Ted the Robot
Sunnydale, the world without shrimp 1998
Dear Diary,
I remember sitting in a chair at the police station. My legs swinging because I didn't know how long we were going to be here. Mom was sitting next to me, holding my hand. She kept fidgeting like she couldn't get comfortable in the chair. But she was just nervous because they'd been interviewing Buffy for over an hour. She was worrying because this was yet another time Buffy had gotten in trouble with the law. She was trying to make sure I was okay, but I could see through it. She was scared.
I wanted her to call dad so I didn't have to be here. I wanted to see him. I didn't like Ted. He was creepy. Okay, that's not strictly true. I liked him in the beginning when he was over at our house and giving us cookies. Then there were mini pizzas, which Xander really liked. They were very good. But I didn't like that mom was happy with someone else, I wanted her and dad to get back together. Buffy said that wasn't going to happen but I didn't believe her. I thought dad was a good guy and that they were happy once so why couldn't they be happy again?
Buffy really didn't like Ted. She said he was bad for mom and that I should stop eating his food. So one day I did, and then I saw it too. Ted was bad. Then the accident happened. Buffy was shouting and Ted was shouting and I was just trying to watch TV. I got up off the couch to tell them to stop fighting but then I saw it. Buffy pushing Ted down the stairs, him landing on the floor with a horrible thud. Mom checked him but she said he was dead. Then the cops came. There were lots of police cars and sirens and Buffy was taken away by the cops. I couldn't believe he was really dead. With all the crazy stuff going on around here, he couldn't really be dead. I could see our lives spirally out of control, Buffy being taken away forever and it being just me and mom. She'd never get over it.
Apparently Buffy isn't in trouble because Ted hit her. And she's a minor. So we went home and mom put me to bed, she told me everything was going to be okay. I don't know if she's right or not.
Ted was a robot. I know that now. Which means Buffy was right and there was something up with him. How can mom not have known he was robot? We were sitting on the couch together, all three of us, after the whole thing was over, after Ted was powered down. Mom said she was swearing off men for the time being, I wanted to say something about dad but I didn't, because she was smiling and she seemed happy. Talking about dad might make her sad. But this time when she said everything was going to be okay, I believed her.
Dawn Xx