The Toymaker

by Sergio Gomez

  He picked Lucas up. This time, he was surprised that the dummy wasn’t as heavy as he’d been the first night Mr. Gibson handed him to them in Gina’s backyard. It was like more than wooden parts were missing from him. Like what had been inside was gone now.

  Which was exactly what it was.

  Jack started to carry him over to the fire pit.

  “Hold on, hold on, Slick,” Tommy said, removing one arm from Gina’s waist.

  He reached into his leather jacket (the same one he always wore—it didn’t matter that he was in a shirt and tie) and pulled out a carton of cigarettes and a lighter.

  They laughed. Gina even nudged his shoulder with her own. But at the same time, they thought it was cool and each of them took one as he passed them around.

  Twist brought one over to Jack and put it in his mouth. Then he lit it and said, “Alright, now do the honors, Jack.”

  Jack nodded and as he took a drag of the cigarette, he continued walking the dummy to the fire.

  Once he was close enough, he dumped Lucas into the pit.

  His pompadour whooshed into flames almost immediately when the fire touched it. The flames licked at the clothing, and they started to burn to a crisp. Lastly was the crackling of the wood catching fire. First the limbs, then parts of the head.

  “Burn, baby, burn!” Victor cheered, throwing his good arm up into the air.

  Jack stepped back, and his friends crowded around him.

  Together, the five of them smoked their cigarettes and watched the dummy burn into ashes.

  THE END

  Afterword

  In the original draft of this story I used the real-life counterpart of “Dutch County”. I decided to change the name to a fictional one because I realized I was taking a lot of creative liberties as far as locations, geography, and culture goes. I didn’t want to disappoint anyone who was from the area and was excited to read a book taking place there only to find almost nothing recognizable.

  I also took a lot of creative liberties with other things to make the story work. I hope you were able to look past anything that wasn’t realistic and still enjoy it. Afterall, it’s a story about a possessed killer dummy.

  Acknowledgements

  I want to thank Laura, Jon, Derrick, James, Cosmo, and Al for believing in me enough to show me support with their dollars. It goes a long way and means a lot more than I could ever put into words.

  Laura gets her own paragraph, though, because I put more on her shoulders than I ever should’ve in the time when I was putting this book together. She soldiered through and continued to support and believe in me. Even when I didn’t believe in myself.

  Derrick also gets a special thanks because he came up with the name Dutch County. He’s also there for me every step of the way and provides invaluable feedback during every stage of the process.

  A big thanks to my friend Bill, who answered any questions I had about the military. He was patient enough to answer my questions even though I had difficulty formulating them sometimes. Anything that I got wrong was because of my misunderstanding, not because of him.

  And of course, to anyone who read this book, whether you read the first edition of The Chaos (with its terrible cover) or this is the first book of mine you’ve read, thank you. I hope you’ll all be there for the next one, because I’m just getting started.

  -S. Gomez 8/28/2018

  If you enjoyed The Toymaker, then you’ll enjoy Sergio Gomez’s short-story collection, Dark Treasures!

  Now available on Kindle for $.99, and on Amazon for $9.99!

  Want sneak-peeks of early drafts, first-looks at covers, insider scoops, early news, and more? Come help Sergio build the Mansion of Horrors at:

  www.Patreon.com/SergioGomez