It all started in a toy store.

In 1988 notorious Lakeshore Strangler, Charles Lee Ray, had thought to have been killed in a police shootout. After a freak accident involving a sudden lightning strike, Ray's body was recovered and taken into police custody. The Lakeshore Strangler's reign terror was thought to be over.

But what the police didn't know at the time, was that Ray had studied the ancient art of Voodoo. Using what he had learned, he transferred his soul into a beloved Good Guy Doll. Then, slipping under police radar, he remained under the guise of an inanimate doll, falling under the ownership of the young Andy Barclay.

While he inhabited the doll, Ray took his revenge against the people he deemed responsible for his death. During this time, he discovered a fatal flaw to the spell: the longer he spent in the body, the more human it became. He tracked down the man who taught him the art of voodoo, Dr. John Bishop, and forced him to explain how to reverse the curse. The only way for him to escape the doll, would be to transfer his soul into the first human being he revealed his true self to.

Which was Andy Barclay.

Luckily, for the boy, his mother had discovered Ray's scheme and convinced an officer of the CPD, Mike Norris, to help her. They arrived just in time to save Andy and kill Ray, ending the threat once and for all.

But Charles Lee Ray managed to cheat death once again, thanks to to ritual. Now, after thirty years, he has risen again in the form of another Good Guy Doll. And he will not rest until he is human again.

Present Day

It was an average Thursday in Royal Woods as far as Lana Loud was concerned. The six-year-old handywoman happily strolled down the street from her Elementary school towards the neighborhood she loved more than her own. As she climbed the fence with her backpack over her shoulder, she stuck a perfect landing and rushed towards the house of her mechanical mentor.

Almost one year ago, a kindly new neighbor had moved in to Royal Woods, prompting the Loud family to go introduce themselves. Of all the Loud children, Lana bonded to this new neighbor the most. She admired him for his mechanical prowess, especially after seeing his collection of "Do-It-Yourself" magazines and his own custom-built Cadillac. So impressed, was she, that once they got home, Lana begged her parents to go visit him again sometime.

After a few more weeks of consulting him, Rita finally agreed to let her daughter visit him for one hour a day after school to study mechanics. This pleased the aspiring grease monkey, greatly. She thought she knew about automobiles before, but this man had opened her up to a whole new world of the auto-repair trade. And now, she was happily marching towards his home again, by pure instinct.

Meanwhile, the neighbor she was looking forward to meeting was currently busy packaging all of his belongings into plastic totes. His bed was now taken apart, with the mattress leaning against the wall. In one hand was a collection of final bills, and in the other, a picture of him and his mother when he was younger. He was just staring at it, thinking back to simpler times, when something started to vibrate in his pocket.

"Hello?" He answered his phone. "Oh, hey, mom. How are you? Good. How's Mike? Yeah…? Of course, I'm coming over for my birthday next week… no, mom, no, don't get me anything. Do me a favor; no surprises this year? Okay... yes, I finished packing. Okay… see you soon. Love you. Bye."

Just as he hung up the phone, his doorbell echoed throughout the now empty house.

"Hi, Mr. Barclay!" Lana beamed.

"On time, as usual, Lana." Andy chuckled, ruffling her hair affectionately.

"So, what're we gonna work on today?" She asked, eagerly. "One of those vin… vint-uh… vincent thingies?"

"Vintage." Andy corrected. "And, actually Lana, there's something I've been meaning to tell you…" The middle-aged man looked down, sadly.

Lana's expression suddenly changed. The tomboy looked behind her friend, gazing at the empty room where his furniture used to be, and the totes that now took its place. "You… you're moving?" When he didn't answer she walked around him to inspect more of the house. The walls were bare, the floor had been freshly mopped, and the countertop was littered with different kinds of bills and letters. "You are! Why?!"

Andy knelt down and hugged his little friend, tightly. Leading her over to the base of the staircase, he asked her to sit down as he explained everything. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, Lana."

"Why are you leaving?" She wiped her eyes.

Andy sighed. "When I was around your age, my babysitter was murdered." Lana gasped. "The murderer got away, but he kept following me. Wherever I went. He killed people around me, and left me to take the blame."

"Nobody helped you?"

"No… not right away." He explained. "For a little while, people thought that I committed the murders and sent me to a correctional facility. My mother was the first person who found out I was telling the truth. And eventually she convinced a police officer."

Lana could hardly believe her ears. She was old enough to understand what murder was, but she always thought it happened to strangers. Not her friends. She didn't know what this story had to do with Mr. Barclay moving, but she was willing to let him explain. "At last, he caught me."

"Did… did your mom and that policeman save you?" Andy nodded. "What happened to the killer?"

"Let's just say… justice was delivered." He rubbed his head, almost in pain as the memories flooded his mind. "But he's still out there. He might still be looking for me… that's why I have to go. Murderers often develop… attachments to the people they torment. I've been trying to make sure he never finds me."

Lana nodded in understanding. "I'm gonna miss you…" She told him, sadly.

Andy rubbed her back, trying his best to comfort her. "I'm really gonna miss you, too, pal. But, I promise I'll come back, someday. And, I'll give you my new address, and I'll be staying at a hotel until the delivery van shows up. Okay?"

A soft smile returned to the girl's face. "Okay. We've had a lot of fun together, though. Haven't we, Mr. Barclay?"

"We sure have." He ruffled her hair with a chuckle. "Make sure to tell your parents they did a good job in bringing you up."

