The Toy Box "opening"

Prologue

         This is a tale about toys. Everybody has them, young and old, serious and playful. Toys are different, come in different forms, shapes and sizes. Toys could fill the need of a plaything, while another, could make someone’s work play. It is in this way that toys have personality, character and a history that makes them extraordinarily near human. It is in this way that toys seem to have a life all their own. Fortunately for you, dear reader, you will discover that some may contain more life than others.

         It began with a boy. An ordinary boy, like you’d expect one to be. It was a Saturday and, as was custom with this boy’s family, they were out at the local mall. At age twelve, the boy was old enough to wander on his own. He was quiet for a youth and rather shy as well, but that was not a problem.
         He stood at an average height for his age, had short blonde hair and dark green eyes. He didn’t look much different from the people around him. Slender, with no distinct features, he was not the kind to stand out from the crowd.
         In fact, he seemed completely normal, and that was how he thought himself to be. Yet, he was different, as everyone is, for his interests didn’t match his seemingly subtle demeanor. The boy had an affinity with toys.
         As clearly stated, everybody has toys, but this boy considered himself to be different. He was not a simple collector of action figures, airplanes and such. He was an artist. A rarity among oddities. He wouldn’t go for the newest toy or the flashiest. He would sit and wait for a toy with its own charm. A toy that can bring joy to a child, a toy that can be unique. It was this curiosity that brought the boy to the store.
         During his wanderings, he never noticed it there before. It looked old, as the boutique was fronted in a dark peeling wood. There were no windows that he could see apart from a small display cabinet. This cabinet contained what looked like an old dollhouse and a few army men. This cabinet was backed by a large orange cloth and he could not see inside the store itself. The cabinet was all he needed to see, for those toys were just the kind of thing he was looking for.
         He bolted to the seemingly ancient door and saw etched into the wood in gold was the word ‘Toys’. He heaved open the door which creaked loudly. It was dark inside, and the only lights glowed dimly from a desk near the back of the surprisingly small and bare room.
         The boy was immediately disappointed. A glance at the store could tell you there were no toys in here. He had expected elaborate shelves stocked full of the kind out front, old and proud.
         It was so empty; he was surprised he missed a woman standing at the back behind the desk. Crestfallen, he dragged himself towards her in a desperate attempt to locate the toys.
         He reached the desk to discover the woman fiddling with something he couldn’t see. She looked to be in her twenty’s, and had a smooth face. She had her hair curled up in a bun on her head but the boy expected it to flow past her shoulders. She had tanned brown skin, and even darker brown eyes. The boy thought she looked beautiful.
         Unfortunately, she hadn’t even noticed him. The boy doubted she knew he was there, as she gave a very audible squeak of fright as the boy cleared his throat.
         “Dear sweet Jesus!” She cried eyes wide in fright, “You can’t sneak up on people like that dear! It’s just plain rude!”
         And with a slight sigh she dutifully returned to her work, but placing the object she was playing with in plain sight of the boy. This made him smile. Within sight of him was what he had been looking for. It was a box, filled to the brim with old, worn, toys.
         It was his smile that got the woman’s attention this time.
         “I see you have the same tastes as I, young one.” She said it with an odd look on her face and a slight gleem in her eye. She had a strange accent the boy couldn’t place. It was soft, but with an edge that would keep you rapt with attention.
         “So you like toys, eh? Don’t look so surprised. Child, you look like a starving dog over a red steak!” The boy flushed brightly in his cheeks. “So,” said the woman, “Would you like them?”
         This startled the boy. Did she actually intend to give them away? The toys looked old, antiques maybe. But they held a regale air about them. The boy nodded his head.
         “Wonderful!!!” Exclaimed the woman, “Believe it or not, you’re the first customer I’ve had in weeks!”
         The strange lady packed up the very box she was playing with and began to wrap it in a dull paper. Once tied and packaged, she went to hand it to the overjoyed boy, but before he got it in his greedily waiting hands, she withdrew it,
         “Tell me boy, do you believe in magic?” Her friendliness gone, she sounded almost accusing in her tone. The boy thought the question to be quite random. He nodded again. The woman instantly lightened. “Good.” She said, and handed him the box of toys.
         “Oh, and before I forget, my name is Penelope,” She smiled “what’s yours?” The boy turned to her and beamed right back, “Eric. I’m Eric.”
         With that, he left the store.

