Nails, bolts and shards of some type of steel littered the table, standing alongside was the panting form of an old man smiling at the beginings of, probably, his last puppet. Hanging on a hook was a black fedora, newly stetched, and a trench coat with black lining. Little black shoes sat beneath these, waiting for the little feet that they would call their owner. The old man had short cropped white hair and wise old blue eyes. He wore suspenders that kept his brown pants up and a white button shirt. His left black shoe tapped up and down, beating a tatto onto the floor.
"He says this will be our leader."
"I already like what I see."
Bending over his almost complete creation, the old man finished the face. The mouth was moveable, able to consume food and drink, and the eyes weren't eyes at all but tiny sharp spikes. One arm ended in a sharp silver knife and the other ended in a silver hook. Gently picking the puppet up, the old man clothed it and then sat it down in a silver chair. He chanted a few words, then the puppet slowly moved his left arm.
"You are Blade, the leader and protector of the rest of the puppets." Andre Toulon beamed with satisfaction. "Happy birthday."
Finding his legs strong, Blade stood up for the first time. He wobbled a little then too his first step. He was strong, he was supreme, and he was alive. He ran to the edge of the table and almost fell over, hadn't he of seen the sheer drop to the trash can below. The other puppets watched with awe, they felt love towards this puppet. Turning around, he and they met eye to eye. They stared at each other for the longest time and then embraced in a huge group hug.
"Blade, this is Tunneler," Andre introduced.
Tunneler wore a green top and bottum Nazi uniform with little gold medals and tags that glistened and gleamed off of Blade's face. He wore black shoes, and had a solem, almost saddening look to his face. Both of his eyes were black, black as night, and his mouth stayed the same. That didn't stop him from giving Blade one more tight hug and try as he might he gave him a small kiss on the cheek.
"And this is Leechwoman and Pinhead." Andre continued.
Leechwoman was a beautiful black headed puppet with lovely eyes, her mouth was painted pink and she wore a pink dress with no shoes. Her dainty arms and legs didn't look as if they could hold her weight. Pinhead, on the other hand, was totally the opposite. His huge shoulders and arms gave way to a slender waist and legs. He had a tough face, with beady black eyes and a half smile for a mouth. Both hugged and kissed Blade, and he kissed them back.
"There may be another joining your little family Blade," Andre sighed. "you will love him dearly like a big brother should."
Fifty-Nine Years Later
Angela Irene, a lovely red head with emerald green eyes, walked between the stalls of the fair with dignity. She had fifty dollars well hidden inside her purse and she meant to spend it well. The county fair smelled of buttered popcorn, artificially colored cotton candy and animal manure from the stalls in the Petting Zoo. She had visited the zoo twice today, she just couldn't stop looking at the newborn lambs and the little pony with her foal pressed against her side. She'd gone into two stalls since then, she had another stall to go to before heading home. It was the stall owned by Harry Fjorde, and the flyer that had come in with the afternoon mail had said that he was selling antique collectible dolls and puppets.
"Hello miss," Harry said, he was stuffing a puppet back into a trunk behind the counter. "what would you like to see?"
Angela didn't answer, she was too engulfed in looking at the rows of beautifully dressed dolls lined up alongside a rack of Ventriloquist Dummies. Harry Fjorde was a young thirty-three year old with dull greyish blue eyes and shaggy brown hair. He was wearing a white shirt, untucked, and a pair of torn blue jeaned shorts. He was missing the pinky on his left hand, probably from a fight at the local bar.
"Do you have any puppets?" Angela asked.
"No I don't..." Harry answered quickly, almost fearfully.
"What about that one puppet you stuffed under your counter?" Angela asked.
Angela wasn't one to pry answers from others, but she knew that Harry had a few puppets. It was a sixth sense, like an instint, of which she'd found out that she had when she was five years old. Harry sighed, knowing he wasn't going to win, and pulled out a puppet with a black coat and hat. Angela took one glance and fell in love.
"He's a nice puppet." Angela cooed.
"Yes, nice and dangerous." Harry hissed.
"Dangerous?" Angela repeated. "Because of the knife?"
"Miss, I will sell you any doll in this tent," Harry said slowly while clearing his throat. "but I'm sure you don't want this one."
"How much for him?" Angela asked, totally ignoring Harry's words of caution.
"He comes with a bunch of other," Harry sighed. "dirt cheap."
"How cheap?" Angela asked.
"Twenty dollars for the lot and extras." Harry bellowed. "No more, no less."
