Grace

It was nearing nine in the morning when I heard the knocking on my shop door. It wasn't unusual for someone to arrive early. They'd try to get some minor work done on their cars before things got busy, but something about this knocking seemed different. It was rapid, loud, and almost desperate.

"Gimme a minute!" I yelled, setting down my gas station breakfast and moving to open the door. What greeted me was, in fact, not a frantic potential customer, but a brown haired boy, no older than twelve.

"Listen lady I don't have much time to explain, but I really need you to follow me-" He quickly started, giving me no chance to process what he was saying.

I raised my arms to cut him off. "Woah, hang on a second, where are your parents?" I asked, peeking my head out of the door and looking at the surrounding blocks. "Is this an emergency? Do you need me to call the police?" I pulled out my phone and readied myself to dial, but the boy shook his head and his hands in protest.

"No, don't call the police!" He pleaded, an edge of frustration in his done. "It's not that kind of emergency, it's something I think you can fix, but you need to come with me right now."

I looked down at him incredulously. "Could you humor me and give me a hint at what's happening?" I pressed. "Is this some kinda prank?"

"I already said I don't have time!" He reiterated. "You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you anyway. Just come on we need to go!"

I sighed heavily. "You better not be screwing around with me kid, it's pretty early for this." I said as I moved to the front desk to gather my keys and other belongings. "I'm gonna close up and pull my car around, I'll follow your directions okay?"

His eyes lit up with elation. "Really?" He asked, almost in disbelief. "Yes!! Yes! Thank you lady, really. It's not gonna be what you think, I promise."

I nodded dismissively as I returned to the front door, shuffling us both outside so I could lock it. "Yeah fine, but after this I'm taking you straight back to your parents you hear me? Wait here a second."

He agreed without hesitation, while I had to force myself to ignore my own. I retrieved my car from the back of the building and pulled around, the boy immediately hopping into the passenger seat.

"So where are we going?" I asked, pulling out into the street.

"It's just outside of town." He replied. "There's this really tall hill, you can see everything from up there." He took a moment to look around at our surroundings, then he gestured up ahead. "If you turn left up here that main road will take you most of the way out and then-"

I waved a hand to stop him. "I actually know the hill you're talking about." I assured. "Never been up there though...anyway we'll be there in about ten minutes."

"Good." Was all he said in response. After that we rode most of the way in silence, a strange mood was in the air.

"So uh...what's your name?" I began after a couple minutes, trying to break the tension. I also hoped I could get some answers out of my passenger. "What are you doing running around town all alone? Shouldn't you be at school or something?"

He chose not to answer me, instead staring out the window with clear intent to ignore me. Either that or he was making sure I was going the right way.

I almost expected the entire ride to be like this, so when he finally perked up and tugged my sleeve it startled me. "Stop! Here is it!" He shouted, pointing out the window at a stretch of trees that by all appearances was completely untamed by man.

"Are you sure?" I asked, slowing to a halt and putting the car into park. "There's no paths or anything."

"Yeah, it's a shortcut." He explained. "If you go through there you'll run into a trail and it goes straight up! You'll see." Then out of the passenger seat he jumped, taking off into the woods with reckless abandon.

"H-hey wait!" I grabbed my keys and started after him, cursing under my breath. It was absolutely too early for this shit.

True to his word, I did find the trail he'd mentioned, though it was densely overgrown with weeds. I caught a fleeting glimpse of the boy, who had waited for me for all of a minute before starting up again. "Come on!!" He commanded.

With a heavy sigh I continued to follow, thankful to my work uniform for protecting my legs from being shredded by underbrush. I was nearing the top of the hill, the boy had already beaten me there. I could hear his voice in the distance.

"You're gonna be okay, Freddy, I found someone!" He said. "Just wait she's right behind me."

The path ended, the trees had long since receded. I was going to pause to catch my breath, but the scene I'd walked into was exactly as the boy had said. It was nowhere near any of the guesses I'd conjured in my mind.

"See look! There she is!" The boy exclaimed, tapping a large orange animatronic on its arm to get its attention. "She works at a car shop." He continued. "She can definitely help charge your battery!" Now he looked back at me. "You can help charge his battery right?"

The automatons body whirred and clanked as it lifted its head to acknowledge my presence. I was all but paralyzed, the only thing distracting me was a faint flickering at the periphery of my vision. So I turned to see what it was, and I spotted the raging fire engulfing the mall at the heart of the city.

"What...the fuck..." I muttered, slowly turning my focus back to the two in front of me.

The eyes of the machine darted up towards my face. Their yellow lights were dim, and flickering faintly. "Language." He said gruffly.

"...Excuse me?" I said, purely on reflex.

"Watch your language, please." He clarified, patting the top of the boys head. "Its hardly appropriate when a child is present."

The kid stood back up, taking the hand from his head and trying his hardest to haul the robot to his feet. "That doesn't matter right now, her car is waiting for us at the bottom so we-"

"No!" I interrupted loudly, another instinctual response. "No...just give me a second to think."

Bewildered was the least of what I was feeling. I wasn't uncommon for me to find old endoskeletons or smaller bots in the alleys sometimes, but it had been a long time since I'd seen a fully intact and functioning animatronic in the flesh.

The boy did manage to get the robot standing, though it was clearly unsteady. They both eyed me expectantly.

"Why are you just standing there!?" The kid asked. "Can we get going now please?"

I looked back and forth between the two of them, then slumping my head in defeat. "I'm definitely going to regret this..." Reluctantly I moved closer to the two of them, beckoning for the monstrous machine. "I'll help him down the hill, if his battery dies before we reach the bottom I can carry him the rest of the way."

The animatronic, Freddy, had only taken a step in my direction before stopping.

"I...don't think that will be safe for you." He stated. "While I am made from industrially lightweight material, I still run approximately three hundred and ninety two pounds. You could get injured."

I gave myself a second to shake off the feeling of dread creeping up the back of my neck. His malfunctioning voice passed well into the uncanny valley.

"I work in maintenance, I squat more than that on a Monday, and you won't be able to make it down by yourself." I finally replied, voice stern. "If you try in your current state you will fall, you will start rolling, and you will get destroyed."

The boy nudged the automaton in my direction. "She said it's fine, just listen to her okay?" He pleaded, evoking an artificial sigh from the oversized bot.

"Alright, if you're sure it won't cause trouble then I have no reason to argue." Freddy in his towering glory resumed his approach, and it took every ounce of will I had to resist grabbing the taser from my tool belt. He rested a massive metal hand on my shoulder for balance, and we started to make our way back down to the car.