06-19-2015, 03:16 AM
(Ugh. Stupid internet. Hope this is alright, if not I will re-write parts. Have had to rewrite the whole thing again -_-' and for some reason my html won't work. Ahh! )
Magic. It was a strange thing, like frost on a summer’s day. Rainbow colours dazzling an ebony night sky. It sometimes did even strange things; sort of held you like a marionette and made you do strange things, you had lost control of your body, your mind and it was under complete control of a magician with a toothy grin and wild eyes. I never quite believed in Magic, that was meant for fairytales when the damsels were often saved by handsome princes and knights in shining armour. All I realised when I was even younger than I am now, was that those knights had dented armour and were not noble as they first appeared. Magic. Magic didn’t really exist.
Oh, but I’m wrong. Like some marinate I feel my legs bend and bow beneath me and as if unseen hands grab at me, hold me with stubby fingers, I am pulled from Beqanna, from somewhere near the Chamber. It’s fuzzy, like a dull ache in my skull, I see nothing, all I hear is a strange bell, ringing, ringing. It’s dark, and i’m not even sure I’m breathing. Magic. This surely was not the magic from those fairytales spun by my mother in vain attempts of keeping her child amused, no, this magic, it was far more sinister.
Blackness. It is still and eerie. That bell still tolls, now more like a tinkle, a distant echo of my own beating heart. I’m alive? Is this some fable of a dream, some vivid nightmare that quakes me right down to the bones? I have every question riding my throat, wanting to escape my lips, when suddenly I feel the urge to shift my legs, to move. I’m not dead? I stretch out my forelegs and roll to one side, in doing so I knock something, it’s hard, unyielding against my lofty frame and vast body. It clunks and I hear it scramble and roll, before a fluorescent yellow light beams at me, lightening the dark room, filling it with eerie shadows that stretch up and over me with jagged teeth and haunting eyes. I raise myself, staring out beyond the shadows. Their are vague forms, strange forms. chubby fingers, stubby legs. Giant porcelain eyes that stare right through my soul. I give a brisk snort and step over, the sound a dull thud, thud, against the ground. I look down then, capture the slithers of light as they cross me. I’m not gold anymore. I squint, the yellow light is far from helpful in this dark, dark room. But it’s there and it’s on me and all I see is black, blood red and flashes of burgundy. Am I bleeding? is my life source flooding me, the floor? Quickly I turn around and scrutinise where I was laying moments ago. No. Clean. dry. I snort again, stepping over towards the light source.The duo thud, thud, thud beneath me making me wonder what on earth has happened to my hooves. they sound fake, they sound unlike the clip of dull soles. I shake my head and a mass of long, flowing mane cascades over my eyes. It’s in the way, not gossamer threads of cream, but thick, course and almost wiry, they do not roll like cascades of rolling dunes against my neck, rather fall as one thick mass. I blow, I snort I paw at the hard ground with a stray hoof and nothing makes amends.
This is where the fear grabs at my heart, holding it in a claw and squeezing, tighter, tighter. The darkness plays with my vision, makes me think things are moving, but they’re not. I move with cautious, easy steps towards the light source and as I bend my neck lower to look, I notice the strangely smooth curves of plastic, it’s bright yellow, with eyes as white as what I remember the moon being. It’s a fat thing, wisps of blue, black adding detail. And then it’s its maniacal grin of plastic teeth (A MINION!) . I strike out at the strange thing, my hoof colliding with it, of course it does nothing but roll the torch, and it knocks something. That something comes falling towards me, rolling, like some boulder coming straight for me. I scramble on these strange hooves and attempt to move out of the way, but I’m blazed over by the circular globe of bright colours that offend my eyes. Straining my eyes against the shifting light, I trip over something green, something jagged in places and smooth in others. I stumble, these fat, plastic legs are not as elegant as my long willowy limbs, and I fall, right on my side. landing in some more spiky green things. I snort, shaking my head, I lift myself again, but this time, something moves with me. hands, small, plastic hands push me up and I leap out of my skin and turn around in a surprisingly swift action for clumsy legs and an unyielding body.
