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. 762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkr8T1Lx2uh
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.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCUPEaYjnTz
Yes. This is me. Lying here, listening to him watch me.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcQdUHwKW7u
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.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiTwK8ZCrUy
I’m here. 762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1KkRrv2XIs
But not really.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW610v1o1H8
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.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN0QxQEQIp7
But I could not move. I could not let him know. Let anyone know.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvO7FB9VqZa
I’m here. 762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdXdNKHTxtR
Yet somehow I knew he knew. He could see me. He pulled the chair closer to me, resting his head beside my still form.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuXvGpt7Id7
A touching situation, a desperate hope, unspoken questioned fears.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRirbflZJSk
How did we end here? How could I feel his hair brush against my fingers and remain motionless?762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsaB3NXYa8A
One day my body just… stopped. A clock that stopped ticking. My heart still beat, my lungs still responded. My body swallowed.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW3595k22H7
Then why did I stop? Why did my arms stop moving? Why did my eyelids slam shut?762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDUbZl8525S
Because I don’t belong here.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFE5cbRwoiE
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.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWEsnAD6Pq6
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. 762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzSDPzqjL6V
But I belonged with him.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoRFPXXHEzZ
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.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRICclTRSIy
Do I regret it?762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡixTYhUt0Fx
Not for a moment. But maybe I should.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ02PdNojJ3Z
“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?”762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVE7bBA5UY0
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. 762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ95GdQ7A1X6
“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…”762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo8WqKl9Yy5
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.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE12NOYFghh
But then.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqBUwYIW1u5
A finger moved. My ring finger gracefully bent at the knuckle as though bowing to an assembly.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdmKnPQNax7
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.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHfldv8uwDC
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.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRxFkE7lwhv
The captain smiled as he padded into the room, his pony tail held back with a single blood red ribbon.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZUzcekkhmQ
“You can’t have her!” My visitor growled, hand out over my frozen body.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9YjybLrIEh
The captain’s smile deepened, his face the likeness of a Greek god sneering down to the earthlings below him.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWvs5jLX8HQ
“Human, we were not sent for her.”762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLJtJIcZsP2
My visitor lifted his chin, his eyes burning, "I know what she is, but-but I don't care."762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNUt8Ldwg2I
The captain raised his hand and he smiled cheerfully. My insides screamed, no programing could stop the hot tears sliding peacefully down my cheeks.762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGPkZWUK3sT
As I watched my visitor fall. 762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtCFRTrTLOx
762Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZxIImpto6E
