Short Stories

Anna Dressed in Metal

     He wanted his daughter back, that's all. Was that really so bad? No, of course not. They were wrong. She would be the Anna she used to be. She would be beautiful, she would be his daughter again. Nothing could go wrong. Nothing! It wasn't right, the way she died. The way they had ripped her body apart when they were done with her, like she was but a toy with no further use. He shook his head, dismissing the thought.
     He started on his work, assembling her body- trying to get everything in the right places. As he inspected her, he realized he was going to need to replace her right arm, and her right leg- they were too mutilated. When he thought about it, she was going to need something to attach her waist as well. They'll be like prosthetics, he thought, and as soon as she's awake she can change into something that covers her waist. Her clothes are covered in blood anyway.
     Before long, his daughter was ready. All he had to do now was put the life back into her. In a spur of excitement, he flipped the lever and watched the power surge into her the way it was supposed to. He watched and waited. He spent the longest ten minutes waiting for her to do something- to move or make a sound as hope slowly drained from him. At the exact last second of the tenth minute, the girl stirred and let out a pained groan. Suddenly, horror flashed across his face. The girl sounded like his daughter, and (for the most part) looked like his daughter, but in that moment he knew it was not his daughter. That thing was not his daughter and he knew it like a baby knows it's mother.
     In a rush, he flipped the lever back and watched the life drain out of her. However, he still found himself consumed with fear. Their voices came back to him, She's gonna be a Frankenstein! She'll be a monster- she'll be uncontrollable! Don't do this, it can only end in disaster! She'll come back and kill you!
     "I'll sew her face shut," he declared, "Just to be safe!"
     When the man finished, he left her in the room, with a plan to burn her and bury the ashes later. He was not expecting the girl to wake.

~~~~~

     She lifted her head with a slight struggle. She sat up and regained her composure. She could not see. She could not speak. Where am I? she thought, Who am I? The girl sat up and inspected herself with her hands. She felt the metallic body parts and sewed face. She did not understand she was different. Her hand flitted to her chest, feeling her strange and rather off heart beat. As her fingers grazed her chest, she felt the letters Anna embroidered into the cloth, So I must be Anna, then, she thought.
     The girl arose and miraculously found her way to the door on her wobbly feet. As she stepped outside, she did not realize that all this world had to offer her was hatred. As she progressed through the streets, she was greeted with screams and terror and running. Then they started hurting her. Insulting her, pushing her, beating her. They tried to capture her. She ran.
     She stumbled upon a garden where she managed to pluck a rose from it's bed. What had she done wrong? She had yet to realize, as the rose rotted between her metallic clutch, that they would try to destroy her simply because she existed.
     As days passed, she learned what she was, An abomination, a monster, a demon, she was evil and atrocious. Metal. She learned that she must live in the shadows. It is hard to survive in a world where you're meant to be dead. Her heart slowly broke as she became full of self-hatred and pain. All she knew were the cold streets at night and the hollowness where her heart bled. Every day she became more of what she was. More of a monster. As the nights grew as cold as her heart, one day she stumbled upon a child.
     And all he said was, "Hello." He said it casually, as if there were nothing wrong with her. As if she were normal. Not metallic and sewn shut. She was appalled by this boy's soft greeting that she could not move. Of course, she could not reply if she wanted to.
     "Hello," the boy said again, "I know you're there. It's all right."
     Suddenly, she wanted to communicate with this boy. Her empty heart longed for someone. Gently, she took the boys hand and placed it where her face should be, Can't you see!? My face is empty! I cannot speak! she thought painfully.
     "You can't speak.. And you are blind," the boy whispered to her quietly, "So am I."
In that moment, the ice around her heart melted, and she was full of warmth for the boy. She nodded and took the boys hand in her metal one. He did not flinch.
     But just as soon as the moment began, it was over- a screech, "GET AWAY FROM HIM, YOU MONSTER! DON'T YOU TOUCH HIM! DON'T YOU HURT MY SON!"
     "Mommy, no-," the boy tried to object as he was shoved away.
     Anna cowered as the blows came. I just want a friend! She tried to scream. Soon more hits came, more hands. They tore at her and pulled at her, trying to pull her apart. All along she could hear the boy crying in protest as he was dragged away. Anna felt her hands tied behind her back. And then her feet. And then they were carrying her somewhere.
     They threw her in a ditch, but even then they weren't finished yet. They broke her. They took everything she had. They ripped off her arm and her leg and they tore her in half.
     Anna felt an agony she never felt before. A pain that coursed through her veins and screamed to get out. The only voice that she could ever speak. Her eyes ripped open and blood mixed with tears she did not understand. Tears she had never experienced. And they streamed down her face, but they went unnoticed to the bitter world. No one knew how beautiful her eyes were.
     By the time they killed her, she did not want to live.