emotions crippling effect chapter 1

         Humanity had lost a key battle, one that had cost it everything; apocalypse was an appropriate word for it. How, you may ask, did this happen? Well if you must know it began on the eve of the conception of mans greatest accomplishment, but we will begin our story long before that.


         I was astonished, I believed it a miracle of modern science, we had finally produced the world’s first efficient service droid. It used all of the newest in adaptive technology; it was self sustaining, with the world’s first triverilium powered perpetual energy core. Some of the brightest minds came together to create this aperture of scientific ingenuity, it took years to design and longer to create, but once we had finished and our vision stood before us we were dumbfounded. It looked at us in an odd manner, though now that I look back I could understand for it needed demonstration to learn, so I was the first to speak up, I walked over to it held out my hand and said,
         “hello nice to meet you, my name is doctor Fervise, welcome to existence, we are your creators, we as a group are called ArSci industries (articulate science), you are a prototype service droid, known only by a product number, respond” the droid held out its hand and grabbed mine, now at the time I was in such awe over our creation that I had not thought about the need to first teach it basic interaction and so offering my hand was my first crucial mistake, for once it grabbed my hand it began to tighten its grip, slowly crushing said hand. As it did so the droid opened its mouth and let out a noise similar to that of a fax machine which at the time is rarely used in society any longer. I grabbed the droids hand in attempts to loosen its grip as I howled in pain, “get this blasted thing off of me!” I yelled, my colleagues, having frozen in light of our current situation suddenly sprang to life, all in attempts to pry the droid from my hand. One of my associates finally succeeded in his attempts by dismantling the wiring on the machine, and so it fell limp, and once it had finally relinquished my hand I passed out from the pain.


         When I came to I found myself in a hospital bed with a cast around my hand, or what seemed to be a cast. I couldn’t tell exactly what it was, for my vision was blurred without my spectacles. I sat up and felt around the bed, trying to ascertain the whereabouts of my glasses only to find they weren’t anywhere near me.
I finally gave up the search and yelled “nurse! NURSE!”
I saw a blur come in to the room, and what I heard next I had not expected, for it was surely the voice of an angel, “did you need something sir?” she asked.
I struggled to find the words having been thrown off on account of her voice, “M-my g-glasses, I c-cannot find them.” I saw the blur walk around the room and pick up what must have been my glasses, she leans forward sliding them onto me and I begin to see better as the lenses move nearer, and then it came into view, her face, her beautiful face, no beautiful is too ugly a word, there were no words to describe her beauty, but as I began to see her my heart quickened. Her long brown hair, her magnificent milky complexion, her lips that pouted ever so slightly with ruby red lipstick, and not to mention the curves, a perfect hourglass figure; I initially passed it off as a crush, but the as an instant passed, it felt like an eternity, and my heart pounded, I felt the full weight of love pressing onto my chest.
         “There, that’s better now isn’t it?” she says.
         I fumbled again with my speech, “thank pretty, glasses nice” I said.
         She giggled lightly blushing and kissed me on the forehead, I felt warmth coursing through my body “such a sweet talker.” She said
         This time it was my turn to blush, I regained some of my composure, cleared my throat, and spoke more clearly, “I apologize for my rudeness, I was just caught off guard by your overwhelming beauty, but I would love to make it up to you over dinner, I mean if you would allow me the pleasure. My name is Darwin Fervise, Dr. Darwin Fervise.”
         She smiled at me with that beautiful smile and politely said, “Thank you for the offer, but no, I have prior engagements with my boyfriend.”
         I looked down sullenly and said, “Oh, I apologize, I meant no harm.”
         She got up to walk away, and when she hit the door she turned and said, “We can still go out, but as friends, by the way, my name is Sadie”
         I perked up from that comment and smiled at her as she turned to leave, “well it’s a start” I thought to myself.


         Over the next few weeks I found it increasingly difficult to think of anything but Sadie, her perfect image imprinted on the deepest reaches of my cerebral cortex. I had met with her on several occasions, I daresay we were just friends at this point, but what could it be called? I wasn’t exactly her love buddy, no that would be much too far, but to say I was just a friend would be an injustice. We were… we were… well, let’s just leave it at more than friends. I could tell that she was not only getting to me, but I was getting to her as well. She began to speak with her boyfriend less, and we hung out constantly, I was pleased with such a reaction to me, but I felt sorry for the old boy, Henry was a nice man, and I meant no harm. He was by no means abusive, or intrusive, or irritating, in fact if not for the woman standing between us I would likely have been his friend, but the situation called for me to reject such a friendship, for he was my enemy, no matter how pleasant he was. Though I had not thought about how the competition would affect Sadie, I neglected to account for her feelings in all of this, and when it had turned out that I had won, I felt less than victorious. For it was a Sunday, as I remember, I walked into a diner waiting to meet Sadie, who had called me ever so suddenly. When I finally laid my eyes upon her I found her crying, her eyes were red and puffy as if she had been crying for an extended period.
         “I had to meet with you” she said, sniffling a little
         “Sadie, why are you crying?” I asked, concerned
         She ignored my comment, “You know that I never intended this, I never wanted for it to happen.”
         “For what to happen my dear, what could possibly put you in this state?”
         “You dunce! You ignorant ass! Darwin how could you be so blind? I love you, you, you BASTARD!”
         “Sadie, that’s wonderful, how could such a realization put you in such a state?”
         “I have to tell Henry, don’t you see? ”
         “I apologize for bringing you such pain, I could have never expected for you to be put in such a position.” I hung my head, and I began to sit down putting my face in my hands.
         “There’s no helping it” she said, “I must speak with him as soon as time will allow.”
         She looked at me with a solemn grin and wiped away her tears. She stood up suddenly and rushed out of the diner, without so much as a goodbye.

