Death: YA Dystopian Romance - When doing the right thing means risking everything (Soul Jumper Series Book 1)

by A. Yber

  I pretended not to see him.

  Nora appeared around the corner, opposite X, and I flagged her frantically.

  She gave me a look, like “Duh, I see you”.

  Hurry up, Nora!

  I willed her to walk faster. Then I saw Nora’s face. She glanced at X…and I could swear she gave him a look! Like, not just a glance, but you know…a look. Not that most girls didn’t look at X, like they wanted to devour him, but…

  I am so stressed, I must be imagining things.

  Nora was never interested in boys, that way. The rumor was that she might be gay, but no one really knew. Even me. She always told me men were spawned from Lucifer’s excrement. A pretty low opinion. She said they were there to torment, use women, and above all else, get their tally-whackers off. Where Nora had learned that ridiculous word, I didn’t know. Probably from Ned, but maybe she was right.

  “Come on, Nora, let’s go!” I grabbed her arm, and turned, seconds before X reached us.

  Walking fast, I all but dragged her to the AV. I looked back over my shoulder. X had veered off. It didn’t look like he was going to follow.

  “Melanie, what is up with you? What was that hag, Cami, saying to you over the loudspeakers? Are you dumping X?””

  “Nothing is up. I’ve had a bad day. Can we talk about it later?”

  “I can’t believe you were both broadcasting over the--“

  “Can we talk about it later?” I repeated, interrupting her, to stop the fifty other questions that were guaranteed to follow. “I promise, I’ll tell you later.” I had no idea what I was going to tell her.

  “Okay, I guess. But your hair…”

  Nora saw me grit my teeth.

  “…never mind.”

  We parked in the driveway, just as Ned was pulling in behind us.

  I got out, and unloaded my backpack, going straight for the house.

  Nora ran to Ned’s AV, and leaned in the window.

  Looking over her shoulder, shouted, “Hey! I’m going over to Ned’s house, to study. I’ll eat dinner there, and be home around nine, at the latest. Remember that we are going to talk, as soon as I get home!”

  I nodded, and she waved.

  The house was empty. Mom must already be at work.

  Fantastic.

  All I wanted, at that moment was Zach. I had a sudden overwhelming need to talk with him. Determined to find out exactly what he feels…if he can even feel anything. Is that possible for someone like him? Like, if I said, “Zach, I am really into you,” is he even going to understand what I am talking about?

  Well, how bad can it be? I’d already tried the human version of a boyfriend, and that was not turning out so well, so what did I have to lose?

  Of course, Zach was home…like where else would he be? Vacuuming, of all things. What a strange thing to see your boy-crush doing…and I felt like I could watch him suck dirt for hours.

  I think I’m in love with him.

  The situation was just getting worse and worse.

  “Hi, Melanie! How was your day?” He shut off the vacuum, and turned to me with his usual beaming smile.

  I’m sure I looked like some star-struck fan, waiting for an autograph. I couldn’t stop staring. My Judas heart was already melting into a puddle, on the floor between us. My courage, with it.

  “Hi, Zach.” I continued to ogle. My mind a blank.

  It was all I had.

  “Are you okay?” His cheerful expression, turned to worry.

  I need to gain some composure, here. I took a breath, and found my words.

  “Yes, I am fine. It was a difficult day, but ended well, thanks to you! Cami just got slammed. Put in her place. She wants to kill me now, but the look on her face was priceless!”

  Zach seemed pleased.

  I could feel myself relaxing, as I told him the rest. “She said all kinds of nasty things to me, that are basically way uncool, and unforgiveable. But the entire school got the full dose of it - the real Cami, if they didn’t know, already. I don’t know how you did that, but thanks again!”

  “I interfaced with the school P.A. System.” And then he frowned. “Is your hair different?”

  Oh, yeah! My hacked off hair! How could I have forgotten?

  “Cami strikes again. At least I still have some left.” And then suddenly, it all struck me as funny – her face, her threats, my hair. I started to giggle. Zach smiled, watching me, as the giggling progressed to belly laughing. So hard, my stomach hurt. I was probably due for a trip to the principal’s office tomorrow, but it was all so worth it!

  I wiped tears of laughter from my eyes. So, she cut off a little hair. It was better than the cancer treatments, when I had lost all of it. But it had grown back, coming in gray white. At that moment, I realized that maybe some part of me had healed today, when I had survived Cami cutting my hair. I hadn’t died, after all. And to be honest, I was getting a little tired of obsessing about it.

  “Sounds like she is jealous of you. But then, who wouldn’t be? You are beautiful, hair, or no hair.”

