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Louis was a normal boy. He went to a decent school. Had average grades. Liked things every other boy his age liked. When asked, he'd say he had a pretty normal life.
Said "normal" life consisted of being constantly compared to one older brother whom their parents always showered with affection.
"Congratulations on getting into your dream university, sweetie!"
"Oh... they grow up so fast! We should photograph this moment."
A tall, lanky, young adult with dark hair hugged two elderly people, a cheerful expression on his face. "Thank you, mom and dad," he said.
That was his brother, Matthias. Matthias had it all. He was smart so he was considered the treasure of the family, and favored by both his parents. If there was one flaw he had, it was that he wasn't very sociable. He had little friends, but that still didn't matter. People naturally gravitated towards him anyway. It was in the way he carried himself, polite, soft-spoken, mature, everything Louis was not.
Louis envied his elder brother. Why was it so easy for him to have all the things Louis wished he could have? Why did their parents love him so much more? Was he not their son too?
When their parents' attention was finally on him, he glumly walked over and placed his report card into his father's hands before walking up to his room, already knowing the words of disappointment he would be doled out. Why bother? It was the same every year.
'You didn't get enough A's again! When Matthias was your age, he was top of his class!'
'Why did you get another B on Maths? I told you, you should've studied more!'
'Why can't you be more like Matthias?'
Why can't he be more like Matthias, indeed. He wondered that everyday. They were born from the same womb, so what made them so different in their parents' eyes?
He could already hear them yelling at him from downstairs.
Glancing out his window, he scrunched his face up once he noticed the snowflakes falling outside, the other families in their neighborhood going around decorating their homes. He hated Christmas.
It was always so close to the end of the first semester at school, the time of the year when he'd be heavily berated and compared to his brother for not having perfect grades. It served as a constant reminder that his family didn't like him, unlike his friends who went home smiling to their parents and receiving gifts for Christmas. Christmas was stupid.
A knock on his door drew him out of his thoughts.
"Louis? Can I come in?"
Ofcourse, his brother would decide to bother him now. He sighed as he called back, "Door's not locked!"
With a soft click, Matthias entered the room, quietly shutting the door back behind him. "Hey, Lou," he greeted. Louis didn't so much as acknowledge his brother when he moved a chair to sit down beside him.
When Louis still remained silent, Matthias looked out the window, trying to find what Louis was staring so intently at. He could only see the neighbors going about their day. There wasn't anything unusual here. So he decided to try and start a conversation. "Christmas is near..." he trailed off.
"So? What am I supposed to do about it?" muttered back Louis bitterly.
"Well... I was wondering if you wanted to eat out at this new cafe that opened nearby. I heard they make really good chocolate chip cookies. But since you don't seem to be in the mood........"
Matthias was obviously baiting him. Still, the cookies did sound promising... He leaned up from the windowsill and turned to glare at his brother rather petulantly. "Who said I wasn't?"
Hook, line, and sinker.
"You were ignoring me for quite awhile," responded Matthias.
Louis turned back to the window. "I just... don't really want to talk right now."
"Is it because of mom and dad?"
"Yea."
"Oh Louis..."
He shifted uncomfortably when Matthias pulled him into a hug. "You don't have to listen to them. They don't mean half the things they say. You do know that right? They only freak out sometimes because they care about you."
Those words did little to console him. If anything, it made him feel worse. Ofcourse his brother didn't understand. Why would he? He wasn't the one being yelled at for not being the perfect son.
It felt like Matthias was here just to rub salt on his wounds. The very person he was being compared to, telling him it didn't mean anything. How ironic was that? In the end, he couldn't help the hate and vitriol from bubbling out.
"Care? You expect me to believe they compare me to you all the time because apparently they care? Ofcourse you don't know how it feels!" hissed Louis.
What he said seemed to throw Matthias off, as his brows furrowed in equal amounts surprise and confusion. "Louis-" started Matthias only for Louis to shove him away.
"Ofcourse, you with your perfect scores, and your perfect mannerisms, and perfect appearance, wouldn't understand even the beginning of it!" he yelled.
Matthias raised his hands in what he hoped was a placating manner. He was trying to calm his little brother down to no avail.
As for Louis, once the faucet started leaking, he couldn't stop. In the end, everything gushed out for all to see, like a festering wound opened anew.
"It's just rich coming from you of all people. Mom? Dad? They can shove it for all I care! Just leave me alone!"
He watched as his brother's face twisted into a pained expression at his words. He almost felt regretful of saying all those things to him, but it was getting too much for him to bear. If it hurt Matthias just as much as it hurt Louis, then good. He should be hurt.
Matthias stared down at Louis, who was now panting from sheer rage, and sighed. "Fine," he said stiffly. He got up to walk out the room. But before he did, he called over his shoulder, "Be that way. Maybe your bad attitude is why you keep getting into fights with everyone."