         I wandered the streets afterwards for what seem to be an hour; it gave me time to clear my head, and the more I thought about it the more I came to the conclusion that I should apologize to Henry, after all, it wasn’t his fault he was stuck in the middle of this situation. So in attempts to make amends, or at least apologize for taking his girlfriend, I traveled to his apartment complex. Though as I came closer I began to see flashing lights, red and blue.
         “NO!” I yelled, I ran towards the building, finding the area blocked off by policemen, the dreaded yellow tape surrounding the complex. I ran toward a police officer, “What is happening?” I said in as calm a voice I could.
“Sir, you will have to step back this is a hostage situation, you will only complicate the situation by interfering.” The officer said
         “Just tell me on thing.” I said, “Is the hostage a woman?”
         “Sir, we cannot disclose any information at the time, you must move back, or I will have no choice but to make you.”
         “How dare you threaten me, I would like to see your chief officer.” I said thinking on my feet.
         “It was only a suggestion sir, and the chief is a little busy, and either way I’m sure he’d say the same thing.”
         “Do you know that? You are not him so how would you know, if you will not allow me to speak with him then I suppose I shall speak with the commissioner or even the mayor on this matter of neglect toward citizens.” I gave him a steely gaze.
         He looked me straight in the eye, and I almost felt my resolution weaken, I held strong, “alright, alright, let me get him” he said as he began to turn around and walk away. I waited for him to get about halfway and then I jumped the tape and sprinted for the entrance, “halt!” the officer yelled. I heard a loud bang and just kept running there would be no stopping me, I needed to see that she was ok; I needed to talk Henry out of this. I arrived to the fourth floor, Henry’s floor, when I felt a warm sensation moving down my leg, I knew what it was, but I would not allow that to stop me, I ran for the end of the hall turned the corner heading for Henry’s apartment.
         “Stop or I’ll shoot!” I heard him yell from inside the room.
         “Henry, it’s me, Darwin.”
         “I should have known you would come. So you think you’ve won, eh? You think you’ve gotten the girl?”
         “Henry I-“
         “Shut up, Shut the hell up! I’ve been meek for much too long; I’ve allowed people to walk all over me, NO MORE! You think you can just steal the love of my life from under my nose, well I’ve got some information that might just entice you; I won’t allow it, not this time!” He walked out of the room holding Sadie with a revolver to her head; she was sobbing profusely, “You know I would rather die together with her, than be apart from her alone? I suppose you have never known loneliness though have you, I suppose you were raised in a well-to-do family, your parents loved and lavished you, you had an abundance of friends that surrounded you in your school for gifted children, you got everything you wanted. I, I was ridiculed by the ignorant fools in my institution, my hell. I worked hard to become as intelligent as I am now; even so I was abused every day by the very woman that conceived me, both verbally and physically, friends, they were just a myth in my mind. I scored in the top fifth percentile in the nation and yet I ended up in a dead end job, my skills wasted, I have received no pity in my life. Love was just as scarce, that is until I met Sadie, she brightened my world, she was the flicker in a candle that would have otherwise gone out long ago, and she kept me sane. You have broken the seal that bound my anger and frustration for all these years, and you have released them unto yourself. I want you to watch! I want you to witness the death of this woman, this person for whom your heart beats; you will watch me kill her, you will watch me and do nothing, or you shall die as well! YOU WILL KNOW MY PAIN!” He pulled the hammer of the pistol back.
         “Wait! You mustn’t!”
         “and why is that” he asked
         “ because killing her won’t solve anything, I was the one that put you in this dark place, just take my life.”
         “Fair enough.” He said he dropped Sadie and aimed the firearm at me; I just proceeded to close my eyes, and waited for the round to pierce me.
         “NOOOOOO!” I heard Sadie scream milliseconds before the shot was fired. I opened my eyes and saw her struggling with the gun Henry had in his hands, and so I ran forward cocking my right arm back, and followed through with the hardest punch I could throw, I definitely heard bones cracking, but whose they were I could not discern. The punch effectively knocked him out, throwing him a few feet. I ran to Sadie throwing my arms around her and kissing her, she did the same. I collapsed immediately after.
         “You’re bleeding!” she said, helping to stand me up.
         Once standing we heard a window open in the room where Henry emerged with Sadie, it was Henry, and he looked at us with his sunken face while climbing out of the window, “I’m so sorry, I don’t know what came over me, but it never will again.” He said and then he jumped, Sadie sobbed harder into my chest as he disappeared from sight, I looked down at her head, and flinched when I heard bones snap and an audible crash, signifying his meeting with the ground. At that point tears began to flow from my eyes.
         Out of my whole vocabulary of words only two came to mind at that moment, “I’m sorry!” I repeated these words for what felt like an eternity, until we were taken by the paramedics.

         I awoke in a hospital, Sadie sitting in a chair next to the bed I was in. I lay there staring at her as she slept, she had been crying. I put my hand on her head and stroked her hair.
         “I never meant for this to happen, I hope you know that.” I said I then heard her moan in her sleep; I soon put my head back into my pillow and fell back asleep.