Chapter Text
If there was one thing I could take from sleeping in the living room, it's that I needed to invest in curtains. Who needs an alarm clock when you have the natural rays of the sun to wake you up? At 9 in the morning, when you've only had three hours of sleep? I couldn't be too mad about it, though. After all, I chose to sleep here.
During the trip home, the kids were finally winding down from all the excitment (I use that word loosely) and had fallen asleep by the time we got to my apartment. Thankfully, the place where I parked wasn't at all far from my apartment, so carrying them all one by one wasn't too hard. They also weren't that heavy, which was nice. On that thought, I knew I should probably check on them.
I carefully opened the door to my room. There they were, still asleep. I decided to let them sleep in my bed, since it was the only place that could accommodate them. It was big enough so that all four of them would fit, give or take a few liberties in spacing. The girls shared the front, while the boys were at the foot of the bed, set across the bed.
I got closer and they didn't seem bothered. The clothes I gave them at the restaurant wouldn't have been too comfortable to sleep in, (and half of it belonged to the company anyway) so I slipped them into some shirts of mine that worked just fine. It was a very peaceful scene, despite the very odd circumstances that brought me to it. As I enjoyed the scene, a noise snapped me out of it.
BRRRRR-INNNGG!
I swear, the phone didn't used to be that loud. I must've been extra sensitive because of everything from last night. I quickly shook off the shock and ran for the phone on the kitchen counter.
"Hello?"
"Mike? It's David." That name belonged to my "manager", a term I use only because there's no better word for someone who's in charge of you. He's never around during my shift, though, so I'm not sure if he can even be called that.
"David. Hey," I greet back. "What's up?"
"Sorry for calling you so early after your shift, Mike, but I need to ask you about yesterday."
"Yesterday?" My heart skipped. I tried my best to sound calm, and I hoped I wasn't giving myself away.
"Yeah, that storm last night was really bad," David continued, not sounding at all accusatory or angry, which was a relief. "Did anything happen in the restaurant?"
"Uh...the power went out for a little bit, but it came back on about 20 minutes later," I tell him. I obviously felt like I couldn't say anything more, unless I wanted him to freak out, call me crazy or call the police.
"It did? Damn," I heard him say. "That explains the cameras."
"Cameras? What happened to the cameras?"
"The cameras reset when they came back on, Mike. You didn't set them to record?" Now, David was sounding pissed off.
"You never taught me how to set them. I thought the cameras were supposed to be for surveillance only!" I shot back. I really didn't know.
"Oh," he replied, his rage suddenly coming to a halt. "Well, we don't have any footage past 12:10, so all we got is your word."
"Then, let me tell you that nothing happened after the power came back on. Shift continued as normal."
"Really?" His voice went back to sounding like he suspected something. "What about our 'friends' on the stage?"
I stopped. "Wh-What about them?" I was clearly losing my cool. Not good.
"If the power went out, you should've been robo-food before 1," he said. "Seeing as how I'm talking to you now, that obviously didn't happen. Did the power outage affect the robots too?"
"They didn't move at all after the power came back on," I answered. If I stuck to a partial truth, it might get him off my back, I convinced myself. "Why? Are they not working anymore?"
"They're working just fine," David answered. "Though I think all the electricity in the air might have gotten to their sensitive systems."
"Why do you say that?"
"I don't know. They just seem...stiffer than usual, that's all. Like, they don't have as much life to their movements as they used to," David sniffed a bit. "I'm not sure how the storm or the power going out could've done that, but I'm no engineer. We'll probably call some repair guys down later to have a look-see."
"That would be a good idea," I told him. I then remembered something important. "By the way, when do I come to get my check?"
"Anytime after 2 o'clock, Mike," he replied.
"Cool. I'll be there at 2," I said. "I also need to return my security jacket. And an apron."
The other end was silent for a few seconds. "...The jacket makes sense, but why did you take an apron?"
"Well, the jacket I have isn't made to resist rain water," I explained, "so it got super soaked and gross. I couldn't wear it back home. I also stepped in a mud puddle, and I only have one pair of shoes, so I used one of the aprons to clean them off."
"Mike!" He didn't sound angry. Just shocked.
