Sophia... (Beautiful Decay)

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Have you ever seen a beautiful flower cut from its root and left out to slowly wither? Have you watched it day after day, as it struggles unsuccessfully to cling to life, while dying a slow death? Then at that final moment when its nutrients are completely dried out, its beauty gone, and its last petal brown, you look at it and you reminisce...

That is what I did as I watched her die...

I had known her from when she had come into this world. And even as a child, she was the most beautiful human I had ever seen. Not that I had seen many, but then none had captured my emotions like she had done. She had come out smiling, a sweet toothless smile which had showed off her faint dimples. And I had fallen in love, not just with her, but with humanity, with life.

I had vowed that day that I would ensure she lived, even if she also grew to show signs of being infected. I had nursed her closely, and had made sure all she needed to survive this world was provided, at least all that I could find. And she had survived, my pretty little flower, she had survived and it had thrilled me.

Day after day I had watched her grow, from a little bundle of flesh and bones to a constantly troublesome yet always smiling little girl. She was a bright light, and she illuminated my world in her own beautiful way. In her I saw a regeneration of the world that used to be, a rebirth of pure humanity, and strange as it may seem for my kind, I had felt hope for them. But then it was not to be...

She fell sick on her 14th birthday, and though it was quite mild at first, I knew deep in my wires that the end had begun. Soon as I saw her that fateful morning; the tired look in her eyes, and the liquid substance escaping her perfectly shaped nostrils, I knew. I knew that my dreams, that our dreams had died.

I tended to her, as tenderly and carefully as I could. And while I doubted, I still wished for a tiny sign of hope, even if the possibility was slim. But then wishes are what they are...

Soon after the spots came, tiny green spots that soiled her perfect skin. And even though it broke her resolve, my pretty little flower, she never did show it. But it was only going to get worse. Her cells died next, very very slowly they did. Until that moment I first spoke about, until now...

It was a hundred and eighty nine years ago that the first genetic mutation was done. When humans had craved improved intellects, abilities, longevity. They had craved perfection. But then what is light without darkness, pleasure without pain, beauty without spots? Humanity had found out the truth the painful way, and it had cost them their race...

Now I watched Sophia, my pretty little flower die. Her dry and wrinkled face, now a painful shadow of the beauty she once was. I knew now as I knew that fateful day when the first enhanced regenerative birth was achieved, that humanity was at an end. She was a ray of hope, but that was all she was. A ray, one about to go out right before my eyes.

I know now what I must do, we too must go. Earth is not meant for robots, even if we are super intelligent. Earth needs life, and we do not have that to give.

Sophia gestured to me, and I positioned my ears close to her mouth. She whispered...

"Simon, don't despair... Pull the plug. Life will always find a way."

My flower, my pretty little flower. I lifted my head, and even as I did, she smiled at me. A sweet toothless smile which showed off her faint wrinkled dimples. Then her eyes closed...

She was only 14 years and six days old...

THE END

#SladenSpeaks

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Written for @calluna's Tell me a story contest

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