I woke up with a start. I fell asleep on Charlie's couch. We talked a lot yesterday and got to know each other better. I stood up and walked towards the kitchen. Charlie was already up making breakfast.
'Hey,' he says.
'Hi.' I reply back, looking a little surprised.
'Why are you up so early? It's like, seven in the morning.' I say and he gives a slight chuckle.
'School, remember? I was telling you about it yesterday. We've gotta get you enrolled.' He says, then turns around to look at me. 'Why are you up so early?'
'Oh,um, I just couldn't sleep. Thank you for letting me stay here, Charlie, I promise I'll pay you all back when I get some money.' I say.
'It's no big deal, don't worry about payment.' He says casually, then pours some coffee into a cup and starts to read his magazine. It's a huge deal actually. If it wasn't for Charlie, I would have probably dried out by now. If it wasn't for Charlie, I would still be out in the wet grass rolling around like an...animal, not that I've ever seen one before. Suddenly, a little, cute, furry creature that was making some odd noise jumped up at me and tackled me to the ground. Soon, it started licking my face and I could feel saliva all over my skin.
'Down, boy.' Says Charlie, rushing from behind the counter and carrying this creature off me.
He helps me up and I wipe the creature's saliva off my face.
'Sorry about that.' He says.
'It's fine, really. What is that creature?' I ask, probably sounding stupid and completely not human!
'You're kidding me, right?' He asks.
I keep my face blank, hoping that he would get the hint.
'It's a dog, wow, when you said you were antisocial, you weren't kidding. Your parents must have kept you away from every moving thing. No wonder you ran away.' He says, his eyes full of understanding. I decide to go with the flow, this could clear up any questions he may have about my background and stop his suspicions growing.
'Yeah, actually, they were really...what's the word?' I say, not quite sure how to put it.
'Abusive?' He asks.
'Yeah, that, and one day I couldn't take it anymore so I just...ran off.' I say, staring into nothingness.
'Wow, that's actually a really sad story.' He says, looking down.
'Well, you should probably get to school.' I say, breaking the unwanted, unneeded silence.
'Yeah, you're right. I'll see you later, help yourself to whatever.' He yells as he grabs his backpack and runs out the door. I hear the engine of his truck rev and drive off. I look around the apartment and sit back down on the couch. Maybe I should enrol myself into the school. It would be a great way for me to start over but what if they find me? Worse, what if they find Charlie? He could get some serious jail time for helping a government runaway robot who was supposed to be a biological weapon.
I heave another sigh and stare at the ceiling. What am I going to do?
YOU ARE READING
Delilah
Short Story'I have blood. In my veins, in my eyes and in my head. But I am not human. I am her. I am that girl. No surname. No middle name. I am Delilah.' Delilah is not normal. She is not like us. She is not a human. She is a thing. A robot that had been crea...
