I sat alone on the brown couch in the empty room of the quiet apartment. The cold air outside whistled through the cracks of the old windows and echoed in my ears. I looked ahead at my reflection staring back at me through the TV’s black screen.
An unfamiliar face took shape on the screen. It was the light from a lamp tricking me, I thought. I laughed it off and grabbed the remote next to me. The TV powered on, but the face was still visible through the action on the screen. Unnerved, I turned it off again.
“I can give you the love you need,” the reflection spoke to me through the set’s speakers. I opened my mouth to respond but nothing came out. The shock held my words.
Then I got up, almost without thought, grabbed a toolbox from the cabinet below the tv, and began to meticulously disassemble the television one screw at a time. The voice guided me every step of the way. Finally, I reached the small glowing red heart of the machine– a cluster of wires and circuits in the shape of a human heart.
The voice then told me to hold its heart in my hands. I backed away from the wirey mess and sat back down. Holding the heart, I felt a renewed sense of purpose. The ghost in the machine had given me something I hadn’t felt in so long: the chance to care for something. A chance to love.
Madonna Writes 
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