"General. What are the orders? The rampages for this… this doll thing is unlike anything we might have seen before."
Donned in a white coat and a worried look on his face, a scientist stated, "The portal is fluctuating, more than we have seen before."
"We are going to put an end to it. You will be given orders soon. I'm going up" A beret wearing general explained while turning away, leaving Schaffer to watch as the outbreaks gain craze.
The secret elevator gave a bing as the General rose to the first underground floor. Cars were flipped over onto their sides, litter everywhere, signs broken and laying on the floor. He took a breath from his cigarette. Solemnly, he said, "Oh my goodness. What has happened here?"
~ ~ Earlier ~ ~
Tom, finally pulling up to the shopping mall, hurried to park and get the job done. After struggling with close calls of flashbacks in the drive over, he turned to ask the lady nearby "Excuse me, Miss, you think it's okay for me to park here?"
"Yeah, it says no parking at any time, but I'm sure the loading trucks could just park across the street. Does that work for you?" She replied with a little bit of sarcasm.
"Yeah, that's perf-," he finally looked over his shoulder to see who he was talking to "-Lex?"
An old student of his, well, he was the teacher that left. Lex Foster, stood there next to him, donning a denim jumper over something vaguely red, cigarette in hand, and looking done with the day, even when it was only 7:15 am.
"Hey, Mr. Houston." She smiled
"What are you doing?"
"What's it look like I'm doing? I'm having a bud before my shift." She took a puff.
Concern grew immediately in Tom, "Hey, does your mother know you smoke?"
"Yeah, she lets it slide 'cause I score her weed."
The knot in his stomach only tightened. "Weed? Lex, I thought you were done with all that. Last year, you were back in school. You were on top of your classes."
"I was hardly valedictorian."
"Well, you were doing well in my class."
'Yeah, shop class. Where you get an A if you don't chop off your finger."
"No, if you show up and put in the effort, I'm not gonna hold an accident like that against you." he said reassuringly.
The old highschool teacher was drawn back to that memory. A young Lex was using the drill, ready and planned for a screw, held the plank of wood from underneath, almost drilled through her finger. Mr Houston, as he was called at school, quickly "raised his voice" (Lex recalls the time as shouted), to get her to stop, and not drill a hole through a finger.
He had a small chuckle to himself, a moment of bliss. Going to finish it off with a sigh, Lex cut in before him.
"Yeah, well, shop class was the only thing holding up my GPA. So when they canceled shop 'cause the teacher had a family emergency,-" Tom winced at this "-they flunked me. So I decided to follow the example of my favorite teacher and never come back. How does it feel to be a role model?"
It felt like she just pulled his heart out. "Lex, that's not a very fair thing to say." he said with a grim expression
"What's it matter? School's supposed to prepare you for the workplace, and I have a job. Or is stock girl at Toy Zone a waste of my endless potential?"
At the mention of the store name, he finally remembered why he was there. For Tim, for Tim to love him back, no, for this doll toy thing for Tim. "Toy Zone?
"Yeah, what, you have a problem with retail?"
Overcome with need, need for this toy, for his son, he tried to redeem himself. "No, no, no, no I think Toy Zone is a great place for you to work. In fact, I'm proud of you, Lex. I always thought you had a good work ethic."
"Yeah, well, if I don't support my drinking habit, who will?"
He paused at her comment. Debating whether it was a joke or not. He decided that it was, or that he pretended it was. "Yeah, that's funny, listen, Lex, I'm actually here to get a Christmas present for my son, it's a Tickle-Me Wiggly." He showed his want for this doll to her, hoping to gain her Toy Zone stock girl mercy. "I didn't realize so many people were trying to do the same thing. So do you think there's anything you could do?"
"Oh, you mean, like, put one on the side for you?" She responded almost immediately.
"Yeah."
She moved closer to him, lowering her head and looking like a conspiring villain. "Yeah, like put your name on it, put it under the counter? Just screw over hundreds of people that got here before you?"
"That would be great." Finally!
Lex reeled back fast. "Yeah, well, you know, I could, but that would be violating company policy. And everyone's telling me to be more responsible lately, so I'm gonna go with them on this one." she put on a gleeful smile, almost ironically gleeful, "Oh, but hey, I got an idea, you can get in line like everybody else. And I'd hurry if I were you. The line's already backed-up to Nordstrom."
Panic spread throughout his body as he followed the direction of her eyes. "Oh, oh, no, no, no, no. To Nordstrom, ah-" and proceeded to swear for a bit.
"Wait, wait, are you gonna leave your car there?" Lex called out after him.
"Let 'em tow it!"
"All right, merry Christmas." but her old teacher was too far away. SHe was almost saying to herself. Convincing herself that she would have one. Under the beach. In the sun. Where she'd go missing in action.
~~ Later ~~
After scolding her boyfriend for pulling what he called a "Goof", she got down to business.
"Where's my sister?"
Goofing again to Lex's disappointment, Ethan replied "Oh no, Hannah? Is that what you've been telling me every day for the past four weeks, to pick up your kid sister? Oh, I must've forgot 'cause I'm so stupid!"
As the smile spread on Ethan's face, Lex couldn't help but mirror it.
