The Shape of Weary Eyes
Picture this scene with me. The streets are shrouded in darkness. The rain has not stopped for two days. The city’s reflection bleeds softly across the wet pavement, drowned beneath the melancholy glow of neon lights. A mechanical foot steps into a puddle. The mirrored city fractures for a moment. The lights tremble, blur, and fold into one another. Before us appears a metallic robot, walking slowly, with a deliberate and almost weary gait. He lifts his eyes sorrowfully toward the heavy, glowering sky, then lowers them to a neon sign. His steps falter as he studies the glowing plaque before him: Dr. Manal Al-Omari; Psychiatrist, Fellow of the British Psychiatric Association, master’s degree from Germany, and Ph.D. from the United States. His gaze drops to the entrance of the building on which the sign hangs. He steps forward and disappears into the depth of the hallway. Yet because his eyes see in infrared, the shift in lighting means nothing to him. The metallic echo of his foot...