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. 633Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVgYM7yuf25
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.633Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzOLXnIOHrj
Yes. This is me. Lying here, listening to him watch me.633Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJALsCtvpMW
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.633Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6UGVYwijTN
I’m here. 633Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRDiBO7mipo
But not really.633Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVT8WLzitYt
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.633Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIqTXLBWUF5
But I could not move. I could not let him know. Let anyone know.633Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7i3Ifnwwrl
I’m here. 633Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmlDN42wEJW
Yet somehow I knew he knew. He could see me. He pulled the chair closer to me, resting his head beside my still form.633Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQL6Hqn6JH6
A touching situation, a desperate hope, unspoken questioned fears.633Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdZJxCYx3vJ
How did we end here? How could I feel his hair brush against my fingers and remain motionless?633Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUp3RkeCZAW
One day my body just… stopped. A clock that stopped ticking. My heart still beat, my lungs still responded. My body swallowed.633Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMUdIqJdNWE
Then why did I stop? Why did my arms stop moving? Why did my eyelids slam shut?633Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOq6VhLLXy6
Because I don’t belong here.633Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY9OeQ67cxT
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.633Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDE8oY4Ruf3
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. 633Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfeEiAJwqtP
But I belonged with him.633Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrNy8yNdA8h
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.633Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjdk7jWSimD
Do I regret it?633Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCgb8ILhqVV
Not for a moment. But maybe I should.633Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcNiC7Oluy7
“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?”633Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoobDluwjNM
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. 633Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXfghg2zazb
“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…”633Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRSdFGcY6P4
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.633Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS3iq5n3xi5
But then.633Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUWvxap82UW
A finger moved. My ring finger gracefully bent at the knuckle as though bowing to an assembly.633Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH4Cj7SBUI6
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.633Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4YrhM7w2tr
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.633Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRYPiVtvU3z
The captain smiled as he padded into the room, his pony tail held back with a single blood red ribbon.633Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlH6K5jhiaG
“You can’t have her!” My visitor growled, hand out over my frozen body.633Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK78Qj6oocP
The captain’s smile deepened, his face the likeness of a Greek god sneering down to the earthlings below him.633Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvHtBQtllLy
“Human, we were not sent for her.”633Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqENz0cy9nI
My visitor lifted his chin, his eyes burning, "I know what she is, but-but I don't care."633Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrlZxcRkEgu
The captain raised his hand and he smiled cheerfully. My insides screamed, no programing could stop the hot tears sliding peacefully down my cheeks.633Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZvRHgB9CmM
As I watched my visitor fall. 633Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoPa9n46Ap4
633Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVgtVIiOe0M
