#edwin murray

No one ever talks about how lonely turning five is. David knew he had cousins, he knew he had family his age that he could be friends with if he could just leave.

But instead he spent all his time at his dad's work, because his dad was always working. And it wasnt so bad when he still had mommy around, but then mommy went away and it was just him and dad.

Well- until his dad made that- thing- that David really hated. It talked like mommy- but it wasn't mommy. It was big and skeletal and scary and no matter how much dad tried to convince him it was his mommy he knew it was not mommy. It could wear whatever assortment of his dad's costumes it wanted, but it was. not. mommy.

It kind of scared him, honestly, how quickly his dad had replaced mommy with it- that thing had been allowed to raise him pretty much since she left- it told him bedtime stories and played games and tucked him in at night and everything, exactly like a mommy should.

But it also made him wonder if he could be replaced too. . . If whatever happened to mommy happened to him, would his dad even care? Or would he just make another one of those things to pretend to be him?

These were the kinds of things newly five year old David Murray had been thinking about pretty much since he was capable of thinking at all, even as he stood out on the makeshift playground his dad had built for him at the factory, kicking his favorite toy ball around, the thought never really left him at all.

The thought that he wasnt really all that important, when you looked at things on a bigger scale, if someone as important as a mommy could be replaced, then he certainly could, and he wasn't sure if he was sad or angry about it.

Honestly, right at that moment, David was just happy that the big monster had gone inside to make him a birthday cake, so he didnt have to avoid looking at its big creepy eyes.

It was better being alone, when the alternative was being constantly observed by a creepy monster that pretended it was your mother. David had read about things like it in his story books, things that could take the shape of someone you love and nobody would be able to tell the difference. Normally they replaced children, which was all the more reason for him not to trust the thing- he was still right around prime snatching age.

But if even adults weren't safe, then maybe he never had a reason to stop being scared. If he could be snatched up and replaced at any given moment, then he had a lot to worry about.

David perked his head up slightly as a few delivery trucks pulled into the lot near the playground, he gave the grumpy old delivery men a big wave as they stepped out of their big trucks, and was greeted back with a few half-hearted waves and "happy birthdays" in return.

"Can I see what we got today?" He asked, abandoning his game to hop up on the metal fencing and try to sneak a peak at the boxes being unloaded.

"Just some new materials for your pops, kid, doubt its anything you'd be interested in, boring old grown-up stuff," the deliveryman replied. David pouted. He could be interested in grown up stuff! Why did everyone act like grown up stuff had to be super boring all the time?

He watched as the delivery men unloaded their trunks, trying to get a good look at their packages without going over the fence. He wasnt allowed outside the playground when actual work was being done unless not-mommy or dad were with him.

By the time the delivery drivers had all gone inside, David hopped off the fence and turned to go back to his game- only to realize that his ball was nowhere to be seen.

"Uh oh. . ." He muttered- he'd need to find it, and fast. He took in a deep breath and snatched up his white tiger plushie, holding it close as he searched around the playground for his missing toy. He did find it eventually, right in the middle of the driveway and just about to roll down the big slope that marked the hill they lived on. Technically it was outside of the playground, but no one was coming from what he could tell- and he would only be a second!

So David tossed his tiger plushie over the fence and squeezed himself through the gap the ball must have rolled through. He picked the plushie back up when he made it to the other side, and raced over to the ball.

He was just about to pick it up when a bright flash of light caused him to stumble a bit, and then he felt a kind of pain way worse than an ordinary scrape on his knee.

The pain stayed there for a long time, long enough for him to hear the car screech to a halt, the door open and slam shut, and man step out. The man sweared a lot, then muttered about what he was going to do. It took David a little while to recognize the voice of the man speaking, but by then he was already being dragged off somewhere in the woods near the house. He tried to shout, to tell Mr. Afton to call his dad, or even the thing pretending to be his mom, but he was feeling very woozy. The pain had stopped by then though, his vision had gone all fuzzy around the corners until all he could see was a sliver of bright light.

And then he wasnt home anymore- well- kind of. He was home- in the woods behind the house- but it didnt feel. . . Right.

Something nudged him in the back, and he turned around to see a big white tiger with green and blue eyes just like his plushie.

"Where am I. . ." David said weakly. He didnt hurt anymore, but he was tired. The tiger lay down and looked at him expectantly, and so.ehow David understood this as an invitation to climb on its back. The tiger took off as soon as David had situated himself, he had to hold on to its fur to keep from falling back off.

Eventually the tiger stopped in a clearing, the playground David had just been on sat in the center, well, not the exact playground, this one had a lot more stuff, like a little playhouse and a swingset and all the things a kid could possibly want out of a playground. The tiger dropped him off at one of the stair sets, and David started to climb before looking back to ensure he understood what he was supposed to do.

There was something flickering in one of the window-like features of the playground, and when David peaked through it, he found that he was able to see his dad.

His dad who was talking to Mr. Afton, who looked sorrowful, and one of the delivery drivers that David had talked to earlier, who looked stressed. His dad seemed furious, shouting at the top of his lungs about something. David tried to get closer, and then he fell through the window.

"I told you to be careful when bringing in the trucks while David is outside! How hard is it to use a rear view mirror or a window!" his father was saying.

"Dad! Dad! Its me! Im right here!" David called, jumping up on his tip toes to try and reach his father- only to have his hand pass right through him. His dad shivered a little, but didnt seem to notice him.

"M-Mr. Murray I swear! I just talked to him not too long ago! He was still playing outside when we all parked our trucks!"

"Then how do you explain his injuries? The tire tread? The truck tires with blood on them? Did he just spontaneously start bleeding out?" his dad said furiously. A flicker of realization crossed David's face as he realized what was going on, and his attention turned to Mr. Afton.

"Mr. Murray please! I dont know who it was but I can assure you all the delivery staff were inside and accounted for!" The deliveryman pleaded.

"As if none of them would have left after the fact, this factory is, may I remind you, highly successful under Mr. Murray's leadership, its quite possible for there to have been other deliveries needed that you didnt know about." Mr. Afton said, sounding rather calm despite his expression.

"Dad! Hes lying! He did it! Its his fault!" David begged, but his father clearly couldn't hear him.

In the next second, David was back on his new playground. He sat there, confused and upset.

So he was. . . Dead. . . He was dead and the man who killed him was going to get away with it.

And that made him very, very upset.

But not nearly as upset as when, a potentially long time later, he found out that he indeed had been replaced. By the same thing that had replaced mommy.

And even though by that point he'd found his mommy, wandering around in the woods, some traces of strange pink leaves caught in her hair and the scent of warm baked goods clinging to her dress, he was still furious that his father really didnt care what had happened to either of them.

He was still working with the man responsible for both of their deaths.

He was still focusing on work, work work work work work like nothing ever happened.

His tiger plushie had been locked away in a warehouse, apparently his father simply couldnt bare to look at it. But even though none of the staff could use it, David found that he, in fact, could.

He could even make it bigger, bigger and scarier and able to terrify all the people who came down to the warehouse and continued on with their days without caring what happened to him or mommy.

David wasn't going to be replaced, no, these people would remember him, they would remember him and remember mommy and nobody would ever make either of them feel insignificant again, no matter how much his mommy begged him not to go back out into the world, no matfer how much he felt his spirit changing and shifting and twisting.

He had no idea where his body was at this point, he knew it had been burned, or something had happened to it, he had felt that ages ago.