𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐂𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘 》 HOGARTH HUGHES

Metal Man

''C'mere, idiot,'' She whispered, Hogarth tilt his head backwards and (Name) easily fastened it. The two friends saluted each other. Hogarth grabbed his red and black coat whilst (Name) grabbed her large, blue Camo one. They begin to follow the large footsteps.

In the forest, the kids quietly walk, seeing damaged trees with broken limbs, having to step over the occasional fallen branch every now and then. Then they see a light source, hiding behind a nearby log, they prepare for battle. Hogarth cocks his gun, (Name) following pursuit as the two took deep breaths.

They turn back around and 'stealthy' make their way towards the light, finding it to be a power station. They look around quietly, not noticing a giant figure behind them. They hear a loud snap and freeze, slowly turning around. They gasp upon seeing the giant robot. They begin to run, but Hogarth trips, causing (Name) to fall on top of him, landing in a push-up position. Hogarth loosely wraps a hand around her waist, gently pulling her to his hip so he could see past her, but he still allowed her shaking figure to latch onto him.

They watch as the robot steps over them, standing on the 'BB' gun, severely damaging it. They silently watch as the robot walks eagerly to the power station, picking up some metal before eating it. The kids watched, horrified as the Robot gets electrocuted and falls backwards, into the power lines, causing another shock to run through it. It roared loudly.

Back at home, Annie returned, letting her hair down and sighing, she spots mud on the floor that looked smudged and scrubbed. She smiled, (Name) had cleaned up. She was a good kid, that one.  She walked into the room to see the mess they had created. This mess belonged to hers, Hogarth. ''Oh, kids.''

Back in the woods, the robot continues roaring as the kids cover their faces. Then the power goes out in the neighbourhood, including Hogarth's house. So Annie grabs a flashlight and turns it on. ''Hogarth? (Name)?'' She said softly, heading upstairs.

The robot is still roaring and the power station tower falls, the two friends scream and scramble from the floor and begin to run.

Annie checks Hogarth's bedroom, ''Kids?'' She realises that Hogarth's beds empty, so's (Name)'s sleeping bag. She turns around, shocked, ''Kids!?''

As the kids run, (Name) slows to a stop. ''(Name)! What are you doing?'' Hogarth yelled.

(Name) turned towards the robot, seeing it in pain as it continued to scream, trying to untangle itself. ''We have to help him,'' (Name) said, turning towards Hogarth, though she was still shaking slightly.

''Okay,'' Hogarth smiled, nodding. He admired his friend, he really did.

The two begin to run towards the power station, the robot falling to its knees in agony. They spot the power switch. Hogarth pulls on it, but it doesn't move. (Name)puts her arms atop of the bar and pushes it down, lifting her body weight onto it as her feet came of the ground. It moved a few inches down. Hogarth did the same thing. They fell off as the switch moved downwards, turning down.

The robot falls to the floor, shocked - pun intended.

They crawl up the broken robot, Hogarth throwing a stone at it, but no effect. (Name) throws a stone in the giants mouth. The robot starts to wake up and (Name) regrets every decision she's made that week - including eating so much food during the movie, she had a feeling she might see it again.

They see a car coming and instantly run up to it.

''Help!

''Stop!''

''Help!''

The car stops in front of them and Annie climbs out. ''Hogarth, (Name)? Kids!''

''Mum!'' His mother runs up to them, engulfing them in a quick hug before pulling away and giving them a scolding look. ''What do you think you two are doing? Don't you know better than to wander off at night alone? What if something happened to you two?''

''I'm sorry, mum,'' Hogarth said.

(Name) tried to apologise too, but the events of what had just happened caught her up and she began stuttering.

''Oh, (Name). You're as white as a ghost, kid. Come here,'' Annie said, opening her arms up. (Name) stumbled into her motherly embrace, shaking slightly.

''Don't you ever do that again, you two, do you hear me?'' She said, gently stroking (Name)'s hair. (Name) was like the daughter she never had. Sometimes she'd take on the mother role as (Name)'s was busy all the time. She kinda hoped to be her mother  - or, well, hoped to be mother-in-law of someday, but she had a long wait for that to happen. ''I was so scared, I thought I'd lost the both of you.''

''Mum? You won't believe this - something ate our TV antenna,'' Hogarth told her, his mother groaned.

''Oh Hogarth,'' she said.

''No! No! I'm serious! Oh, but it's not sputnik, like Mr Stutz thought,'' Hogarth said as Annie began to walk towards the car, taking (Name) with her as the girl was latched onto her side.

''Hogarth,'' Annie warned.

''No, it's a robot! No, really, it is!'' Hogarth continued. ''It's, like, 100 feet high! And it eats metal!''

''Stop!'' Annie yells. Hogarth silences himself. ''Look, Hogarth... I'm not... I'm not in the mood, and I don't think (Name) is either. I'm taking you both home, okay? Make her some Hot Chocolate, it helped her sleep, then you're both straight to bed.''

At the mention of (Name), Hogarth's face softens and he nods, moving forward to take the girl from his mother as he helped her into the back of the car. It was odd, whenever they were watching or studying a horror film in class, the girls would scream and he would roll his eyes. He thought (Name) did the same, but now that he thought about it, he could remember her putting her head on her desk and covering her ears.

He thought she liked horror films, how wrong he was. He sighed as she curled up into his side on the ride home. He heard soft snores and smiled, placing his head on top of hers, his eyes slowly closing too.