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. 742Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDFMPmEpWhJ
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.742Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4SD05tSUHc
Yes. This is me. Lying here, listening to him watch me.742Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBSO3mYef7M
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.742Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhdFEFNhoWG
I’m here. 742Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCA6S1Paxte
But not really.742Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9FeulyucME
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.742Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvZWBfUJfvJ
But I could not move. I could not let him know. Let anyone know.742Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBYQX9i4NmS
I’m here. 742Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkWg04iRDON
Yet somehow I knew he knew. He could see me. He pulled the chair closer to me, resting his head beside my still form.742Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIVjSNakNyB
A touching situation, a desperate hope, unspoken questioned fears.742Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGUmopMAnwb
How did we end here? How could I feel his hair brush against my fingers and remain motionless?742Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8ZO93nhqZ0
One day my body just… stopped. A clock that stopped ticking. My heart still beat, my lungs still responded. My body swallowed.742Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBQEBkRQnry
Then why did I stop? Why did my arms stop moving? Why did my eyelids slam shut?742Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhJ2ugH0IzW
Because I don’t belong here.742Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyQdka5lNAH
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.742Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0fq5XPbYhJ
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. 742Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡskahGCHoUk
But I belonged with him.742Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo8j7gd6cgW
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.742Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1e2FwMCVee
Do I regret it?742Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWmvzjN5qS2
Not for a moment. But maybe I should.742Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9dmCn34KZD
“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?”742Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtZAsowngZJ
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. 742Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOSOrK4GxnN
“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…”742Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaXQuxccvit
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.742Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzBEsWzx9ho
But then.742Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXADxwBnKHF
A finger moved. My ring finger gracefully bent at the knuckle as though bowing to an assembly.742Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWJlLr2Loqa
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.742Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnyOwwqPiED
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.742Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI4mBw1izqh
The captain smiled as he padded into the room, his pony tail held back with a single blood red ribbon.742Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvGs80SRwZh
“You can’t have her!” My visitor growled, hand out over my frozen body.742Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiggOq2zHn0
The captain’s smile deepened, his face the likeness of a Greek god sneering down to the earthlings below him.742Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLdBFHkTDbh
“Human, we were not sent for her.”742Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRjWZf6kM6J
My visitor lifted his chin, his eyes burning, "I know what she is, but-but I don't care."742Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIeYFuK0REQ
The captain raised his hand and he smiled cheerfully. My insides screamed, no programing could stop the hot tears sliding peacefully down my cheeks.742Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGLWRwfei7X
As I watched my visitor fall. 742Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhwOyJBAZcp
742Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBmw2oQo2kf
