My Own Human Read online

  “Yeeaaahhh… Yay,” she dryly answered. I decided to see the humour in her comment and I lightly chuckled.

  “Whatever. What do you want to do, now you feel better?” I smiled, glad that she was awake and responsive. In the few days she had stayed here, I'd gotten so used to her company that I felt rather lonely when she was asleep.

  “We could go for a walk outside?” she suggested, making me raise a brow. “Kidding. I know you won’t allow me to go outside,” she added and chuckled with a bitter tone.

  “Sorry. You know I can’t risk that. We don’t know how others would react to you or you to them,” I tried to explain, but we both knew it was a weak lie. I couldn’t let her outside, because Father ordered me not to. Which was completely understandable, since we were dealing with a rare species. No need to bring her outside, where there were so many uncontrollable factors.

  “Yeaahh… Still, you never leave the flat either. Are you some kind of nerd? Do you even have friends?” she suddenly asked.

  “Of course I have friends,” I defended myself, not liking her suggestion. Mostly because it was partially true. I was a nerd and I loved spending time behind books, games and that stuff. But I did have a couple of friends. Three to be exact. That’s all I had left after 100 years of school and college.

  “Hmm, I’m sure you do,” she snorted under her breath. I shook my head in dismissal and decided to let this comment go as well. I was too relieved that she wasn’t going to die tomorrow to dispute with her. I turned my back to her, walked to the cupboard and grabbed a +fluid. I popped it open and took a big gulp.

  “So… Do you have a lover?”

  I coughed in surprise and felt how the liquid travelled up to my nose. I spluttered awkwardly and wiped my face. “Excuse me?” I asked, clearly hinting that I didn’t like her question, which made her chuckle. Not that I understood what was so funny.

  “Do you have a lover,” she dared to repeat, her dark blue eyes meeting my light purple ones.

  “Why do you want to know?” I asked, not understanding her personal interest. She usually didn’t ask many questions, but when she did they were about her leaving.

  “Just making small talk, since I’m stuck here with you. No harm in getting to know each other,” she nonchalantly explained while casually biting on her fingernails.

  “Stop that, that’s disgusting,” I said and pulled her hand away from her mouth.

  “I know, but I’m bored,” she whined and tried to place her fingers back in her mouth. I hardened my grip and held her hand close to my body. “Besides, I still don’t know if you have someone,” she cheekily grinned, making me roll my eyes.

  “If you really must know. No, I don’t have anyone at the moment. My last lover turned out to be a complete asshole. And the one before that was a complete twat. And the one before that was a massive bitch,” I summed up, sighing in annoyance. I hated that I had so many failed relationships, because I had fallen every single time and they just left. Left, cheated, left, cheated, the list went on and on.

  “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” she said, making me almost growl. I didn’t need compassion from a human.

  “What about you?” I said, diverting the topic from me to her.

  “Actually, I do,” she surprisingly said, making me squeal in excitement. “What? Is it so surprising that there is someone who likes me?”

  “I couldn’t care less about that. There are other humans?!” I shouted loudly, almost making myself flinch from the noise.

  “I never said he was human,” she said to my disappointment, making me huff in mock anger.

  “Pfff. Bo-ring,” I announced, sounding like a girl in her puberty.

  “Whatever. If there is anything boring, it’s you. Never heard of entertaining your guests?” she waved away my childish comment, looking expectantly at me.

  “Never heard of entertaining your guests?” I repeated her, again using a childish, mocking voice. She raised her eyebrow in amusement, seeming rather pleased she’d driven me into a corner.

  “Fine. Whatever. What do you want to do?” I gave in, pretending like I was just being polite instead of also bored to death.

  “I don’t know. Can you play chess?”

  “Chess?” I repeated, racking my brain. Chess.

  “It’s a game. You don’t know it?”

  I shook my head.

  “It’s a game for the brains. I’ll teach you,” she said, standing up from the couch and looking around. “You have something to draw on?"

