The ArchAndroid over Stone Ocean

Life Letters

Mary Janelle Robinson was born in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1971. She was the third daughter of a businessman and a housewife, so she lived a privileged childhood, but during her youth, that money wasn't enough to help her true problem.

At a very young age, Mary Jane discovered a spirit that accompanied her everywhere. It was a golden humanoid with sunglasses and a wide crown that resembled a city due to building-like figures on it. It was monochrome and it felt like it was made out of pure gold, as she could see it shine and felt its heavy metal skin. The first time she saw it, it was protecting her from a man trying to kidnap her. After this life-saving situation, the little girl was convinced that it was her guardian angel. She went home running to show her mother but her usual disapproval face didn't change at all. 

-Mama! Please just take one look! You'll see! Please, mama, look! - she exclaimed surprised over her mother's reaction

-Please stop it with this stupid games, Janelle - replied the mother impatiently 

She tried telling her sisters but they just laughed at her like usual. At her own home, Jane was seen as a stranger. Her loneliness would sometimes translate into rage, so the young Janelle often got into fights that would sometimes take her to the hospital. It was almost impossible for her to win, she was short and thin, she wasn't really a rival for anyone, but she kept fighting and standing proud.

As Mary grew, the angel grew too. She would always try to tell people she trusted about it, but no one could ever see it. Her parents thought she had lost her mind and she was diagnosed with schizophrenia, therefore she was always left alone at school, but even with all the treatments, her angel never left her side, so she just hid its existence to everyone. Eventually she started calling it ArchAndroid, because of the building-like figures and the humanoid's sometimes robotic appearance.

In high-school, a group of boys incentivated her into driving them home from a party, since they were all (Janelle included) very drunk. She accepted. It had been the first time in a while someone wanted her for something. On the way, after a curve, a woman crossed the street, but Mary wasn't fast enough to dodge her. As fear invaded her body, she closed her eyes for a second, and when she opened them back up, she encountered herself where she had been a few seconds ago, before the curve. Everything seemed the same. This time she stopped the car and the woman arrived safely on the other side of the street. She knew immediately it was the work of her guardian angel. 

When she arrived home, she couldn't close her eyes as she layed on the bed. She couldn't have hallucinated that accident before passing the curve, the woman crossing was the same one. She took her wristwatch and observed it. She paid attention to the fastest needle only, the one that marked the seconds. The ArchAndroid was standing next to her. The needle marked forty-five seconds. She blinked, hoping for it to happen, and it did. There was no doubt about it, the clock needle marked forty seconds. She kept trying and trying. That day, the next one, and the next one. After months of it, she realized the most she could go back was around ten seconds. She used this ability all the time. After tripping, after making an awkward mistake speaking or during a fight to dodge the opponent's punches. The ArchAndroid became essential in her life. 

At the age of 18, she attended college. She decided to study psychology to learn how to make herself feel better, until one day, a tall Japanese student got in a fight. She watched it next to the small crowd around it, and that was the moment she saw an angel just like hers. It was purple and wore some sort of loincloth. Afterwards, she got closer to the boy to ask him about it. As she was blushing, she started a conversation.

-Excuse me, I saw your fight today…

-Leave me alone, whore. - he interrupted rudely

Usually she would have left very offended, but that situation was different. She needed to know what those angels were.