Chapter 2: Shocking! Isn’t it?
Mary was stunned and so did Daisy as she looks at Mr. Charles with her jaws open wide. Mr. Charles eyes were glowing red, some of his skin was damage and his metal arm can be seen clearly from Mary’s point of view. “Grandpa? Are you Grandpa Charles?” Mary asks but he did not answer. Melissa and her posies were about to wake up from the floor. Mr. Charles opens a compartment from his chest that were full of weapons. He quickly took out a smoke bomb and threw it on to the floor. The smoke covered everybody’s eyes, Melissa and her posies were unable to see what was happening. Mr. Charles took the opportunity to grab Mary and Daisy away from the place. After the smoke begins to clear out, the police had soon arrived, only to witness an awful train accident.
Mary’s Mansion, 1.05 a.m., Morning, Misty
Those two girls were carried back to the mansion, both seemingly unconscious at the moment. Mary woke up in her living room, lying down on her red antic sofa with a blanket and a big pillow on her head. With a slight headache and a blurry view she looks at the warm fire her grandpa is making. Grandpa Charles threw in a log and checks the temperature of the room whether it is warm enough for his grandchild. Mary began to cry for no reason like she did when she was younger whenever she had a nightmare. “Mary? What’s the matter? I haven’t seen you cry like this since you were no taller than my knees.” He said kindly as he approaches near her side. “I don’t know, I think I had a bad dream. I guess it kind of scared me a lot.” Mary says while she tries hard to rub off her tears. Mary looked up with her teary face to see Grandpa Charles standing closely by the fire. He held a very serious expression, thinking deeply in his mind. Finally, after a short silence, he spoke to her: “Mary, it’s time for you to know something more about me.” Her heart began to beat a little faster and she folded her arms together tightly as if she was protecting herself from the fear that she was about to hear. “I know you saw it clearly at the station. What had happened back there, it’s not a dream Mary, it’s true, I’m not normal, I’m not human. The truth is I am a ROBOT”
There are 3 stages of fear, first is being in denial second panic and third acceptance. This stage happened to any kind of fear, and this includes discovering your own grandpa who you knew for such a long time is actually a robot in disguise. “What are you saying? I’ve known you all my life. You’re not human?! Stop joking grandpa, I am not falling for it.” “I don’t want to show you this but…” Mr. Charles slowly peels of the skin from his face then some kind of fluid or liquid came out, dripping down onto the floor. Circuits and wires cover around from his neck to his cheek like humans with veins. His eyes glow red like sapphire and his real skin made from metal and lights astound Mary but in this case scares her more than it amaze her. Mary felt disgust and terrified. “NO! Stay away!” she shouts. This is where Mary began to show the second stage ‘PANIC’. Mary ran and hides behind the sofa, taking the pillow with her as her shield for protection. Mr. Charles pastes his skin back in place while Mary hugged her pillow tightly, trying to stop the shivers from her body. “Mary, Are you okay? I didn’t mean to scare you that much.” Grandpa Charles move towards the sofa to look at Mary’s condition. As he tries to touch her, she ran away from him. “Don’t touch me! I cannot believe any of this. Why tell me now, couldn’t you keep this secrete for ever to yourself. I don’t understand? Why?!” Mary shouts at him. Mary felt very confuse and she does not want to accept the truth. WHY?! She cries as tears came flowing down her cheeks. “Mary” he says with a very soft tone “Listen to me, I did want to hide the truth; I want to live a normal life with you until the end of my time but” he hesitated “… is just that the circumstances has change and with you seeing me in that form, I just had to tell you. I just want to let you know that no matter what I did, it’s all for your own protection. I didn’t mean to scare you.” Mary was silent, she continue to cry because she don’t know what to say. Mr. Charles moves towards her step by step, and then slowly brings her into his arms. No matter what the fear is, it all comes down to accepting it and face it with all your strength, although knowing this fact; it’s a complete different matter to perform it in life.
