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. 684Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡniQh6oKUPK
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.684Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHdArd72Rrx
Yes. This is me. Lying here, listening to him watch me.684Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrDDpYHANoT
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.684Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNNM3RoglL9
I’m here. 684Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfvGrh3fA7x
But not really.684Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpSYJD7lPpp
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.684Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxIpKRzHH5A
But I could not move. I could not let him know. Let anyone know.684Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQzyBECBocu
I’m here. 684Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkE2YOndya6
Yet somehow I knew he knew. He could see me. He pulled the chair closer to me, resting his head beside my still form.684Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiXwL9TBQ6c
A touching situation, a desperate hope, unspoken questioned fears.684Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL54wizZhWc
How did we end here? How could I feel his hair brush against my fingers and remain motionless?684Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuhTgfgZDz7
One day my body just… stopped. A clock that stopped ticking. My heart still beat, my lungs still responded. My body swallowed.684Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQCgiyjTEq2
Then why did I stop? Why did my arms stop moving? Why did my eyelids slam shut?684Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCW0IBYSvxu
Because I don’t belong here.684Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEcyEpzDwnl
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.684Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHDCQSunvVq
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. 684Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2hDXiIQNUm
But I belonged with him.684Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJmLJr5v5NP
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.684Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTnzDVcbpO6
Do I regret it?684Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeIp7a6pIWW
Not for a moment. But maybe I should.684Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrudwBvhncQ
“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?”684Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwBqd3Pjpse
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. 684Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNu7jAESXqb
“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…”684Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeYTOYk4IEN
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.684Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ65Mom7ZTZY
But then.684Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKVb6XgPx9Z
A finger moved. My ring finger gracefully bent at the knuckle as though bowing to an assembly.684Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ZHACyF3Jk
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.684Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwmR9AvhQVt
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.684Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr96tuFfKg8
The captain smiled as he padded into the room, his pony tail held back with a single blood red ribbon.684Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhAHmHsOVuJ
“You can’t have her!” My visitor growled, hand out over my frozen body.684Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLkjDgl2elW
The captain’s smile deepened, his face the likeness of a Greek god sneering down to the earthlings below him.684Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaNlOmIBC8G
“Human, we were not sent for her.”684Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡegkniANUKQ
My visitor lifted his chin, his eyes burning, "I know what she is, but-but I don't care."684Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5yF1iP50My
The captain raised his hand and he smiled cheerfully. My insides screamed, no programing could stop the hot tears sliding peacefully down my cheeks.684Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl3YaV0zNJx
As I watched my visitor fall. 684Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnuYp26qSOE
684Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE0WQdDXVsL
