Wendy
*
No, no, no.
The call ended. A panicked Wendy looked at her phone. She pressed the buttons on the sides, at the top. Nothing. Dead battery.
Tears welled up in her eyes. "Javi," she whispered at the blank screen. "You always say charge your phone, and I always say yeah. But noooooooo." She squeezed her eyes shut. "I didn't this time. I didn't, I didn't, I didn't."
"Oh, Wendy!"
Wendy's eyes opened and her head snapped up. The surrounding air was filled with whimpers from students, her friends. She had hurried off on her own the moment the afternoon assembly went terribly wrong. No one mentioned androids visiting from Bionics before the classes sat down in the auditorium.
No one told Wendy they'd be looking for her.
"Wendy!" a voice called again.
She didn't know why she was so important. The androids who came were horrifying. Each had red eyes, dark clothes. They scared everyone in the school the second they walked on stage. And when the android with the black hoodie grabbed the microphone and called her name, she did the one thing she knew she had to do.
She ran.
"Come on." Footsteps followed the taunting voice. There was something about it that had her attention—a sound and tone so familiar—but her instincts told her she needed to hide. Javier explained to her that androids could see everything that moved. So, if she remained still, it couldn't find her.
I know you're coming, Javi. Peter Pan always saves his lost boys.
"Wendy, Wendy, Wendy," it called again. "I just want to talk to you."
Wendy pressed her hands flat against the floor. With her legs stretched out in front of her, she focused on her shoes. A distraction. They were the same shoes Javier bought her last Christmas. She loved the yellow fairy on the side; they easily became her favorite pair of shoes. They calmed her down.
"Wendy!" This voice was different. Smaller, frightened. Wendy looked left to see her friend, Paulina, curled up beside the end of the seats with her knees pulled up to her chest. Her tearful eyes peered in Wendy's direction. Slowly, she rocked as she lowered her voice to a whisper, "Wendy...."
Wendy sucked in a deep breath. Paulina was terrified, and Wendy knew she couldn't have been the only one. The students were spread out, huddling close to one another for protection. But Paulina was alone. She had to have called out to Wendy for help. To be with her.
Wendy couldn't leave a fellow lost boy alone.
As a teacher screamed at the front of the auditorium, pleading with the androids to let the students go, Wendy got on all fours and crawled. Slowly, quietly, she made her way over to Paulina. With extended hands, they grabbed each other, and Wendy gave her a weak, reassuring smile; she tried her hardest to hide her own fear.
"It's okay," she whispered, squeezing Paulina's hand. "It's okay."
Paulina shook her head, shutting her eyes as she shook her head. "They're going to kill us. They're bad." She sniffed. "My mommy saw the news and the robots hurt people."
Wendy had seen the news, too. Her mother always watched the reports in the mornings with her coffee. So, Wendy knew. But she didn't believe it. At least, not all of it.
Not all androids were bad. Javier was an android and he was the sweetest of them all.
"My brother's coming," Wendy whispered. "He'll protect us."
Paulina snapped her hand back, shaking her head once more. "Your brother is a robot, too." She wiped her nose.
"He is." Wendy sat back on her legs. "But he's not like them, he's different. He's—"
"Oh, Wendy!" the voice called out for her again, closer than before. The footsteps sounded two rows behind her. Snapping her head up, Wendy held her breath.
Paulina craned her neck, trying to see over the wooden seats. Her eyes slid left, then right, before widening and squeezing shut. Whimpering, she brought her head down against her knees. "You said he would save us," she cried. "Then why? Why? Why?"
Wendy pushed her brows together. "What—"
"Wendy!" This time the android sounded angry. Impatient. Wendy's head snapped back around as she saw it close by. Its back was turned, shoulders lifting in frustration. One hand lowered the hood from on top of its head. "Wendy!"
Wendy quickly looked back at Paulina. "We need to move. He's coming, he's—"
"Why is your brother doing this?" Paulina's tearful eyes peered at her, brows pushed close together. "Why?"
My brother?
Wendy's heart sank. Not all androids were the same. Why did Paulina have to loop Javier into this? He had picked both of them up from school before. Paulina loved her brother, had explained how she thought he was so cool. What changed?
"WENDY!"
Wendy jumped at the sound of her name. The sound echoed, ricocheting off the walls like a bullet. And like a car at the start of a race, Wendy took it as her cue. She crawled as quickly as she could to the corner of the row of seats. Then stood.
And ran.
"Wendy!"
Pumping her legs and arms as hard as she could, she ran to the back of the auditorium, away from the android, away from the menacing robots it had brought along to the school. Tears slid down her face as fear gripped her chest. Paulina had asked the right question: Why?
Why did it come to her school?
Why did it take the teachers and students hostage?
And why did it keep calling her name?
"WENDY!" it laughed. "I see you!"
A whimper escaped her. There was nowhere to hide now. She had to get back doors. Someone had to have called the police. There had to be an alarm going off somewhere. Wendy told herself there needed to be an alert, a distress signal, anything that matched the pounding in her chest.
But as the footsteps behind her turned into a run, and a hand grabbed her elbow, snapping her back, she felt like there wasn't. No one in the city knew what was happening. And if they did, they were taking too long.
"Why did you keep running away from me?" the android whispered.
Holding her breath, Wendy turned and looked at its face. Then she laughed as more tears slid down her cheeks. The android was who she needed; her brother had come to her rescue.
Shutting her eyes, she grabbed him, hugged him tightly. She pressed her face into the clothes he wore and didn't care that they smelled like oil. He probably ran miles to get to her. He swore he'd always protect his lost boys and proved it.
"Javi," she whispered.
"Aw, this is cute," he snickered. "Does he like hugs?"
Wendy's eyes snapped open, but she didn't look up. She listened. Javier was an android with a heartbeat. It may have been artificial, but it was real to Wendy. It calmed her, reminding her that her brother was there to protect her.
But she pulled back, slowly shaking her head.
There was no heartbeat. Nothing. Silence erupted from the android's body like a nightmare.
It didn't let her go. "I like hugs, too," it said.
Wendy held back a cry. The android had Javier's face, his voice; every part of him was exactly the same. But Wendy knew it wasn't him. The love wasn't there, the heart and care for a younger sister. From the android, she felt the fury of a monster with her brother's smile.
"You're not Peter Pan," she whispered.
"Don't know who that is," it smirked, "but I can be Javier if you let me. Come on."
Wendy tried to pull her hand free. She cried when it didn't let go. "He's coming!" she shouted. "I called him and my brother is coming!"
The android's eyes glowed red as its smirk turned into a menacing grin. He dipped his head to one side, observing Wendy, then scanning over the panic in the room. The cries had died down into quiet whimpers.
The android snorted. "Good." It looked down at her and into her green eyes. "I wanted you to call him."