#Lefty isn't here but he'll be in the next chapter

[hideawayintheimaginationworld]

I am Machine: Chapter 6

“Let's watch something together Alec!

It was 3:56 pm, Alec and Helpy had made themselves comfortable on Lefty's large bed with pillows all around. It was now obvious Lefty had a lot of pillows on his bed which Helpy had arranged into a pile for them. Helpy had set the tablet on a stand so he didn’t have to hold it in front of them.

“What should we watch?” Helpy asked.

“I dunno, I don't know what you have....” Alec shrugged.

This was the only way to spend time, Lefty was working, most likely singing a happy tune on stage while Helpy explained since the encounter with the rotten teen, going out to see guests just didn't appeal to him anymore, he even said to Alec he was also nearly torn in half once by some grubby kids but Foxy intervened.

Helpy looked at the screen, “Well we have Disney movies like Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc., Lilo and Stitch... Ooh, I just remembered! Mike finally put the rest of Phineas and Ferb on here!”

“Phineas and Ferb...?”

“A show about two boys who invent all kinds of crazy things and their pet platypus who is a secret agent.”

“I know, I know, my sister sometimes watches it.....” Alec nodded, “It’s a thing for little kids isn't it?”

“No, me and Lefty watch it!” Helpy was kind of defensive.

“Okay, okay!” Alec did not want to start a fight at this point.

“How about we watch the first episode and you decide what you think!”

Alec never sat down and watched it with Hazel. She had asked if he wanted to watch it, but he always looked at her with a scowl and said “No”, then he'd go find something better to do.

Well he didn’t have anything important to do, “Alright. Let's watch it.”

Alec had seen the animation style before, he and Helpy were both engrossed in it by the end, when it finished, Alec felt kind of disappointed, he found it was actually more enjoyable than he thought.

“Can we watch more?” Alec asked Helpy immediately.

“Sure!” Helpy nodded.

Alec wasn’t sure what time it was when somebody knocked at the door.

Helpy paused the video as they were now watching episode 5, he then turned towards the door and called out, “Who is it?”

“It's Lewis!”

“Oh come in Lewis!” Helpy nodded happily.

Lewis walked into the room, all dressed up, closing the door behind him, “I washed this, it kind of smelled.....” He looked at Alec.

He looked puzzled, he then nervously chuckled slightly, “Okay, you weren’t broken, I suspected you weren't but I didn't know... You were so still when I held you...” He scratched the back of his head.

“This is Alec!” Helpy had introduced him. “We're watching Phineas and Ferb! Do you want to watch with us?”

“Ummmm not today...? Do you want this back?” Lewis held up the blanket Alec would drag around, “I gave it a wash because it had a strange smell on it...”

Alec walked over and grabbed the bottom of it. Lewis allowed it to fall onto the ground.

“Thanks Lewis....”

“You're definitely not a Lonely Freddy... Lefty wouldn’t let one get so close to Helpy when he’s not around..... Ever since what happened that night... The fact he left you alone with Helpy means Lefty has some level of trust in you....” Lewis spoke, sounding very unsure.

“I'm human....” Alec had wrapped himself in the blanket, “Umm... Do you remember a birthday party? For a girl named Hazel? That happened in April?”

“Not particularly....” Lewis frowned and shook his head. He had done so many parties here that he didn’t remember all of them, especially not one that happened months ago, heck he couldn't even remember the ones he did last week. They were all kind of the same.

“She's my sister. I remember you were there, you were playing a ukulele on that day...” Alec did remember seeing him strumming his ukulele.

“I do play the ukulele.....” He nodded. “I’m sorry, I don't know you are. It happened some time ago so I don't remember it, ” He shrugged.

“I was a teenager....” Alec was trying to jog his memory reasoning that he may remember something. “Blonde hair, green eyes... I... Ripped the arm of a Yarg Foxy...” He was absolutely ashamed to admit it now, especially in front of Helpy.

“Wait... I remember something,” Lewis froze, recalling back to an event he did remember happening that could be connected. “A woman with a child... She was a little girl with blonde curls and green eyes. They approached me asking if I had seen an “Alec”, telling me he ran off after he tore the arm of the toy......”

Lewis then nodded as he started to see it clear, “I did see some teenager run pass me about twenty minutes before but I wasn’t sure if that was Alec because he ran by quickly and I barely had time to react before I realise he just ran out of my vision. I saw the toy in question and said we could repair it or replace it... They chose to get it repaired at the workshop in the back of the pizzeria... I think the woman was named Meg... Is that your mother?”

“Yes! Yes! That's her!” Alec nodded.

“I saw her later, she said she found you???” Lewis looked absolutely confused.

Alec knew he must be talking about the Lonely Freddy, “She did... But I was... Helpy said mind swap was the proper term... I'm the real Alec... Lonely Freddy is in my body.”

“It explains why Lefty has left you both unsupervised... So... You are a teenager? I know a little about what Lefty does... So I guess this is magic somehow?”

“Lefty explained what happened was some sort of trance... Hypnosis...” Alec remembered that conversation they had.

“Creepy... I don’t understand this pizzeria at the best of times... Kind of strange rules..... We aren't suppose to mention the legend of the Shadow Puppet... We aren’t told why we shouldn’t....” Lewis muttered.

