The Iron Giant by Priscilla

Here is Priscilla's narrative inspired by the animation 'Girl and Robot'

The Iron Giant by Priscilla

“Crrr, crrr, clink, clank” My excitement bubbled inside me as I tightened the last bolts. I sighed as my creation stared blankly back at me with its light bulb eyes. Looking at this enormous metal giant, with a rectangular head and a round body made me think “will my creation help the city, country or even the whole world?” I thought it really could. The large strong arms hung lifeless on its sides. The short but sturdy legs were still, powerless. I pulled the lever and the steam came out. The bulky giant’s eyes flickered on then off.

I went back to my grandfather’s plans. Even the plans seemed useless. I scrunched the plans and threw them towards the lifeless steel giant. I kicked a cog as I went to my toolbox, finally I found my welding torch. I went and got my ladder to fix the iron giant. After I fixed the massive iron creation I went back to the control panel. I pushed the lever to make the colossal giant move.

“Sttt, stttt, pssst” steam left the pipes. The giant’s light bulb eyes flickered on then off. “I’m not giving up!” I told myself. “I’m going to try again!” So once again I turned the wheel to release the steam, the sound reminded me of my grandfather leaving the train station for the last time.

I pushed the lever harder than before. The invention’s eyes flickered and stayed on. The excitement bubbled inside of me! But then came the disaster. The dial’s arrow rose to maximum, the pistons ran up and down faster than before. The steam rushed out as if from a pressure cooker. The dial’s popped open, the pipes started to loosen. I tried yanking the lever back but it was jammed. My head knocked on something hard and then that was it. Blackness.

As I woke up I felt something cold and hard on my back. I opened my eyes and I suddenly felt shocked to see the same lightbulb eyes staring back at me. I realised that it was my steel robot. I couldn’t believe the robot had sacrificed himself his life for mine. I reached out my hand and touched his warm face. I looked beyond my robot and I saw my laboratory covered with debris. Suddenly I saw a girder in the giant’s back. Slowly his twinkling yellow eyes faded away. He couldn’t hold it anymore, he collapsed. My iron giant was once again lifeless.