Come Back Home j.j.k.

Chapter 2: Awake

JK 6991

The cold metal surface was the first thing I could feel under my back when I started breathing. It would inevitably wake me up as I sit forward and scan the area.
A regular room with plaster walls, a few computers, one window and one wooden door.
What was worse was the fact that I had been left with no clue of what to do. There were no thoughts rushing my mind, not even an urge to escape had dawned on me. I locked my eyes on multiple targeted areas within the room with an empty head.
Yet I froze when the door swung open and in walked a woman. A quick scan saw that she had an African bloodline, a slight visual impairment, and a little bit of a clumsy problem since she almost tripped and dropped the tray she was carrying when she saw me.
"Whoops. That could've been bad," she laughed as she walked over and set the tray down on the nightstand beside me. I looked at her with a blank face and suddenly I recognized her. "Mother?"

Her jaw dropped a little at the title and she quickly shook her head. "No, no, JK. I'm not your mother." I could only raise my eyebrow at her.
"You are not my creator?
"No! I mean yes! I am. But don't call me your mother, it's weird," she laughed once more. Was there a joke being shared here? Because I don't understand. She pulls a notepad and pen from her lab coat and adjusts her glasses.
"Just call me, Indigo."
"But you are my creator,"
"Yes. But my name is Indigo,"
"But as my superior, is it not rude to refer to you by your-"
"J. K." she says in an almost threatening tone.
It shuts me up instantly.
"My apologies, Indigo."
She sighs and smiles.
"No, I'm sorry. I have a lot to teach you,"
I didn't know how to respond to that. She scribbled something on her notepad and tucked the pen between her ear and her wild curls.
"I brought you some food, JK,"
"Food?"

I deadpan the tray on the nightstand to see what she meant. It had a platter containing one slice of toast and a cup of orange juice placed neatly beside it.
"Go on." She says with a glint in her eyes. I reach for the toast first. I analyze it more before taking a small bite and chewing. Indigo pulls the pen from behind her ear and starts writing on the notepad again.
"How does it taste?" She looks at me with nothing but anticipation. I knew what it tasted like I just couldn't find the words.
"It tastes,"
"Good? Bad?"
"...It tastes,"

She starts mumbling to herself. Something along the lines of "I probably made a mistake in the wiring of his artificial taste buds-"
All I did was stare at the indentation where I had bit off of the toast. Something didn't feel right.
I knew I wasn't ordinary as soon as I got up. I knew I wasn't much like her, a human. Yet why did I feel so...conscious?
"Um. Indigo, forgive me for asking,"
She stops her writing to focus on me again.
"What am I?"
Her eyes light up instantly and she takes my mechanical hand in hers.
"Well if we're being practical, you're a half human/half robot hybrid. Something never attempted by anyone. Which makes you very different, JK,"

That would explain my enhanced vision or my mechanical arms, or the skin covering half of my exterior. Yet I still felt so unreal. The emptiness in my head had somewhat remained.
Indigo lifts my chin with her smaller hand.
"But who cares, you are you. That's it. That's all you'll ever need to be,"
"Am I- bad?" I ask her. She chuckles and gazes at me for a second. She pulls the palm of my hand to her chest.

"Do you feel that?"
"Your heart rate is moving a little bit faster than average, Indigo," I point out.
"Well, that's because you've made me happy," she responds. "I don't think that's bad at all, JK,"

Hearing that was soothing. It would've been upsetting to hear that I disappointed my creator. I felt a tingle in the pit of my chest still rise even though the statement was said a while ago. She went and adjusted things around the room, the examination table I sat on, the IVs, a few of the computers on the other side of the room.
She returned to me and wiped her hands on her lab coat.
"Alright, JK. Can you stand for me please?"

I did as I was told automatically. She looked up at me with the same glint in her eyes. I grew concerned for her mental state.

"Indigo, is there something on my face?"
Once again she laughs despite the fact that I had not said a joke. "No. It's just that I've worked so hard on you for a long time. I began doubting myself and almost gave up."
"But you didn't. For that I feel..."

I trailed off.

"You feel?" She reiterates with her eyebrows raised.
"I feel...nice." I say looking down at her.

She relaxed, satisfied at my claim. A breath of relief passes her lips as she turns to the door.
"Finish eating then meet me downstairs. There are clothes in that box for you. I hope you like Nike techs." She chuckled before disappearing behind the door.

I had thought of something new since the first few minutes I had woken up. I thought about what lay beyond that door, what world was awaiting me outside this singular room. The humans would call it 'excitement'? Either way, I wanted to experience it. This pushed me to rush into my jeans and the 'Nike Tech' my creator had mentioned without a second thought.

Something about me was warm and it wasn't the heated battery in my system.