What does it mean to be human? 

I can’t quite find the words or the...feelings. 

Everything is different now. When the androids first claimed to feel, to think for themselves, the world went up in flames. And so did I. I don’t know what came over me but when I saw the grenade the only thing I thought to do was to push her out of the way and take the brunt of the explosion. 

I’m sure the world thinks that I’m crazy about saving the life of what they see as a machine but who am I to say whether their lives are less than ours? I did what I thought was right and I don’t regret it for a second. 

Everyone thought I died. 

I should have died but I didn’t. By some miracle, I woke up to find that my body had healed from all of the injuries I sustained from the explosion. All of my burns, which I swear that I saw through delirious eyes as I came to and from consciousness, were completely healed. Pieces of my flesh which had been blown away to reveal the bone underneath were repaired. It had been as though I had never jumped into the line of fire. 

The first thing that came to mind was that I had, in fact, died and that I had awoken in some version of the afterlife. But there were machines beeping and familiar voices chattering away exactly ten feet to my right. I thought when I woke that I would feel thirsty or hungry or tired but as I pushed myself upright I realized that I felt...neutral. 

I could feel the scratchy sheets on my newly reformed skin and wisps of my hair on my cheeks but there wasn’t a hint of any internal feeling beyond fear and confusion. I brought my hands to my face, feeling where shrapnel and pieces of pavement had hit me only to find that there was nothing but oddly perfect skin. 

Something felt wrong. 

I felt wrong. I no longer felt…like myself. 

“Ah you’re awake.” A man in a tailored suit appeared at the end of my bed with the familiar face of my father at his side. “Good. How do you feel?”

I glanced between my father and the stranger.  

“What happened? What did you do to me?”

“We saved you, Abigail.” 

“How? I should have died and now I’m sitting here completely unscathed like the whole thing never happened!”

The anger came pouring out of my mouth in bitter words that made my father flinch. 

I looked directly at the man in the suit now, glaring. He looked at me with a cool, collective calm and smiled.

“Think of it as preventative health care. As in we prevented you from dying...ever.”

My chest heaved as fear mingled with rage. 

“What. Did. You. Do?”

“Abby, I’m sorry.” My father stepped forward and with tears in his eyes, he said, “I couldn’t lose you like I lost your brother.”

“Nanotechnology is a relatively new discovery, Abigail. It’s only recently been approved for human trials and now we know it works. You are the first human to have successfully bonded with it. A miracle of science, a bridge between humans and androids.”

He raised his hands as though praising the gods.

“You are...immortal.”

Sarah Clarke

Sarah is a 20-something aspiring author who has a passion for writing. She is also an avid fan of movies, TV shows, video games, and of course, books. Her favourite genres include fantasy, sci-fi, historical fiction, and various others. Why have one favourite when you can have many?