’What… Who… Where am I?' I stammer out, my voice is a loud, obnoxious squeak. Like i’d drank the helium from a balloon. If I had hands, I would have covered my mouth and stamped my eager foot. Instead, I step forward, towards the green men. ’Ma’am, this is volatile ground. Afraid we failed our mission and this is our prison.’ I turn my gaze towards the boom of the voice, it’s strange, a booming, authority voice coming from one so small. But then, as the light catches me, I’m not as lofty in height as I was once either. I shiver, a coldness taking over and knitting with my bones. I step forward, closer to the small green men. ’Your prison?’ I ask, looking around. I see no bars, all I see is endless walls, endless, hard, unyielding walls. That shiver fails to leave me as I step closer. ’Affirmative. Ma’am you are not the first and not the last to enter this facility.’ the first little man spoke, he made hand gestures with his claw like hand, towards his head, towards the infinite blackness beyond. It’s his friend’s turn to speak, and thats when I notice just how many there are. What seems like hundreds of little green men, all in varying poses, facial expressions. Have you suffered injuries, Ma’am?’ he sounds young, his voice softer as he talks to me, he steps near, his hand placing on my side. I stiffen beneath his touch and as I stagger away a little on these irritatingly clumsy hooves and large limbs, I feel an ache deep inside of me, as though my blood is refusing to pump, my heart refusing to beat. ’Not that I know of.’ I pause, turning my head towards the multitude of green men, then beyond; the light catches the eerie smiling faces of red, white and blue, mania smiles adorn their porcelain faces. I shiver, and one of the men notice. ’We refer to this facility as the TOYBOX. We have no affirmed status report on this place, other than it steals Toys, it steals us all from our previous lives.’ The Toybox? My mind is a jumble of thoughts, all fragments I have no joy in putting together. I walk away, curious, curious indeed. The little men are talking but I walk closer to the porcelain faces with beautifully adorned ruffles around their china necks.
I trip over something, or more so, someone. as I stumble I hear them groan, the little men run towards us and encircle the object of my trip. New meat. the smooth, clipped voice of the small men haunt me then, as I stare behind them to the large object I tripped over. Well, it was more smooth plastic and lots of multicoloured hair (sort of like my own.) I shift on my uncoordinated feet and step away then, as I do, I feel the whole place rock, the box shifts and outside I hear laughter, loud, booming laughter. It quakes the box, it makes everything jumble, fall down and roll towards me, and as I touch it, my skin comes in contact, the things start talking, shifting on broken limbs. One eyed faces stare out at me, handless arms reach out and I feel something pressure me against my side, as I turn around I see another four legged horse. this one, smooth, plastic, shiny almost, glitter in it’s mane, it’s tail. I snort, and the object I had tripped over walks, with a clip of heels. Your New. The monster likes new. I shift uncomfortably as her smiling face betrays her cold words. I shake my head and the other horse steps in between me and the tall girl. Leave her alone. We were all New once too. If we hide her, she can get accustomed to this place before… before She takes her out. ’She?’ my question falls on death ears because just as arguments were to break out, light beams in from a crack in the top of the box. my eyes twitch, just acclimating to the darkness, and now beams of natural light flood the box. Everything falls then, right on the spot. The little green men, the walking doll with heels, even the other horse. I finally get to see the layout of the box and shiver in discomfort. The eyes of many clowns, they stare at me with a a sinister glare, their teeth like sharp daggers. I trip as I walk, towards a mash up of multi coloured blocks, some stuck together with round little nodules, some smooth, yet smell faintly of wood. (Lego and Wooden Building Blocks)
Then there’s a face, smooth, glistening, with small round glasses on her face, she stares in and her voice is a boom, it effects me, makes me stumble and fall back to the ground in a heap of long wiry mane and tail and stumpy plastic limbs. MUMMY GOT THE NEW TOY I WANTED! IT CAN GO LIVE IN THE SUPERSPECIAL CASTLE I MADE. the voice causes the objects to roll, to tremor against the earthquake that she makes. I too wobble, trying to get up, just as the fleshy hand reaches in, stubby little fingers reaching for me. I pull away, inch by inch, just as she is about to touch me, someone calls from a distance and the girl makes a sour face. BUT MUM I’M PLAYING. she turns her head, her fleshy hand is still in the box. I notice eyes turn to her, fear, unbridled fear laces everyone’s face. including that of the little green men. With the light still radiating the room, I notice the broken, the wounded. Fixed with white tape, sewn patches on the furry bears, patches over pulled eye sockets. I shiver. Is this my life now? to live with these things, in a constant fear of his hand? I do not recoil anymore and I lift myself up, turning my hindquarters I kick out with my hinds; they are stubby and uncoordinated and make a dull thud as they hit the girl. she bats her head away and doing so knock the blocks over and they fall in a mess of colour disarray. MUMMY, MUMMY! SOMETHING TOUCHED ME IN THE BOX. A distant voice answers and the girl, her furious eyes behind little glass domes, answers. NO, IT DID. IT DID! She reaches for me again and I slink low, but this time a few blocks are thrown, they strike her and the girl backs off, hand completely out of the box, resting on the side, she wobbles it then and everything, everyone falls to their knees. EARTHQUAKE!! she yells and laughs, and everything tumbles, breaks. I just about manage to keep half of my upright, when the ball comes flying at me. Her laughter resounds but as I look up, she’s gone.