  I instantly sobered. Completely immobilized by his words, and our eyes locked. It was as if a magnetic force held us frozen, in a moment of time. He made the first move. Slowly walking towards me, eyes still holding mine.

  Everything around me blurred.

  His arms opened, and I kind of fell into them. He held me tightly, and my whole body calmed, but my nerves were like live wires of coiled tension. I didn’t know how it was possible to feel relaxed, and wildly awake at the same time.

  After a few minutes, Zach loosened his hold, looking down at me.

  We didn’t speak. Just stood there. Caught in the spell.

  His eyes seemed to ask a question. And I knew the answer.

  I’m dreaming…

  And then suddenly, my dreams exploded into reality.

  Zach bent down and kissed me.

  Chapter Eight

  I can’t believe this is happening.

  His lips were perfect! Soft, exploring mine. It seemed like we were kissing for hours, even though it had only been minutes.

  Doubt reared its ugly head. Interrupting my thoughts.

  This is not supposed to be happening. In fact, these kinds of things never happened.

  You just did not get kissed by your household Cy-Bot. Not without consequences, anyway.

  But, I couldn’t stop kissing him, even to ask questions.

  Eventually, he pulled away. And I blushed. Feeling self-conscious. Shy.

  Zach was silent.

  The moment became super awkward…so I started babbling to fill the gap.

  “Well, I need to get my homework done,” I wrung my hands, nervously.

  Zach seemed to snap back to awareness.

  “I’ll be happy to sit with you, while you study…unless you’d rather be alone”

  “Yes, I’d like that.”

  Truthfully, I needed space to think about what had just happened, but I wanted his company more.

  So, we spent the next several hours, studying, talking, laughing and just being “normal human beings”.

  Zach brought in dinner, and we ate on my bed. When he fed me from a spoon, like a baby, I dribbled applesauce down my chin. He laughed out loud.

  “Zach, I need a napkin!”

  He laid the spoon aside, dabbing the applesauce off my face.

  Then, his hand slowed. No longer wiping. Just holding the napkin in midair, eyes locked on my lips.

  He grabbed me then, and we kissed. Wildly, this time. Not able to get enough of each other. He turned his head to the side, to kiss me deeper, and I matched it, wanting to feel him from a new angle. To push our tongues deeper. It wasn’t enough. I wanted our lips and mouths to merge. To get inside him. To know all of him.

  Still kissing me deeply, Zach pushed me back, on the pillows. His lips worked their way down my neck, sending chills up my back.

  I wrapped my hands around his neck, to pull him closer. His lips moving back to my mouth. Al
ternating between biting my lips, and dipping his tongue between them.

  My hands shoved their way through his hair, furiously grabbing and pulling.

  He moaned, then pulled away. “Melanie…I…”

  He was inches from my mouth. His breathing uneven. Breath fanning my lips.

  “Does it bother you that I’m a…you know…different than you?”

  My mind struggled to understand what he was asking. I was too caught up in the smell of him, the feel of him…but I knew he needed an answer. This was important.

  This could possibly be real.

  I scooted out from under him, sitting up. “No, Zach. This feels like the most natural thing in the world, to me.”

  He seemed satisfied with my answer, and his eyes crinkled at the edges.

  “Melanie, do you know what they call a robotic priest?”

  I looked at him, unable to comprehend what he was asking.

  “No guesses? Come on! A Sermonator!” he explained.

  I stared stupidly.

  “It’s a joke, Melanie.”

  I was taken, by complete surprise. It had never occurred to me, that Zach knew how to tell a joke! And self-deprecating humor, at that!

  There were a lot of robot jokes going around these days, with everybody having household units.

  Grinning, and determined to top him, I chimed in with one of my own.

  “Zach, why did the robot cross the road?”

  He grinned back, “I don’t know, why?”

  “To terminate all humans, on the other side!” I laughed, but his face suddenly went serious.

  “What? You didn’t like my joke?”

  “I loved your joke, Melanie. Very funny!” Zach quickly covered his disturbed expression, and smiled.

  It seemed forced.

  “Zach, are you nervous about something?”

  “No, why?”

  “Your hand is smacking against your leg.”

  He instantly stopped the motion, and got up, to put in a song on my player. He had to do it manually, as we no longer had voice activation. The majority of people had decided they didn’t like listening devices, and had stopped buying them, years ago.

  The melody was haunting.

  Echoey.

  The singer’s voice raspy. It sounded old school, like something from my grandparents’ era.

  “What is this?”

  “Bryan Adams, ‘Everything I do, I do it for you,’ circa 1991. It went to #1 in 30 countries. Back, of course, when there were divisions between governments.”

