Chapter Eleven

Several nights later, Andy had relocated to another room in the house whilst Claire had gone to sleep at a reasonable hour. Despite how persistent she was in trying to get him to sleep, he would sneak out of the bed and try to go to a new box of broken toys that he had bought from a thrift store. He had spent money on tools to fix the more mechanical toys as well as spare pieces, for the plush toys he had invested in some fabric, thread, and sewing equipment.

Andy coughed painfully as he reached for a tissue whilst sitting in the attic. The dim light was hurting his eyes but he knew he had to keep going. The toys had spoken to him for a reason. This was something bigger than himself. As he put a hand to his forehead whilst staring down at a toy robot, he felt the sweat and the sting but he had been selfish. He hadn't known toys were alive and though he had played with his carefully and lovingly, he had disregarded a living thing.

He groaned, his eyes slipping closed for a moment but he managed to stop himself. He turned to the side and coughed harshly. His coughs became worse every night. Both his mother and Claire had attempted to encourage him to go back to the hospital. Andy wouldn't listen.

As he slid again and his breath started to pain him, Woody jumped up and ran over to him.

"Stop it!" the cowboy begged hating to see his owner in so much pain. The robot's eyes slid across as if to ask the cowboy what the hell he was doing and that he was breaking the first rule of the toy world in that you should never let a human know that you existed. "Andy! Stop it! You're hurting yourself."

"I can't stop," Andy whispered, shaking his head as he put his thumbs on the robot's arms. "I'm one of only a few who know that the toys are al-alive," he said and Woody saw his hand trembling and his entire body turn deathly pale. Yes, toys needed to be saved but Andy wasn't in any position to do so, not alone anyway. "These toys deserve a loving home."

"They can wait until tomorrow," Woody pleaded as he came over to where Andy was sitting and climbed up his pants to sit on the table. "Listen to me, no toy will get upset because it takes you an extra day to fix them."

Woody watched Andy desperately. He saw more color drain from him before his eyes seemed to lose focus and he collapsed onto the floor of the attic, fortunately it was sturdy enough to hold him. Woody jumped down, scared to hear Andy's labored breaths.

"What in earth's galaxy was that!?" the robot yelled at Woody as the cowboy attempted to listen to Andy's heart. "You know you're supposed to freeze."

"Well, Andy knows about us," Woody said as he tried to feel the young man's forehead. Andy was burning up really badly. "Come on," Woody whispered as he put his small hands to Andy's shoulder. "Breathe. Deep breaths, okay?" he asked and still heard Andy's labored breaths.

"How could a human know about us? Is he a toy-breaker?" the robot accused him and Woody delivered him a sharp look.

"Was he breaking you?" he asked and then looked at his owner. He had been pushed too far, he needed his rest. All the doctors had said that he needed his rest or he would relapse. That was something that Woody did not want to see Andy forced to go through.

"How do you know him? He fixed you too?" the robot asked and Woody laughed weakly.

"In a way," he told him. "Andy fixed my arm when it tore. I was with him as a kid. Sacrificed a lot for myself because I knew how important I was to him. I'm back with the girl I love now but if I had snuck into that box, well it would have broken his heart. Now, years later, I'm back with him."

"So, he's a good one?" the robot asked. "He didn't finish fixing me, like with that box," the robot pointed to the toys that Andy had already mended that night. Woody gave him another sharp look.

"He didn't do it on purpose," he replied. "Come on, partner," he whispered as he gripped to Andy's shirt. No change. Why wasn't he waking up?

TSTSTSTS

Woody hadn't been able to leave the attic all night and it seemed that the toys which Andy had saved weren't going to help him. Unlike him, they all thought he was crazy to trust a human and Woody had found Andy to get weaker and weaker over the night, his breathing was slow and pained. He had to get him help before he died. "Andy?" he whispered fearfully before touching his forehead. "Come on, you can do it, you've gotten through things like this before."

