“You have to help me Ben… I don’t want to…” Lauren shot up out Bed wondering how she got here. She was back at home, wearing her pink nightgown. She looked at her hands to make sure this was real and moved her fingers slowly, as if conducting a test for piloting a Doll for the first time. It seemed real enough, she could even see the scar from the time she cut her finger.



She was breathing rapidly and even put her hand up to feel her breath. She placed her hand on her chest over her rapidly beating heart, now slowing down. She looked around the room and everything seemed blurry until she reached for her glasses on the nightstand and put them on.



“Is this real?” Lauren asked herself confused. Her voice sounded like what she was used to. She looked next to her seeing Ben asleep beside her. “How did I get here?”



None of this made sense. She was meant to be in Japan. She had gone there for a work trip that turned out to be a trap. She had been tested for creating a new more realistic Doll, one that kept the imperfections of the user. When she tested piloting a Doll from another country she found out that Ben had been using it and accidentally created a new personality that called itself Laura. When she realized that Ben had started using it not fifteen minutes before being sent to Japan she knew the company was behind this, they wanted him to be using her Doll. She felt alone and scared as her body was asleep. Now she was home, presumably in her own body. None of this made sense.



“Is everything alright honey?” Lauren felt Ben’s hand on her shoulder. “You look stressed.”



“What day is it?” Lauren asked Ben who sat up. He looked different than what she remembered, he looked more fit, clean shaven and his hair was tidier than usual.



“It’s Monday,” Ben commented looking at her confused.



“Monday the…?” Lauren knew something was wrong as it should be Tuesday.



“Twenty-eighth…”



“That’s not right…. It’s Tuesday the twenty-second…” Lauren knew she wasn’t imagining things.



“Oh, they warned us something like this could happen.” Ben squeezed her hand in support. “I’m not the best person to explain this but apparently your Doll had connection issues and it was already defective. After some health checks they sent you home, they did warn us that you might experience some confusion and memory loss.”



Lauren looked at Ben a little unsure. It was possible but something didn’t seem right.

* * * * *

“Fucking idiot…” Raymond cursed. “See that? DX-9 is suspicious already. This is the last one, I need this one to last more than five fucking minutes”



“She’s made it further than the others,” sweetie. His mother commented standing behind him giving him a shoulder massage.



“Thanks, mah.” Raymond patted her hand. “But how is this fucking asshole this incompetent? He’s supposed to have my brain. He knows what’s riding on this.”



“Maybe it’s the lingering programming, sweetie,” his mother suggested. It was her own passive aggressive way of telling him to go fuck himself. “Human minds aren’t as durable as machines.”



“I guess I’ll give him some credit, I would never be able to pretend to be 299935’s husband.” Raymond acknowledged. “I need to vent, send in DX-3,” he ordered his mother. “You can stay and watch if you like.”



“I would love to sweetie,” his mother forced a smile as she walked out to grab the poor Doll. “Ooh,” she squealed as Raymond slapped her ass as she walked past. She was disgusted with herself that she liked it.



Raymond watched his former assistant’s body walk away wearing that red dress that showed off all her curves before he returned his attention to the monitors in front of him. “This better be a success or I’m sending her to recycling. I’ve got enough toys.” He said to the head of DX-6 acting as a paperweight, all she could do was blink in recognition.

* * * * *

Lauren found herself staring in the bathroom mirror for a long time. She was completely naked and had gone over her body three or four times. Nothing seemed out of place but it also didn’t feel right. She had seen the experiments being run in Japan, and knew they were closer to making the Doll’s more life-like. Still she was able to feel everything and her breath even fogged up the mirror. There was no way that they could’ve made a Doll this advanced in less than seven days.



That was assuming it was only seven days that passed. Ben looked different than usual, he was acting weird too. He said it was because she hadn’t seen him in person for over a week then forgot the last few days. Then there was the explanation for what had happened when she was disconnected. Laura was caused by a signal delay and remnants when he used the Doll. It had been taken away as well as the hardware. Unfortunately that had taken out their internet and they would need to wait a couple of days for it to be restored.



Still everything else seemed to be normal. She was able to pee, she felt hungry and was able to eat as well as taste her food. Her joints ache like they were supposed to. But still she didn’t feel quite right. Against her better judgment she decided to tell Ben her fears, except the ones she had about him. On the off chance he was right and the off chance she was right.



“I get it, you’ve had an out of body experience and you’ve lost a few days,” Benjamin listened to her concerns sitting down at the table like they had with Laura. “We can take you to a doctor if you would like… or…” he smiled at her playfully.



“Or what?” Lauren tried to hide any suspicions. He liked to deflect things with humor but to dismiss something so big.



“I have a way to show you that you’re real,” he winked at her. “Meet me in the bedroom.” Lauren just smiled and nodded, this wasn’t her husband.



“I think I’ll go for a run instead,” Lauren was tempted to try it but she couldn’t sleep with someone she knew wasn’t her husband. “That usually clears my head.”



“Oh… okay, be careful…” Benjamin sounded disappointed being rejected as Lauren went up to get dressed. “Fuck…” he muttered under his breath as he went to make some calls.



Running had been a good call, it allowed Lauren to see the neighborhood and to put her body to the limits. She’d focus on how sweaty she got, how quickly she got tired, how much things ached and how thirsty it made her. She quickly took time to get changed into her running gear and left the house without saying goodbye to Ben. The fact he didn’t acknowledge her was expected.



The run went well as it confirmed her suspicions. A longer time had passed than Ben suggested, she ran all year round and this was not Summer. Then there was her body itself. It seemed to get tired and out of breath only as she realized she wasn’t getting tired or out of breath. This body was a Doll, a highly advanced Doll but it was one hundred percent a Doll. Only she didn’t know how to disconnect.

‘You can’t disconnect’, she heard her voice say in her mind. ‘This is you. Just keep running and I’ll be there soon.’