"It'll be clean when it gets back to the restaurant, I swear."
"Whatever," David sighed. "I'll be here with your check. See you later."
"Later," I replied and hung up the phone. After that, it felt like all the air I had breathed in from the beginning of that conversation came out at once. I slumped over the kitchen counter, thanking the fact that I was able to bluff so well. Especially with the fact that the cameras recorded everything up until last night.
It did confirm that the staff knew about the robots moving around at night. That made feel a little peeved. What was I, some sacrifice to be thrown to these mechanical monsters to appease them? Did they delight in seeing me fight for my life every night? Still too many questions, and now that my five-shift trail run had finished, it would be difficult to investigate further. But before any of that...
"Mike...?"
A voice from my room snapped me out of my train of thought. The door was opened slightly, and from it, I could see Finn peeking out from it. Wearing one of my band T-shirts, he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and was looking at me curiously. He must've woken up because he heard me talking on the phone.
"Hey, Finn," I greeted him. "You sleep okay?"
Finn nodded his head, still a little groggy. "Who were you talking to?"
"My boss."
"You're not in trouble, are you?" He asked, suddenly frightened.
"Nah. He was just a little worried about the storm last night," I told him. "How are the others? Still asleep?"
"Uh-huh."
"Let's go wake them up, huh? I'll cook you all breakfast," I asked with a smile.
"Yeah!" He answered excitedly, then went back into the room.
Since they didn't seem to wake up from the conversation or even the phone ringing, I had to try a different approach. I reached for the light switch and flicked it on. The light wasn't as intense as natural sunlight, but it seemed to do the trick. Immediately, the other kids scrunched their faces and began squirming.
"Come on, kids," I exclaimed. "Up and at 'em."
"Already?" Freddy yawned. "Feels like I fell asleep seconds ago."
"We don't have to go to school, do we?" Chrissy asked as she stretched her arms up.
"No, but I'm not about to let you sleep the whole day away, either."
"Are these yours, Mike?" Beth asked, looking down at the Star Wars shirt she was wearing.
"Yeah. Much more comfy than the jacket you had before, isn't it?" I asked her. She nodded in reply. "Good. Take care of that. It was a gift from a friend."
Slowly, they all climbed down from the bed. They brightened awfully quickly after Finn told them I'd be making them breakfast. In fact, they just ran to the table near the kitchen and sat down as if they weren't dead tired five seconds ago. How I had this much energy when I was this age, I'll never figure out.
"Alright, kids. I hope pancakes are okay with all of you," I told them. A gaggle of cheers erupted from the table, along with excited bouncing in their seats. It gave me a sense of pride to get kids like this so happy. I hoped I wouldn't disappoint them.
I set to make ourselves some pancakes, a recipe so simple, anybody could do it. I have cooking experience myself, so I could do this in my sleep if I wanted. Though, needless to say, I had never cooked with an audience before. Couldn't exactly make it flashy, but they seemed entertained enough watching me flip them. Making two for each of the kids, and three for me, I set the plates and gave each stack a fair amount of syrup.
"So, Mike," Freddy said with a mouthful of pancakes, which I reminded him to either finish or cover his mouth, "what are we gonna do today?"
"Well, at some point today, I need to send some transcripts for the magazine," I started. "Also, I need to pick up my check from the restaurant and return the stuff I needed to borrow. Hmm...what else? Oh, yeah! And I should probably get you all some actual clothes!"
"But we are wearing clothes, Mike," Chrissy pointed out. I had to laugh at that.
"You're wearing one item of clothing, and I can't keep having you wear my shirts," I explained. "I'm gonna run out eventually. Besides, I'm sure you'd appreciate wearing things that fit like pants, underwear, some socks, maybe?"
Beth and Finn nodded their heads. Glad I could get them to agree on this part. I know most kids don't care about what they wear, but in a world like this, someone has to.
"Good. Now, my only problem is how I'm gonna do all that..."
"What do you mean?" Beth asked.
"Well, I'll be needing to go out if I want to get anything done, but leaving the four of you alone in this place is out of the question."
"So just take us with you!" Freddy said as if the answer was simple.
"I could, but driving around with four little kids who are only wearing big shirts of mine...isn't going to look good. People would ask questions," I stated.
