I never make a sound.

That's what I'm known for. I don't need to yell at my men to keep them in line. I don't need to swear or make physical displays of violence. I need only glare. I'm the silent commander of the Pigmask Army, appointed by Master Porky. I'm a natural prodigy. It's what I was built and programmed for, and I make certain to follow my programming to the strictest order. I must never displease Master Porky.

Master Porky keeps me away from the others, mostly. He is afraid of tarnishing me by letting me hang around the Army. The only encounters I have with them are while we are out on field work, and during training sessions, I am to watch them, but never to get too close, never to mingle with them. They will corrupt me, Master Porky says. And I must always listen to Master Porky.

I spend a lot of time alone, keeping to myself in my living quarters. A small room. There is not much here; I do not need much. There is a cot in the corner, a desk in the corner opposite it, and a chair in front of the desk. It's simple, efficient, and most of all, quiet. I have plenty of time to recuperate here.

Being in soundless room gives me plenty of time to listen to myself. I hear ticking sounds frequently. I wonder why? I have not been given reason for these odd ticking sounds that resound within me. As much as I am ashamed to admit, sometimes I am worried I am malfunctioning. Surely Doctor Andonuts would notice if I were malfunctioning? Surely, I would be taken in for quick repair? Master Porky would not want his "favorite toy" to break down in the midst of combat, would he?

While I was pondering to myself the origin of these ticks, my hands began to tremble lightly. I squeezed them into fists.

Sometimes, when I am temporarily deactivated during the night, I think. I have not been given reason for this strange phenomenon, either. I choose to disregard these nighttime thoughts, as they have always been about the halls of Thunder Tower, or the many floors of Master Porky's Empire Pork Building.

Tonight was not one such night.

Tonight, there was a small boy, and a young-looking woman. They were running, as hurriedly as possible, running to escape, escape what I do not know, but they had to do it, it was in their nature, they had to get away, needed to go-

A beast roars and the small boy cries. The woman looks solemn and defeated. She grabs the boy's hand, and pulls him aside. She wipes his face, and smiles at him, a tender, loving smile. She whipers to him. His eyes widen, and he cries again, choking sobs, louder than ever, louder even than the monster chasing them, and she turns him around, and pushes him forward, just in time for the monster to catch up to them.

There is a single scream.

I woke with a start. A trembling hand was raised in front of me, as if reaching towards something that vanished in an insant.

I balled my hands into fists, and noticed that it wasn't just my hands, my entire body was shaking violently. I did not understand, this wasn't included in my protocol! Why, why did this happen? Why was I malfunctioning? What triggered such a change in my strict programming code? I wrapped my arms around myself tightly, and hung my head. From my left eye, a solitary drop rolled down my cheek and dripped off, onto my sheet.

There was a strange void inside me, where the ticking noises had been coming from.

They sounded louder than ever.

Today, I did field work.

I had purged last night from my memory banks, and I went about my day with all the strict rigor I normally did. I was to pull another needle today. An almost insultingly easy task. I did not voice my disapproval aloud, or request someone else try to pull that needle (I was not told why I had to pull them, only to do it, and so I did), that would be against Master Porky's wishes. I always obey Master Porky's wishes.

The blimp landed. The red carpet rolled out.

There was a group of three already stationed there. Intruding on my task, I thought, I will obliterate them.

If only I could.

There was a boy there. The boy from my dream.

For the first time, I hesitated.

Nighttime came, and another successful mission completed. I pulled the needle again. I had been feeling unnatural ever since the encounter with that strange child from my dream. I had been attempting to wipe my memory of the incident all day, but with no success. Every time I tried, I had been met with a stubborn resistance I did not know I had.

I figured a good night's recharging would bring me back to my normal protocol tomorrow, otherwise, I would request an appointment with Doctor Andonuts.

Night comes again and again I wake up from a dream, even worse than before.

The woman from before was mangled, only recognizable from the brilliant red of her dress, stained with a deep crimson from whatever had attacked her, and she was dead, and the boy from before had heard her scream, and he screamed, and he cried, and he kept running, he just kept going through the forest, smacking into trees, stumbling over shrubs, tripping on sticks, but he kept going, he just trudged forward, he couldn't stop he wouldn't stop, he had to keep going-

I sat up in bed again, my eyes wrenched open, my mouth open in a silent scream, I might have screamed, I don't know, with all my errors piling up, I might have screamed. The woman, I couldn't erase her from my sight, I can only see her, her long brown hair, how it sat around her face, and just gently cascaded down over her soft, inviting features, and her marvelous red dress, and how she had become a disfigured heap on the ground, her hair, blackened from from the rain and from the mud on the group, her hair was in matted clumps, covering a face that was surely brutally mangled, and her dress torn and soaked through with blood, so much blood that it was an entirely new shade of red, and the rain fell, but the rain couldn't wash it away, couldn't wash away the ugliness of the whole scene.

My lip quivered, and I heard the ticking noises again, tick-tick-tick-tick, so loud I thought for sure I would never hear anything else, nothing else, just tick-tick-tick-tick and the scream of the woman, the scream of the boy mixed with the ticking, all i could hear all i could hear

My lower lip wobbled and I covered my ears but now I could hear the ticking echoing and the screaming echoing and they mixed into the ugliest echoes I ever heard, resounding over and over, richoeting off the walls and I finally realized how alone I was I had no one to comfort me no one around i'm alone again all alone again

mother please come back i'm reaching out towards you but again you vanish from my sight

mother please come back lucas please come back

please comfort me

please come back i can't escape from here

i want to escape it's so cold and unfeeling i'm so mechanical i'm lifeless it's lifeless here

plase come back