"I'll take them," Angela announced. "may I see the others?"
Placing the puppet on the counter, Harry allowed Angela to walk around to the other side. Sitting on the floor was a half open trunk, pulling the trunk the rest of the way open Angela exclaimed out loud. On one side was three puppets. All male, one was wearing a Nazi uniform with rusty tags and metals, the top of his head was like a top and it was just as rusty. Sitting beside him was a large puppet wearing a red sweater and black pants. He had huge shoulders, but his head was tiny. Beside him was a puppet with only one hand. This puppet wore a green hunting coat and black pants and boots, his head was covered in dust and rust.
The other side was covered in red, blue and yellow fabric, and two more puppets sat inside a little box surrounded by sparkly graffiti. The one closest to her looked like a cowboy, he was dressed in blue jeans, brown boots and spurs with a brown stetson hat. His brown vest had a hole in the side and he had six little hollisters for his six guns. Amazingly he had six arms. The puppet alongside him was dressed in a red and purple velvet suit with yellow dots and sparkles. He was frowning, as if he missed the sun. On his feet were yellow belled shoes, and he wore a red and purple belled hat with yellow sparkles. Below them were rows of books.
"They are all wonderful." Angela whispered in a choking voice.
"Yes, the trunk and books go along with them." Harry said slowly. "I also have a few more books for you."
"How much?" Angela asked, she wanted everything she could get her hands on in this tent.
"Free, the extra books are free." Harry said. "Please wait outside, I'll be right back."
The bladed puppet was still sitting on the counter, Angela could feel his icy cold stare and his hatred towards her. Shaking herself as if she had couold a cold, she told herself that he was just a puppet and was just asking himself in his little puppet mind who she was. Sounds of banging came from outside, then Harry came back in and hefted a sack of fifty or so books to the counter. Angela reached into her purse and pulled out twenty-two dollars, the extra dollars were for the tax that would be added to the original cost.
"If you'll come back in fifteen minutes with your car, I'll help you load them up." Harry offered.
"That is so very kind of you," Angela said. "thank you very much."
"You're welcome very much." Harry called behind his shoulder.
Angela made an entire circuit of the fair, in all it took her more than fifteen minutes, more like thirty, and she was worried that Harry might have changed his mind and had sold the puppets and their trunk to someone else. She went to the parking lot and climbed into her red Jeep, starting the engine, she drove it into the fair and backed it up to about two steps from Harry's tent. He was waiting for her with the trunk and the bag of books.
"I'm sorry I took so long," Angela apologized. "you can lose track of the time in this place."
"Don't we all know it." Harry laughed. "Don't think about it another second."
It took all of Harry's strength to lift the trunk into the back of Angela's Jeep, she felt really bad because she had done nothing but watch. He pushed the books in tightly behind the trunk and then limped back into the tent. Thinking he was done with her, Angela climbed into her Jeep and started the engine. Harry rushed out screaming.
"Hey, don't forget this guy." Harry gasped. "He likes to travel in style."
"I bet he does, thank you." Angela said.
"Have a nice day ma'am." Harry beamed. "Hope to hear from you again."
Angela drove down the highway, the radio wasn't on and it was quiet. She bobbed her head to nothing, and she tapped the wheel to nothing. About a mile from her house the radio was turned on. It surprised, not scared as many would say, her and she pulled to the side of the road. She looked to her left and saw that the bladed puppet was looking directly at her.
"Get a grip girl," Angela scolded herself. "he probably moved when we pulled over."
Driving the rest of the way home, Angela found herself glancing at the radio and back to the puppet sitting beside her more than once. When she reached her driveway, she breathed a sigh of relief. Her house wasn't big, nor was in small, in any standards. It was one story with three bedrooms and one bathroom. Enough for one person to live in. The outside was painted blue with white shingles and shudders and flowers bobbed in the air. Sighing to herself, Angela carried the bladed puppet inside first. Then she came back outside and brought in the books. The trunk was harder than it looked, she had to drag it through the door on her own. Once inside, Angela collapsed on the couch, the trunk lay beneath her feet.
"Hi Dee, how's it going?" Angela asked a hour later. She was on the phone, with her neighbor Diane. She called Diane Dee.
"I'm so bored," Diane moaned. "Glad you called, what was that you dragged in earlier today?"
"Oh it was a trunk full of antique puppets." Angela replied happily.
"Oh, that's good." Diane giggled. "Because I was about to call the police."
