The Bond

Ch 43

"Bold."/"Bold italic" : animatronic is talking/animatronic is talking in mind

"Normal."/"Normal italic." : human is talking/human is talking in mind

=o^o=

Michael looked at the unfinished disc in front of him with a furrowed brow, he picked up a pencil hanging from his ear and tapped the tip of the pencil to his chin a few times before writing something on the side sketch of the disc.

Then he leaned back against the head of the wooden chair folding his arms across his chest, his gaze turned to the ceiling and he ended up in a night of reverie.

Michael replayed the events that have happened to him.

From Ennard killing him—one of the worst memories he has, then Ennard using his body to get out of the rental place, he thought he was going to die near the sewer but Ennard suddenly came back and took him back home, eventually he became a walking corpse until at the moment.

Then Ennard left again after bringing him home, but a day later he awoke to find Ennard dangling at the end of the room. A little bickering, and he accepted his fate—unwillingly.

They both lived together under the same roof, it was enough to make Michael feel depressed. Then he tried to find a job, and Ennard always got him fired. That animatronic was really irritating, Michael hates him. Or so Michael had thought.

He hates him, Ennard hates him back. The two of them never got along, always fighting. Ennard could have left him again, but he didn't.

That's pretty weird.

Ennard stays with him and helps him slow down his decay, though Michael doesn't know how it works—it seems that something inside him and Ennard formed after Ennard killed him with a scooper, which enabled Ennard to do it; slowing down the rot.

Michael thought again, gradually they actually got closer and talked to each other a lot after he planned to make an endoskeleton that could support the human body. Followed by he met Alice, who turned out to be the daughter of a scientist who was always chasing him. Ennard warned him about Alice, and he didn't listen.

Then about Mark, his old friend.

There Ennard became more and more annoying and forced him a lot to quickly move from the place where he was staying; Mark's flat. Michael, for so many times, didn't listen to Ennard. It ends with Mark getting suspicious and forcing him to answer all his questions, then bringing up Evan.

He was unconscious when Ennard took over his body and carried him away to another city, this house, as a new haven.

Ever since they were here, he'd become more aware that Ennard was starting to get weird. The animatronic was still rude and full of sarcasm, but for some reason ... he was softening too? From when Ennard talks that he can't change the past to his views on Evan who might hate him for the tragedy.

His words made Michael feel at ease, despite Ennard was only firm in his speech.

Don't forget Ennard gave him a spare part for the endoskeleton which he now ignores.

Ennard's change made Michael feel dizzy, he was struck by a dilemma because of this. Could he still hate Ennard after everything Ennard had done to him? Maybe he hated it when Ennard killed him, but what happened after that really confused Michael.

He was starting to notice the dependence on Ennard within him now, and it horrified him.

Michael let out a tired breath, then his eyes darted to the inactive Ennard. More than a week Ennard have been charging, Michael didn't want to admit that he kind of missed Ennard's mockery. Ennard had never been inactive this long.

The eldest Afton looked back at his desk, and a star-shaped sticker caught his eye. The sticker he took after working at the supermarket today, no one objected to that. Michael gave a small snort, took the sticker then got up from his chair before walking over to Ennard.

A smile began to form on Michael's face, he lightly stuck the sticker onto Ennard's mask, just below his right eye. Michael giggled, "Perfect," he said.

Shortly after, he stepped back to his desk and decided to continue with his work.