Copy, (An Astro Boy Story)

Chapter 10: Where Are You, Astro?

Cora's POV:

Cora stood on the balcony attached to her bedroom, looking out over the city, hands clutching the cool railing in a tight grip. Biting her lip, she closed her eyes, letting the wind blow through her short black hair and calm her frantic heart.

Astro had promised to visit her a whole day ago.

It was now 11:55 P.M on Monday. Astro had left her at 11:26 P.M the night before, on Sunday. She knew. She had checked.

He had promised that he'd visit her today. That's what he had said. She knew that's what he had said. She had relived that night so many times already in her head she knew everything he had said by heart.

She smiled at him, before looking down. "So...I'll see you tomorrow?"

Astro blinked twice, dazed. "Um yeah. Tomorrow," he said.

He promised. He promised he would visit her.

She had waited for him. She had waited the entire day, not leaving the apartment once. Her eyes had flickered to the window every five minutes or so, no matter where she was in the house. It had driven her mother nuts.

She had never seen Astro as someone who wouldn't keep a promise. Or not keep one without at least dropping by and telling her why he couldn't. Astro didn't break promises. It was out of his nature.

It worried her. Seriously worried her.

What if something had happened to him? The thought was petrifying, but Cora could not seem to get it out of her mind. Something must have happened to him for him not to have shown. The thought sent surges of fear through her.

Where was he? Was he hurt? Had something attacked him, shut him off? Had something happened to the Core? Had it run out of power? Had it been stolen from him?

The worries and possibilities were too numerous and too worrisome for her to think about. She had tried distracting herself, but nothing had helped. Her mind always wondered back to him.

It had never been that way before. She hadn't been so fixated with him like this, even after the Peacekeeper. But last night...last night had been so magical. So unreal, like something out of a fairy tale. Everything else her mind had been preoccupied with before seemed so unimportant and dwarfed compared to the magic she had experienced last night. She had flown! She had soared above the clouds, seen the stars up close and seen the city from hundreds of feet up in the air! Something like that didn't happen every day.

And they had kissed. Her first ever kiss. It had been even more amazing than she had imagined. She scarcely believed that she had been so bold, but she didn't regret it in the slightest.

He hadn't pulled away. He had been surprised, but he hadn't pulled away. He had held her hand, his firm grip steadying her as their lips met for the first time. His lips had been colder than she had expected, less fleshy, she thought, than a humans might have been. But it wasn't unpleasant. Not in the slightest. It didn't matter he wasn't human. He was her robot, and those were his lips, not anyone else's.

That's all she cared about.

She sighed, putting her weight on her arms as she lifted her feet of the ground and swung a bit on the balcony railing, eyes closed, remembering her flight again.

Oh Astro, she thought silently. Where are you?

A loud knock on her door brought Cora roughly back to reality. Frowning, she put her feet back on the floor and moved away from the railing, looking back into her bedroom. "Come in!" she called.