As the door slammed shut, Louis felt the urge to hit something. Instead, he balled his hands up into fists. Bad attitude? Matthias should put himself in his shoes for a day then! See if he could still be so happy go lucky after putting up with all the things he was forced to! After a few more moments of simmering in his anger, he decided to sneak out the house. Opening the window and clambering down a tree, he cursed out loud, "Stupid brother."
Louis didn't know how long he'd been walking. But it was getting rather chilly outside, and he still didn't want to return home. Like the stubborn boy he was, he kept walking until a store nearby caught his eye.
The store possessed a big logo on the front that had been lit up brightly. 'Arnold & Puppets,' it read. That wasn't why he was interested, however. He was interested in the posters pasted all over the display window, depicting a man holding several dolls. There was a small line of text printed on the bottom of every poster. 'Making children's wishes come true since 1989.' He scoffed. "Why I'd love for you to make my wishes come true," he muttered under his breath.
"But ofcourse, little lad! Would you like to come in and check our wares?"
The new voice startled Louis beyond belief, causing him to flinch a foot into the air. He turned to see a young woman dressed in a green tuxedo, with a ridiculous hat placed over her mismatched hair. Despite her odd appearance, she beamed at him with a charming smile.
Judging by her outfit, she must've been the store clerk. He didn't expect her to appear so suddenly behind him. "Do you make a habit of sneaking up on children?" he asked in an accusatory tone. That earned him a laugh.
"I assure you, my child, t'was not my intention. I merely happened to be in the right place, at the right time."
Ah, so she was cryptic and fond of speaking in riddles too. Wonderful.
Frowning, he scanned his eyes up and down her person once more. "If you think you can scam me-"
The woman playfully grabbed him by the shoulders and ushered him inside the store. "Nonsense! Let's go inside, shall we? We have lots of toys for children like you! Videogames even! I'm sure atleast one of them will be to your liking."
He remained unconvinced, muttering protests and struggling at the surprisingly firm hold she had on him the entire way. Once he noticed the sights waiting for him, however, he stopped in his tracks. He took a few minutes to take it all in, eyes alight with wonder. "Wow..." he breathed.
The green-clad lady released him and moved to stand at his side. "Impressive, isn't it?"
Louis looked from the electric train running around the store, to the huge spinning globe in the very center, to the working carousel, to the shelves upon shelves of categorized toys scattered all over. In a corner, he could even see the entrance to an arcade. What was this, if not his childhood dreams made manifest?
"Yea... it really is..." he trailed off. He decided to ask the real questions here.
"Hey, how much do I have to pay to get one ride on that train?"
"It's free. It'll take you to wherever you want within the store, so long as you punch in the coordinates!"
"Ooo and what about that giant globe thingy? It's rather large for a piece of decor."
The store clerk laughed as she strode over to stand at the control panel infront of the globe. "This globe shows where all the branches of our store are located around the world. You see these little lights glowing here?"
She found it amusing how the child's personality did a complete 180 upon setting foot inside, as he stumbled over to observe the structure. She pressed a few buttons on the monitor to turn the globe and pointed at a small light situated in France. "We're here," she stated.
"Woah. Cool!" exclaimed Louis. Seeing children's joy brought forth a warmth unlike any other into her chest. She smiled as she offered, "If you want, I could tour you around. You can even try the games in our arcade for free."
"Really?!" shouted Louis.
"Yes, really."
As the lady conducted the train, he couldn't help but think this was much more fun than hanging around at home. Much more fun than hanging around Matthias. He never wanted to leave.
He was getting more and more awed by the place as time went on. The store was surprisingly larger on the inside than it seemed from its exterior. The toy shelves rose to up high as the ceiling. They were all stacked with all manners of toys, from plushies to music boxes. Did the store have so few customers that it was packed to the brim with products or did it just never run out of stock?
It was most likely the latter. It must have had a flurry of customers to possess a budget large enough to be able to oversee multiple branches across the world, with facilities such as this. But if that was the case, where were all the customers?
"Hey... Miss Storekeeper Lady?" he called.
"Hmm?" hummed back the woman.
"Where are all the other customers? And employees? It's kinda weird that we're the only ones here when the store's this big..."
Her reply was immediate. "Oh, we don't get many people in on Christmas."
He quirked a curious eyebrow up at her, making her chuckle.
"I know. Hard to believe, isn't it? A toy store not getting any customers for Christmas."
Then she brought a finger up to her lips, as though deep in thought, adding, "Though to be fair... most of our customers commission us before the holidays..."
He still felt somewhat skeptical of her explanation. Who the hell commissions toys from a store that already had so many options to choose from? He was about to ask just as much when she started talking again.
"As to answer your second question... today's an off day! I'm the only one who works on the holidays. I do have help from the store's machinery, but it does get lonely sometimes..."
Atleast that answer made sense. He did see a few simple robots here and there sorting through the toys, but he wasn't sure if they were toys themselves or not.
However, there was still one thing on his mind. It had been, the entire way here.
"Miss Storekeeper Lady?"
"You can call me Emma," huffed the woman in fond exasperation, pointing at the name tag pinned on her blazer.
