(???? POV. Place and date unknown.)

I don't know where we're going. I've been following this little girl for half the night, and yet I still can't catch up to her. Every time I think I'm about to get to her, it's almost like she disappears and is suddenly even further ahead.

Am I seeing things? Is this a glitch? It's a very odd one if it is... What kind of glitch causes someone to see a child they don't even know? There's no way I'm making this up, right? I wonder if the others were near if they'd see her too. Whoever this is... I want to help her leave. It's dangerous in here. Maybe she doesn't realize that...

Or maybe I am making this up. She seems to have some sort of glow surrounding her. That's not normal, right?

Real or not, something tells me to keep going. To get to her. So that's what I plan to do.

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(Michael Afton POV. Hurricane, Utah, 2022.)

"Dad!"

I turn away from the pan on the stove to look at Gregory. I've had to learn to cook over the past few years. I don't think I'm awful. At least, my son hasn't complained before. Which I'm glad about. I'd been worried I wouldn't be any good at cooking since I used to pretty much run on pizza, popcorn, and soda.

"What is it, superstar?" As I'm looking at him, I notice a scratch on his face. "Gregory Afton, have you been playing with things you're not supposed to again?"

"No!" He pauses for a moment. "Maybe. You haven't told me not to play with it yet. That's not why I'm here though. I have a question!"

He's a curious little bugger, that's for sure. But most of the time, I don't mind answering questions of his. "What is it?"

"Why does your voice sound different than ones on tv?"

Funnily enough, I think I'd asked father something like that as a child as well.

"Well, my family came from another country where people talk like this. I was born here, but I talk like this because I learned it from my parents."

"Oh!" That seems to be the end of that, but then his face scrunches up in confusion. "Wait, then why don't I talk like that?"

He does sometimes, actually. I'm not sure he realizes it though. "Because I tried to teach you to talk like other people that live here. Hey, can I ask you a question now?"

"What is it?" I think he knows what I'm going to ask. And probably also how he's going to respond.

"What were you playing with?"

He doesn't say anything, but he pulls a screwdriver out of his back pocket.

I can't help but let out a small sigh. "Gregory, we've been over this. You can't play with things in my toolbox."

"But it wasn't IN your toolbox!" Smartass. I really need to remember to put things away.

Before I can say anything, I hear the smoke alarm and turn around as fast as possible.

"SHIT!!" I slam a lid on the pan to extinguish the fire that'd started and pull it off the heat. There's silence for what feels like a very long time before I turn to face Gregory again. "Pizza for dinner?"

"Pizza for dinner." He agrees. Nothing wrong with pizza every now and then, right? "Hey dad?"

"Yes, Gregory?"

"What does shit mean?"

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(Later that evening)

"Uno!"

This kid HAS to be cheating somehow. No matter. I have a secret weapon. I lay down the card I've been holding back most of the game...

"Draw four, Gregory." His smile grows as I say this. Oh no... He puts a plus four on top of mine.

"I win!" He giggles. "Can we play again?"

"Why? So you can destroy me again?" I start to reshuffle the cards anyways.

"Hey dad? Did you do games like this with your family?" And here come the personal questions... I don't like these as much, but I still try to give him what answers I can.

"No. My father didn't really like games." Or being around his kids whatsoever. But I leave that out. The last thing I need to do is talk about my sad childhood to a five year old.

"What?! Who doesn't like games?!" I almost laugh at the look on his face.

"Crazy people. And not the good kind of crazy." That gets a small laugh out of him.

"What about your sister and brother?" I've mentioned Elizabeth and Evan before. Obviously, I never bring up what happened to them. How am I supposed to explain that? Yeah, I killed my little brother and a robot ate my little sister. Then they were both ghosts inside robots and my sister killed me. I don't need to give Gregory nightmares, the kid barely sleeps as it is. As far as he knows, Auntie Liz and Uncle Evan just live very far away and I was born with weird features. Hopefully he won't question all that until he's a bit older...

"Well we liked different games, so I usually was around my friends."

He nods as I hand him his cards. "I guess that makes sense."

"Ready to play now, superstar?" I look at my hand. Oh, he's going down this time...

"Why do you call me that? Superstar." I look back up and see him staring at me, waiting for my answer.

"Well, there was someone who called me that as a kid. And I was always really happy when he did. So I decided to call you that too." I explain, and a huge smile crosses his face.

Now I'm ready to kick his butt at Uno.

...or not.

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Words without author's notes: 963

I had to put in some cute DadMike in this story somewhere lol. And yes, I do call the crying child Evan in this story.

Anyways, on another topic, I'm super excited for the Ruin DLC! If any of you have theories about it, feel free to comment them. I love seeing other people's theories!

Hope y'all enjoyed the chapter! ~TransPurpleWitch