Okay, so this one has been a long time coming. I initially started it back in 2011, but I went through this phase where I was constantly working on other projects and this one, though never forgotten, fell kind of to the wayside. I've constantly gone back to it, but I stopped briefly when "Curse of Chucky" was announced to avoid continuity problems. Now that "Curse" is out, I feel like this story is going to be even stronger than before. My plan now is to publish the entire thing at once, which will now be my MO on all future full-length novels.
Right now, I am posting the revised Chapters 1-4 to make everyone aware that this story is not forgotten. Look for the completed story this fall, likely around October 1st. I will also be publishing a "Nightmare on Elm Street" novel on October 15th, as well, for those who would be interested. Happy haunting!
Chapter 1
A Child's Mind
In Andrew Barclay's mind, there are doors. One could take an educated guess that behind these doors are his memories. Open one door and you will see the day Andrew first set eyes on his daughter, Moriah. Open another and you can witness the day Andrew was married to his girlfriend Kristen DeSilva. Most of the memories in Andrew's mind go back to when he was a child living with his mother in Chicago. As you can guess, most of these memories are happy memories. He remembers the foster sister, Kyle, who had cared for him as he grew older. These were the happy times of Andy's life.
There are other parts of Andrew's mind, however; parts Andy only visits on his darkest days. This is where he keeps his not-so-happy memories. He remembers the day his mother was locked up in an insane asylum. He remembered being snatched from Kyle's care at thirteen and being bounced around from foster home to foster home until he was sixteen, when he was shipped off to military school. He remembered being there the day his mother died in the asylum.
In the darkest corner of Andrew's mind, there is one more door. This door Andy keeps locked. For all other doors, Andy has a key. He does not have a key for this door because there is no lock on this door. There is no handle; there is no way anybody can enter this door because Andy doesn't want to remember what has been trapped behind this door. Nobody wants to know what happened that had to be locked behind this door; and those that do know wish they didn't.
"Why is this?" I can hear some of you asking. "What is so terrible that Andy needs to keep it in a sealed door to keep himself from remembering it?" Well, it's kind of a long story. But since I assume that most of you will be in this for the long haul, I guess I should start from the very beginning…
It all started one cold winter night in 1988. Specifically, November 9, 1988, the night that the notorious Lakeshore Strangler Charles Lee Ray was finally gunned down in a Chicago toy store. What happened next is pure speculation by obscure members of the occult, but it is believed that Charles used voodoo magic to pass his soul into a doll before finally dying. Ray's body is taken from the store and flown to New Jersey, where he is buried.
The next day was Andrew Barclay's sixth birthday. His mother Karen, a single woman, was struggling financially and was unable to buy a Good Guy doll, the hot new item of the season, for her son. But luck shone down on the down-and-out mother that day; a peddler had one of the coveted dolls in his cart. Andy is elated with his new birthday present.
That night, while babysitting the young Andy, Karen's friend and co-worker was shoved from the top floor of the high-rise where Andy lives. When questioned by police, Andy blamed his new doll, Chucky. Over the course of the next few days, several people in the Chicago area begin dying. The police assumed Andy was somehow involved and pin the six-year-old as a suspect.
Karen soon learned the truth, however, when she found Chucky had been talking without batteries. Frightened, interrogated the doll and was attacked by it. Chucky escaped and sought out John Simonsen, a voodoo instructor. John revealed that the doll was taking on human characteristics and would soon become a human unless Charles transferred his soul out of the body and into the body of the first person he revealed himself to, which so happened to be Andy. But Chucky's plan was foiled when he was killed by the police officer who killed him in the toy store.
Shortly thereafter, Karen was institutionalized and Andy got placed in foster care. After two years, Andy is taken in by the Simpson family. Andy lives his life as normal, but was still haunted by the killer doll. It turns out that Chucky's remains were gathered up by the Good Guy doll corporation and reused in the construction of another doll. Chucky's soul still possessed the doll and hunted down Andy. He went on another rampage, which was only ended when Andy and his foster sister Kyle defeat Chucky in the factory where he was made.
Afterwards, Kyle, who was legally an adult, planned to become Andy's legal guardian, but a series of bureaucratic obstacles prevented her from doing so and Andy was bounced around more foster homes for eight years until he turned sixteen, when he was shipped off to a Kent Military Academy. It was here that the sixteen-year-old Andrew met the lovely Kristen DeSilva.
But Chucky soon found his way to the military academy and met the young Ronald Tyler, whom he befriended. Chucky learned that Andy was at the academy and sought him out to kill him. Despite several deaths Chucky had caused, the academy's annual war games continued as planned.
More deaths occurred, and Andy and Kristen soon team up with Tyler to defeat Chucky, luring him to a nearby carnival and destroying the demonic doll in a high-powered industrial fan, shredding the doll to pieces.
And that was where Chucky exited Andy's life. Chucky lived on, yes. But Andy would have no further contact with the doll. Andy remained in contact with Krista, who soon left the academy, and Kyle, who grew up to have a child of her own, a son whom she named Andrew.
