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. 824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrku9Gvz4Z8
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.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm3dHDUMGSG
Yes. This is me. Lying here, listening to him watch me.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSVQ5WbY4JL
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.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqDc975dfE1
I’m here. 824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL1nXlWF4qc
But not really.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDmH8lRglJO
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.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvojVgSwaxM
But I could not move. I could not let him know. Let anyone know.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrVOUUm99ZH
I’m here. 824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM7YAFtYw1e
Yet somehow I knew he knew. He could see me. He pulled the chair closer to me, resting his head beside my still form.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRRWDXrJEZX
A touching situation, a desperate hope, unspoken questioned fears.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4FbKZr2Nlw
How did we end here? How could I feel his hair brush against my fingers and remain motionless?824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBoiFzSlDwF
One day my body just… stopped. A clock that stopped ticking. My heart still beat, my lungs still responded. My body swallowed.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKEBv5k98r6
Then why did I stop? Why did my arms stop moving? Why did my eyelids slam shut?824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlSn58jaEGM
Because I don’t belong here.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnu6PPZ4Ybe
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.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjiHnfLRWRx
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. 824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIBPmshENfF
But I belonged with him.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbKEZQtmX2s
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.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv3StPh0RXN
Do I regret it?824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7I9Zl8PNbG
Not for a moment. But maybe I should.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbZNOtya50F
“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?”824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAg8TRoKZ86
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. 824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOhfFv3gp7d
“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…”824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL1EohcrejB
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.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEbsdSHNNJ9
But then.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlvBR33LZ0x
A finger moved. My ring finger gracefully bent at the knuckle as though bowing to an assembly.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR4xX1Sv83l
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.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ5Cxh3HZeL
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.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlhNubWvuFe
The captain smiled as he padded into the room, his pony tail held back with a single blood red ribbon.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡue85Hp5SXT
“You can’t have her!” My visitor growled, hand out over my frozen body.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtPAecViDXy
The captain’s smile deepened, his face the likeness of a Greek god sneering down to the earthlings below him.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfkA7Z6pJ0j
“Human, we were not sent for her.”824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡngT8WXViiQ
My visitor lifted his chin, his eyes burning, "I know what she is, but-but I don't care."824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVyE4sd98iW
The captain raised his hand and he smiled cheerfully. My insides screamed, no programing could stop the hot tears sliding peacefully down my cheeks.824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2kEql74Tr0
As I watched my visitor fall. 824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUPY0zWXDfn
824Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡENXqlcF4tR
