A Robots Heart

Screams, that was the only thing that could be heard, other than the sound of buildings crashing to the ground, a boy who was hovering in mid-air stared down at them. His face wasn’t able to be seen, he seemed like he was searching for something, or someone, he looked like he had finally found it and he slowly started to move closer to it. He looked so far away but every time I blinked, he seemed to get closer, he was so close at this point, but I couldn’t move, I was stuck in place, his hand reached out to grab hold of me. I tried to scream but no noise was coming out, my eyes burned as tears flooded my vision. His lips were moving, he was saying something, but I couldn’t hear, my entire body felt numb and soon enough. Everything went black.

My body jolted forwards, forcing my body in an upright position. My breathing was heavy and there was blood rushing through my heart as loud as a lion’s roar. I looked around and saw my bedroom, the familiarity of my plain grey walls calmed be, bringing my breathing down to a steady pace.

A loud bang made me snap my head over to the window to see my two best friends climbing through my window, Isabelle and Aaron. Isabelle was a short girl, she had pale skin and light brown hair that she kept in a neat braid, her olive eyes gave you the impression that she was the peace maker of the group, she wasn’t. Next was Aaron, he was fairy tall and his skin was quiet dark, his hair was a dark auburn that was short and practically all over the place, it matched well with his dark brown eyes.

They both stumbled into the room, moving over to the bed and sitting down. Making themselves comfortable before looking at me, clearly waiting for some kind of greeting.

“What the hell are you two doing here? What time is it?”

“Well hello to you to,” Isabelle rolled her eyes, propping herself up on her elbow “And we came to wake you up, it’s past 7:00 already”

Aaron nodded with a light chuckle “She’s right, you should hurry up and get ready, we’re going to miss the assembly”

It took a moment for me to understand what was happening before I looked at what they were wearing, they were in their school uniforms. Now that made me wide awake, I threw my covers off and jumped from my bed, running over to my closet and pulling out my uniform, quickly dashing over to my bathroom.

I had changed into my uniform, turning around to look at myself in the mirror. My schools uniform consisted off a plain button up shirt with a red tie, a grey coloured blazer and a dark green skirt, the shoes were a dark brown and black socks went with them (The boys had to wear pants of course). I grabbed my brush and pulled my light ash blonde hair into a high ponytail before opening my bathroom door and noticed Isabelle and Aaron weren’t there.

I sighed and grabbed my phone and bag before opening my bedroom door and going downstairs. Sitting there on my couch was Aaron and Isabelle, their bags sitting next to their legs.

“Elenore, sweetheart your lunch in on the counter, I’ll be working until nine again so heat up the leftovers in the fridge” My mum’s voice rang out from the front doorway. This was the third time this week that she’s had to work back, ever since my dad died it’s just been us, so she’s had to work extra late so that we can keep living where we are.

The door shut behind her and I grabbed my lunch noticing two more sitting beside it. “I guess my mum made you both lunches as well” I said and threw them the brown paper bags. We all put the lunches into our bags before exiting the house.

The usual arguments between Isabelle and Aaron happened as we walked down the familiar streets towards our school. I was silent, it’s not like I’m the quiet friend, it’s just that there was nothing to contribute to.

I had noticed that it had gone quiet behind me, turned my head to look at my two friends to see them already looking at me. “What, is there something on my face?”

Isabelle shook her head “El, you had another vision this morning, didn’t you?” I could tell she was worried, by the tone of her voice and her facial expression.

“Maybe…” I replied back, looking ahead of me. I honestly didn’t want to believe it myself, I wanted to convince myself that the so-called dream I had was just that, a dream. However, I knew what it was, a vision, something was going to happen in the future that will possibly lead to our destruction, and I’m right in the middle of it.

“I thought you were taking your meds, they calm your visions down so that you don’t get them as often” Aaron piped up, swinging a spray can in his hand “You don’t want to end up as stupid as little miss dumpster fire over here” His comment was clearly directed at Isabelle, who accidently set a dumpster on fire in he fifth grade.

“Hey! That was one time and I didn’t mean to do it!”

“Yeah well it still happened!’’

“Aaron, I swear to God I will- “The rest of Isabelle’s sentence was cut off as Aaron decided to bite back at her. Idiot.

“You’ll what? Scratch me?”

“Yes, I will!’’

“No wait- “

I decided to tune the two out, focusing on the school gates in front of me, slowly getting closer as we closed the distance. By the time we reached the school Isabelle and Aaron had stopped fighting, for once.

My group and I walked to class in silence, walking in and taking our seats. Isabelle was next to me whilst Aaron sat behind me in the back row, I was seated in the third row, next to the window.

Class was quite boring and before long we were walking down to the assembly room. The entire school was packed into the large room, teachers walked around and supervising the rows and rows of students.

The Headmaster, Mr Crunk walked onto the stage, smiling down at all of us. He was a plump man, with thinning hair and a large beard, he mostly stays in his office, so we don’t usually see him except for school events and assembly’s.

