When we got back, the alarm went off in Matt’s office, meaning he just got something important from his boss. He went to take care of that, so I just went into the big room and went on my laptop. After watching some TV for a while, I dozed, but woke up to Matt. He came out, and he looked really worried.
  “Matt?” I said. “What’s wrong?”
  “It’s Mia. Something’s up, my mom said she just collapsed,” He said. Matt looked terrified, and I know why. His little sister meant absolutely everything to him, even more than his experiments.
  “Matt, calm down.”
  “No, Ron, this is one of those times when I can’t calm down. I have to get there now.” He started shoving stuff into his backpack. I put down my laptop and walked over to him.
  “Ok, you really have to calm down. Matt, chill out.” But he didn’t. He just kept shoving stuff. I grabbed his wrist and pulled him away from the desk. “Matt, I’ll go with you.”
  “No, I got this. Just stay here. You’ll be safe." I nodded. “Can you handle the night shift?”
“I think so. I’m not sure. Probably not.”
  “Hey, you got this. All you have to do is check the cameras every few minutes, keep an eye on the animatronics, and you’ll be fine. They’re turned off, but still, keep an eye on them.”
  “Ok. I think I got this.”
  “All right. Call me if anything goes wrong.”
  “Ok.” But Matt didn’t leave. Because just as the word left my mouth, I heard a door slam and the lock shift into place. “Matt, what’s going on?”
  “For once, I have no idea.” Then the worst possible thing that could happen, happened.
  The power went out. The room was pitch black, and I couldn’t see anything. I grabbed Matt’s arm for support. I felt his arms go up and his muscles tighten.
  “Matt…” I heard some pounding, and someone shuffling around.
  “Who’s there?” Matt’s voice seemed to echo off the walls. He pulled his arm free and pulled me to his side. I squeezed my eyes shut.
  On came the lights.
  “Sir?” Came a voice. We whipped around. Eli was standing right behind us. I sighed with relief.
  “Eli,” I said. “You scared us.”
  “What just happened?” Matt demanded. “Eli, are you trying to pull a prank on us?”
  “No, sir, I promise I’m not! I just went to finish up an assignment downstairs and the power went out. I went to the Testing Chamber and turned it back on, obviously because you two weren’t doing much.”
  “Thank you, Eli,” I said quickly. “That’s all.”
  “No, hang on,” Matt said. “Elijah, what did you just say?”
  “I said you and Veronica were too busy just standing there, so since I was obviously wasn’t doing anything,” Eli’s mouth puckered like he just tasted something sour. “I came all the way upstairs and turned on the power when you were both standing right in front of the door.”
  That was his big mistake. If there was something Matt hated more than anything, it was getting showed up, and he hates getting shown up by Eli. I braced myself for the explosion.
  “How dare you…” Matt said quietly. “How dare you? You know what, I’m done with your attitude. Get out. You’re fired.” I glanced at him.
  “What? Why?” Eli said alarmed.
  “You. Are. Fired.” He pointed at him, then to the door.
  “You...you can’t fire me. You need a lab assistant, you need me.” His face fell.
  “No, I have Ron. She’s always been my assistant.”
  “I have?” I asked. Eli dropped to his knees and pleaded with Matt, but he wouldn’t budge. I squeezed Matt’s shoulder.
  “Fine then. But I promise, you will regret letting me go. You only have six hours left.” He rose to his feet, turned around, and slammed the door behind him.
  “Matt…” Then his phone went off again. It was his mom. “What’d she say?”
  “My sister’s fine. She just overheated in the shower and passed out.”
  “Well, that’s good. You know, she’s ok.” He nodded. I checked my watch. “Come on. It's almost ten, and you have a busy day tomorrow. Get some sleep.” He went into his room, I went into mine. I pulled my hair back in a ponytail and changed into shorts and a tank top. Then out went the light and I plunged into sleep.