         *                    *                    *                    *                    *                    *

         The car hummed quietly, as Eric pulled down the side road. It had been eight years since that day in Penelope’s store. He had actually gotten a job there two weeks after receiving his first batch of her toys. It troubled his parents how much he stayed there in her company, but that didn’t bother him much. After all, they now had a four year old to worry about as well.
         Eric smiled to himself. His sister. That was why he was returning home so late this night. He usually got off work much earlier, but he had to stay. For her sake. For the sake of his whole family.
         He pulled up to a stop sign and decided to turn on the radio. Yes, earlier that day, Penelope brought in three new toys from the back.
         “Now listen carefully Eric,” she had said in a cold voice that was all too common to him, “These three objects are perhaps the most important objects in this entire store. Without them, I may not even have these toys with me. You have been warned."
         It had come as a surprise to Eric when she handed him a worn teddy bear, a small stuffed horse, and a huge chest. The chest was the most wonderful to Eric. It was a toy chest made of wood, and elaborately decorated. Painted a dull green on the base, it had a sparkling golden lid. Carved in were various symbols and words Eric couldn’t understand. It had a latch in the shape of two curving swords that were beautiful silver. But what drew Eric’s curiosity was that it was locked.
         “It must never be opened Eric,” said Penelope, staring into his eyes. “The stuffed animals must be kept away from it as well. Whatever the cost.” She glared at him, “Is that clear?” “Yes Ma’am” He answered. “Very good. Separate them immediately, but child,” She glared once more piercing his eyes like daggers, “Do NOT let them leave the store. Who knows where I’ll be then.” She then turned and exited into the back room of the store with a shake of her head.
        As she left, he felt something. A very funny sensation it was, and it disturbed him immensly. What could only be described as a powerful presence filled the room, seemingly emnating from the old play-things in the corner. Yes, it was definatly the three toys Penelope had given him before.
        The feeling wasn't pleasent. It represented a great struggle seeming to go on before him, invisible, but still there. Curious, he got up and walked over to the toys.
        The chest wasn't very unusual. He stared at it a while, and it sat there defiantly, and silently, daring him to blame the oddity on it. No, he thought, it can't be that. There was a distinct air about it, but it was one of freedom, not strife.
        It was with that that he turned to the stuffed animals, and immediatly the feeling elavated back in him. The two were facing each other with an expression, if toys can have expressions, of extreme dislike in what they saw. It was such a tension in fact, that Eric lost himself in the quiet battle and finally lost it. He picked them up, surprised by their warmth, and placed them in seperate glass containers. A note fell from the horse, and as he picked it up, he recoiled in shock and horror.
         Eric looked into the back seat. Sitting there was the chest and the pair of stuffed animals. Both of which were safely kept in the glass container.
         He had stolen them earlier, he recounted, passing a sign saying ‘Norval, 2 kilometers’ He had to take them, whatever his own personal consequences. His sister had to see.
         It had gotten dark by then. He turned the headlights on high and stared into the thickness of night. It was then that it happened. The old wartime song ‘Danny boy’ had just come on the radio. It was a favourite of Eric’s, and he sang along to the lyrics.
         His eyes popped wide halfway through a verse. He swerved the car in fear as he felt his neck begin to crack. The darkness was overwhelming, and the last thing he heard was a crash.
         About ten minutes later, his mother received a phone call. The moment she heard the words “there was an accident” she fainted.
         Eric’s mother and father arrived at the crash site only to find their sons mangled car, with blood spilled over the dashboard. The entire front end was smashed in and tangled around a powerline and the back stuck up in the air. Unknown to Erics loving parents, the Toys were missing, apart from a large wooden chest, twenty feet from the crash, and undamaged. To Erics mother, all that seemed to move and make sound were the constant tune coming from her son’s car radio ‘And I shall sleep in peace, until you come for me,”
         About ten kilometres away, in a little mall store sat a woman carving a toy, listening to a radio and smiling to herself, chuckling deep and eerily.
         “And I shall sleep in peace, until you come for me.”