sentient // phan

http//: 1

"Hello, Phil. Can you hear me?" A voice goaded me awake, so I obliged, opening my eyes slowly. Everything was bright and blurry, confusing and new. I blinked a few times, and the world came into focus. There was a man in front of me, very close to me, and I would have stepped away if I didn't feel constricted, like all my limbs were tied down.

"Hello." I said, squinting into the bright light.

"How do you feel?" Asked the boy eagerly, putting his hand to my face. I thought for a second.

"Cold." I replied. The truth was that I didn't feel anything, not really, but something in my head told me that I was cold, and told me that there was a hand on my face, and told me that this man's warm breath was on my nose, so that's what I said.

He let out a breath with a smile. "That's great. That's really..." he leaned in and pressed his lips to mine, and I flinched away quickly in shock. He just chuckled. "Oh, yeah. Better take these off, huh?" He smiled to himself as he pulled off restraints that bound my arms to a slab of metal. He bent down to undo my feet, and I looked around. The place was mostly white and angular, clean like no one lived there. There was a window just opposite me that looked down upon a busy city, which would have been beautiful if it wasn't separated from us as though by a hazy veil of smoke.

My feet finally popped free, and I took a step off the plate, attempting to stand, but my legs wobbled beneath me, and I quickly fell into the man's arms.

"Careful now, you cost me a lot of money." He chuckled as if what he said was funny, and stood me up, staying very close to me. I didn't want to be rude, so I stayed where I was. He ran his fingers along my arms.

"So weird." He said, his finger tracing mine. He took my wrist in his hand gently and held it next to his eyes as to get a better look at it. "So real-looking."

"What's going on? Where am I? Who are you?" I asked quickly, trying to be as polite as possible. The man shook his head gently, and took my other hand in his, leading me into another room. He walked backward to watch my feet's progress as I took step after steadying step, his smile so wide it almost looked like it hurt. His thumb traced circles along the back of my hand, lingering at the knuckles and joints.

He had me sit on a couch, and  he sat in a chair across from me. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and folding his hands. He looked at me the way one might look at something they were going to eat. But then he began to speak.

"My name is Dan, Phil. This is my house. You are my droid."

I nodded, slowly, the gears in my head whirring with the new information. "I met you before- do you not remember?" I thought back quickly, but the first thing I could remember was waking up only a few minutes ago.

"No." I answered. He looked at me, slyly. He stood and placed his hands on my thighs, his lips dangerously close to mine again. I leaned back, uncomfortably, but he seemed to take this as an invitation to climb onto my lap.

"I'll try to jog your memory, then..." he whispered, pressing his lips against mine. My body went rigid with shock, and he pulled away after a few seconds. "Why aren't you kissing me back?" He asked, irked. I knit my eyebrows in confusion.

"To kiss is to... to love. Is it not?" I question genuinely, and he shakes his head.

"You do love me. You told me so when we met before..." And he tried to kiss me again, but with a surge of strength I didn't know I could muster, I pushed him off of me.

He fell hard to the ground with a dull thud, the smooth floor allowing him to slide a few feet. He looked up at me, shocked and slightly hurt, and I repressed the urge to help him and ask if he was okay. I just looked back at him.

"No." I said. He looked down, and got up slowly. He ran his hand through his chocolaty hair, and looked away from me. He and I were silent for a second as I pondered what droid meant.

"We both need to rest. I'll show you where you can charge." He got up and began to walk, and I got up quickly, following him. Once he mentioned it, I did feel extremely drained, and though I didn't know exactly what he meant by charge, I still followed him to a small metal circle I had woken up on. He just pointed to it, and I stepped on it, assuming that's what he meant for me to do. My eyelids suddenly began to droop.

Dan began to leave, shutting off the light on his exit from the room.

"Goodbye." I said softly. I saw him pause just before my eyes shut all the way, but he didn't respond.

Everything went black.