Three

xxx

She grips her mother's sleeve, tugging her down to the heap of metal on the floor.

"Don't you think he likes being in one piece, sweetheart?"

"She's a she, Mommy!" The brunette bounces anxiously in place before turning to grab a cartoonish hand. "Here, where does this one go? Mommy. Where does this one go?"

The woman turns to face her husband, leaning against the opposite wall. "S-A-V-E M-E," she spells over the chatter of a dozen kids, ignoring her daughter's displeased glance. The little girl can't decipher the meanings of the letters, but she's learning to resent the covert form of information sharing. The young man laughs, not moving from his position. His adoration of the pair is evident in his grin.

"Mommy." The chubby-cheeked girl bounces once in place, brows drawing together as she grips the painted metal hand. "Help me put her back together! Let's put this arm here."

"Honey, I don't know how to put a big metal robot together. Don't you want to go watch Emily and Rickey play ice hockey?"

"Mommy." She begins to tap the wrist joint of the hand against various parts of the tangle of metal, her displeasure palpable when it refuses to magically attach. The mangled animatronic stares past them with scratched, bleary eyes.

With a defeated sign, the woman kneels down and takes the part held out to her.


The Mangle is spooky. :o

Also, I wanted to remind you that there are several more drabbles included on my Ao3 account that are too adult to upload here. The link to my page is in my bio and the fic is under the same name there.