The Monster Machine

The Bottom

Tova's eyes blinked awake and she began to cough. She inhaled lungfuls of air, trying to regain what little strength she had left. She couldn't see much around her, it was very dark. She felt weak and bruised. Her head ached when she rolled it around, and she felt pain throughout her entire body. Tova tried looking up, to see how far she had fallen. She saw the faint glow of light above her and it continued upwards into darkness, as if the pit she had fallen from was flipped upside down. She didn't know how far up it went. Or how far down she had fallen.

As she began to recollect her thought, her memories also returned. She had escaped from Argo and freed herself from the machine that tried to take her apart. And now it seemed like she had fallen to the depths of the underground. At least, she assumed this had to be the bottom. She wondered if it went any deeper than this. But she didn't focus on that thought for very long. She couldn't stop thinking about what Argo had done to her. He promised that she would be safe. He promised that he would take her to the safe place himself. She couldn't believe that he had lied to her all along! She didn't understand why he would do that, but she began to hate herself for putting so much blind trust in him. But when she thought about it even more, she realized hate wasn't really the word she'd use to describe it. Disappointed was a better adjective. She didn't know anyone else besides her father and Maria, so she couldn't entirely blame herself for trusting him.

And then she suddenly remembered the box. Something sunk in her chest and her heart began to race again. She had left the shoebox back on the coffee table! All the stuff she wanted to look at was gone! All her questions she wanted answered... there was no way she'd be able to get it back. She still had Maria's note in her pocket which brought her some sense of comfort. She sighed at the loss of the important items and decided it was best to start getting out of here.

Tova tried to stand up, but immediately felt a sharp pain shoot up throughout her and slumped back down in the ground. She sat up slowly instead, trying to find the source of the injury. She looked down at her leg which had been lying strangely limp in front of her. She reached out and touched it with her hand and reeled back instantly in pain. Her leg had never hurt like this before. Tova knew something was wrong with it. Very wrong. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to stand. And if she couldn't stand, she might as well be stuck here. Tova took a few deep breaths to try and calm herself. She thought the best she could do was probably crawl. She hoped that would get her somewhere, at least.

"Hey."

Tova gasped and reeled around. A heavily hooded figure stood above her, looking down with a dark face.

"Who are you?" they asked sternly. Tova began to breathe heavily and tried to shuffle away from the figure.

"No! Stay back! Don't come near me!" she pleaded. She backed herself into a tiny ditch that she couldn't crawl out of and began to panic even more. The stranger approached her slowly and pulled off their hood. Tova gasped at the sight of their face.

It was another woman. With long red hair and a cloak that draped down to her knees.

"Woah, woah! Calm down, I'm not gonna hurt you! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." the woman said calmly. Tova felt tears well up into her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. She was in too much pain to show anything else and she didn't know what to say. Her leg twitched and she suddenly winced in pain. The woman noticed it.

"Are you hurt?"

Tova sniffed, looking up at the woman and nodding. She didn't dare look her in the eye.

"What happened to you?"

Tova was afraid to speak, but she didn't think she'd be able to get away this time. She swallowed and opened her mouth.

"...I f-fell." she replied weakly.

"What was that?"

Tova pointed upwards, "I fell." she repeated. The woman looked up to where she was pointing and understood.

"Is it your leg?" the woman asked. She kneeled down and hovered a hand above Tova's injured leg. Tova winced before she even touched it and gritted her teeth in pain.

"Sorry, sorry! It must be pretty bad then."

Tova sniffed and looked up at the woman somberly.

"What's your name?" the woman asked. Tova opened her mouth to reply, but only breathed heavily instead. She inhaled sharply and concentrated on her words.

"I-I'm Tova..." she squeaked.

"Tova? Tova... Oh, Tova!" the woman shouted. She gasped as she stood up and smiled ecstatically.

"Tova! I've been looking for you!"

Tova shrunk back in the hole in confusion. Her sudden reaction startled her a bit.

"Y... y-you what?"

"You know Maria right? She told me you'd be coming here. I was supposed to meet you further up so I could take you home. You must've fallen pretty far if I found you this quickly."

Tova's eyes widened in surprise.

"Y-you... your..."

"Ah, right. My name's Madeline. I'm Maria's old friend."

"...Madeline?"

"Yep. She told me everything about your father and what he's been planning. But you don't need to worry about him anymore. From now on, I'll be the one keeping you safe. That's a promise."

"My father..? He's planning something?"

"Oh, don't worry. I'll explain it to you later. First, let's get you out of here. Can you stand?"

Tova shook her head. Her leg still hurt pretty badly and she struggled to climb out of the ditch she was stuck in.

"Oh, hang on. Here, c'mere..."

Madeline reached over and grabbed Tova's hand and carefully pulled her out. She pulled Tova close and stood up, leaning her weight on Tova's good leg. Tova cried out in pain and leaned against Madeline.

"You okay? When we get back, we'll have someone look at your leg. You'll be lucky if it's not broken. You think you can try moving?"

Tova breathed heavily, trying to balance herself against Madeline. She winced and nodded, hoping it wouldn't take long to get to the safe house so she could rest.

"Okay, don't worry. We're not too far away. We'll get you fixed up soon enough. Let's go."

They walked slowly through the darkness. Madeline made sure not to go too fast so Tova could keep up and not risk injuring her leg further.

"H-how did you find me?" Tova asked weakly.

"Hm? Oh, I was on my way up to meet you when I heard this big crash over here. Lots of random stuff falls down here all the time, so I thought I'd check it out to see if I could find any useful scrap. I didn't expect to find you with it. I'm honestly surprised you survived. I know it seems hard to tell, but you're a long, long way from home Tova."

Tova thought about this for a minute before finding the courage to ask another question.

"Um... Can... Can I...?"

"Huh?"

"I can... trust you..... right?"

"What? Of course you can. If you trusted Maria enough to take care of you, then you can definitely trust me. I know... it's not the easiest thing to do down here, much less find someone who can keep their word, but you don't have to worry about that with me. I promised I would keep you safe and I will."

Tova hung her head. Despite everything she had been through, her trust in other people was beginning to waver. But in her injured state, she guessed she had no option but to go along with Madeline. But she had a feeling that Madeline was being honest, and if she did trust Maria enough, she guessed it be worth trusting Madeline.