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. 759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfDoeqbelBy
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.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4gyQavQxe4
Yes. This is me. Lying here, listening to him watch me.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXecmAMcEIe
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.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmzykObqQSM
I’m here. 759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR9CGrlgj8R
But not really.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ8TtCUZ1LF
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.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8GeHKCrWvt
But I could not move. I could not let him know. Let anyone know.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaF1l2be74d
I’m here. 759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHtAOsIryYh
Yet somehow I knew he knew. He could see me. He pulled the chair closer to me, resting his head beside my still form.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡehlNPgGmcn
A touching situation, a desperate hope, unspoken questioned fears.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6eyjeKzxo7
How did we end here? How could I feel his hair brush against my fingers and remain motionless?759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoCJJ3FqHVe
One day my body just… stopped. A clock that stopped ticking. My heart still beat, my lungs still responded. My body swallowed.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOQF9kH3qun
Then why did I stop? Why did my arms stop moving? Why did my eyelids slam shut?759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7EjOyxCgKu
Because I don’t belong here.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3YFMKV35Bv
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.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLs8VhoO1Am
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. 759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi4Q8HEDMsK
But I belonged with him.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiaGgkHUEyZ
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.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDKOppGh4C5
Do I regret it?759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy87DIfVELB
Not for a moment. But maybe I should.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiS3gy4OeY8
“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?”759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOpMGCmzifg
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. 759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr2187An7WZ
“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…”759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjs8I2MgkAM
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.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYk2vPStt9x
But then.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6JkDwPBFet
A finger moved. My ring finger gracefully bent at the knuckle as though bowing to an assembly.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGeBIdMFoRx
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.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs6mRCbngoc
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.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBmfYSaRBHq
The captain smiled as he padded into the room, his pony tail held back with a single blood red ribbon.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgu5yULAS3A
“You can’t have her!” My visitor growled, hand out over my frozen body.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMycCfiBUbW
The captain’s smile deepened, his face the likeness of a Greek god sneering down to the earthlings below him.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKFd5HzAU90
“Human, we were not sent for her.”759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkip6pkOOCE
My visitor lifted his chin, his eyes burning, "I know what she is, but-but I don't care."759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXnu4WaLUzv
The captain raised his hand and he smiled cheerfully. My insides screamed, no programing could stop the hot tears sliding peacefully down my cheeks.759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEjh36IRn3V
As I watched my visitor fall. 759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiiddyVk1wt
759Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZz5ys9rAEI
