The next morning, the sun streamed in through Flint Lockwood's lab window. It poured all over and finally landed on Sam Sparks; who was snoring quietly. Groaning, she got up in the bed and rubbed her eyes.
Sighing loudly, she threw her legs over the side of her bed and yawned. She stumbled out of bed and realized that Flint's sleeping bag was empty.
Confused, she walked around the lab and finally came to a small table. There was that weird thing covered by the white cloth. And there was Flint sitting in the chair, with his head rested on the table and a screwdriver slipping out of hands. He was still asleep. Then the screwdriver fell out of his hand and landed on the floor with a loud clatter. That woke Flint and he fell out of his chair.
Rubbing his head, he looked around and saw Sam hovering over him.
"Morning Sam." He grinned and got up.
"Morning Flint." She nodded and eyed the lump under the white cloth. The suspense was killing her. What was under there?
"Coffee?" Flint asked sweetly and came back with steaming mugs with coffee.
"Thanks," she took the mug and took a small sip, "Um, I think I'll leave today. I feel much better." She walked over to Flint's giant window and looked out of it. The mug was in her hands and warmed her up as she took another sip. She loved mornings. The warmness of the sun and the feeling of a new day about begin. Right now she didn't feel like looking at Flint. He would be hurt. Not as hurt as she was. Even if she said she was okay, her heart ached at the thought of the streets of ChewandSwallow. Compare them to the streets of New York.
"Okay." Flint nodded slowly and she turned around. She was starting to choke up. Slowly, she came over to him and hugged him tight. When she let go, she used his phone to ask her boss for a boat to come by and pick her up.
"I'll escort you to the docks." He replied.
She nodded and finished the last of her coffee. Carefully, she set the mug on his table and they exited the lab…
The docks were quiet, except for the silent fishermen who had blended in with the gray scene. They stood at the edge of the dock and Flint glanced up the sky. The sun was bright a minute ago, but now it was moving in behind the clouds.
He imagined the clouds bursting with color. When he and Sam stood on the dock and there were cheeseburgers raining from the sky. That scene made him peer closer at the sky. He smiled at the image in his head, but frowned at the next slideshow of images. What had been the outcome of his food.
The moment he spotted a boat in the distance steering its way to the docks, his smile vanished. Sam was frowning too. She now looked hesitant and somewhat worried.
The boat docked itself and a man came out on deck.
"To New York City!" the man hollered. Sam glanced at Flint and hugged him again. She kissed him on the forehead and held his hand, before it slipped out and he watched her board the boat silently.
Flint waved once to her, and then turned away. Once again he was lonely. His feet led him back to his lab, where he was greeted by a very excited Steve.
"Gummy Bear!" Steve cried out and followed Flint to the table that had the FLDSMDFR on it. He ripped the white cloth off the machine and sat into his chair.
"Not now Steve." Flint told the impatient monkey. He sat there hunched over with his face upset, but yet concerned. Why did the thing start beeping in the middle of the night? He took one of the unscrewed sides in his hands and turned it over in his hands. It looked the same as he had built it, but there was something… different about it.
"I don't get it Steve!" Flint laid the piece back down and slumped back in his chair. He usually was good at solving problems. Especially ones about his inventions. For example, his Remote Controlled TV was a simple problem: the signals sent out to the TV weren't strong enough, which was why it couldn't obey him.
"Steve, help me out here. What is wrong with it?" Flint asked his monkey who was looking under his bed for a Gummy Bear.
"No." Steve shrugged and continued to look.
"What do you mean, you don't know?" Flint cried out and groaned.
"Well, something or someone got it bugged after it came out of the meatball and before it hit the water. Maybe someone caught it when everyone was standing on the PB & J sandwich boats when the meatball exploded." Flint thought harder. The gears in his head turned faster.
"That's it!" He shouted out. Steve peeked out from under the bed and looked at Flint as if he was insane. Steve knew that something ALWAYS happened when Flint said those words. Like on that late night when Flint woke up and yelled out those words. He jumped out of bed and sketched the FLDSMDFR on a post-it. It was the same with his previous inventions. He'd get an idea in the middle of the night, say those exact words and go write/his idea down.
"The FLDSMDFR is bugged! It must be!" Flint cried out in triumph and got his pliers. Now his eyes searched the FLDSMDFR pieces for a microchip of some sort.
"It must be here somewhere." Flint muttered to himself.
Suddenly, the phone rang.
Flint got up, tripped over his chair and finally reached the phone.
"Hello?" he asked as he picked up.
"Flint!" Sam replied cheerfully.
"You are at work? But it's only been like fifteen minutes!" Flint gasped.
"No, silly. I'm still on the boat." Sam chuckled.
"Oh." Flint trailed off and watched the FLDSMDFR from where he stood. He knew there was something wrong with it. He just knew it.
"So what are you doing now?" Sam asked.
"Just… uh… cleaning up the lab." Flint stammered and winced at the silence at the other side.
"Ok, Flint. I gotta go. Love you." She finally spoke.
"Love you too." Flint sighed and hung up. Sam still seemed troubled. Maybe he should seriously tell her. It would be for the better. He couldn't keep it inside forever.
As he went to work back on his FLDSMDFR, he didn't hear what was under his lab at the moment. Or who. There was a person in a dark blue trench coat standing there. The collar of the coat was turned upward, so the face couldn't be seen. The pants were dark blue too and the person was smoking a cigarette. A dark blue hat was pulled over his eyes and all you could see were the rings of smoke coming out of him.
"You know nothing yet, Lockwood." The person spat his cigarette on the ground and flattened it with the sole of his shoe. Then the person left with a wicked smirk on their smug face.