"Triangle…"
"…"
"Triangle?"
"…"
"Hey Triang-"
"What do you want, Circle?"
"This sounds kinda crazy, but I think we're trapped in here!"
"Oh, you think so, Circle? We've been here for goodness knows how long, and only NOW you've come to that brilliant conclusion?"
"Don't worry; I'm sure some of the nice people around here will help us out!
"Sure, you keep telling yourself that."
"Or maybe that little fellow down there knows the way out! Excuse me sir, or madam…"
"Don't bother, Circle. All they do is sit there giggling to themself like some sort of creep."
-.-.-.-.-
Red struggled to keep the large paper map open as it waved around wildly in the wind.
"Try to find that one good lunch bar everyone's talking about, and look what happens…" He muttered in frustration as he held the map up against a nearby wall.
"We're not lost, are we?" Crowe asked, a little nervous.
"I wouldn't say we're 'lost'." Red replied, not taking his attention off the map. "I just can't find this lunch bar anywhere."
Donnie, meanwhile, had his attention elsewhere. He had spotted a peculiar window display and was watching it curiously.
"Hey guys, look at this!" He called out to his friends, pointing at the display.
The other two turned to see what Donnie was pointing out to them. In the window of a department store was a blue-walled display that held two large shapes with faces. One was a red triangle with a displeased frown and a yellow bowtie, next to it was a yellow circle with a cheerful expression and a pink and red striped hat. They were suspended in place, their eyes spinning slowly. In front of the triangle and the circle was some sort of blue box with a face, resembling a radio with a rotating red handle. A pair of scissors lay next to it, surrounded by many pairs of small eyes.
"That's… That's certainly something." Crowe stated, stepping forward to examine the display. "I think it's quite cute, actually."
"I suppose so." Red added, having given up on the map for a moment to observe the window display. "What is this place anyway, a department store?"
"It's Selfridges!" Donnie responded, not giving much of an explanation.
"Well, I guess we could go in and ask for directions." Red suggested, folding the map and tucking it under his furry arm. "We might as well have a look around while we're in there, it's not like we're in a hurry or anything."
Red ambled casually into the building and Crowe trailed behind. Donnie turned away from the window to follow them but was stopped when he heard a voice.
"Excuse me, little boy, could you spare a moment?" A muffled voice called out in a cheerful tone.
Donnie glanced around, trying to pinpoint where the voice had come from. Everyone around seemed to be minding their own business.
"No, no, not over there, you dull-wit!" A much grumpier voice bellowed. "In here!"
Donnie turned his attention back to the window display that had caught his curiosity moments earlier. Surely the voice couldn't have come from in there, could it?
"Oh, hello there! You look like a bright young thing." The cheerful voice spoke again, muffled by the glass barrier.
The voice was indeed coming from the window display. The happy-looking circle was talking to him! Donnie cautiously edged over to the window to get a better listen, gently touching the glass with his yellow fingertips.
"I'm trapped in this window display with this ridiculously jolly circular fool!" The red triangle complained in a more aggressive tone, startling Donnie a bit.
"Oh, don't mind my friend." The yellow circle giggled. "They're always a bit grumpy like that."
Donnie remained silent, perhaps in awe of what he was seeing and hearing. He tilted his head curiously, wondering what these shapes, colourful in both appearance and contrasting character, wanted from him.
"I don't think I can stand another minute in here!" The triangle whined.
"Triangle makes a good point." The circle responded. "It's been fun watching all these people wander past, but we'd like to get out and explore this place! Would you be so kind as to help us out?"
Donnie scanned back and forth across the crowd, then back at the triangle and circle with a hesitant nod. He then glanced down at the smiling blue radio in front of them.
"Might as well leave that daft fellow behind." The triangle grumbled, noticing the child turn his attention to the stranger. "I haven't heard a word from them since we got here. Just giggles like a fool, that one."
-.-.-.-
"Red… R-Red…" Crowe stuttered anxiously, tapping at his older friend's side as they explored Selfridges together.
"What's the matter, Crowe?" Red replied, trying on a fancy hat only for it to cover his eyes and render him sightless. "I know, I know, I'll never find a hat that fits me…"
"I think we lost Donnie!"
Red took the hat off and placed it back with the others, pivoting around as he anxiously scanned the store for the young boy. The place was big… Very big… Too big.
"It's no big deal." Red replied, hiding his uneasiness. "He probably just got distracted back over… Somewhere. Crowe, where were we when you last saw Donnie with us?"
"I don't know, I wasn't paying attention!"
Upon entering Selfridges, Crowe and Red had been so distracted by all the high-end sights that they hadn't bothered to check that Donnie was still with them. Now they were both quite worried. With every passing moment the department store seemed to grow larger, filling with people and stock as it perpetually expanded as if were the universe itself. Where was Donnie? What had happened to him? They had willingly wandered into the mighty jaws of Selfridges and not even noticed as their youngest friend had been chewed up and swallowed. And to think this all started with some stupid little lunch bar.
"Oh gosh, Red, how are we gonna tell Roy?" Crowe asked, his knees shaking as his glance darted around the store.
"He's not gone, Crowe!" Red reassured both Crowe and himself. "He's just… wandered off somewhere. We'll find him eventually and Roy won't have to know a single word of this."
