Chapter Text
“Sir, is everything okay? Is he alive?” I stood at the front door, nearly out of breath from rushing to the mansion so quickly. It was unusual for him to call her at this time at night, so she knew what the occasion was for.
“Ah, yes come in!” He hobbled out my way so I could enter.
I noticed right away parts from his electronic assembly line were missing. I gave him a puzzled look, but he ignored me and led me behind all the bulky steel machines.
I was caught off guard when I saw a pale young man with raven colored hair staring back at me. I automatically backed away at the sight of his hands, but he just sat there calmly, his hands twitching every now and then.
I was always used to seeing him still and lifeless, but there he was, sitting upright and alive as ever.
The Inventor chuckled and gestured for me to come closer to him. “Nora, this is Edward. Edward, Nora.”
I overcame my shock and grinned from ear to ear. “Well hello there!” I kneeled down to see him eye to eye.
He shifted in his seat uncomfortably, clearly not used to human interaction yet.
“What do we say, Edward?” said the Inventor.
Edward’s hands continued twitching as he tried to remember. His gaze traveled around the floor as if it had the answers.
I answered for him. “We say nice to meet you.”
Edward finally looked at me, and his body language relaxed a bit. “...n...n…”
I remained patient and mouthed out every word to help him sound it out.
“Niiiice-” I started.
“N...nice...t-to.. meeeet.. you.”
I didn’t need to see the Inventor to know he probably had an excited sparkle in his eye.
“Very good!” I said. “It’s nice to meet you too, Edward.”
I never knew the Inventor died, nor did I know that he thought about me enough to put me in his will. But I suppose that’s what the lonely resort to.
I knew little about him, I just made sure the place was clean and every machine functioning properly, and in my last year working for him, I helped look after Edward.
I didn’t expect to be in his dying wishes considering that my ex husband forced me to quit.
In his will, everything went to me. Every acre of property on that deserted house. I had no clue what to do with any of it, and I’m sure he knew that before he passed.
The will came to me months late, so there would probably be a lot of maintenance that comes with the property. I could sell it, but what kind of person would that make me?
I drove down to the neighborhood, where the property loomed over the colorful neighborhood like a dark cloud.
This time, a group of kids were in front of the house with distressed looks on their faces. The moment they saw my car, they ambushed me.
I slammed on the breaks so I didn’t run anyone over. “Hey! What are you kids doing?”
One of the kids, a little girl, spoke up. “I dropped my ball over there.” She pointed to beyond the gate.
“Well why are you just standing here…?” I tried to sound as sweet as possible but it made no sense to me.
“It’s haunted!!”
“Oh now why would you say that?”
“I saw a monster up there!” She pointed to the house at the very end of the trail.
I simply went along with it. Nothing can stifle a child’s imagination. “Well alright, I’ll get it for you, love.”
I stepped over the fallen section of the gate and followed the trail of cracked, uneven concrete in my high heels. I was surprised at the beautiful scenery and the amazing garden work. Bushes two times my height were trimmed into figures like a hippo, birds, and a giant hand, which was closest to the actual house.
I found the ball lodged in between one of the bushes, and threw it out the gate.
“Thank you, ma’am!” I heard the girl exclaim.
“You’re welcome,” I replied, peering over the gate to see her. “now go play somewhere else, you hear?”
“Okay..” and with that, the girl and her cohorts scattered away.
I took the chance to study the scenery. Every shrub looked freshly clipped as if someone was here yesterday. I guess the Inventor managed to find someone else after all, and they could trim bushes better than I ever could.
I let myself into the mansion for old time sake, and everything seemed just how I left it, except dustier.
It broke my heart to see how things failed to carry on without me.
Out the corner of my eye, I could see a shadow peeking from the stairs.
“...hello?” I called, moving towards the silhouette. “Anyone here?”
I heard footsteps grow increasingly louder as the figure went down the steps towards me.
Edward emerged from the staircase. I could hardly recognize him at first; his hair was all disheveled and matted, and scars plagued his face.
“Edward??” My voice nearly broke. “ My Edward?”
He said nothing, he just stared at me as if I was a ghost.
I hoped the Inventor had a plan for Edward before he passed, but apparently he didn’t.
I held my arms out to him. “Come here, baby.”
He obeyed, and once he got close enough, I pulled him close to me in a tight hug.
He still remained stiff and silent.
“Do you remember me?” I asked, pulling away and holding his face. “I know it’s been a while, and I haven’t seen you since-”
“I remember,” he replied, his sad eyes filled with a sparkle of hope. “You came back.”
“Of course, I couldn’t leave my sweet boy,” my hand traveled to his hair, and it broke my heart to feel it so coarse and rough. It used to be the softest head of hair I had ever seen. “What happened to you? Why are you here all by yourself?”
“... he didn’t wake up.”
His words damn near crushed my soul. I could imagine how scared and confused he was to witness something like that.
“Oh, my baby...I’m so sorry,” I whispered, pulling him back into a hug. This time I felt his chin rest on my shoulder.
“Please don’t go away anymore.”
“I promise I won’t do that anymore, okay?” I broke away from the hug again to look into his eyes.
“...Okay.”
“You’re gonna come home with me this time.”
And then he gave me that precious smile I missed so much.
Everything in that house went to me: the property and all of the assets, including Edward.