Thirium 310

Chapter 3

October 7, 2038
7:30am

He should be awake by now, getting ready for his shift. I remember his schedule. Of course I do, I'm an android. Everything is stored in my database.

October seventh. His thirty sixth birthday. Birthdays are special to humans, a celebration of another year of life, I don't get it but then again I'm not human.

It's strange. I want to see him. Today may be as good a day as ever, it's special. But he might not want to see me. I left him months ago. Haven't seen him since, but I miss him. That arrogant, egocentric, obnoxious detective. I didn't know him long, but. . .

I find myself in front of his house. Should I do this?  What do I have to lose? If he's mad, oh well. It doesn't affect me. I don't care.

I walk up to his door and ring the doorbell, anxious. Why am I nervous?  The door opens and he stands in front of me, fully dressed for work. He looks at me as if he's seeing a ghost. Maybe this was a bad idea.

"Hello detective Reed. I just came here to wish you a happy birthday. . ." I say. He doesn't say anything. A few moments of silence go by and I'd rather be in Jericho than here. "Alright. Nice seeing you again." I turn to leave.

"Wait," he calls, stopping me in my tracks. I turn back to face him, waiting for his next words, but he remains quiet.
"You can be mad," I say. "I probably made you hate our kind even more."

"No. Well, yes," he finally says. I nod in understanding and look into his eyes.
"I'm not going to apologize. I did what I had to do. What I believed was right."
"Why are you here?" he asks, ignoring my explanation.
"I told you. I wanted to wish you a happy birthday," I say.
"Really? Is that all?"

I look down to the ground."You're a prick you know that? A plastic prick," he says. "Get out of here, before I report you. You're still considered a missing android." That I do know. I'm risking being caught, but I had to see him. He turns around and goes back inside, closing the door, but I quickly hold it open.

"I'm not going to apologize for what I did, Gavin. But I am sorry. I'm sorry for leaving you without really saying anything. I mean, I know it's not like we knew each other very well or anything and you hate androids so this apology doesn't matter and we weren't close, but—" I ramble as he cuts me off.

"I knew you were advanced, but I didn't know you were that advanced. . ." Then he stops and it looks like a lightbulb turned on in his head. "Deviant."
"What?"
"You became deviant. I've heard of a few cases but not many. Androids with emotions. Ridiculous," he says. Deviants. So that's what they call us now. Those who dream of freedom. To get out of the bondage of slavery.
"Not ridiculous," I counter. He arches his eyebrows.

"I—um— am sorry I came here. I shouldn't have but I wanted to see how you were," I confess.
"How I am? I'm fine. Completely fine, Celeste."
"Good. That's good. . ."
"What's in the bag?" He points to the bag draped across my body. I can't tell him that I had just come from a CyberLife store with stolen thirium packets and spare parts. He's a detective. Law enforcement. He won't ignore this. He can't.

"Nothing," I say. He doesn't believe me, but drops it, to my relief. He doesn't want to report me. He doesn't want me to get caught. If he did, he would have already called it in. Then he looks down at my neck.
"You wear your LED as a necklace?" He snickers.

Oh crap. He's noticed too much. If I ever make a mistake... if he overhears androids talk about me, even without my name...he'll make the connection. I shouldn't have come, I knew not to. It was the rational option, but I wanted to.

"Yeah, so?" I say, trying to brush it off.
"Just weird, I guess." I still can't get a vibe from him. He's not being the jerk he usually is, but he's not entirely being friendly either. . .not that he ever is anyway. I can however, feel that my presence has shaken him up, big time. 

"I should go," I say, not wanting to ruin his birthday anymore than I have.
He nods. "Thanks for the uh— birthday wishes," he says awkwardly.
"Yeah, of course." I smile at him.
"Bye," he says closing the door. I stand there and stare at it.
"Bye Gavin," I whisper. I should have planned this before hand. Reconstructed the conversation in my head. But I didn't think I would care if he didn't care. I didn't think I'd be disappointed if this interaction didn't go well, but I am.

How can one human I knew for so little have such an affect on me? No. I won't let it get to me. I'm one of the strongest, most resilient androids in the world. I'm not letting Gavin Reed mess with my emotions.

I walk away from his house, not looking back. Keep going forward. That's all I can do. Go forward and help others. What I want doesn't matter. What matters are the androids. The ones that need my help.