The square talking robot.
Peeking through the store stack like a top-level CIA agent searching for enemies, Tom pulled out the mystery letter and unfolded it, pressing it flat on the desk next to the keyboard.
He went through the letter again, grabbing what to search for on the internet. He hoped other people had received similar things and were writing about them on blogs or message boards. Holding his breath, he felt like he'd find something useful. Tom typed "M.S." and clicked "SEARCH. About 2,334,555 results popped on the computer screen.
Multiple Sclerosis websites, Manuscript, Microsoft support, and Miss UK were all displayed. Nothing about what Tom was looking for was listed. He also tried "forty-nine days plus five tomorrows," "Mark your calendar," and "Mysterious riddle."
Nothing useful popped up.
Tom sat back, discouraged. He stared at the screen for a few minutes with his head gone blank. He really did want to see someone in the same situation as him. Goose bumps climbed through his skin as he wondered if he was the only one left to face this kind of mysterious adventure.
The first letter had been addressed to "Dear Master Thomas," but the wording of the message made Tom think more than one had been sent out, a plea for help from anyone who was willing to give it.
Well, maybe he'd be the first one to post the clues out there for other people to find as he hoped.
Reconditioned by the thought, Tom typed the penpal's address because it was the only place he could think of to share the information.Then he logged in to his own section and personal profile. He described the information in the letter and listed some key words that could raise suspicions about what he was trying to say.After that, he clicked SUMBIT and sat back down, scratching his head, wondering if what he did would be fruitful or not. Hopefully, if someone searches for the same info that he has written, they can find his penpal site and e-mail him.
It was just a start.
~
The sun was up again, brighter than earlier. Tom clutched his package of wallpaper and some less adhesive gum, which he got from a store a few blocks away from where he got the wallpaper. He walked in the opposite direction from the place he'd come earlier, perfectly willing to take the long road as he remembered what transpired in the alleyway a few hours ago. His leg wobbled a bit when the image of the big eyeball popped into his head.
He walked all the way around the downtown area, doing his best to stay in most public places. The sky had melted into a dull light, the shadows of some buildings fading away at the moment. Maybe this is all a dream, he thought. I have been sucked out of the real world into a world of scary imagination.
A wave of relief washed over him as he approached the small section of forest that runs alongside his neighborhood's road. At that time, all he wanted was to go home and have some rest, then play some video games, especially Dex...
From the corner of his eyes, Tom saw something move in the tree as the bush surrounding it fiddled simultaneously, as if two squirrels were fighting over food which might've dropped into it. Becoming a bit curious, Tom looked intently. "Biptz bop... bitz... bop" were the sounds he started hearing like a mechanical cartoon robot.
"Bip... bip..bip..."
It was now sounding like a cardiac machine, which is used in hospitals. This can't be a squirrel or any animal, they don't sound like that, no way, Tom thought as he took a step forward.
Just a few feet away from him, a short shadow like a box loomed behind the tree, trying to conceal itself with the bip-bop and some mechanical junk sounds emerging from it.
It became immediately obvious to Tom that whatever loomed over the forest wasn't any type of animal. Shiver chided through him. Animals don't hide, Tom reasoned as he prepared to flee in case it was a second version of traumatization.
But then the thing decided to step out, walking, and its body was making a lot of tiny junk sounds, and the bip-bop was increasing as its pace was beginning to cut short with Tom. A crazy thought did enter his mind. What if it's a bomb robot? I should alert Dad and the neighbors to run for their lives. Another part of Tom's delusion was that his problem right away was watching a lot of sci-fi movies and cartoons.
Stopping a few paces away from Tom, the little square robot's voice was beginning to become clear to him. All the while he was hearing the "bip-bop" sound, the robot had been talking. It wasn't keeping shut even at that moment. Tom stared blankly at the metallic-colored robot with a blue-lighted pupil, circled by a bolt-like object that appeared to be protecting it. Its mouth is shaped like the form of a flat "U," opening and closing as it makes an unintelligible sound, which Tom couldn't process. But the robot did something strange, which amazed Tom at that point, and he was totally short of words.
"Hi Tho...biptz...Thomas Noland..."