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. 790Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOCI7ohfhQs
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.790Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgMPTZXcP9S
Yes. This is me. Lying here, listening to him watch me.790Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQo1IiyClVp
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.790Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOcU5J88jMa
I’m here. 790Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcdgdmcUUIw
But not really.790Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiDv1Q7AsS7
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.790Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHOtwYLqp1j
But I could not move. I could not let him know. Let anyone know.790Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc3nPUYuk17
I’m here. 790Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhQjJ7tSCSJ
Yet somehow I knew he knew. He could see me. He pulled the chair closer to me, resting his head beside my still form.790Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdrEj6ahBnt
A touching situation, a desperate hope, unspoken questioned fears.790Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtJ0vtrpBwN
How did we end here? How could I feel his hair brush against my fingers and remain motionless?790Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmOQjDQvIXu
One day my body just… stopped. A clock that stopped ticking. My heart still beat, my lungs still responded. My body swallowed.790Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo9oReu19Ar
Then why did I stop? Why did my arms stop moving? Why did my eyelids slam shut?790Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9HbFaZEuFG
Because I don’t belong here.790Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvpTvgbyHDU
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.790Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbEJjkWMVqq
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. 790Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdCRonOsjh7
But I belonged with him.790Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWuiyBaJChC
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.790Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPM6Xka1wm6
Do I regret it?790Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvj3HMMOK83
Not for a moment. But maybe I should.790Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBi0ZZFRtHp
“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?”790Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcJQBJR7shp
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. 790Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLMJMwEHMtB
“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…”790Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVN5MK1xC58
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.790Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡayqbluhusw
But then.790Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeVEw75qA8a
A finger moved. My ring finger gracefully bent at the knuckle as though bowing to an assembly.790Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlGvS3ObMB0
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.790Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2PocgPTuoI
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.790Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd71KwS1rMU
The captain smiled as he padded into the room, his pony tail held back with a single blood red ribbon.790Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCgtvemTsfW
“You can’t have her!” My visitor growled, hand out over my frozen body.790Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUDRxBkXUIC
The captain’s smile deepened, his face the likeness of a Greek god sneering down to the earthlings below him.790Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Buzgviqy4
“Human, we were not sent for her.”790Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJgBQjfNGvZ
My visitor lifted his chin, his eyes burning, "I know what she is, but-but I don't care."790Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvSzHFEb5Qf
The captain raised his hand and he smiled cheerfully. My insides screamed, no programing could stop the hot tears sliding peacefully down my cheeks.790Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk0ws0GLhWu
As I watched my visitor fall. 790Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPKMveUXAqe
790Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡweSt6klOWj