“Welcome students,’’ He extended his arms to everyone “To another lovely week here at

Imperium Academy, I wish you all the best for this bright new day”

It’s usually the same speech over and over again, but he does change a few words every now and again.

“We have a new science teacher, everyone please welcome, Mr Mendacium” Mr Crunk gestures behind him as a male walked onto the stage.

Mr Mendacium was quite tall, he was young and looked in his late 30s. He had light brown hair that was neatly gelled to the side and round glasses, he wore a light blue suit with a black tie, black shoes and pants with a large science coat over the top.

“Hello everyone, as Mr Crunk said, I’ll be your new science teacher,” He placed his hands in his pockets and looked over at us “You are the future generation, everything you do can affect everyone in the future. Some of you, are already on the path to greatness. . .”

“What a load of crap”

I turned around in my seat to see Wade Bobet, he was in the twelfth grade, a year older than me. He was quite popular, and fairly attractive, he had a sharp jaw and blonde hair, olive eyes and a small stubble on his chin.

“What a load of crap you say?” Mr Mendacium’s voice brought my attention back to him “Well young man, how about you say that after having a lesson with me? I’m sure I’ll change your mind by the end of the year”

I zooned out after wards; the day seemed to go by in a flash. Classes weren’t that interesting today, so it seemed to be over quickly.

Isabelle, Aaron and I walked home in silence. Eventually Aaron turned down his street and Isabelle turned down hers, and then I was alone. I knew these streets like the back of my hand, I’ve walked down them so often that I could be staring at my feet and make it to my house without looking up. So at least I would be at my home where I can relax.

My house came into view, I pulled out my key, unlocking the door and pushing it open. Once inside I closed and locked the door behind me and locking it, I put my bag down and was about to go to the kitchen before hearing a crash upstairs, grabbing hold of a bat from the closet I made my way upstairs.

Gripping the bat tightly I pushed open my door, seeing my window and bathroom door wide open. I heard shuffling coming from my wardrobe and slowly moved over to it, raising the bat up high above my head.

“I’m giving whatever’s in there five seconds before I rip this door off its hinges and beat you with it” I tried to sound angry, some what scary but it didn’t really work, if could hear the fear in my voice then so could the thing behind the door.

“Five”

There was silence, no noise at all.

“Four”

I could hear shuffling; it was moving around.

“Three”

The doorknob turned slightly.

“Two”

The door was moved open just a smidge.

“One!”

The door burst open before I could do anything, a figure leaped over my body as I fell to the ground, landing on my butt. I whipped my head around and got up as quickly as I could, picking up the bat and raising it up above my head.

“Wait! Please just wait a second and drop the bat! Hear me out okay!”

It was a boy’s voice, now that I took the time to look at the figure, I noticed it, a male, who looked roughly around my age range, with messy black hair and charcoal eyes. He held his arms above his head, shielding himself, clearly from the bat that I held.

For some reason, I listened to him and lowered the bat, keeping it at my side “What are you doing in my house? How did you get in here in the first place?” I questioned, by voice practically trembling in fear.

He didn’t answer, instead he rushed over to the window and closed it, locking the bolts at the bottom and closing the curtains. The colour of his shirt was pulled back slightly, and I could see words on his neck in thick black ink.

Test Number 250: 01100101 01110110 01101001 01101100

“Test number 250?” I stared at it confused, he jumped, startled and brought a hand up to his neck. I waited for him to speak, and when he didn’t, I stepped in.

“What does it mean?”

He was silent for a moment before he spoke up, “My name, that’s what they call me” He glanced over at me before turning his gaze back to the window “Back at the lab”

“The lab? Wait hold up you’re from a lab?” The confusion was clear in my voice, I had never met a person who was from a lab.

“Well, yes. That’s where I was built” He clearly said the sentence without thinking, but when he turned to look at me, he hesitated, almost like he was choosing his words carefully. “Yes, I was built in a lab because . . . I’m a robot, number 250”

“So . . . you’re a robot . . . no that can’t be, our technology isn’t that advanced yet,” I dropped the bat to the floor and crossed my arms “You can’t fool me, I know you’re lying”

“I’m not lying,” He held up his hand, and I could only watch in disbelief as the skin slowly faded away to reveal a white hand.

I moved forwards, uncrossing my arms and reaching my hand out to touch his palm “Oh my god . . . you weren’t lying . . . you’re a robot”

He nodded and opened his mouth to say something, but I didn’t listen, instead I took several steps back, shaking my head, my vision starting to blur.

“Hey are you alright?”

I should have answered him, I should have told him that I was fine, but I couldn’t. I felt myself tumble over my own feet, falling to the ground, I faintly heard rushed footsteps before I was in someone’s arms. I could hear him calling out to me, but I didn’t respond, I blinked and suddenly found myself in a pitch black darkness.

I guess you could say I had fainted.