DTS: Coin Operated Boy

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Coin Operated Boy Ping! Operations functional. Dresden opened his eyes to see the vision of a girl swim into clarity. She had long black hair, with the most brilliant gray eyes ever known. She smiled widely as he woke up. He blinked a few times and wondered who she was. Like a mother she swept his short golden locks out of his eyes and checked his body for any ill fitting parts. Her fingers lingered on his cheek for a moment. “Can you hear me Dresden?” He nodded smoothly, the joints in his neck were running as smooth as if they had never had the rust from the junkyard on them. “Let me make sure your voice speakers work, say ‘I love you, Kate’ for me” “I love you, Kate.” he reiterated obediently. As soon as she heard it she kissed him passionately, and pulled back grinning. She crawled up onto the table with him “I’ll never be alone again.” It was Dresden’s job to do the dishes, make dinner, clean the house, look cute when Kate got home from her job at the laboratory, cuddle on the couch and make sure Kate knew she was the prettiest, most interesting person ever. He was programmed perfectly to these jobs, his did them with a grin and his hair would bounce when he worked. Sometimes he wondered why Kate needed to build a boy for that, in his mind anyone would be just as happy to do the same. On this day Dresden, always full of questions, was looking out over the sink where he was doing the dishes into the rain and wondering why Kate gave him thoughts. She sometimes told him that his incessant questions were the most irritating thing she had ever heard. He was almost done with the dishes when a familiar click echoed in his mind, followed quickly by a loud ping that sounded throughout the house Dresden froze in place and a voice made it self audible from his speakers, it sounded just like him but it wasn’t “Please insert a quarter for the next 48 hours.” Dresden awoke, and checked his internal clock, 10 minutes had lapsed before Kate had pushed another quarter into his slot. Ping! Operations functional. A sharp pain seared through his side “get up Dresden” she kicked him again “I swear to god that fucking coin slot! I have half a mind to rip it out of you.” Dresden curled protectively around his own head “I didn’t say I would, now finish the dishes!” She stomped out of the kitchen clenching her fists. Dresden picked himself up of the floor wincing, “I love you, Kate” he called after her, his voice system was functional. Dresden went back to the sink, the rain had calmed while he was unconscious. He wondered why Kate had designed him to feel pain. Night came over the house not long after and Kate summoned Dresden to bed, night was the best time of the day because Kate would say she was sorry and that she loved him back. Tonight was no different Kate kissed him and said she was sorry for kicking him, and for slapping him and for throwing the vase at him. She shook the pieces of glass out of his hair, it had only been a few minutes ago that she threw the vase, and regained the composure of the wonderful girl he has seen when he had first turned on. She lost that malevolent tint to her eyes and kissed him again. Dresden could deal with the violence, it was his fault for having dinner be late, for talking back when Kate was tired, for wanting to watch a different show, for asking too many questions, and for turning off every two days. Once again a familiar click echoed in his mind, followed quickly by a loud ping that sounded throughout the house a voice made it self audible. “Please insert a quarter for the next 48 hours.” When he woke up again he was bleeding, his first reaction was to ask Kate why a machine would need blood, but that only got him hit again. She stood over him with a kitchen knife, “Why WHY do you keep turning off?” Even through the anger he could see a hint of a smile at the pain she inflicted. “You built me that,” smack. Dresden fell back onto the ground, his useless blood splattered on the floor, staining the carpeting. It hurt to be stabbed more than anything she had ever done to him, and she had done it while he was off, he couldn’t have fought back if he wanted too. She wasn’t being fair. She kicked him back down, “you motherfucker!” she screamed waving the knife in his face “don’t talk back! You’re just a stupid doll,” Dresden curled away from the knife, wishing she could understand: he couldn’t help it. All he ever wanted to do was to make her happy. He sniffed back tears “I’m not just a doll, Kate” and even through this his relentless curiosity poked at him, why do dolls need tears? “You are just a stupid thing!” she yelled and grabbed him by the wrist waving the knife. She cut him once across the upper arm grinning like Satan himself. “Does that even hurt you? No worse than stabbing the toaster,” Dresden screamed out and cried even more. She threw the knife down on the floor and hugged him, wiping the blood from his plastic skin. “Honey, honey, I’m so sorry.” She kissed the knife wound. “I didn’t mean to do that.” As she fawned over him yet again Dresden couldn’t help but be happy, she was back to normal again. He was grateful but still… why would she do that? The next day Dresden was punctual and proper, he was scared of setting her off again. She had patched up his broken skin and he was back to his chores within an hour. But it seemed like everything he did was just not good enough for her, at lest she didn’t have the knife again. Try as he might he couldn’t avoid her, it was a small house and if she caught him sneaking around he got kicked. He didn’t know what to do, he loved her more than anything else but he was more scared of her than anything else at the same time. That night in bed Dresden shivered, she was so close to him and he couldn’t stop thinking about how much he cared and how sharp her temper was. He couldn’t handle this anymore. She wrapped her arms around him tighter in her sleep, a gesture that he would have cherished earlier in his existence, but now. He shivered again. What could he possibly do? He was probably too preoccupied the next day at dinnertime to notice. He was thinking about how he could run away when he tripped. The soup that was being served slashed out of the bowl and before it even hit Kate Dresden knew he had put the last nail in his coffin. He recovered from the fall with an awkward grace, brought upon him by fear. He stumbled into the kitchen as Kate rose from her chair, her eyes might as well have been glowing, and the way she glared at him he knew he was dead. She approached slowly and silently and Dresden was forced back against the counter his eyes were wide with fear and his arms were thrown back for support to keep his knees from giving out, his hand slid along the counter and ran into something solid. The knife from two days before. Rage had blinded Kate, she didn’t see Dresden whip the knife around in self defense. He lost all self control and unleashed the full force of his fear on Kate. The blade had run through her flesh like it had run through him before and Dresden wondered why anyone would design something with so much blood. He could feel the heat of her skin and her blood all over him, God must be twisted. As he saw the life leaving from those beautiful gray eyes Dresden knew for the first time the hope of freedom and he wondered why Kate would design him to feel anything. With the blade buried along with half of his arm in her flesh he thanked her, he smiled, he was free from her. He could do anything he wished, he didn’t have to deal with the pain anymore. He could even leave, he had never thought of leaving before. All he had to do was get rid of the body, then a familiar click echoed in his mind, followed quickly by a loud ping that sounded throughout the house Dresden froze in place and a voice made it self audible from his speakers, it sounded just like him but it wasn’t. “Please insert a quarter for the next 48 hours.”