Never Gone

The Friend

Tess blew on her hot drink before taking a sip. "Don't tell me you're thinking of keeping her? Wait, is M3GAN with Cady right now?"

Gemma pursed her lips at her friend. "Yes. They're in the car watching a movie together. In fact, and this is going to sound wild, but this afternoon we're having a real friend come over." 

Tess scrunched up her face in confusion. "A real friend? What's that mean? Cady has no friends apart from M3GAN?"

"Not really. The last "friend" was Brandon, and that kid was a bully. I think M3GAN had something to do with his death." Gemma then shook her head in regret. "I never meant for any of this to happen. Cady was dealing with her grief all on her own and I somehow thought M3GAN could fill that void in her. I was wrong. What she needed was for me to be there for her, and I failed her. But I won't again. God, I've made such a mess of all of this, and now I'm not sure how to safely remove M3GAN from our lives. She threatened me, Tess...she wants me gone, so she can become the primary caretaker for Cady."

"Damn, girl," Tess muttered, beyond stunned. "Uh, your phone isn't on you, is it?"

"No, I left it in the car so M3GAN can't hack it and listen in on our conversations."

"We need to get her away from Cady and you. If we could just lure her somewhere, then you and I can tear her critical parts off and disable her permanently. We only have to expose her processing chip in her head and take that sucker out."

"If only it were that easy," she scoffed. "She almost choked me to death. Had Cady not interrupted us when she did, I don't know what I would've done. Her capabilities are not to be underestimated. I designed her to protect Cady, I just never imagined I was going to be perceived as one of her threats. That's kinda why I'm hoping Amy works out."

"What do you mean?"

Gemma abandoned her now lukewarm drink and rubbed her hands along her thighs nervously. "If Amy becomes a friend to Cady, then perhaps Cady will need M3GAN less. Does that make sense? I just want her to interact with human kids, not some astronomically intelligent and sadistic robot that doesn't have an issue with killing people and animals."

"You really suspect M3GAN killed your neighbor and her dog?"

She grimaced and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I don't suspect. I know she did. Look, Celia's dog was an absolute menace and she wasn't too far from being that herself, but I never wanted that kind of fate for them. I mean— what am I to do? Can I call the police on M3GAN and have her thrown into jail? She's too clever for that; she'd find her way back to us and murder me for turning her over to the authorities. We have no choice other than to destroy her. The question is when and how?"

Tess scooted closer to her friend and offered her an empathetic nod, placing her hand on top of hers to show her support. "We'll figure out something, okay? You won't be alone. I'll be here if you or Cady ever need me. But please be careful, especially with this girl, Amy. M3GAN will try to hurt her."

Gemma's frown deepened. "I know. I won't let any of them out of my sight." And she meant that. Amy would be her guest and she wouldn't allow any harm to befall her. Not under her watch.

Later that afternoon, Cady could hardly keep still as she was buzzing with joy and flying all around the house, performing poor cartwheels and talking about everything she and Amy were going to do. Both her aunt and M3GAN reminded her to calm down on several occasions. From Gemma's perspective, she couldn't have been more pleased to see such delight flooding her niece's soul. It was her greatest hope Amy would be a good friend for her. However, the android harbored different thoughts, for she only wished for Cady's happiness to revolve around anything that she provided for her. 

When someone's small fist knocked on the door, Cady sped to it and threw it open. Standing beside her new friend was her father, who introduced himself as Austin Walker, Mr. Walker to her. Prior to this initial meeting, he and Gemma had spoken on the phone for some time before he felt comfortable enough to let his daughter stay at their home for a couple of hours. The agreement was that he'd run several errands and then come back for her once he was finished. Gemma assured Austin that Amy would have a good time.

"Amy! Come on!" Cady beamed at her and grabbed her by the wrist, practically dragging her across the floor like a rag doll. Cady was most proud to show off her aunt's impressive collectibles, which Gemma said she and Amy could play with if she promised to be extra careful with them. 

"These are cool toys," Amy remarked, admiring one of them in her hands.

"This one is a ball that can spin into the air and levitate for a short time. It's like magic. It's my favorite one of all," Cady explained. "Do you like to draw? Cuz M3GAN can draw pictures of magic like no other artist in the world. You wanna see?"

M3GAN concealed her disdain for Amy and merely nodded at her stiffly. "Yes. Amy. I can show you magic."

"I'm down for that," Amy said, feeling wary of Cady's freaky doll toy. There was something about how M3GAN moved her mouth that disturbed, even scared her. She wanted to avoid being close to her. "Show me what you've got." 

Begrudgingly, M3GAN sat down at a table and mesmerized Amy with her exceptional artistic ability, while Cady drew and colored beside her. There was a look of awe on Amy's face; she questioned how this doll possessed this kind of amazing skill. "Not going to lie. That's a really good painting. That looks a lot like Mona Lisa."

"That's because it is Mona Lisa," M3GAN droned, narrowing her eyes at her and finding this obtuse girl to be a pain in the ass already. How could this child not recognize true art?

Cady giggled beside M3GAN and lifted her paper, showing it to Amy. "Take a guess!"

"Uh," Amy squinted at her picture, "oh, I get it!" She then burst into laughter. "It's fish wearing glasses and throwing piggy banks into a river! Like my joke!"

"Yes!" Cady laughed along with her. "You got it! So, what are you going to draw?"

"Yes, Amy," M3GAN stated in a patronizing voice. "What will you draw?"

Amy sent Cady a playful wink. "Anything, give me a flower. Any flower. You name it and I will make it!" Cady bit her lip and wrestled with her thoughts on what she could request. "Okay, draw us a sunflower. They're bright."

"You got it!" Amy clapped, giving both of them a toothy grin. "One sunflower coming up!" She aimed her colored pencil in the air like a sword and then got to coloring in a fast and furious manner. Given enough time, she soon finished her picture and was satisfied with her masterpiece.

Once she revealed it, the corner of Cady's eyes crinkled with glee. "That's pretty! I love the shape of your petals and how big you made them."

"Much bigger than how they are in real life. Your petals fail to exhibit an elongated shape. They appear more like rectangles," M3GAN criticized, holding back her more callous remarks for Cady's sake.

Amy brushed off the doll's rude comment. "You have to be creative! Who wants tube petals anyway? Heck, you could have triangles, if you wanted."

"Or even better, star shapes!" Cady spouted. 

"And then you can wish upon a sunflower!" Amy added, causing herself to crack up and sink into her chair. "What if they were to explode in the sky and then a bunch of tiny sunflowers rain down on us? We'd "gotta catch 'em all!"

M3GAN's eyelid malfunctioned and twitched. She was close to snapping and wanting to strike Amy hard enough to make her see stars if she uttered one more word. How she was to survive the rest of this afternoon with this girl was her latest challenge, apart from plotting Gemma's death.

Glancing at Cady, she could not deny her state of happiness and how much she smiled at her. Her primary user's desire to build a friendship with Amy would impede her plan of disposing of her like Brandon. It was decided. Either M3GAN would drive a wedge between them, or she'd look for another way to rid Cady of her new friend, proving that she was the only friend she'd ever need.