Selfridges was a frightening jump from the quieter and more humble shopping places of their own town. Red shook away the thoughts of how many other children may have walked in, only to disappear and never be seen again.
"E-excuse me sir," Crowe stuttered nervously to a nearby shopper, catching his attention. "W-we've lost a friend around here, and we were wondering if by chance you may have seen him around?"
"Oh, yes! He's pretty hard to miss actually. Makes me wonder how we lost him in the first place." Red added with a nervous laugh, pleased with Crowe's idea to ask a bystander for help. "He's, uhm, only young, not very tall… Uhm… Yellow skin, blue hair, ehr, orange nose… Overalls… You know how these things go, right? Just walking along, someone gets distracted and separates…"
The man tilted his head and put a finger to his chin as he thought for a while. To Crowe and Red's surprise, the stranger then gave a nod! Just their luck that the first person they asked knew where Donnie might be.
"I think I saw that little boy just a few minutes ago as I walked in here." He explained. "He was outside the store on his own; I almost stopped to ask where his parents were."
"Thank you, sir, we appreciate the help!" Red thanked, earning a smile and a nod from the stranger in response.
"Red, do you think Donnie might still be out there?" Crowe asked, already eager to head back out.
"He might be." Red replied. "If we left him behind by accident he might just be waiting for us to come back for him."
The idea was quite relieving, it was much better than the thought of Donnie running amok when separated from his companions. They weren't going to waste any more time, though, Red and Crowe caught the curious glances of other shoppers as they speed-walked their way past clothes and mannequins and out of the department store.
"Hi Red! Hi Crowe!" The youngest of the three friends greeted cheerfully, seemingly unaware of the panic he'd put the other two through.
Donnie stood casually outside Selfridges, right where he had last been seen. He seemed rather pleased about something. People all around had nervous, confused or perhaps somewhat amused expressions as they walked along, whispering to each other questioningly as if something unexplainable had just occurred out of the blue.
"Donnie, we thought we'd lost you!" Crowe exclaimed, placing his feathery hands on his hips in a slightly frustrated manner.
"Really?" Donnie replied. "I thought you two were the ones who got lost. I knew where I was the whole time!"
Crowe couldn't help but chuckle a bit in amusement at the statement, feeling relieved that everyone was back together again. The window display at the front of Selfridges simultaneously caught the attention of both Crowe and Red, when out of the corners of their eyes they noticed something was different about it.
"Hey, what happened to the window display?" Red asked casually.
The happy circle and the angry triangle were gone. The display was now nothing more than a big near-empty blue space, inhabited only by the little blue radio that smiled mischievously as its red handle rotated on its side, next to a pair of scissors and many pairs of tiny little curious googly eyes.
"Oh, someone must have taken the shapes down while we were in the store." Crowe hypothesized.
"No, I helped them escape!" Donnie stated proudly.
"…I'm sure you did, Donnie." Red responded, amused as he assumed the boy's wild imagination was at work. "And you did a fine job."
Donnie smiled brightly, before remembering why he and his friends had made their way all the way over to where they were now in the first place.
"Did you find directions to that lunch bar?" He asked.
Red's expression turned quite sheepish as Crowe gave him a rather displeased look.
"Y-yes…" Red replied in embarrassment. "It turns out I was… Way off. That lunch bar is nowhere near here, I got the address completely wrong. It's in another town at least a few days' worth of driving distance from here."
"So… We'll be having lunch back at home?"
"Yeah… Sorry."
"Okay!"
To Red's relief, Donnie remained optimistic and not the slightest bit disappointed in his older friend despite the embarrassing error. People who passed by still looked curious and stirred, and there was something slightly ominous about the absence of the smiling circle and frowning triangle in that Selfridges window display
"If it makes things any better, I'll make us all lunch when we get back." Red offered. "Let's leave this place; it's starting to make me feel uncomfortable…"
-.-.-.-
Red fumbled with the house keys as his friends waited beside him to head back inside and rest. It hadn't been a particularly long day but they felt rather worn out by it regardless. With a click, the door unlocked and Red wasted no time pushing it open. After only a few steps he jolted to a halt, wide-eyed and frozen in a startled state, Donnie and Crowe following in the same manner less than a moment behind.
Before them stood two familiar 'figures', if one could even classify them as that, now bearing black legs and coloured shoes. Right near the doorway stood a cheerful yellow circle with an enthusiastic smile and a pink and red striped hat, and an angry red triangle with a frown and a yellow bowtie. They stared back at the three shocked friends, blinking every so often during the long pause. Donnie, Crowe and Red dared not move or speak, lest they begin the inevitable confrontation with their uninvited guests.
"D-Donnie, how did… Are they…" Red stuttered in a whisper.
"I suppose you three are not happy to see us!" The triangle's grumpy voice boomed.
"We've come to give thanks to the one who freed us!" The cheery circle continued in rhyme.
"Your feelings are conflicted, your expressions are bizarre!"
"Let's see what you've felt today so far!"
"Nervous! Frustrated! Worried! Confused!"
"Curious! Proud! Relieved and amused!"
"Keep quiet and still, no time for commotion!"
"Let us sing about your emotions!"