The Playground Wars

Chapter Fifteen

The days seem to be passing even more quicker than ever. There's nothing else to do in the cells so I usually pass my time looking out the window, seeing if there are any stars in the sky tonight. Of course, the light pollution from the city only allows me to see the commotion of cogs and cars in the city below. I try to make games for myself, like how many times an airship has passed by.

4 times today.

And how long it takes for them to take off.

On average, 20 seconds.

And how many skyscrapers I could see towering from below from my window view.

15.

The games get boring sometimes so I have to occupy myself with other nonsensical things, but it's scary how sometimes I have to catch myself and notice that what I am doing is a result of being stuck in the same room for days.

As I look out the window, I can see the forest and fences that divide the city from them. The same forest where I spent a long time suffering, from causing an innocent toon's death and where I reunited with Joey. Joey. I wonder if he's okay, if he's still alive at the same moment as now. Or worse, if he was actually turned into a Toonbot and doesn't even identify as Joey, but another number in the mass production of cogs. The tears slowly roll down my cheek and eventually fall and crash to the ground, leaving a spot for more of it's kind to fall.

I remember a song they used to sing in Donald's Dreamland when the war was barely beginning. Toons used to sing it to each other, and it became a pass time sort of thing. It was from before all of the playgrounds were divided, so every toon would pass it on to their friends and it sort of bonded everyone together. In the underground bunkers we used to hide in whenever Cog Airships flew by, toons would gather around a dimly lit candle and take turns singing the song. Although words tend to change whenever things are passed on and told to people, this song in particular has stayed the same.

Once daylight breaks, I'll be there
Laughing and smiling without a care
We can all be happy if we tried
The flower in the sun won't ever die

Once daylight breaks, please don't cry
Come and rest your head by my side
Let that sorry tear come and dry
The flower in the sun won't ever die

I can't remember what comes next but after a few minutes of pondering and thinking about Gary and the others, the words come back to me in an instant.

Once daylight breaks, I'll be gone
Please remember me by this song
Shine brighter than the flower in the sun
No one is ever meant to say goodbye

The small confines of this room allow for me to sing in a whisper yet still be able to be heard through an echo. When the city begins to illuminate the cloudy and polluted sky, it becomes my signal that it is time to sleep on the cold and unforgiving floor. The cold air from the window only adds another layer of frost to my back. My eyes are about to shut when I hear knocking from the silver door that traps me in this room. I hear buttons pressing from a glove and the door splits in half to let Flippy in.

"I see you're holding up well despite the weather today," Flippy says in a monotone voice while taking a look at me on the ground and crouches so that he is on the same eye level as me, "but I think you deserve a little treatment." I raise my brow.

"Just tell me what you want," I demand, still on the ground. He closes his eyes and sighs and then stands up once again so that he is towering over me like this tower stands over the city.

"I just wanted to invite you to dinner, that's all. Talk things through, like civilized toons."

"Civilized toons?" I laugh. Flippy stares at me in confusion.

"What's the laughing matter here?"

"What's the matter?" I repeat to him as I begin to stand. "Nothing, I just found it funny that you talk about civilized toons when you're over here in this Cog HQ turning your own kind into one of them. I don't find it funny actually, I find it hilarious." I didn't even realize but as I was talking, some of my saliva managed to get on his face. He wipes it off with his gloves, sighs once again, and then makes his way to the door. His fists are clenched.

"Enough. Another word out of your mouth and I'll send you to the Dipping Chamber." I think about making a run towards the exit but I know that in the long run, there are guards around every corner and I won't make it too far before they catch me and confine me in a room worse than the one I am already in.

"Why are you inviting me to dinner?" I mumble, not realizing I may have defied his new orders to not talk. He turns around and smiles.

"You have potential Oswald. The cogs here know that and I wanted to discuss it with you over a nice meal." A meal does sound nice, especially as my stomach growls so loud so that even a room down in the hallway can hear.

But I'm most likely going to end up dead here anyways. I figure that dying while disobeying Flippy's orders can most likely be the most rebellious act against him.

"I don't know what you mean, but I'm not going to eat at the same table as you. I would rather starve to death than be eating a meal in the same room and time as you." Flippy chuckles. "Flippy, get out." He smiles at me as if no one was talking, or someone made a joke. "FLIPPY GET OUT!"

He starts pressing some buttons outside the door. "So be it. You'll die in here like every toon that came here before you, and anyone that even cares about you will forget you even exist. It was nice attempting to work with you Oswald, to achieve something greater but you have made me reach my limit with your attitude."

"They're going to come for me. You'll see," I insist.

"They will come I bet but when you're already dead. Have fun Oswald. I'll be back when you're broken." And the silver doors close once again, most likely to never be open for a long time. When I hear his footsteps disappear into the hallway outside my room, I find comfort in the corner to just let out all of my emotions. Anger, uncertainty, defiance. Will Cuddles actually come for me? It seems very true but what Flippy has told me makes me doubt myself. I don't want to die here. Not a war prisoner. Not Flippy's prisoner, but the prisoner of my own actions.

The flower in the sun won't ever die.

The line from the song lingers in the thoughts of my mind. I remember the bright and ecstatic flowers that would greet toons wherever the eyes could grasp. The warm and welcoming dirt beneath our feet that would give us the feel of summer. Oh, what I would do just to have that relaxing feeling of dipping my feet into the fishing pond on a hot, summer day. The friends that I would share picnics with like Conrad. It has been a long time since I have seen him. I don't want to think that he's probably gone but the possibility is still there. A time when we were strolling through Oak Street returns to my memory. It's one of those times that didn't really seem important or mattered at the moment until you realize it was an experience that would never happen again.

It was a really warm day, hot but the slow wind added to the coolness. Conrad and I were on the sidewalk, walking at the same pace as the cogs on the street would walk.

"Imagine what life was like before cogs," he intrigued me.

"It's crazy," I replied as I watched a Cold Caller fight a toon in the street. "I think even for our mayor Flippy, it's hard to imagine." We both sighed, as if we were both commanded to at the same time or something.

"Do you ever think there will be a day where the cogs will be gone for good?" Conrad genuinely asked me. We sat on the steps of a shop, watching the cogs fly in and fly out.

"Yes," I replied as I watched a neon red flower at my feet blow as the sun radiated it's color.

If only that were true, I think to myself, back to the reality of the cold and gloominess of the cell I'll probably spend my life in.

At this point, I begin to accept my fate. I'm destined to die here.

Once daylight breaks, I'll be gone.