"Err... right... Miss Emma." He still felt he had to be polite. She was an adult afterall. "When are we gonna reach the arcade?"
She stepped aside, letting him catch a glimpse of the bright neon lights up ahead. Her lips stretched into a wide grin as she replied, "Soon, my child. Very soon."
Beep beep beep beep...
Beep beep beep beep...
Beep beep beep... ding!
"Hah! Take that!"
Louis grinned as he secured yet another win in the bag. Emma was good, but he was better. Everyone knew the secret to winning in the arcade was to button mash!
Emma had a pout on her face, watching her character disappear into tiny pixels. She'd been defeated by the fighter champion Louis had picked for the current round yet again.
She had intentionally let him pick the most broken character in the game but perhaps she was going too easy on him. It was time to switch things up a little.
"Louis, what do you think of laser tag?" she asked, looking down with a mischievous glint in her eyes. And like a moth to a flame, the boy started demanding she lead the way.
A few minutes in, however, and poor Louis really wished he had declined to play. Wherever he ran and wherever he attempted to hide, Emma always got to him. Ofcourse she would! She knew this place like the back of her hand! It wasn't fair. She'd probably shot him over fifty times by now. And him? None. Emma was just too fast. He was never even given the chance to pull the trigger before she slipped behind a corner after tagging him.
He scoped in when he saw Emma running towards him, desperate to get atleast one shot. But Emma beat him to it before he could. She aimed the laser pointer at the target on his vest and pulled the trigger.
Beep!
Sighing, he dropped his gun and held his hands up in surrender. "Alright alright, I yield!" he yelled as the target light blinked red for the umpteenth time that day.
"So soon?" teased Emma, walking over and ruffling his hair. He folded his arms petulantly. "'S not like it matters..." He must've painted quite the pitiful picture, silently fuming at his defeat. This was so embarrassing.
However, the words Emma said next struck a chord within him.
"It's not so fun being second best, is it?"
There was no way she knew... right? There was no possible way for her to know how he felt. "No. It really isn't."
Emma took on a contemplative expression as she wheedled on, "But what if you could come first for once?"
What if he could? Why was Emma asking him this all of a sudden? The way she phrased it was so oddly specific, it was as though she was digging deep into his psyche. Not knowing what to say in return, he chuckled without any mirth. He didn't want to seem rude but her question only brought forth memories of earlier today.
"Like that'll ever happen."
Emma didn't miss the way his entire demeanor shifted. She hummed thoughtfully. "Tell you what," she said in a conspiratorial tone.
Whatever she was about to say, he wasn't impressed anymore judging by how the conversation was going. But he figured he might as well humor her after all the fun they had. "What?"
"Let's say you have three wishes. What would your first wish be?"
Louis felt his eyebrow twitch. Seriously? That was her question? It wasn't that he was being pessimistic, but how old did she think he was?
"Everyone knows those are just fairytales. No one believes in them."
Emma was undeterred by his attitude. She pestered on, "But what would be your first wish?" Gosh was she persistent. Louis knew he wouldn't be able to leave the conversation anytime soon unless he answered her. He fell silent for a while before he replied, "To be good at everything I do, I guess. I don't know."
"Ah, but you gotta be more specific than that. No one is perfect. Being good at everything you do is next to impossible!"
He felt himself starting to get frustrated. "And so are wishes coming true. Isn't that the point of wishing?" he sniped back.
Now Emma was the one who was stunned into silence. "I suppose you do have a point..."
Then, "Nevermind that! Let's say you had a dream, instead of a wish then. What would that dream be?"
She sure recovered quick, Louis observed. He pondered the question over. His dreams... his biggest dream... Well, surely there was no harm in indulging Emma. If it was only his ambitions she was curious about, he could tell her.
"To be a good actor. I've always loved theater, and my father works in the industry too. Maybe then, my parents would be proud of me for once."
Louis didn't notice it, but the light in Emma's eyes faded slightly as realization dawned on her. She casted her gaze downwards momentarily before plastering on another bright smile as she turned to face the young boy. "Ah... I see. Very well then. Let's wrap it up! It's getting late so you should head back home," she told him, ushering him towards the exit.
Louis was baffled. From randomly asking him such questions to telling him to leave all of a sudden. She had to be playing a prank, surely!
"Wha- huh? Like right now?" he sputtered in disbelief.
"Ofcourse silly!"
"But-!"
His stammering was cut short. "No buts! You can always drop by some other day!" said Emma.
"Emma-!" he tried again.
"Go back home before it gets too dark, m'kay? I don't want to be held responsible for a missing person case."
And just like that, he was pushed out the toy store before the door was promptly shut in his face. He fumed a bit at the store's entrance, knocking on the door over and over. He tried to get the door to reopen but after some time, realized Emma wasn't just joking around afterall. Emma sure was a character.
With nothing else to do now, he figured he might as well head home like she had told him to. He could come by again tomorrow after school anyway. He'd give her a piece of her mind then. It's not like the store was going anywhere.