Melancholia

Remnants 45 - Animatronic Murder

"I'm so happy!" she exclaimed, hands clenched in fists, front of her chest.

"So..."

"Yeah?" she asked.

"Umm... Nothing."

"So when can we go?"

"Tomorrow night, about 6 o'clock."

"Yippee!"

Honestly, I like her, like a lot. Her pale-toned skin, bright red cheeks, beautiful brown hair, the most wonderful thing in the world. However, the truth she does not know.

I know that we could never be. She is she, and I am I. I am not she and she is not me. She is who she is to be and I am who I am to be.

She is... Out of this world.

However, I don't want to disappoint her, so, I agreed to go on a date with her.

"See you tomorrow!" she waved to me.

"Alright," I waved back. "Don't be late."

"You know I never am," she said in the distance.

Ah... A date with Jane. How befitting, it being a month since I first met her. Our one month anniversary. How lovely.

The next night, I arrived at the restaurant we promised at six o'clock sharp. She was there already, playing with her hair.

"Hi, handsome."

"You're here early," I remarked.

"Sure I am, I was right here waiting for you, sweetie," she said, touching my nose.

"So... What do you want to eat?"

"I don't want anything, seeing you eat is enough, but I'd perhaps like a glass of water, just for the sake of the date."

"Alright then. Waiter, oh waiter."

"Yes?" The waiter came to our table.

"I would like to have some steak."

"Alright. And for the... beautiful lady?"

"A glass of water will do, thanks."

"So..."

"Yeah?"

"What do you want to talk about?"

"Pets, why not?"

"Do you have any pets?"

"Well, I used to have a pet cat, but it disappeared one day." Jane said.

"Disappeared?"

"Well, it became lost, I think. I don't really remember. How about you?"

"Me, I've never had a pet before."

"I see," she said. "Why not?"

"I never wanted one."

"You can have me!"

"Umm..."

"Yeah?"

I decided to tell her the truth. "Actually, there is something I have to tell you."

"Go on."

"I like you, like really really much, but I don't think we can be together."

"Why not?" she asked, tilting her head to her left.

"Let's face it. I'm a human, and you're a..."

"I'm a what?"

"You're just a robot, an animatronic."

"No I'm not. I'm a human being."

"Sure? Ever looked in a mirror?"

"Yes, I have."

"Then haven't you noticed that you look different from other people?"

"Yes, but isn't that the magic of humanity?"

"Yes, but... Okay, let me put it this way. Touch me."

"Alright," she said, reaching out to touch my forearm.

"Feel how it is, covered in hair and skin. It's soft, right? Now touch your own."

She proceeded to touch her own. "It's hairless and covered in plastic, hard."

"See?" I pointed out.

"But... But I've always thought that I was a human. No, it can't be, it can't be!"

"Alright then, tell me your full name."

"Jane Erica Thompson."

"Wait, you're the 21 year old girl who went missing a month ago!"

Suddenly, she went blank.

"You alright?"

"What am I doing here? Why am I in this body? What happened to me?" she cried out.

"Calm down," I said. "You are Jane Erica Thompson, a girl that went missing a month ago. According to the news, you were last seen at a financially unstable children's pizzeria."

"Then why am I in this body?"

"From stories I've read, it is most possible that your soul is trapped in that animatronic body of yours."

"It's not mine!!! No, no, no!"

"And what you're doing here, is... Well, you asked me out on a date."

"A date, with you!?" she exclaimed.

"Yes." Seems like her personality changed, I thought.

"Why would I date the person who killed me!?" After saying that, she immediately ran out of the restaurant. She approached a police and told him everything. The police, confused, reported the case to his head officer.

And so, a few weeks later...

"Order in the court! We are now in the case of the murder of Jane Erica Thompson. Prosecutor, please report the case."

"On XX, XX, XXXX, Jane Erica Thompson was killed at a local pizzeria named 'Happy Funland Pizzeria' at ..."

In the end, I got pronounced innocent as proof was insufficient. Jane, however, I brought her back to the pizzeria, rebooting her systems, setting her mind back under me and my associates' control.

"Then what are you doing here?"

"Me? I ended up in jail for another case after that. Same method."

"Pfft, what a big lie."

"Don't believe me? I've killed five, no, twenty people through that method already. Want to join the pizzeria members?"