Ma’am. Are you injured?’ the little green men circle me now, reaching out with little hans, their small green faces etched with something unfamiliar to me. concern. ’What.. what was that?’ the pony, she enters the foray now, she has thick scars over he bright pink body, some fluorescent yellow, some scrawly black lines. She owns this Box. She is the God outside. What toy she wants, she has, she reaches in and takes us outside. and no one is safe outside. The tall doll walks in then, pushes past the green men, the pony. We should sacrifice her. She’ll play with this one for hours. She’s new. shiny. You all know how she likes shiny new things. It won’t take long before your new novelty wears off though. She’ll get a new toy, break you like she breaks all of us. Don’t think you’re anything special, pony, as you’re not. I stand my ground then and step forward, ears pinning. ’Whilst everyone tries to rally together, you are breaking this small community’s back.’ Elsa, don’t take it out on the new one. She’ll adjust. ’I don’t want to adjust! I want to get out of here!’ I find my voice raising, my temper getting the better of me; it was fear, I knew that, fear of the unknown, fear of this strange place. That was when the army men started building the blocks. While we were all talking, they had managed to build steps towards half of the box’s roof, and the rest, they clambered on each other’s shoulders to peer out the top, they shouted down then, eager voices echoing around the box. Target gone. All clear..
’There’s a way out, right there! why are you all standing here?’ my voice betrays me, it’s loud, quaky but full of something foreign to me. fear, uncertainty. I get the looks from the clowns, the pony, even the brash doll, and as the army men come down, their looks are solemn. no one leaves this box. It isn’t safe out there. Minion never came back and when Elsa went out for playtime, she saw his stuffing out, he was ripped right open. they all shiver then and I find myself doing the same. I stamp a hoof in objection and make my way towards the blocks, as I do, something sharp hits my side, it stabs me and I feel it break my plastic skin. It hurts but fails to bleed, I have a hole in my side, a perfect hole. A shard of something sharp sticking out. I bend my neck, clutch it with my teeth and pull it out. The clown, it’s sinister face, toothy grin, he stands, he’s got more shards in his hand. I then realise he’d actually breaking his own porcelain body to throw it at me, like daggers. “No one leaves here! We’ve been here for a lifetime and we have never escaped. what thinks you possibly can?” ’Because I don’t belong here!’ I yell, and this time, no one stops me, in fact the little army men help me by making some lego steps, I step up, and look back to the room of toys, then back up to the huge roof opening. ’You can’t stay, you can come too. You need to escape this place, it’s not natural. You should feel grass beneath your feet, feel the wind in your hair… Smell the—‘ my voice is cut shot by the boom, boom of feet, then more laughter, it’s another earthquake but this time I make my way quick, as quick as my limbs can carry me to the top of the box, sliding as the blocks tumble, i reach out my forelegs and readily hang on the edge, just as the spectacled eyes gaze in. I’m face to face with the toys’ tormentor, a child so innocent and naive looking, but the look in her eye, she wants, she gets.
