Roughly fifteen minutes of scavenging, a shaky start of driving the U-haul, a lockbox purchase, some miles of highway driven over, and only one instance of Ben steering to keep the truck straight later, we arrived at the ocean front. "Is this the place?" asked Ben.
"Yep. Get the shrimp and send him to sea, if you'd please." Bernard went over to the back of the truck and grabbed the safe. "Alright. Just throw him as hard as you can."
"I've waited a long time to get rid of him," muttered Bernard, heaving the safe up and then outward as it sailed gracefully across the sea in the same way the ground-safes usually don't. With a quiet sploosh, the little angry ghost was sinking into the bay. Bernard sighed, looking like a great weight was removed from him. As for me, I think shock was still in effect, as I still didn't really notice my injuries any more than mild tingling. "Henry…"
I turned to look at the rotted animatronic. "Yeah?"
"Do I have to go away? T-to the auction, I mean..." mumbled Ben. I had to think long and hard on this. Not wanting to give an answer, I stared off to where we tossed the poltergeist's prison. He gently put his hand on my shoulder, trying to comfort me. Maybe more that he wants me to comfort him. "I-I know that things have gotten kind of messy… I'm sorry about what I did."
"*sigh* Look, it ain't your fault. Honestly, if you weren't alive, I would've took you and sent you for sale without really hesitating that much. But… Well… You walk and talk like a living fella; a kid, if I'm frank with you. I think it's probably better you choose instead of me. I'm not a nice guy, I know, but I'm not that heartless..."
Ben leaned against my shoulder like a little brother would. My nerves were still a little raw from being a human tesla coil, but I tried my best to hide my wince. "I just want to be somewhere safe. I don't want to be anywhere that could have this happen again…" he whimpered. I gave the poor thing a hug just as he started to cry tearless weeps.
"It's okay, bud. Things will be better. Trust me," I said in a hushed tone. I helped Ben back to the passenger seat of the U-haul. While he stayed in his seat, I went to the back of the truck and got one of the plushies. It was a plushie of a cute little cupcake. "Hey Ben, I have something for you." I hand him the little toy, seeing his eyes light up with a little more happiness.
He sniffled, "Th-th-thank you." Ben cuddled the little cupcake toy, smiling with all the care and wonder of a child. I grinned as I went back to the driver's seat. I took a moment just sitting in the seat, thinking of some way to help Bernard. He isn't malicious from what I've seen. It wouldn't be right to just treat him like an object. He deserves a better place than wherever he was before that got him in the warehouse in such a state.
Soon, a lightbulb lit somewhere in my head. "Ben. I think I can do something for you."
"Hmm?"
"My friend, the guy who's putting the stuff and you to auction? He owes me a favor or two for all the crap I've done for him so he doesn't do it himself."
Ben tilted his head in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, I can get him to rig the auction to go in favor of one person or another. You and I can find the guy who has the best place for you, and then he can set it up in favor of the best match. What do you say?"
"…isn't that cheating?"
"Well, that's what my friend does. I'm just his handy-man that keeps his asinine plans from backfiring or at least from backfiring hard. He owes me for all the shit I do for him, anyway."
"…can you promise me a good home?"
I shrugged. "Sure. You're going to help me decide who you want to go to, anyway."
Ben considered my offer for a bit, and then spoke to the cupcake toy, "Chuck, what do you think?" The plushie stared back at Ben, and then Bernard nodded. "Chuck says that you aren't lying." Gee. Fantastic news. "Are we going to go to the auction now?"
I nodded and set the truck to drive. "Right-o, Ben."