And this is where we find Andrew today; thirty-something years old, married with a beautiful nine-year-old daughter, and a steady job as the creator and screenwriter of a television series called "Child's Play." Years of therapy have kept the nightmares about Chucky at bay for over a decade and let Andy live a normal life. But then, one night, the nightmares begin to resurface…
Andrew Barclay sat in the Lockport Police Station interrogation room, still dressed in his army duds and covered in blue paint and red blood. He had long since lost count of how long he had been in there, but kept himself sane by replaying his kiss with Kristen DeSilva over and over again in his mind. It had only been an hour or so ago, but it might as well have been years...
The sound of an opening door distracted Andy. A burly guy with his cop badge on a chain around his neck stepped into the tiny cubicle, followed by a leaner guy in a suit. Probably a pencil pusher, Andy thought.
The thinner guy was carrying a file in his hands. It was open and he was reading it as he stepped inside. He looked up at Andy and closed the file, tossing it on the desk. It slid across the polished tabletop and came to rest right in front of Andy. Andy looked at the beige-colored folder and prepared himself for verbal assault.
"Andy," the skinny guy said. "I'm Detective Bailey; this is my partner Detective Matheson." Bailey pointed to the burly guy. "We would just like to clear up a few events regarding tonight's events."
"I've already gone over this with the local guys. Everything I know, you guys should know. It's all in that file; you have witnesses up at Kent who will confirm me." Andy sank back into the chair. His camouflage Kent Military Academy uniform was stained with blood.
"I just find it extremely hard to believe that a Good Guy Doll can be possessed by the soul of a dead serial killer and go on a rampage. I also find that ironic, given the brand of the doll."
"Why don't you just bring down one of the recruits or one of the Colonels from Kent? I'm sure they'll all be glad to tell you how Lieutenant Colonel Shelton got shot to death with live rounds during a war game or how Whitehurst threw himself on a grenade to save the lives his teammates."
"Calm it, Barclay!" Matheson shouted. "I don't know what happened up there at the academy tonight. But four people, two of them military academy students and the other a carnival cop, are dead and there's nobody to point the finger at! Except you," Matheson said coldly.
"Andy," Bailey said as he sat down across from Andy. "The only reason we suspect you is because of your history. This is the third time you claim that a possessed doll has entered and subsequently ruined your life. It seems that death has followed you everywhere you go. And this doll keeps popping up in your story. So does this..." Bailey picked up and opened Andy's file. "Charles Lee Ray. You keep calling the doll Chucky. Charles Lee Ray died in Chicago, Illinois ten years ago. He's been buried for a decade; he's nothing but bones in a coffin up in New Jersey now."
"Look, if you guys are gonna charge me with something, just do it. Otherwise, you have to let me go." Andy stared at his interrogators as they stared back. Bailey finally got up and walked towards the door, holding it open for Matheson. When they got outside, they shut the door.
"Well?" Matheson said.
"Well what?" Bailey replied. "We got nothing on him. We've interviewed the witnesses and they all corroborate the story. They all say they saw this "Chucky" doll holding the grenade that killed Whitehurst. As for the live rounds, only the Colonels and the Sergeants had the keys to the armory and Sergeant Botnick's was missing when they found his body. Andy's clean..." Bailey looked in through the two-way mirror. "...At least, he didn't kill them."
Ten minutes later, Bailey led Andy through the precinct towards the front desk.
"Looks like its back into the foster system for you, Barclay. Kent is getting shutdown pending investigation of recent events."
"What about Tyler?" Andy asked, remembering the kid he had befriended while at Kent.
"His dad's on his way back from overseas, but Tyler's gonna spend the night here until his dad arrives in the morning." Bailey said. "You, however, need a legal guardian." Bailey turned to Andy. "Is there anybody left at all in your family? Any relatives at all?"
"No," Andy said. "It's just Kyle."
"Kyle," Bailey said. "Isn't that the woman who was your foster-sister and became your legal guardian for about four years?"
"Yeah, that's her." Andy said.
"Okay, we'll try to get hold of her, but I can't promise anything." Bailey turned around and picked up the phone, quickly dialing a number.
Andy stood silent behind Bailey and felt a cool breeze rush across his face. He heard a door opening and looked to his left. A police officer was carrying a plastic bag in his hand. He approached Detective Matheson and handed him the bag. In the corner, a blonde woman was filing her nails. She looked up at the two officers as they met a few yards away from her.
"It looks like Barclay wasn't lying." Matheson looked into the bag.
"Jesus H. Christ," Matheson said. "It stinks like..."
"Like flesh," the young officer said.
Andy caught a whiff of the foul odor coming from the bag and his heart sank. His eyes sank down to the bag. It was black, but he could see something pressed against the plastic, stretching it out. Andy's heart raced in his chest while he stared at the face of Chucky pressing itself against the confines of the plastic, almost threatening to escape.
"NOOOOOOOOOOO...!"
"CUT!"
The director yelled the word so loudly that the actor on the stage covered his ears before the camera had quit rolling.
