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. 554Please respect copyright.PENANA5kkgREZcey
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.554Please respect copyright.PENANAaEpROxWphK
Yes. This is me. Lying here, listening to him watch me.554Please respect copyright.PENANA1sAo09RoeE
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.554Please respect copyright.PENANArWju9blgAV
I’m here. 554Please respect copyright.PENANA5uIDQOA790
But not really.554Please respect copyright.PENANAtHNbbeoJmA
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.554Please respect copyright.PENANArHc0YJEA7Z
But I could not move. I could not let him know. Let anyone know.554Please respect copyright.PENANAOeC3Wrlu1Q
I’m here. 554Please respect copyright.PENANAZOlJqI3ZYO
Yet somehow I knew he knew. He could see me. He pulled the chair closer to me, resting his head beside my still form.554Please respect copyright.PENANADhyXLPmSJS
A touching situation, a desperate hope, unspoken questioned fears.554Please respect copyright.PENANAauVCZ6sJI3
How did we end here? How could I feel his hair brush against my fingers and remain motionless?554Please respect copyright.PENANAIm1d50bZtx
One day my body just… stopped. A clock that stopped ticking. My heart still beat, my lungs still responded. My body swallowed.554Please respect copyright.PENANAfcO8n5qrKI
Then why did I stop? Why did my arms stop moving? Why did my eyelids slam shut?554Please respect copyright.PENANANqGhVToCUv
Because I don’t belong here.554Please respect copyright.PENANAP1KzNjtrG1
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.554Please respect copyright.PENANAdbPPGGWdPD
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. 554Please respect copyright.PENANAjHfQNvoIAW
But I belonged with him.554Please respect copyright.PENANAuEyfuGBp73
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.554Please respect copyright.PENANAxFKTe4hSMH
Do I regret it?554Please respect copyright.PENANAQWdosGSB4Y
Not for a moment. But maybe I should.554Please respect copyright.PENANAmwJLJiH9Um
“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?”554Please respect copyright.PENANAtzSWmSRQVm
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. 554Please respect copyright.PENANAeEoxgN4MXn
“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…”554Please respect copyright.PENANA0sJnVcsSTj
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.554Please respect copyright.PENANAX4DWxI5Wbn
But then.554Please respect copyright.PENANAcBX3XK6cs3
A finger moved. My ring finger gracefully bent at the knuckle as though bowing to an assembly.554Please respect copyright.PENANA1SjKwAGMz0
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.554Please respect copyright.PENANAv7cxGGHaGG
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.554Please respect copyright.PENANA41HO9pKQVd
The captain smiled as he padded into the room, his pony tail held back with a single blood red ribbon.554Please respect copyright.PENANAfRTD2PnJqX
“You can’t have her!” My visitor growled, hand out over my frozen body.554Please respect copyright.PENANAd4BeKnDTNn
The captain’s smile deepened, his face the likeness of a Greek god sneering down to the earthlings below him.554Please respect copyright.PENANAvVaZTV6rvO
“Human, we were not sent for her.”554Please respect copyright.PENANAMWMGebCY5Y
My visitor lifted his chin, his eyes burning, "I know what she is, but-but I don't care."554Please respect copyright.PENANAeRtkB4rXro
The captain raised his hand and he smiled cheerfully. My insides screamed, no programing could stop the hot tears sliding peacefully down my cheeks.554Please respect copyright.PENANAVbx9sBz057
As I watched my visitor fall. 554Please respect copyright.PENANA0Svaq43I1B
554Please respect copyright.PENANA8II9ZafV8h