  “Yup, sure,” I said, rummaging through the house to grab a tablet. She threw me a confused look, but then drew a board with letters and numbers on the side. I showed her how to make individual cards on the tablet and she filled those with drawings of silly figurines.

  “So these are the pawns, this is the rook, the knight, the bishop, the king, and the queen. You win when you can take the king of the other player.”

  That sounds fairly easy. I reached over the board and grabbed the piece of cardboard that she called her king before.

  “Done. I win.”

  “Hahahaha, silly, you didn’t let me finish. You have to move the pawns over the board in a certain way. Look, this is a pawn, they go forward. The knight makes a L-shaped jump. The king can go one step in every direction. The bishop goes diagonally, the rook vertically and horizontally. The queen can go every direction she wants. They can all go as far as they can go. Understood?”

  “Hmm… Yup, sure.” That was a lie. It didn’t make sense atall.

  “Okay, I’ll start.”

  “Why can you start? I want to start.”

  “I can start because I’m playing with white,”

  “So?”

  “White always starts.”

  “Why?”

  “Because, those are the rules.”

  “Grrmmppfff. Fine,” I groaned, placing my head in my hands. She grinned and walked one of her pawns two squares in front of his previous one.

  “Hey, hey, hey, wait up lady. That soldier just walked two squares!” I protested, not understanding why she did that.

  “First move. It’s allowed.”

  “Hmm’kay. If you say so. Then I’ll be doing… this,” I announced, letting one of my soldiers walk four squares.

  “You can’t do that. Only two squares.”

  “Why?”

  “Because, those are the rules!”

  “Fine. Pfff. Then I’ll just go two squares,” I grumped and took it back.

  “Okay. Then I’ll let my bishop run to B5.”

  “Whats B5?”

  “There are numbers on this side, letters on this side and look, this is B5,” she said, pointing to the 5 and tracing the squares to where the letter B was.

  “Aha...” Interesting. “Knight from G8 to E4 and I take your little soldier,” I said in triumph, glad that I understood therules.

  “You can’t do that. A knight can’t just go two forward, only sideways. He can’t jump that far and he certainly can’t take my pawn. It’s a pawn, not a little soldier.”

  “Fine, fine, whatever. Not to E4 then…”

  “You’ll get the hang of it. Queen to H5,”

  “Eeehhmmm… My queen to H4,” I said, letting my queen jump over the soldier.

  “Queens can’t jump!” she said and placed my queen back on his previous spot.

  “Fine. Then this little soldier is going two squares forward,” I sighed, pushing the soldier I moved earlier forward on the board.

  “No, you can’t move him two steps. Only one this time.”

  “Last time you said I could move him two squares!”

  “Only when they start from the starting position!”

  “You are just making up the rules as you go… What a stupid game. I quit!” I groaned, sitting back with my arms crossed in annoyance.

  “Good decision, since I’d do this. Checkmate,” Heather cheered, placing her bishop in place of one of my soldiers.

  “Grrr. Stupid game. I don
’t want to play anymore,” I huffed, pushing the board away.

  “You are a sore loser!” Heather accused, making me growl even harder. I knew I was a sore loser, but telling me that didn’t make it go away. On contrary. It made it worse.

  “Grrrr. You are a poor winner,” I snapped, making her chuckle.

  “At least I’m a winner,” she bragged, puffing up her chest and putting on a smug face.

  “Well, that doesn’t make me a loser,” I argued, using my intimidating tone, not liking to be called a loser.

  “Yes, you are. Loser. L.O.S.E.R,” she spelled, laughing her ass off.

  “What did you say?” I growled, stood up and took a step closer to her. “What did you say?”

  “Loser, loser, loser, loser, loser,” she cheered, slowly retreating. I sneaked closer to her, making her step backquicker.

  “That’s it!” I shouted, jumping in front of her. She yelped and started running away, around the table and back to the couch. Of course I was so much faster, but I ran slowly behind her, humouring her.

  “Aaaah, stay away from me, you crazy lady!” she yelled, but I could hear the amusement in her voice.

