Automaton Girl

Part 1 - Chapter 2 - White

My feet began to move.

I'm already out here, so I might as well carry on with my task.

The building looks the same as it did those five years ago I moved here. A white building with a gradient of grey seeping from the bottom. The wooden porch beneathe my feet creaks with every step. I finally make it to the stairs, where the canopy above my head ends and I'm only left with rain.

There's an umbrella holder right beside my feet. I notice there's an umbrella still there. Surely it's owner wouldn't mind if I borrowed it --- so I open it up and took a step outside.

The road this apartment resided on never really was busy, and even today it is still not. In front of the apartment where the doors face there's a small parking lot that can hold about fifteen cars, which is more than enough since this apartment complex only houses ten people in total.

I step down on the wooden steps. The rain begins to lighten. Perhaps I came out at just a passing rainstorm, or right when the meteorologists said it would be the worst ---

My weight begins to feel heavy. The floor beneathe me bends. I feel my body fling forward and land with my hands on the wet concrete to break my fall. My lungs feel tight and my heart quivers. It was like a trust fall --- the sicken feeling tightening within my stomach. The trash bags fall out of my hands and lands a few feet in front of me. The umbrella was the first thing I threw during my fall, and it lands about ten feet away and rolls a few more on it's hinges.

I stare down at the ground. I'm exhaling frantically. The third step to the floor is caved in. I'm lucky I didn't fall higher, or I'd probably end up with a few broken bones. My palms hurt and there's a little bit of blood coming from it. I pick myself up.

It's nothing to freak out about, I tell myself. This is just how the universe treats me.

I walk over to the trash bags. Two of them are cut open and broken plastic containers of eaten food are falling out.

I grab the two broken ones, trying not to worsen the damage that's already been done. But without missing a beat, the rip worsens and trash seeps out.

I tried, I tell myself. My face feels like it's scrunching up to cry. I tried.

I bend down to retrieve the lost trash when I hear a voice.

"Oh my, are you alright?"

The voice of a young woman. I turn my head. It's the woman who bumped into me and apologized so effortlessly. Her hair is now dry and styled, and she seems to have changed shoes as well. She starts down the stairs.

"Careful," I tell her. "I broke one of them."

"Heh," she scoffs, looking down at the broken floorboard. "That one always creaked the lowdest. I was afraid I would break it the next time I walked down. I guess someone else beat me to it, huh?"

I think I was supposed to laugh. But I only gave her a smug smile, and looked down to continue my clean-up.

"You're . . ." the woman tries to contiue the conversation that seemed to stop at an awkward beat. "My neighbor, right?"

As she says this, I collect all the trash for one bag and begin to take it to the trash disposal, which is right underneath the stairs.

"Yes. My name is Darren Smith."

"Darren, hmm? How come I don't see you often? Are you a new resident?"

I avert my eyes. Do I tell her I've probably lived here longer than she has? That I've just spent my entire time here inside my apartment, a recluse from the world?

"I'm busy." I reply.

"Ah, same here. Working in the editoral business is demanding. I was off to go to a meeting with my boss when the rain suddenly got obnoxiously hard as I walked to my car. My hair was soaked and I looked terrible. And when I rushed home, I bumped into you. Sorry about that, I didn't seem very sincere at the time, did I?" the girl said all at once.

She giggled. This girl was very . . . how do I put it? Genki, perhaps?

"And then just as I finished getting ready again, my boss called and said the meeting had been cancelled due to the heavy rain endusing traffic. But it's stopped raining, so I suppose I should go into work just in case my boss changes his mind again."

By the time she had finished speaking, I was done with putting my trash away.

"But this floorboard, it's broken, right?" the girl asked.

"Yes, it is. I should probably go report it to the manager ---"

"No, it's fine. You seem stressed. Your palms seem to be bleeding too!" the girl observed. "I'll tell him. You should go wash up."

A kind stranger.

"Thank you."

She nodded, pulling her hands together behind her back and leaning forward. "No problem."

Her auburn hair drifted off her shoulders. The sun intensified the red. She was kind of cute, if you could see her in those (probably rare) moments she wasn't all over the place.

I grabbed the open umbrella that laid helplessly on it's side. I closed it shut.

I started up the stairs.

I dodged the broken floorboard and contiued my way up. And just as I reached my door, I realized I had forgotten to get my neighbor's name.

I sighed.

I placed the umbrella in the holder, and carried on to my door. I thought of turning and looking for my neighbor, but there's not much to say to her. She is simply just that --- my neighbor. It doesn't entitle me, or her, to have to socialize.

My hand curled the door.

It pulled it open.

I entered my dark room, rubbing the creased between my eyes and nose. I flicked the light switch on.

It took me a moment to notice there was something of an oddity kneeling before my bed.

I grabbed my glasses that were sitting a top my bookcase next to me and flicked them open, shoving them on my face. I stood back for a moment.

Beside my bed was a dollish girl stared at me with tears streaming from her eyes.

She looked about just as surprised as I did. Like she did not know why I was here.

It didn't take long to notice. It didn't even take more than a minute.

She was not normal.