Living With You

'Aaand... done.' 

A single straight line on the wall scratched in pencil. Mira didn't exactly understand why he insisted on doing this, Sean would never grow. 

The 'ten year old' held out his hand and to which she handed him the utensil. He eyeballed different sections of the wall right under, drawing soft lines every now and then.

'What exactly are you doing?' She asked as she gently threw the storybook she used as a guide onto one of the many cardboard boxes. 

"If we wanna sell the idea that we've lived a normal life, then this is a good start."

'Uh huh, and how would you explain for upcoming years?'

"We leave off the date and act like it's always present," he explained as he stepped back to get a better view.

 While her 'son' was busy faking his own growth, she looked back at all the boxes that littered their unfurnished apartment. Assortments from everyday living to intricate wires and glowing boxes and spare parts for the gaulem. Most of which she didn’t understand; it didn’t happen often, but thank goodness Sean understood basic procedures like replacing artificial skin for nasty scrapes and could patch himself up without her.

How long ago was it since that day in the middle of the Nevada desert when the two first encountered each other? Was he even supposed to function for this long? The old man exhibited him simply for the function of his experiment, yet it was long since that fateful day. 

“Long ago, I met a boy. But alas, he perished. I wanted to see the world through his eyes.” He explained as he set himself into a wheelchair. 

‘What does that have to do with the decision game?’ 

“Life is simply unfair, don’t you think?” He stated, steadfast and ready. 

After the experiment, he wasn’t deactivated and the participants went their own ways, Sean with her and her future ex fiancé. Neither of them had ever been back or heard anything of their past every come back. 

The two did their best to integrate themselves into normal life, yet it was always shaky and they would find themselves having to keep moving. This was their fourth uproot. 

The first time was when her past was dug up and her engagement with the only other person she had access to that knew of Sean’s existence as a robot. He knew of most of her old acts and urged her to turn herself in. With a bombshell like that, there’s no other way than downward. It escalated til one day he put together that somehow her crimes as an eight year old lead unto the destruction of his family. It was at this point that Mira up and left, starting at zero. 

Sean knew that the man would quickly be able to recoup and move on, so that’s why he insisted that he left with her. The two were circumstantially different, but the same. There would be no way they could be ordinary people, Mira would always be on the run for her past and Sean for his lack of one. 

The other couple of times before were to keep them from becoming used to the lifestyle and arising questions. Work would be hard to get since how would she explain all those gaps while trying to rid her last existence, and there’s no way they could enroll him in school. 

No amount of nanny books could ever get anyone ready to live constantly on the run. The constant anxiety of being recognized and caught, the never ending cycle of a child that would never grow up, the isolation of not being able to form lasting relationships, the dread of what’ll happen once she’s gone-

“Mira!”

Mira was taken out of her haze as Sean stood at her side. 

‘Wha, Oh, it’s just you,’ still wasn't completely out of her hyper focus, but sober enough to respond. 

As if her body wasn't her own, she pet his brown locks gently, slightly embracing him, while still lost in her own headspace. 

“I asked what’s for dinner, the gas isn’t turned on yet.”

‘Mm, why don’t you pick’

“Popcorn balls.”

‘Not happening.’

Walking through the streets of a sleepy college town never gets less lonely. Every now and then a car speeds by to ruin your hair. You never really do run into people accidentally, you just pretend not to see them and continue on your way. With stale orange street lights bouncing off wet asphalt to guide you to wherever you were going.

It was the middle of fall yet Mira decided to continue to wear her regular windbreaker with her jeans while she bundled up her kid. The two decided they’d go on a walk and the first all day diner they saw would be where they ate. At this point it was a tradition whenever they moved, spott the first eating joint and that’d be their place when they wanted to treat themselves or when neither could be bothered to cook.

They found themselves at a crosswalk, both directions had buildings with lit up windows; decision time.

‘Which one?’ She whispered

His eyes whipped from one end to the other until he came to an answer.

“The left.”

They were met with the blue sign of an all night truck stop diner. Slow night. Barely anyone in there. 

They were escorted to their booth and set up dining ware and menus. 

Mira looked through the menu, as Sean sat and stacked single servings of coffee creamer cups.

‘What about this,” she laid the menu onto the table, pointing at a picture of a short stack of brown pancakes topped with berries and dripped with syrup.

“You just chose that ‘cause that’s the cheapest option.”

‘Might be good,’ She stretched the last bit before she was met with a perky young waitress.

She ordered, albeit a little embarrassed and the two of them shared the meal.

He held open the door to the incomplete chateau as Mira walked in, a little exhausted from being out, slipping out of her high heeled boots she insisted was her trademark. 

After digging through boxes and making a mess of their living room, their apartment was finally starting to feel like a home. The makeshift bed that was a pile of clothes, the internet router, and a pile of soon to be tangled wires that Sean was now hooking himself to.

Mira set herself up against a wall, laptop in hand, coffee in her system, unable to get any work done. It should have been routine by now, but she couldn’t stop thinking about where life had taken her. 

Miles and miles away from any family she had before, no distinct connection to her past life, worry always in the back of her mind.

Yet now, sitting in the dark, she didn’t feel hopeless and stuck like she would normally. She felt warm, and oddly happy. 

For the last six years, she’s been through so much doing her best to build a new life. If she were alone, she probably wouldn’t have gotten this far. For some reason, she always continued on, doing her best. She was never a complete person, and perhaps she never would be. Her only purpose now, she verdicted, was to care for her kid. Being a better person not just for herself, upholdinga quiet and calm life for the two of them was what she reasoned. 

She looked over to the lights that were Sean’s dock and smiled softly, his response was the soft hum of breath.