  “Grrrr,” I growled again, but she didn’t seem scared this time. Instead, she laughed out loud. I finally grabbed her arm and threw us both on the ground, making sure I broke our fall so she wouldn’t get hurt.

  “What did you call me again?” I growled again, this time softly in her ear. She shivered under me, her breath warm on my cheek.

  “Ehh… What?” she muttered, the warm air tickling noticeably on my skin. Surprisingly I felt the hairs on my neck stand up and I shifted uncomfortably when she let out a soft groaning sound.

  “Nothing,” I murmured, biting my lip, not understanding why she made me shiver. I swallowed a lump and felt how I shuddered again from the heat that Heather was radiating.

  “Okay. So, what now?” she whispered in my ear, her lips incredibly close.

  “Ehmm… I’ll just move,” I proposed, shifting so I could remove my body from hers, creating friction and more shivers.

  “Hmm. Good idea,” she softly moaned, making the hairs on my arm stand up too.

  I placed my hands on both sides of her head to push myself up, but involuntarily brought our heads closer to each other.

  “Adrianna?” she said in a low voice, bringing me even closer so I could understand her

  “Yes?” I whispered back, noticing how pink her lips looked.

  “Nothing,” she changed her mind, her tongue ticking against her lips.

  I wanted to stand up, but felt how I brought my head closer and closer to hers. My breathing was speeding up, as was hers. I could feel how her heart had started beating rapidly in her chest, making me lick my lips in excitement. I'd never felt so warm.

  I tried to pull away again, but somehow my head inched closer to hers, almost touching. I brought my mouth even closer, softly brushing my lips over hers.

  “Hmm,” she moaned, causing me to let out a sigh from need and want. What the hell was happening here?

  Not wanting to think about it, I took her bottom lip in between my teeth and softly sucked on it. Then I realised what was going on. I was lying on the ground, my body pressed hard on Heather’s. Her bottom lip caught between my teeth, almost kissing.

  Why was I almost kissing this human? What the hell was happening?

  Chapter 4

  The Movie

  WHEN I NOTICED Heather hadn’t moved an inch but was just intensely staring at me, I didn’t know what to do. She didn’t give any signals that she wanted me to kiss her, but she also didn’t give me signals that she didn’t want me to kiss her.

  Ade, what the hell are you doing? Let me point it out to you why you shouldn’t. Human. Boyfriend. Experiment. Failed relationships.

  Thanks, brain. I sarcastically noted, obviously aware of the risk factors.

  “Adrianna?”

  I must have got lost in thought, because Heather had placed her hand on my arm and was trying to get my attention.

  Kiss her or don’t kiss her.

  Kiss her. Find out if this is really attraction or curiosity.

  Don’t kiss her. Make sure that you don’t screw up the testing.

  I groaned internally and weighted the two options against each other. After some pondering, I made the most rational decision and removed my body from hers. I stood up, dusted myself off, and extended a hand to pull her up.

  “I’m sorry. Did I hurt you when I pulled you to the ground?” I asked, ignoring the sparks that flew through our connected hands.

  “No, I’m fine,” she muttered. Did I hear disappointment in her voice? Did she sound relieved? Did she want me to kiss her? Was she glad to not have our bodies pressed together?

  “Okay. I seem to be a lot stronger than you and since we haven’t done any physical tests, we don’t know how strong you actually are,” I said, masking my moment of weakness by science talk.

  “Oh, right. Errr. Okay,” she mumbled, looking at the floor, not daring to look me in the eyes.

  “Riighhtt…”I stressed, already feeling the awkwardness hang in the air. “You want to watch some more VDR?”

  “Hmmm, sure,” she agreed, turning her back to me and walking back to the couch. I blew out a breath and followed her. We both sat down, leaving an enormous gap between us, bigger than usual. I grabbed the remote, ticked in the channel and pulled up one of my favourite movies. We both relaxed a bit when the opening music started and I was glad that the awkward atmosphere seemed to be disappearing.

  “Want me to translate some of this for you?” I asked after a couple of minutes, realising that she still didn’t understand any of it.

