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. 734Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw3L2XATRTm
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.734Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ62So3ePkLD
Yes. This is me. Lying here, listening to him watch me.734Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdjLqYsYIoY
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.734Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhVywvMoPbg
I’m here. 734Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Eg8gajZov
But not really.734Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZXqISChstI
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.734Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQTzgmNQ2Ui
But I could not move. I could not let him know. Let anyone know.734Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSx7OI0CXSZ
I’m here. 734Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4unRg3O5qo
Yet somehow I knew he knew. He could see me. He pulled the chair closer to me, resting his head beside my still form.734Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqDAn3Bg225
A touching situation, a desperate hope, unspoken questioned fears.734Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY5qWsPZlha
How did we end here? How could I feel his hair brush against my fingers and remain motionless?734Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡos2L5TMhz0
One day my body just… stopped. A clock that stopped ticking. My heart still beat, my lungs still responded. My body swallowed.734Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz2UqIZi97r
Then why did I stop? Why did my arms stop moving? Why did my eyelids slam shut?734Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8rNPdw2Edf
Because I don’t belong here.734Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlb7ICs3Nll
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.734Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXryKTVwDcr
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. 734Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4apvNWdhDy
But I belonged with him.734Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaRrSVSXfFS
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.734Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ26cjOmb5Bv
Do I regret it?734Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAFw1tugTHA
Not for a moment. But maybe I should.734Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIIcTTnJGH7
“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?”734Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlyN9arTynl
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. 734Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjRwGi5MVhQ
“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…”734Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmECtkJI42f
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.734Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Wk6u3moi2
But then.734Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwAWxxunzM9
A finger moved. My ring finger gracefully bent at the knuckle as though bowing to an assembly.734Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKcZVK0ZzOd
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.734Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxoHMAc5w6V
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.734Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr6KTBWRGXG
The captain smiled as he padded into the room, his pony tail held back with a single blood red ribbon.734Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfQ0fCd3nwR
“You can’t have her!” My visitor growled, hand out over my frozen body.734Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvafS690XWf
The captain’s smile deepened, his face the likeness of a Greek god sneering down to the earthlings below him.734Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdO08hb215v
“Human, we were not sent for her.”734Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrPPqek2rBQ
My visitor lifted his chin, his eyes burning, "I know what she is, but-but I don't care."734Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ481oYJE8y9
The captain raised his hand and he smiled cheerfully. My insides screamed, no programing could stop the hot tears sliding peacefully down my cheeks.734Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNC15fbxvkj
As I watched my visitor fall. 734Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtyZ86tFR5q
734Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe7ihG5MGdJ
