The Bond

Ch 4

"Bold." : animatronic is talking

"Normal." : human is talking

=o^o=

Really tiring.

A tiring day for Michael. All day working for nothing; actually he got his paycheck, the last paycheck. Tomorrow he'd have to go back to looking for a new job after being fired from his old job—not even a week into his job until that damn boss said he fired Michael just because one customer didn't like the blindfold he was wearing.

Michael would almost slam the front door of the house if he hadn't remembered that he had so little money to fix a broken door. Even though Michael is dead, that doesn't mean the cost of staying in a house has died. And this made Michael quite depressed.

"If only everything in the world was free," Michael cursed softly, turning on the light in the kitchen and letting the lights in the other rooms go out; intentionally not turned on in order to save electricity.

"Yes, if only."

"Shut it, Ennard," Michael retorted in annoyance as Ennard answered in his mind. "Why did you have to save me then, and turn me into a walking corpse now? Very troublesome."

"Mhm."

Ennard didn't reply anymore, either he didn't mean to start a fight or there was some other reason to silence him. Michael didn't even bother to think about it.

The water slid down the pitcher after Michael turned the sink faucet, his other hand reaching towards the stove and starting the fire at a low volume. He put the teapot on the stove and took out a cup and spoon.

"Hm, help me find a new job tomorrow." Rather than asking, it sounded more commanding. Michael put two spoonfuls of coffee grounds and a spoonful of sugar into the cup. "If I don't work, I have no income. No income, no money. That means no soda and butter for you either," Michael said.

"Aw shit, that's sad." Ennard replied with a small complaint. "I will help you for that reason."

Michael huffed a little. "At least you're willing to help, not ruining."

"I don't know what you mean, Afton."

"Keep pretending, Ennard," Michael responded boredly, his eyes rolling lazily.

Of course, the incident where Ennard accidentally pulled the wires out of his body while serving a customer at a restaurant still vividly resonated in Michael's memory, resulting in a riot and ending in his dismissal for the first time.

Ennard suppressed the laughter that had escaped. "That was fun," he said

"It was fun because after that I have to hide from crazy people who call themselves scientists because the damn restaurant contacted the laboratory instead. Wanting to forcefully probe the wires coming out of someone's body isn't polite," Michael grumbled, raising the stove's flame to make the water in the kettle boil faster. "Even now they are still trying to find me."

"I don't think the thought of checking this house ever crossed their minds."

"They have considered this house empty after one by one the Afton family members died, somehow with the news of the first child now, but he is suspected of being dead too." Michael snorted loudly, crossing his arms over his chest. "And stop moving, Ennard. You're going to make me spit out your animatronic parts again."

"I just want to get out.

Michael raised an eyebrow. "Too bad, Ennard. You won't."

The eldest Afton had prepared various arguments that would be made if they were to argue again as usual, thinking of words that would immediately make Ennard lose the debate even though in the end he would lose.

But in fact Ennard was just muttering incoherently, Michael could catch the word 'whatever' from the mumble.

Maybe not in the mood, Michael thought to himself; wait, after all why did Michael feel disappointed because Ennard was lazy to respond?

Michael sighed wearily. He stirred the contents of the cup after pouring the hot water, he was grateful in his heart that his body was still able to digest the liquid even though his organs had disappeared—taken out, somehow he could drink he didn't know. Michael sat on the counter while blowing the smoke that was still rising from the surface of the coffee, for a few moments he was sure that it was no big deal to drink now even though his tongue must be burning.

Taking a sip of the jet black liquid, Michael's brow furrowed in an instant. Far away he put the cup away while tasting a few times, it felt very strange. Michael's brows furrowed, he stared intently at his coffee for a few moments before trying to drink it again though in less quantity than before.

"What the hell?" Michael spat at the sink, his expression inexplicable at the moment; between sour, confused, and do not understand. He immediately took the sugar box that was next to the coffee powder box, opened the lid of the container and immediately looked into the white grains.

"You just added salt instead of sugar." Ennard said in a slightly choked voice, as if he was holding back a laugh that was likely to explode in a second. "Stupid ...."

"Shut up!" Michael retorted embarrassedly, his cheeks heating up as Ennard began to laugh uncontrollably. "Shut up, idiot, shut up!"

"You are the one who is stupid in here, Afton. Pft ...."

No matter how much Michael protested, Ennard still made him the butt of the day.