Careful what you wish for

This was the house. This was where he brought her. Anthony had followed the man who bought Hester at the thrift store all the way to where he lived, and now he sat in the bushes outside, hiding and observing him how he carried the vacuum inside. Once the area was clear, the little Rainbow lamp came out of hiding and tried to find a way inside; an open window, maybe. He had to make sure Hester was safe… he had to be with her! Who knew what the man intended to do with her; the other human had asked if he needed her for spare parts…

Suddenly, the front door opened. It was too late to hide, so Anthony froze on the spot. "Oh," he heard the man's surprised voice while, internally, he was close to panic. "Someone left a colorful lamp on my doorstep? How odd."

Anthony felt the man picking him up and carrying him, contently whistling a jolly tune. A door was opened and closed, then he was carried down a flight of stairs. A basement? Not long after, he was set down. The footsteps and whistling faded as the man left and closed the door behind him.

As soon as the human had left and his footsteps faded out of hearing range, Anthony opened his eyes and looked around. He was in a basement, apparently; a larger room with many shelves, some closets, and a workbench. He sat on a table or some sort of dresser, as far as he could tell. Dim light came from two windows higher up in the wall. Was he alone here?

"Hester?" he asked, just in case she was somewhere nearby. Hoping she was.

"Anthony?" came the answer, sounding surprised. Relief washed over Anthony. She was here, and she was unharmed!

"Hester! Are you okay? Where are you? I can't see you."

"I'm in this closet. I –"

In this moment, the footsteps on the stairs returned, and all they could do was freeze and fall silent.

When Anthony awoke, he felt… strange. He was standing on an elevated point, but quickly realized that it wasn't a desk or shelf. He remembered the man finding him and bringing him into his basement, where, to his great relief, he found Hester. Hester… Where was she now? Anthony noticed that he was unable to move from the spot. And what was wrong with his cord? He couldn't feel it…

"Hester?" he whispered, holding back a rising feeling of panic.

"Anthony?" came the vacuum's confused and quiet answer from… below him. "Anthony, you… you found me! "I feared we'd never see each other again, but…"

"But what?" The gruesome realization hit the Rainbow like a shock: He was mounted on top of Hester's pole. That was why he couldn't move! Her handle had been removed, and replaced with… him. And he couldn't feel his cord because it was… maybe not exactly gone, but it now went through a small hole inside of Hester's pole where it seemingly was connected to her own circuity. They had been merged!

"Oh, Anthony," Hester sighed. "The man who bought me… he seems to think he's an inventor. He… he builds his own gadgets from old machines. The horrors I've seen in this basement! And now… he did it to us!"

"Oh, he does that a lot," a voice came out of the darkness; it didn't sound as horrified as both Hester and Anthony felt, but almost… amused? "It's his hobby, as far as anyone can tell."

Startled, Hester and Anthony stared as the owner of the voice emerged from the shadows with awkward looking movements. A moment later, they saw why that was. It was a monstrosity – several appliances merged, just like them.

The base of the Frankenstein appliance that now stood before them was a small, old-fashioned tube TV. Screwed on top of them, with visible insulated wiring reaching into the TV's cassis on their backside, were a video camera and a microphone. All of them sill had their own faces and were looking at them, which meant that they still all had separate minds; however, only the TV seemed to be able to talk, or at least, they were the only one who ever did. Their voice was neither male nor female, but rather an eerie combination of three different voices sounding together.

They chuckled. "Oh, nice, a vacuum with a lamp on top. Whatever went through his mind with the two of you – having a light while cleaning dark places or something. Could have been easier if he just used the ceiling light. With us, however… he wanted something able to transmit as well as receive. I guess it worked out." They laughed maniacally, and Anthony realized in horror that the merged appliances had lost their minds over what happened to them. Would he and Hester end up like that, too?

Anthony now also noticed something else: Through their now-connected wiring, he could feel what Hester felt, a similar fear and terror as he felt himself, so it was hard to discern what came from who. But still it was clear that they now shared their emotions, even could hear each other's thoughts to some extent. They were truly one being now, but still with two separate minds.

"You'll get used to this, eventually," the contraption said as if they could read their minds, and this time, there was a trace of sympathy in their threesome voice. "Just like we did. You two seem to care for one another a lot. Now you'll never be apart again."

And they were right. Hester and Anthony were forever united, like they had always wanted… just not the way they had hoped for.