The Artificial Girl

chapter 10

I punch my pillow and sit down.

"Why does my life have to be so hard?"

Dustin sits down beside me, causing the bed to droop, and me to slide closer.

He puts his arm around my shoulder. At this point I would start to cry. But no, when you're an E-Lite, you can't.

"I'm sorry for dragging you into this," I tell Dustin.

He shakes his head. "Not like I did much."

He turns to face me and we stare into eachother's eyes.

I find myself leaning in eyes closed.

We kiss. But it's over before it even started.

"I can't. I..." I get up and march out of my room, leaving Dustin sitting on the bed with a hurt expression on his face.

I march down the hallway and out into the warm air.

I see the dome shaped building - the swimming pool. That's where I want to go.

The receptionist hands me a purple swimsuit and I get changed in a square cubicle. My body looks strange. It's too slim and the skin is too perfect.

The swimsuit fits perfectly, not surprising since it's probably been made especially for the E-Lite body.

The smell of chlorine fills the air. The pool is empty and silent. No screaming kids or splashing.

The water is still and undisturbed. I pull by hair into a bun and plunge in. The lukewarm water feels refreshing.

I have no need to hold my breath. I allow myself to sink to the bottom and stay there for a while, studying the blue and white mosaic tiling.

I imagine a shark above me, it's body twisting like a snake. It's black eyes dead and staring. Hundreds of sharp razor teeth that could slice into flesh in an instant. Blood blooming in the water, turning the pool a dark red. The metallic taste of it in my mouth.

A splash awakens me and I look up. It's a girl. A human girl.

She's a little younger than me.

Her auburn hair flows like a curtain behind her in the water. Her eyes are wide and alarmed. I wave at her, smiling.

She throws me a confused expression and swims towards me and grabbing my wrist, pulling me upwards violently. We surface and I hear her breathing quickly. She rubs her eyes.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? You're going to drown yourself!"

I burst into laughter.

"What are you laughing at? It's not funny!" She yells, splashing her arms.

"Don't you know? I'm an E-Lite. I can't breathe..so I can't drown," I say when I manage to get a break from laughter.

She stares at me, realisation flooding her face. She turns a bright red.

"Sorry," she says. "I'm an idiot."

I shake my head, "It's OK."

She holds her hand out of the water, using the other to keep her afloat.

"Melody Pellin," she says.

"Nina," I say. "So what are you doing here?"

"Um..my dad works here so I'm just hanging out," she says. "It's pretty cool here, huh? You're lucky."

I stare down at myself. "Not really."

"Sorry, what's it like to be an E-Lite?" she says, curious.

"Strange. You can't cry, or blush, or eat, or do other things. It's strange," I say.

She nods. "You can't eat? Not even cookies. I don't know if I' d be able to live without cookies. Especially the chocolate chip ones. I should stop rambling," she blushes again.

I laugh. "Well it's nice to meet you. What does your dad do?"

"Oh, er, he's one of the trainers."

"Not Peter??" I yell.

"No, his name's Mark. Peter sounds bad!" she says.

"Yup. Actually he's not that bad. I'm just too lazy."

She laughs.

"Wanna race?" she says.

I nod and we both swim over to the edge of the pool.

"3....2.....1....GOO!!!" Melody shouts.

I push forward and propell my legs and arms. I've always been good at swimming. But it doesn't feel as good as it used to.

I reach the end of the pool before Melody. She surfaces, gasping.

"Are...you like faster or something??!!" Her voice echoes around the pool.

"No, we have no advantage over humans," I say, crossing my arms.

"We??"

"There's 2 others. Dustin and..Aiden. Dustin's nice. But Aiden's a complete idiot. Don't go near him," I warn.

She raises an eyebrow. "Oh, why?"

I frown. "To cut a long story short. I was..going out with him. Well, not really but we kissed a few times. Today was his leaving day and I went to his room to give him his present, and he was snogging his girlfriend.."

Melody's mouth drops open. "No wonder you don't like him.

Do you like being an E-Lite?"

I shake my head. "No, it's not normal. But there's nothing I can do about it now."

"What did you look like before?" Melody asks.

"Brown hair, green eyes."

Melody smiles. "Well, I bet you looked as pretty as you look now."

I beam. "Thanks."

Melody gives me a cheesy smile.

"So, can we be friends?" She screams.

I nod and ruffle her hair. "Ok, if you want."