A Short Story Compilation

The Discovery of Bobbins

There were four of us at the start. Annie, who never let go of that worn old teddy bear, even after death. Sadie, who held that china doll whose face was smashed in long ago. Markus, who has an unfailing grip on the jack-in-the-box. Every so often, he would wind it up and open the lid, peeking inside at his little surprise. To tell you the truth, we all suspected that it was empty. Then there is me, Anthony, my robe stained with blood.

We didn't do much before, just float around the burnt orphanage, thinking about death-only we didn't know that we were dead, we thought that we were alive and that everyone else died. We wondered why nobody rebuilt the orphanage, why nobody noticed us- we thought that it was because we were orphans, nobody noticed us before, nobody noticed us now- it wasn't that much of a difference. I think that we started to notice after light went through Annie.

We weren't upset that we died; it actually explained quite a lot. You really can't do anything about being dead when you are dead. We got a bit lonely though, especially me. Annie had her bear, Sadie had her doll and Mark had his jack-in-the-box. I didn't have a toy, so when the other kids had time to play, I floated around the old dormitory. It was in this way that I met Mr. Bobbins.

He was lost, that much was obvious, and he seemed very scared. At first I wasn't unnerved by him- I always see people- but then he looked up and he saw me. Mr. Bobbins was very frightened, but I calmed him, and we were soon best friends. He did anything that I wanted. He sealed the windows shut to deter the light that reminded us that we were dead. He tried very hard to bring me a toy, but all of them slipped through my translucent hands.

I liked Mr. Bobbins, he was the only person who saw us, and after a billion attempts and failures of toys, I proposed something.

The others didn't agree with my plan, for Markus didn't like Mr. Bobbins and Sadie said that he tried to look up her skirt. Yet, I convinced them, like always. I explained that it just wasn't the same to play with Mr. Bobbins, because he wasn't our age. We needed a new playmate who was our age.

I learned that Bobbins had a brother, one my age, That's when I created a proposal. The others liked it a lot. Annie even let go of her teddy bear for a split second so she could clap properly.

He came to us on Saturday with another bowl.

"Here it is." he said, setting it on the floor.

"Bobbins?" I asked with my most charming smile.

"Yes?"

"I have a request, a very special one."

"What is it Anthony?"

"We would like a playmate."

"Any one in particular?"

"You have a brother, right?"