Broken Toys

by Jackson Lear

  Anthony shrieked and slammed his eyes shut. Claire, on the other hand, spluttered with laughter. “Oh boy, that’s an image and a half.”

  Amanda gently patted Anthony on the knee. “It’s okay, we’re still on track for getting back at him.”

  Josh glanced over. “You what now?”

  “We have a deal too,” said Amanda.

  Anthony sighed and reluctantly opened his eyes. “Yeah, but not for six more years and there are a few hurdles in the way, so I wouldn’t get your hopes up.”

  “Yes, but in a world where Josh marries your sister, I imagine some more obstacles will be hurdled.”

  Claire looked to one side, felt a question reach the tip of her tongue, and then saw that a Cone of Secrecy between the threesome still excluded her. Then, as she looked over at Amanda, something clicked, and her loyalties started to scream at her. Everyone remained silent, so she leaned back into the sofa and smiled at the collection of empty bottles of wine.

  “You all need therapy,” she said.

  12

  Amanda

  She hadn’t had jetlag this bad in years. There was all this free time during Luxford’s office hours and no one around to keep her sane. The emails from Scott were piling up. They were as neutral as possible, trying to refrain from any sense of hurt or abandon, but it was American neutral and not English neutral. Scott’s anger simmered through every sentence. He sent her updates on the mail she was still receiving, asking if he should open it or if she was going to pick it up herself, even though he knew she was in England with no foreseeable date of return.

  Amanda had left her boyfriend, her job, and the country she had lived in for seven years all within a couple of days. Scott asked if she recognised the signs of a nervous breakdown.

  Amanda left the house and thought she might as well see how Luxford had changed since she was last there, which was no easy feat. She had thirty years of memories of the town and every new addition was simply absorbed into her local knowledge, as though the new row of shops had always been there, even if they were just five years old.

  The park had expanded, though. At one time it had just been a set of swings and a slide. Now there was a whole play area enclosed in a bright red fence, a sand pit for the youngsters, a handball court, and a basketball hoop at the far end. The council had managed to jam so much play area into the park that it eliminated every chance to run for more than ten metres.

  Amanda walked through the park and stopped along Fielding Street. She stared at numbers 16 and 18, the former homes of Anthony and Josh. Everything still looked the same. The front doors were the same colour, the roofs had been reshingled in the same colour, and everything was exactly as she remembered it except for the cars parked in front of the garage.

  She smiled at the thought of hiding under both Anthony’s and Josh’s beds more times than she could count. Whenever she pictured it now she was as her thirty four year old self, not as some eleven year old sneaking about when no one else was awake. She had read the entirety of Josh’s comics under torch light, as well as Anthony’s Sherlock Holmes stories. There were the lost hours of video game competitions and even that one month when they started a rock band in Josh’s bedroom. That one was doomed to fail since none of them had instruments and no one wanted to go over to Amanda’s house where there was actually an electric piano.

  All of that nostalgia pushed Amanda across the street to number 16, home to Anthony and Claire’s parents. She rang the bell. No one answered. She bit back on the disappointment and figured that she would have more time in the coming days to catch up with the Baxters, so she went over to number 18 and tried her luck there.

  Liz opened the door and nearly squealed at the familiar face. “Good grief!”

  “Hi Liz,” Amanda said, smiling. “I hope this isn’t a bad time.”

  “No, not at all. It’s lovely to see you again!” Liz led Amanda inside, poured her a tea, and exchanged an hour’s worth of stories.

  As Amanda headed back to Portal Close forty people noticed her. Twelve thought she looked familiar. Three wanted to sleep with her. One wanted to make her scream.