"Like what?"
"Well, obviously, what am I doing with a bunch of kids that are clearly not mine when it's not a school day, and you're in nothing but a shirt," I answered.
"You can't tell them the truth?" Finn asked. Bless his heart.
"If somebody told you they found a bunch of kids running around naked in a restaurant after a thunderstorm, would you believe them?"
"Maybe..." Finn asked, fidgeting a bit. "Probably not, though..."
"Yeah, most people wouldn't buy that story. I could go to jail for kidnapping." Or worse, but I wasn't gonna tell them that.
"You could always leave us here in the house," Chrissy suggested.
"Absolutely not," I said right away. "I'm not leaving four unattended children by themselves in this place. Sorry, but I can't trust that you won't break something."
"That's mean!" She replied. "How do you know we'll break something?"
"Call it a guess. I'm just being careful," I told her.
"Well, if you can't leave us here, and you can't take us with you," Freddy said, "then what?"
"I don't know. Just give me a little time to think," I got up from my seat and started pacing around the kitchenette. "Come on, Mikey. Think."
Ideas weren't coming easy to me. How was I supposed to explain why the kids look like they do if anyone asked? What if I never get that chance and someone makes a call to the police without my knowledge? I leaned over the sink in frustration and looked out the window. That's when I noticed the pool, and suddenly, an idea came to me. It was crazy, but all I had left was crazy.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
It was a bit of a drive, but there was one place I knew I could go to buy some clothes for the kids on the cheap. Near the downtown area was a discount clothing store that bought directly from the warehouses and accepted donations. It didn't see a whole lot of traffic, being a local joint without much presence. I was extremely grateful for that, since it meant I could get in, get out, and get going with only the smallest number of people seeing us.
I pulled up to the closest parking spot I could, and turned to face the kids. I was surprised I was able to get all the way without any weird looks from the other drivers, given that they all had towels wrapped around them. Then again, we caught just about every green light on the way, so that helped a lot.
"Alright, you guys, let's go over this," I said to them, making sure I had their attention. "I'm gonna give the worker a story that'll help us get into this store without trouble. Just let me do the talking, and we should be fine. Until I finish talking to them, don't touch anything, and stay close to me, okay?" The kids all nodded their heads. With that, I took a deep breath to prepare myself and stepped out of the car.
A grown man walking about with four kids wearing just towels was something anybody would count as incredibly suspicious. But then, would a guy who would be intending to do something bad to these kids bother to be out in the open with his supposed victims? Or maybe that's just what a predator would want others to think, and...I'm getting way too paranoid. With another breath, I entered the store.
This place wasn't the fanciest clothing store. Everywhere you looked, there was racks and racks full of shirts, pants, coats, and some purses in the corner. There didn't seem to be anyone in the store save for the cashier at the register in the center. Her bespectacled face turned to greet me when she heard the door open, but then immediately turned down and saw the kids. Here it comes.
"Excuse me, sir," she started, "but we have a dress code policy."
"I know, but you see," I responded, "I have a bit of an emergency."
"I'm listening," she said, straightening up. Good. She probably figured that there had to be some good reason for how this all looked. I supposed I looked nice enough to be heard out as well. Whatever the reason, I was thankful.
"So, my friend's flown down here for a business conference, and he decided to bring along his kids and their friend, the little ones you see here," I explained, motioning my head back towards the kids. "They get down here, but their luggage was put on the wrong plane!"
"What?" The cashier exclaimed. "Okay, but that doesn't explain why they're wearing towels..."
"Getting to that," I said. "So they're pretty bummed out, since their stuff won't be here for three days! So I, wanting to cheer them up, decide to get them all swimsuits and take them to the beach."
"That's sweet of you," she said. Good, I've got her sympathy. "But I take it there's more bad news..."
"Is there ever!" I replied. "So we come early, beat the rush, and hang out for about an hour. Time comes to leave, so I help them dry off in one of the changing rooms. But, I was an idiot and left the bag with their clothes outside of the changing room, so guess what happens?"
"It was stolen?" She asks, with me nodding in confirmation. "Who would steal a bag of clothes?"
"Probably someone who thought that my wallet was in there, or something. I don't even want to know what that 'something' is if they knew what was in there."
