[ WP ] After inventing and successfully testing a method of teleportation , the inventor develops a phobia of seeing or feeling straight edges and sharp angles . You 're a reporter interviewing the inventor in her specially outfitted room at a private psychiatric facility . You discover she 's not crazy .

“ Do you know what it ’ s like to have people think you ’ re crazy? ” Caroline said, shifting slightly and glancing down at the cuffs around her wrists. “ What it ’ s like to have to spend your days in a tiny room, void of anything but a rock-hard mattress, a shitty pillow, and concrete walls? ” 
 
 “ I can ’ t say I do, ” I said, moving the tiny, black recorder closer to her face. I was n't supposed to have it; I was asked to bring nothing but paper, which would be reviewed upon my exit. I snuck it in assuming it would be caught, shoved it into my bra and forgot about it. Somehow they missed it during the pat down, its plastic contents not setting off the metal detector either. 
 
 I ’ d been waiting for the chance to interview Caroline for months now, fighting tooth and nail with the corrections department to allow me access. They didn ’ t want to, but once I brought their refusal to the public, they had no choice but to accept. The idea of one of the greatest inventors in history being refused basic visitation rights did n't exactly go over well in the public's eye. 
 
 “ It sucks, ” she continued. “ It fucking sucks. You think I ’ m crazy, don ’ t you? That I lost both her and my mind that day? ” 
 
 “ I don ’ t, ” I lied, clearing my throat. She certainly looked crazy, her peach-colored hair matted down on one side, the other half reaching wildly toward the eggshell white ceiling above. I ’ d done plenty of research into her, reviewed and read everything she ’ d written or said in the months leading up to the invention, as well during the downward spiral that followed. Teleportation was nothing to scoff at—she had accomplished something the world simply dreamed of. She was brilliant, there was no denying that, intelligent beyond words—or at least she had been. Now she was a husk of her former self, a prisoner in an institution. Yes, she was clearly insane. 
 
 “ Bullshit, ” Caroline said. “ You ’ re just like all the others. You look at me and you see a great mind gone to waste. You see someone who is afraid of sharp corners, afraid of straight fucking lines. You saw me break down in public and assumed I ’ d just lost it. I ’ d think I was crazy, too, though. Anyone who fears the idea of running her hand along the edge of a metal desk, of feeling her skin grind against it, that ’ s fucking crazy. Anyone who would publically fall to the floor and refuse to do anything but scream at the sight of a table, that sounds insane. But until you ’ ve lived in my head, you don ’ t even know what sane means. ” 
 
 “ I don ’ t think you ’ re crazy, ” I repeated, clutching the recorder in my hand. I needed her to stay on my side, to view me as something more than just the prying reporter she ’ d probably seen dozens of. I wanted her to talk about the test, about the day Sarah vanished. Yes, it was a forbidden topic, and I ’ d probably only get a minute or two before staff rushed in, but I needed to know. “ Let ’ s talk about Sarah, okay? ” I glanced toward the closed door behind us. 
 
 “ You want to talk about Sarah? ” Caroline said with surprise, her eyes growing wide as she stared at me. “ That ’ s why they think I ’ m crazy, you know, she ’ s the reason they call me insane. ” 
 
 “ What do you mean? ” I said. I knew who she was, I ’ d read her entire history, from the day she was born to the moment she disappeared in that lab. They ’ d been more than colleagues, lovers living together for almost three years. I ’ d read about the fights before the test, Caroline pushing Sarah to be the first to use the machine. If it went right, they ’ d both be famous; their names would go down in history together, rather than just Caroline ’ s. The first person to successfully teleport would not be forgotten. Her loss had clearly taken a severe toll on Caroline. 
 
 “ Everyone thinks she vanished, that the teleportation worked and sent her faraway. They ’ re probably still out there pretending to look for her, searching the shores while the news cameras roll. I bet that ’ s it, right? I bet it ’ s all over the news, that they ’ re *so close* to finding her. ” She paused. “ They probably say that stress of her vanishing was too much for me, that the weight of my genius and her loss broke me. That ’ s what they say, right? ” 
 
 “ Yes, ” I said. That was the general gist of it. The test had succeeded to a degree, teleporting Sarah to another place entirely. The crews were still looking for her, waiting to show the world that teleportation would be the travel of the future—once some minor kinks were worked out. They hadn ’ t found her yet, but development on the machine had skyrocketed. The patent was sold and testing had been increased. Still, she wasn ’ t supposed to go so far. She was actually only supposed to end up a room away in a second lab. “ A slight miscalculation, ” the news anchors would laugh while praising Caroline ’ s invention. 
 
