Free Freak of Nature by Julia Crane

something a robot would ask. So she continued on in silence.
    It was so hard to hold up the facade, being so close and so completely alone with him.
    Something inside of her wanted Lucas to know she was more than just a shell of what she used to be. Their time together was quickly coming to an end. Soon she would be sent off to who knew where. The thought of never seeing his face again left a dull ache in her chest.
    Maybe she should get a check-up to see if something was wrong with her. Her body felt so different whenever he was around.
    “Lucas, do you think I’m pretty?” she blurted out. Where did that come from?
    “Excuse me?” His eyes were wide and so blue it was like looking at a cloudless day.
    “I asked if you think I am pretty.” The muscles in her stomach clenched. She cautiously maintained her blank expression. She had the sudden strange desire to clear her throat and look at her feet, but she didn’t.
    “Kaitlyn, do you really care if I think you’re pretty?” He rubbed the back of his neck and stared intently at her. Curious and confused . The images in her scan told her.
    Heat rose to her face. “Never mind. It was a stupid question. I know you think I’m just a machine in a human body.”
    “That’s not true,” he said hoarsely.
    “Forget I said anything.”
    Kaitlyn couldn’t place the sensation that arose within her. Heat filled her face and neck, and she stepped away from Lucas, unable to even look at him. She activated her scanners, searching for what was wrong with her. Was she malfunctioning?
    A split-second later, her symptoms came up with a definition: humiliation.
    “Kaitlyn.” Lucas reached for her arm.
    She took off at a run, her shoes silent on the soft grass. She wanted to get as far away from him as possible. Why would she ask such a ridiculous question? It was absurd.
    “Kaitlyn! Wait up!”
    She ran harder, faster, her feet pounding into the ground as she tried to put as much distance between them as possible. Trees zipped by her peripheral, and the chill wind whipped against her. The machine analyzed speed, wind direction, and counted the beat per minutes of her artificial heart, and she had no control over it whatsoever.
    “Kate, please!” Lucas yelled.
    She stopped in her tracks. She turned slowly, sensors working to stabilize her limbs. Lucas was running to catch up, his coat flapping behind him. His heart rate was accelerated and sweat gleamed on his forehead. Strands of his curly dark hair fell down in his left eye as he slowed his pace and thudded to a stop before her, leaning over to catch his breath. He obviously needed to work on his cardio.
    “Why did you call me Kate?” she demanded.
    Lucas straightened up. “I…I don’t know. I’ve always thought you should be called Kate. Kaitlyn sounds so formal.”
    “I like Kate.” She paused, saying the word once more in her mind. “It makes me feel strange to hear you say it.”
    “It does? It makes you feel ?” Lucas said. He looked flustered, like he didn’t know what to say or do.
    “I don’t know why.” Kaitlyn kicked at the ground and looked off at the tree line. The sun was beginning to set. The sky was a beautiful shade of violet swirled through with pink. It was amazing that such beauty existed and then there was such ugliness in the world. Such as herself—not human, but not fully robot.
    Lucas studied her face. “Kaitlyn, do you feel more than you let on?”
    She shifted her feet and shrugged, discomfited by his gaze. “I don’t know what I feel—if anything—most of the time.”
    “I can relate to that.”
    “You couldn’t possibly understand what I’m going through,” Kaitlyn said through gritted teeth and took a step backwards. Her vehemence surprised her; that reaction had come from somewhere deep inside.
    “You’re right.” Lucas held up his hands. “That was insensitive and unfair. To answer your original question: You are hands down the most beautiful woman I have ever laid