The Life Behind an Animatronic IV- Solace

Prologue

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The sound of water dripping into the storm drain from the rain outside was the most annoying, demeaning sound to me. I felt as if the world were mocking me from my failure, and even though I was in excruciating pain, it still laughed at me. I looked outside into the dusky gloom, seeing no cars, no lights from buildings, nothing. 

It was cold. I was cold. I couldn't stay here, or else I was going to perish. I needed to return back to my creators. But...that would mean that I would have to admit failure on my mission. 

I would think of that later. I slowly mustered up any strength I had, and began to try to crawl out of the storm drain. Every movement I made brought horrible pain to me, so excruciating that it felt like I was crawling across white-hot nails. I clenched my teeth, biting through the agony.

My stripped body began to slide through the small opening. Very little remained intact after I had been ejected from my host. The rain pattered on my body, only adding to my discomfort. I let out a soft whimper, and it was drowned by the torrent. 

I began to make my trek back home across the pavement. What remained of my arms began to drag me across the rocks and tire bits. They scraped across the metal coils, causing me to audibly moan in pain. Thankfully, no one was out or awake for that matter. 

The rain continued without end. I remained close to the gutters, in case I needed to make a mad dash to another storm drain to hide. Water cascaded down them into my potential hiding spots, making the idea of being holed up in there even more displeasing. 

I was going to go home, though. Nothing was going to stop me. My friends would rebuild me, and I would be warm again, and they would show me love and adoration for at least trying. I would get a second chance.

That's what mattered. Them. The only family I had, deep underground, where no one even bothered with us. With determination, I crawled a little faster. Black fluid began to leak from the new cuts along my torso and arms, and my legs, which hung on helplessly by a single coil, were being dragged through mud. 

A car drove past suddenly from the wet haze, and they didn't seem to notice me as I tried to make my metaphorical pilgrimage to my home. The mud and asphalt must have blended together on me with the rain to form some sort of cover. However, they pelted me in water as they drove by, some of it getting down my throat involuntarily. I coughed and gagged, each breath causing sharp stabs of torturous pain through me. 

I stopped for a minute to shudder and recover, and when I decided I was well enough to continue, I did exactly that. The cold was biting at me, the pain eating at me, and the depression of my situation gnawing at me. My mind was being pelted with possible insults from my companions, but I shoved those dark thoughts away. They thought more of me than that. They would be thrilled to see me home, I'm sure they missed me.

I imagined a warm home, and being wrapped in an old but comfortable towel. I would be given repairs and words of comfort and love as it happened. Encouragement would also be whispered to me. I would be able to try again, and they would love me no matter how much I managed to mess it up. They would then let me sleep in the good area, the area where there are small holes that allow light from the Surface into the Underground. I would be like an old family member, nay, a hero being welcomed back home. Like what I had seen on the television. 

I was ripped from this warm, comforting dream world back to the cold, painful one when a loud sound crashed and bellowed from the sky. I had never heard of this before; what was it? It was frightening. I wanted to go home, I wanted to be comforted. 

I continued shambling as fast as my broken body would allow. The rain became worse, blurring my vision and hindering my idea as to where I was. Where was the moon, or the sun? Why couldn't it have been a clear night? 

I didn't know how far I was or how close I was. New sounds barraged my ears, and I felt scared and helpless and alone. I needed help. I felt like curling up and giving up, letting the humans see me and just throw me away in fear. 

No. I needed to keep going. I had to get home. I picked myself up once more and dug my fingertips into the mud, dragged myself along, and repeated the process. It felt like hours, my head facing into the wet earth as I continued along. I could barely lift up my head again, as it felt like a chore to just use my eyes. 

I felt the top of my head scrape into a building. I looked up shakily, and found myself in front of a small, unappealing, run down little brick structure. I felt like I could laugh and shout with glee. I was home. 

I pushed my way through the doors and found the elevator. It seemed to have broken down since I was gone. No matter, I would be able to crawl my way down. I squeezed between the elevator and the elevator shaft walls, and looked at the long pole that descended into darkness.

I tried to reach for it, but my reach fell short. I scooted a little closer to try and reach the pole, but I lost my grip and began to plummet into the darkness. I could only let out a glitched scream as I fell, before making a terrible impact on the ground below. 

The door was fortunately open. I hobbled through and let out a soft sigh of relief.

"Companions? Hello?" I called softly. Nothing responded.

"I've returned...I need help..." I whimpered. My voice came out as merely a squeak.

Suddenly, I heard shuffling and robotic bodies moving toward me. I looked up, seeing their forms and glowing eyes in the darkness. I was overjoyed. 

"I'm so sorry...but I need repairs. I can go back when-" I began, but was cut off by a child-like but very cold and harsh voice.

"Stupid, pathetic robot. You're just a failure." She said. The words cut me deeper than the shrapnel from the ground on the way here.

"Look at him, covered in mud and dirt. It's no wonder he messed up, he's garbage. We built garbage." Another, a male voice spoke. For some reason, their names failed to cross my mind.

"Please, family, I-" I was interrupted again.

"'Family'?! Bahaha! You've never been a part of this family." A deeper female voice scolded. Her words crushed my core.

"I can try to repair him. Of course, the limited supplies we have now are gonna be wasted on him." The child-like voice said. I should have been thrilled by her words, but I couldn't feel anything but pain. I looked down, shame welling up where joy should have been. Was I...really that bad? Did I really fail that terribly?

I looked up as arms grabbed my wrists and began to drag me away. Snickers about my state followed, along with hushed remarks. I didn't know what I had done wrong. No one had told me what I should have done should I have failed.

I was dropped down off in a dark corner, and felt like my world had been crushed.