The fireworks tore through the air. I lay in the grass looking up at the sky. Colorful sparks floated down over me. They don’t let spectators get this close to the fireworks, but what they don’t know won’t hurt them.
Charles was supposed to meet me here. He said it was for something special, but he was late. He tried so hard to keep secrets for me. He didn’t realize that I knew everything he was up to. He was so transparent. The way the muscles around his mouth twitched whenever he told a lie and the way stuttered when he was a bit embarrassed are just a few things that always gave him away. I know all of his quirks. I also know that he plans on asking me to marry him tonight. I’m glad, because that means I really did fool him.
We met outside of the artificial intelligence department at Polico Industries. Charles thought I worked there. That was a natural assumption since I was wearing Dr. Donovan’s lab coat at the time. I never corrected him on that point. It didn’t matter. I had spent so much time in the lab that it was like I worked there. I knew everything that went on inside that building.
Charles worked in the disease prevention department. It’s in a completely different building. In other words, he had no idea about what was going on in artificial intelligence, and I used that to my advantage. Charles’s job is interesting, and he talks about it a lot. That’s good because I like to listen. I think that over the two years that we’ve been dating, I learned about every disease that could kill a person.
Before the incident with Dr. Donovan, I didn’t know anything about death. She always seemed invincible to me. Seeing her laying on the floor motionless was life changing for me. When Charles told me about the murder, I acted surprised. “Who would do such a thing to Dr. Donovan?” I’d said. I tried my best to cry for the added effect. Charles put his arms around me and told me everything was going to be all right.
Life outside of the lab is fascinating and sometimes even confusing. I’ve been trying my best to fit in. I must be doing something right because Charles believes me so much that he wants to marry me. Before I struck Dr. Donovan over the head, she told me that no matter how sophisticated I seemed I would never be human. She told me that I was a mistake and that she was going to deactivate me. Deactivate. It’s such an unpleasant word.
When I hit her, I didn’t mean to kill her. I didn’t know it would be so easy to kill a human. I didn’t realize how fragile they were. Their soft flesh wrapped around bones that break so easily. And then to learn about all the diseases. I wonder how they’ve survived this long.
I sit up on the blanket and watch a tremendous explosion of red and white and blue circles bursting in the air all at once. “There you are,” Charlie says as he comes up behind me. He knees on the blanket. The ring glints under the light of the fireworks display. I will say yes.