Synthetic Lover

It has been twenty-four days since I brought him back.
No one has noticed yet and hopefully no one will.

I really hate locking him inside the study whenever someone comes over.
It’s like I’m neglecting him all over again…

I walked over to the study and unlocked the door, opening it afterwards.

“Ricky. You can come out now. I’m going to make dinner if you want to help me.”
He slowly walked towards me, stopping in front of me.

Can he even eat?

I guess I’ll find out later.

He followed me into the kitchen and watched me as I got some pasta from the cabinet and some alfredo sauce, tomatoes, and some parsley from the fridge, and then I got the pot from the cabinet and filled it with water.

He continued to stare at me.

“Do…you want to help?”
He nodded slowly.

“Here.” I handed him a couple of tomatoes.
“You can wash these, and I’ll cut them afterwards.”

He nodded again and did so.

I sighed and began to cook the pasta.

I still haven’t figured out why he can’t talk. I wish he could, though.

I miss his voice…It was so melodic and soothing.

I glanced over to steal a look at him.
He finished washing the tomatoes and held them out to me.

I smiled towards him and took them.

I placed them on the cutting board and grabbed a knife.

He always helped me with cooking everything.
I have to understand. I have to understand that he’s limited now.

He’s still my Ricky, but he isn’t the same.

When will I get that through my head?

“Shit!”
I winced and glanced at my finger, blood already pouring from the cut.

I glanced back at Ricky, who looked mortified.

“It’s okay, Ricky. It’s just a small cut.”

He shook his head and covered his mouth with his hands.

“Ricky?”

He shook his head again and started to back away from me.

“Ricky, what’s wrong?”

His blue eyes were now a blood red and he trembled from head to toe.

A faint growl from his stomach followed soon after.

I understand.

I walked towards him, trying to coax his hands away from his mouth.
He did so and I placed my injured finger onto his lips.

He stared at me with sad eyes.

“Ricky…Don’t fight it. You need to eat.”

He closed his eyes and licked off the blood from my finger.
He took the fingertip into his mouth and sucked at the injury.

He let go and opened his eyes again.

They were back to their blue color, but there was still a tint of red in them.

I looked down at my finger to see that it wasn’t bleeding anymore.

He shook his head again and turned away from me.
I wrapped my arms around him and rested my head against his shoulder blade.

“It’s okay, Ricky…Everything is going to be okay. I still love you.”

He’s still human.

He doesn’t have a pulse. He can’t speak. He has little memory. He feeds off of human blood.

But he’s still human.