They finally sat down calmly, drinking their fresh hot
Coco
by the fire place while they waited their friend to wake up. “Are you feeling fine now?” Grandpa Charles gave his concern. Mary just nodded and said: “Sorry about the yelling, Grandpa. I shouldn’t have yelled at you. I should’ve known better that you wouldn’t hurt me.” “I don’t mind it” Grandpa Charles gave a chuckle “I’m just glad that you’re okay, you shouldn’t have gambled your life like that.” “That reminds me, how you knew that I was at the station, I thought you were busy in the basement.” “You silly girl, I had you under my watch 24 hours a day. There is nothing you can hide from your dear old grandpa. Just like that time when you were 13 years old, you snuck out from your room window just to meet that Jimmy boy.” “That’s why the garden’s sprinklers were suddenly on! So! It was your fault that I’m still so pure and I was about to have my first kiss with a cute boy back then.” “uugh! There’s nothing cute about that rascal. He is nothing but an idiot who loves to destroy my garden flowers. He should thank me that I only splash a little water at him and the hose isn’t very happy either when that boy step on him.” “No wonder the hose chase after him that time! Wait, you can control the house’s appliance.” “Of course, who else could help me clean up this filthy place? Speaking about filthy…” Mr. Charles saw a spot of dirt on the carpet. As he went into cleaning mode, his arm changes its form into a vacuum cleaner and it accidentally awakens the sleeping beauty, Miss Daisy. She opens her eyes widely when she saw Mr. Charles actions. She responded by giving a loud yell then jumps off towards Mary’s side. “Mary, pinch me. I think I’m dead.” “Why?” “Cause the world ain’t making sense no more.” “You’re not dead” “Then explain why I am seeing that a vacuum cleaner being stuck together with your grandpa’s arm.” Mary made eye contact with Mr. Charles whether they should tell Daisy the truth about things. “I guess we have to tell her too, I can always just show her my real face.” “NO!” Mary said loudly as she was afraid to repeat seeing the same nightmare. “I mean there is no need for that let me take care of this”
Daisy, at first, did not believe any of this so called crap but as the 3 stages of fear goes; there is no choice but to accept it. “Who would’ve guessed?! Our MR.C is actually a Robot.” Daisy was amazed and started to think that the idea might be cool but then saw Mary looking down at her cup of coco and looking some what sad, she changes her mind. Everybody knew the fact that although something that seem weird or unique may sometimes seemed fine or good to others, but when that weird thing is in this case your grandfather, it might be hard to think of it as good news in the family, especially when it is kept as a secrete from our entire life “So, how are you putting up with the shock?” Daisy tries to share Mary’s pain. “Yeah, I cried a little at first but now I’m holding up just fine. I’ve been thinking that maybe this might be good news” She stirred her coco, thinking about the questions she has been holding back “I mean ever since my mom left me, I ask a lot about mom from Grandpa but he never answer or even speaks about it but this might change everything. This might be the chance for me to ask him about everything.” She smiles thinking about her mom’s smile in her mind, anticipating the next day when she could learn more about her mother from Grandpa Charles but here I have to add that some things just never go according to plan. Disappointments will definitely follow.
“So, would you girls care to tell me what you were doing in the subway at the middle of the night?” he enters the living room while holding a tray of hot coco. There were silence among them, but suddenly brave Miss Daisy starts the confession. “Mary!” Daisy looks at her good friend and said “I guess we have to tell him the truth.” Mary was puzzled but then when Daisy gave a wink at her, she knew what to do. Usually when someone winks at you in this kind of situation, you knew that he or she has some kind of plan and in need of your cooperation. So Miss Daisy went down on her knees and said “Mr. C, I just want you to know only one thing….” She paused and looks at him straight in the eye and said it really quickly: “it’s actually Mary’s fault I have nothing to do with it”
What! It gave Mary quite a surprise “Hey?! I thought we were in this together! What’s with the wink back there” Mary said it loudly at Daisy but Daisy ignore her words “Mr. C she’s just delirious, might be because of the accident back at the station, I really don’t know what she’s talking about either, but don’t be mad her. I mean she’s granddaughter after all. Now she’s sick and I really don’t know what happened so I guess we should just let go, take off from our minds, rest, relax and move on.” Daisy shows her charm and gave a sweet smile at Mr. Charles showing she’s as innocent as a baby. Mr. Charles raises an eyebrow to show suspicion of their action. Daisy and Mary thought that they could pull this through but then they were wrong again. “Young lady” He said with a grandfather’s tone “Do you know what’s that consequences if you lie to me. I’ll let you know that I’m not just any ordinary person that you can just lie to (Obviously! He’s a robot for goodness sake)” Daisy began to show fear and Mr. Charles can definitely smell it. They were as the teenagers loved to say TOTALLY BUSTED!