"She's right over here, but I gotta warn you, she's being a little snot today. Hannah, ugh, come here. Do I gotta put a leash on you, like a dog or my cousin Oliver?"
The unnecessary force made the smile disappear from her face.
"Okay, don't pull her."
"I'm not."
Walking towards her younger and sometimes confusing sister, Lex put on her happiest, most encouraging smile, and made an effort to talk to Hannah.
"Hey, Banana, is it a good day or a bad day?"
"Bad day."
Frowning, Lex continued, "Well, I don't know who told you that because today is a good day. You know my backpack, the one with the pins on it? Well, today you get to wear it."
"No."
Ethan pinched the bridge of his nose."See what I mean, it's been like this all day." Ethan showed while pinching the bridge of his nose.
Lex tried again "Why don't you wanna wear my backpack? That makes me sad. Do you think I have a bad backpack?"
No.
"I'm not supposed to."
"Who says you're not supposed to?"
"Webby."
Butting in, Ethan exclaimed his tiredness of Hannah. "Oh great, now we gotta talk to the imaginary spider from outer space."
Lex ignored this comment, and continued, "What does Webby say?"
Bad Blood. Lex. Crossing Black and White.
Concentrating, listening to Webby, Hannah told what she heard. "Bad blood, cross, black and white."
Lex looked at Hannah. She always had a way of understanding her, or when she didn't tell all of what she heard. She was about to poke further when Ethan's temper flared again."Can you translate? I don't speak crazy."
Dropping the thought, Lex defended her sister "She's not crazy, she's creative-" she turned to Hannah "-Come on, Hannah, I don't have all day for this."
"No!"
"Okay, lemme try, lemme try." Taking a new stance, Ethan tried connecting to her. "All right, Banana-split. You see this hat?-" He looked into the distance, full of hope, "-It was gifted to me by a great warrior."
Lex interrupted his monologue with laughter, and Ethan was quick to shut it down. Turning to Hannah, he continued" It's imbued with the power of Grayskull to ward off dark magic, bad blood, backpacks, anything at all. Now, I can lend you this hat, just for today. And while it's on your head, well, nothing can harm you."
Skeptical, Hannah asked" Honest?"
"Cross my heart, hope to die." He replied with a warm smile.
Hannah happily took the hat, she rotated it 180 degrees, and placed it on her head, re-adjusting her hair.
Ethan striding over to Lex "I'd make a great dad, I'm just saying."
As the older two drifted off, talking about the doll and its worth, Hannah pondered what Webby had said to her. Saying a name was unlike what Hannah was used to. Only cryptic messages did Webby usually send. With the exception of that one time with the hot stove, and her ignorant mother, Webby called her first name so loud that she was sure that others heard it. Maybe that's why Lex came so fast.
Moving on from that thought, Hannah tried to reach Webby. Why Lexie? But as per usual, the space bug grew silent. Being brought back to reality when Lex and Ethan started raving about how they can finally go to California. Dancing along with the imaginary beat, she decided to try out that new move she saw Ethan use earlier. But after Ethan and Lex's embrace, Ethan saw and gave her a shocked "Hannah!"
Hoping she could convince that she was using imaginary floss, Hannah turned around, trying to look innocent.
"-That better be floss!"
Being caught in the act, Hannah proceeded to throw her arms up in the air, and walked with Lex and Ethan, as Lex needed a cigarette before work. Where she would encounter a few people for the second time that day. Gosh, did she need that cigarette.
Walking towards the entrance to Toy Zone, Lex finished smoking, she didn't want to lose her job doing what it was paying for.
"Alright babe, you have to go now, Frank won't be happy if I'm not working" Lex's tone settled her down, still coming off that high with the new dance move.
"I'll take her to that new flick, then we will wait for you babe." Ethan replied.
"Ok, Hannah?" Lex bent down to see her sister eye to eye, "I have to do work now, and I'll see you later…. Ok?"
Careful.
"Ok…. careful" she replied tentatively, not sure if Webby's message was for her or Lex.
"Hannah Banana," Lex said gently, "I'll be ok. We just have to get through today, and we'll make it to California" she beamed at her younger sister, hoping she would be excited. And that Hannah was.
Hannah, everyday that Lex could drop her off at school, saw the weariness through her smile, so she decided that this smile was a good one. Hannah always had a way to tell who people were through how they smiled. Their mother didn;t smile and that's all she needed to know. But when Lex or Ethan smiled, especially as of recent, their smiles were true. Bright. Happy.
Hannah was glad. Glad that they were able to get away where their life would be better. But something still gnawed at her. Webby. As soon as she woke up that morning, Webby was trying to warn her of something. Bad day, she said, repeating it during the small breakfast Hannah had. Bad backpack, evil green, family. She shrugged it off early in the morning, stuck in a sleepy haze until Ethan rang the doorbell. Hannah vaguely remembers racing to the door, when Webby called out Flannel. Cold! Thanks, Webby, she thought back earlier that morning. Grabbing her yellow flannel, she raced out the door, locking behind her before her mother woke up.
Snapping back to the present, Hannah waved goodbye to her older sister, who was now wearing her Toy Zone vest, and she and Ethan snuck out the employee exit.
Door below.
What?