Jessie had always hated storage. The way shadows seemed to come alive, and reach out to grab her. The way the slightest shuffle sounded ominously like footsteps. The way the walls would close in on her and breathing would get harder and harder…
No thank you, she preferred being outside this goddamned box, pacing the wood floors with Buzz before Woody called them to a meeting, then going to beat Rex in the Buzz Lightyear of Star Command video game for the 517th time in a row. That, Jessie decided, was the life.
But Andy was growing up, and being well into his freshman year of high school, the stories and memories from years ago were lost in a jumble of geometry formulas, and symbolism to memorize from The Lord of the Flies. And now, from three to seven the next morning, the toys were condemned to the Toy Box.
Sure, there was always Molly to play with whenever Andy surrendered himself to the couch and a round of Call of Duty, but those days had ceased when Andy started getting agitated with her touching his things. That was why Jessie was now sitting in that Godforsaken box where it was night for seventeen hours a day, give or take a few. And now that Andy was in high school, he was constantly in his room and staying up as late as he could muster.
A shadow Jessie hadn't spotted before suddenly seemed to loom ominously in the corner opposite from her, looking like a black projection of long, sharp claws. Even worse, they were pointed in the direction of her beloved horse.
"Bullseye?" She breathed as she flattened herself against the wall and terror gripped her throat. "Bullseye!" Much to her relief, her change of position revealed that those so-called claws were just a pile of awkwardly stacked tinker-toys. Unfortunately, a new shadow appeared, leaving a horrified Jessie to retreat back to her corner and hyperventilate brokenly in pure, unadulterated fear.
So it began, like every other night in The Box. A shadow would appear, terrify the dickens out of her, and at the peak of her dread it would expose itself as a sleeping figure, or an old toy. But unfortunately, there'd always be another shadow, and another reason to leave the poor rag-doll trembling in the corner.
This was Jessie, however. The Rootinst Tootinest Cowgirl in the Wild, Wild West, Woody's loyal deputy and best yodeler around. She was a big girl, mind you; she wasn't going to cower against the wall all night. No, Jessie had a strategy.
Thinking. All she had to do was think. Start out with something stupid.
'Okay' Jessie mused with a shuddering breath, closing her eyes. ' My name is Jessie, I am a girl, Woody and Buzz are my best friends, I am Woody's deputy, we belong in a set, and we look alike, but he has a cowhide vest and I have chaps…" She was stuck. 'Come on, think!' The Box suddenly felt chilly, unfriendly even, and dread suddenly washed over the features of the redhead. Gulping, she cautiously peeked down at her jeans, desperately trying to grasp something, a thread of even a feeling to work off of. 'Righty, so I'm wearing jeans, they're dark…' But then again, everything was dark in this hellhole. 'So I'm wearing jeans,' Jessie started again, tossing that last thought out of her head with a shake of her braid. 'and they have pockets…what are up with those? They're so small, I mean, Woody has massive pockets. Why, he could practically stick a crayon down those things! And here I am, with these tiny things I couldn't even put a pencil tip in! Just 'cause I'm a lady doesn't mean I don't wanna have my hands free!" This was, of course, all part of the plan. The more involved Jessie became with her thoughts, the more lost in them she became, allowing her to ride out the rest of the night.
Finally, the once jeering and dancing shadows settled into their respective places, steering Jessie from her mind to a safe reality. She smiled, thinking of what a yellow-bellied coward she must've looked like snifflin' and cryin' in a little mess of a ball-
Her thoughts were cut short when a lanky, hulking figure suddenly arose out of the darkness and stretched its limbs, grumbling slightly, and once again, raw horror froze Jessie to her spot as she watched the thing stride closer. A shriek rang out, Jessie noted in a frightened disgust, from an alien that had rolled away from his friends and had been stepped on the mysterious figure. Whatever it was seemed to hiss, and punted the alien violently against the wall, where it bounced to ground and fell still. Jessie gagged back a shriek but realized it wouldn't matter anyway if that thing kept coming. She could've ran, or yelled for Buzz at least. But no, it would all be in vain. Closer, closer, it's shadow looming over her trembling figure-
"Jessie?" Asked a voice, warm with concern, sprinkled with curiosity. "Are you okay?"
"No…no, I-"
"Jessie, calm down-"
"Stop! Please don't!"
"Jessie!" Whisper-shouted the voice as the cowgirl's green saucers snapped open. Slowly, cautiously, she adjusted the brim of her hat and squinted her eyes, blindly searching for the speaker in the darkness. "It's just me!" Finally, her vision adjusting to the black of the Toy Box, Jessie could just barely make out the friendly face belonging to the sheriff, shadowed in worry and confusion as he perched on one knee.
"Woody! I'm sorry, I never meant to wake anyone up…" She apologized, clutching her hat to her chest.
"By the sounds of it, you were pretty distressed."
"It's just my nonsense-"
"Nonsense you should've told me about," Woody said, an edge of disappointment creeping into his tone.
"You have enough things to worry about," Jessie replied somewhat defensively.
"You being one of them." A silence overtook the Toy Box, once again drawing back the shadows that had just seemed to disappear a short time ago. A twitch escaped Jessie's body as she instinctively began to draw herself back to the corner. Luckily, she jerked herself back at the last second, but nothing escaped the cowboy's critical eye. She needed a distraction, and fast.
"Hey," he whispered, scooting himself to Jessie's side, pulling his knees up to his chest and holding out his hand. "Shake it."
"'Scuse me?"
"Shake me hand." Hesitantly, she took his hand in hers and loosely shook it, gasping when a hard, plastic item dropped into the cuff of her sleeves.
"What was that?"
"Check."
Peering into the cuff, it was revealed that the item was in fact a belt buckle. And not just any belt buckle, no. Her belt buckle! Jessie raised her head in wonder, her eyes meeting his laughing amber ones.
"How did you do that?"
"A true magician never reveals his secrets," Woody replied mysteriously, accompanied with a wink, moving a hand towards her jeans
"Oh!" Jessie squealed in surprise as reached into one of her shallow back pockets. 'My silly girl pocket…'
"Hold your horses, I'm not in there for that reason." He drawled with a smile, as he proceeded to pull out a cloth.
"A hankie?" Asked Jessie, eyes wide with wonder.
"Even better." He replied, pulling and pulling on the cloth until it grew into a long, shimmery, multicolored scarf. "And there you have it!" Woody exclaimed quietly, handing Jessie the scarf with a flourish. "Magic!" A few moments passed, and the cowgirl still didn't say a word. "Jess-" He started, then realized that she had fallen asleep on his shoulder. A slight, blissful smile overtook his face, as he draped his arm around her waist and leaned her head into his chest. Awakened by this sudden change of position, Jessie looked up at the sheriff and grinned widely. Sure, the Toy Box was a pain, scary as a rattlesnake on a kitchen floor, and sure, girl pockets were stupid. But really, maybe they both weren't so bad after all.