Write To Rank: A Collection of Short Stories (2023)

Round Two: Dialogue (500 Words)

"I love you."

HOLD ON.

Those are the last words you expect to hear walking down a dark alleyway at night.

Especially as a guy, during the year 5402, in a futuristic city like Xrantrac.

I immediately halt.

"Excuse me?' I ask, turning on my heel to face the stranger.

She's pointing a gun at me.

Of course.

This seems to happen a lot more than it should.

My hands slip into my trench coat (yes, we still wear them in the future), and my fingertips brush a hidden blade.

"Who are you?" I ask.

Her cold blue eyes almost seem to see right through me.

"I love you," she repeats calmly.

I close my grip.

"That's what I thought you said."

And that's when I fling the knife at her.

She dodges it with annoying gracefulness.

"Who sent you?" I ask, my voice booming in the enclosed space.

She answers by pulling the trigger.

BANG.

But for some reason, I'm still standing in front of her.

Her head tilts ever so slightly.

I chuckle.

"I guess you didn't think about bullet proof vests, did you?"

I hurl the second knife at her, and it hits her right in the hip.

I watch as she sinks to the ground.

"Don't worry, I'm not heartless enough to kill a girl on the first date."

I smile.

There is red liquid seeping from her wound.

But it's not blood.

I walk around her, picking up the knife that missed (on purpose).

I toss it deftly in my hand.

"Who programmed you?"

I stare into her eyes, and they are still cold and blue.

Automatic.

Her voice is monotone.

"I... love... you," she repeats slowly, as if out of breath.

But robots don't breathe.

You see, all androids are built with an internal processor, placed near the center of the robot.

Like the human heart, it is protected the most heavily.

However, there is a single red wire that runs through the right hip of every android, that if severed, shuts down the system in less than three minutes.

And it conveniently spurts red liquid when cut.

"Who programmed you?"

I squat down to her level.

Her eyes blink slower every second.

"I know you are permitted by your owner to say only one phrase."

No response.

"And I also know you were made to survive. To save yourself if you had to."

She blinks.

"I can fix you," I say softly.

She breaks the mold.

"You can't fix me," she says.

I raise my eyebrow.

"Wanna bet?"

She stares straight ahead.

I wait.

She blinks again.

"Avery."

Her battery is almost dead, because her eyes are quickly fading from blue to black.

"Okay."

I swiftly take the knife out of her side.

Her back immediately straightens and she looks at me with clear blue eyes and robotic bewilderment.

"How?"

I get up.

"Two things you should know about me:"

I hold up one finger.

"One: These knives only separate atoms. Take away the knife, and they go back to their normal state.

I hold up two fingers.

"And two:

This isn't my first time being stalked by a robot sent by my ex-girlfriend."