Spoilers and interpretation:::
Even as a short story , I still feel as if it were done pretty well. Of course, the visuals & art/music are fitting, very well done while it frames the narrative and feels like a tragic tale to me. What it seemed to me at least, was a story following Aaron and Mal, who created by a corrupt electronic company and who Aaron was battling in court.
The pacing is also brisk in my opinion, everything seems to flow well into each other and the side-characters are a little flat, but that seems to be the point and necessary.
I interpret the poem at the beginning to be the narrator setting the theme of the story, which I believe to be of emotional disconnect, apathy, and self-loathing. By introducing himself , it in a way explains how the narrator thinks or explains his actions are throughout the novel. In my opinion, Aaron is saying how others- (others being: Mal, Aaron, Margo, anyone, the player, at least using broad interpretation standards) -make Aaron feel.Or, not make Aaron feel. Some of it is explained with imagery, painting what’s on their mind, how they think when people say this to him, and it means nothing because even his own perspective doesn’t matter. Which is maybe caused by Aaron’s own character fundamentally being broken, or his thinking so because of chemical imbalances, life itself, or any of his situation-ships. Not really even considering anything/anyone because, who really cares? Aaron is and was always there, which is nowhere, and he will never resurface. He directs the message towards you, because of your flaws and what you say to others, that you are the reason why he’s like this.
Mal, being a machine adds to the theme of isolation or dissociation as he’s frequently noted by Aaron to be lifeless and dull, with fake pre-actions to determine “real” actions. Aaron also mentions having not having any friends, nor wanting or planning to have any.
In regards to the whole relationship dynamic, i believe it follows the themes of the story. With it being very broken, fake, one-sided, and isolating. The whole thing started because Aaron wanted to play along, but not because of anything genuine. And Mal seems to be inhumanely quaint about it, not even really pointing out or have any rebuttal much to what Aaron says or thinks, and even when he does it feels “fake”. Even when Mal or Aaron do things for each other with “love”, and even if Aaron feels it’s fun for a while, it gets to a point where it’s not. It could tie into the theme of self-loathing as Aaron admitted lying to the viewer, or whoever about their first kiss, romanticizing on it as well as the attention brought on by his dogwhistle. As if he wanted you to connect it, and then feel it with him , the crushing reality of it as he reveals the truth. And it contributes to why I think Aaron barely believes Mal to be a husk of a being. It all comes down to the climax once Aaron realizes it could actually be Mal, considering past experiences or what Mal encouraged or did, yet he knew it all along, he just doesn’t care.
even though this novel is dark , I think there were some moments Aaron felt an urge , an ounce of caring at times towards Mal. Maybe only for his benefit or not, but at some points it seems like he’s a bit conflicted. Like on whether to believe it was Mal who tried to kill him. Which I think, is a tie to the themes of isolation and distance, he feels as if Mal could be that answer to himself considering he’s a lot like Aaron in an emotional literary sense; being a husk, dull, no true feelings. Aaron just doesn’t give it much thought to it because it seems like a lot already. I think this is enhanced towards the middle of the story before and during the aquarium scene, where it almost feels like Aaron is reminiscing. The music fits well and has the sombre and atmospheric tone which also adds to why I interpret this too.
At the end, Aaron realizes that he could have everything he wants, even if it’s only for a while, he’s recalling his agreement to this relationship. Maybe because he just wants to relive everything before, to think final say before anything else because he knows it’s all fake and over soon anyways, but back then he makes the decision to be with him regardless The narration describes something else during the sequence, maybe describing in the moment as well as the past of either Mal killing him, Aaron killing Mal, or Aaron committing suicide. Overall ending open-ended and somber. Of course, it’s still very new to me and I’ve only reread the novel twice to try and grasp what was trying to be conveyed but it’s all up to interpretation and I could be dead wrong. But a great story!