The Return

Chapter Five

Lin felt something standing on the bed and warm breath on her face. She assumes Alice had gotten a dog so she reaches up to pet it, only to touch metal. Lin slowly opens her eyes to find she's face-to-face with the animatronic from Janets basement. She quickly scoots back in her bed to get away from it, it tilts its head a little. She watches as it slowly reaches up and goes to touch her cheek, but she smacks it away. It seems to become sad and climbs off the bed, walking stiffly out of the room.

Lin gets dressed and walks into the livingroom. Sam was awake and with breakfast, Jamie was still asleep with her head on Sams lap. The animatronic was looking at pictures on the wall and Lin looked to see what its interested in. They were the pictures that were there before, pictures of Lin and Jacob, a few with Alice. The animatronic started trying to do different poses and Alice walks up next to Lin, they and Sam watch it. "Whats it doing?" Alice whispers and hands Lin a cup of coffee. Lin looks between it and the pictures, realizing what it is doing. "It's trying to do the poses Jacob is doing in the pictures..." she says and takes a drink to her coffee.

Lin, Alice and John eat breakfast and continue to watch the animatronic as it wanders around the apartment and interacting with things like a clueless animal. It does, however, seem to favor the things Jacob used the most. Alice leans in and whispers to Lin, continuing to watch it. "Lin...I think that might be Jacob..." Lin turns to face her with a very concerned and confused look, "You know, JACOB Jacob." She says and Lin looks the animatronic from top to bottom. It made sense, if it was Jacob, he would try to do what he can to imitate him. "Well...I have to take Sam dress shopping, so can you guys, uh...babysit him?" Lin says and Alice nods, John looking a little confused. "I'll explain later." Alice says and pats Johns back, John sipping his coffee.

Lin and Sam head out, driving to the nearest dress shop. "Can I drive to prom with Jamie? I think people are gonna like this ride." Sam says and Lin nods, patting Sams shoulder. "Of course you can, I want my little Sammy to impress Jamie." Lin says with a smirk and Sam blushes, gently punching Lins arm. "Mom stooooop." She says with a giggle and Lin laughs. They get out of the car and head into the shop, looking around. Sam starts to try on different dresses, each one being similar designs and different colors. Sam puts on a cute red and black dress with a belt and bow around the waist. Lin smiles and nods, Sam smiling as well and they hug.

Lin gets a call as Sam goes and pays for the dress. Lin quickly runs up to Sam and starts pulling her away. "What's wrong?" She asks and Lin finishes paying for the dress. "The animatronic that is possessed  by your father escaped." Lin says and they climb into the car, speeding off.

Jacob moves stiffly through the woods, looking around. He was seemingly amazed by everything around him, from the birds to the trees. He tries to climb a tree to look at a bird's nest, but due to the several ton metallic body, the branches he grabs onto breaks and sends him falling to the ground. He hears a low growl and looks up to see a pack of wolves. Jacob sits up and starts trying to approach, but they lash out and attack him. They don't do much, but in his attempts to push them away, he trips and falls down a hillside. He tumbles and rolls, hitting a rock which sends him flying, flying into a dumpster of a bar.

Lin and Sam get back to the apartment and head inside. Alice had a map out and John was taking care of baby Jason. Sam looks around as they approach Alice. "Wheres Jamie?" She asks and just then, Jamie comes out of a bedroom. Sam looks at her and her face turns dark red. Jamie had put her dress on, it was a long, kind of flowy dress that went with her eyes. Sam just stood there and stared, blushing more and more. While Sam goes and puts on her dress to show Jamie, Lin and Alice look over the map. "Theres two possible ways he could've gone, but since you guys didn't see him on your way back, that narrows it down to one." Alice says while pointing to different paths, Lin nodding. "I guess that's where we'll start looking." Lin says and Alice folds up the map, putting it in a bag. "I'll stay here and watch Jason, seeing as I don't know much about robot hunting." John says with a chuckle and Alice smiles and they kiss. "Hey Alice, once you guys are done, can you go into town looking for your father?" Lin asks through the bedroom door. "Yeah, just give me a minute." Sam replies, and with that, Lin and Alice leave the apartment and head into the woods after Jacob.

An employee from the bar comes out to investigate the noise, looking around. He follows the mechanical noises to the dumpster and lifts the lid. He jumps back and yelps when Jacob rises from it and steps out of it. He looks at the employee, tilts his head and begins to approach him. The employee cries out for help, and shortly after a much bigger employee with a shotgun comes out. She takes aim at Jacob and fires, but the blast only bounces off of him. Jacob starts walking towards her and she fires again, and it again bounces off. He grabs the gun and crushes it in his hand. The two employees look at Jacob in horror, then run back inside. Jacob walks through an alley and onto the street.

Lin and Alice treaded through the woods for hours, Sam and Jamie searching the town for hours as well. After being unsuccessful in locating Jacob, somehow, they meet up with John and Jason at a Dennys in town. "He's a seven foot, probably several ton robot. How did none of us find him?" Lin says, and just then, a waiter walks to their table and takes their orders. "I dunno, he was awfully broken lookin'" John added, looking at them. "Okay, a seven foot, several ton, and broken looking robot." She corrects herself and takes a drink of her water. "Well, I don't know how any of this works, but what if he's not entirely himself?" John says and everyone looks at him. "I'm no expert in ghosts and their intelligence, but depending on how long he's been stuck in that robot, what if he's like an animal? Curious about everything he sees?" John says and Lin and Alice look at each other. "Going towards everything that interests him...could explain how he's been dodging us." Alice says as their food arrives. They begin to eat, Lin watching and smiling as Sam feeds Jamie some of her food. They giggle and Jamie looks out the window.

"Uh, guys...you might wanna look at this..." Jamie says and points out the window and the others look. Across the street, Jacob was following a woman who was walking her dog. "Well...that's convenient..." Sam says and they all look at each other. They quickly finish their food, pay the bill and run out to grab Jacob. The woman had finally noticed Jacob and gasped, pulling her dog close to her as it growled. Lin and Alice run up and Jacobs arms, pulling him away. "So sorry ma'am." Jamie says and drag him to Johns car, which was a suv. Jacob was forced to sit in the very back, next to Jason in a booster seat. "Is it safe to have that thing back there with the baby?" John says and looks at Alice worryingly, but Alice rubs his shoulder gently. "Yeah, he doesn't seem to be violent." She says and he nods, pulling up to the apartment. Lin and Sam guide Jacob inside, and once they're all inside, Alice locks the door behind them.

They start to discuss what to do next while watching Jacob mess with stuff in the kitchen. He starts pressing the different buttons on the microwave, turning it on and off. "We should try to lure the Monster into the same place as Jacob and...burn them." Alice says and looks at the others, Lin nodding a little and Sam sighing. "At least burn Jacob, the Monster can be destroyed with my gun." Lin says and pulls out her Hand cannon, checking the five bullets that are left. "Tomorrow is the prom, so we should try to do it the day after." Sam says and puts an arm around Jamie who leans into her. "Then it's settled. This twenty one and a half year nightmare ends in two days." Alice says and everyone nods, Lin standing and walking to Jacob. The others go do their own thing and Lin gets his attention. They both stare at each other for a moment, then Lin raises her hand a little. To her surprise, he puts his hand to hers and slides his metallic fingers between her fingers. She closes her hand around his and leans into him. He puts his other arm around him with her head on his chest, and for the slightest moment, she thought she heard a heartbeat.