Axel

  I don't know what this thing is or where the hell it came from, but more importantly, I have no fucking clue what it will do. If I'm faster than it, I can make a break for the door and get mom out of the house too. What's most important is that I make the first move. As it stands now, I'm currently facing the door, and this thing is behind me, I can make it to the door quicker than it, despite those long-ass arms. If I'm doing this, there isn't a better time than now.

  I break into a sprint towards my door and nearly fumble the knob. I pry it open and race down the hall. My family lives in a one-story house so there isn't much of it to cover and I get to my mom quickly.

"Mom, we need to get the fuck out now!"

  "Ok, ok, stop! First, what's happening? Second, please don't talk like that in front of me." Mom is understandably confused, but I don't have time to explain. That thing is already making its way down the hall slowly towards us.

  "It's already coming down the hall; we need to leave now!"

  Mom turns to look down the hall then back to me, "There's nothing there Axel, are you alright?"

  "What do you mean...?! You can't see that?" It's right on top of us now, looking down at us. Out of pure instinct, I push my mom towards the front door, followed by a punch directly at that things' face. I lunge forward to throw all my weight behind this punch, but it just leans back, and I stagger past it. I should have missed, my fist clearly missed, but I also felt an impact, like my arm slightly extended, or something extended out from me. Whatever happened, something clearly hit it and sent it flying back to the end of the hall and into a wall. The thing's head was entirely bashed in and lying motionless on the floor.

  "Axel, what was that about?" Mom starts to pick herself up and understandably starts getting concerned about me. Still, my focus was now entirely on the now broken creature at the end of the hall. It isn't moving, but something is still happening to it. Starting from the head, it looks like the damage from my punch is spreading throughout the whole body now, and the creature is completely breaking apart and disappearing. It only took a few seconds, but the creature that, surprisingly, went down pretty easy is gone now without a trace of it even existing.

  I calmed my mom down and made sure she was ok and made up a BS excuse as to what that freakout was about. I don't think she bought it. I went back to my room to piece together what the hell just happened.

  So before that thing showed up, I was holding the box and photo in my hand. While I held both items, I followed the words on the back of the picture of my grandpa and read the words, Tijuana Brass. After that, the metallic creature appeared behind me. I was able to beat it pretty easy, too, so what if I tried doing it again.

  I place myself against a wall, if it does come back then I want to see how it even got in my room, to begin with. Clutching the photo, I repeated the same phrase I said last time, "Tijuana Brass." Sure enough, what happened in the hall is now happening in reverse. I have a better look at it now since it's an arms-length away now. Again it looks like a tall machine, but the way it's forming makes it almost look fluid at first until it settles into its shape, making it look solid. I have no clue where this material is coming from. Just like in the hall where it dissolved into nothing, it's being created from nothing. Just like in the hallway, it only took a few minutes for it to finish forming, and now we're face to face.

  "...What do you want?" I didn't take much time to get the question out, I've beaten this thing already so I can probably just as easily do it again. I'm in complete control now.

  The creature takes a minute to collect itself before finally looking back at me. I'm now noticing that its eye is falling out of its socket, exposing some wiring. It began to open its maw, and I was about to instinctively throw a punch at it, but I kept my composure and listened to its answer. "I'm terribly sorry, but I'm unable to answer that question. Perhaps you have another one for me, sir."

  ...What? That was very polite. " Uh... Why are you in my room?"

  "I'm terribly sorry, but I'm unable to answer that question. Perhaps you have another one for me, sir." It... it just gave me the exact same response. Is it like that scene in I Robot, where that hologram of the doctor could only answer specific questions? I grabbed a baseball off the top of the cabinet next to me and held it up to it.

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  "This baseball in my hand, this baseball right here that I just picked up. Do you know what people call this ball that is normally called a baseball?"

  "I'm terribly sorry, but I'm unable to answer that question. Perhaps you have another one for me, sir." That didn't work either. I look down at the photo of my grandpa and ask another question.

  "Who is in this photo?"

