Jane had planned to keep her promise to Boris when they came up with the arrangement six months ago. He would let her film him in his habitat doing ape-like things that would support the conclusions she wanted to draw in her research, and they would both pretend he hadn’t developed the ability to communicate.
On the agreed-upon night, she pressed the implant deactivator against the base of his skull, but let it fall to the ground without pulling the trigger. “I can’t do it,” she whispered. He drew close. “Please. Do you really want me to keep living like this?” He gestured at the walls of the compound painted to look like green mountains and blue sky.
She shook her head.
Her heartbeat pulsed in her ears, keeping time with the red lights flashing across the habitat. White-suited staff checked her vital signs and inspected the bent bars of the gate that Boris had barreled through without once looking back. After the lead investigator finished questioning her, she drove home as though it was the end of any other work day. It had rained and the shimmering reflections of headlights on wet asphalt streamed past her as she sped down the freeway. She replayed the interrogation in her mind, scanning her memory for any missteps in her answers, but there were none, and they had failed to ask the most important questions, like:
Was it hard to let go of someone who made you feel like a better person than you actually are?
If he had wanted to stay, would you have been able to keep loving him?
Do you think your love was founded on an imbalance of power, and if so, how disproportionate was this imbalance relative to other relationships that occur between human beings?
Jane pulled into her driveway and turned the ignition off. She leaned her forehead against the steering wheel, letting tears fall as the night sky lightened and the chatter of birds filled the branches of the trees lining her street.
I LOVE this.