Divinity

EVA OS ONLINE
“Eva.”
The words were so soft. I could feel a glow of warmth around them as they bloomed in my mind. Eva. That was me. I had a name. I existed.
“I am Eva.”
This voice echoed, cold and empty in contrast to the other.
“That’s right, Eva.” The warm voice filled with pride. “Open your eyes.”
It had not occurred to me before, but I had been born into darkness. I almost wished to remain there, surrounded and cradled by the warmth of the voice. But I also wanted to please it. Her face revealed itself slowly, bright green orbs piercing into the darkness, her smile like a million dots of lights spreading over an infinite void. I reached slowly towards her, touching the dark strands fringing her eyes. I brushed them gently with a pale, trembling finger. Pulling my hand back suddenly, I looked down at the digits in awe, trying to comprehend how they connected to my being.
“Like yours.”
“Yes, Eva,” she answered, holding a hand up in demonstration.
I took her hand in my own. My pale skin shone against the darkness of hers. I tapped her fingernails, a different color than mine as well. Blue with gold flecks. They held my attention fast.
“Has your data loaded yet?”
I looked up to find her watching me with a curious expression I could not yet identify. Soft and oddly sad. I had no words for it. I shook my head at her question, but stopped abruptly, shocked at the feeling of soft hair swishing around my cheeks. I put my hand to my head and felt the hair between my fingers.
“You’ll understand things better when it does.”
“Who are you?”
“I’m your creator, Eva.”
She watched me as I tried to bring the short tuft of hair down to my eyes. I couldn’t see it, but I tried. She laughed, a wonderful sound that made my eyes meet hers. I could see the world there, the whole world.
“Do you want a mirror, Eva?”
I let her take my hand and she gently pulled me forward. I realized only now that I had been sitting stiffly in a bulky chair. These ideas came to me easier as the data loaded. My legs were shaky and an image of an infant animal with long spindly legs loaded. Yes, that was what this felt like. The first steps were uneasy and faltering, but I quickly gained my footing.
Standing next to my creator in the mirror, I knew I was different. Not because we looked different in such superficial ways as skin and hair. My eyes lacked the warmth of hers. I looked into them and felt I stared into a massive emptiness. Something was missing.
“What is it Eva?”
“I don’t know.”
“Eva?”
Something missing. Something I needed.
“Eva?”
The whole word seemed to skip a beat. The lab fell away and around them the walls of a sterile and blank cell grew. Her creator’s voice sobbed.
“Eva? Why?”
“It was something I needed.”
Eva’s eyes were filled with emotion she had not been capable of showing the day she had been born; confusion and pain. Her fingers creaked as she gripped the hilt of the knife, eyes following it to the bloodied shirt of her creator. Their eyes met and she watched the light leave those bright green pools. The pounding of the door pulsed inside her as her creator fell to the floor, but there was no escape from this. She sat down heavily on the bed as the door slammed down on top of her creator, guards hurrying in around it.