I’m hanging on with as much as I had left in me, my side is starting to ache, and I’m starting to slip. There is abuse coming from down below, no doubt from the doll, the clowns. then I feel something push me, the little men, they are surrounding me, pushing me, hands all over the place, they are not strong but the multitude of them allow me to get a stronger grip, pulling my forelegs so that I am hanging from my elbows. I pull, I pull and the little girl beams SO YOU WANT TO PLAY? I CAN TAKE YOU TO THE CASTLE!
My freedom, it is in sight; the bright light of day, a world beyond the dark box, the sinister toys. the mother calls for the child again, I’m thinking I have the line of exit in my sight, but she stays, she ignores the calls from her mother and her hand extends to me, grubby little fingers reaching out. I close my eyes. if this is the only way of exit, then I’m going to take it. the army men give me another push, I’m pulling myself over, and the girl’s face beams with delight, her hand then swats away with a sharp tug, and the momentum rocks the box as she hit it with a great force. I’m unbalanced, shifting, my hindlegs, my body slipping. I look down, and it’s the clown, he’s throwing shards of himself at the girl, they are flying everywhere, splinters of porcelain breaking skin. droplets of red fall into the box then, the girl let’s out a roaring cry and runs away. MUMMY, MUMMY I GOT A SORE!! she is gone, and the box is still falling, still tipping.
It lands like a falling star then, a blessing, a curse. Everything is fallen, broken in the fall and I find myself dazed, I’ve been stabbed by more porcelain shards, I pull them out one by one, it’s a tedious task but I end up leaving a few in as I see the light, the soft plush of carpet, large wooden structures, soft dunes of lace and material. I turn back to the army men, the pony, they are all in a mess, but they usher me on. We belong here. I don’t even know where we would go. Ma’am your new objective is to find your home. Return to it and tell the world of your exploits. That is an order. the little green man, he offers a salute, but just as I’m nodding in gratitude, turning to leave, I hear the rumble of another pending earthquake. I run as fast as my limbs can carry me, picking through the disorder, the chaos. the debris of lego and blocks, limbs of dolls, rolling glass eyes. It’s a haunting mess that feels me with fear, but not as much as the want for freedom. It pushes me right to touch the exit’s light. then I come face to face with the girl again. wide eyed and maniacal grin.
YOU ALL WANT TO PLAY!
Magic. It was a strange thing, like frost on a summer’s day. Rainbow colours dazzling an ebony night sky. It sometimes did even strange things; sort of held you like a marionette and made you do strange things, you had lost control of your body, your mind and it was under complete control of a magician with a toothy grin and wild eyes. I never quite believed in Magic, that was meant for fairytales when the damsels were often saved by handsome princes and knights in shining armour. All I realised when I was even younger than I am now, was that those knights had dented armour and were not noble as they first appeared. Magic. Magic didn’t really exist.
Oh, but I’m wrong. Like some marinate I feel my legs bend and bow beneath me and as if unseen hands grab at me, hold me with stubby fingers, I am pulled from Beqanna, from somewhere near the Chamber. It’s fuzzy, like a dull ache in my skull, I see nothing, all I hear is a strange bell, ringing, ringing. It’s dark, and i’m not even sure I’m breathing. Magic. This surely was not the magic from those fairytales spun by my mother in vain attempts of keeping her child amused, no, this magic, it was far more sinister.
Blackness. It is still and eerie. That bell still tolls, now more like a tinkle, a distant echo of my own beating heart. I’m alive? Is this some fable of a dream, some vivid nightmare that quakes me right down to the bones? I have every question riding my throat, wanting to escape my lips, when suddenly I feel the urge to shift my legs, to move. I’m not dead? I stretch out my forelegs and roll to one side, in doing so I knock something, it’s hard, unyielding against my lofty frame and vast body. It clunks and I hear it scramble and roll, before a fluorescent yellow light beams at me, lightening the dark room, filling it with eerie shadows that stretch up and over me with jagged teeth and haunting eyes. I raise myself, staring out beyond the shadows. Their are vague forms, strange forms. chubby fingers, stubby legs. Giant porcelain eyes that stare right through my soul. I give a brisk snort and step over, the sound a dull thud, thud, against the ground. I look down then, capture the slithers of light as they cross me. I’m not gold anymore. I squint, the yellow light is far from helpful in this dark, dark room. But it’s there and it’s on me and all I see is black, blood red and flashes of burgundy. Am I bleeding? is my life source flooding me, the floor? Quickly I turn around and scrutinise where I was laying moments ago. No. Clean. dry. I snort again, stepping over towards the light source.The duo thud, thud, thud beneath me making me wonder what on earth has happened to my hooves. they sound fake, they sound unlike the clip of dull soles. I shake my head and a mass of long, flowing mane cascades over my eyes. It’s in the way, not gossamer threads of cream, but thick, course and almost wiry, they do not roll like cascades of rolling dunes against my neck, rather fall as one thick mass. I blow, I snort I paw at the hard ground with a stray hoof and nothing makes amends.
