Subject Zero: CONFIDENTIAL (Short Stories)

Is the Toymaker in Town? (1)

{ A/N: apologies! these next three chapters are going to be very short. anyway so have fun reading 🤩 it's literally just like a yt video by Battington because i was not creative enough to come up with my own short story about a toymaker 😀 }

Part One: Glass Eyes

October 27, 1985
10:30a.m.
A Family Household
Norwood, Maine

Third Person's POV
A blond boy rushed into his brother's room, seeming very excited. But he saw his brother asleep. He rushed up to his brother and shook his arm.

"Marco! Marco! Come on, wake up, Marco!" said the blond boy.

His dark haired brother, Marco, woke up, very confused and was disappointed to see his brother. "Wha- huh? Austin! You interrupted my dream! I was dreaming of a woman, dressed in white, with buttons instead of eyes-"

The blond, Austin, shook his head. "That's ridiculous, Marco. You should be thinking about a perfect toy, to ask the Toymaker to make!"

"Is the Toymaker in town?"

"Yes! Yes! Come on, let's go!"

The two boys rush out of the house, and their dog Waldo follows them, walking past the television, which had an advertisement on screen for a new toy.

'Sally the Singing Marionette
is a prototype model for an upcoming
new toy. The toy is operated via strings.
Sally is capable of listening to children talking, and can see. It will recognize its child owner,
unless the child is sad. Sally will offer many songs to sing to children.
Parents are asked to not interrupt
the toy while singing.'

{ 10 Minutes Later }
The Toy Box (Toy Store)

Austin, Marco, and their dog Waldo, walked into the store, but didn't see anyone. There were stacks of toys on shelves, some spots were empty because certain toys were sold out, but there was no Toymaker.

Austin looks around. "Hmm... I don't see him."

Marco asks, "Where could he be?"

Then the two saw him walk into the room.

The Toymaker was handsome, tall, and very scrawny. He wore white gloves on his skeleton hands, and he had pointy elf ears. His skin was alabaster white and he had candy apple red hair. He had black button eyes, rosy cheeks, and his skin was shiny, like a porcelain doll. He wore a tiny, black top hat, a yellow, blue and green polka-dotted red blazer with black and red striped sleeves and a white collar, black and white checkered pants, and shiny black shoes. But between his collarbones, he had a voice box. But customers only assumed he was in character, and thought his voice box had pre-recordings.

The boys' expressions brightened and they rushed up to the counter he stood behind.

Marco says, "There he is! Hello, Mr. Toymaker!"

The Toymaker turned to see them, and through his voice box, he says, "Well, hello, children. What can I do for you today?"

Austin says, "Me and my brother were wondering if you could make us the perfect toy."

     "Well, of course I can!"

     "Yay!" Austin and Marco looked at him, smiling.

Toymaker sighed. "If it were possible."

Austin frowned, not understanding. "What do you mean, Mr. Toymaker?"

     "Well, you see, children, I can make toys that blink. I can make toys that walk. I can make them eat, and I can make them talk. I can make posters that read they are fun! But these toys aren't just fun for anyone." The Toymaker shook his head slowly.

Marco asks, "But why, Mr. Toymaker?"

     "Well, you see, children, the secret to any good selling toy is to make them lifelike!" The Toymaker plastered a soft smile on his porcelain skin. "You see, my toys can blink, but they can't see. My toys can walk, but they can't dance. My toys can eat, but they can't taste. My toys can talk, but they can't sing. I've been thrown away like a broken toy. And believe me, children, I've tried to make the perfect toy. But I can't do it all on my own..." He looked at the floor, feeling upset.

Austin looked at Marco, then back at the Toymaker and asks, "Is there anything we can do to help?"

A sinister grin grew on the Toymaker's face as he looked back at the children and says with his actual voice, "...Why, yes, there is..."

The kids stayed silent for a moment, staring at the man. He stared back.

Austin casually asks, "Well, what is it?"

The Toymaker proceeds to say through his voicebox, "There are three main ingredients that I need, but I used up all my supplies! So you'll have to get them for me."

     "But we don't have any money-"

     "Don't you want to be happy?"

The kids stood in silence once more.

     "The first ingredient I need is needle and thread!"

{ End of Part I }

"Parents are asked not to interrupt the toy while singing."