Under Dana’s supervision, the robot
stayed at the village. Months have passed away, the robot helped villagers with
their works and with some fights, he was even spending time playing with
children. But most of the people still didn’t trust him. That irritated the
robot a lot. 150 years ago, he was a hero, a person that people hoped to see
into the streets, protecting their homes. Butt now her was feared and
considered nothing but a mindless machine… his endless nightmare.
-----
He was carrying a couch for Dana inside
the house.
“You
know, Cleave…”
Dana said as he put the couch onto the floor. She
sat on it. The robot did the same. He didn’t feel comfortable sitting, but he
always did what Dana did.
“…I
still don’t know who you are! Why you are alive!”
Dana was still amazed with the whole
thing. She moved to the right to be closer to her robot.
“That helmet on your head… can you
take it off?”
With slow and hesitated movements, Cleave
moved his hands towards his helmet
“Lock off” The helmet locked off his head and he took it off. He placed it onto
the table. He then looked up at Dana who was staring at his, with mouth wide
open. He lowered his head again. He
thought that the scars made him look ugly.
“You’re…” Dana
didn’t know what to say. “You’re… so handsome…” She approached him.
“Who are you? Where do you come from?
Why… why are you alive?”
She touched his leg.
“Please… speak to me. Why are you so
shy? Do you have something to hide from me?” His lips
contracted. He wanted so much to speak to her, and tell his story. But
something held him back. During the month that he spent with Dana, he started
having emotions again. He promised to him self that he would never love again.
But now, seeing this beautiful griffin in front of him, made him feel weird. He
was falling in love with her.
Dana leaned forwards. She felt an urge to
kiss the machine, but she too was held back. She couldn’t get over the fact
that he was a robot. It felt so weird… yet she couldn’t control her emotions.
She leaned forward, her lips almost touching his… and finally, she gave in.
“NO!!!” He yelled and
jumped back. “Warning! System
error!” He shook his head. He was getting the same message every
time he was feeling weird.
“Oh my God…” Dana said putting her hand over her mouth. “What have I done?” she
whispered
She looked up and saw Cleave. He was
staring her, his eyes were red and his mouth was hanging open. As if he didn’t
know what to do.
“Cleave please…” She approached him but he stepped back. They both were panicked. “Please…
it… I don’t know why I did this… I… Please…”
“Why?” He
asked. “Nothing will be the same now! I don’t want to hurt again!”
He run towards the window and spread his
wings out from his back.
“Cleave…?” “I… have to go”. He said, and without looking back, he flew out.
“WAIT! DON’T GO!” She run to the window and looked outside. But he was already very
far away. “…Don’t go…” she whispered. A tear fell from her eye onto her
cheek.
-----
He was flying away as fast as he could.
He had to get away from that place, get away from her and his emotions. He
didn’t have a heart, but still something inside him ached. He wanted to cry so
much, but he couldn’t shed a tear. He knew that crying always made a person
feel better. But his sorrow and anger kept building inside. Because
he felt as if he wasn’t a person at all. He was an object that everyone
hated and everyone wanted to see him dead. He had to fly away.
-----
“Mom!!” Jimmy came in with a smile at his face.
“Jimmy…” Dana
bit her lips. He son loved the robot a lot
“Mom, look! I made a new drawing” He said cheerfully and pulled out a piece of paper from his
backpack.
“It’s beautiful,” Dana said.
“Where’s the robot? I wanna show
him!” She
started crying again.
“Honey… Cleave had to go…” He started at her, as if he didn’t understand what she was saying.
“Where did he go? When is he coming
back?”
“He’s not coming back Jimmy… He….
left.”
“Why? Didn’t he like us?” Jimmy said, almost choking in tears. Dana hugged him.
“Of course he did… He loved us a lot
but… He didn’t belong here. He was a machine… we’re anthros…
we’re very different, we’re enemies…”
“NO!” Jimmy
yelled. “He’s not different! I gave him
a heart! They were supposed to love him!!”
He run to his room, crying and he slammed
the door behind him. Dana didn’t understand what he said. She was very sad that
he left too, after all, she loved him… or so she though. She walked to his room
and knocked on the door
“Jimmy?” She
pushed the door open and looked inside. Jimmy was lying on his bed and crying.
She sat on the bed close to him and put her hand on his back.
“Honey… what did you mean when you
said that you gave him a heart?”
Jimmy sniffed and looked up.
“I… I drew a little heart on his
chest, so that everyone would see that he’s just like us… They were supposed to
like him…” He said. Dana smiled and hugged him. “Why
didn’t they love him mom? Why?” Dana didn’t know how to explain things to
him
“Honey… Cleave is a robot and… a lot
of people have lost their families because of robots. They don’t hate Cleave,
they hate all robots…” She sighted. People hated
each other, even if they did have a heart. What chance did a robot have?
-----
Jimmy woke up. He looked at the clock.
“I’ll find him! I’ll find him and I’ll
bring him back!”