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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1b8URUgEQc
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuzEPt99TF1
Yes. This is me. Lying here, listening to him watch me.825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGp3p20larL
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg8m7J1xXx9
I’m here. 825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbjetcK616t
But not really.825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡflnsxUhLMK
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVhzxnix9lQ
But I could not move. I could not let him know. Let anyone know.825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyHTQbnzqaT
I’m here. 825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeyi3pLFLaE
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl45742ol4y
A touching situation, a desperate hope, unspoken questioned fears.825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl8m3DxOPO3
How did we end here? How could I feel his hair brush against my fingers and remain motionless?825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsFG2keBqE5
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP4NSZjATsg
Then why did I stop? Why did my arms stop moving? Why did my eyelids slam shut?825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2gyBNLMdtC
Because I don’t belong here.825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5YBxNZEqvv
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmYX3WkAcXQ
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR2yQ87Bvp1
But I belonged with him.825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6i3AD07QPt
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9v2LpfSdl3
Do I regret it?825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIWChf5ZHMV
Not for a moment. But maybe I should.825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSMzddVupwE
“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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJtoroPjBlI
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUEieTp69qr
“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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJZ6i4rkzj0
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUukrtsC5Pz
But then.825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuBGs4Eyz6y
A finger moved. My ring finger gracefully bent at the knuckle as though bowing to an assembly.825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYpJGOd8ZJh
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡolha9tj8rC
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPvVSuU9ZAK
The captain smiled as he padded into the room, his pony tail held back with a single blood red ribbon.825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPsNSKuZcvY
“You can’t have her!” My visitor growled, hand out over my frozen body.825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2rmwaOhC2T
The captain’s smile deepened, his face the likeness of a Greek god sneering down to the earthlings below him.825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlZpiBqEOD1
“Human, we were not sent for her.”825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOoWFo4CbFW
My visitor lifted his chin, his eyes burning, "I know what she is, but-but I don't care."825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡApGu0EBfkp
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Z9JnNUCZg
As I watched my visitor fall. 825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0QtOaFFIvc
825Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXOwPoXAL2S
