the biology of love | chase davenport

avalanche

Maeve stumbled away from the house, her breathing quickening with each step. She made her way to a small grove of trees before she had to stop. She sat down, nearly collapsing, clutching her chest. She could barely breathe. It felt like her heart was literally going to explode - she had never felt it beat so fast.

With shaking hands, Maeve tucked her hair into a loose ponytail. She looked up, trying to get more air into her lungs, but with every breath, she felt like she was going to die.

She didn't know how long she had been crying. Maeve pulled her knees up to her chest, gripping her arms so tight she could barely feel her fingers. The world around her began to shift and spin ever so slightly. She shut her eyes.

-

Maeve woke up some time in the night, her head pounding. She slowly pushed herself to her feet as her eyes adjusted to the moonlight. She didn't know where she was or how long she had been there.

But she knew that she had to find Douglas.

But where would he be?

Maeve remembered, years ago, when she first met Marcus, he had lived with Douglas in a small, relatively secluded home. It was just outside of her neighborhood.

Surprisingly, she still remembered the way. As Maeve walked the path she had once walked so many times, she felt like a child again, visiting Marcus.

Marcus.

She couldn't believe he was gone. She could not comprehend it. This was Marcus, the boy who had been her friend when everyone else thought she was weird. Marcus, who could complete any mission. Marcus, who never let anything stop him.

How could he be gone?

Maeve was jolted out of her thoughts when she nearly ran into Marcus' old home. It was a shack of a house, wooden planks so tilted it looked like the slightest breeze could knock the whole thing down. At some point, the sun had risen.

What was Maeve doing there?

She had no reason to believe Douglas would be there. He could literally be anywhere. Now she had spent all of this time going to this dumb shack when Douglas was probably off-

"I know you're out there, Maeve," a voice said from inside the house. Douglas' voice. Maeve furrowed her brow and opened the door.

Douglas was inside, cooking bacon and eggs. When she entered, he grinned.

"Glad to see ya!"

Maeve glared, her chest heaving.

Douglas sighed. "Look, I know, you're mad I left. And I'm sorry about Marcus. But I was just-"

"You left him to die!" Maeve interrupted.

"He would've died anyways," Douglas said.

Maeve paused, taken aback. "What are you talking about?"

Douglas sighed. "Marcus wasn't a bionic human like you. He was an android. He would've burnt out before his sixteenth birthday."

Maeve stood still while Douglas walked past her. Shocked, she turned to him. "And you just weren't gonna tell me this?"

"It didn't come up!" Douglas said, exasperated.

"Still. You left him. If you had stayed, you could've done something, and maybe he- maybe he would still be here."

"He was an android."

"He was my friend!"

"Maeve, you need to learn to get over things like this. With this job, you're not here to make friends. You're here to work."