"That was beautiful, Danny! Beautiful!" Jim Clark shouted over the commotion of the set. On the stage, Daniel Wreaks grabbed a bottle of water that Casting Director Kevin Moretz had in his hand. He had no idea that the bottle was actually Kevin's, but Danny didn't know. Daniel didn't care. To Daniel, Kevin was little more than an anonymous stage assistant.
Danny gulped down the water and handed the bottle back to the anonymous person Kevin before walking off the platform and wrapping his arm around Karen Hemming, his co-star.
"Now was that a scream or what?" Daniel said seductively into the actress' ear. Karen smiled as Daniel led her away from the set.
Still sitting in the director's chair, Jim watched as the various stage-hands moved around equipment and the like for the next scenes. Part of his magic was being able to get a good chunk of footage in one take. He was able to really motivate his actors and get excellent performances out of them.
"Jim," said Kevin as he walked up to the director. "Here's the script for Episode 4.01; the network wants to know if you wanna nab this one before they send out the offer to Rob Bowman."
"Why? We haven't been renewed for Season 4 yet!" Jim shouted.
"Oh, yes we have," Kevin said as he handed him a sheet. "The Season 3 premiere last night KILLED in ratings."
Jim looked over the notes. He smiled broadly.
"This is good, this is good," Jim smiled. "If the numbers keep up like this for the rest of the season, they're not gonna be able to get rid of us!"
"The network called this morning and they're gonna renew us for Season 4 by Christmas if the ratings hold strong. That's why they're offering you this one." The assistant held up the script again. The title page said "Child's Play: Episode 4.01".
In television show lexicon, the first number meant which season is referred to while the second two numbers referred to the episode for that season. Under the title, Jim read the name of the author: Andrew Barclay.
"Oh, this ought to be a good one." Jim smiled to himself. "Where's Barclay at, anyway?"
"He's in A.D.R. with Brad," a passing assistant said.
"Andy, give me the kid." That was no good. "Andy, the kid is mine." The man reading the lines looked up from the script, dropped it to his side and stepped away from the microphone to address the man in the booth by pressing a button on the wall.
"Andy, are you sure this is good dialogue?"
"We've gone over this a thousand times, Brad," said the young-looking man in the folding chair, who was wearing a headset with an attached microphone. Andrew Barclay watched as Brad Dourif rehearsed his lines over and over again.
"I don't know," Brad said. "I just don't feel entirely comfortable with that line. Can I change it up a bit?"
"Brad, you've done this character for how many years? If you don't feel comfortable with that line, feel free to change it. You should be more familiar with Charles Lee Ray than anybody else on the set except for me."
"Got it, Andy. From the top?" Brad asked from behind the glass partition.
"No," Andy said. "Just that line again. Go!" Brad took a deep breath and his alter ego surfaced.
"No, gimmie the fucking kid! He's mine!" Brad yelled in a deep and frightening voice.
"Perfect, Brad!" Andrew said. "Now, let's hear that death scream!"
Brad took a deep breath to prepare for his Emmy-winning scream, but the opening of the A.D.R. room door distracted him and he began choking on his own air.
"Mr. Clark, sir." Andy said as he stood and performed a mock salute.
"Andy," Jim said with typical Hollywood enthusiasm. "How's it going back here?"
Andy lowered his hands and pointed to Brad in the recording room, who was taking a drink of water.
"I'm just going over the lines with Brad before he starts recording." Andy said.
"Yeah, I noticed," Jim said.
"Hey, Jim," Brad said through the intercom.
"Oh, Brad says hi," Andy said, still wearing the headphones. "So, was there something you needed?"
"Uh, yeah," Jim said. "I've already read the Season 4 premiere episode. And, I gotta say... Whoa!"
Andy smiled and raised his eyebrows. "Hey, great, whoa! What whoa?"
"Well," Jim said. "Ever since Daniel got the Emmy nod, he's been letting the fame go to his head. The studio is thinking about dropping him."
"You haven't read the script, have you?" Andy asked, clearly hurt.
"Of course I have!" Jim said, all smiles.
"No," Andy reiterated. "You haven't. What happens?"
"Well, uh, Chucky comes back and starts stalking Andrew."
"No," Andy said. "That was the original idea. In the first draft, Chucky actually possessed Andy in the first episode and Andy went on the rampage instead. This is not the first draft."
"Well, I swear I... Okay, you caught me," Jim admitted. "I haven't read it. What's going on?"
"The studio already called me and told me they're dropping Danny if he wins the Emmy and wanted me to have a script ready to go in case that happens so we can keep the series going."
"Well," Jim said. "What's the idea?"
"How about this for an idea; Chucky gets married." Andy said with a thick layer of sarcasm.
"What, that's the single worst idea I've ever hard!" Jim shouted, the sarcasm clearly lost on him. "I just want to know that we have something to fall back on in case Danny looses and the executives decide to keep him on."
"We'll go with the original script where Andy gets possessed." Andy said with severe resignation.
"Epic," Jim said as he turned to leave, signaling the assistant to follow him. Before he left, Jim turned back towards Andy.
"Just answer me this one question," Jim said. "How on Earth did you come up with such a wonderful story?"
Andy just looked Jim in the eye and smiled a broad smile.
