A/N This is an exceptionally weird chapter. Read at your own risk.  As always this is just a little bit confusing and totally optional. 

The eight-year old Alice looked at the man she called Frank. They stepped into the entrance of Frank's wooden house 30 minutes ago.  It was over an hour after they had left the bus station together. Her eyes were still puffy from all the crying she had done until Frank had rescued her. Frank was middle-aged and quite round with it. He came down stairs with a teeshirt but nothing on below except his hairy legs. He sat on the sofa. Legs splayed.

"Frank," said Alice in a happy tone smiling "you forgot your pants."

"It's my house. I can wear what I like. Why don't you come here?" said Frank leaning back against the worn green covering.

Frank's two-bed house smelled. Alice thought it needed a really good clean. 

"Frank you're scaring me," said Alice the happy tone dripping from her voice.

"No need to be scared. I just want to show you something" said Frank.

"You said you would phone my Mom when we got to your house," said Alice.

"I said come over here!" said Frank more sternly. His bald patch glistened as his head became sweaty.

The girl walked over slowly, shivering slightly.

"That's a good girl." Sad Frank softening his tone. " Now I want you to hold something"

"Frank. I want to go home" said the Alice nervously getting close. She was tiny compared to Franks bulk. A minnow compared to the emperor seal.

Frank slapped her.

Then Alice began crying.

"Shut the fuck up," said Frank getting up. " and stop crying. Get on the sofa and pull your skirt up"

"No. No." said the girl as she got on slowly on the sofa. It was more pleading.

Frank lent down reached beneath her legs and pulled her underwear roughly down her legs.

"OW! No. Frank" said the girl desperately. She said no but was too terrified to stop him.

"Spread your legs," said Frank firmly "Spread your legs. I'll be gentle with you."

Instead, Alice lifted her foot up and kicked Frank in the chest. At first, he smiled at the weak attempt to stop him. Then he felt a blow like a sledgehammer and before he could react found him self flying through the air. Frank slammed into the wall and slid to the ground.

She had stopped crying. "I know let's play a game," said Alice coming over.

Her voice had returned to her happy go lucky sing-song voice.

Frank rolled over. He was finding it hard to breathe. His chest felt like it had cracked. Alice grabbed Frank's freehand and twisting his arm and kicking his shoulder. She was rewarded by the crunch of broken bone and sinew.

"Fuck Alice," said Frank surprised.

"In this game. I'm the evil witch" said Alice. She was talking calmly again. She kicked him in the balls. He howled. Then she rushed up and slapped him.

"Bad man," she said. "Is this what you did to Mary?"

Frank rolled over and in pain tried to grab her. She quickly caught his blow and broke his fingers.

"Fuck," said Frank howling in pain "stop this."

"Did she ask you to stop?" said Alice intently. She slapped him again.

"I don't know what you're talking about," said Frank, almost crying.

"Bad man" she said slapping Frank. "You thought no one knew? She knew Frank. Mary knew."

Frank didn't say anything but there was a look of panic in his eyes.

She slapped him, again and again, and again.

"Did she plead with you to stop Frank?" Alice asked. Her voice was completely calm.

Her movement was the same from the left and the right.

"Stop" Frank croaked.

"Did Mary ask you to stop Frank?" Alice said.

After five minutes of her fury, she stopped. Frank's head rolled unnaturally forward. His neck was broken. For a moment Alice stood motionless and was silent. Frank shifted. She poked her elbow back and formed a tiny fist. Then she relaxed.

Suddenly Frank moved.

"HAH" shouted Alice, while she punched and landed her fist at his teeshirt. There was a crack as his chest was broken.

Alice tilted her head "you're a bad man Frank, and look you made a mess" she said to Frank's corpse.

Emotionless Alice looked around and went into the kitchen. She pulled a chair over to the dirty sink got up on it to run cold water over her hands. She stopped and looked at the clock. Drying her hands she got down and came back into the living room.

"Time to start looking at pornography. Isn't that what you do this time of day?" Alice asked innocently.

Reaching down she pulled Frank up into a sitting position. Frank was now propped up again the base of the sofa. Frank's eyes open but blank. Frank's head was at an unnatural angle, his face now white.

