My Mechanical Soul Chapter 3
She awoke to find the cold hard ceiling staring back at her. She noted that while she had been an android, the objects around her never seemed personified. Perhaps this new perception came with my new human senses, she thought to herself. She looked around the room and saw that she was alone. She was tucked into a bed in the same room she had awoken in the first time. What had happened? She vaguely remembered falling to the ground, but she could not remember why. 'Why can't I remember?' This thought raced through her head. The thought of this made her irritated, another new emotion that she had trouble grasping. At this point Marie had no idea what to do, since neither Henry nor her father were there, and she had never really done much of anything without their assistance. Different thoughts ran through her head that were so difficult to process at once; her mind wasn't at all used to this way of doing things. She could feel her mental energy draining away from her already, even though she had just been asleep quite a while, as she noted from the time on the clock.
She swung her legs awkwardly over the side of the bed and scuffled towards the window to peer out. She saw buildings across the road, on which there were dozens of cars driving slowly by, in this quietly sleeping town. This is Paradigm City, she thought, at least I remember that much. She glanced at the cars again and suddenly it hit her. That's what had happened, she had seen a car driving by, a black car that had roused some deep memory inside of her which had exploded into her newly-developed mind for just the slightest moment then left with a cloud of thick black smoke.
She noticed the mirror to her left and wandered over to it. As she stared at her own reflection, she decidedly couldn't remember if she had looked the same or not as an android. She had short red hair that brushed her chin, and now it was slightly messy-looking. She had deep blue eyes and pale skin, and she had a thin frame and petite figure. She picked up a hairbrush that had been laying on the table and began running it through her hair, thinking that functioning and thinking was starting to become more natural now. A question rose to her mind, Did she like it better as a human? She eventually decided that she wouldn't know, as she couldn't remember being an android. The thought that she couldn't remember saddened her, and as she lay the brush down she felt a heavy lump rise in her throat. She looked at herself in the mirror again and saw a tear fall from one of her eyes. She wiped it away, wondering why she was so sad. It was all very overpowering to her, and she tried to clean the thoughts away while she explored her room.
She thought it strange that no remnants of her old life as an android remained there. She thought there would be at least photos of her and Henry, her supposed fiancée, or of her father, but she couldn't find anything. Confused, she opened the door and walked quietly into the hallway. She decided against investigating each of the rooms individually in case someone was residing in them, so she carefully walked down the stairs. At first the house had seemed dead quiet to her but now she could hear voices from somewhere on the ground floor. Her bare feet crept along the cold hardwood floors ever so quietly, and as she passed through what appeared to be a living room she noticed a partially opened door leading to the kitchen.
She looked inside and saw her father, Robert, she remembered his name was, excitedly talking on the phone with someone. He had his back faced to her, and she decided not to bother him by making her prescence known. She knew it wasn't right to eavesdrop, but a new emotion, curiosity, bubbled up inside of her and she couldn't pull herself away, being half-hidden by the door.
"Yes, we managed to get a hold of a rather fine specimen for the experiment," The doctor jabbered excitedly into the phone. "Where did we get her? Well, you can tell a soul, but," the doctor paused a moment, then, in nearly a whisper, spoke again, "we kidnapped her." Marie's eyes widened. What or who was he talking about? She felt her heart beat faster and faster, something that she hadn't been accustomed to, even when it was beating regularly.
"Yes. Her name was Dorothy or something like that, but we have her convinced that she's Henry's fiancée." He laughed. "Imagine that! Henry having a fiancée! Anyway we've told her that her name's Marie, and I'm her father. Yeah, I know. Me, a father." He laughed again, but Marie felt her stomach sink, and a chill passed through her body. He was talking about her. She couldn't comprehend it. Her name was Dorothy, and not Marie, and she wasn't Henry's fiancée at all? She was kidnapped. She felt a new feeling, imprisoned. The walls around her were keeping her in against her will, and she didn't belong here at all.
She noticed the front door, and crept toward it, silently unlatching its lock. Then, she threw open the door and willed her frozen legs to move forward, and she was running down the street, the new tears again forming in her eyes. She felt the adrenaline coarse through her blood, and she ran and ran, down what seemed like the same sidewalk, just trying to get away that house. She kept blindly running, she didn't know where she was going or what she was going to do, but her mind had failed her, and all she knew was the same endless sidewalk.
Finally, Dorothy stumbled and all but collapsed into a heap on the pavement. She thankfully caught her fall with her hands, and then shakily rose to stand and wiped the tears out of her eyes so she could look around. There were a few people here and there on the sidewalk, but none of them seemed to notice Dorothy at all. Lazy cars glided by on the street, and she looked up the dome above her and saw it was dark. This town has no memory, she thought, just like me. The few stars and crescent moon shone above her, but the neon lights of all the nearby buildings really illuminated the sidewalk she walked along. She then whirled around and noticed the building in front of her was a bar, called the Speakeasy. This name felt familiar to her but, as usual, she couldn't remember a thing about her old life. Her life as Dorothy.
Afraid to stick out on the illuminated street, she retreated inside the comforting shadows of the bar. She shuffled in quietly, quickly realizing that many eyes fell upon her. She had begun to come to her senses after her flight from the doctor's home and she realized that her throat seemed to burn with an intense thirst. She inched her way up to the bar and timidly asked the bartender for a glass of water.
"That's all? Just water?" the bartender looked surprised.
"Yes, well, I don't have any money." She never looked up at him as she spoke quietly.
"Hey, this isn't a charity service, girl. We can't just give free drinks to all the homeless in Paradigm. However, I'm too nice and can't say no to a young girl," he finished with a sigh. He quickly poured a glass of water and handed it to her. She sat at the end of the bar away from everyone else, and at first took small sips of her water, getting used to the way it slid down her throat.
After a while the people of the bar turned their attentions away from her, and Dorothy grew braver, glancing around the bar. None of the bar's visitors caught her interest until she saw two men near the back talking to each other in quiet tones. They must not have noticed her walk in because they didn't notice at all while she watched them. One of them was reading a newspaper, and she couldn't see much of him, and the other had his head in his hands on the small bar table, with many empty glasses around him. He had dark black hair and equally black suit, and had she seen him somewhere else she would've thought of him a neat gentleman. His features remained hidden from her as he kept his head down. She could hear him sighing exasperatedly, and he said "I don't understand. I've looked everywhere for her. She seems to have disappeared without a trace." The man's voice was slightly slurred, and she could tell by the empty glasses that he had had quite a bit of alcohol.
He glanced up for the slightest moment and Dorothy thought she felt her heart stop. She quickly looked away so the man wouldn't notice she was staring at him, but his face remained imprinted on her mind, and she knew, she absolutely knew, that she had seen this man before. Now the memory of him escaped her, but she felt the uncanny feeling that she had know this man, very well, when she was Dorothy. She swallowed hard, deciding what to do. If her gut feeling was right, if she had known him before she had been kidnapped (she shuddered just thinking the word), then he would know her as well and possibly recognize her. But what if she was wrong, and she didn't know him at all? She could feel his hot gaze upon her, and she slowly turned her face to make eye contact with him. And all time seemed to stop.
A/N: Sorry, I know I love to leave you few who read this hanging! Actually, it seems only my fanfiction ever gets reviews and my stuff on FictionPress doesn't! Anyway, I'm sorry that I'm so slow… gosh I must seem incredibly lazy! Reviews are greatly appreciated.
