He thought she couldn’t hear him. But she could. She could hear him sliding into the room, moving to the chair when everyone else had left. When only nurses stalked the halls, and visiting hours were for those who slept in armchairs. He was there. 740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwFnAOKhqvP
Her family didn’t like him. Not really. They had worried he would lead her away, lead her down a path she shouldn’t go. She couldn’t go. The family was good at looking him up and down, wondering what she saw…what-what I saw.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVrS8NHacmw
Yes. This is me. Lying here, listening to him watch me.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPHkVUlBHGw
Was I in a coma?
No. Not really. Not in the way that dulled my mind and lulled my senses to sleep. I’m still here.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmofX4jVt0P
I’m here. 740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGU6zNIqcO1
But not really.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxoxY25PEms
I could feel him bend down to press his lips to my pale knuckles; I could sense his eyes on my face as surly as sunlight once did.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKvNNHREgY9
But I could not move. I could not let him know. Let anyone know.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVfbgJqC5gy
I’m here. 740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFpwcm8hI5F
Yet somehow I knew he knew. He could see me. He pulled the chair closer to me, resting his head beside my still form.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpYQu5u1PIH
A touching situation, a desperate hope, unspoken questioned fears.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0a6UJ7iFCh
How did we end here? How could I feel his hair brush against my fingers and remain motionless?740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh6lvte4R66
One day my body just… stopped. A clock that stopped ticking. My heart still beat, my lungs still responded. My body swallowed.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvsxQoUxUD9
Then why did I stop? Why did my arms stop moving? Why did my eyelids slam shut?740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvgqFjj4HSw
Because I don’t belong here.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7agZXcaPWe
I’m no angel, though he always said I was. It holds no importance now. I had fallen in love with my project. I had been warned of the consequences, I know that. I had been called foolish, selfish, honour breaking, deceitful. I was a machine that was put down.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdIlPCY9bJQ
He didn’t know that. He doesn’t know what I am. He doesn’t know that I- that I’m not as real as I made out to be. I’m not a machine as such. I can think and feel, I can feel my heart racing through me as surly as any human being. If you scratch away my flesh, organs reside within. But my mind – my cerebral structure is the perfect replica of the human brain. I remember when I opened my eyes, when I looked about me and felt the white light dancing across me, turning to the eyes that boggled me through the glass. I was a baby, an infant with growing potential. I felt more than out of place within the world – I felt curious about it the way a tourist explores a new city, knowing they don’t belong, yet excited for the possibilities. 740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhU8IKTVoI8
But I belonged with him.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsY45OBXcOT
I was created for people. I was directed to guide them, to care and protect them. I loved them. Strength hidden within tender fragility, love healing blinding hate and consuming fear. Humans’ burn brightly, a fire that could heal or destroy in the same breath. I loved them against better judgement. So was it such a leap to fall for a boy who held the spark in his soul, yet shrouded in darkness? He encompassed my purpose and my love all in one human body. Was it such a shock? The computer data in my systems say it was a logical step, so logical my creators ought to have seen it coming. But they didn’t.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF53iXmf6qN
Do I regret it?740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡakretUlQTw
Not for a moment. But maybe I should.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2J1V5v0wBJ
“Shasha,” he mumbled beside me, his face planted into the hospital bed, “I heard the doctors talking… they said they were going to shut you down. What does that mean?”740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwqSqUjpDPZ
I fought my circuits. I wanted to yell, to scream, to hold him as he shook beside my still form. And yet, I couldn’t blink as he demanded answers from me. 740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUSR0iQV5AQ
“Shasha, I was hoping you’d wake up for me. I know it was stupid to think that… but I don’t know, I just hoped…”740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiLWdGRTxeu
I wanted to intertwine my fingers into his, to run them up his face and smile reassuringly into his face. But I couldn’t, no matter how I struggled.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡohn7qwhJA9
But then.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeoPSDOFytD
A finger moved. My ring finger gracefully bent at the knuckle as though bowing to an assembly.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgYQSNG9zDI
I heard his breath catch, I felt his own rough, calloused fingers running over my own feverishly, as though trying to capture that moment of freedom. My spirit – for indeed I believed I had one mustered together for one final assault.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJY8TeXEdcs
I opened my eyes to the trudging of boots in the hallway. I watched the fear and rage battle across his face as men with the logo of a snake around an apple marched into the room. He moved in front of me, attempting to block them as his instincts read their body language.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtTY8uRfbXO
The captain smiled as he padded into the room, his pony tail held back with a single blood red ribbon.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeHe5MpX592
“You can’t have her!” My visitor growled, hand out over my frozen body.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdCIr5QRc4b
The captain’s smile deepened, his face the likeness of a Greek god sneering down to the earthlings below him.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnIodOUzWLT
“Human, we were not sent for her.”740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgy8JAPeWgf
My visitor lifted his chin, his eyes burning, "I know what she is, but-but I don't care."740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8U7BvGE5iP
The captain raised his hand and he smiled cheerfully. My insides screamed, no programing could stop the hot tears sliding peacefully down my cheeks.740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNdYkhJxg1V
As I watched my visitor fall. 740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfvttSPunD9
740Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHu9ZbIhEsN
