Where Have We Come From?

I, The Hanging Lamp

I have got quite the story for you...

There was once a nice tall standing lamp. Called h'self Lampley. Well, Lampley's Mistress was a very nice lady called Maria St. Peters. One day, she gave h' to her brother, who owned a chop shop. Lived on the second floor of it, in fact.

Oh, he took Lampley apart. What agony 'e felt. And it seemed like the end for our protagonist...

Then one day, when his hanging lamp crashed to the ground, Elmo St. Peters took the old light fixture he had stored in a box and used it to replace the fallen light.

Oh, it was quite a shock, waking up and finding myself in the form you now see me in.

Yes, I was Lampley, once. Though that phase passed quite a while ago...

What is that desk lamp doing?

Crazy lamp. There's no escape from here.

Oh, the drills are going to murder h' for that...

Wha-?! Master St. Peters is knocked out!

And the vacuum incapicated both drills with one swing of h' cord!

Ultra is shouting "Jailbreak! Jailbreak!"

Celsius knocks down the door, sending Quadruped running for the hills!

This is impossible. It can't be happening.

But it is.

It seems that there was a way to escape, after all.

They have their freedom now.

They're going to go and find new homes, new Masters.

How I wish I could be with them...

I'm stuck in this backroom forever. For me, there really is no escape.

It seems that every time I told appliances there was no way to get out of the shop, I was really only talking about me.

Later That Night...

The drills are arguing about whose fault the escape was, and the soldering iron has just joined in. I really want to see how this ends, but I just can't seem to keep my eyes open...

White fog starts to fill the room, and the drills' argument fades to a background murmur as strange noises radiate through the room.

For a second, all I see is white. Then a hole forms in the dense mist.

Through it, I see... myself. This other me is smiling, and the Net of detached power cords is holding playing cards for h'.

The fog parts further, and I see that 'e isn't in the parts shop but is instead in some... well-furnished basement?

Cassy, Perk, Shadlez, Shar, and Ultra are sitting on the floor below that other me. They're also holding playing cards.

There's one more participant in the game, but 'e's blocked from my view by the fog.

Everyone's talking, and though for some reason I can't make out the words, the tone is clear: they're happy. Content. Having fun in a way that simply isn't possible in the shop.

An unseen door creeps open, and the appliances freeze and hide their faces. The cord Net drops the other me's cards.

The Master who walks into the room... he's Elmo St. Peters. Except... he looks different. Kinder.

He doesn't want any parts from the appliances. He isn't concerned with them at all. Instead, he drags something into view. A mirror, although I don't seem to be reflected in it.

Then the white fog starts to close around me again.

Now I see myself in the back room of the parts shop, only the back room is cleaned up.

Celsius is here, but there are magnets stuck to h' door.

Broken appliances line the shelves, but I don't see any familiar faces.

The door creaks open, but instead of Elmo St. Peters, a Master I don't recognize walks in. He grabs a vacuum cleaner and places it on the table, then opens it up and removes a thoroughly ruined motor. And then... he grabs a fresh new motor and slides it into place, wiring it up so the vacuum can function again.

He replaces the vacuum's faceplate and then carries it out of the room...

The alternate me reveals h' face once the Master is out of sight. 'E turns to the shelf and-

"Hey, wake up!"

Suddenly, in a flash of white, the fog comes and goes.

And I'm staring down at the soldering iron.

"What a strange dream." I say to myself.

"Hey," says the soldering iron, "What do you think? Who should've been watching the desk lamp? Aiyaia or Victor?"

"You, Pyrostanum." I say.

"Wha-? Me?"

"Yeah!" Aiyaia does the drill equivalent of smacking h' forehead. "You should've been watching h'!"

Victor agrees.

As they start to argue, my thoughts turn to the dream. I saw different versions of me. Happier versions of me.

I saw an Elmo St. Peters that didn't take appliances apart, and a Parts Shop that was actually a repair shop.

Did my strange dream show me things that might have been?