VOCOM

chapter XXII

"Quintley, I just can't." I tried to hand it back, but he pressed his hand onto mine, keeping the necklace firmly in place. I couldn't take away something so valuable from him, even if everything had been stripped away from me that I loved.

"You have to. For me?"

My head shot up at that. No. Absolutely not. I stood abruptly, staring down at him with the necklace clutched in my hands and an abashed expression. He was watching me with startled eyes. I could almost read his thoughts; he was thinking he did something wrong. I only wished I could really hear his thoughts, but then again, I betted he didn't even shut up in his head.

I focused on breathing. I had to stay calm and think rationally. I couldn't let myself make a fool of me so carelessly-nor could I find the will to hurt his feelings over something so trivial. I wanted to scorn myself for being so open about it, but then I remembered all that had crashed over me for the past few days.

I searched his eyes, trying to think of a rebuttal that wouldn't completely kill his feelings. But no matter what I tried, I ended up arguing with myself. "I . . . !" my mouth gaped. "I . . . uhm, I-I-"

He stood, and I could see the nervous anxiety written all over his face. He was close, too close. Flashes of him ran though my head, me being unable to shake them. His arm around me, his bare chest-no, I had to forget it. But I couldn't .

He really likes you, you know. I shook my head. No, VOCOM couldn't have been right. But maybe she was. I swallowed.

He took my hand gently being only inches away, and took Hazel's necklace smoothly from my firm grasp. He was quiet, staring at me with his chocolate eyes that always brimmed with compassion. He reached up, and I nearly flinched when his hands brushed lightly over my head and around my neck. He had put it around my neck and let go.

"Please, to keep you safe." He whispered.

That was exactly what Gala had said when she gave me the small, red-beaded bracelet that hung around my right wrist. I had always worn it, every day since, and never would I dishonor her by putting it around my left wrist.

I could only look down in the terrible reminder. I stared at the bracelet Gala made for me, unable to really pull myself together. If she were there, she would've known what to do. She had always been more level-headed than I was. What a mess I was. That AI was right. Quintley had messed up my wall so horribly and now I couldn't even give a proper response.

"Really, Vera, you look so morbid." He broke the silence.

I know, I wanted to say. I couldn't even do that.

His fingers lightly gripped my chin, pulling my head up to look at him; all six-foot-eight of him. I stared into his eyes, wondering what I should expect from that side of Quintley that I had never seen before.

I didn't know what to think, but he thought for me. In the exact moment that his lips pressed to mine gently, everything suddenly became clear. I was only human; I couldn't live my life in a computer-generated world. Even though I had already reached that conclusion, it was now a tie I was able to sever with utter confidence and manner. My fears melted away and my clouded mind became comprehensive.

I knew what I lived for then. I survived to show that I triumphed over the oppression that only other humans could render upon me. VOCOM and Benlark could taunt me all they wanted, but they could never fill in what only another human being could give me: passion. This had been shown with Gala, and now with Quintley. I survived over machine, not like how VOCOM thought I survived because of her. Man makes machine.

My nerves relaxed, my flustered heart calmed. In that very moment I felt the emotion I hadn't had since my parents' deaths, and again with Gala's. It was that I was cared for; that someone would notice if I lived or died and would take heart to it.