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. 841Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ75Iqeueq8L
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.841Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR2gbsmP4kA
Yes. This is me. Lying here, listening to him watch me.841Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDKTObQHhGV
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.841Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEyyLvQMzHv
I’m here. 841Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj1mwJx3j8G
But not really.841Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvb4LGneAB2
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.841Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8CcpdEttce
But I could not move. I could not let him know. Let anyone know.841Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfmRbzpBlfW
I’m here. 841Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwIeAMt1IQ9
Yet somehow I knew he knew. He could see me. He pulled the chair closer to me, resting his head beside my still form.841Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlLFaBTR5Sk
A touching situation, a desperate hope, unspoken questioned fears.841Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5xxbHqA6PF
How did we end here? How could I feel his hair brush against my fingers and remain motionless?841Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj1yfpXNjs4
One day my body just… stopped. A clock that stopped ticking. My heart still beat, my lungs still responded. My body swallowed.841Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgAkCnNSRm3
Then why did I stop? Why did my arms stop moving? Why did my eyelids slam shut?841Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqer4NsMfER
Because I don’t belong here.841Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwyjbdcFQcV
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.841Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe54ROi5psM
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. 841Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAphVpXiLhO
But I belonged with him.841Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡerI10DZNCI
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.841Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDreaZciEV1
Do I regret it?841Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOrtVNix0Ws
Not for a moment. But maybe I should.841Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRkhsXR6Vlm
“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?”841Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8xZWYRPG42
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. 841Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡINrvX629pa
“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…”841Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0YRTkRTdFU
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.841Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAQoWM1t6RT
But then.841Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8WAD7z53cH
A finger moved. My ring finger gracefully bent at the knuckle as though bowing to an assembly.841Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvxwFdBMkzH
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.841Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHdxUskSnLC
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.841Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbwaFmOvgk2
The captain smiled as he padded into the room, his pony tail held back with a single blood red ribbon.841Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbKg0qeChYq
“You can’t have her!” My visitor growled, hand out over my frozen body.841Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSTj1DEUSlB
The captain’s smile deepened, his face the likeness of a Greek god sneering down to the earthlings below him.841Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5MtDabzq85
“Human, we were not sent for her.”841Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡexJbfelB3Y
My visitor lifted his chin, his eyes burning, "I know what she is, but-but I don't care."841Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNYkYd8BRWm
The captain raised his hand and he smiled cheerfully. My insides screamed, no programing could stop the hot tears sliding peacefully down my cheeks.841Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqNLQwK65Di
As I watched my visitor fall. 841Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIioCWt3Cq2
841Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBoik2ToNqo