Over the next few hours, the two friends kept talking about all the projects they had worked on together, ranging from carpentry to automobiles. Lana told him that her favorite project was fixing his vintage Cadillac. "What does 'vintage' mean, anyway?" She asked.

"It's…" Andy rubbed his chin, thinking of how best to explain it. "It means, uh… it means that it's from the original year it was first made. Sometimes, that makes it really valuable. Especially if you fix it up."

Suddenly, Weird Al's "Hardware Store" came from Lana's pocket. She pulled out her phone and pressed the green button. "Hello…? Oh, yeah, I'm fine, mom. I'm here with Mr. Barclay. Okay, I'll come home. Bye." She hung up and looked back at her mentor. "I gotta go."

"Okay. Tell your folks I said hi." But just as her hand landed on the doorknob, he called out to her again. "Hey, can you do me a favor? I might still get some mail after I've left. Would you mind coming around to check on it and forward it to my new address?"

"Anything for you, Mr. Barclay." Lana smiled, sadly. "Bye, Mr. Barclay."

Andy hated seeing the sorrowful look on her face. "Bye, Lana."

The next day, Lana wouldn't stop sulking. Everyone else in her class was ecstatic that the weekend was finally upon them, but Lana couldn't stop thinking about Mr. Barclay moving away. Her teachers took notice of her change in behavior; she wouldn't play in the mud at recess, she had forgotten to feed the class hamster, and she didn't even fight with her twin sister. Given that they were grateful for this change in attitude, they didn't want to question it.

As the last bell rang, Lana lazily slumped out of her seat and walked out the front doors. She could have taken the bus with her brother and sisters, but at that moment she needed some time alone. What was only a few minutes felt like hours before she finally came upon her mentor's empty house. But as she looked up at the door, something caught her eye.

She gradually climbed the steps until she found a large cardboard box at the front door. Suddenly, she remembered her promise. She grabbed the box at rushed home as quickly as she could. By the time she saw the toy-scattered lawn, she could hear the usual chaos her family was most famous for. Instead of going inside, she made a beeline for the garage.

She set the box on the ground and gently peeled the tape off. Inside was another, more colorful box, covered with pictures of a red-haired boy in a striped shirt and overalls. Her eyes widened in wonder as she read the bright, red label. "'Good Guy. He wants you for a best friend…'" Lana looked down at the bottom of the box; the date read 1988. She snapped her fingers as the realization struck her. "Oh, I know! It must be one of those vintage things!"

Then, a wonderful idea popped into her mind. If she could restore the doll, herself, Mr. Barclay might be so impressed that he'd see how much he had taught her. The he would change his mind about moving! Unfortunately, she got a little over-zealous in opening the rest of the box, and her carpenter's knife dug too deep into the packaging. After taking a few breaths to calm down, she carefully opened the rest of the box and found the cut.

As she continued to inspect it for anymore damage, she found another label that displayed the three sentences the doll could say. "Hmm… 'Hi, I'm [blank], and I'm your friend 'til the end. Hi, I'm [blank], wanna play? Hi, I like to be hugged.' Sounds like something Lola would like." She snickered.

"GRAAAAAAGH!"

"Ah!" Lana stumbled backwards and fell on the floor. The box had torn open from the inside and something jumped out, startling the little handywoman. She rubbed her eyes to see if they were playing tricks on her. But it was real; the Good Guy Doll was walking.

"Who the fuck are you?!" The doll asked, angrily.

"That's not one of the sentences on the box…" Lana cocked a curious eyebrow.

"I'm new and improved." The doll retorted.

Lana smiled and propped herself up. "I've never met a toy like you before."

"Alright, kid, fun's over." The doll sneered. "Where the Hell is Andy?"

"Andy…?" Lana thought for a moment. "Wait, you mean Mr. Barclay? What do you want him for?"

The Good Guy picked up the postage stamp and showed it to the tomboy. "Can't you read? He was supposed to get this package! Tampering with other people's mail is a federal offence."

"I'm sorry…" Lana frowned. "H-he moved just yesterday. He asked me to forward his mail, but I got curious. Is he your best friend, or something?"

"He's more than that." The plastic figure replied. "He's my new lease on life." But just then, he looked down at his hand, noticing the cut. But something was different. "Hey… you cut me."

"I-I'm sorry…" Lana stammered. "I can try to fix it. Does it hurt?"

"No, actually…" The doll replied, sounding rather surprised. "In fact… I didn't even feel it." The doll rubbed its chin as it tried to understand why it wasn't bleeding. Thinking back to when he mailed himself to Andy, he remembered his spirit drifting from the charred husk of the first doll back into the toy factory where it was first made.

"Wait a minute…" It thought to itself. "The curse must've been reset, or something. So that means… I've got a brand new body… and I ain't told nobody about my little secret yet."

The doll looked back at the six-year-old, and smiled. "Uh, hey, I'm real sorry I snapped at you like that." He helped her up, glad that she now mirrored his smile. "I was just really looking forward to seeing Andy again after all these years. Forgive me?"

"Yeah, it's okay. I shouldn't have been messing with his mail."

"Great! So, uh, what's your name, kid?"

"Lana. What's yours?"

"Well, my friends call me Chucky." Chucky's smile grew wider. "But, uh, my real name is Charles Lee Ray…"

(...)

FLASHFAN123 proudly presents

(...)

Child's Play