The Robot

Red watched his sister’s arm get opened up. You would expect to see blood spurt out of her arm, but instead it was metal parts. She spoke with the scientist, a man named Sebastian that had a kind heart. Red never thought he would ever meet a good scientist.

He only knew of the bad ones, who loved to tase him with an electric rod if he misbehaved. His sister could not stop talking, it was one of the few traits that Red was jealous of. She seemed more human compared to him. She loved to try out different fashion ideas, she wore makeup, she tried out different hairstyles, and she was very outgoing.

She came off the most human whenever they were among the good people who had found them. Red could feel the stares the good people would give him, as if they were expecting him to act like his sister. He was always silent, not because he didn’t want to talk. He just didn’t know what to say.

He wasn’t a conversation starter. He would wait until someone spoke to him, he didn’t even know how to speak to the two people that were treating him like their own son. They never looked at him with contempt or fear, they only looked at him with love and worry, something that Red didn’t think he would ever experience.

His sister, Madeline, was a different story. Before they had even found out they were siblings, Madeline had been staying with another family. She fit right in with them. The mother, the father, and their adopted daughter were so lively, like her. And she was always smiling.

Red rarely ever smiled. It was foreign to him; smiling almost felt unnatural, like that small gesture didn’t belong to him. Red clenched his hands into fists, as Sebastian took out a screwdriver to open up the metal parts inside of Madeline’s arm.

He had to leave. He stood up from his chair, catching the attention of Madeline and Sebastian.

“Where are you going, Red?,” Madeline asked.

“I don’t want to be here,” Red replied in a deadpan voice. Madeline smiled warmly at him. She was the only person he could really be honest with.

“OK, bro. I won’t be long. Hopefully.” Madeline winked.

Sebastian offered Red a wan smile. “It will probably take about twenty minutes, at best. I’ll call you over once I’m done here.”

Madeline went back to asking a million questions at once. As Red was leaving, he could faintly hear Sebastian answering every question at a time. His patience was astounding. The bad ones were the most impatient people Red ever met in his life. If something went wrong, they would take it out on their test subjects. Red lost track how many times he was tased.

He walked down the hallway, ignoring the stares he was getting from the soldiers. Red wondered if they would scream if he were to swing an arm in their direction, and punch a hole in the wall. Perhaps they would run away or arm themselves. It didn’t help that Red was a giant too, he was much taller than a lot of people here.

Madeline once told him he looked like the combination of a football and basketball player, whatever that meant. He didn’t watch TV like his sister. TV was boring compared to reading a book.

Books had a lot of words, and that made him happy. At least he had a voice when he read a book, it was his escape from his real self. He accidentally bumped into a man, and he flinched when he recognized the familiar voice that captured him the first time they met.

“Careful, Red! Goodness, it’s like bumping into a brick wall,” Dr. Rain said with a smile.

Red was never offended by the remarks that Dr. Rain would spew out sometimes. He had a way of making them sound lighthearted and funny. He wasn’t like the bad ones who said every insult or threat with such venom. Red looked down at the older man.

Red wondered if people were threatened by his height sometimes. Dr. Rain’s head was right in front of his chest. A lot of people only reached at that specific part of his body. Dr. Rain was a doctor who had been through a lot of bad things. One of the really bad ones that tortured Red once did the same to him, but it was much worse.

Once he heard what the really bad one did to Dr. Rain, he tore down his bedroom door in a fit of rage. He instantly felt bad that his parents had to fix the door afterwards, but Red had to take it out on something. If he was there, he could have protected Dr. Rain.

Red studied his face, looking for any hint of pain behind his eyes. There was only kindness in them.

And those eyes made Red’s face turn a shade of red.

“Are you alright, Red? You look a bit peckish.”

Red shook his head. “I’m fine, Dr. Rain.”

He tilted his head. “You don’t look fine.”

Red wanted to lie, but he couldn’t. Not to this kind stranger.

“I didn’t want to see my sister get opened up.”

Dr. Rain hesitated before answering, as if he was trying to process what Red was trying to tell him. “Ah. Is it because of the…experimentation you went through in the past?”

Red nodded.

Dr. Rain placed a hand on Red’s chest. “It’s over now, Red. They can’t hurt you, anymore. David Krausser can’t hurt you anymore.”

Red grimaced at the mention of that name. He was the really bad one, the one that also hurt Dr. Rain. Who did worse things. Red reached out to hold Dr. Rain’s hand against his chest.

“He can’t hurt you anymore too, Dr. Rain.”

He appeared taken aback by the statement, but he regained his composure, smiling up at Red. “Yes. He can’t hurt us anymore.”

Red thought of that night, remembering Dr. Rain in the hospital bed. The good people who had been taken along with him were injured, or covered in each other’s blood. Dr. Rain had sustained an injury on his head from a mallet. How he survived was a miracle.

After everyone was treated in the hospital, they were all able to go home. But none of them were alright. Red remembered coming over to Dr. Rain’s house to check up on him. He was covering his face, trying to hide his tears from Red. Without thinking about it, Red touched his hair. Dr. Rain flinched at his touch, but he didn’t pull away.

Dr. Rain leaned against his chest, sobbing. Red held onto him, and he never spoke. For once, his silence was able to comfort someone he cared about. He never told anyone about that day. He thought it was best to not say anything. Everyone thought he was strong, but deep down, Dr. Rain was struggling with what happened.

Red was taken back to the present time when he heard Sebestian call for him. Red and Dr. Rain dropped their hands. The older man lowered his head, his hands in his pockets. He raised his head, tears in his eyes.

“You should probably get going, Red. I’ll see you later, alright? My door is always open to you.”

With that said, Dr. Rain walked away, looking back once. Red watched him go, still feeling the heat of Dr. Rain’s hand in his own. Red didn’t know why, but he always felt strange around him. He once told Madeline the strange thing he was feeling.

She wiggled her eyebrows at him, another thing that he wished he could do. She made every human interaction look so easy.

“I asked my mom that one time. She told me she thinks that funny feeling is love. She feels that way whenever she sees dad. Who are you feeling this way about, bro?”

“Dr. Rain.”

Madeline giggled. “Isn’t he a bit too old for you? He’s super nice, but wow.”

Red looked away, feeling a blush creep into his cheeks.

“I really like him.”

They both swore to keep this secret for now. They started watching something known as porn videos later on, out of curiosity. It shocked Red that these kinds of things weren’t locked up online, it felt so weird watching something so foul. Madeline slammed the laptop closed during one of the videos. She looked at Red, her face pale.

“Is that what my mom and dad do?,” she whispered fearfully.

Red thought of his own parents. He ran to the bathroom and threw up. Madeline joined him later, but since the toilet was occupied, she had to do it in the bathtub.

Red didn’t want to picture those videos now, but he sometimes pictured himself doing those kind of things with Dr. Rain. Red shivered, and decided to head back to his sister and the good scientist. His heart was beating rapidly within his chest, but this time around, Red didn’t feel contempt or fear.

A smile formed on his lips, and this time, he didn’t notice the stares everyone was giving him.

Thank you for reading! I thought it would be cool to write a Sci — Fi story without that much horror themes. Why not something with a little bit of heart?

Emy Quinn