“Grandpa, it’s not her fault she’s just covering for me, I got into a fight at school and mom’s lamb was taken from me. So I just had to get it back. Sorry about everything.” Mary showed that she felt really guilty. Parents or guardian may have the power to see through their children’s lies but no matter what, they are still weak against having sympathy for their children. Mr. Charles was feeling sympatric alright, he wouldn’t want to see his grandchild cry nor sad. Therefore he gave a smile at them and holds up their chin and said: “You girls are such an adventure bunch of people, I guess there is nothing wrong about having a little adventure.” They felt relieve with his words until that hateful word came from his mouth “But!” That word gave them the feeling that they have not escape the punishment yet “there will still be 2 weeks grounding for you two, for lying and sneaking out late without permission of course.” The word BUT has always been an unfair word, it loves to take sides especially the adults and it almost never help the children. “But…” they said “no more Buts now. It’s late, I’ve called Daisy’s parents that she’ll be staying over for the night since there will be no school tomorrow.” “Why’s that” Daisy asked “There’ll be terrible weather tomorrow, no school will be opened then” “I guess the fog grew worse, it must be serious if they have to close down the school” Daisy suddenly smiled and excitedly said: “But who cares! YO! It’s a holiday GIRL! Come on it’s time to party, we got back your mom’s lamb, tomorrow is a holiday, so cheer up!” They both share the evening together laughing about their adventures today and were happy about having a little bit of good news but for them, happiness last only for a brief moment.
July 12th 2022, Mary’s Mansion, 8 a.m., Morning, Misty and Snow
“Achoo!” Sneeze Daisy “Man! It’s feels like 0 degrees in here. Mary! Didn’t you close the window yesterday?! It’s freezing cold in here!” She yells as she felt cranky waking up uncomfortably in the morning till she saw the view outside the window.
Daisy’s voice had made quite a roar in the room. Miss Mary had also finally waken up, her hair looking so messy like a lion’s mane and her strawberry pink pajamas looks very untidy, some parts that had unbutton itself when she’s deeply asleep in her wonderland. She walks toward Daisy with her blanket covering her whole body from head to toe. Mary looks at Daisy so curiously when Daisy had stop talking and saw her looking out the window, not moving a muscle, frozen like ice.
Nothing could this describe that moment when the girls woke up that day to see the whole town covered by some thing that looks white, fluffy and soft. If you have guessed it but may have doubts about it then let me tell you now. Yes, it was ——- SNOW.
The air was cold, as cold as winter but how can it be? It is summer, is it not? But then why SNOW? Questions after questions traveling in Mary’s mind, puzzling about this mysterious weather. How and why? She asked herself and indeed this has become the news of the day. They both quickly put on their coats to confirm the possibilities of their hallucination. Before Mary left she remembers to take her mother lamb and put it into her pocket. “I wouldn’t want to loose you anymore, right?” She says to the lamb like it was actually listening. They went down the stairs and ran towards the door. It was the same white site they saw from the bedroom window; there were kids running about, playing snowball fights and making snowmen and snow angels on the ground. They were stunned, shock, surprise but none the less happy about it. “What is this?” Mr. Charles approaches them from the back, looking a little worried. “Grandpa, look, it’s snowing” Mary places her hand out to catch a snowflake. Daisy went out and threw a snowball at Mary “How does that feel?!” She shouts at her. “Why don’t you find out yourself?!” Mary shouts back and the fight was on between both of them. They enjoy themselves very much in the snow but Mr. Charles did not. “Come on, Mr. C. Join us!” But Mr. Charles hasn’t the mood to play instead he look worried about something. “No thank you. It’s not safe out side. You girls better come in now before you catch a cold.” Mr. Charles hurried them inside; he felt something ominous was coming to them. “You girls go get your breakfast first; I need to work on something in the basement so you know the rules. No going down the basement when I’m working” They both nodded and watch Mr. Charles went towards the basement with haste. “There is something going on with Mr. C, he’s acting all weird…again.”
