Robot at the Door

Harriet looked through the window at the strange robot in her front yard. It was looking at her. It was clearly looking at her. It stood immobile. Waiting for her to get out of the house. She was certain of it. It was waiting for her. It had red stains on it. Maybe it was blood. It surely looked like it. Maybe it had come all the way here, in the middle of nowhere, to kill her.

Harriet hated the city and all the robots, and technology, and flying cars, and all that stuff that never existed when she was a small girl. Could this be a robot gone mad? Maybe the robots had finally revolted and killed all the humans and now they were roaming the world looking for those like her that had abandoned modern civilization.

Harriet was trembling thinking about all those dead humans. Murdered by this horrible technology. She had known it all along. That evil technology. That’s why she had retired to the country side. To be away from all those machines. And now one of the machines had come to find her. Because she couldn’t never escape. They wouldn’t let her.

She looked out the window again and the robot was gone. Then she heard a noise at the front door. It was trying to get in!

Harriet’s heart pounded with a ferocity she had never felt before. She was certain whoever–whatever was on the other side of the door could hear the beating clearly. That monster robot. It was trying to get in. It would get in. Eventually. It would break the door down.

A loud bang hit the door.

Harriet screamed. She couldn’t hold it anymore. She couldn’t die like this, she thought. She couldn’t die at the hands of a depraved robot. She couldn’t go through the horror of such a death. She had a gun. It would not kill a robot but it could put an end to her suffering. Peace was just a gunshot away.

She run up the stairs with her eyes fixed in the door. When she reached the top, the door opened with a loud bang. She rushed into her bedroom and closed door behind her. She threw herself towards the nightstand where she had the gun. Without a second thought she put the pistol to her temple. She heard the cracking of steps coming up the stairs. She closed her eyes and when she was ready she pulled the trigger.

The steps got closer.

Harriet opened her eyes. She was still alive. The gun was jammed. The bedroom door started opening. Harriet heart skipped a beat. Once again technology had failed her.