The cashier shuddered. "That's awful."
"It really is," I said. Time to bargain. "Now, I'm not asking for free clothes here. You seem nice, and you do good work in this business, so I'd like to support it. I just want three sets of clothes and a pair of sandals for each of them. Would it be okay if they wore one of those sets out of the store?"
"Sure. We don't charge by brand, just by item, and it's all listed in the register."
"Excellent," I smiled. "We'll be right back. Gotta figure out their sizes and everything. Come on, kids."
With the kids in tow, I headed straight for the children's section. Out of the boys' aisles, I picked out a couple of plain t-shirts and some superhero ones when the boys spotted them. Some shorts and pants later, I went over to the girls' aisles and got some shirts, some shorts and a couple of dresses in case they liked to wear them.
"Can we wear these right now?" Chrissy asked me, hands at her towel.
"Not yet," I said, quickly grabbing her hands before she could drop it. "There are rooms you can do that in. Besides, I still gotta get you guys underwear."
After grabbing a pack of underwear for both boys and girls, I lead the kids to the changing rooms on one side of the store. Hanging the clothes on the hooks inside the stalls, I opened both packs and handed them off. Finn and Freddy took one stall, and Beth and Chrissy took the one right next to it.
"Okay, you all know how to dress yourselves, right?" I asked just to be sure, to which I was met with eye rolls and sounds of confirmation. "Good. Pick out what you like, and come on out when you're ready. If something doesn't fit, let me know."
The stall doors closed, and the sounds of shuffling began as the kids tried on their clothes. From what I could hear, it didn't sound like they were having too much of a hard time getting everything on. After about ten minutes, the girls' door opened and Chrissy and Beth stepped out.
"Thanks for getting the dress, Mike! I really like it!" Chrissy said, showing off the yellow summer dress I picked up. She gave a small twirl to show how well it flowed.
"Is this okay?" Beth wore a pair of shorts and a baby blue shirt. I nodded to her, and the smile she put on was worth this effort. I thought it a little odd though, that Chrissy chose the dress, as I totally expected Beth to wear it. Oh well. Just shows that there was more to these kids than I thought.
The boys' door opened a minute after, with Freddy and Finn dressed and ready. Freddy had a Batman shirt and a pair of blue jeans. Finn wore a plain red tee and khaki shorts.
"Phew. This feels a lot better," Freddy said, standing confidently with his hands at his hips.
"I'll bet it does," I replied. "How about you, Finn? Feels better to be wearing that clothes that fit, huh?"
"Yeah."
"Alright. Last thing to get is something for your feet. Some sandals should do just fine," I said.
After gathering the rest of the clothes (which the kids left on the floor as they tried each piece, no doubt) from the stalls, we came to the shoe aisle. We managed to get some flip-flops and sandals that fit the kids well enough. With the kids carrying the towels they were wearing before, I carried the rest to the register, where the cashier was waiting.
"Did you find everything okay?" She asked. A manufactured answer, but still nice to hear.
"More than okay," I answered, then briefly glanced at her name tag, "Dana. But...uh, the kids didn't have any underwear, so I'm afraid I had to open these..."
Dana looked down at the open underwear packages. "Well, so long as you're paying for them," she sighed. "And it was an emergency, so why don't I give you a discount?"
"Oh, bless your heart," I said with a big smile. "You're my savior."
"I'm doing this for the kids," she rebuffed. "They don't deserve what happened to them. But you are a great guy for wanting to help them out."
"Well, thank you anyway," I told her. After paying for the clothes, I walked out the store with the newly dressed kids. As I put the bags in the trunk, Freddy claimed the passenger seat again and quickly sat down while the others climbed into the back.
"Where are we going now, Mike?" Finn asked.
"Now I gotta go return the stuff I borrowed from the restaurant and pick up my check," I answered. "That shouldn't take too long. Still, I can't believe how little I had to pay for all that." I pulled out the reciept to take another look.
"That lady was really nice, too," Beth said.
"She was, wasn't she?" I said. Glancing at the bottom of the reciept, I noticed something written in pen at the bottom. Seven numbers and the words, "Call me". Blushing, I stuffed the reciept back in my pocket and started the car.