This is where the fear grabs at my heart, holding it in a claw and squeezing, tighter, tighter. The darkness plays with my vision, makes me think things are moving, but they’re not. I move with cautious, easy steps towards the light source and as I bend my neck lower to look, I notice the strangely smooth curves of plastic, it’s bright yellow, with eyes as white as what I remember the moon being. It’s a fat thing, wisps of blue, black adding detail. And then it’s its maniacal grin of plastic teeth (A MINION!) . I strike out at the strange thing, my hoof colliding with it, of course it does nothing but roll the torch, and it knocks something. That something comes falling towards me, rolling, like some boulder coming straight for me. I scramble on these strange hooves and attempt to move out of the way, but I’m blazed over by the circular globe of bright colours that offend my eyes. Straining my eyes against the shifting light, I trip over something green, something jagged in places and smooth in others. I stumble, these fat, plastic legs are not as elegant as my long willowy limbs, and I fall, right on my side. landing in some more spiky green things. I snort, shaking my head, I lift myself again, but this time, something moves with me. hands, small, plastic hands push me up and I leap out of my skin and turn around in a surprisingly swift action for clumsy legs and an unyielding body.
’What… Who… Where am I?' I stammer out, my voice is a loud, obnoxious squeak. Like i’d drank the helium from a balloon. If I had hands, I would have covered my mouth and stamped my eager foot. Instead, I step forward, towards the green men. ’Ma’am, this is volatile ground. Afraid we failed our mission and this is our prison.’ I turn my gaze towards the boom of the voice, it’s strange, a booming, authority voice coming from one so small. But then, as the light catches me, I’m not as lofty in height as I was once either. I shiver, a coldness taking over and knitting with my bones. I step forward, closer to the small green men. ’Your prison?’ I ask, looking around. I see no bars, all I see is endless walls, endless, hard, unyielding walls. That shiver fails to leave me as I step closer. ’Affirmative. Ma’am you are not the first and not the last to enter this facility.’ the first little man spoke, he made hand gestures with his claw like hand, towards his head, towards the infinite blackness beyond. It’s his friend’s turn to speak, and thats when I notice just how many there are. What seems like hundreds of little green men, all in varying poses, facial expressions. Have you suffered injuries, Ma’am?’ he sounds young, his voice softer as he talks to me, he steps near, his hand placing on my side. I stiffen beneath his touch and as I stagger away a little on these irritatingly clumsy hooves and large limbs, I feel an ache deep inside of me, as though my blood is refusing to pump, my heart refusing to beat. ’Not that I know of.’ I pause, turning my head towards the multitude of green men, then beyond; the light catches the eerie smiling faces of red, white and blue, mania smiles adorn their porcelain faces. I shiver, and one of the men notice. ’We refer to this facility as the TOYBOX. We have no affirmed status report on this place, other than it steals Toys, it steals us all from our previous lives.’ The Toybox? My mind is a jumble of thoughts, all fragments I have no joy in putting together. I walk away, curious, curious indeed. The little men are talking but I walk closer to the porcelain faces with beautifully adorned ruffles around their china necks.