  "Why that is Stevens Holt, a prominent ex-air force mechanic with a degree in Archeology and a Bachelor's in Science. As of now, he's 41 years old."

  "No, hold on. That name's wrong. Just now, you said the guy in this photo's name is Stevens, are you sure?"

  "Of course! With the information that I have present, the gentleman in the photo is without a doubt, Stevens Holt!"

  "What information are you going off of?"

  "I'm terribly sorry, but I'm unable to answer that question. Perhaps you have another one for me, sir."

  How could it not know this? It was just talking about that information! "Fuck off with that shit, you shitty garbage can! You just said you were getting this false information from somewhere, where?"

  "I'm terribly sorry, but-"

  "Naw, we're done with that bullshit now! Why are you calling this man Stevens Holt and not Emil Collins?"

  Almost in an instant, the creature stiffens up and increases its gaze on me. Before, it was passive and kinda aloof, but it looks agitated now.

  "Forgive me, but this line of questioning must come to an end. Call me again when you are ready to ask more appropriate questions. Sir…"

  The machine begins to fall apart and disappear into nothing. For some reason, asking for my Grandpa's actual name pissed it off. I could get Tat's help with this, she's better at figuring out shit like this. However, I was able to beat this thing in one punch. That threat caught me off guard, but I floored that thing with no problem before. I have nothing to be scared of. On top of that, it didn't give that "I'm terribly sorry" shit, so it has to know something.

  I keep my back to the wall and announce “Tijuana Brass”. The creature appears again and we’re face to face a third time. “Alright, what can you tell me about Emil Collins?” For a while, the creature doesn’t say anything and so I decided to grab the thing by the throat and intimidate it. If it can get mad it can get scared. “The silent act won’t work either asshole! Give me all the information you have on Emil Collins and...” I go to grab the machine's neck... No, I don’t feel anything, it feels like I’m grasping at air. I begin to move my hand straight down while it was still in the machine's throat. My hand, while still inside the machine, was moving freely without any resistance, as if nothing was there. There weren't even any indentations on the machine. It was like my hand never even touched it. Was this thing actually a hologram? But then what did I hit before? That was real before, right?

  The Machine begins to turn away from me and starts making its way towards the door. “Fucking A, we’re not done here!” I desperately try to grab at the machine, but every swipe I make just passes right through, no matter how many times I try I can’t land a single hit in. The machine- “ghost?” grabs the doorknob, opens the door, and begins walking out. “Answer my fucking question! Stop ignoring me!” I hit it before. I only needed one punch before so I should be able to just fucking grab it!

  As it leaves the door I lunge at it again. I swing at it the fucking thing, but it slams the goddamn door on my fingers. “Fucking… Shit!” Did it just attack me? It isn’t letting go of the door either, and its grip on the knob is as rigid as steel. It feels like it’s trying to do some real damage to me anyway it can! I use my free hand to try and force the door back open. After a bit of struggling, I was able to easily pry it back open, meaning I could also easily overpower it. Clearly I’m physically stronger than this walking scrap pile, but I can’t even fucking touch it!

  I chase the creature down the hall. Think! Even if I can’t physically touch it there has to be something I can do to keep it from doing anything. I see the monster gliding up ahead towards the kitchen and I follow close behind it, full sprint.

  I stumble out of breath into the kitchen and my mom’s in there too. Course’ like earlier she doesn’t see it. She probably didn’t even notice anything, aside from me, coming in here. “Axel while you’re here, I think now is as good a time as ever to talk to you about some of your bad habits.” My mom is preparing beef stew for dinner and right next to where she is working is that damn machine only I can see. “Lately you’ve been acting as if something has been bothering you” She’s looking directly at me now, not at the food or knife she’s been cutting with. “Axel, if you need help with something you know I’m always willing to talk and help wherever it’s needed.” That damned machine is looking right at the knife. “But, I can’t do anything unless you say something. I know you don’t like asking for help, but you can’t take on everything in life on your own.” Right behind my mom the machine picks up the knife and starts staring me down from across the kitchen now. “There’s nothing wrong with asking for help.” The machine brings its arm back...

To be continued