The Bond

Ch 9

"Bold." : animatronic is talking

"Normal." : human is talking

=o^o=

"Ennard—no!" Michael immediately pulled Ennard's cord which would take a screwdriver near the endoskeleton on the table.

Ennard turned to him and the animatronic's shoulders dropped, the sound of an engine sounding as he did so. "I just wanted to see, Benedict. You don't trust me?"

"Nope."

There was a loud snort from Ennard. He turned away from Michael and stepped out of the room, purposely turning off the light switch effortlessly before exiting completely and the room darkened instantly. Michael grumbled, the Afton turned on the lamp to light up the place.

Michael folded his arms across his chest, squinted at the unfinished endoskeleton and watched it intently. For several minutes he did so, as if by just staring at the endoskeleton it instantly finished without being touched.

It's ridiculous, of course, but there's nothing wrong with hoping for a miracle.

He walked briskly to one of the shelves, picked up a book and immediately turned to the page he wanted to go to without thinking—he had memorized which page because of how often he flipped through the manual.

Building an endoskeleton was indeed very difficult, especially an animatronic. Michael had no idea how smart his father was considering the man had made several animatronics in a few months, and here Michael was now; still having trouble building a simple endoskeleton even after a month has passed.

Michael could have sworn his father might not have been a human.

Closing the book and bringing it to his desk, Michael immediately pulled up a chair to sit down and then returned to his work. He glanced slightly at the ceiling when he heard a strange sound coming from there, but Michael decided not to care. Ennard had been bothering him quite a bit lately.

"I need a few more bolts," Michael muttered as he glanced back and forth at the book and the endoskeleton. "And—I don't have this tool ...." Michael frowned. Maybe it's in the cellar in the basement, Michael thought to himself.

Without further ado, he got up from his seat and walked quickly into a room after leaving his father's office. Michael tried to ignore any past memories that came up as he walked through the corridors of the house, that wasn't his main focus now.

"Buy flowers and go to your brother's grave."

Those damn words suddenly rang in Michael's head, causing Michael to squeak in annoyance and pause to wipe his face furiously. The animatronic is annoying, very annoying.

Almost slamming the cellar door, Michael coughed as the dust hit him. He made a mental note to clean up the warehouse sometime. Michael walked in after turning on the switch, somewhat gasped at all the memories that hit when old things were put in this place. A nostalgic feeling.

Focus, Michael, he said again to himself as his will faltered a little because he was interested in checking every single thing in this warehouse. He could do it any time.

"Okay, a few bolts, and a tool I don't know what it is," said Michael.

Starting to look around, Michael cursed repeatedly when he accidentally tripped over his own foot or something, or when he was accidentally distracted by something else. Michael waved his hand in front of his face as he opened the dust-covered box, an unpleasant sensation.

"Pft."

Michael turned to hear the stifled laughter just to find Ennard's face from the air vent in the ceiling being cradled by his iron hand, as if Michael's activity of searching for tools was a comedy show for him.

"Mind to shut your mouth if you don't want to help?" Michael said, grunting in annoyance and shaking his head slowly before turning to his activities again.

He could hear Ennard's movement, descending from the ceiling with a small thud as he landed. Michael wasn't focusing on what Ennard was doing of course, but he was startled to death when something wrapped around his wrist and forced him to turn.

The Afton gulped to find Ennard standing quite close to him, he had never realized how tall Ennard was compared to himself and this was the first time in years that Michael had shrunk under the aura emanating from Ennard.

However, Ennard just tilted his head at Michael and didn't show any expression catching Michael's stuttering expression, only a gesture as if he was frowning. Ennard snorted, untying the cord around Michael's wrist and motioning for Michael to look to the right.

No response whatsoever from Michael,

Ennard rolled his eyes. "Look to the right, Afton. Not me, but right. You weren't blind to my cue earlier." Ennard snorted, and now Michael blinked.

"I do blind on one eye, thank you." Michael raised his eyebrows up, glancing slightly at the direction Ennard was pointing; the tool was there, why didn't he see it earlier? Michael looked back up at Ennard. "Don't forget that you're the cause of it," Michael said, before he looked away from Ennard and walked away.

Ennard stood still, but his eyes followed where Michael was walking. Ennard tried not to frown, he found it a little difficult to do when he was feeling awkward for no reason.

"It's broken?"

Michael's shriek of disbelief caught his attention, he found Michael had been holding the tool he had been looking for a long time ago. Ennard folded his arms across his chest, snorting. "You're holding it upside down, idiot," the animatronic snapped, and Michael seemed to come to his senses.

"Oh."

Ennard wanted to laugh at Michael's ridiculous reaction, but his ego was bigger. So he grumbled incoherently.

"But it's really broken!" Michael insisted, trotting over to Ennard to show him the device. Ennard looked at him doubtfully before taking it from and checking it himself.

"Oh ...."

"See?"

The animatronic stared at the eldest Afton for a moment, then—unwillingly—nodded in agreement. "Buy a new one." Ennard pushed the device into Michael's chest and Michael immediately grabbed it before falling right at his feet. Ennard flinched slightly when Michael's hand accidentally touched his, he cleared his throat a little. "But it's expensive, and I don't think you can afford a new one."

Michael seemed intrigued to hear Ennard's words. "If I am poor, you are poor. We live together, don't forget that." Michael was a little on his hips. "I can work anyway, unlike you."

Ennard mumbled incoherently at that, and Michael started to smile—he'd be looking for another job.

And hoped Ennard wouldn't mess it up.