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. 723Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcEkuabjrVw
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.723Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcxamkhKMet
Yes. This is me. Lying here, listening to him watch me.723Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ4sGDu2yvA
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.723Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRfbNbXhzek
I’m here. 723Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjMOuRmLKqx
But not really.723Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuAYCPauPcb
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.723Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcPUnrgXV5F
But I could not move. I could not let him know. Let anyone know.723Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7jp60ylho0
I’m here. 723Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDQNVQNQeP2
Yet somehow I knew he knew. He could see me. He pulled the chair closer to me, resting his head beside my still form.723Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQjhvsuYbFJ
A touching situation, a desperate hope, unspoken questioned fears.723Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXzPeb0Adgo
How did we end here? How could I feel his hair brush against my fingers and remain motionless?723Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn3B2RRViyD
One day my body just… stopped. A clock that stopped ticking. My heart still beat, my lungs still responded. My body swallowed.723Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡplIDe3oEMU
Then why did I stop? Why did my arms stop moving? Why did my eyelids slam shut?723Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmnn47ZdXHI
Because I don’t belong here.723Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgZNUZEqGjp
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.723Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6ZSrlbVjab
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. 723Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTvNWgPYkKU
But I belonged with him.723Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzf8oRsOYyL
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.723Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzmBWBzc7J6
Do I regret it?723Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPJ6OGtbdp1
Not for a moment. But maybe I should.723Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzznvwzqaOj
“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?”723Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUmX7vpypk8
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. 723Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEylKjbgJms
“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…”723Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuYuqtvahKJ
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.723Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYFMwEGjLNV
But then.723Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC2UL6AaSpa
A finger moved. My ring finger gracefully bent at the knuckle as though bowing to an assembly.723Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjmdV9tZnc3
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.723Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrWixrjTmhi
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.723Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6KybOy2udz
The captain smiled as he padded into the room, his pony tail held back with a single blood red ribbon.723Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF1jmZ2YucG
“You can’t have her!” My visitor growled, hand out over my frozen body.723Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDmvCIMAdzX
The captain’s smile deepened, his face the likeness of a Greek god sneering down to the earthlings below him.723Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoHmZ1q3n17
“Human, we were not sent for her.”723Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcbf6rgtsBx
My visitor lifted his chin, his eyes burning, "I know what she is, but-but I don't care."723Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ogg0Yt04y
The captain raised his hand and he smiled cheerfully. My insides screamed, no programing could stop the hot tears sliding peacefully down my cheeks.723Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYvMvSX6zyH
As I watched my visitor fall. 723Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAC1wvm7YlG
723Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCykvRNmQSP
