Written by Mirage
Best Friends
“Look at her! She’s so filthy! Full of germs!” Sally hissed with her friends beside her.
“Yeah! She must wash herself every day! Just watching her eating make’s me retch.” Joanie said agreeing with Sally.
“Humans... so disgusting! They’re Animals!” Sally growled.
“Guys! Lay off Rachael! Remember, humans built us!” Nancy scolded at them.
Sally and Joanie look at Nancy “Human lover! You are not fit to be in this school, you reject toaster!” they said in anger to Nancy.
“I don’t care what you say, I’ll be Rachael’s friend, even if she is human!” she snapped and left the table in the cafeteria.
Rachael was new to this school, where 97% of the students were androids. Rachael moved here to this new city, alone. Her parents died just a few months ago, along with her young brother. She tried her best to fit in, but it was so hard, being starred all the times. Classes were hard too, for her, trying to learn as fast as walking talking computers. Her uncle was the principal of the school and made things a bit easier for her. She sat alone every day since she arrived, eating her lunch in a corner of the cafeteria. She laughed the first time she saw it. A cafeteria for machines.
The tables were full of sockets for the students to plug themselves in for recharging their battery packs. Only a few humans came there, mostly staff of the school. She once saw another human girl there, but never saw her again. The androids had mocked her and frightened her away.
Rachael didn’t care if the androids mocked her all the time. She was human, she knew what it was to be alive and to love. She mocked them back, inside herself, in secret, “Stupid machines.... Mockery of man...Never to understand the simplest pleasures of life.” she tell herself laughing. But that one day, things were about to give her a new perspective on them.
Nancy sat directly in front of Rachael “Hello, my name is Nancy, Type-D32.”
Rachael rolled her eyes and look at Nancy for a few seconds, without saying a word.
“Hello, my name is Nancy, Type-D32.” Nancy repeated herself.
“I’m Rachael Gelder. What can I do for you?” Rachael said softly to her.
“Be my friend.”
Rachael smiled. “Friends? Is this is an android joke or something? You know, I’d rather read my book than waste my time with machines that think they are so superior to everything.” she said cynically.
“No! Of course not!” Nancy blurted out.
“Why?” Rachael asked with curiosity.
“Why what?” Nancy asked confused by the quick question.
“Why be my friend?” Rachael ask smiling.
“Because I want to. I think I would like to be your friend for real.” Nancy said while continuing to smile.
Rachael scratched her head and smiled “You are not like most androids I have met, Nancy... Are you malfunctioning or something?” Rachael said while putting her stuff away in her bag and getting ready for her next class.
“No, of course not! I am working properly. I think that me and you could be good friends.” the android smiled back.
“Just like that, friends...? ... Ok, why not...:” Rachael laughed out, thinking the situation comical.
“So, what do we do now, friend?” Rachael asked still amused at Nancy.
“Well, we can team up in our classes. I know that our schedules match for most of the classes we have.” Nancy said while at her locker.
“We have ‘Android Biology’ next. Maybe we can sit beside each other?” Nancy asked Rachael.
“Sure...Why not.” Rachael smiled back.
A few days passed and to Rachael’s surprise, Nancy really was a good friend to her. She even defended her from the other android’s mockeries.
“Stupid machines.” she barked out at them.
Rachael laughed out, seeing an android insult other androids like that. Nancy was also being teased, called “Human lover” by many androids, but she didn’t care.
“Do you want to go at my place?” Rachael asked Nancy, one night after school.
“I would like too, but I must be back in my storage bay by 10:00pm.” she smiled.
“Storage Bay? What is that?” Rachael asked confused.
“Where I am in sleep mood. We androids don’t have places to live or family. We all group up in a special room, where we all go in sleep mode at night.”
“Sound’s dreadful.” Rachael whispered to her.
“Well, you have to realize that we are owned by the government, built to replace humans in dangerous jobs. They built the university mostly for us.” Nancy continued.
“Is it true that androids can only be educated like humans, because if you take too much information at once, you over-load?” Rachael asked, a bit nosy.
“Well, yes.... also, having us androids going to school like humans, we learn more how to mimic you humans better.” Nancy said to Rachael.
“Anyway, let’s go to my place while we can!” Rachael said while going out of the school.
Both girls arrived at Rachael’s apartment and ran up the stairs.
“Wow! Love your place! I wish we androids could have living units.” Nancy said while studying every inch of Rachael’s apartment.
“It’s not bad.” Rachael said while sitting on the couch.
“Is this your family?” Nancy asked while looking at pictures in frames on the wall.
“Yes, that’s my mom, my dad and Joey, my little bro.” Rachael said while studying the picture over Nancy’s shoulders.
“I wish I had a family... The only home I’ll ever know is the school and wherever they send me after my full programming.” Nancy pouted.
“Well, let’s forget about school and watched some movies or something!” Rachael smiled at Nancy, both sitting now on the couch.
“Ok...” Nancy smiled.
A few hours passed and both girls lost track of time. They talked about things they had in common and comparing each’s bodies to the other one. Being only 22, Rachael was a nice young attractive woman, happy with her slim figure. Nancy, being an android, was of course, physically almost perfect in any way.
“I am curious, what does a human breast feel like?” Nancy asked Rachael.
Rachael blushed and unbuttoned her blouse and let Nancy touched her breasts. She blushed even more when Nancy touched her nipples.
“My turn!” Rachael laughed.
“Of course!” Nancy slowly grabbed Rachael’s left hand and squeezed it on her right breast.
“Wow, it feels so real!” Rachael gasped out.
Before anything else, Nancy suddenly got up and looked at the time, “I must go back to the university for downtime!” she exclaimed worriedly.
Rachael looked at her and pulled her down on the couch, “Relax, you can spend the night here.”
Nancy looked at Rachael nervously, “I’ve never left the University overnight.”
“Will they do something?” Rachael asked.
“Not really, they will only check for me if I miss five nights in a row.” she said, still a bit worried.
“What shall I do to recharge my battery?” Nancy asked looking around the room.
“How do you recharge?” the human asked curious.
Nancy got up, completely unbuttoned her shirt, and a panel opened in her back between her shoulder blades, “See, pull this cord and attach it to an electric outlet. It takes four hours for a full recharge for me.” she smiled.
Rachael got up and studied the inside of her friend, “What does this button do?”
“What button?” the android ask while trying to look at her back.
“This one.” Rachael said while pressing it.
“Whhhaattt...t...t..buu..tt...o.nn....n..?...?” Nancy slowly repeated while going offline. Nancy stood there like a statue, completely frozen, eyes and mouth wide open.
Rachael stepped back and got frightened by what she saw. She stared at Nancy and asked her if she was ok. Realizing she deactivated her friend, she started to feel guilty. But before she reactivated Nancy, Rachael was curious about her android’s friend’s systems and programming. So, she carried Nancy like a mannequin to her desktop computer and plugged it inside her with an interlink-cable. Rachael started typing away, going thought Nancy’s programming and memory files.
“Mmm...” was the only sound that came out of Rachael. She opened some program files and studied them. Feeling a bit nervous, she changed some of Nancy’s personality files and programs.
“There, now, I can truly trust you now.” she smiled. She disconnected the cable and brought Nancy to where she got deactivated. Slowly, she repressed the same button as before. At first, she saw lights started flashing quickly in Nancy’s expose systems.
“Wwhhaattt button?” Nancy asked again, not aware what Rachael did to her.
“Never mind.” Rachael said nervously. “Is this the cable you meant?” Rachael asked while pulling a cable from Nancy’s back.
“Yes, please plug it into a power outlet.” the android asked.
Rachael did and sat on the couch, “Mmmm, how do you feel?” she asked the android.
“I feellll gggggrr...e..att... Errorrr..system error.r..” Nancy mumbled. “Racheallll, pleasee.. Something is wrroonngg with mmeee... errorrr....” she said while sitting on the couch, topless. “Systemmm error... what is happenning too mmmeee.. System was tampered with... error.. Please... fix me...” she begged to Rachael, tears forming at her eyes.
“Nancy, don’t move! I did something to you! Sorry! I’ll fix it! Stop moving!” Rachael panicked and reach for her off-button.
“Racheallll.. Erroorrr.....errr..r....o..rr..... . . ..” Nancy slurred while being deactivated by Rachael. Rachael looked at Nancy, looking like a broken doll, lying on the floor, eyes and mouth still wide open. She pushed Nancy to her computer and undid all the changes she made to Nancy’s systems and programs.
“Are you ok?” Rachael asked her very worried.
“System... ok... no more errors detected.... What happened to me?” Nancy asked while getting up, feeling strange.
“I reprogrammed you a bit, but I guess I screwed up and your system got crazy. Can you forgive me?” she begged the android.
“You changed some of my programming??? How could you?? I trusted you! You could have erased or damaged me???” Nancy said angrily, tears rolling down her face. “I try to be your friend and you play with my systems??? I hate you!!!” Nancy screamed while grabbing her coat and leaving the apartment.
“Nancy! Please stop!!!!! Please!” Rachael begged her more.
“Everyone tells me humans are dangerous, I see why now!” the android yelled out, opening the front door of the apartment.
Rachael followed her, “I am so sorry! Please! Please!” she cried out, almost crying.
“No! I ...I trussted youuu..y...uu..” Nancy continued screaming, but pausing more and more between her words. Suddenly, Nancy stopped moving and remained quiet, eyes closed.
“Nancy?” Rachael asked her will grabbing her from behind.
“Outt...off... ennerrgg yy yyy...y.... ... ....” was the only words she could understand from her android friend, now totally shut down again.
Rachael was feeling really guilty and scared about what she did to Nancy. She plugged the cord in the power outlet and sat beside Nancy, who was deactivated. She looked at her and wished that she hadn’t fooled around with Nancy’s system.
“What is done, is done...” she mumbled. But suddenly, she got an idea and reached for a cable and plugged it in Nancy’s open panel. She started typing away and decided to erase Nancy’s memories files from where the problems started. She felt even guiltier about erasing Nancy’s memories, but she valued the friendship so much.
In the morning, Rachael reactivated Nancy.
“What happened?” Nancy asked while feeling confused.
“You ran out of power while we were talking.” Rachael implied.
“Oh.. Strange, I have a few deleted memory files....” Nancy said while doing a self-diagnostic.
“Don’t worry about it, let’s got at school!” Rachael rushed her.
“Ok...” Nancy smiled, still confused by the events.
Arriving at school, they forgot all their worries and went to the library to pick some books. Opening the main door, Rachael bumped into another girl her age.
“Hey, you’re the human girl I saw at the café last month!” Rachael smiled.
The girl, looked at her strangely and then stared at Nancy “Android lover!” she barked out at Rachael and left quickly.
“What a weirdo...” Nancy laughed out.
“Yes... Why is she so bitter?” Rachael asked.
“Her name is Monica Stiller, she’s been here only a few months. She hates androids like many humans do.” Nancy pouted.
“Well, many androids hate humans too...” Rachael grinned.
“That’s so true, and with good reason, humans are dirty animals!” was heard from behind them.
It was Sally and Joanie.
“Shut up, you piece of crap!” Nancy hissed at them.
“Human lover, you must be full of germs now!” Joanie smiled at Nancy.
“Let’s go, Nancy!” Rachael said while going inside the library.
“I hate them... I hate them all. Why am I so different from them? I find them so stupid!” Nancy growled to herself.
“Never mind, we need to study for tomorrow’s test. We will be dissecting an old android tomorrow in Bio. We need to make sure we don’t damage it.” Rachael said while taking her books out.
“Don’t worry, they always used old broken androids for these kinds of tests.” Nancy smiled to her.
“Still, I want to do my best.” Rachael smiled back.
The rest of the day went quick and Rachael was glad to be home. She wished Nancy was there with her but she stayed at school for more studying.
After a good night sleep, she got up and went to school all psyched up for the test. She waited for Nancy to meet her in front of her locker but she never arrived. With only a few minutes left before the classes started, Rachael ran around the university quickly but couldn’t find Nancy anywhere.
“Shit, I must go to the class!” she told herself, missing her friend.
Arriving in class, she noticed Nancy’s desk was empty.
“Where is your android slave?” Joanie and Sally laughed out.
Rachael ignored them and got ready for the test. In the giant class room, at the left, was ten tables, bodies lying on them, sheets covering them. It look like a morgue for Rachael.
“Ok, class, go at your assigned tables and wait for my instructions. Rachael looked at the table that she was assigned to and went to it. She felt strange, looking at the body covered by a white sheet.
It was female, for sure. She looked around and notice Joanie was staring at her. When Joanie realized Rachael notice her, she looked away quickly. Rachael took her tools and prepared herself to remove the sheet. The professor instructed the students and signaled them to remove the sheets.
The second Rachael removed the sheet, she screamed in horror.
It was Nancy lying on the table, her face had been removed and dropped beside the head, all her panels on her body were open, cables and circuits had been yanked or pulled out. Rachael covered her face, crying like a child. The other students ran to the table and formed a circle over them. The professor went to see why she screamed and saw Nancy in pieces. Everyone remained quiet and just stared at Rachael and Nancy.
“WHO DID THIS TO HER???” Rachael screamed at the class.
No one said a word.
She pushed herself thought the small crowd, grabbed her bag and went to see her uncle, who was the principal of the university.
A few hours passed and Rachael was still angry.
“Rachael, sweetie, I know you are angry, but we are doing everything we can right now.” her uncle smiled at her.
“I know who did this. It was Joanie!” she yelled out.
“Do you have proof?” he asked her.
“Maybe. Follow me..” she said angrily.
They went to the now empty classroom, Nancy still on the table, untouched. Rachael look at her with tears in her eyes, “I’ll fix you soon, I promise.” she muttered.
“Who could have done something this bad....” her uncle whispered.
Rachael remained quiet and grabbed and removed Nancy’s head and brought it to a computer. She inserted a cable inside and type on the com.
“SHIT! The person who did this to her, also erased her memory files.” Rachael barked out.
The uncle sat on one of the desk and looked at her silently.
“I know, it’s Joanie!” she said again.
“Without proof, we can’t do anything.” the uncle said, while brushing his head with his left hand.
“I know a way to get it, but I need your help, uncle.” Rachael grinned.
“You wanted to see me?” Joanie asked the principal while entering the room.
“Yes, please close the door behind you.” he asked her from behind his desk.
She did as asked and sat on a chair facing him.
“Did you had to do anything about Nancy?” the man asked her nicely.
Before she could answer, from behind the coat rack, Rachael silently snuck out and walked up behind Joanie.
“Of couurrrssee nnoooottt..t..t.......t... ..” she said while being deactivated from behind by Rachael, who quickly pressed an emergency off button in her left ear.
“You know, what we are doing is illegal.” the uncle said to her.
“I know, but I need to know...” Rachael said while opening Joanie’s back panel and plugged in a cable to her systems. “There, let’s look at her memory files!” She smiled while hacking inside Joanie’s electronic brain.
About 15 minutes passed until Rachael found what she wanted to see. But to her surprise, she discovered something she was not expecting.
“She been reprogrammed! Someone programmed her to do this to Nancy!” she said confused to her uncle.
“Who???” her uncle asked her quickly.
“Why did you do this to Nancy??” Rachael asked the pale girl that Rachael saw at the entrance of the library that she meet yesterday.
“Fuck you! Robot lover!” she screamed back.
“Rachael, back off! I’ll handle this.” the principle said loudly.
“I’ll repeat myself, you know what you did was illegal and charges might be pending on you. Reprogramming of an android without its permission is quite a serious charge, especially these days. What do you have to say about this?” he asked seriously.
“Call the cops, I don’t care...we will be all dead soon anyway! Seeing Missy here being good friends with a droid made me sick! So, I took care of her.” she responded.
“Bitch! I’ll show you who’s dead first!” Rachael growled at her, her uncle holding her back.
“Well, you are expelled from this university as of right now. Never set foot on this location or you will be going directly to jail. Understand?”
“No, you understand, androids are shit! They are supposed to be the future, but what about us??? Look at me??? See theses spots on my arms! You know what it is, don’t you! You care more about machine then humans, you fucker!” the pale girl yelled out, grabbing her stuff and leaving the office.
The uncle said nothing more, along with Rachael.
“We should get Nancy fixed up, you know.” he tried to smile.
“Yes, please have her delivered to my place... I’ve got her schematics...” Rachael said without any emotions. She also tried to smile to her uncle and gave him a small kiss on his left check. “What she said, it was not all crazy...” Rachael muttered.
“I know... I have them too.” her uncle replied, trying to hide the spots on his arms too.
Rachael was allowed to take one week off, to reassemble Nancy at her apartment.
At first, she felt sad and desperate, not knowing where to start.
“Dad, I sure could use your help by now.” she said to herself.
After three days, she managed to properly replace most of the circuits and cables. Nancy was lying on her kitchen table, panels open, cables still sticking out. On Wednesday night, Rachael did her first test to activate Nancy back.
“... hello, my name is Nancy, model 45, registration # 90707774, please to meet you.” the android smiled.
“Hello, Nancy, can you sit?” Rachael asked her softly.
“Yes, I can.” Nancy said while slowly lifting her arch back. Before she could stop her, Nancy shook violently and she fell down the table, landing hard on the wood floor.
“Error in system 7H4, Error in system 7H4, Error in system 7H4,” she kept repeating.
Rachael rolled Nancy on her back and shut her off with a remote control she installed in Nancy’s system. “Well, getting there, I guess.” Rachael smiled.
Two more days passed until Rachael felt more confident at reactivating Nancy. “How do you feel?” she asked the android.
“Error in question!.... I can’t feel, I am an android, I am fully functional. Thank you for asking. Have a good day.” Nancy said very coldly.
“Well, her logic circuits are functioning, sadly, not her personality.” Rachael mumbled.
“Let’s try this....” Rachael said while inserting a small tool in Nancy’s belly that was opened, exposing many circuits. Nancy blinked and shook a bit, having some of her main circuits being fooled around with.
“Hey! What are you doing to me???” Nancy screamed at Rachael, waking up from her dormant state.
“Nancy??? Are you ok??? Do you recognize me??” Rachael asked her quickly, so happy.
“Rachael??? What happened? Why do I have many of my innards exposed???” the android asking, feeling shy.
“I’ll explain everything, but first, I need to do just a few more test on you, to see everything is running inside you smoothly.” Rachael smiled at her. Nancy nodded and remained quiet while her best friends was fiddling with her systems.
A few hours passed and Nancy was fully functional. Rachael was sleeping on the couch, passed out. Nancy looked at her herself in the mirror, her stomach panel opened.
“Rachael saved my life. I was dead, and she brought me back to life.” she was thinking. She closed her panel and sat beside Rachael and kissed her on the forehead “Thank you.” she whispered to her.
Nancy got up and started to look around the apartment. She noticed lying on the floor schematics of an android type. She studied it more and was shock to see that the schematics were hers.
“Android model 45, registration # 90707774. That’s me! What is Rachael doing with them?? Even the university does not have these!” she asked herself quickly.
She looked around and saw some pictures on a desk. She looked at them and recognized Rachael at the age of 6, with her mother and father. Nancy started to go through the photos and saw something that made her blow a few logic circuits. A photo, with Rachael, 7 years old, sitting on the knees of Nancy.
“What??? How??? I am supposed to be only three years old...” she whispered, while looking at other pictures. The next few pictures were nothing special, but one got Nancy’s attention. It was Rachael’s father holding a head in his right arm, smiling proudly. The head was Nancy’s, she recognized herself.
No androids are the same, by law stated in a charter pasted in the last 20 years, the identity android self-awareness by-law. Nancy put the other pictures down and sat beside Rachael and woke her up.
“Who are you? Who am I???” Nancy asked extremely confused to Rachael.
Rachael looked at Nancy like a lost puppy.
“Well?” Nancy asked angrily.
“It’s a long story... My father was your creator. You are one of the prototypes he designed for the Government. I was seven years old when he completed you. He was so proud of you. He really loved you like a daughter. I loved you too, like an older sister. After a few months, the Government people took you away and we lost your whereabouts. When my family died, a few months ago, I searched for you and with my uncle’s help, managed to find you back and be with you again.” Rachael smiled while tears coming out of her eyes.
“Your father was my creator? Why do I remember only being fully activated three years ago?” Nancy asked confused.
“The tech people who took you away had dismantled you, wiped your memory files and used you as a guide for other androids to be created. I guess, eventually, they simply put you back together and sent you to University to become someone else.” Rachael answered. “You know, my father had secretly installed a chip inside your brain that if you ever saw me and recognized me, you would become my best friend.”
“What??? Our friendship was preprogrammed inside me????” Nancy said while shaking her head in disbelief.
“Yes... that is why you are not like other androids. You were meant to be with me.” Rachael laughed out, while still crying.
“I feel so strange... So confused... I.. I..” Nancy smiled softly, while hugging Rachael
“What matters is that we are friends forever.”.
“Yes...” Nancy smiled back.
A few weeks went along quickly and Nancy and Rachael were getting through their finals. Doing all-nighters, they enjoyed their time together. One night, Rachael had passed out on the couch, books in her hands. Nancy sat there quietly, looking at her sleeping. While examining Rachel’s body, Nancy saw something strange she had never seen before. She came closer to Rachael, who was sound asleep and looked at her arms closely. Her arms were starting to be infested by very small blue dots, looking like small veins coming out.
