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. 807Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuniGLRi0Md
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.807Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy5TIv8YJHU
Yes. This is me. Lying here, listening to him watch me.807Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUcGmtqXoib
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.807Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHvVnmzaIlK
I’m here. 807Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1PlxEc536Q
But not really.807Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP7N9nKXaFL
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.807Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg13JnTlB3x
But I could not move. I could not let him know. Let anyone know.807Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS5hL0ED6Lq
I’m here. 807Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTcRH6rU6gz
Yet somehow I knew he knew. He could see me. He pulled the chair closer to me, resting his head beside my still form.807Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrEu6zvmicp
A touching situation, a desperate hope, unspoken questioned fears.807Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk7kPaj6zmF
How did we end here? How could I feel his hair brush against my fingers and remain motionless?807Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXDRxOwQReP
One day my body just… stopped. A clock that stopped ticking. My heart still beat, my lungs still responded. My body swallowed.807Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Vy1MQeuvX
Then why did I stop? Why did my arms stop moving? Why did my eyelids slam shut?807Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6xLxNrOS5T
Because I don’t belong here.807Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8u9O1IkRv7
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.807Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡweAFltCK3T
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. 807Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyJPxtQhh4E
But I belonged with him.807Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB9JuIzTLnd
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.807Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqJlVF9Xqq4
Do I regret it?807Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPniDOj2W9s
Not for a moment. But maybe I should.807Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA11YmBHrH7
“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?”807Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡifZDXHcy1s
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. 807Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkmhK81K15b
“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…”807Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIBxg1wDmkq
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.807Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡchzDCc8qEI
But then.807Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRU9Y7kc4yp
A finger moved. My ring finger gracefully bent at the knuckle as though bowing to an assembly.807Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE40YD3XHQV
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.807Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6m2TCCYq1Y
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.807Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTxniWOyXQ6
The captain smiled as he padded into the room, his pony tail held back with a single blood red ribbon.807Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRyMlma376c
“You can’t have her!” My visitor growled, hand out over my frozen body.807Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYyb0XBb1E1
The captain’s smile deepened, his face the likeness of a Greek god sneering down to the earthlings below him.807Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmDNEBo2jOm
“Human, we were not sent for her.”807Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGLpfgj8IRk
My visitor lifted his chin, his eyes burning, "I know what she is, but-but I don't care."807Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrVqRt5rMK2
The captain raised his hand and he smiled cheerfully. My insides screamed, no programing could stop the hot tears sliding peacefully down my cheeks.807Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOdS62EjSQB
As I watched my visitor fall. 807Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNzdZbo7hxP
807Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuQu6VGyoTO