Woody was about to say something else but he heard the attic door open and the steps drop down. He immediately fell onto the floor and the other toys followed his lead. Woody kept his eyes open as he saw Claire enter. He still felt a bit uncomfortable with her despite her knowing his secret.

"Andy, are you up here?" she asked, she looked around and then saw the collapsed man on the floor of the attic. She rushed over, putting her hands on his chest and feeling his forehead. She pulled her hand away, he was burning up at a dangerous level. "Andy?" she asked as she put her hand on his chest and Woody stared at her, feeling even worse as he saw her own fear. He was only a toy. She knew much more about the human body than he did despite his resembling that of a human's.

Claire reached into her pocket to pull out her phone but the cell reception was horrible and she couldn't make a call due to her not receiving any signal. She looked at Andy again. He needed medical help. "I'll be right back," she promised him before looking to Woody. "Protect him for me, okay?" she asked and the cowboy nodded, making himself unfrozen again.

Claire rushed down the steps and searched the house. Andy's mother and Bonnie had both gone out to do some clothes shopping. Claire took another look up in the direction of the attic and grabbed to her phone. She immediately dialed the number for the paramedics to come. "Andy…" she whispered, "Please be okay."

TSTSTSTS

Andy hadn't woken up for thirty hours so far and Woody hated that fact. Andy had been recovering and getting better, he had been enrolled in classes and focusing on attaining his dreams but as soon as he had found out the secret to the life of toys then he had focused on that and neglected himself. Now he was sick in the hospital.

Woody sat very still. He was the only toy which he had seen in the hospital and right now nobody was in the room with Andy. Woody sighed as he took off his hat and held it to his chest. If he had known that this was the reaction which Andy would have then he wouldn't have risked telling him. It wasn't like Sid who was afraid of toys, Andy genuinely wanted to help and that was what had worsened his condition.

Was there some way of making him forget this secret? Of making both him and Claire forget? It would mean that their conversations would be over and it might even mean the separation of his friendship with the other toys which Andy might not remember recollecting. He would miss everyone but there was no telling what would happen to them if Andy were to pass except that he would lose his loving owner.

He should have realized that the rules were in place for a reason. He should have known that there would be consequences to having them be broken but he had been so excited to finally connect with the boy who had loved him so much and had treated him so well. His life as a toy had been incredible and it had been thanks to Andy.

As he sat there, Woody heard noises from the hallway and raised his head, he listened to them wondering if this meant that a nurse or doctor would come in to check on Andy's condition again.

"It was amazing," a woman laughed happily and Woody felt a twinge in his heart as he turned towards Andy. Had he robbed him of that happiness? He could remember Rex's delight in the idea that Andy had even held him. Just being touched had given them happiness and this heavy weight on Andy's mind was causing him to lose his own happiness. "I was able to just play the hypnosis tapes and I learned to quit smoking."

"That's great but are you sure it wasn't just will power," the other woman laughed to her and the first woman seemed to argue back.

"No. Of course it was the hypnosis. I've been trying for years to kick the habit but these tapes really work. There are tapes for everything, dieting, gaining confidence, learning how to speak foreign languages. You would not believe the type of things that you can learn when you're unconscious. I heard there are even tapes that help you forget."

Woody's eyes widened. Tapes that helped you forget? He didn't know how to get a hold of those but maybe there was a broken cassette player or karaoke machine that Andy had bought. When Andy woke up and returned home, would that be an option, for him to forget all about how the toys he had were alive? Would that improve his condition and save him? Woody thought about it, despite the personal pain which he would feel, he wanted to give that to Andy, he always wanted to do his best for his friend. He'd just have to find the right toy and test out the theory.

He heard Andy's labored breathing once again, "Everything will be okay from now on, cowboy. I'll make sure that everything will turn out okay."

End of Chapter Eleven

Thank you for reading

Thank you to the reviewers of Chapter Ten

Blondie 20000, Guest, HeyKawaii, ILoveReading