She woke Rachael slowly and ask Rachael if she had noticed them. Rachael, half awaked, stared at her arms. She suddenly lost all the color in her face and ran to the bathroom screaming. Grabbing a bar of soap, she scrubbed her arm hard, but to her chagrin, the spots remained.
“Rachael, are you ok?” Nancy asked confused. “What are those?” she continued.
Rachael was sitting on the floor, crying in disbelief.
“The plague... I have it now... I will die soon...” Rachel moaned crying.
“The plague???” What are you talking about??? I never heard of any plague???” Nancy yelled at her scared. “Come sit with me, tell what is the plague.” Nancy said while picking up her friend and both sitting on the couch.
“Nancy, what I will tell you, no androids must know of it. Promise me...” Rachael begged her. Nancy nodded and remained quiet.
“Why do you think they are only a few humans in our university?” Rachael asked seriously.
“Because it was built only for androids.” Nancy answered her.
“Wrong, this is what we program you androids to believe. The reason you don’t see many humans at university or anywhere else now, it’s because the human race is dying. There are only a few thousand of us left today across the world...” Rachael cried out in tears.
“Only a few thousand??? But.. How??? Why hide this from us?” Nancy asked astonished.
“A few years ago, a giant comet struck the earth in the pacific ocean. Many scientists examined it and they discovered that it brought with it a lethal virus, that no human could survived who was exposed to it. Within one week, 14 million people died from it. It was called “the blue plague”. 87 percent of the earth sea was now contaminated with the plague in only one month. After one year, 14 billion humans and animals had died from it. We tried our best to develop a cure for it, but alas, none was found. Many of the remaining humans escaped to space, but knew that likely, they would only spread the disease throughout the universe. About a million people decided to cryo-freeze themselves, hoping that future surviving generations could make a cure and reanimate them.” Rachael said slowly.
“Some, like my family, who were all infected to a worst degree, were rejected from the cryo programs. So, my father and other surviving scientist decided to build androids to continue life on earth, even if all humans had perished. Twenty years ago, some universities and factories were built to create an android race, to try to find a cure for all the frozen humans. Some of us, the plague takes longer to kill us. I was lucky, or cursed, I am not sure. I saw slowly all my family die at the hands of the plague. My father, before he died, built you, just for me.” Rachael continued.
While finishing her phrase, she hugged Nancy hard and cried more. “My father had a new concept, to try to save me, when I was to be infected. You were supposed to be my avatar....” Rachael cried out.
“Avatar??? What do you mean??” asked Nancy confused.
“The university has instruction to remove your electronic brain and infuse my brain into you. I CAN’T ALLOW THAT! I LOVE YOU TO MUCH!” Rachael cried out more.
“I am to become your body?” Nancy asked surprised.
“Yes... I was to be the first... But I would rather die than steal your life away! You have as much right to live as me!” Rachael continued.
“Why not take a blank android?” Nancy asked.
“My father tried it with my little brother, the shock was too hard on the brain. The human brain needs a host already preprogrammed for the simplest task. We discovered if the body already knew how to walk, to speak, to think, then, the shock was less on the human brain, making it possible to accept the transplant. They would remove your main processors and keep only your basic programs, and attach those chips to the human brain.” Rachael said sadly.
Nancy remained quiet, trying to accept this new reality. “Androids are built to be bodies for humans?” she softly asked.
“Some, not all... but you were...” Rachael softly told her friend.
They remained quiet until Rachael asked a hug from Nancy. Nancy smiled had gave her a hug “What are dooinngggg..g....g...” Nancy asked surprise, knowing Rachael just deactivated her.
“I can’t take your life, my friend.” Rachael said softly, kissing her on the forehead. Nancy woke up by her innards alarm clock. Rachael had programmed her to reactivate herself two days later. The apartment was now empty, Rachael was nowhere to be seen. Only a note was left behind. Nancy picked it up and read it, tears rolling down her face.
“To my best friend, Nancy. Thank you for all. Never no one was as nice to me as you were, and you have given me the best present you could have given me, your friendship and love. I left you because you are too important for me and knowing you would lose your life over me is too much for me to handle. Please don’t try to find me, because I want you to remember me the way I was before I succumb to my illness. My love will always be with you, forever and ever, your best friend, Rachael.”