"Braxton! I'm home!"
The sound of the front door slamming shut brought Brax back to reality. In a flash he shut his sketchbook, threw it under his bed, and rushed into the living room to greet his mother.
"I brought some candy for- oh." she turned to see her son staring up at her with dusty frizzled hair and a nervous smile.
"Hey mom. What's for lunch?"
Mom hesitated a moment, then crossed her arms.
"What did you break?"
Brax's nervous smile turned into an angry pout.
"Nothing. But I wish I could've."
"And why are you all dirty? Were you playing ninja in the dirt again?"
"Uh yeah! I was out there for hours!"
"Hmmm okay. Go clean yourself up."
"For what?" Brax whined.
"For the sake of my furniture. I don't want you running around my house covered in dirt." his mom scolded. "Now go."
Brax started to trudge towards the bathroom when he was halted midway by the sound of the landline in the kitchen, then his mom calling him back. She handed him the phone.
"It's your friend."
Brax snatched the phone, partially worried. He waved away his mom. She shrugged and turned to put dishes away.
"Brax! You've gotta come back!" said Caleb over the phone.
"Caleb, what's going on?" Brax hissed.
"My dad's planning on fixing up our microwave in the shed and I don't have anywhere to hide Wheatley!"
"What do you mean you don't have anywhere to hide him? You've got all kinds of places around your backyard."
"I mean he won't stay quiet or still long enough for someone not to notice. Come get him!"
"What am I supposed to do with him? I can't leave the house!" Brax snapped.
"Then make up an excuse!"
"Leave the house for what bud?" Brax's mom asked.
He slammed the phone back into it's base.
"Umm, Caleb's uh... dad wants me to ah, help him with his... fence."
"Really? I didn't know they were building one."
"Yeah it's in the backyard so it'll... keep the coyotes out and stuff."
"Well I don't see why not. Just be back by dinner."
Brax did a small fist pump of triumph and ran to his room to get his shoes on.
"But when you get back you're getting that shower, understand?" his mom called.
He rolled his eyes and burst out the front door.
The wooden door to Caleb's shed flew open to reveal Brax with a wild look in his eyes.
"Hallo!" Wheatley greeted in his usual friendly tone.
"I'm here! How long until your dad comes?" Brax panted.
Caleb picked up Wheatley and shoved him into Brax's arms.
"He'll be out here any minute. Take him and go! Hurry!"
Without another word, Brax bolted out to his bike and set Wheatley in the basket. The core's vision set on multiple different places. He panicked as the bike gained speed.
"Uh why are we going so fast? Not that you should be alarmed! But are we supposed to be going this fast?" he asked.
"Yes." Brax answered, annoyed.
He had just barely made it home in time to avoid his mom's wrath when he'd received the call from Caleb. Neither of the boys had any idea what they were getting into when they made the decision to keep Wheatley with them. If Brax had known he would be this much of a burden to hide from the rest of the town, he would've either destroyed Wheatley when he had the chance, or left him in the crater to be someone else's problem. Now here he was. Peddling as fast as he could until he reached the line of trees which spanned the south side of the town. He pulled off to the left and slowed to a stop.
"Okay new question: where is this? Are we still in Auberdale? Or... what?"
Brax ignored his question. He grabbed Wheatley as he continued to chatter on.
"You know, I guess the surface is kind of nice. Really colorful. Really pleasant, if you will." He commented, gazing at the trees above them. "Yeah I guess that's one thing you humans have going for you, isn't it?"
Brax set Wheatley down at the edge of a small clearing, and sat beside him. He took in the fresh air, the smell of pine and the wheat fields traveling with it. It was quiet out here. This was one of the few places Brax could go where his thoughts didn't constantly scream at him, demanding constant attention. It was easy to be calm out here at the edge of town. Away from all the noise and people.
"Oi, what are you doing there?"
Brax's moment of tranquility was spoiled by a curious Wheatley. He opened his eyes and glared at the core.
"Oh sorry there. Um, just a little ah... concerned. For a minute it looked like you were about to fall asleep on me. Nope- no can't have that."
"Do you ever stop talking?" Brax asked.
"Sorry what?"
Brax shrugged.
"Just asking. It was a valid question."
Wheatley seemed to take slight offense to this.
"Well when you're practically programmed not to stop then it's a bit tricky, isn't it?"
He paused for a moment, then mumbled.
"Maybe that's why she never spoke to me, huh?"
"Who never spoke to you?" Brax asked, with a mixture of curiosity and slight annoyance.
"Oh what does it matter to you? I'll never see her again anyway so I might as well give up."
Wheatley looked down at the grass in front of him, seeming quite sad. Brax shuffled closer to the sphere and placed a hand on top of him.
"Hey don't say that. If you give up then how will you know she doesn't wanna give you a second chance?"
"I don't think you heard me when I said it earlier, but I screwed it up bad. Big time. Blew any second chance out of the water. Gone. Bye bye. Do you understand now?"
Brax brought his hand back to his lap.
"Oh." he said quietly.
The two sat in silence for a few moments until Wheatley felt like he had to say something.
"Heh. I will say, although it was rough a few times we pulled each other through. What a duo we made. Too bad I had to go and ruin it. Becoming all power-crazed and whatnot. We were so close too."
"What happened that ruined it so bad?" Brax asked, digging deeper into the core's story. Maybe he could get some more answers on where he came from.
"I- well uh, we we're gonna defeat her once and for all. Kind of like a final stand thing. But when I was given the option to control the whole facility I- I guess I got sidetracked. That led to absolute power getting to me. Then came irrational decisions and horrid words. In the end I think- no wait. I did deserve being stranded in space. Maybe more than that, but not less."
When Wheatley had finished, Brax sat there, wordless and wide-eyed. He didn't expect this sad little metal sphere to be such a vicious backstabber. Then again he didn't know what he expected.
