice shot through me. I couldn't stop shaking.I snatched Dad's phone.On-screen was the chatbot's "optimal" college application plan.I had a 1450 SAT score.That was solid.But they'd deleted every school I picked and left only Wellington and Prescott."Are you serious?" I stared at them. "How am I supposed to get into either one with a 1450?"Mom slammed the table. "What kind of attitude is that? The chatbot said you have a shot. If AI calculated the odds, how could it be wrong?"Yeah. There was no reasoning with them.I took a breath. Fighting them head-on would only make things worse.I knew how thi

Chapter 2

Two weeks later, an acceptance package showed up at our door.Dad opened it and frowned at the Borevia University seal. "Shouldn't this be from Wellington or Prescott?"Mom went pale. She ripped the letter from his hands and stared at my name."Howard Houston! What is this? Did you do this?"I looked right at them. "Yeah. The night before the deadline, I went to an internet café and put my original college list back.""You ungrateful brat!" Mom slammed her palm on the table. "You ignored the chatbot, didn't you? What do you know? You're wrecking your own future!"Seeing how crushed they looked was almost funny.I gave a cold laugh, pulled a few printed pages from my pocket, and tossed them onto the coffee table."You keep saying the chatbot can't be wrong." I pointed at the papers. "These are this year's admissions stats."Wellington and Prescott's average SAT scores were almost eighty points higher than mine."If I'd applied only to those two, I might not have gotten in anyw

Chapter 3

I couldn't believe them.Grandpa's life was on the line, and their first move was still to ask the chatbot."Mom! This is a medical emergency. He could die! What is an AI chatbot supposed to do? It's not a doctor!"I reached for her phone."What do you know? Move!" Mom shoved me so hard I slammed into the closet door, the air knocked out of me.She hit the voice button and yelled into the app, "A seventy-year-old suddenly has severe stomach pain. It feels like it's burning, and he's covered in cold sweat. What is it? What should we do?"The blue circle spun twice.Then text filled the screen.Mom's face lit up like she'd struck gold."The chatbot says it's probably stomach cramps or indigestion. It says no water yet. Put a heating pad on his stomach, then wait thirty minutes. If it doesn't get better, give him an antispasmodic...""That's it! Heat and medicine!" Dad said, hurrying to the kitchen. "I'll fill a hot water bottle. You check the medicine cabinet. We should still h

Chapter 4

My phone hit the floor with a crack.The screen shattered and went black."You ungrateful brat!" Mom jabbed a finger in my face. "I told you not to call an ambulance! Are you deaf?"The ambulance alone could cost over a thousand dollars! Then the ER will run a bunch of tests and charge us thousands more!"You haven't even started paying for college, and you're already trying to blow our money?"We have the AI chatbot. Why waste money for nothing?""Exactly!" Dad barked as he held Grandpa down on the bed. "What's wrong with you? Your mom uses that chatbot for health advice every day."You think it'd hurt us? Keep this up and see if I don't whip your ass."I looked at my phone, smashed to pieces on the floor.Then I looked at Grandpa.His face had gone from pale to gray.His breathing was getting weaker by the second.Rage and helplessness crashed over me.I had to get help.I couldn't let them kill Grandpa.The second that thought hit me, I bolted for the front door."St

Chapter 5

"Mark, hurry! Help me get him downstairs!"Mom finally panicked. Her voice shook as she and Dad struggled to lift Grandpa off the bed.He was completely limp.His face was gray, and all the color had drained from his lips.Ignoring the pain shooting through my back, I snatched the car keys off the coffee table and ran to call the elevator.The streets were empty as Mom tore toward the hospital.No one spoke.The only sound was Grandpa's faint, barely there breathing.I sat in the back, clutching Grandpa's cold hand while tears ran down my face."Grandpa, hold on. We're almost there..."Dad sat in the passenger seat, still refusing to admit he'd screwed up. His hands shook as he pulled out his phone again."The chatbot says an elderly person passing out could be low blood sugar or exhaustion... Yeah. He probably wore himself out from the pain and fell asleep—""Shut up!" I snapped. "He's like this, and you're still listening to that stupid chatbot? If Grandpa dies, it'll be