"No, there was no body in the trunk." Angela said, the microwave beeped off.
"Sounds like you called me at dinner time." Diane sighed.
"Yep, I'll just place it on the table and continue talking." Angela said, she did just as she had said.
Angela talked for about twenty more minutes then hung up, she walked back to the table and was pulling her chair up when she noticed that she had a visitor. The bladed puppet was sitting right infront of her, staring her down, and it scared her. What scared her even more was seeing that half of her rib was missing. Slowly pushing the chair from the table, she picked up the puppet and carried him to the bookcase.
An hour before she had placed each puppet, standing up at attention, on the bookcase. Infront of each puppet was a piece of paper with their name on it. The bladed puppet's paper name was lying on the floor, as was the cowboy and the big puppet's. Placing the puppet she was holding back were he had been an hour ago, Angela bent down and picked up the papers. She replaced them and then went back to her dinner.
"Either I have a mouse in my house or I am losing it." Angela thought aloud.
Just as she was about to sit down the phone rang, with a sigh she stood up and answered it. At first she thought it might be Diane, but when she answered she found out wrong. It was her other neighbor, Ralph. Ralph was the ex husband of Diane, he and she had divorced years ago and had had three children, all girls. All three girls lived with their grandparents in Chicago.
"Hi Ralph what a surprise." Angela exclaimed.
"Who did you kill?" Ralph asked.
"Huh, oh the trunk." Angela stuttered. "It wasn't a body."
"Well what was in it, looked heavy from what I saw." Ralph giggled.
"It was full of puppets," Angela beamed. "I bought them at the fair."
"How much were they?" Ralph asked.
"Twenty dollars," Angela sighed. "the guy seemed to be really eager to get rid of them."
"I bet they have their own room." Ralph giggled.
"No, but they have their own place to stand." Angela replied. "I stood them up on my bookcase."
Angela talked with Ralph for ten minutes about puppets and dolls. Ralph, although he didn't look the type, was very interested in the hobby. He had a basement full of Cabbage Patch and action figures. Diane had begged him to get rid of them in their marriage but he hadn't, in fact that was the reason why they separated. It seemed that he cared more for the dolls than he did his own family. He stayed down in the basement half of the day, polishing and playing with his dolls and toys.
"It's about time, my dinner is getting col..." Angela started but stopped. Angela stopped and stared at the puppet infront of her. Once again she was missing some of her rib, it was almost gone. Sighing in anger, she stood up and grabbed the puppet roughly by the waist. She replaced him back where he was suppost to go along with his paper name and then hid herself. She was curious, more scared yet curious all the same. She didn't have to wait long, kneeling down beside the hallway closet, before she saw what was happening.
Walking up to the table, climbing one of the chairs and sitting himself infront of her almost cold TV dinner, the bladed puppet ate the rest of the rib and started in on her potatoes. He scooped the potatoes up in his knife and slowly licked them from it, she heard him moan in satisfaction. Before he could start in on her brownie she shot up. She couldn't believe what she was seeing.
"I cannot believe it." Angela exclaimed. "I must be dreaming."
The bladed puppet turned around, he spilled drops of potatoe on the table top and hissed. Angela pressed herself into the wall, as if she wanted to disappear, and breathed in slowly. The puppets eyes shot out, they were spikes, and he pointed at her and then the almost empty dinner dish. She took the hint, he was still hungry, and rushed over to the fridge. She took out a pizza and heated that up. When she placed it infront of the puppet, he snarled. Backing away, she watched as he, at first, just poked at the food. After a few seconds he took a little nibble and found that he liked it. The pizza was gone in five minutes, and when he looked at her she noticed that he was content. Slowly, very slowly, she walked towards him and stretched her hand out towards him. Before she could touch him, he drew blood with a hiss.
"Ouch, what was that for?" Angela asked. "Dumb question, get a grip Angel this is a puppet and he cannot talk."
"On the contrare I can."
With a scream Angela fell backa nd crawled, the bladed puppet jumped off the table and walked towards her. Angela reached for a knife and brandished it at him, as if the knife was her only life line. The bladed puppet laughed and rushed towards her. She tried to cut into his arm, but with a swipe ofm his knife hers was gone. The puppet was now staring at her, eye to eye, and he wasn't breathing hard at all.
"Wake my friends." the bladed puppet ordered.
"What?" Angela asked fearfully. "What friends?"
"The other puppets." the puppet hissed.
"With what?" Angela squeaked.