  “Hmm, if it’s not too much trouble,” she nodded, looking at me with grateful eyes.

  “Well, let’s see. This person is named Piper and she is now talking to her best friend about her husband.”

  “What is she saying?”

  “She is saying that he doesn’t understand her, nor her body.”

  “Oh. Sucks for her.”

  “Yeah, but what is she expecting? He’s a man, they are never as good in bed as women.”

  “I wouldn’t know.

  “You never been with a woman?”

  “Nope.”

  “Why not?”

  “Why would I?”

  “I don’t know. Because they are attractive? Experiment?”

  “No… I’ve never been attracted to a woman before, so the thought of jumping into bed with them isn’t that appealing.”

  “Oh. Fair enough.”

  She is straight! Told you!

  Shut up. I told my brain, feeling my cheeks already colour from embarrassment. She didn’t want to kiss me, which meant she was probably too afraid to say no. Great. Almost forced myself onto the human. Go Adrianna! Now if that isn’t being a great host, what is?

  Heather’s voice snapped me out of my inner conversation. “What are they saying now?”

  I looked at the screen and noticed the all too familiar scene. The husband was declaring his love… To another woman.

  “He’s telling another woman that he loves her.”

  “Oh. Maybe that’s why the sex is bad,” she concluded, nodding because it fitted her theory.

  “Maybe,” I said, not wanting to touch the issue again.

  “Are you gay?” she suddenly asked, her attention completely focused on me instead of the VDR screen.

  “Errr… Bi… Kind of,” I answered, not knowing how to explain this to her. Straight, gay, bi, they were all human terms. We didn’t use any of it, simply because it wasn’t necessary. When you have a lifespan as long as ours, you don’t limit yourself to one gender.

  “Kind of? What does that mean?” Heather inquired, clearly completely forgetting the movie.

  “Well. Since we live a millennium, you can’t expect us to love someone for that long period of time. We swap partners frequently, sometimes after years, sometimes after decades, but mostly after
a century. To get back to your question, it’d be weird to only consider one gender. We just go with the flow and date whoever we want. Even if you only live a century, why would you stick to one gender?” I explained, not understanding why you wouldn’t like both men and women. After all, that’s how we were raised. I know that humans back in the past used to be raised as heterosexual, but that ship had sailed a long time ago.

  “You live for just a millennium?” she asked, her voice high in surprise. Was that the only thing she heard from my wholeexplanation?

  “You live for just a century?” I countered, making her snort.

  “Touché. I just meant, well, I thought that you wereimmortal.”

  “Of course not. We are living things. And everything that lives has to die at some point.”

  “You are alive?” she yelled, her sharp voice making meflinch.

  “Of course we are alive. Silly, what else would we be?” I grinned when I saw the confusion stretching on her face.

  “Dead?” she suggested, making me even laugh harder.

  “That’s not possible. Dead things are dead. So they can’t walk, talk or think. That’s kind of the definition of dead,” I smiled, liking that she was as ignorant about my species as I was about hers.

  “Oh. So, do you have a heartbeat?” she asked, staring at my boobs. Well, technically, she was probably staring at my heart, but since that was where my boobs were, she was looking at them too.

  “Yup. Once every hour.”

  “Once every hour?!” she shouted, making me flinch again.

  “Shhhh, you don’t have to shout,” I shushed her, not particularly enjoying how loud her voice was.

  “Sorry. How the hell do you stay alive?”

  “I just told you. One heartbeat an hour. What’s so weird about that?” I asked, looking curiously at her.

  “I have sixty heartbeats a minute,”

  “Sixty heartbeats a minute!?” I screamed, mimicking her reaction from a couple of seconds ago, even though I was only pretending to be surprised. I knew about her heartbeat, hell, I already felt her heartbeat.

  “You’re mean. But yes, sixty. Want to feel?” she proposed, not even waiting for my answer. She grabbed my wrist and guided my hand to her chest. I swallowed a lump when she placed my hand on her soft breast and tried not to think about massaging. Or rolling her nipple between my fingers. Didn’t work, of course.