  13

  Warrick

  Daniel, Ian, and Warrick were hunkered down in the cinema watching The Bounty Hunter. The theatre was sparsely populated, nevertheless the boys sat at the side wall keeping themselves as low as possible. They had tickets for The Waiting which ended an hour ago. Thirty five minutes into The Bounty Hunter, Ian and Daniel high-fived each other when the smoking hot Penelope Lowndes took off her dress. Daniel had to nudge Warrick to regain his interest. Warrick looked away the moment Penelope’s bra hit the floor. The boys shrunk down lower when they saw a theatre attendant walk around with a small torch. They held their breaths and remained perfectly still. The twenty year old attendant waited at the back of the theatre until the sex scene was over, then left.

  Warrick exhaled and glanced around, hoping that no one else was about to spook them for being in the wrong movie. He glanced up at the projector light streaming through the dust until his eyes fell onto one of the patrons sitting a few rows away, almost in the middle of the cinema. Warrick shot around and slumped into his seat.

  “It’s him.”

  Daniel stared at Warrick blankly. “Who?”

  “The Beast.”

  Ian and Daniel looked over their shoulders.

  “Shhh! Don’t look!” said Warrick.

  Both boys rolled their eyes at Warrick and went back to hunting down the Beast. Ian squinted through the dark and saw a deathly thin man crouching so low in his seat that he was almost peering over the empty seat in front of him. Ian looked back to Warrick. “He’s too short.”

  “It’s him,” whispered Warrick.

  “He doesn’t come and watch movies,” said Ian.

  “I dunno know, he may be right,” said Daniel, staring at the Beast like a detective at a criminal line up. “We’ve just never seen him this close before.”

  Ian turned around to get a better look. He stared through the dark, trying to pick out the dark matted hair, the stubbled face, and the general look of a man living out of a dumpster.

  The Beast’s eyes rolled slowly towards him, then he locked onto the three boys. Ian spun around and all three sunk down into their seats.

  “He saw us,” said Ian.

  “No shit,” said Daniel.

  “What if he kills us?”

  “Too many witnesses.”

  “He’ll kill me first,” whispered Warrick, staring at the aisle closest to him.

  “I’ll check,” said Ian. He turned around, tried to peer through the gap in the seat but couldn’t get a good enough look. He raised his head slightly, peering over the crest of the seats, and found the Beast staring back at him. Ian dropped down like a soldier ducking from enemy fire. “It’s him.”

  “What do we do?” Warrick asked.

  Daniel shrugged. “I’m gonna watch the rest of the movie.”

  “But ... he saw us.”

  “So? Fuck him.” Daniel sat back up, shook himself out and made it obvious to anyone watching that he was going to finish the movie and not care about anyone else.

  Warrick spent the rest of his time glancing at the aisle while keeping his ears out for anyone moving around behind him. He kept himself ready to scramble away, but that would only work if he saw the Beast approaching. What if the Beast avoided the aisle completely and sat behind the boys? The skin along the back of Warrick’s neck seized and his ears seemed to twist to hear what was happening just an arm’s reach behind him.

  He’s going to sit behind me. He can strangle me. He will stab me. He’ll get me first because I’m at the aisle and that will stop Daniel and Ian from escaping as well.

  Warrick closed his eyes to centre himself, to focus his over active imagination on everything that was okay in the world, then his heart spluttered and his eyes shot open with full realisation that he had allowed his defences to slip. The creature of every nightmare imaginable was si
tting in the same cinema as himself, biding his time, choosing his next victim. Warrick stole a look at Daniel and Ian. Once again he was on look out duty while the other two got to enjoy themselves.

  When he was eight he was told the Beast strangled a boy who wandered into the cemetery late at night. The Beast ripped off the kid’s penis and attached it to his own and had sex with the boy’s grieving mother that night, fucking her in the arse and vagina at the same time. The Beast’s own penis had spikes and barbs and ripped the mother up pretty good. It was the first time Warrick heard that someone could put something up your bum. He asked his mum if that was even possible.