"Silly girl, there's a box full of green liquid," the puppet explained non-to-kindly. "take some of it and wake my friends now."
Angela did as she was told and woke the others. The first one she woke up was the cowboy, who's name was Six-Shooter. He looked around then drew out his guns. If Angela hadn't of ducked down he would have shot her point blank in the nose. The other two puppets did the same. One puppet, named Torch, almost burned her hand and the other puppet, who's name was Tunneler, whirled his drill-like head at her fingers when she attempted to touch him.
The next puppet to wake up, his name was Pinhead, was much nicer. At first he just stared at her, then he raised his hand up and she was allowed to shake it. She was even allowed to hug him tight. The next, and last, puppet to be woken up was the sweetest of them all. Jester, the puppet wearing the red and purple velvet suit, at first gawked at her. Then he rushed and gave her a deep hug and a long kiss.
"Blade, Six-Shooter, Tunneler and Torch will take some time to get use to you." Pinhead said.
"They don't trust humans," Jester explained. "especially after what happened..."
"Jester, quiet." Blade snarled.
"What happened?" Angela asked.
"Here, call this person." Pinhead said, he stretched his hand out and gave Angela a piece of paper with a girls phone number on it. At first she was reluctant, but then again she wanted to know what was wrong. She walked towards the phone and dialed Samantha Maladas's phone number. Luckily for her, Samantha was home and she answered right away.
"Hello, who is this?" Samantha asked.
"Hi, this is Angela Irene and..." Angela started.
"Hi, what do you want dear?" Samantha asked politely.
"I...I have some puppets here and..." Angela wasn't able to get the rest out, on the other end Samantha gasped.
"You are the new master?" Samantha exclaimed. "Oh my God, please tell me you haven't been hurt."
"I haven't been harmed in any way." Angela said. "Should I of been harmed?"
"After what happened, you should expect it." Samantha sighed.
"What happened, please tell me." Angela begged.
Angela found out that Samantha had been the master before Harry, and that she had spent littl time with the puppets. She came in with daily food rations and left without a word, one day she had done this and a tragedy had happened. She had left the door open and a puppet that was no longer around had gotten lose. Her drunken ex boyfriend had found the puppet and had raped it almost to death. When Blade, the leader, had found out he had been furious. Samantha had had no choice but to sell the puppets to Harry, who had owned the puppets for four years.
"They blamed me," Samantha sighed. "I said I was sorry but they never forgave me."
Angela talked for about half an hour with Samantha, telling her that the puppets were very behaved and explaining the confusion she had gone through when one had eaten her food. Samantha and she had a few laughs at a memory that they both shared, both had worked in a pet store a few years ago and a Parot had gotten lose and had made a mess of the store. Angela hung up the phone and then started dialing Harry's, meaning to confront him on whether he knew or didn't know about the puppets being alive. She got lucky again, Harry was home.
"Why didn't you tell me that they were alive?" Angela asked meanly.
"Excuse me," Harry gasped. "what again?"
"You didn't mention about the puppets being alive." Angela sighed.
"Yeah, I forgot." Harry sighed, he was gasping for air as if he had run a mile. "Sorry bout that."
Angela asked Harry a few questions and he answered them as best as he could. She found out that he had attempted to talk with them for a few months, but they had been unresponsive. He had lost his pinky finger on his left hand after he had accidently stepped on Jester, the best and most friendly of the puppets in his mind. Blade had never trusted him, and he had lost the trust of the others as well.
"I'm so sorry about your finger." Angela apologized for Blade. "Did you have that other puppet?"
"No, the female died at Sam's." Harry sighed. "Such a tragedy."
"Yeah, what was she like?" Angela asked.
"She had long black hair and was wearing a pink dress with no shoes." Harry replied. "The man really fucked her up."
"What was her name?" Angela asked.
"Sma says her name was Leechwoman." Harry sighed. "Hey I got to go."
"Nice talking to you Harry." Angela said. "Bye."
"Call me if you have any questions." Harry said, then hung up.
When she hung up, Angela found out that the puppets had decided to sprawl out on the couch. The tv was on, and a western flick was playing. Jester looked bored, so Angela went into her basement and collected a cat wand. She had owned a white cat a year ago, sadly it had been run over. Running back up the stairs, stopping so not to disturb the puppets in the living room, she stalked inside.
