Janie gazed at the vortex, hardly daring to breathe. She was only 8 years old, but she was a smart girl and could tell when someone -- or something -- didn’t like her. She knew the vortex was a robot that was hard to understand, so she wasn’t sure whether it actually hated her or just wanted to eat her simply because it liked to eat things.
Janie stood in the kitchen watching it, wishing she could ask it why it wanted to do mean things to her. The vortex stood by the dishwasher. It was a shiny metal device shaped like a bent stovepipe, with a pair of boots like those that astronauts wore on TV sticking out from beneath it. It had no eyes or nose. But she thought its head was the bent part at the top of the pipe and the pipe hole was its mouth.
She shivered. The pipe was pointed right at Janie again, and the vortex was edging toward her. “Mommy!” she cried. “It’s coming after me again.”
But her mother wasn’t listening. She was yelling at some man in the bedroom, and he was yelling back. They were fighting about money she thought he owed her in exchange for something bad she’d done for him.
Janie was about to run away when the vortex stopped moving. But its pipe hole was still pointed at her.
“You stay away,” Janie yelled. “I don’t like you. You’re ugly and weird. I wish you weren’t even in my house, and I hope a scrap angel comes and takes you away.”
The vortex stayed still.
The bedroom door slammed open and the strange man walked out, buttoning his shirt. He yelled something bad at Janie’s mother and left. She came out in her bathrobe. She had a bruise on her cheek and her hair was a mess.
Janie’s mother had a handful of needles in her hand, and she tossed them into the vortex. A sucking, grinding noise came from the ugly robot for a moment.
Janie’s mother ran her fingers through her hair. “I’ve got to go out and do some work. I’ll be back in a few hours.”
“Don’t leave me,” Janie said. She pointed at the vortex. “I’m scared of it.”
Her mother sighed. “It’s just a trash remover, honey. Like I’ve told you many times, the government says every house has to have one to protect the environment. Even if I got rid of this one, they’d just bring a replacement. And they might find traces of bad things that I threw in there.”
“I don’t care. I want a new one. A scrap angel could take it away.”
“That’s true. But then I’d get nailed with a hefty bill I can’t afford. I’m sorry, Janie.”
Janie started crying. “Why do you always leave me alone at night?”
Her mother looked away. “Those are my work hours. But I’ll be home as soon as I can.”
“With another man?” she asked, already knowing the answer. Her mother glared at her. “None of your business. Another word about that, and I’ll slap your face. God, I need some meth.”
Janie knew what meth was. It was that stuff in the needles her mother put in her arm that got her high. She never let Janie try it, even though she always said how good it made her feel.
“I’ll call a scrap angel,” Janie said, stomping her foot.
She slapped Janie’s cheek and it stung. “Better not! I’ll take a belt to you. Besides, they don’t listen to little kids. In fact, kids who call them get in big trouble and end up getting taken away by social workers. Then they end up
living with weirdoes like my old boyfriend Ron. Remember Ron?”
Janie cringed, but she wouldn’t let herself remember.
“That’s the type of person you’d end up living with. Still want to make that call?”
Janie shook her head.
“Get some sleep, Janie.” Her mother put on that nasty perfume she always wore when she went out to find men, and she left the house.
Janie was alone -- except for the vortex, which was still watching her. Now that her mother had left, she was sure it was going to try to suck her in and eat her. She wanted to hide, but she felt she would be too scared not knowing what it was doing. Janie had to stand there and watch it until her mother returned.
Just as she thought, the vortex stepped toward her. She looked into its pipe hole, and saw rubbery, bumping things writhing around. Were those its teeth?
“Stay back!” Janie yelled.
But she knew it wasn’t going to listen. It had been chasing her more and more when her mother was gone -- like it was getting bolder.
It lowered its head, then raised it slowly, as if looking Janie up and down. Then it lumbered after her. She ran to the living room and tripped over a shoe.
This time it caught Janie and sucked her in. She screamed with all her might as she was pulled inside. But then Janie realized it wasn’t hurting her. She could see out of the pipe hole. The vortex was taking her from the house. But to where?
All the vortex could do was waddle along slowly, determined to take Janie somewhere. Finally it carried her into a building full of frowning, concerned adults and spit her out. She was okay, but they called a repairman who came to take it away.
Janie cried and hugged it -- realizing it had only wanted to take her to someplace safe. It just stood there quietly gazing at her while the repairman shut it down. He said it must have gone crazy and would need its brain replaced.
But Janie would never forget.
Robert E. Keller has written two epic fantasy novels and is currently working on an urban fantasy. He also has published a number of short stories in various magazines with several stories pending publication. For details, visit his Web site: www.scrollsofatlantis.com.
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Speculative Flash Fiction - Text and Audio
