Toy Story

“Wake up, sleeply,” Mr. Pebbles cried out. The large, overstuffed bear’s button eyes found the glowing green numbers of the alarm clock. Lindsay had once again forgotten to set it and she had to leave for school soon. “Lin-Lin!”

The mound of blankets that was Lindsay’s body twitched but not much. She was still very much unconscious. Numerous beady black eyes glanced at the bedroom door. If the animals were not able to wake the slumbering girl soon, her brother would come in and that meant pain for them all.

Cries of ‘wake up’ and ‘Lin-Lin’ echoed in the small bedroom. Movement could be heard from below the bedroom. Precious time was ticking away. Little Tylux gathered enough strength to push his fluffy penguin body off of the pillow that sat over Lindsay’s head and fell on top of her. He was able to jump up and down to create just enough pressure that Lindsay shifted again.

“Go way,” she mumbled and the animals let out a sigh of relief. If she was alert enough to speak, it wouldn’t be long before she was fully awake.

“Get up, Lin-Lin!” Mr. Pebbles demanded. “Time for school!”

The mound of blankets flew up and in seconds, Lindsay was out of bed, running to the dresser. “Shoot! How did I forget to set the alarm again? Oh no, oh no!”

A pounding at the door froze the stuffed animals. “Lindsay!” Joey shouted, still attempting to beat down the door. “Are you up yet?”

“Yes!” Lindsay called back, tossing clothes out of her way. “Go away, I’m changing.” Lindsay waited with batted breath for her brother’s footsteps to disappear. “Sorry, guys,” she apologized to the toys, “that was way too close. I’ll set the alarm tomorrow, I promise.” Before leaving her bedroom, Lindsay gave all ten of her stuffed animals a kiss goodbye. Then she left her best friends for a place where they could never join her, high school.

Study hall was the most dreaded part of Lindsay’s school day. No one seemed to know how to keep quiet and there was never enough homework to keep Lin’s attention. There was also the issue of when a student’s music was too loud and the unrelenting buzz was all that could be heard. Study hall also happened to be when Lin’s mind wandered back to the toys.

She would wonder what they were doing while she wasted forty minutes in a classroom doing nothing. She had asked them before and MR. Pebbles said they were usually too tired during the day to do more than sit around and talk. At first Lindsay didn’t’ believe them, confident that they were having fun parties while she wasted her days away. Over the years, she’d come to believe them more but she was still sure that the toys did something adventurous during the day.

Lost in her daydreams, Lindsay didn’t register that her teacher was standing right next to her until the wire of the ear buds was tugged. The tiny sound of too loud music blasted from the electronic, causing Lindsay to flush with embarrassment. She had been so absorbed in doodling pictures of the toys that she hadn’t realized the songs had grown louder until the noise could be heard from the front of the classroom.

Tapping her foot against the ground, Mrs. Sykes stared down at her embarrassed student. “Lindsay, that’s the third time in two weeks that this has happened. If I have to say anything about the noise again, you’ll lose all music privileges. Understand?”

Too flustered to look up, Lindsay muttered “Yes,” and tried to cover up her drawings. The girl next to her, however, had seen the pictures and leaned over to get a better view.

“Those are so cute!” she squeaked, halfway into the aisle by that point. “Can I see?” Without waiting for an answer, the girl had snatched the notebook off of Lindsay’s desk and began flipping through the drawings, all of them were of the toys with their names underneath.

The girl’s enthusiastic compliments got the attention of one of the class goofs, Craig. He sat diagonally behind the girl and he was able to get a full view of the doodles.

“Mr. Pebbles? Little Tylux? And…what’s that one, Apple Muffins?” he laughed loudly and Lindsay’s blush deepened. “What the hell are you looking at, Kate?”

“Lindsay’s drawings,” Kate sweetly replied. “Aren’t they adorable?”

“Yeah, for a four year old.” Of course the worst person whose attention could have been caught had heard all of the commotion. Lelani fixed Lindsay with a glare. “Do you still sleep with those ugly things, Lindsay? Really, I think it’s time you grew up. Maybe you should stop talking to them, as well. Last I heard, you were still having conversations with the stupid toys each night, just like in middle school.”

Lindsay’s blood ran cold and she froze in her seat, horrified that those words had actually been spoken. Lelani had been a friend to Lindsay late in elementary school through seventh grade. When Lindsay wouldn’t give up on her childhood, though, Lelani had turned on her. She never gave up the chance to mock Lindsay about the toys because it was so obvious that she still hung up on them. Lindsay had never lost her childlike tendencies and while it was endearing to some, Lelani seemed to detest everything about her.

Hearing what Lelani had just said, Craig let out a bark of laughter. “You seriously talk to your stuffed animals? What, like they’re people or something?”

Without missing a beat, Lelani jumped in. “Yep. In middle school she wouldn’t go to bed without kissing each one and specifically telling them good night. ‘Sweet dreams, Lola’, ‘Don’t let the bed bugs bite, Pinky’, God it was pathetic. And I’m pretty sure she still does it. Isn’t that right, Lindsay?”

