Become Human

The Right Impulse

Clark and I decided not to return back to the car since the window was broken and that people might get suspicious and arrest us, so we came back home just on foot. By the time that we got back, the warehouse was filled with life again.

When we entered, everyone was doing their normal and daily chores. I spotted Nathan wiping one of the tables with a cloth while whistling a tune nonchalantly. I let Clark stay away for a moment then I carefully and slowly approached Nathan.

"Hey Nathan" I said in a casual manner

"Oh hey Shawn, where were you? We looked everywhere for you." He replied

"Oh, I just wandered around. You know, because I woke up extra early this morning." I said. At the same time I said extra early, I saw his Adam's apple  move as he swallowed the water in his mouth.

"Oh is that so, well..." He said but I cut him off with a question

"Hey, have you heard that loud explosion earlier? I'm pretty sure that it killed a lot of people." I said to him

"I didn't hear no explosion. But that would've been a nice sight, don't you think?" He said then he smiled with a tinge of anger in his face.

That smile annoys me. I know he's lying. I wanted to say "Oh fuck off Nathan, let's just get to the point. I know that you know what I'm talking about." But I have to stay calm and do this in a swift and smooth manner, so that there'll be no misunderstandings that will take place.

"You do know that's a double negative, right? So did you hear it or not?" I said with a loud voice but not loud enough that it would be a shout

That's when the smiles disappeared. It became serious the moment that my sentence ended. Once his sharp and piercing eyes came on, I draw my stand back down a bit, fearing that things would go too far

"Why do you care anyway? It was just a stupid explosion." He replied

 "No it's not stupid. Many people died. Mothers, Fathers, Children! Children who could've had beautiful and bright futures and opportunities. They could've changed the world. But now they can't. Have you ever thought of them?" I said to him while getting a little bit emotional

"Have they ever thought of us?! Have they ever thought of what we felt?! It's lucky that we're awake, but what about the others? Others who will have to live their years being enslaved by humans. Others who have to live in pain. That's not even enough if you ask me, it's not enough for the pain that they've caused us." He shouted out angrily. 

There was a moment of silence. He looked down on the table that he was wiping while I just stared out in the open area. Thinking about everything. Was I wrong? Did the thing they just did was the right thing? My mind can't comprehend and process this all at once. I had a mentality crisis. I may not have lived longer than him or lived long at all to have wisdom, but in the end, I figured that hate and anger is never the way to victory and peace.

"So, did you do it?" I asked him

"Yes." He said with a firm voice

"I'm disappointed in you. I expected better from someone who has consistently helped and taught other people to change." I said then I left

I clenched my fists. I felt the anger flowing through me. I can't believe he actually did that. I may not know his past and what pushed him to do such horrendous thing but what he did was too much. Now I know, that there could be two drastic sides to a person. Never judge a person, not only by it's cover, but also by it's opening, because there might be something much deeper that you don't know in it's middle part.

I looked for Clark, but he is nowhere to be found. I assume he went somewhere to be alone, so I went to the bedrooms to look for Hazel and the twins. When I got there, I saw that Hazel was still asleep, which was surprising since she always woke up early.

With everything that has happened earlier, I started to fear if something was done to Hazel. I kept shaking her, but she wouldn't wake up. I started saying her name as I shook her up, but she still wouldn't wake up. I stood up as my efforts failed, It seemed that she was put in a coma on purpose. I was about to go and charge to Nathan but before I left, she reached out and held my hand.

"What is it?" She said with a still sleepy voice

I climbed back into her bed then I hugged her tightly.

"Hey, what happened? I'm not dead yet. Hug me like that when I die." She said as she lightly laughed

"It's nothing. I thought you were in a coma or something. Kept shaking you, but you wouldn't wake up." I said to her

"It's because I'm in deep sleep mode. Heavy day yesterday, so heavy in fact that I asked Nathan if I could take the day off today and he said that I could." She explained to me

I just nodded as there's nothing more that I could say.

"Hey. You smell like smoke and you have ashes over your body. Was there something that happened as I was asleep?" She innocently asked

"Um, nothing. I'd explain later but I should probably take a shower now." I said

"Yeah, you should." She said she hit me with  one of her pillows

I jumped back to the ground and I went back to my bed the grab my stuff that's hidden below it. When I got everything I needed, I went to the shower rooms. On my way, I saw Nathan sitting on a table with his head down. I wanted to comfort him as he looked like he was about to cry earlier and it seemed like that it meant a lot to him but I decided to let him cool down and talk to him later.

When I got to the showers, I undressed and saw the outline of the fine ash that covered me. My body was covered in ashes except the parts where my clothes cover them. I opened the shower and it was surprisingly warm despite that it's cold outside.

 The ashes flowed through me. The dirt and ashes barely got through the small holes of the drain, but thankfully they didn't clog it up. When I finished, I dried myself with the towel. And even though I took a shower already, I found that there was still some dirt and ashes that  got through the water and got stuck in my body. 

I covered my lower body with the towel since I left my clothes behind in the lockers. When I went outside of the shower stall, I saw two androids, looking straight at me with sharp and focused eyes. They both held a baton while one of them had a handcuff.