“Wait the doll! Is it still in the repair studio?” Helpy asked.

“No, it was fixed on the same day... We usually like to fix those things on the same day... Both so we can get that stuff out of the way and to please the customers. They were happy with the repair and I remember I said goodbye to them as they left, I remember because the little girl came up to me and thanked me for taking the toy to be repaired quickly.”

That sounded like something Hazel would do.

“I also spoke to.... Alec... But I guess that wasn't you....”

Alec shook his head, “I need to go home! I'm not suppose to be here! I was ready to apologise for being a jerk and Lonely Freddy stole that from me! He stole my body and he’s stolen my family!!!”

“Alec you need to calm down...” Lewis said.

“No, no, no, no! No! I'm suppose to be human like you! I'm stuck like this and I'm scared I'll never go home! I don't want to be here! This place is creepy at night and this... This is too much for me....” Alec held his head in his hands.

Lewis looked around, he had to take in a lot at once. All he really understood was that this thing was suppose to be a child who was trapped in the worse kind of prison. Alec, this poor kid... Was breaking apart. Lewis couldn’t possibly imagine how much pain and grief he was feeling, all at once. Anger, depression, such powerful emotions a child should never have to experience, especially when the circumstances were considered.

Lewis looked at Helpy, who looked the exact same as he did. Trying to process this and figuring out what to do next.

This was the first time Lewis had to ever deal with an intense mental breakdown, especially with someone older, he usually would tend to kids who were younger and their problems could be fixed as quick as a snap of his finger. Teenagers never would get upset.

“Alec....” Lewis started, “I... I... I can't help you...”

Alec expected that answer.

“But I will do you anything you ask of me in regards to this.”

He didn’t expect that.

“Would you like a hug? I usually allow kids to hug me when they're sad, they say I'm cuddly.”

That was really unexpected.

Lewis kneeled down and stretched out his arms, Alec slowly walked towards him then crashed into his arms, he felt himself cry but it was strange, his tears felt really hot.

“Helpy, maybe go find something to calm Alec down..? Maybe something sweet like a chocolate chip cookie?” Lewis asked.

“Okay...” Alec heard Helpy leave the room and his eyes rested on the ground.

“Alec... Are you okay?”

“No,” Alec answered.

“It's okay to feel your emotions... I’d probably have a breakdown also if I was a teddy bear....” Lewis spoke and pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, he then handed it to Alec who was using it to wipe his face.

“I can't imagine being away against my will, in a strange place, away from my family... I can't imagine how much you are hurting... Alec... When did this happen if you don't mind answering...?”

“April...” Alec answered in a weak voice, “How much time has passed Lewis?”

Lewis honestly didn't want to answer, because he knew it was going to shock him, but he did, “It's now August the 2nd... You've been like this for about four months..... I'm sorry Alec.... We got rid of the Lonely Freddy's in late April. I read the official decommissioning documentations, they were taken out of service because they kept breaking, and there were multiple complaints about them acting strange. They apparently were asking questions that they aren’t programmed to ask, things like “what’s your biggest regret?”, they shouldn’t know let alone be asking that sort of stuff... It's insensitive and rude.”

“It.. Asked me that..”

“It shouldn't have. Either it learnt that...” Lewis remembered he was told it would learn from conversations, which made it sound like a listening device. That thought always made him paranoid.

“Or bad programming existed....” Lewis muttered.

“I.... Heard you say you didn’t want to leave your nephews alone with it...”

“I couldn’t explain why I felt that way, maybe it was just a gut feeling that I always had, something inside me would always scream at me, whenever I saw a Lonely Freddy approach, my mind would scream at me: “Watch your nephews, don't let them go alone to anywhere, avoid the eyes, and keep them safe”.... I care for my nephews.... I don’t have children and I'm unsure if I want any... I would only have them with the right person... Kinda difficult though... When the majority of the people I feel love for are men....”

“So... You’re gay then..?”

“Polysexual, I'm interested in most people, it's a sexuality that's sort of on the same level as pansexuality...” Lewis explained, “I've had relationships with mostly men, non-binary people... It's kind of adventurous...”

“Is it good? Your relationships?”

“Most are good... I've instantly broken relationships when they cheat or show red flags... Kind of like the Lonely Freddy... Showing multiple red flags.”

“I was foolish to not see-”

“Lefty told me the Lonely Freddy's were manipulative, cunning and sneaky...” Lewis interrupted him to say that, “They were always hiding their true intentions... Did... Did Lefty tell you about Lucky?”

“Lucky?” Alec frowned not recalling that name ever being said.

“It was a Lonely Freddy that came into the room while he and Helpy slept.... I'm not telling you exact details.... But Lefty didn’t always have one eye..... Ask about it...”

One eye.

Did Lefty get into a fight?

How could Lonely Freddy fight a bear that was almost triple his size? Alec found Lefty intimidating still and he had known him for three days by this point, Alec had seen Helpy being completely calm around Lefty because he was super kind to him.

Something wasn’t right here. Lefty's hatred for Lonely Freddy must have started somewhere and it left Alec wondering about the existence of the lock again.

Next Chapter will contain both some answers and Lefty (It's opening hours that's why Lefty is absent).

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