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. 712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpO2R1w8owX
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.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCsT2Rvzpa2
Yes. This is me. Lying here, listening to him watch me.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHHbtJGUzI4
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.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz7pPB28CcS
I’m here. 712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9udQorLEUe
But not really.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡliVGVCguMp
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.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzcPATI30Jd
But I could not move. I could not let him know. Let anyone know.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK4qG8jpeDz
I’m here. 712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ7w55KnVvv
Yet somehow I knew he knew. He could see me. He pulled the chair closer to me, resting his head beside my still form.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYBvoyljy4R
A touching situation, a desperate hope, unspoken questioned fears.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQcn61j7sVz
How did we end here? How could I feel his hair brush against my fingers and remain motionless?712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlibNUxsk12
One day my body just… stopped. A clock that stopped ticking. My heart still beat, my lungs still responded. My body swallowed.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKyM4Lj7100
Then why did I stop? Why did my arms stop moving? Why did my eyelids slam shut?712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG0ZdzqgL0W
Because I don’t belong here.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvnOHecNg0a
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.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0SU33MCNbw
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. 712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuYRkxfFkUF
But I belonged with him.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNsTAWUVClM
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.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh3n1QCVEjb
Do I regret it?712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsvq03N9FPH
Not for a moment. But maybe I should.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmT6xaSApHp
“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?”712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4ZRwh98kcM
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. 712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpr4KOvocd4
“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…”712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB7Yl7eVdvz
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.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhL567K1hDX
But then.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1vXViBleTD
A finger moved. My ring finger gracefully bent at the knuckle as though bowing to an assembly.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6WtIgMbxHT
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.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTSClLtGQfR
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.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSzKzU3QSII
The captain smiled as he padded into the room, his pony tail held back with a single blood red ribbon.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDs5tUXqlEX
“You can’t have her!” My visitor growled, hand out over my frozen body.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8jKlx7KhCa
The captain’s smile deepened, his face the likeness of a Greek god sneering down to the earthlings below him.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDYiheAxnbq
“Human, we were not sent for her.”712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH1V69klnkK
My visitor lifted his chin, his eyes burning, "I know what she is, but-but I don't care."712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkEXSduxtZr
The captain raised his hand and he smiled cheerfully. My insides screamed, no programing could stop the hot tears sliding peacefully down my cheeks.712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwUTUb7rTtn
As I watched my visitor fall. 712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyC2sJJ6LKl
712Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoxS9OHrTpG