 “ Why the fuck would I develop a phobia of fucking corners, then? ” Caroline said, almost screaming now. “ You think she just disappeared and that was the end? That they ’ re going to find her? Sure, they might find someone who looks like her, because who the fuck knows what she even looks like except me? She had no family, no friends. The only other ones that knew her, they ’ re locked up too. Bet you didn ’ t know that, did you? ” 
 
 I shook my head, I hadn ’ t heard anything about that. Caroline was the only one I ’ d known to be incarcerated following the accident, the news reporting her mind had gone under the weight of her genius. 
 
 “ Let me ask, when was the last time they showed Sarah ’ s picture on the news? ” 
 
 I stared at her, squinting slightly. I knew what she looked like, but had only learned after stumbling upon her clearance photo during my research. As far as I could remember, they ’ d never once shown her on television. In fact, I recalled her photo not properly appearing during a final review of her files this morning. It was the same clearance badge, but the picture didn ’ t appear. I thought it was something to do with the browser I was using, that the image just failed to load. 
 
 “ I don ’ t remember, ” I said. 
 
 “ Of course you don ’ t remember, ” Caroline shouted. “ She ’ s faceless to you and everyone else, nothing more than a name. They ’ re going to find her, or they ’ re going to pretend to find her, but it isn ’ t going to be *her. * ” She paused. “ Do you know how much money was riding on my invention? On my creation? Do you realize how many hands are now crawling all over what they believe to be a working teleportation device? ” 
 
 “ I assume a lot, ” I said, glancing back toward the door. I couldn ’ t have much more time, the guards would be in to stop me from prying any minute now. They ’ d specifically demanded I stay off the topic of Sarah, that I would upset Caroline too much. “ The patent itself sold for billions. ” 
 
 “ Fucking right it did, ” Caroline said, no longer screaming. “ If they found out what really happened, if the public learned that it wouldn ’ t work, that they ’ d been lied to, imagine the outcry. ” 
 
 “ I ’ m sorry? ” I said, glancing down at the tape recorder to make sure it was still on. It was. “ What do you mean that it didn ’ t work? She teleported, maybe not to the right place, but that ’ s still working. ” 
 
 “ You ’ re so fucking naïve, ” Caroline laughed. “ Yes, it did work to a degree, but not how it was supposed to. Not how the math said it would. She was supposed to travel through the thin wall dividing us, specially designed to be completely the same length all the way through. The math showed it wouldn ’ t provide enough resistance to affect her particles regardless, but we made sure just to be safe. ” She paused. “ But some fucking idiot moved a small, metal desk into the room. Left it right in front of where she was supposed to appear. It was for lunch, or papers, or some shit like that. ” She sighed, lowering her head and staring down at her cuffs. 
 
 “ Go on, ” I said quietly, leaning forward unintentionally. 
 
 “ It wasn ’ t supposed to be there, but it wasn ’ t supposed to make a difference anyway. All the math showed that it wouldn ’ t, that the particles would be unaffected, they ’ d travel together and end up together. I was wrong, we were wrong. Her torso arrived a split second before her legs, delayed by the table and cutting her in half. She died a few minutes later, her screams the last words I heard her speak.'' 
 
 `` What?'' I stuttered. 
 
 “ It ’ s never going to work, ” Caroline said, again shouting, “ it can ’ t be fixed. But when I tried to explain that, tried to go public with what really happened, I was locked away in here. Stuck in a single room, with my phobia—the one I developed watching my future wife die in front of my eyes because of my own mistake—being used as a scapegoat. I ’ m not insane, I ’ m not out of my mind. I had to watch someone I loved die, and now I need to sit and watch while more people will die. It will not be fixed, it can not be fixed. ” 
 
 Something smacked into the door behind me, the sound of keys fumbling with the lock on the thick before twisting. I grabbed the recorder and stuffed it back into my bra, then stared up at Caroline. Her eyes were locked on mine, her body shaking slightly. 
 
 “ Please tell them, ” she whispered. 
 
 “ Mam, interview is over, ” said a gruff voice from behind me, followed by the sound of footsteps. 
 
 I stood up, eyes still locked on Caroline, and slowly nodded as a man ’ s hand wrapped around my forearm. 
 
 “ Let ’ s go, ” he said, pulling me toward the door. 
 
 
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