The Puppet

The General

"Huh, what a strange place," Anya said as she looked around the dark shop.

There were rubber cubes instead of rubber balls. There was a mirror that reflected another mirror's reflection but not its own. Paper birds trotted on the floor in lines while plastic turtles flew through the air in circles. Glass orbs bounced around the room shining light on the strange artifacts.

"Remember, the item chooses you. If you find nothing that connects with you, it's because nothing in this shop decided you connected with it," the shopkeeper's words floated through her mind again.

She looked at the shelves and saw dusty cards with no writing on them and empty metal boxes. She heard a whisper. Anya turned and looked at the bottom shelf a few steps away. She closely examined a long wooden box that was locked shut. It had golden embroidery along the sides. She touched the box and felt a tiny vibration through her finger. Her heart was racing. She wanted so badly to know what was in the box. She gently touched the lock and realized there was no keyhole or combination. It was a padlock with no way to unlock it.

"The strange thing about this lock is only one person can open it," the shopkeeper said over her shoulder causing her to jump.

"Who?" she asked almost out of breath from being startled.

He gave her a shrug. "I don't know. I've had this sitting here about five years and no one has ever noticed it before. Something called you to this box, you may as well try to open it."

Anya fiddled with the lock. She turned it and twisted it but nothing happened. After several minutes she let out a sigh and gave it a gentle tug before letting go. The lock clicked open. The shopkeeper gasped as silence filled the room. All the creatures had stopped moving. Anya carefully pulled the box off of the shelf. It was very long and almost 12" wide. She slowly lifted the lid.

A puppet the size of a man was folded neatly into the wooden case. It was too dark to make out his features. Anya lifted him into her hands and realized it was as light as a feather. She turned to the shopkeeper who was examining the box. He looked at her thoughtfully.

"Seems like an item has found you," he told her, closing the box and lifting it up. "I'll help you carry this to your wagon."

"Thank you," she said with a grateful nod as she looked back down at the dummy in her arms.

She followed the shopkeeper out and handed him ten pieces of gold as promised. He loaded the box into the back of the covered wagon and gave her a thankful nod. Anya set the dummy next to the box and climbed up next to Luke who was holding the reins and looking bored.

"You actually found something?" he asked, interested as she settled in next to him. "I've been in there five times and never found anything."

"It was a puppet, but like a really big puppet," she told him.

Luke moved his spiky blonde hair out of his bright, blue, diamond shaped eyes. He had several pointed features such as his nose, ears, and face. He wore a black hoop in each ear and had his hair pulled back into a ponytail.

"A life sized puppet? Well, bring him up here so he can get some fresh air," Luke said as he gave the reins a shake and the horses started moving.

"Sure," Anya said as she climbed in the wagon and grabbed the dummy.

She propped him up between her and Luke. Luke glanced over at it and chuckled. "He's cute," he said with a laugh.

Anya looked over at the dummy and saw that he had messy red hair that fell around his face. His golden eyes were lifeless and wide open. He was a pretty cute puppet. She shook her head, chuckling as well. Her wavy black hair sat at her shoulders as she turned her head to look off into the dark woods. Her amber eyes went out of focus as she began wondering why this puppet wanted to come along with her and Luke.