I must've spent a month alone on that shelf. The room had been vacant the whole time, too. I wanted to go and find Bo, but visits from Mom were sporadic. With my luck, I'd reach the floor and she'd come shuffling in.

The next time anyone came into the bedroom, a new person joined them. It was the man (Dad, I should call him), the older couple (Mom's parents) and Mom, who held onto a little, crying individual.

Said individual was then set down in a white crib in front of the window. Mom stroked his thin hair and smiled.

"Welcome home, Andy!" she cooed. The others looked on, with the smiles being passed around.

"Let him sleep awhile, Anna." Dad said, "We can finish dinner until he wakes up."

"Do you think he'll sleep through the night?" The older woman asked.

"He better!" Mom joked, "I'm exhausted."

"I can set up the monitors after dinner." The older man threw in. It seemed to comfort the rest of the family. They left the room together, all holding onto the hand or shoulder of someone else. A knotted mess, but a happy one.

The thing in the cradle, called Andy, slept for barely another minute. He turned his head, very slightly, and watched me. I saw tears well up on each of his eyes, and he opened his mouth to scream.

"Andy, Andy!" I whisper/shouted. He was too young to really move at all. He had a hard time turning his head from side to side. But he struggled to pull his eyes open and focus on me.

I didn't want him crying! First off, it was annoying, and second, Mom was tired and hungry. She didn't need to check on Andy once a minute.

I slid down from the shelf and landed on the bars of his crib. I sat down, allowing my legs to hang into the crib. Andy looked at me and remained quiet. He was asleep again within about ten minutes. Stealthily, I climbed down from his crib as if it were a ladder, and forced my way into the closet.

"Bo?"

"Woody!" echoed from the opposite side of the closet. It was completely dark and I stumbled around looking for her.

"Is Andy here?"

"Yes. You should see him, Bo."

"He'd break me, Woody. I'll be spending a few years in this closet, I'm sure."

I kept forgetting she was a porcelain doll... she just seemed so alive. She moved and spoke in an elegant manner, and was always very graceful.

"At least have a look at him, Bo."

"I will. But not tonight. You shouldn't spend too much time actually with him yet, though. I heard them talking about monitors."

"What are those?"

"Screens so they can watch Andy from their room. You won't be able to move once they put them up."

"Oh..."

"Don't worry too much about it; I'm sure he'll be playing with you in no time."

"Doing what?"

"Playing with you, Woody! You're a toy, right?"

"I... spent forty years in a glass box, Bo!"

"Sorry... I forget about that. It must've been awful." She put a cold hand on my shoulder.

"I guess." It moved to my back.

"Well, I came from a toy store, and I can tell you, being played with is what we live for."

"What is it like?" I sat down against the back wall of the closet. Bo joined me, and put one of her hands on each of my shoulders.

"I only watched."

"Then we can find out together?"

"Sure... as soon as Andy is old enough to understand."

I apologize for this being incredibly cheesy... by my own standards, of course xD