I trip over something, or more so, someone. as I stumble I hear them groan, the little men run towards us and encircle the object of my trip. New meat. the smooth, clipped voice of the small men haunt me then, as I stare behind them to the large object I tripped over. Well, it was more smooth plastic and lots of multicoloured hair (sort of like my own.) I shift on my uncoordinated feet and step away then, as I do, I feel the whole place rock, the box shifts and outside I hear laughter, loud, booming laughter. It quakes the box, it makes everything jumble, fall down and roll towards me, and as I touch it, my skin comes in contact, the things start talking, shifting on broken limbs. One eyed faces stare out at me, handless arms reach out and I feel something pressure me against my side, as I turn around I see another four legged horse. this one, smooth, plastic, shiny almost, glitter in it’s mane, it’s tail. I snort, and the object I had tripped over walks, with a clip of heels. Your New. The monster likes new. I shift uncomfortably as her smiling face betrays her cold words. I shake my head and the other horse steps in between me and the tall girl. Leave her alone. We were all New once too. If we hide her, she can get accustomed to this place before… before She takes her out. ’She?’ my question falls on death ears because just as arguments were to break out, light beams in from a crack in the top of the box. my eyes twitch, just acclimating to the darkness, and now beams of natural light flood the box. Everything falls then, right on the spot. The little green men, the walking doll with heels, even the other horse. I finally get to see the layout of the box and shiver in discomfort. The eyes of many clowns, they stare at me with a a sinister glare, their teeth like sharp daggers. I trip as I walk, towards a mash up of multi coloured blocks, some stuck together with round little nodules, some smooth, yet smell faintly of wood. (Lego and Wooden Building Blocks)
Then there’s a face, smooth, glistening, with small round glasses on her face, she stares in and her voice is a boom, it effects me, makes me stumble and fall back to the ground in a heap of long wiry mane and tail and stumpy plastic limbs. MUMMY GOT THE NEW TOY I WANTED! IT CAN GO LIVE IN THE SUPERSPECIAL CASTLE I MADE. the voice causes the objects to roll, to tremor against the earthquake that she makes. I too wobble, trying to get up, just as the fleshy hand reaches in, stubby little fingers reaching for me. I pull away, inch by inch, just as she is about to touch me, someone calls from a distance and the girl makes a sour face. BUT MUM I’M PLAYING. she turns her head, her fleshy hand is still in the box. I notice eyes turn to her, fear, unbridled fear laces everyone’s face. including that of the little green men. With the light still radiating the room, I notice the broken, the wounded. Fixed with white tape, sewn patches on the furry bears, patches over pulled eye sockets. I shiver. Is this my life now? to live with these things, in a constant fear of his hand? I do not recoil anymore and I lift myself up, turning my hindquarters I kick out with my hinds; they are stubby and uncoordinated and make a dull thud as they hit the girl. she bats her head away and doing so knock the blocks over and they fall in a mess of colour disarray. MUMMY, MUMMY! SOMETHING TOUCHED ME IN THE BOX. A distant voice answers and the girl, her furious eyes behind little glass domes, answers. NO, IT DID. IT DID! She reaches for me again and I slink low, but this time a few blocks are thrown, they strike her and the girl backs off, hand completely out of the box, resting on the side, she wobbles it then and everything, everyone falls to their knees. EARTHQUAKE!! she yells and laughs, and everything tumbles, breaks. I just about manage to keep half of my upright, when the ball comes flying at me. Her laughter resounds but as I look up, she’s gone.
Ma’am. Are you injured?’ the little green men circle me now, reaching out with little hans, their small green faces etched with something unfamiliar to me. concern. ’What.. what was that?’ the pony, she enters the foray now, she has thick scars over he bright pink body, some fluorescent yellow, some scrawly black lines. She owns this Box. She is the God outside. What toy she wants, she has, she reaches in and takes us outside. and no one is safe outside. The tall doll walks in then, pushes past the green men, the pony. We should sacrifice her. She’ll play with this one for hours. She’s new. shiny. You all know how she likes shiny new things. It won’t take long before your new novelty wears off though. She’ll get a new toy, break you like she breaks all of us. Don’t think you’re anything special, pony, as you’re not. I stand my ground then and step forward, ears pinning. ’Whilst everyone tries to rally together, you are breaking this small community’s back.’ Elsa, don’t take it out on the new one. She’ll adjust. ’I don’t want to adjust! I want to get out of here!’ I find my voice raising, my temper getting the better of me; it was fear, I knew that, fear of the unknown, fear of this strange place. That was when the army men started building the blocks. While we were all talking, they had managed to build steps towards half of the box’s roof, and the rest, they clambered on each other’s shoulders to peer out the top, they shouted down then, eager voices echoing around the box. Target gone. All clear..
