The Metal Face

Another day passed and the village far from the Red City was still quiet.

It was a relatively silent village.

The people here were good and friendly. The children were always mischievous. The elderly were wise. The youth were learning more about their lovers. In a kiss or a gentle caress.

Most of the women were young. They were pretty and social creatures. Men were immediately attracted to the most beautiful of village women.

Jade was one of those women. Of course, she was hopelessly in love with the mad scientist that almost every woman in the village lined for.

How ridiculous!

This is what one timid woman believed.

There must be some other man more desirable than the mad scientist, Rutherford. He boarded on insanity at times.

Sighing, the timid woman continued collecting pebbles and rocks in her basket. She dared not venture to the oil marshes, so she collected what she could to help the village.

Spotting a collecting of tough rocks, the timid woman happily went to the pile and began removing the rocks. She uncovered a large rock and gasped in fear.

A metal face lay under the rubble.

***

The timid woman dropped the rock and hid behind a boulder.

“What do I do? Is that a robot from the red city? Is it active? The village would be destroyed if it was…”

Nervously biting her lip, the timid woman gathered her courage. She would destroy it before it would ever destroy them.

She looked on the ground covered with debris and grabbed the rock with a sharped edge. She intended to smash the metal face to pieces.

The timid woman trembled. She took a step forward and squeezed the rock in her hand. Her heartbeat was slow. Her senses heightened.

Creeping closer to the metal face, the woman raised her hand and prepared to strike it.

She paused.

Upon closer inspection, the metal face was that of a man. A beautiful face. How could something so lovely cause terrible destruction to anything?

Staring at it, the timid woman was amazed at the details of this face. He was sleeping. His skin was gray metal, his lips barely parted, his nose large and proud… and his eyes…

The eyes of the metal face opened and revealed a blue aura.

The timid woman panicked. She dropped the rock, gasped and backed away all at once.

“Human…?” He said.

She backed away and pretended not to hear him.

“Human… are you okay? Do not be scared.”

Too late. The timid woman realized her mistake and began running back to the village. She left her basket of rocks and didn’t care about anything else besides locking herself inside her hut.

***

Three days passed.

The timid woman had a good father. He knew his daughter was a fearful woman and noted her recent behaviors were more abnormal than usual.

“Carmela. What’s gotten into you?”

“What if I’ve seen something that I shouldn’t have?”

“What do ya mean?”

“A metal face. In the middle of the rockery.”

“Impossible. No robots have come this far.”

“Yes. But what if I did?”

“Carmela. You’ve been stressed lately. Just like your mother. I’m sure you’ve just have a bad dream.”

Carmela’s father patted her head.

“Don’t worry. You’re safe here. There are no robots in the rockery.”

Carmela blinked back tears. She hugged her father and trembled.

“P-please father. Believe me…”

“Oh, alright. Show me where it is.”

Together Carmela went to the rockery and showered her father where she last seen the metal face.

Of course, it was not there.

“Carmela… I told ya it was just a bad dream.”

“Y-yes. Your right. It must have been a dream.”

Later that night, Carmela was tossing and turning in the night because she was afraid that she had let the village down. She had the chance to destroy the robot, but now it had gone loose.

Would it come back? Would it destroy them all? Was she to blame?

Carmela woke up with a start and wiped away her tears.

She went to sit on the porch right outside her hut and tried to calm her mind.

It was midnight. A full moon. No one was around. The whole village was quiet. Peaceful.

Closing her eyes, Carmela recalled her mother’s voice. She was a timid woman just as her father said, but she had a soothing voice. It was reassuring to listen to her mother say kind words of love and courage. Too bad she could not hear them anymore…

Carmela opened her eyes and seen the metal face inches away from hers. She froze.

He had a metal body. Dusty, scratched, dented, but robot limbs nonetheless.

Carmela was too afraid to scream. She began to cry. It was hard to tell if this was a dream or not. She had not heard him before. He was silent as death. The night was cold and caused her to shiver. The sensation only confirmed Carmela’s worst fear.

The robot existed.

Biting her lip, Carmela backed away from the metal face. It was studying her with a stern expression.

“Are you sad?” It asked.

“Oh…”

“Do not be afraid…”

The robot extended its hand to Carmela and she flinched. Surprised, the robot retreated its hand.

“I will not harm you.”

“…stay… away.”

She said this slowly and slowly backed away. The robot paused and then began to approach her. His hand was extending out to grasp her.

Carmela shook her head and screamed. It was a blood-curling scream. She quickly went back inside her hut and woke her father.

By the time he went outside to look for the robot, it was gone.

Not one trace left behind.

***

“Get ahold of that girl. Carmela woke the whole village last night because she thought she saw a… robot!”

“Let the girl be. She’s been working hard and overly stressed. Try to understand her situation-“

“Stop coddling that crybaby. She’s just as pathetic as her mother!”

The village was livid. Everyone had heard Carmela’s scream. Her father was standing in the village center receiving everyone’s criticism.

Carmela was sitting on a bench to the side with her head hung down in melancholy. Before long, the crowd moved on with their day and Carmela and her father returned to their hut.

He decided to be stern with her.

“Carmela. You are a young woman capable of doing more than most men on this village. Don’t cry because of a silly hallucination… don’t cry. I just said don’t cry!”

Carmela wiped her tears and nodded her head.

“Yes father…” she sniffled.

Unable to help, her father angrily left the hut. He decided to leave her alone so she could sort out her feelings.

Carmela, decided to rest and clear her head of all the conflicting emotions. She was angry, sad, confused, anxious. Too many mixing memories and feelings inside her body and mind.

***

The village continued like normal with their day.

No one seen the metal robot slip into the hut.

The robot’s footsteps creaked on the floorboards. Carmela turned in her unhelpful sleep. She was exhausted from the nightmare and from the shame she had experienced from her father and the village.

She curled herself under the blanket and wept softly.

Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder. His touch was over the blanket. It was hard to believe that he returned so soon. In any case, Carmela was relieved.

“…father?” Said Carmela.

“…”

“Please… do not be angry with me. Please…”

Carmela stifled her tears and fell silent t once she felt him patting her shoulder ever so softly.

Smiling, Carmela felt happy and relaxed. She blinked back tears and fell into a deep sleep comforted by the touch.

After a few minutes, the robot pulled the blanket away to reveal Carmela’s sleeping face.

He touched his own and then carefully brushed his metal fingers against her skin.

It was smooth. Her skin. So easily cut with the smallest of scratches. Humans. He had never seen one cry in the red city. He had never seen such a peaceful sleeping human. She was so…

The robot pulled the blanket over her shoulders and then ran his finger alongside her sleeping face. It was incredible to watch her sleeping so soundly. Her lips parted to let out the smallest breath and her eyebrows raised slightly as he skimmed her face.

Human.

She was so human. That was it. So expressive. Her sadness was evident, but so was her pleasures. She was sleeping well. No tears like the night he saw her. No fear in her trembling lips. Only comfort.

She opened her eyes and for a moment they locked eyes.

Carmela was not afraid as she was before. She seemed to be in a trace. She lifted her arm and reached for his face. The cold metal felt refreshing. Pulling his face closer to hers, Carmela stroked his jaw softly. Her eyelids fluttered and she brushed her lips against the metal mouth that had slightly opened at her touch. She smiled. This was merely a dream of that beautiful face nothing more.

Closing her eyes, Carmela rested her hand to her chest.

The robot held his position. He could only understand that she was happy because she had not believed he was real. Although… he could not understand why he seemed to “feel” unhappy with that fact.

***

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