Jester was tickled pink with the wand, so was Pinhead. Blade had swiped at it a few times and had almost cut into Six-Shooter, who was sitting beside him. Angela stopped long enough to make a bowl of popcorn, with extra butter. She placed this beside Blade and then continued her play with Jester and Pinhead. At the end of fifteen minutes, the wand was in shreds thanks to Blade and Jester was asking for more.
"Ah man, and I wsa just getting started." Jester whined.
"Don't worry Jester," Angela cooed. "I have something ten times better."
"What?" Jester asked excitedly. "What is it?"
"Oh great," Blade mumbled. "just what I need."
Smiling to herself, mainly because Jester was having a good time, Angela took out a paper and a plastic bag from the pantry. When she walked into the living room with them Jester's eyes lit up. He chased after the plastic bag as if fluttered just out of his way and he ran into the paper bag, until it flipped up and trapped him inside. Pinhead joined in the fun when he heard the paper rustling. He tore holes into the paper bag, rendering it useless, and he punched the plastic bag until it exploded. Angela tried to muffled her giggles, but they finally won out and she fell to the floor. Waiting for her was Tunneler, who was slowly walking towards the bags. With a hiss, his butted her hand and made a deep cut.
"Ouch, what was that for?" Angela exclaimed, holding her hand she rushed into the bathroom to apply the antiseptic and bandage. When she returned, she saw that both the bags had been demolished and Jester was sitting by himself with a sad and miserable look on his face. Smiling, she went over and attempted to pick him up. Before she could touch him, Blade hissed and swiped at her wrist, catching her nails.
"Stay away from him." Blade growled.
"What is your problem?" Angela snarled, she was looking at her nails, which had begun to bleed.
"Blade is very protective of us," Pinhead explained. "please forgive him."
Angela, back-tracking to bathroom, she cleaned her nails and then placed bandages on the fresh cuts. She forgave Blade, she knew that he was acting on pure instinct and was protecting the others. Her fingers hurt, they really did, and she took two aspirins to dwell the pain. It didn't work, so she reluctantly stuck them into her mouth and started sucking. When she returned to the living room, she noticed that all of the puppets were sitting around Blade, as if they wanted to be closer than ever to their leader. Without a word or a sound, she started turning off lights and getting ready for bed.
The first thing Angela noticed was the cold sensation on her back and neck, as if she had slept without the covers all night. Rolling over, she heard snoring. Opening one eye, she saw nothing but fuzziness. When her sight cleared up, she saw the reason for the chilliness in her neck and back. Blade was lying beside her, his knife and hook pressed tightly against her. With a gasp, she pulled herself from her covers and crawled to the corner of the bed. When she turned around, she saw that not just Blade but all of them were tucked in nicely on her bed.
"I don't know Sam," Angela sighed. "I just woke up this morning with all of them in my bed."
"They didn't hurt you," Sam asked. "did they?"
"I checked and double checked myself," Angela said, fear clouding her voice. "not a single scratch."
"Sounds like you're making progress." Sam sighed. "Has Blade..."
"He's cut me a few times yes." Angela interrupted.
"I mean, has he talked to you." Sam continued, as if she hadn't been interrupted.
"He's said a few sentences," Angela answered truthfully. "but nothing lengthy of a conversation."
"When you and he have a conversation," Sam exclaimed. "be sure to call me right after."
"I'll do just that." Angela promised. "I must go, the guys are hungry."
Sitting around the table, Angela had spent two hours down in the basement building a small minature table and six chairs, the puppets clacked their small forks and spoons. They were ready for the sausages, pancakes and eggs that Angela had fixed for them about twenty minutes before. As soon as she placed the dishes infront of them, they gobbled the food down. Angela, who wasn't very hype on eating breakfast, she skipped it.
"Aren't you gonna eat?" Jester asked.
"No, I eat only once a day." Angela explained. "Keeps my weight down."
"It is good to have a controled diet," Pinhead sighed. "but starving yourself is not the answer."
"I agree." Jester spoke up, food spewed from his mouth.
After breakfast Angela decided to leave the puppets alone, she moved over to her desk and started working on her latest masterpiece. She loved crafts, the one she was working on was of a white horse. She had a strand of real white horse hair and the blueprints. So far she had completed the back legs up to the stomach. He was rearing up on his strong wooden legs, a sign of him being a good leader. The second part, the rest of the stomach on up to the head, was giving her trouble. She couldn't get the head right. Either an eye would be to big or the ears would be to large.
"Hi, what are you doing?" Jester asked.
"I'm building my newest model." Angela beamed.