Chapter 1: A Big New World

Somewhere in the middle of the country lies an abandoned house and an unsuspecting dreamer about to awaken. He has visions of a time, long since passed with toy stores, smiling children, and television commercials. What feels like a lifetime eventually vanishes into a blur as the dreamer awakens in a place of what was safety but now ruin. He pulls himself up and staggers shortly as his consciousness is starting to fall into place. He looks around at this strange and usual place wondering if this was once his home, after a while he wanders with intent to find someone else. After almost an hour of searching, he finds no one and is truly alone so he finds the front door only to discover a vast wasteland seemingly devoid of life. With a moment of mental preparation, he leaps from the front porch on a quest to find someone, anyone.

The world seems so big, and he feels so small gazing upon the relics of giants and titans from a bygone era. The ground is hard, black, and cracked from years of disrepair due to the disappearance of its maintainers. Trees reach out to the sky as though attempting to grab its attention for the care they once had. Roots are gnarled and grabbing the ground as though its trying to claw its way out from the underground. The sun is high in the sky lighting everything beneath it in a bright haze as the dreamer calls out for a soul. Hours of travel and calling have led to nothing but more wasteland and darkness creeping across the sky. The dreamer kept calling in spite of the odds with hope that he would eventually find a kindred spirit.

He heard a sound approaching; claws as big as his hands scraping the pavement with a low growl. He saw it, a large hairy beast as tall as three of him with a toothy maw eyeing him as either food or a threat. He was alone with this strange creature unsure of what to do, should he run and if so, where? Questions flooded his head on what he should and shouldn’t do as the beast slowly came ever so closer. With time running out he made the decision to try and outrun the beast, hoping that he would see another day. It took the creature little effort to keep pace and knock him down, as the dreamer was face to face with the beast something unexpected happened. An upright bear of stained, pastel pink fur wielding a large blade ran up to the creature from behind and sliced its leg. The beast yelped in pain and quickly changed targets as the bear stood firm and ready for attack. The creature was quick, but the bear was quicker, fighting it like a pink David against a four-legged Goliath. The creature trails off with its face cut and leg wounded, the bear approaches the dreamer and lends a paw to help him stand. The bear was as tall as a one and a half of him with a torn off ear, black stitches with various patchworks of fur, a blue left glass eye, and a sewn-on right black button eye.

“Are you alright?” asks the she-bear

“Y-yes, thank you.” He says.

“What’s you name?” She asks

The dreamer ponders for a moment, never really thinking about his name before, Bobby feels familiar, so he answers with that.

“Bobby? I’ve met a few like you.” She says

“A few like me, what do you mean by that?” Bobby asks

“You’re not the only Bobby doll in existence, you never were. You’re the first I’ve met on this side of the road though.” She says

Bobby can’t help but be confused by this news, what’s a Bobby doll and how many are there?

“If there are several Bobbys then who are you?” He asks

“My name is Teddy, I know, real original but in all fairness, she was three.” The she-bear says.

“She? Who is she?” Bobby asks

Teddy looks at the landscape somberly before answering “My child, