Stitched Together

Every day was the same thing. Collecting pieces, bringing them together, lining them up on the shelves of the warehouse, and then staring at them listlessly before moving on. This was what they had been doing for years.

Jake was so tired of it.

The machine's hands shook as he lifted a broken doll out of the garbage bag of scraps he salvaged from the dump. It looked like a basic, little princess doll, but there were wires sticking out behind its missing eye. Mechanical, electrical, useful.

He put it up on the shelf. It promptly fell sideways and knocked over the other dollies they had collecting.

"Oops. That sucks," his companion chimed in. Andrew, always listening and ever present, but typical unhelpful.

Jake reached forwards and straightened the doll on the shelf. His hand shaking and twitching like it always did- their body was so broken- he sat her up again. She fell over before he could set up the others.

"Aaaand down again," Andrew added. He still wasn't helping.

This time Jake decided to see what the problem was. He took the doll and looked over it, trying to see why it wouldn't stay up, but couldn't figure it out. His suspicion was that the feet weren't even, but a quick look showed that wasn't the case.

"Yeah, those are feet alright," Andrew said. Jake almost longed for the days when Andrew didn't share their vision. "Just throw it out. The whole reason you want it is to put it on the shelf. If it's not going to stay up there then just chuck it."

"I'm not going to throw it out, I just got it out of the trash."

"Maybe it was there for a reason, genius."

He didn't know why it was so hard today. Normally Jake dealt with Andrew's behavior without much hassle, letting him let off steam and shrugging it off as nothing. Even Andrew's increased venting of steam had been met with little more than a shrug and a 'business as usual'.

But something was different today. He wasn't sure what it was though. They had shut down and slept the night before and he had a fantastic dream of playing out in his old backyard. He had still been imagining it when they left to head to the dump and scrapyard.

Maybe it was because Jake knew he would rather be anywhere else than here.

"You okay? You're not doing anything." Andrew's voice snapped him out of his daze and he nodded their head. Then reached up to set up the other dolls again.

"I don't know why we collect these things anyway. They're pretty girly," Andrew said with slight distaste. "Unless you're thinking we can get enough of these to build one big one and then become a kid again."

That was an amazing thought- "And that's not going to work." -which wasn't going to work...

"Just... Let me finish this, please," Jake nearly begged. Andrew huffed inside of their head and fell silent once more. With this moment of freedom, he finished lining up the dolls and leaned the wobbly one onto the shelf beside it.

It stayed up for a second before slowly sliding along the back and falling into the others, taking them down with it again. Jake felt their body twitch as he stared at the mess again. All his work gone again. Now he was going to have to do it again. Over and over again. Doing the same thing over again.

And then- "Are you done?" -Jake erupted.

"No, Andrew, I'm not done. I'm never done, because I'm never finished, because I do the same thing EVERY DAY and when I do it EVERY DAY there's no GETTING DONE!" Jake yelled. He slammed their right fist down onto the lower shelf, shaking the whole thing. "WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LET ME HAVE THIS?! WHY DO YOU ALWAYS RUIN EVERYTHING?!"

"I don't- I'm just trying to point out how stupid it all is! Jake, come on."

"No, you come on! All you do is pick and poke and laugh at me while I carry you around and do everything! All you do is- is hold me back!" Andrew tried to protest, but Jake blocked out his voice by sweeping all the toys and garbage off the lower shelf. It all fell to the ground with an uproar of a clatter. "There! It's on the floor! Are you happy now?!"

"Jake, would you just stop and listen to me?!"

"I already did that and look where it got us!" Jake gestured out to the warehouse. It was silent for a long pause. "Look where we are... Look what we are. We're a monster..." His voice crackled like it would if he were crying. Dry, simulated sobs shaking his internal speaker.

Andrew was at a loss for words. He didn't like this at all; Jake never acted like this before. He tried to find some sort of response, both hurt and scared.

"It's not my fault," he tried to defend. "It was him, the one who did this to me. He's the one-."

"No. It's you. You're the one who made me stay," Jake choked out. "...I hate you."

"What?" Andrew's voice held real fear now. "No, wait. We're just- We're just fighting! You don't mean that! You're my best friend! My- My only friend."

"I HATE you," Jake repeated. He thumped his broken fist against the shelf again. "I HATE you," his voice grew as he started to repeatedly pound on the shelf. "I HATE YOU! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO DID THIS TO ME! YOU'RE THE MONSTER!" His voice suddenly devolved into corrupted static.

And that was when Jake gained full control of the body, and he used it.

With a whirring wail, Jake began to ransack the warehouse. Screaming with tangled, inaudible words, he began to rip everything they collected off the shelves and smash them to the floor. Animatronic parts were scattered, toys cracked on the concrete and lost their pieces, anything glass retrieved from the dump was smashed one after another and shattered into millions of shards. All these things Jake had collected so meticulously for years were being destroyed.

But Jake couldn't stop himself. He tore through everything in a blind fury, throwing an entire shelving until on its side, tore remaining wires out of a broken and lifeless old Chica suit in the corner, scraped his fingers at the mask on his pathetic frame and tried to rip it off- but he couldn't, so he continued to lash out.

Finally, he looped back around to the shelf of toys he had originally been working on. He began to snatch dolls off the shelf. The first's face smashed as soon as it was thrown to the floor. The second he grabbed too roughly and his fingers sheared straight through its fabric body. Another doll, another casualty, until he reached the last one. The trigger for all of this. He grabbed it by the neck and lifted it high before swinging it down towards the edge of the shelf, where its pretty face would be broken like everything else. He swung it down with full strength.

His left arm swung up to catch his wrist.

Silence, stillness. A single being standing before an almost empty shelf clutching itself and this dolls. The left hand squeezing tight on the right wrist.

Then, slowly, the left hand released and went to take the doll. Jake released it and watched as his body leaned forward of its own accord and the left arm reached up to set the doll back. Slowly it set her upright, waiting until he was sure it would stay, and then slowly recoiled. The hand shook terribly, but the doll stayed upright.

"Th-There! All better..." Andrew said. His voice sounded unlike Jake had ever heard it before, scared and emotional, and even with his anger he couldn't help but feel guilty. Andrew lowered his hand so that he could gently pet Jake's. "I-It's okay now. I'm sorry. I-I'll do better, I promise." Then he laced their misshapen fingers together and begged, "Don't go."

Finally starting to calm down, Jake evened out his voice enough to respond. "I won't," he said. Though what he really meant was, "I can't."

They stood there in silence for a long moment staring at the remains of the warehouse. It would take ages to put everything back together and no doubt some of it was lost for good... But they would have to try. At least, Jake would. He needed that purpose.

Even if it was pointless.

"Hey! Tweedledee and Tweedledum!"

They snapped to attention under a third voice and the witness they forgot was there. Jake and Andrew sent a weary look back at the plush, which had gotten knocked to the floor in the dispute.

"If you two are done throwing your big temper tantrum, would you mind coming over here and giving me a hand?"

Jake sighed inwardly and directed them over. Life would go on.