Wires

Nightmares

She stood there, her eyes locked with mine.

"So, you're the ex, huh? Poor thing." Then, she did an unexpected thing. She came out of the doorway and hugged me. "That can't be easy." What was this? I was her husband's ex. But, she hugged me and felt sympathy for me all the same. "Jackson's not here but I'll tell him you stopped by." She gave me a thumbs up, and a smile before disappearing back into her house. That was...quick and weird. 

"You came to my house?" I looked up as Jacskon stormed in the door of the bedroom. His graying hair swayed and shook with anger. 

"I wanted to talk. I think I deserve that much, don't I?" I asked, my eyes boring into his. 

"No. You don't." What? His harsh voice hit me hard. "You don't deserve to just waltz back in here and ruin everything! You're a goddamn chunk of metal! You mean nothing to me anymore! You should have stayed dead!" The last sentence sent me flying at him. I knocked him over and got on top of him, punching him in the face as hard as I could. There was a horrendous cracking noise as I took another swing. 

"REALLY?! IF I WAS JUST A CHUNK OF METAL, I COULDN'T DO THIS." My voice rang through the house and I heard footsteps running my way. I popped off the ends of my finger, letting the top fall to the ground. I moved the knife to his throat, putting pressure into it. Jackson spluttered and blood seeped from his neck. I put more pressure into it and his eyes sparkled. With fear. I stopped, pulled the knife away. Marco and Asher stood in the doorway. 

"J-Jackson!" I reached to his neck and used the sensors in my other fingers to check for a pulse. None. I had stopped too late. No. I started trying to do CPR, but blood only poored more from the wound. "No! No, please!" I was a killer. That was all I was meant for. This was my future. I could only harm. I looked down at my arms and screamed. A ear-splitting shriek. This was all of could do. "I KILLED HIM!" I wished I could cry, but no tears fell from my eyes. I had just done the worst thing I could think of and couldn't even cry. I couldn't even express the greatest sadness I had ever felt! I screamed, louder, louder. I ripped at my fake skin, tearing it from my metal bone structure. I was a monster. An ugly, ugly monster.

I screamed as I opened my eyes. Another dream? More like a nightmare. I wasn't supposed to dream. I wasn't supposed to feel anything. I killed Jackson in my dream. I killed him. Did I have a subconcious? Could I subconsciously know that I could only bring suffering. Bring pain? So many questions danced in my head as I locked the door. No one would come near me. Not now. Not ever. I had to leave. Again. I had to go, I had to get away. But...I was also tired of running. But, I knew I had to. 

So, I spent the next several days locked away to avoid giving away my plans. At night on the first day, I found a sturdy vase in the house and took it. Marco wasn't one for beautiful or expensive things, but the vase was made of a special material Jeff's lab developed. I still had all that intel in my head. Harder than diamond. But lightweight and easy to swing. 

So, in the middle of the night, after three days of planning, I locked the door. I locked the door and grabbed the vase. I didn't need anything. I held the vase in my hand and approached the window. I took a deep breath and swung. Glass shattered and clinked around me. I took off out the door. I engaged my GPS and moved quickly. I tried not to think of Asher, Jackson, and Marco behind me. My bare feet flew across bare, rugged ground. Rocks pierced my synthetic skin but I didn't care. I couldn't keep killing people. I couldn't keep hurting everyone I knew. I needed to stop. Just...stop. 

My eyes opened to bright white. Where was I? The white of the ceiling pierced my pale eyes. Hmm. 

"It's on. Make sure the restraints are secure and prepare for reprogramming. We're not letting it get away this time." I looked up. People milled around me in a...hospital room. I tried to get up. My hands were bound by handcuffs to the sides of the hospital bed. 

"Hello A-5643." An official-looking man stood above me. "You and your friends here are being decommissioned. Your creation appears to have become a threat. You'll be moving on to a new programmer and be dismantled for research. Your programming is quite sophisticated and you appear to have A.I. properties. Can you tell me if you have a self-given name?" I shook my head. 

"My identification number is A-5643. And you're an a**hole. Kill me why don't you? I hate living and loving anyway. Dismantle me. Take my programming. Copy it. Bring others this suffering why don't you? It sucks, just so you know." No point in hiding it. "I don't have control of my own being. It doesn't matter now." I couldn't even find it in my software to give a crap. 

"Jeff, she's pissed." I stopped. Jeff. No. No anyone but him. No. But, he appeared in my vision. 

"Well, well, well. We meet again." I froze. My joints locked. 

"GO AWAY YOU CREEP!!! DON'T EVER TOUCH ME AGAIN!!!" I screamed. I tried to kick at him. 

"Jeff, I sure hope you weren't using our tech for...unusual purposes. Remember, you're only observing this time." 

"Fine." Jeff growled. I hated this. It scared me badly. 

I screamed out loud as a fire truck. I was in an alleyway. These dreams were becoming extremely frequent. Away from Asher, Jackson, and Marco for six days and I still had them every night. Sick and twisted ones. They scared me so much. 

I was done. Done with the dreams. Done with 'love'. Done with trying to live in a fairy tale. Done with intelligence, done with this personality. I had an idea. 

I kept my eyes closed as I scrolled through my own programming. I was slowly deleting every one of my memories. Slowly, completely obliterating them. I started to forget why I was doing this, but I had left a note on my hand to keep going. Until they were all gone. Gone.