I Am Machine

Chapter One

I miss my best friend. Tia Kofi, that's her name. I miss her and I don't know where she is anymore. I miss her so much and I hope she misses me too. We do have each other's phone numbers, but it's not the same, it just isn't.

We have a matching necklace and bracelet. She has the bracelet, I have the necklace. It has a locket with a little button, where when you press it, two little cut out figures that spin around a little inscription in the center of the locket while a soft tune plays.

"Ronnie and Kofi Bean's best friends forever friendship locket"

That's what the locket inscription says. She's always called me Ronnie. I call her Kofi Bean. Tia's phone camera is broken. And her phone doesn't always work, so we can't really talk on the phone very much. But we do sometimes.

Tia's the only one who's allowed to call me Ronnie. No one else. Only Tia. That's why I always introduce myself as V. That way, no one can call me the nickname Tia's always used for me. That's Tia's nickname for me. And it's only her nickname for me.

I do hope that Tia is safe. I really hope she's okay. I just need her to be okay. I just want someone to bring back my best friend to me. I miss her so much and I need her to be safe. God, please, just bring back my best friend to me.

When did the world begin to fall apart?

I wish I knew the answer to that. But I don't. And I won't. Because frankly, no one knows. I don't know when I started to lose myself. Maybe it was the day it happened. Or maybe it wasn't. Maybe I was never here at all.

I wonder if I was never here at all. But that wouldn't make very much sense. After all, how can I be here now if I was never here at all? Or maybe I'm not here. Maybe it's all just an illusion. I don't exist. Nothing does. Or everything exists.

This fucking place is so lonely. Just the same dirt path for miles and miles. Occasionally I'll see something new, but never anything of note. It doesn't matter anyways. Or maybe it does. I don't think it does, though. Maybe it does, but I can't be bothered to find out.

Maybe my entire life is just a strange illusion. But that doesn't make sense. How can my life be an illusion when it feels so real? But what does real even feel like? What separates the real from the fake, the truth from the lies, the dreams from real life?

What separates me from the dirt in the road. My sentience. But maybe the dirt is sentient too. Maybe we all are. Or maybe nothing is at all. I don't know, and I don't think I ever will. Sentience is just an illusion. Everything is. Or maybe actually it isn't.

I'm not quite human. Or maybe I wasn't to start with. Maybe that's what was intended. Maybe I should've been a robot from the start. Maybe I am now who I was supposed to be at the beginning. Maybe I became myself a bit too late.

But that doesn't matter.

All that matters now is finding the thief Awhora sent me after. I don't know who it is. But Awhora told me that they had some sort of covering on their back. A grey, scuffed up sort of blanket. Or maybe something along those lines. Probably.

I don't know who this thief is, and frankly I don't know if I care. I just need to find them and return the things they stole from Awhora. But I don't know if I want to. I am indebted to Awhora and her friends, but it's just a lot.

I am at least still kind of human. I still have a kind of human body, don't I? I thought I was at least still kind of human. After all, I only have a few prosthetics. I'm not that much of a robot. At least I don't think I am.