  He then heard about the Beast abducting pets and doing crazy science fiction experiments on them, pulling them apart and turning them into hybrids as he tried to figure out how to bring them back to life. It was apparently quite easy to do. Warrick saw enough of his parent’s medical dramas to know that bringing someone back from the brink of death was fairly common. And, with animals, it should have been easier since they were dumber. The only problem was knowing which part of the animal would be resurrected as the dominant side of the Frankensteined creatures.

  Whenever a bat or a bird flew overhead at night and squawked, that was one of the Beast’s creatures reporting back to its master. Whenever there was a dead animal on the side of the road, it was the result of a lost fight against one of the Beast’s creations. And whenever a pet disappeared it was a sure thing that it’s final few hours were spent strapped to a table with a knife cutting it open. Its memories were watched by the Beast so he could learn everything about you if he wanted to.

  Warrick peered around in his seat again. The Beast had slunk lower into his seat, with his eyes appearing just over the top of the chair in front, but he was still staring directly at Warrick. Warrick snapped back and wished he could go to the bathroom but he would never live down the reputation of being a coward.

  Warrick caught sight of Ian fidgeting about in his pockets. Then his nerves exploded as Ian raised his phone into the air and took a video of the rear of the cinema.

  “Nice,” Daniel said, with a quick nod.

  “What are you doing?” whispered Warrick.

  “Proof,” said Ian. He pulled the phone down, looked over the eight seconds of footage, and was satisfied that he had something to show anyone who was interested.

  Warrick’s heart all but exploded. His breathing quickened to the point where Daniel shoved him and issued a warning about remaining cool.

  Warrick spent the rest of the movie trying to keep his nerves under control.

  14

  Josh

  The moment Josh heard the last, “See ya Lukas,” he stretched, popped a Tic Tac into his mouth, and checked the smell from his arm pits.

  One minute later Brooke glanced up from her computer. “Hey! Almost home time.”

  “And thank Christ,” said Josh. “At least at home I’m only staring at one screen at a time instead of two.”

  Brooke’s eyes glazed as she turned her attention back to her desk. “Try having the phone ring off the hook while you’re still expected to do your job.”

  “So, you’ve had a shitty day?”

  “Little bit. Janine was in a mood.”

  “So I heard. And she needs to get laid like no one’s business.”

  Brooke shot a quick look over Josh’s shoulder. “See you Monday, Lukas.”

  Josh glanced over.

  A devilish grin flashed over her face. “Ha, made you look.”

  Josh leaned in closer to Brooke. “Good thing I didn’t go with what I first wanted to say.”

  “Which was?”

  “A secret,” smiled Josh. “Anyway. Almost home time. Good thing too because there’s more to life than working for someone else.”

  “You have anything planned?”

  “I don’t know, what are you doing?”

  Brooke pursed her lips forward. “Going home.”

  “Good food, good company, good wine?”

  “Depends what kind of mood my husband’s in.”

  Josh picked up the Magic 8 Ball that sat on Brooke’s desk. He had seen her use it to keep the mood friendly whenever someone came along. Josh shook the ball to get an answer.

  “See, now you have to tell me what you asked it,” said Brooke.

  “I asked if you had any plans tonight.”

  Brooke peered over to see the result. “It lies.”

  “It says ‘no.’”

  “It can say whatever it wants, it’s just a Magic 8 Ball.”

  Josh shook the ball again. “Do you actually tell the future?” He rattled the ball. “Ah. It says ‘yes.’” He rattled it again. “Does Brooke actually have any plans tonight?” He smiled at the result and held the ball out for Brooke to see.

  “I have plans. That thing is just covering for me.”

  “Getting chips on the way home does not qualify as plans.”

  Brooke looked his way before staring off to the side just as quickly. “Did … wait …”

  Josh grinned at her. “It was more than just a lucky guess.”

  Brooke’s eyes flicked across her desk to her phone. “I …”

  “You have a habit of getting chips after a crappy day,” said Josh.

  Brooke leaned back in her chair and fell into a relaxed slouch. “Oh.” She then queried herself on how Josh even knew that little quirk of hers. “You know, weird thing. I always had the impression you didn’t like me when I first arrived.”

