Box, pt. 3 (An Origin Story)

I’m a little robot from

The City of Rules

I live on the outskirts,

Almost on the outside

There’s a big wall at my back,

And a little crack

Where no one can see it

It’s hidden away,

Just like me

If the Overlords

Knew

That I was broken,

They would

Take

Me away, and

Fix

Me.

So I hide,

And every so often,

I sneak out from the city

I’ve always known,

Into the Jungle of Thought

I sit among the trees

And practice

Freedom

One day, thinking,

I discovered that

Robots cannot have

Feelings.

Why, then, do I?

I thought,

“Feelings must be bad”

And I decided,

I must hide my feelings away

But Feelings have a way of

Creeping up on you

When you are distracted

How can I be among

Others

When they can see

Through me,

And my secret?

“If hiding does not work,”

I thought,

“I must break the

Feelings I hide”

Then I found a box.