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. 796Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG5KlCia6cl
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.796Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJN7OftLVbn
Yes. This is me. Lying here, listening to him watch me.796Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡojraLNGKQD
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.796Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe3mSeIW5lX
I’m here. 796Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfIuGhhLpit
But not really.796Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP0B3Ip2WUD
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.796Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6XQIV1E5f3
But I could not move. I could not let him know. Let anyone know.796Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcK8xpK1D3z
I’m here. 796Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVxr47VpXHV
Yet somehow I knew he knew. He could see me. He pulled the chair closer to me, resting his head beside my still form.796Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE6dRfLObZV
A touching situation, a desperate hope, unspoken questioned fears.796Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqrqULCCpxn
How did we end here? How could I feel his hair brush against my fingers and remain motionless?796Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIEzXK1hYxD
One day my body just… stopped. A clock that stopped ticking. My heart still beat, my lungs still responded. My body swallowed.796Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT9ALu8Bf6x
Then why did I stop? Why did my arms stop moving? Why did my eyelids slam shut?796Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5tD1EIwUSJ
Because I don’t belong here.796Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKEf87lYl5t
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.796Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTw4dPxLZid
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. 796Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiBCly4OCHW
But I belonged with him.796Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQuFIYSFwzF
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.796Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmkQ8b5QIwu
Do I regret it?796Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFVj955EpjX
Not for a moment. But maybe I should.796Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0rKw3mSJ85
“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?”796Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdb78P3RMy8
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. 796Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsVtdCqHKPJ
“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…”796Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgNbGACl4Cc
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.796Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEyKg4QNjQQ
But then.796Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiBknue59O3
A finger moved. My ring finger gracefully bent at the knuckle as though bowing to an assembly.796Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYvWrdMunhp
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.796Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCTH3SMRibJ
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.796Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDgIqG2xpqK
The captain smiled as he padded into the room, his pony tail held back with a single blood red ribbon.796Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQj4KE8bV23
“You can’t have her!” My visitor growled, hand out over my frozen body.796Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxcqKuTMpHw
The captain’s smile deepened, his face the likeness of a Greek god sneering down to the earthlings below him.796Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2gGJTW60RR
“Human, we were not sent for her.”796Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfO1klJ4TaI
My visitor lifted his chin, his eyes burning, "I know what she is, but-but I don't care."796Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwJxJ2YHU0Z
The captain raised his hand and he smiled cheerfully. My insides screamed, no programing could stop the hot tears sliding peacefully down my cheeks.796Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRlwD7699rn
As I watched my visitor fall. 796Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6TsGAg33RQ
796Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSnXksQOBI6
and then Add to home screen.