’There’s a way out, right there! why are you all standing here?’ my voice betrays me, it’s loud, quaky but full of something foreign to me. fear, uncertainty. I get the looks from the clowns, the pony, even the brash doll, and as the army men come down, their looks are solemn. no one leaves this box. It isn’t safe out there. Minion never came back and when Elsa went out for playtime, she saw his stuffing out, he was ripped right open. they all shiver then and I find myself doing the same. I stamp a hoof in objection and make my way towards the blocks, as I do, something sharp hits my side, it stabs me and I feel it break my plastic skin. It hurts but fails to bleed, I have a hole in my side, a perfect hole. A shard of something sharp sticking out. I bend my neck, clutch it with my teeth and pull it out. The clown, it’s sinister face, toothy grin, he stands, he’s got more shards in his hand. I then realise he’d actually breaking his own porcelain body to throw it at me, like daggers. “No one leaves here! We’ve been here for a lifetime and we have never escaped. what thinks you possibly can?” ’Because I don’t belong here!’ I yell, and this time, no one stops me, in fact the little army men help me by making some lego steps, I step up, and look back to the room of toys, then back up to the huge roof opening. ’You can’t stay, you can come too. You need to escape this place, it’s not natural. You should feel grass beneath your feet, feel the wind in your hair… Smell the—‘ my voice is cut shot by the boom, boom of feet, then more laughter, it’s another earthquake but this time I make my way quick, as quick as my limbs can carry me to the top of the box, sliding as the blocks tumble, i reach out my forelegs and readily hang on the edge, just as the spectacled eyes gaze in. I’m face to face with the toys’ tormentor, a child so innocent and naive looking, but the look in her eye, she wants, she gets.
I’m hanging on with as much as I had left in me, my side is starting to ache, and I’m starting to slip. There is abuse coming from down below, no doubt from the doll, the clowns. then I feel something push me, the little men, they are surrounding me, pushing me, hands all over the place, they are not strong but the multitude of them allow me to get a stronger grip, pulling my forelegs so that I am hanging from my elbows. I pull, I pull and the little girl beams SO YOU WANT TO PLAY? I CAN TAKE YOU TO THE CASTLE!
My freedom, it is in sight; the bright light of day, a world beyond the dark box, the sinister toys. the mother calls for the child again, I’m thinking I have the line of exit in my sight, but she stays, she ignores the calls from her mother and her hand extends to me, grubby little fingers reaching out. I close my eyes. if this is the only way of exit, then I’m going to take it. the army men give me another push, I’m pulling myself over, and the girl’s face beams with delight, her hand then swats away with a sharp tug, and the momentum rocks the box as she hit it with a great force. I’m unbalanced, shifting, my hindlegs, my body slipping. I look down, and it’s the clown, he’s throwing shards of himself at the girl, they are flying everywhere, splinters of porcelain breaking skin. droplets of red fall into the box then, the girl let’s out a roaring cry and runs away. MUMMY, MUMMY I GOT A SORE!! she is gone, and the box is still falling, still tipping.
It lands like a falling star then, a blessing, a curse. Everything is fallen, broken in the fall and I find myself dazed, I’ve been stabbed by more porcelain shards, I pull them out one by one, it’s a tedious task but I end up leaving a few in as I see the light, the soft plush of carpet, large wooden structures, soft dunes of lace and material. I turn back to the army men, the pony, they are all in a mess, but they usher me on. We belong here. I don’t even know where we would go. Ma’am your new objective is to find your home. Return to it and tell the world of your exploits. That is an order. the little green man, he offers a salute, but just as I’m nodding in gratitude, turning to leave, I hear the rumble of another pending earthquake. I run as fast as my limbs can carry me, picking through the disorder, the chaos. the debris of lego and blocks, limbs of dolls, rolling glass eyes. It’s a haunting mess that feels me with fear, but not as much as the want for freedom. It pushes me right to touch the exit’s light. then I come face to face with the girl again. wide eyed and maniacal grin.
YOU ALL WANT TO PLAY!