No Place for an Android

I’m back at the Robotics Engineering lab. Why? I don’t belong here. Or anywhere else.  They hate me, but THEY CREATED ME. A scientist walks by and trips me. I fall and my head hits the marble floor. My computer is beeping a warning signal, but my limbs are temporarily disabled. I lay there, waiting to reboot. My designer, Kyle Wren, walks by and sees me on the floor. He kicks me to the side as he does to his failed projects.

“Dumb robot,” he mumbles. This hurts. My brain replays this moment in my head over and over again. Then I wake up.

I always have a recollection of that day when I sleep. I can’t delete it. My designer, who made me with feelings, hurt them without second thoughts. So I ran. I took a bag of skin graphing and a skin applier with me. I hopped on a bus to California, across the country. Now I go to Filmore High for Gifted.

No one ever talks to me. I mostly keep to myself anyway. I landed myself a job at the dollar store, and I get paid for picking up litter on the street so I can afford a tiny apartment. One day, before I close the store, a classmate comes in to buy a bag of chips.

“Hey, wait… are you Cali?– It is you!” I’m surprised she knows who I am. I’m also surprised by how happy she is to see me. My classmate, Bianca, is in my English class.

“Yeah, it is.” I’m kind of uncomfortable.

“Wanna come hang out with my friends and me?” I’m astounded. I’m not used to people being nice to me. But I accept. I finish closing, then head to the beach.

We play games and dip our feet in the water. We talk about school, get to know each other, and have a picnic. Bianca, my classmate, is in my Lit class. I became part of a group that likes me. I finally feel like I belong, like I’m loved. I finally feel like I have a home.