"Wow. Okay so you were kind of a jerk."
Wheatley gave another sigh.
"But, It's not that bad."
"How would you know? Not that I'm accusing you of ah... not knowing."
"Oh I lose friends all the time."
Okay, Brax thought. That came out sounding way worse than I thought it would.
"But most of them were my mom's friends. Not mine. I don't have that many."
Brax face palmed. Yeah nice save dingbat.
"Really? I didn't know I shared something in common with a human. That's pretty neat now isn't it?"
"I don't remember most of my mom's friends." Brax continued. "But I think I knew this one lady. She was pretty cool."
Wheatley suddenly seemed very interested in his new companion's stories.
"Ooh can you tell me about her? Er, for science of course. Just- just to compare."
"Well she was really good with water guns. I remember she used to come over a lot. Especially during summer. I think she used to talk with mom. Not much though. I don't remember what they would talk about whenever she did. Oh and she cooked sometimes too. Mostly cake. She really liked cake."
Wheatley gasped.
"Cake is real?"
Brax laughed. He wasn't sure if Wheatley was joking or serious. It was funny anyway.
"Of course it's real! It's good too."
"Prove it. I wanna see this fabled cake. What makes you humans so obsessed with it?"
Wheatley's curiosity regarding cake gave Brax an idea. He picked him up and started walking back to the bike.
"Where are we going?"
"I'm gonna show you something."
Brax set Wheatley in the basket.
"Show me what? The cake?" he asked.
"More than just cake, but yeah."
Wheatley watched from underneath Brax's jacket as all sorts of various buildings and colors and shapes flew by. Signs with neat writing unfamiliar logos easily captured his attention. He never had more than ten seconds to figure out what they mean before they were hidden behind a tree, another sign, a building, or occasionally a person. Wheatley decided that this was definitely a better sight than any cake in the world. There was so much more activity here than there ever was or would be in Aperture.
The brakes squeaked as Brax pulled into an alleyway between the store and a coffee shop. He pulled the jacket down so it covered Wheatley entirely.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Shhhh! Stay still. I'll be back in a sec."
"Back from where? You're not gonna leave me are you? Oh please don't leave me here."
He shut up for a second when he realized he wasn't getting an answer.
"Hello?"
Brax walked through the short aisles to the chips. While he was in town, he figured he would grab some for his stash at home. He shuffled up to the register with an armful of chips. The cashier rung him up as he glanced over at the magazines off to the side. He grabbed one with a few baking recipes in it, and placed it on the counter with the chips. He left the store with two full bags and some change.
"Is that you? Are you back? Please tell me it's you."
Brax set the bags in the basket with Wheatley and rolled his eyes.
"Yes Wheatley, it's me. You can stop freaking out."
"You know I was getting a bit worried there. Don't leave me like that again!"
Brax cruised through the streets past other businesses and homes, allowing Wheatley to admire them all. He babbled on about how impressive the craftsmanship of each building was and how he would settle down there if he could. They passed by Brax's school and he wrinkled his nose in disgust.
"What's so wrong with that place? I think it's clever how they put that big field in there. Lots of space for other things." Wheatley commented.
"Yeah but that's school. Trust me, it's the last place you wanna be in this town."
"It can't be that bad. There's gotta be worse."
"Well, there is one place."
"Tell me!"
Brax wasn't too sure he should go there, but then again it would be fun to see the little sphere scared out of his mind. He smirked mischievously and took a sharp left turn, nearly throwing Wheatley off the bike.
"AGH! Where are we going in such a hurry?"
"I've gotta move fast if I wanna show you this place. Can't get caught there for more than a few seconds."
"Wait wait wait! I said tell me not show me! I'll just take your word for it if you tell me about the place."
"I dunno, it's a little hard to believe if you don't see it yourself."
"Please! I believe you! Just don't take me there!"
"Shhhh!" Brax snapped. "It's just up ahead. She'll hear you if you're not quiet."
Wheatley lowered his voice to a whisper.
"Who will hear me?"
Brax pointed at an old house with a withered garden out front. Half-dead vines held a broken wire fence in their clutches. The house itself had chipped paint and a beaten gravel path that led to the door. The only sign of life that came from the house was a smoking chimney. Despite the clear signs of a fire inside the house, there was no light in the window. A pale face appeared in the window, barely visible. Short black hair and pale grey eyes made themselves known for only a moment, then vanished without a trace.
"Some say she locked herself in the house one day and refused to come out. Nobody knows why. Others say she's a vengeful ghost, waiting for a victim to stray into her yard before she lures them into her home to stay with her. Forever."
Even after they passed the block where the woman's house resided, Wheatley was still shaking from fear. Was all that really true? It had to be if he saw the woman. Even if she was there for less than a second, she still proved Brax's legend to be true. Her face appeared over and over in Wheatley's mind until it was so familiar that he was sick of seeing it. Not only was he afraid of this woman, but he also felt that he'd seen her somewhere before.
Brax interrupted his train of thought, clapping his hands loudly to get his attention.
"You good Wheatley? Hey! Snap out of it!"
"Oh! Ah, sorry. Just... blanked out for a second there."
The two were at the edge of town, parked on a small hill in a bare field. The sun was starting to sink beyond the horizon, painting the sky a variety of pinks, reds, oranges and purples. Wheatley was once again distracted by a sight he could never have seen in Aperture. The display if colors left him in awe. Now he finally understood why his test subject friend had wanted to escape so badly. He was struck by that same feeling of guilt he had whenever he thought of her. If he'd only done things differently...
"Hey. Earth to Wheatley. I know it's pretty but we've gotta go. I promised mom I'd be back before dinner."
"Right. Hate to keep you. Sorry about that. Let's continue then."