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. 991Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN5Z4H7vNBX
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.991Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaKKRHm7x9E
Yes. This is me. Lying here, listening to him watch me.991Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDytVJv5GXC
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.991Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsGq3f7mtVn
I’m here. 991Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡURG11DrUK3
But not really.991Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTrXmGoubAf
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.991Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtqBHTPwN07
But I could not move. I could not let him know. Let anyone know.991Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAYtUXfrJI4
I’m here. 991Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9lpaQJZPtM
Yet somehow I knew he knew. He could see me. He pulled the chair closer to me, resting his head beside my still form.991Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSZ70WHGYvt
A touching situation, a desperate hope, unspoken questioned fears.991Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc0jufOOBAE
How did we end here? How could I feel his hair brush against my fingers and remain motionless?991Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdSSOJHAr6z
One day my body just… stopped. A clock that stopped ticking. My heart still beat, my lungs still responded. My body swallowed.991Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0y8lOToqhP
Then why did I stop? Why did my arms stop moving? Why did my eyelids slam shut?991Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnmH1X2QyDs
Because I don’t belong here.991Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsFWDWMhWOI
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.991Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡatbeY6f7WP
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. 991Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg4JasRz6dB
But I belonged with him.991Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2U7Od7mFP2
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.991Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRTZD2DuY6i
Do I regret it?991Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAD8a2y1nXh
Not for a moment. But maybe I should.991Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsQzkQQIWU9
“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?”991Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw5rORoSXpt
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. 991Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsKji8geiRk
“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…”991Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Vrqjblm3h
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.991Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW9nHhz66nX
But then.991Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr3ym8Gx6Lp
A finger moved. My ring finger gracefully bent at the knuckle as though bowing to an assembly.991Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡETDDkcUDN3
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.991Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmffcWzcNVw
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.991Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd58Papq1uu
The captain smiled as he padded into the room, his pony tail held back with a single blood red ribbon.991Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNUY7uw3NwC
“You can’t have her!” My visitor growled, hand out over my frozen body.991Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbJAy5NKkJc
The captain’s smile deepened, his face the likeness of a Greek god sneering down to the earthlings below him.991Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡglHO4vYmDO
“Human, we were not sent for her.”991Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTHHeduHtEQ
My visitor lifted his chin, his eyes burning, "I know what she is, but-but I don't care."991Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡknaEYOcuel
The captain raised his hand and he smiled cheerfully. My insides screamed, no programing could stop the hot tears sliding peacefully down my cheeks.991Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIs5l3rnxOg
As I watched my visitor fall. 991Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfG9wL8uDah
991Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4gKryv2tGe
and then Add to home screen.