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. 785Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5oeKJFZULj
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.785Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxKRxSARsAU
Yes. This is me. Lying here, listening to him watch me.785Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ47gSQX3pKu
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.785Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLTElIOHMtj
I’m here. 785Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqm6sQ0KQFF
But not really.785Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLSYmkGGVfJ
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.785Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtBo3p2IOXB
But I could not move. I could not let him know. Let anyone know.785Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡreU2JBLZNk
I’m here. 785Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUsktWyqVij
Yet somehow I knew he knew. He could see me. He pulled the chair closer to me, resting his head beside my still form.785Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo6yil1SB4J
A touching situation, a desperate hope, unspoken questioned fears.785Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhEvi7bxrUT
How did we end here? How could I feel his hair brush against my fingers and remain motionless?785Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyz9gGGWmsT
One day my body just… stopped. A clock that stopped ticking. My heart still beat, my lungs still responded. My body swallowed.785Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyJjhclHrUI
Then why did I stop? Why did my arms stop moving? Why did my eyelids slam shut?785Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoUAVSvtUll
Because I don’t belong here.785Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSomTdRXGTo
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.785Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPY5k5aT1lf
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. 785Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRNDd012vDZ
But I belonged with him.785Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXLmqfr8CdZ
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.785Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRZXOj7rxZA
Do I regret it?785Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYxI2jjv9tk
Not for a moment. But maybe I should.785Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZs8LXSlXnu
“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?”785Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuydVvdt1EU
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. 785Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2s1DJM3zAZ
“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…”785Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ636k1ZjVSw
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.785Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrR8HeY0VcI
But then.785Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM1rMvsekQ2
A finger moved. My ring finger gracefully bent at the knuckle as though bowing to an assembly.785Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5lJPH7Y79s
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.785Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw9KynoqoKp
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.785Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPnoaSmHQOA
The captain smiled as he padded into the room, his pony tail held back with a single blood red ribbon.785Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNSgRTvZPYY
“You can’t have her!” My visitor growled, hand out over my frozen body.785Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDtFroSIaE6
The captain’s smile deepened, his face the likeness of a Greek god sneering down to the earthlings below him.785Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNEK3xZnAF8
“Human, we were not sent for her.”785Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEJMWjepxS7
My visitor lifted his chin, his eyes burning, "I know what she is, but-but I don't care."785Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLCBhn2QN7F
The captain raised his hand and he smiled cheerfully. My insides screamed, no programing could stop the hot tears sliding peacefully down my cheeks.785Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6giISMZeXv
As I watched my visitor fall. 785Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeYYPwzjhvY
785Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjZMhOPt3Lc