  Josh shrugged it off. “Our last front desk girl was crap. Kept double booking clients, especially if they worked in a sense of urgency. She would ‘see what she could do,’ which meant giving some stupid video a high priority over a long term client. And before discussing it with anyone she would call up a previously booked client and ask if it was okay to delay their video. They would ask for a discount for the inconvenience and she would ‘see what she could do.’ She lasted four months. You were her emergency replacement so it took some time to see if you were any good.”

  “And?”

  “I didn’t do your performance review so I couldn’t say.” Josh winked at her.

  “Well, I’m still here.”

  “Yes you are.”

  “How about a review of yoga?”

  “Your form is good. The spiral sky cat seems to be your favourite.”

  Brooke was again caught trying to keep up with Josh’s train of thought. “Spiral sky cat?”

  “You know the one. They all have stupid names, don’t they? Downward dog. Stretchy worm.”

  “Ah yes, so you and everyone else can see my arse bouncing in the air.” Brooke rocked herself up and down in her seat, just as Renee walked past.

  “See ya Brooke, Josh.”

  “See ya Renee, have a good one,” smiled Josh.

  Brooke spluttered in embarrassment. As soon as Renee disappeared from view Brooke tumbled over her desk. “Uh! Why, whyyyy did I do that?”

  “Because you love being caught.”

  “I don’t, I swear.”

  “Then maybe because you were always a good girl who found her rebellious streak only in your adulthood.”

  Brooke pulled herself up off the table fixed her top back into place. “I wouldn’t go that far. When I was eighteen I went to a spa with my mum, then completely forgot that she didn’t know I had a couple of piercings.”

  Josh’s heart damn near skipped a beat. She had two already in each ear, but those would have been noticeable long before a spa trip. “And how did you raise this subject?”

  “Pretty much said, ‘Uh, so I have a few piercings I never told you about.’ She said, ‘Yes dear, I can see,’ while staring at my crotch.”

  Josh, for once, was lost for words.

  “I, ah, don’t think I should’ve said that,” said Brooke. She trailed off and sat up just as quickly. “Right, that’s it. Brooke’s done for the day. It’s all a disaster. God knows what I actually said to any of our clients but if I leave now I might be
able to slink away and keep my job.”

  “You’re not due off for another twenty five minutes,” said Josh.

  Brooke looked over at the time and slumped in her chair. “Some days just don’t end quick enough.”

  “Don’t worry, your verbal diarrhoea is safe with me.”

  “Good. Although last night Gavin asked me if we were having an affair.”

  Josh tried to reach through Brooke’s scatter-brained ramblings to see just how serious she was. The problem was, her extra piercings were still rampaging through his mind. “Come again?”

  “We’re not.”

  “I didn’t think we were,” said Josh.

  “Just, most of my interesting stories of the day are about what we talk about at lunch.”

  “That’s a relief, then. What about the conversations we have at the end of the day?”

  Brooke winced and shied away. “Best we keep those to ourselves.”

  Josh nodded gently. “Because of karma?”

  Brooke leaned so far over her desk that she was able to rest her forehead on the surface. “Yeah, karma’s going to bite me in the arse.”

  Josh had his snappy answer at the ready. “Don’t worry, karma loves me. Last year a little old lady fell down next to me and I picked her up like I was Hercules. Last month I was in the bakery and the new girl made a mistake by giving me twenty pounds extra in change. I sorted that out and laughed it off. And I once rescued a kitten. A little thing as well. Cute as a button. There it was, meowing away, all lost and scared. Somehow we named it Bilby. As a result, things kinda go my way.”

  Brooke lifted herself up tried to hide a wry smile. “Things tend to bite me in the arse.”

  Josh drew in a quick breath.

  “You shouldn’t say what you’re thinking. And I should get back to work.”

  Josh glanced back towards his office. “As you wish. But while we’re keeping things from our significant others …”