1 - Victory... Sort of...

Right from the beginning, Charlie had a bad feeling about the panda.

The young woman normally wouldn't have even bothered trying to win the creepy thing, but Nicholas had already sunk ten bucks at the carnival's ping pong toss by the time she found him there. She might've been able to let that go, to chalk it up to the kid's being almost unbearably gullible and in need of the life lesson, but the carnie in charge of the booth was teasing her little brother, taunting the boy about his poor aim and the defeated tears threatening to fall from his big doe eyes. And, well, there was no way that Charlie was going to allow that to continue unchecked.

So she paid another buck for a few more balls and, stance perfect, family honor at stake, drew on her expert beer pong skills (freshman year at State had been productive) and proceeded to land ping pong ball after ping pong ball in the game's floating glass dishes. The carnie (bald and pierced, tattooed all over with odd, curling sigils) sulked angrily while Nicholas (smile bright) did several loud victory laps of the crumbling booth. Charlie was pleased to see her little brother so thrilled and the carnie so pissed. She didn't think too much about hearing the man muttering under his breath in a strange language while he handed her a giant stuffed panda bear. She didn't even think anything about the little jolt she felt when she touched the toy. Static electricity and all. Maybe lightning over the horizon.

Many hours later, after nearly fifteen minutes of wrestling the oversized creature into the backseat of her Firebird, Charlie made sure Nicholas was buckled safely beside the stuffed beast and set off for home. The night was late by then, highways dark and empty. Nicholas didn't last long before snuggling his shaggy head against his furred friend and drifting off to sleep. That was ok. The kid must've been exhausted, having run around for most of the day carrying that freaking bear. But her brother's snoozing left Charlie and the panda all alone together, locked in an awkward staring contest in the rearview.

The thing was just so absurd, its stitched-on grin wide and happy for no reason at all, its pudgy limbs useless around the bulging bulk of its padded belly. The panda's presence bothered Charlie. She couldn't quite shake the uncomfortable sensations brought on by its unblinking black button eyes, shook herself out of the sudden urge to close her own eyes and sleep...

She gave herself a few firm slaps in the face to keep awake and blasted the A/C and the AC/DC. It had been a long day for the eighteen-year-old, too, having to chase Nicholas around the carnival. And falling asleep at the wheel would've definitely been bad. She couldn't afford to make any repairs on her baby right then.

Once they arrived home, Charlie shuffled Nicholas out of the backseat, thankful that their nearest neighbor was over a mile away when the kid started whining about that damn panda. Charlie had to pull the thing out of her car and carry it inside the small, isolated one-story house she'd grown up in. She tucked in her brother and his freaky toy, then, exhausted, collapsed fully dressed into her own bed and was out for the count.

Dreaming of nothing at all and still whimpering in the grip of nightmare.

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I've been debating for a long time whether or not to publish this. It's around 10 chapters but could end up longer since I only antipated it to be 1-2 to begin with. W/e. I've enjoyed it and think it's quite entertaining. Review, please ;) (that way I'll know who actually cares to see it continued (even though it's already mostly written so it doesn't really matter (except perhaps for how fast I post the rest... (MWAHAHAHAHAH)))))... ;D