Toy Soldiers

Chapter 1: The Accident

It was the 6th of may at 7 o'clock pm. Me, my brother Kyle, my mother Jude and my father John, were going home after dining at a restaurant which was really good. I remember it like it was yesterday: it was raining, we couldn't see a thing. The sky was black, there were no street lights. I hear the roar of thunder strike as my mother turns to my brother and say in a not-so-happy tone "So Kyle; Mr. Alvarez, your Spanish teacher, called me this morning to tell me about your behavior in his class". "Mom, I was just joking around, no need to get all worked up about it" my brother replied. I looked at Mom and though "Boy, you're gonna get it at home". Kyle looked at me and smiled like he knew what I was thinking and that made Mom even madder.

Suddenly, a loud noise. It was a truck but Dad didn't notice until it was too late. We couldn't get out of the way in time. Then the hit, loud and solid like the storm thunder. My brother always sat in the middle of the back seat and never wore his seat belt. With the impact he got shot from his seat, breaking the windshield and every bone in his body. Dad's head hit the steering wheel leaving him unconscious. Mom didn't get too hurt, just a couple of cuts. I was out cold. All I remember next is me being at the room I used to share with my brother and Mom crying beside his bed.

-"Mom, are you ok?"- I asked, but she just kept on crying.

I went downstairs and saw Dad speaking to the police. I'd never seen my father cry before but this time he was barely even standing up. I couldn't sleep that night. I don't remember when I finally fell asleep but I remember Mom waking me up.

-"Lucas, Lucas get up"- she said as her voice broke and tears ran down her face. She sat me in the bed. "Listen Lucas... y-your brother, he's... um, he's..."- Mom couldn't keep on talking because she still couldn't believe that just happened. "Luc, your brother's gone" - she finally managed to say.

-"Where did he go?"- I asked, without realizing what she meant.

-"Heaven" - Mom replied as tears ran down her face. I started tearing up.

-"No, no... this can't be happening, Mom. No!".

I didn't say a word for the next six or seven months. Until one day I found one of Kyle's old toy soldiers. I hugged it and cried for over an hour. Oh God, how I missed my brother! Then I heard a soft voice, almost a whisper: "Please don't cry Lucas, I'm here".

I got scared. I looked around but there was no one in the room but me. I stared at the small figure in my hand. Did it just spoke to me?

-"Who are you? What are you?" - I asked, feeling a little stupid talking to a toy.

-"It's me Luc, Kyle".

-"N-no, this can't be, Kyle is gone" I said.

-"I'm trapped in here, Luc".

I smiled for the first time in months. I spent a couple of days talking to what seemed to be my brother trapped in his toy soldier. I told him everything that happened around the house.

-"How's Mom?"- Kyle asked often and i'd say the same thing: "Still hasn't done anything and still crying almost every day".

"What about Dad?".

"Dad..." -I'd pause for a second- "Dad hasn't stopped drinking since that day".

Our conversations would go on and on for hours since I really had no friends. Everyone in school hated me, so even when it was summer I had no one to talk to or play with except for the toy soldiers.

I tried to tell Mom and Dad that this toy soldier was Kyle and that I could hear him talk, but every time I said that they started crying and sent me to my room. I guess they thought I was just having some kind of trauma or everything was product of my childish imagination. But no, that was my brother I was talking to, I knew him too well.

Mom came into my room one night and gave me with a worried look.

-"Listen Luc, I know it's been hard to loose Kyle and that you got some attraction to that toy because it was always his favorite, but please stop saying that he's trapped in there, because he's not. He's gone; he's dead and we got to accept that".

I looked at Mom and back at the toy.

-"But it IS him!" - I cried out, trying to make her believe me.

-"Goodnight Lucas" - she said dryly - "Don't go to sleep late, remember school starts tomorrow".