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. 825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOS3y71jJkv
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.825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡexPKJ0wcC5
Yes. This is me. Lying here, listening to him watch me.825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLImK2aVY2I
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.825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmFBACruX3q
I’m here. 825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTpMeNUWfG4
But not really.825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ39dOInhzL7
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.825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjFplBweNF5
But I could not move. I could not let him know. Let anyone know.825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXIjBPdjCw7
I’m here. 825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2OhAcCaoJa
Yet somehow I knew he knew. He could see me. He pulled the chair closer to me, resting his head beside my still form.825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6B8FsPqtl2
A touching situation, a desperate hope, unspoken questioned fears.825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbLOPlzhZ2E
How did we end here? How could I feel his hair brush against my fingers and remain motionless?825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb0xIJX9Cmt
One day my body just… stopped. A clock that stopped ticking. My heart still beat, my lungs still responded. My body swallowed.825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvzARYhHMTY
Then why did I stop? Why did my arms stop moving? Why did my eyelids slam shut?825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOjzmJPMs3v
Because I don’t belong here.825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLMcN43SKYg
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.825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaV1rKoZPIS
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. 825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1C3pE76D1u
But I belonged with him.825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpwur1zCKhk
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.825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqj6DRJ9c5q
Do I regret it?825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ2JSmRA7Nv
Not for a moment. But maybe I should.825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI1jSEgWh9s
“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?”825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEYIr6MxX01
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. 825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8chcwVVdeN
“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…”825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm8bF3eBtxZ
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.825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRdDC8EwR1H
But then.825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSVK6MSVjlf
A finger moved. My ring finger gracefully bent at the knuckle as though bowing to an assembly.825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjIIJW8SpkP
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.825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaIhUtpAHc7
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.825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUabRAVoTzo
The captain smiled as he padded into the room, his pony tail held back with a single blood red ribbon.825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqepYa6DE8t
“You can’t have her!” My visitor growled, hand out over my frozen body.825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡymzxBfjPuW
The captain’s smile deepened, his face the likeness of a Greek god sneering down to the earthlings below him.825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGePfG2oHQt
“Human, we were not sent for her.”825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2vCv7HQ9Bd
My visitor lifted his chin, his eyes burning, "I know what she is, but-but I don't care."825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOgSz4wTisw
The captain raised his hand and he smiled cheerfully. My insides screamed, no programing could stop the hot tears sliding peacefully down my cheeks.825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj3PY4YFJ5s
As I watched my visitor fall. 825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNA5DY0YXDr
825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy9MLT036gX
