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. 737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCmTk8Pj1gy
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.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg7JCF5zESS
Yes. This is me. Lying here, listening to him watch me.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrCZhLo3Jxr
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.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1sCWOjtc5F
I’m here. 737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNSIqnr7Fv9
But not really.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡENww0WJVqb
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.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq28q5Zo7X8
But I could not move. I could not let him know. Let anyone know.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡodQITSpZwO
I’m here. 737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ87tvY1joVP
Yet somehow I knew he knew. He could see me. He pulled the chair closer to me, resting his head beside my still form.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9wYHX0Bot2
A touching situation, a desperate hope, unspoken questioned fears.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVo2MzKNvUJ
How did we end here? How could I feel his hair brush against my fingers and remain motionless?737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhDazR3ksrZ
One day my body just… stopped. A clock that stopped ticking. My heart still beat, my lungs still responded. My body swallowed.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBA79JfkGp4
Then why did I stop? Why did my arms stop moving? Why did my eyelids slam shut?737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1UdMv68era
Because I don’t belong here.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡutchkdDnQk
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.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuGC00WG9Vf
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. 737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3QOMCiGfAy
But I belonged with him.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqSQI6h4pOT
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.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtAk5fblDUf
Do I regret it?737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEQ7lI8efMK
Not for a moment. But maybe I should.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpfj7bhLT3z
“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?”737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtcKB0CePIm
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. 737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPTbIcuBojM
“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…”737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFyqsEzelOI
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.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVaSk6xMkvL
But then.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3qQp1VMuT5
A finger moved. My ring finger gracefully bent at the knuckle as though bowing to an assembly.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVq36gUcF67
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.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUe0Jt9s9LG
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.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwMQikw2hWE
The captain smiled as he padded into the room, his pony tail held back with a single blood red ribbon.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGNV5Yz8nht
“You can’t have her!” My visitor growled, hand out over my frozen body.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8IWvp9lw8M
The captain’s smile deepened, his face the likeness of a Greek god sneering down to the earthlings below him.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWCUfcrRzEB
“Human, we were not sent for her.”737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAwRIjJvcys
My visitor lifted his chin, his eyes burning, "I know what she is, but-but I don't care."737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmIrV740Zrr
The captain raised his hand and he smiled cheerfully. My insides screamed, no programing could stop the hot tears sliding peacefully down my cheeks.737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIBD9j9t0FM
As I watched my visitor fall. 737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY8blGWFRRR
737Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBddXid8kiA