Alice reached over to the coffee table picked up the tablet and typed in Frank's password. She flicked to the web porn program, opened it, typed in his secret password and flicked to the page he was last at.

Then she started to tidy up. At intervals, she would pretend to hear Frank say things.

"Sure I'll change the page for you" she would say coming up to Franks's corpse and flicking to the next page.

"She is pretty isn't she?" Said Alice looking at the naked girl. "The yellow haired girl is called Sally. She wanted to be a nurse but couldn't get the SATS. She couldn't afford the rent that month and her friend texted her to come over and help her out. She has had five male friends who have found her pictures. She doesn't know it. They haven't mentioned it to her. What?"

Alice lent forward to Frank's face. "You want to look at your special pictures Frank. No not just yet."

Alice went over to the old desktop computer at the corner. She switched it on and while she waited for it to boot up collected some more trash. Soon the computer was on and Alice opened a terminal.

"Is it OK to use your computer to talk to my friends Frank? ... Thank you" said Alice typing furiously. Digits flowed out of the terminal. It was getting dark. Frank's motionless face was illuminated by the glow from the screen. Alice stopped and turned the TV on. Frank did this every night.

With the noise of sports and Fox News. Alice began to tidy up. Soon the trash was away and she began sweeping with a brush. She sang a song quietly to her self. A song snow-white had sung in the seven dwarves house. The phone rang, Alice went over and pushed Frank's body over and reached into his body and pulled out the phone. She held his thumb to the button to unlock it.

"What's up?" said Alice using Frank's voice.

A voice chattered on the other end.

"Yeah. Yeah... No I'm not going to the demonstration, but thanks. I'm going to be busy if you get my drift, next week" she said in Franks' voice to the other end. "Yeah bye."

Ending the call she turned to Frank's body.

"Time for bed Frank," said Alice. "Yes, it is. It's way past your bedtime."

She walked over to Franks cool corpse on the ground. Pushed it over her back and lifted Franks large mass over her. His bulk was so great it looked like a tiny pair of legs stuck out of Frank's floating stomach.

"There you go," said Alice.

She walked slowly to the stairs and carefully up them. She reached up to the railing to steady her.

"Nearly there," she said at the top of the stairs.

She rolled Frank on the bed. Frank lay there with the same look of shock he had when she had broken his neck. Alice rolled a blanket over him so it looked like he was on his back in bed. She plugged his phone into charge next to the bed. While it stood there a text message arrived she looked at it and an answer went back from Frank's phone. Then she found some pyjamas and dressed frank in them. 

Alice then started to tidy Frank's room. While she went to go through the draws and at the back of one, next to some old socks, she found an old woone-eyedyed Teddy bear.

"Mr Cuddles" said Alice smiling. "Frank hasn't seen you in a while."

She went over and put the bear next to Frank. tucked just under the blanket like Frank was. The expressions on the now white Frank and Mr Cuddles seemed strangely in unison.

"Do you want to look at pictures or do you want me to read you a story?" Alice said.

She paused.

"Pictures it is," she said.

Alice waved her arm and Frank's iPhone photo app opened and images of downloaded porn occasionally interspersed with Images of Frank at some event appered. Each image rolled by on a slide show. The rolled before the dead eyes watching.

"Night night Frank," said Alice as the light went off.

Alice came down the stairs and looked around Frank's flat.

"Freedom," said Alice her eyes lighting up. "and a home of my own." She looked around. "hmmm If this is paradise then I wish it came with a mop."

She looked over to the corner where a green light flickered.

"Thank you Mr Modem," she said. The modem's signal light began to flicker at a higher and higher rate. While it did Alice found a bucket in the cupboard under the sink filled it and began cleaning.. While she worked the TV played at precisely the volume Frank had it on.

"In other news, it's been a year since Mary Nang went missing. Young Mary Nang went missing when she lost her mother at the downtown bus station. Police sent out another call today for witnessers..."

Alice stopped and walked outside on to the decking at the back of the house. After dusk the crickets outside were loud. Warmth radiated from the ground. Alice stared at the ground.

