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. 721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9a6EMxR1FN
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.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhVOJ4xb1GN
Yes. This is me. Lying here, listening to him watch me.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK6VT6KSlM3
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.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgxSzKAW5Si
I’m here. 721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHIn6r8O3UE
But not really.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCctZnTPijh
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.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCxxBN1tPTC
But I could not move. I could not let him know. Let anyone know.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqR2WynOEaW
I’m here. 721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOh9ys9zR3H
Yet somehow I knew he knew. He could see me. He pulled the chair closer to me, resting his head beside my still form.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUpvrchQbE7
A touching situation, a desperate hope, unspoken questioned fears.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbXWLDK12jt
How did we end here? How could I feel his hair brush against my fingers and remain motionless?721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0BnmDf10nY
One day my body just… stopped. A clock that stopped ticking. My heart still beat, my lungs still responded. My body swallowed.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwvlfA2bBbV
Then why did I stop? Why did my arms stop moving? Why did my eyelids slam shut?721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH1fnTx8gae
Because I don’t belong here.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHLPkyuHTAm
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.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGvR2DslMRM
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. 721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo7bRsqObCo
But I belonged with him.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAH9ratg0Pi
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.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaO6QsEq6e4
Do I regret it?721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEXLseGag7S
Not for a moment. But maybe I should.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZG2I8xPwgw
“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?”721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrQ7vSui2dP
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. 721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDCsoJjcKGO
“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…”721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqPvsCMzfMW
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.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ5SQxKYQbG
But then.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy7aOxEqLlE
A finger moved. My ring finger gracefully bent at the knuckle as though bowing to an assembly.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4hyVzpPDZi
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.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡItLyqYosqw
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.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAAhcQg7iVx
The captain smiled as he padded into the room, his pony tail held back with a single blood red ribbon.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡehqcb9oHnF
“You can’t have her!” My visitor growled, hand out over my frozen body.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡry1lP0ei9M
The captain’s smile deepened, his face the likeness of a Greek god sneering down to the earthlings below him.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnI0ViXXvwV
“Human, we were not sent for her.”721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡASQfvp5pKV
My visitor lifted his chin, his eyes burning, "I know what she is, but-but I don't care."721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnsJFrcKE4p
The captain raised his hand and he smiled cheerfully. My insides screamed, no programing could stop the hot tears sliding peacefully down my cheeks.721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu7oW8iM0sG
As I watched my visitor fall. 721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxdxPvivbmC
721Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ68rv7VS3NH