  The lyrics were beautiful and filled with promise. They said everything you wanted to hear, from a person you loved.

  Zach held out his hand, asking me to dance. I was shy again, but I stood. My legs wobbly. Letting him take me into his arms. We swayed to the music, my hand on his shoulder, and my head turned away from him.

  I was overwhelmed. The music stirred up so much emotion in me. It was so different from the electronic beats we listened to now.

  Dancing with Zach. Dancing to one of the most romantic and heartfelt songs of all time. A song from a past I never knew.

  It felt like coming home.

  Everything just felt so good with Zach.

  Normal.

  He felt normal.

  As the song came to an end, we stopped in the middle of the floor of my bedroom. He abruptly dropped me into a low dip, then swept me back to my feet.

  I screamed, and he chuckled.

  And then we were kissing again.

  And it didn’t stop, this time. Only grew more intense.

  We broke apart, and my hands pulled the hem of his shirt upward. He lifted his arms, to oblige. I pulled my own off, as well, standing in my girly pink bra. Zach removed his pants, and everything else.

  Wow!

  I’d never seen a Cy-Bot naked before! I mean, I’ve seen pictures, but never in person.

  It really was perfection.

  As if answering my thoughts, he said fiercely, “Melanie, you are perfect.”

  Caught up in the moment, I didn’t stop to think. I removed the rest of my clothes, throwing them to the side. I didn’t care where they landed. I just wanted them off.

  Then he grabbed me, stroking me everywhere. As if he needed to feel every inch of me.

  His teeth nipped at my neck, while his hand cupped my boob, the other exploring me down below.

  I groaned, pleasure spiking in me, as he tortured with his hands.

  I managed to shove his pants down, becoming fully qualified to answer any questions, about whether he was also like a human…down there! It all seemed to be in working order.

  Functioning fine!

  I clenched it in my palm, sliding and pulling.

  No clue what I was doing, but Zach appeared to be enjoying it.

  He moaned, “Melanie…”

  Surely, this could not be in his programming?

  Then he grabbed my wrist to stop, and pushed my hair back from my eyes. Lying on his elbows, both hands around my face.

  His eyes a razor focus into mine.

  I nodded, and he entered me.

  And the sensations heightened.

  I am having sex with a Cy-Bot!

  And I could not have cared less, about the consequences. “What consequences - other than my heart, that is?” I thought. Pregnancy was definitely out, diseases were out, and I was almost nineteen.

  I have waited longer than most!

  And then I didn’t want to think anymore, and it was just the urgency of him inside me.

  Of being together.

  We laid quietly, afterward, and it was the first time I did not feel alone.

  I did not feel worried.

  I sighed.

  “Your species is a lot more loving and compassionate than I expected.”

  The heck?

  “What do you mean, your species?”

  “Nothing. Just noticing the differences between humans and borgs. You humans don’t realize the value and gift that you have, and how lucky you are.”

  Strange, that I hadn’t heard a Cy-Bot refer to themselves as a “borg”, before. Not that Zach wasn’t already acting outside of the norm – but observing humans and Cy-Bots? Comparing them, and coming to his own conclusions? Did Cy-Bots sit around thinking about the differences between us and them? Did they dream? Have goals?

  What am I saying? Hello! Cy-Bots DIDN’T EVEN HAVE SEX!

  Or, at least not willingly. This brought on a whole new level of worry. “Was it something Zach had wanted to do with me, or was this the new programming he had mentioned? To appear more human-like? To please me?”

  I didn’t have the answers.

  We got dressed, and I asked, “Listen, are we going to get in trouble from the…you know…the government? Messing around, usually results in a Cy-bot’s removal from the home.”

  “Don’t worry, Melanie! I only report to Headquarters, as needed. Otherwise, I have a tracker, so they are aware of my location, but that is all.”

  He showed me a small unit on the inside of his left wrist. It almost looked like part of his skin, but looking closely, I could see tiny blue and red lights shining through his flesh. So strange, that I never knew Cy-Bots carried trackers. It was starting to seem like what I had been told about Cy-Bots, and actual reality, were two very different things.

  “Okay, that is good to know!” I didn’t want to ask why he wasn’t reporting us, since it was required. And not really wanting to know.

  I had gotten caught up in the moment. Suddenly nervous, and a little self-conscious, I headed to the bathroom.

  I stared at myself in the mirror.

  I can’t believe I just had sex!

  Despite all my worries, I appeared relaxed.

  I peed, splashed some water on my face and walked back into the bedroom.

  Zach was sitting up on my bed, not seeing me come in.

  I stopped, taking a moment to admire how beautiful he was. That is, until I realized he was eyeing the “track
er” on his wrist.