I woke up later to a banging sound. I sat up and checked my watch. 12 am. Brilliant. Then I heard it again, this time it was louder. I got up and went to turn on the light. But again, the power was out. I felt my way back to my bed and found a flashlight. I switched it on quickly and searched the room. Nothing. I went to the closet and checked in there. Nothing. It has to be coming from the lab. I grabbed my jacket and went out into the lab.
  I literally checked everywhere and found nothing. I shrugged and turned around to go back to sleep. But I felt a breeze, and fabric brushed against my arm. I froze.
  I should’ve stayed in my room.
  Matt said that the animatronics were off for the night. Now, I wasn’t so sure if he was right. I heard a thumping sound coming from the Testing Chamber door. I slowly started walking towards it, armed with only my flashlight. Reaching the door, I slowly put my hand on the handle.
  I opened the door, and felt a breeze fly next to me.
  Did I just see a flash of yellow?
  I shined my light into the room. Then I heard a door open behind me, and Matt’s voice shouting. I turned around, preparing to attack, and saw only long hard teeth baring from the animatronic’s beak. Matt screamed my name. Something slammed into my chest and I felt a searing pain. Then something crazy happened. In all of that, there was a little boy in the room. My brother Jason. Which scared me even more.
  Because Jason died in a car crash when he was three.
  He stretched out his hand. I reached for him, trying to take it. He smiled and laughed, calling my name, wanting me to join him.
  Oh, I want to, so bad. But then I heard Matt’s voice, calling my back to reality. Right before I knew it was over, I saw his face looking down at me, terror in his eyes. He was clutching my hand. I wanted to say something, but I could hear my voice getting fainter, almost gone. He leans down to hear me.
  “I’m sorry,” Was all I could say. And after hearing him scream, the world went black, and all I could see was Jason.
  “Ronnie, come back!”

“I’m sorry.”
  That was the last thing I would ever hear from my best friend.
  After Ronnie was torn to bits by that animatronic, I shut them down and destroyed them, making sure there was nothing left of them. Then I called Eli and welcomed him back. He accepted immediately. When he came over, I gave him his keys to the lab and we went to bed.
  Only I couldn’t sleep, at all. It was so hard to sleep knowing that an hour ago my best friend died, in our very lab. I knew that now I would never be able to sleep again with her death haunting me for the rest of my life. Because I didn’t save her. I knew this would always hang over my head. I could try to forget about it, but I could feel it like I could feel a blanket over my face.
  I don’t know how I did, but eventually fell asleep.

  It’s been a year since Ronnie’s death, and since then Eli and I had created thousands of new inventions that did so much for the world. We found the cure for cancer, and we prevented something people called World War 3. Eli now had a wife and a little girl he named Sophia. I threw my whole life and time into my work, and that’s how I climbed the ladder to success.
  One day, I was working on a report for my boss when the phone rang. I picked it up. It was the local police station.
  “Hello?”
  “Hello Mr. Hall.” It was Officer Brookes. “Are you busy right now?”
  “Um, no. Why?”
  “Well, we’ve been filing a report on Ms. Williams’s death. As it turns out, her death wasn’t mutual.”
  “Well, yeah. I mean I watched that machine tear her to pieces.”
  “Except did you have them turned off that night?”
  “Yes. Why?”
  “They were turned back on, and we believe that’s the reason your machines came to life. Do you know of anyone that would turn them on?”
  I racked my brain. Who would do something as stupid as turn on our most deadly weapons? Wait, there is one person who must’ve turned it on, but didn’t mean for her death.
  Eli.
  “Sir? Sir are you still connected?”
  “Yes. File a report Elijah Harris. I think he’s the one who turned them on.”
  “All right. I’ll send you an email once we’re finished.”
  “All right. Thank you.” I hung up and sighed, turning to the computer.
  “So you finally figured it out.” I froze and turned around. There standing in the doorway, was Eli.
  And behind him stood a brand new, polished animatronic.
  “Eli,” I said. “You turned the animatronics on that night. You’re the reason Veronica is dead.”
  “I told you that you would regret letting me go,” He snapped. “I gave you six hours to change your mind and take me back, but you didn’t. And now I can finally become the scientist I know I was destined to be, but you, Matthew Hall, are standing in my way. If I want to become great, I need you out of the way.” He pointed at me, and his animatronic jumped on me. The last thing I would ever see was the flash of white polished fangs, a searing pain in my neck, and then my head was rolling. In my mind I see a figure, a girl, wearing a white dress and her hair was down.

  "Ronnie?"