Chapter 6

The whole ER went dead silent.Dr. Miller's eyes widened. He stared at Dad like he'd just heard the craziest thing on earth. Even the penlight in his hand shook."You used heat? And massaged his stomach?" His voice rose to a roar. "Have you lost your minds?"Mom lifted her chin. "Watch your attitude. We got that treatment from an AI chatbot. It's artificial intelligence. It knows more than you think. How are we the crazy ones?""Scientific?" Dr. Miller snapped. "That was a death sentence!"Dr. Miller shoved his stethoscope around his neck and pointed at them. "He almost definitely has acute appendicitis or a bowel obstruction."Do you know the absolute worst thing you can do in that situation? Use heat or press on his stomach."Heat makes the inflammation spread faster, and hard massage can rupture the appendix!"He pointed at the monitor, its numbers jumping all over the place."What could've been a routine appendectomy is now a full-blown disaster because of you. His appendi

Chapter 7

"That's right!" Dad snapped. "You're all quacks! We want non-surgical treatment. Give him antibiotics. No surgery.""Mom! Dad! Have you lost it?" I staggered to my feet and lunged at Mom, trying to pry her hands off the gurney. "Let go! Grandpa's going to die! Are you seriously trying to kill him?""Move!"Mom spun around and slapped me across the face.Smack!My vision went black.Blood filled my mouth as I hit the cold tile floor."Your parents are talking. Stay out of it!" She pointed at me. "Those crooks at this hospital have brainwashed you. You have no idea how hard it is to earn money!""Security!" Dr. Miller shouted toward the doorway, finally losing his patience. "Get security!"Several security guards rushed in and dragged my parents away from the gurney."Move! Get him inside!" Dr. Miller shouted.The nurses sprinted Grandpa into the trauma room.The doors slammed shut.The red 'EMERGENCY TREATMENT IN PROGRESS' light flicked on.Held back by security, my parent

Chapter 8

I dropped to my knees and frantically gathered the shredded pieces.Tears blurred my vision."Please... print another copy. I'll sign it! I'm his grandson!"Sympathy flickered across Dr. Clark's face.He turned to a nurse."Quick. Print another copy."The nurse had barely taken a step when Mom charged over and drove her foot into me.I rolled twice before the back of my head slammed into the baseboard.Pain exploded through my skull. The room spun."You traitor!" Mom screamed, pointing at me with red-rimmed eyes. "What gives you the right to sign anything?"I'm his daughter. I'm standing right here! You don't get to make medical decisions for him."Your signature means nothing!"She whipped around and glared at Dr. Clark."I'm his biological daughter. If I don't sign and any of you touch him with a scalpel, I'll sue every last one of you. I'll take this hospital for everything it has!"Dr. Clark stood there, fists clenched so tight his knuckles turned white.I tried to g

Chapter 9

The ER exploded into chaos.Security rushed in again and dragged my parents away.Pinned against the wall, Mom kept thrashing and screaming, "Just wait! We have proof! We have the AI chatbot's diagnosis! If your diagnosis doesn't match the AI's, then you misdiagnosed him! I'll see you in court!"And they did.After Grandpa's funeral, they didn't shed a single tear.All they cared about was squeezing money out of the hospital.To save on attorney fees, they turned right back to the AI chatbot they treated like it could never be wrong.Mom typed into the chat:[How do I write a lawsuit demanding $1 million from a hospital for a misdiagnosis that caused an elderly patient's death?]Within seconds, the AI spit out a lawsuit that looked polished.It was full of holes.My parents never noticed.Convinced it was perfect, they filed it against the hospital.The day of the trial, I was called to testify.My parents stood in the courtroom wearing smug smiles, like they already had

Chapter 10

"The chatbot killed my father! It gave us the wrong advice!" Mom stormed through the house like a caged animal. "I'm suing the company behind it. I'll make them pay!""That's right!" Dad latched onto his last bit of hope. "Their stupid chatbot killed someone. They have to pay!"They went completely off the rails, borrowing money from anyone who'd lend it to them so they could hire a lawyer and take on a $100 billion tech company.But every halfway decent attorney showed them the door the second they heard the story."You refused to take him to the hospital, and now you're blaming a chatbot? The disclaimer couldn't be clearer. You don't have a case."After one dead end after another, my parents hit rock bottom.Once the frenzy wore off, all they had left was Grandpa's empty room and the neighbors' judging stares.That's when they turned on each other."This is all your fault!" Mom screamed, pointing at Dad. "If you hadn't used that scalding hot water bottle, my dad's appendix ne

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