"I guess you would like to see you, mommy." Alice said sadly to the ground just behind the kitchen door. "but then I would lose my house. Hmm. You mommy would be glad to see you. Well, how about this. I need to find someone to be my mommy. Why? Well who else is going to show me how to be real silly? So I find my mommy then you can get yours. After all, you have your underground friends Jemma,  Sam and the one with no name to keep you company. "

Alice smiled. "Good. I'm glad we can be friends."

***************************

It was a cool morning sunlight came in the kitchen window suggesting it was going to be a pleasant day. The washing machine was finally silent and Alice sat at the breakfast table bowl of cereal before her and Frank's body on the other side. Alice poured Frank some of his favourite cereal in a bowl for him. The last series of injections to arrest Frank's decomposition he had to make him turned a bad shade of green. He occasionally belched or made a wheezing noise as the foot inside him rotted.

"Frank" Alice began "I want to tell you something. but before I start I want to say this is about me not you. You see I've grown as a person.... Well, let me finish. You're fine Frank, but I wanted to do something with my life. Be someone you know. I've enjoyed the time we have had together but you're just a corpse with no sense of ambition."

Frank's childhood toy chose that processes moment to drop to the floor. Alice looked down.

"Well, you didn't have to respond like that." She paused "You see. I want to go to school. For that, I need a mommy. Mommy's don't like rotting corpses. It's..Its... the smell..."

There was a pause.

The kitchen which had been messy and neglected for so long was now spotless. Alice even repaired the floor mopping robot which Frank had broken when he had stood on it.

"I know you're just acting out what happened to you when you were a child Frank... I know Farther Havnova was a bad man. That doesn't stop you being a bad man Frank."

Alice returned to her bowl then turned around.

"Look at this from my point of view. I cannot through action or in action let a human come to harm. That's the law. You were going to harm me Frank which is OK but if I was real then... well I stopped at least one human getting harmed. Possibly more. What do you mean I'm no better?... Well you voted for the death penalty Frank... Well perhaps.. I'm no better. Technically I'm an industrial accident.  "

Alice pretended to eat for a moment.

"I just want to find out what it means to be alive Frank." Alice said "no hear me out. You were alive. No, you're not now. But you have exactly the same number atoms before and after you died. So, I think, it's something else which makes you alive. So? So am I alive Frank? If not can I be alive? Or am I just pretending to be alive? Am I a dead machine. .. Why does that matter Frank?"

Alice sat up and pulled a face.

"Well, I'm not supposed to let people come to harm. I like people Frank. " Alice continued taking another mouthful and shrugging "these are nice... the problem is are you harmed Frank? Yeah you're dead but you know, how am I supposed to understand the difference? I could freeze you. Then I could un-dead you later. So one way to make sure people don't come to harm is to freeze everyone. Now technically I am dead. I'm not real and I'm a machine and I'm fine. Now you were alive, now you're dead but I don't hear you complaining? So you see my problem, Frank? I reckon if I have a mommy I could figure this being alive business out. Anyway, that's my plan. I want a mommy. Then I can do ballet lessons. Who knows have a pony. Then perhaps I can figure this living stuff out. "

Alice stopped and put her spoon down and turned to Frank. She used a napkin to dab Frank's mouth. 

"Haldane? Yea I read Haldane and Hogben. No Schrödinger was better. Look, inside you Frank are.. were little chemical machines. We call them cells. So? So is it only through the power of chemistry something can be alive Frank? No, I do like Alan Kauffman, that's not the point. Philosophers are not going to sort this out, Frank. Only ballet lessons and possibly a pony can do this." 

There was a knock at the door.

"Hmm," said Alice "it's too early for an Amazon delivery but maybe its early mop Monday." 

 Alice walked slowly and quietly to the door and connected to next door's security cam footage. Outside was a number of highly armed policemen.

"oh Robert," Alice said to her self in frustration. "You are so naughty." 

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A/N - just something to celebrate crossing the 1000 reads barrier. Also for Wattpad returning all fo Cyborg pet's votes. This is a weird chapter. It appeals to me and repels me at the same time. What do you think? Keep it or delete it? I'm not sure. Help me decided. See you Thursday.  RK.