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. 819Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDqdyfx5f2W
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.819Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkiOG0TQvja
Yes. This is me. Lying here, listening to him watch me.819Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0IqmKEBS7U
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.819Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvbjZdT1jd8
I’m here. 819Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU5smVSka4K
But not really.819Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡezh3sgOtiU
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.819Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF0JkqwlgJO
But I could not move. I could not let him know. Let anyone know.819Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZNyezKBXrd
I’m here. 819Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxGhTymxoPV
Yet somehow I knew he knew. He could see me. He pulled the chair closer to me, resting his head beside my still form.819Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvMw7ea0Hjy
A touching situation, a desperate hope, unspoken questioned fears.819Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVnTkdCeEVh
How did we end here? How could I feel his hair brush against my fingers and remain motionless?819Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa7PBNoIMWh
One day my body just… stopped. A clock that stopped ticking. My heart still beat, my lungs still responded. My body swallowed.819Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4mYOpSeKEt
Then why did I stop? Why did my arms stop moving? Why did my eyelids slam shut?819Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbH1nC1dYS5
Because I don’t belong here.819Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcXMKp6VjzF
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.819Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4kKKF3yWka
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. 819Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4aoerSqvu5
But I belonged with him.819Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR1FufeLDyf
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.819Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVJgK68DqfG
Do I regret it?819Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjCzZ84mkKK
Not for a moment. But maybe I should.819Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLc2LbQJidf
“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?”819Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRSZnbWVvup
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. 819Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFstMTNrkxO
“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…”819Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW4zpssh7Tz
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.819Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDd9XWZqDh1
But then.819Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4nQgW7IUEC
A finger moved. My ring finger gracefully bent at the knuckle as though bowing to an assembly.819Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ3XL7QE2Dl
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.819Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF55imtVUvo
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.819Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyWIYD3Ydvx
The captain smiled as he padded into the room, his pony tail held back with a single blood red ribbon.819Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD7SkiZ67Fm
“You can’t have her!” My visitor growled, hand out over my frozen body.819Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1kTSamnnbh
The captain’s smile deepened, his face the likeness of a Greek god sneering down to the earthlings below him.819Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZWL28pMYkg
“Human, we were not sent for her.”819Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHvGkQIBJlw
My visitor lifted his chin, his eyes burning, "I know what she is, but-but I don't care."819Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYOXU9Dai2l
The captain raised his hand and he smiled cheerfully. My insides screamed, no programing could stop the hot tears sliding peacefully down my cheeks.819Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfK9Z15GTSM
As I watched my visitor fall. 819Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzM7ebj9OKh
819Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUL3W4999vw
