God Complex

Introduction

On a lonely wooden post, standing in the middle of a field made of thistles and straw, graffitied with lots of ABC gum and I love you’s written repeatedly in multi-colored Sharpie. layed a single missing person's paper nailed to the wood, a blank bordered square where a picture was supposed to be, and the word God laying right under it.

I couldn't count how many times I have walked past this field, but I could say that this was the first time I have ever let my eyes plant themselves on this paper. How true they were, whoever posted the lonely note, a Godless world we do live in. But through many years of observing, I have found that humans will always find ways to worship something they want to perceive greater than themselves, and if a God, or “God's” couldn’t fill that role, they will find someone else to fit in those shoes, and in our case, what better people to idolize than idols themselves?

Chapter 1: How I hate to love the rain

I thought I was dead.

The common sound of sirens wailed through the nearby streets. Passerby’s, concerning themselves with getting to their jobs and appointments, or just making sure the wind wouldn’t snatch their umbrellas from under them. The red light district never slept, and sadly I was no exception. So, here I lay, crippled, my body gathering dust in the middle of the busying streets, and not a single soul around me to give a two-bit. The heavy rainstorms of Avaria rendered my body useless. My fleshy exterior was beaten and bloodied. My favorite arm only attached by thinly coiled wires, not even mentioning I was starting to leak oils from crevices I would rather not say. You're probably wondering how I got myself into such a sticky situation, but I must apologize, I’ll have to leave that story for another time.

It always seems to happen on days like this. The salted water plummets itself, while I lay to waste till the storm decides to fade away. Though this is one storm that doesn't seem to be budging, and there's nothing I hate more than a persistent rainfall . . .

The cars on the road are bickering at one another, their horns rumbling from beneath them. A yellow sign blinked in the right corner of my eye and I slowly began to feel my body numb itself, my vision fading along with it.

“Damn this rust bucket,” I mumbled, as my body carelessly limped to the side.

. . . “initiate software revival sequence” . . . ”rebooting” . . .

“No….If I-If I pass out now . . . ” My vision started darkening. “ . . . I’m dead for sure!” But it was already too late; there was nothing I could do.

That’s when I heard her: in the middle of all this delirium, she laughed. “Humans . . . they have such funny little toys, don’t they?”

It took all the energy I could muster, to be able to focus my vision enough to see who this undetached voice belonged to. I couldn’t make out quite as much as I wished, but there she was. A blurred, darkened figure kneeling in front of me. A large yellowed aura surrounding her head, her eyes piercing me like daggers. Even with how faint she was, she looked, she looked . . . otherworldly.

“How pathetic,” she spat, and just as she did, another sign, this one a purple haze, popped up in my peripheral. A sign I have never seen before, but still, it made my heart sink.

“Unknown Detected”… “Unknown Detected”... This is bad, or exceedingly worse than bad. What was she? Not human, that’s for sure. Most likely not cyborg either. And that look, god that look. I know what anger looks like, and I’ve seen hatred more times than I can count, which is impressive being that I am literally a calculator. Her look though wasn't new, but definitely infuriating. A look that shows the differences in how she sees our social levels, a look I can only explain to be apathy in its purest form. I’m not living in this creature's eyes, just a hunk of metal! That’s how I’ll always be, this creature’s no different than the rest of them! I watched it smirk as it stared through its peculiarly yellowed eyes. I felt a vast amount of rage fuel my body. Don’t look at me! I wanted to scream, which only brought me more anger knowing I couldn’t do anything. I was at its mercy.

“Don’t look at me!” A small voice screamed, and a crowd of laughter filled the air. “Stop it!” the voice screamed again, as they did the uproar grew. It didn’t matter what they said though, and it wasn’t their fault, the crowd would keep laughing, and they’d always be the joke. It's how it's always been, the crowd knew nothing different, and neither did the voice. But that didn’t mean it didn’t make them angry, this small voice. Knowing never will they be taken seriously, always being the punch line, never the monologue. And so they shook, with anger as their fuel. They shook rapidly and hard, and the walls came down, along with the ceiling. And with that rage, the laughter ceased.

“Aeya!” another voice emerged from the distance. “We must head, now!” it snapped. The creature took its attention off me, standing up, it left, without another glance. Which was probably good...I almost...snapped.

Revival sequence...Failed… Please wait...Full Reboot...

“Shit.” I huffed. I guess this is it, I’m going to shut off now. It’s out of my hands, so all I can do is hope the scrap yard doesn’t find me. In my final moments, I could hear the sound of what I thought was metal jingling behind me. As well as a muffled voice.

“Hey... hurt!....are you...please hold on!” I guess...somebody did come. And with a snap of my screen, I was officially shut down.