Lindsay’s face was bright red; she couldn’t believe what was happening. She’d kept the secret safe for years to protect herself and now her control was unraveling right in front of her. Craig was openly laughing in her face, Kate was giving her a look of pity, and then there was Lelani. Her wicked smile broke Lindsay’s composure. Grabbing her things, she ran out of the classroom with the word ‘bathroom’ muttered as an explanation.

The nearest bathroom was by the gym and was thankfully open and empty. Books were thrown to the ground as Lindsay let out a sob. She knew that by the end of the day, Lelani would have spread around the story of Lindsay’s freak out and the reason behind it. People would mock her, it would be just like elementary school all over again.
At that thought, a rush of panic attacked Lindsay’s body. Gasping for air, she reached into her bag for the only thing that would be able to relieve the pain.

“Why’re you home early, Lin-Lin?” Apple Muffins, a raggedy stuffed dog with worn tan fur, asked when Lindsay stepped into her bedroom at one in the afternoon.

After her whole scene, Lindsay had decided to take the rest of the day off from school. It was the first time she’d ever cut class but the repercussions didn’t bother her. She’d had to get out of that building to keep what was left of her sanity.

“I didn’t feel well, guys,” she said, hopping onto the bed. “Today was not good at all.”

“Are you crying?” Mr. Pebbles asked, his seemingly vacant eyes never missed a thing.

Lindsay nodded and tears swelled up in her eyes. “Today was awful! Lelani was making fun of me and then everyone joined in. I can’t go back to school, everyone will just laugh. Why can’t I just be like you guys? At least then I’d be happy.”

The animals were silent and a conversation seemed to pass through all of them. Lindsay said nothing but watched them through curious eyes.

“Well,” Mr. Pebbles said, his voice slow as he weighed his words, “there is a way to become like us.”

“What?” Lindsay cried out, glancing at all of the animals. “There is? What is it? I’ll do anything!”

“Lin-Lin, this is a very big thing to do. Do you understand that? You can’t turn back once it’s done.”

Lowering herself so that she was eyelevel with Mr. Pebbles, she said, “I never want to come back.”

All of the animals cheered that Lindsay wanted to join them, for years they’d watch her come home upset and the only help they could give her were their kind words. Here was their chance to truly make her happy. Only Mr. Pebbles still seemed hesitant but he too wanted Lindsay to be happy, he went along with her wishes.

“Okay,” he sighed. “Do you want to do this now or-”

Not wanting to even consider the option of waiting, Lindsay shouted, “Now!”

Mr. Pebbles had Lindsay run to her mother’s room for a needle while he had Tylux help pull a string loose from his stitching. When the string was long enough for what had to be done, Mr. Pebbles sat motionless to wait for Lindsay. She reappeared a moment later, the sewing needle held triumphantly in her hand.

“Now you must cut the string,” Mr. Pebbles ordered. “You must cut directly where the string ends against me. Then thread it through the needle.”

The task was completed and Lindsay waited in anticipation and confusion. She wasn’t sure how she would become one of them with just a string and needle.

“Sit down but bring a mirror. Just relax and keep your head elevated. Are you ready for this, Lin-Lin?” he asked and Lindsay gave a tiny bob of her head, feelings of anxiousness began to rise. “To become one of us, you must sew your lips together. You cannot stop, you must go right through with this.”

With barely a thought, Lindsay clamped her lips together and stabbed the needle through them. The pain was unbearable but there was no time to pause to scream. With the mirror in one hand and tears streaming down her face, Lindsay wove the dark string through her lips. Salty tears mixed with thick rivulets of vibrant ruby blood. It was painful for the toys to watch as their friend suffered.

The needle had quickly turned from gleaming silver to a deep red as it danced through Lindsay’s lips. In only a matter of minutes, even though it felt like numerous painful hours to Lin, the task was complete. The needle was set down and Lindsay stared expectantly at Mr. Pebbles, waiting for further instructions.

“Just lie down, Lin-Lin,” he said quietly, “and go to sleep. When you wake up, everything will be better.”

Already half asleep, Lindsay gave a tiny nod and settled down on her bed. Her blue eyes drifted shut and the sound of breathing from her nose slowed. The animals watched her sleep in anxious silence.

The first person to find Lindsay’s cold, pale body was Joey. He burst into the bedroom, took one look at his lifeless older sister, and screamed bloody murder. The hospital was called but it was too late. Lindsay was gone. She was no longer a person, but she was not a toy. She was simply dead.

The animals attempted to figure out what had gone wrong. She should have turned into one of them, instead she had only gone to sleep and never woken up. What the animals had failed to see, which the paramedics were the first to notice, were the thin spider webs of fading cuts and the more recent marks from that day.

The animals hadn’t thought to tell Lindsay, whom they assumed was completely innocent, that the only way to become like them was to be pure and childlike. By slicing her own skin open to relieve her pain, Lindsay had lost that innocence. With that, Lindsay could not become a toy, she could only die.