https://files.catbox.moe/l6ze80.mp3

~Molly The Changed~

Corbin saw the lights around him blink out with a sudden flash. His eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness he felt had always surrounded him but was now visible in its full presence. The air grew cold, faint, as if he could feel it fleeing in terror from the door in front of him. The carpet had become like tar, gripping his body and keeping him frozen in place to the floor. He dare not breathe, worried he would attract the entity that had entered his home. He sat in silence, hoping that somehow, something would grab his hand and pull him from the current path his future was on. The shell of reality that the end of his days was at hand was shrinking around him at every second.

With a bump, with a thump, with a low hum coming from outside, he heard that something was moving around his abode. Him, and the entity that was stalking him, could feel each other’s presence. There were no lies, he knew and it knew what the purpose of each other’s actions were. Corbin hoped his parents would pull in and chase the specter away. They would, once again, be missing from this event in his life, like all the rest.

He couldn’t even process what it was, what it appeared to be. Was it really her? What happened? Not even a day ago everything seemed… normal.

The creaking of wood had crept along the floor towards his door, it was no longer so distant and so small. He could directly feel every step that was taken, the vibrations crawling along his skin to cradle his heart in fear. It knew, it knew exactly where he was. His only escape now was a fall to certain death from his mansion home that stood so tall in the face of all peasants that lived beneath his family.

His mind locked up, his heart pained and on the verge of short circuiting, when he noticed the door handle move as a hand gripped it on the other side. The knob remained still for a few seconds, was it waiting for his screams? His demands to be left alone? Corbin couldn’t fathom one answer over another. A small gurgle was heard on the other side that sent bumps across his skin, like the creature on the other side had to force it’s internal mechanisms to exert enough force to open the door.

The knob turned, Corbin sucked in a shot of air and stiffened his body. Slowly but ultimately, the door began to creek open. Perhaps now was the time for him to spring into action, to stop the monster and save himself, like the good guys who stop the bad guys from robbing a bank. But his body would not respond, his mind just kept repeating that it wanted this to be over, that it didn’t want the responsibility of defending itself and who could he seek out to make it stop.

He whimpered as the first part of the figure came into view, bizarre fingers in the shape of claws, damaged and looking like something had file them down to get them into that shape. It grabbed the edge of the door, gripping it hard enough to drag its claws and etch in scratch marks on it. The other arm came into view and showed that the figure had damaged its clothes. A green substance could be seen underneath and smeared on its hands.

As the door opened fully, enough for it to step inside, Corbin laid all claims of insanely seeing things to rest. It was real. Before him, wearing a damaged maid uniform, was his nandroid, Molly. He couldn’t comprehend what had happened to her, twisted and corrupted from within by a grotesque mutation of an origin he dare not contemplate.

Her legs had become disjointed, showing some of the mechanical hardware underneath with a wire poking out of her synthetic skin like a ripped vein. More of the green substance was spotted around where the hole was. Wherever there was a hole in Molly’s uniform, that same green oddity was visible. 

The true magnitude of her new appearance began from the neck up. It had become swollen with green flesh, hints of red appearing from underneath and possibly carrying a fluid around in her body. The neck was elongated, growing so large that she had gained several chins from the amount of mass she had accumulated. Corbin couldn’t comprehend it, her nandroid was always that perfect little robot that was an aid to her family. This thing, was more flesh than machine.

Molly’s mouth had been practically ripped from her head. The appearance of red flesh within had seared his mind in confusion as the flesh did not appear synthetic, but was of a genuine source. Whether that source was human or not, he could not say.

Molly had now fully walked into the room, completing her invasion of his home and spotting her intended target. She froze the minute her eyes had met Corbin’s. They were devoid of any notion that she was ever his precious nandroid. They had become black, as black as void itself. The only light that could be seen were faint blue iris’ that gave the indication she had some intelligence still within her mind. But, that same mind now had a filter that covered her in a corrupted visage of herself.

Without moving, Corbin could hear a thick substance sloshing around in her neck, something had broken through and punched a hole in it. “Corbin...” Molly said in a very low pitched rumble, caked in static and noise, “Bark for me.”

Corbin remained on the floor in silence. Not even beginning to register what she had said to him. The command was to become like a subservient dog, something his father had claimed some of the workers within his ranks were not even worthy of being.

Molly took another step closer, the fluid in her neck rumbling around and bulging out in different places. She didn’t repeat her instructions, knowing the child would never follow them. Corbin’s fear grew beyond what he thought was possible as she approached him. None of this made any sense, grinding against his mind as the pieces attempted to fit. Where was his caretaker? This thing surely couldn’t be her. No… no it couldn’t be. This thing, sweet and small and so loving to him for all his days, loving him more than his own flesh and blood because of their neglect and paths in life. This thing could not be Molly…

She took another step, and another… Raising her hand into the air. Whether it was Molly or not, no longer mattered. In fact, Corbin didn’t scream at all, realizing that nothing would matter in but a fraction of a second. The trail of memories ended with looking back at his life, his so called friends, his trolley rides every morning, the French and piano practice at night. Corbin didn’t mourn himself for he came to the conclusion that there was nothing to mourn. He didn’t exist, merely being molded to fit perfectly in the shadow of his father. He just wished… this wasn’t the end.

***

Franny’s systems had difficulty processing her surroundings, it was such a rarity to be stirred from sleep in her charging pod. Her eyes had flickered on, seeing a mixture of colored lights dancing around outside the closet where her charging pod was. Nathan was right next to her, yanking on her cuff and telling her to get up. As soon as he saw her optics turn on, he raced out the door and ran in the direction where the lights were coming from.

Amidst confusion and worry, along with a slight panic that something could have happened to Ryan. Franny grabbed the doorframe and leaned out to see what had happened. To her immediate relief, the lights were further away than initially assumed. Ryan was by the open front door and bolted out of it the minute he saw Franny was up. As she yelled for him to return, she chased Nathan out onto the front porch. There, she could see the lights were emanating from down the street. In the distance, sitting on a hill above everyone else, stood a mansion that was tall, proud, and bathed in the light of several emergency vehicles. Police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances were all parked outside the home of her dear friend, Molly.

She was shocked, worried, and became horrified when she saw one of the windows on the upper floors.

Where Corbin’s bedroom was, there stood a shattered window. The inside had the walls covered in red, the border around the window had a smeared green substance all over it.

She and the rest of her nandroid sisters, along with their children, had entered a reality that none of them were capable of considering could exist, even in nightmares.

He was gone...