Unnaturals by Lynna Merrill Read Free Book Online Page A

orders today, and everyone addressed everyone with respect.
    "Make me!" Meliora shouted, just like in the old feeds.
    The woman stepped closer to Meliora. She slapped her so hard that Meliora spat something red, warm, and salty.
    "Medstat..." Meliora realized she'd slumped into one of her doctor's cushy chairs, hand pressed hard against her cheek. Her eyes had become so full of tears that she could barely see anything. What was taking the machine so long? "Medstat..."
    Nothing.
    She wiped her eyes with the sleeve of the other hand and looked.
    Doctor Eryn had raised a hand in a sign that meant stop —and the medstat had stopped. Mel's cheek hurt. Her mouth hurt. She'd never been in such pain in her life.
    "Medstat..."
    The machine remained motionless, except for its small blinking lights.
    "It won't treat you," Doctor Eryn said quietly.
    "But why... How? They treat, always. "
    Even if you didn't want them to. You could tell them no about pills and disorders, but you could not tell them no about hurts. They would treat you for your own good. But this one wouldn't. And it hurt.
    The machines were to blame for everything, Great-Granddad Nicolas had said.
    "Medstat, damn you, come treat me!"
    "Cursing now, are we? Did you read these words somewhere, or did you hear them from that senile duffer?"
    "He wasn't a senile duffer! He was wrinkled, but he wasn't senile! He was a nice old man! You're a senile duffer! He was ugly, and yet he was better than any of you..."
    Slap again, on the other cheek. The room rotated. No medstat.
    "You. Shall. Never. Contradict me."
    "No. You're right, doctor. I shan't contradict you." Mel shook her head. She staggered towards the door. "I am going home to my and my mom's medstat. Feel free to never message me."
    The door wouldn't open. Mel pulled again. A stuck door had happened to her once. A second pull had opened it, and a repairstat had come immediately after.
    This door wouldn't open.
    No machine came, either.
    Meliora turned to face this new doctor. The doctor was blurry—because Mel's eyes were blurred, and her breathing was so heavy that she could not keep her head still. Her legs were shaking.
    She'd felt sad for old Nicolas. It had been a strange, yet familiar feeling because she'd also had it for Dad and young Nicolas.
    What she felt now wasn't sadness.
    "I see that we understand each other." The doctor stepped towards her, and Meliora cringed. "Fear. That's how it is called, girl. You'll need it."
    "Is this prison?" Mel whispered.
    "Is it? Who knows."
    "I want to go home!"
    "Do you, really?" The woman smiled. It wasn't pretty. Then she shoved Mel aside and, before Mel could regain her balance, rushed outside. The door slammed closed.
    It still wouldn't open for Mel.
    ***
    The windows wouldn't open, either. None of the machines paid any attention to her. Her cheeks swelled and hurt, and as the hours passed her mouth became dry. Her stomach growled.
    She found no water in the office, and she found no food. The servingstat and the cookingstat wouldn't respond to her. The machines didn't even blink. They looked dead, as dead as Great-Granddad Nicolas. They didn't even look like evil enemies.
    "Or are you, machines, perhaps closed into your own minds? What did she do to you?"
    Mel's own computer worked. After some thought, she sent messages to her mom and her friends. She told them she was imprisoned in the doctor's office with no water and no food, that she'd been beaten, and that the machines were dead.
    Glad you're having a great time, Mel, my dear, Mom wrote. You know what, Mel? The pear computer is old already. I ate the pear logo and bought a watermelon! I'll go buy one for you, too.
    She got similar replies from her friends.
    No, you don't understand, Mel hummed. It is not fun. It is scary—it's too wonderful an experience. Help me, Mom. Mom, get me out of here!
    Mel, you know that necklace with the cherries? BarbButterScotch123 says there'll be a computer that has many cherries at