Human Code

05 || F I V E

"Sometimes I wish my 'surface' didn't cover wounds so deep."

*

"I have an assembly today! It looks fun!" Wendy's sudden text message flashed over my eyes as the doorbell rang. I snorted and shook my head because Wendy knew better than to text me during school. But I knew assemblies had to be fun. And she needed it after the other night.

Be happy, little Lost Girl.

Crossing the front living room of our house, I wrapped my hand around the doorknob, turned, and pulled. As the door opened, I said out loud to my internal commands, "Open communications—"

Mary stood on the front step, Rory at her side. He wasn't dressed in an android suit like he normally would. He looked as casual as me; a hoodie and jeans, and a frown for days.

"—text Wendy. Reply, you've got to tell me all about it later."

Mary's eyebrows shot up high. She gave Rory one side-glance as the wind blew her hair in her face. When she brushed away loose strands of curly hair, she shook her head. "What are you doing?" she asked me.

I let out air and stepped aside, allowing them the room to walk into my house. Once inside, I cleared my throat and shut the door. I sighed. "Close communications."

"Can't you do that in your head?" Mary mumbled as she placed the bag she'd carried on the black coffee table beside the couch. Without looking back at me, she popped it open. My eyes caught the shimmer of the manual tools neatly placed inside. She pulled out a thin tablet next.

For a second, I admired her. Red always looked lovely on her, even in its simplest form. The tee was loose, but fit right. Her hair, forever long, draped over her shoulders. I couldn't help the smile that inched up my face.

Until it hit me.

Manual tools.

My eyes slid over to Rory.

Assistant bot.

"Mar?" Leaning against the door, I stared at Rory, who couldn't—or wouldn't—look at me, just like the day before. His eyes were glued to the space in front of him, his hands in his pockets. I moved an inch forward to try and grab his attention, but his red eyes wouldn't turn my way.

My emotions crashed into the pit of my artificial stomach.

"What?" Mary, without looking at me, pulled out the devices she'd need to give me a scan. Each was placed evenly across the table.

I sucked on my teeth before standing beside Rory. His Bionics symbol was behind his ear, more discreet than mine, but when I looked at it, nothing happened, like yesterday. A growl slipped out from me and I couldn't help it. "Mar, you said you'd do this manually."

Setting up her tablet, Mary nodded. Again, she didn't look at me. "I am," she said.

"Yeah?" I looked at Rory again. His blond hair was a mess, lines around his eyes. I'd never seen an android appear sick before, not a day in my life. And to know that this hiccup affected him like this, meant if it hit me, I would be no different. "Then why is Rory here?"

"I wanted to be," Rory spoke. His voice was quieter than it should've been. But it was there. And when he turned his head to look at me, I saw the same tone in his eyes. Even though he smiled. "I wanted to help."

"Ror..." I couldn't smile with him. I knew in this state he wouldn't be much help; not to me, not to himself. And if he ended up like those androids outside, I wouldn't be able to live with myself. The fact that Mary allowed him to leave his Bionics center was just...