As it was mention before, Mary was also curios about the project that her Grandpa Charles has been working on these past few days but she didn’t want to intrude, she hopes that Grandpa Charles would tell her himself rather than her sneaking about, trying to find out his secrete. They went ahead to the kitchen not continuing that discussion. They took out peanut butter from the fridge and toasted their bread while they drink Mr. Charles fresh bruise hot
Coco
. They turn on the television and watch about the news regarding on today’s weather madness. The news reports: “Late last night, a group of teenagers was found meddling with the subway’s tracks, and had forcefully caused the train to stop. They were now in the custody of the police, waiting to receive their punishment from the court.” Mary and Daisy chuckled when they heard Melissa and her posies was about to receive their injustice. “Next, we have the news of the century. SNOW IN MID-SUMMER, it was reported that the snow had appear out of no where during the night by a drunkard who gave his statement that he saw a red flash that had melted the fog and turns them into ice. The results shown by the local scientist had also no idea where the snow came from. What an unbelievable story I said but if it can snow in summer, I guess anything is possible. (She laughs) Next, we have…” They both laugh about the drunkard statements. “That’s what my mama always told me, liquor is bad for people, you look at that guy, he’s head is totally whack!” Daisy says while she chomps her peanut butter sandwich, but then the ground suddenly stuttered, it felt like a faint little earthquake. The quake stops. “Whoa… whrat wras thart?” Daisy talks with her mouth full, feeling surprise with that little quake. “It felt like an earthqua…” Mary hadn’t the chance to finish her sentence because another stronger quake made her stumble once more but then it stops again and there comes another stronger quake. The quake actually felt like huge stomps like a giant was getting nearer to them. The stomping finally stops for awhile. They knew that they were afraid of what that had made the quake, therefore did not care to look outside. Deep inside their hearts, they only wish that whatever that was making those quakes had move on to another place. “I guess that’s it, maybe it was just the snow falling down from the roof.” “Yeah, maybe it’s just the neighbor’s kids throwing snowballs at the windows or something.” They made more guesses to comfort themselves but you just can’t hide the fact nor run away from it either. Although the stomping quake had stop, the real trouble starts now. Then they notice that the television program was paused and the place was really silent, it even seems like the clock had stop moving. BUMP! A loud sound came from above the roof, and then loud machinery sounds could also be heard from above. The kitchen ceiling was seemingly starting to fall on top of them but it was not falling instead being torn apart by a giant red machine that shapes almost like crab. It had huge choppers and claws and it torns away the whole roof and threw it on the lawn. There were black suited men on top of that giant machine. They yelled at them with a speaker to hand over robot 101. “We don’t know what you are talking about?!” Mary yelled back at them. The black suited men thought the girls were lying and began to shoot at them. “Whoa!” Daisy dodges their shots “Hey! You can’t do that!” The men yelled back “What are you talking about?! Of course I can!” That man smiled wickedly and orders them to continue to open fire. “Run!” Mary shouts but Daisy turns back towards the kitchen and went to lock the door “What are you doing you idiot?! They don’t use doors!” Mary pulls Daisy’s down under the table to avoid the gun shots. The tables were suddenly turned when those evil men were shot back instead Mr. Charles has turn up at the scene to save the girls, he then threw a dozen of smoke bomb at them and quickly they ran away from the kitchen. Those men continue to fire, they jump off from the giant machine and pursue the girls on foot. They trash through the place in an orderly form, checking each room to room while Mr. Charles and the girls snuck into the basement. “Are you both alright?” They were shaken with fear but still able to nod. Mr. Charles was a little relieved “Okay Mary, do you have your mom’s lamb keychain?” Mary was wondering why Grandpa Charles had asked that but she was too scared so she just nodded at him. “Okay, be quiet and follow me” They went down the wooden steps but when they reach half way where the place started to darken, Mary stops moving, looking into the darkness gave her shivers and was afraid to go on. Daisy pushes Mary, forcing her to go down. Mary holds Daisy’s hand tightly all the way to the basement. Then the darkness was suddenly gone when Mr. Charles had switch on the lights. Both of them opened their eyes widely, not believing what they were seeing. The basement was a secrete lab full of T.V monitors from every angle of the mansion and a huge super computer with many buttons and lights. Tubes, chemicals and the smell of Bunsen burners were in the air. There were even a pile of machines that Mary has not seen before. Mr. Charles began to press and type on the computer and he looks so nervous that he was shaking like a blender. Though they were deep down in the basement they could feel the ruckus from upstairs. “Tell us what’s happening Grandpa? I need answers now.” Mary pulls his sleeve. “Let me go! I need to raise the defense system” He yelled but Mary continues to grab him and insisted that he answer her question. “Alright” The old men finally gave up “Those men are after your mom’s greatest inventions the G4. It has the power to control a person’s health like when you got a cut on your finger, by using the G4 you can just speed up the healing process and it would felt like the cut had never happened but what’s truly amazing was G4 could even increase one’s life span. Her boss wanted the G4 and sells it on the black market. For those who wish to live longer can just use G4 but those weren’t your mother’s wishes, she wouldn’t want her inventions to use as a profit. So she took G4 and all of her inventions with her to the past, avoiding those money making scoundrels. I detected their presence a few days ago and sent off the Nano fogs around the city to scramble their system so that they wouldn’t find us; I didn’t think that this time they were smart enough to freeze off all of my Nano chips. Now, Mary it’s your turn to listen to me. Guard that lamb with your life, don’t let those men take it away from you.” Mr. Charles holds her shoulders tightly “Before your mother left…. (He paused and looks seriously at her) she entrusted G4 to you. That lamb that you are holding, that lamb that has been with you all these years, that lamb that your mother gave to you. Mary, that lamb is G4.”
