Everything Breaks

Gunnar found himself in the factory trying to fix a machine he knew very little about. Of course his father would know but his father hadn’t showed up to work and hadn’t been at home this morning. He had no idea where he was. He wondered if his twin brother, Eben, was working in the factories today. He would soon find out since he would probably be working on this machine all day.

At last he was able to get the cover off so he could see into the machine. The belt was still smoking. He put on his gloves and started to look around in the machine for what was broke but tried not to touch the belt. He was able to find the part that broke off in a matter of minutes. The problem was now where to find a new one. He first had to figure out what it was.

“Gunnar,” said a small male voice. Gunnar got his head out of the machine and saw a little boy that fallowed him around all the time trying to learn the trade. “Good mornin’ Bolt,” he said. He felt bad for the young boy, Bolt, was such a horrible name. “Is there anything I can do for you?” asked Bolt looking at Gunnar with his big blue eyes. “Actually there is. Go to the parts shop and give the owner this and tell him it’s for Gunnar Dunbryll. Also tell him it’s from the factory and I need the new part soon as possible,” he said. Bolt took off running with the part as Gunnar shook his head and peered into the machine again. While he was here he may as well do some fine tuning.

I walked around the factories, just browsing at the other projects that people were working on. I had finished my days work not too long ago. I saw a young boy, Bolt, run out of one of the buildings with something in his hands. I guessed that Gunnar would be inside, since Bolt always followed him around. I stepped inside, and looked round for where Gunnar would be working. "Hey Gunnar?" I called out

Gunnar popped his head out of the machine when he heard his named called. Most likely it was someone looking for him since he was pretty sure that wasn’t anyone else named Gunnar around. “You called,” he said. He was pretty sure it was Eben by the voice but he never trusted just one sense.

A grin grew across his face when he saw Eben. He felt like he hadn’t seen his brother all week. Which was sort of true since they had different shifts at different places and got up at different times, it depressed Gunnar a bit. He didn’t understand how people did this all the time. It made him feel so lonely.

I smiled when I saw Gunnar, it had been like all week since he had last seen his brother. "Hey, hows the work going?" I asked him, as I walked over to where he was stationed. I took a seat down on one of the old office chairs, and spun around. I was glad to finally have a break from all the work that I had been doing, and be able to spend some time with my twin brother.

“Same as always, I really don’t understand why things break down so much,” Gunnar sighed. He had work every day even though all he did was fix things. He would never understand why everyday there was always something broken that needed to be fixed.

“Have you seen dad by any chance? He didn’t show up today at the workshop,” Gunner asked. He wasn’t sure where his dad was and it was bothering him. He didn’t think it was anything bad then he thinks of all the people he sees living in shipping boxes on his way home. It makes him sick. He felt horrible that he lived so well and they lived in boxes. He knew what Peacekeepers would do those people at night. Sneak up on them and kill them or capture them then kill them for a reason that could only be a lie.

I picked up a tool and flipped it over in the air a few times, and then handed it to Gunnar when he asked for it. "No, I thought dad was supposed to be out in the Vehicle Test Tracks today." I replied as I absent mindedly doodled on the wooden tool desk that was sitting in the workshop. It fascinated him to watch his brother do his work, he was a natural with the tools and knew pretty much everything about fixing machines. The only work I was good at was screwing things up. Most of my jobs included painting, or cleaning up after the others.

Gunnar nodded. “He hadn’t showed up at the shop, I was just confused on where he was. Good thing there wasn’t an order for anything bigger than this had come in. I can’t image what it would be like if one of the trains had pulled in,” he sighed. That would make sense why he hadn’t seen him all day. He was a bit mad that no one had cared to tell him. He knew Eben did but they hadn’t seen each other at all and Eben must have though she had known. But he hadn’t.

The machine started growling at him and he scowled. What else could be wrong? Then he remembered the belt. Oh boy, this was going to be fun. He hadn’t belts especially in the big machines. Right now he’d rather be working on a cargo train.

Gunner grabbed a few tools and looked back into the machine, the last thing he wanted was an fire. After a lot of cranking and yanking the belt came free. He dropped it on the floor when he got it out due to the fact it was extremely hot, he wondered how it hadn’t caught on fire.