The Impossible Death

CHAPTER 20 - SIX

"Hey!" screamed Nightmare as he reached up towards the doll that had just been snatched away from him.

"No, I want it!" said Prince as he hugged the blonde Barbie doll to his red clad chest, his plastic crown going lopsided on his head.

"No fighting!" came another loud voice from behind Prince.

Nightmare looked past him to see Joy in his usual blue shirt and covered in mud.

"Stop yelling too please!" shouted another voice from the corner of the room.

Looking over, he saw it to be the kid who always had a blue bow tie on, otherwise known as Smart.

Nightmare simply rolled his eyes and stood up.

"Didn't want it anyway." he said, sticking out his tongue and going over to play with Joy, if he'd let him join.

"Yes you did, though." came a quiet voice from behind him and he turned around to see a new person standing where he had just left.

"Woah, what's wrong with your face?" exclaimed Prince, dropping the doll and taking a few steps back.

The new one, upon closer inspection, appeared to have something green and shiny covering half his face and a yellow eye.

"WOAH!" exclaimed Joy and he ran over, pushing his face into the other kids.

"What is it?" the Smart asked as calmly as possible as he too ran over to see what it was.

"Scales, I think?" he questioned as he put a hand to his chin in thought. "I think that's what they are."

Meanwhile, the scaled kid hadn't taken his eyes off of Nightmare.

"You wanted the doll." he said more firmly, pushing through the three other kids and picking back up the doll, holding it out to him.

Nightmare looked down at the doll for a second before slowly taking it and hugging it to his chest.

"Why did you say you didn't want it?" he asked curiously, tilting his head slightly.

Nightmare simply shrugged, feeling his face heat up as he said, "Didn't wanna cause trouble."

The scaled kid pursed his lips.

"Why—" he started, only to be cut off by loud, purposeful wailing from behind him.

"My doll! He took my doll!" Prince exclaimed loudly through what might have been tears, though no water had yet to dot his face.

"Hey, that's not nice!" said Joy, walking over and holding out his hands.

"Can he have the doll back?" he asked softly, his eyes wide as he looked at Nightmare who was protectively hugging the doll.

The kid stared at him for a second before hesitantly handing him the doll.

"Thanks!" Joy said happily, skipping back over to Prince.

"Hey, don't cry! Here's your doll!" he said happily, holding out the doll for the kid who immediately stopped crying and grabbed it.

"Thank you!" he screamed, running away to the corner where he had built a cardboard castle.

The scaled kid frowned.

"But that isn't fair." he stated softly, earning a curious look from Joy and a sigh from Smart.

Nightmare simply looked down as he messed with the cuffs on his purple hoodie.

"He was crying though!" Joy said, crossing his arms and glaring at the scaled kid.

"He clearly wanted the doll more. Besides, you don't mind, right?" Joy asked hopefully, looking past the scaled kid to look at Nightmare standing behind him.

The kid glanced up quickly before looking back down and shaking his head.

"There, you see? Problem solved." Smart said, approaching the scale kid again.

"Now, what are you doing here?" he asked curiously, crossing his arms across his chest as he inspected the newcomer.

The new kid glanced back at Nightmare with a frown before turning around to face Smart.

"I don't know." he said shrugging. "All I know is that he's not being fair." he continued, pointing at Joy again.

Smart frowned.

"This is how it always is. He always gets what he wants with him around." he said, gesturing to Prince, who was peeking out from his cardboard castle at them, and then to Joy , who had already gone back to playing in the mud.

"Why?" the new kid asked curiously.

"Because he's too nice." Nightmare spoke up, pointing to Joy. "And he's a good actor." he continued, pointing to Prince.

Smart shrugged.

"Yeah." he agreed.

The new kid frowned and turned back to Nightmare, who looked back down at his feet.

"Can you play with me?" he asked abruptly, shocking Nightmare.

He looked up at him and, finding no trace of malice, nodded.

The new kid smiled and held out a hand to shake.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Snake."

Nightmare grinned and took his hand.

"I'm Nightmare."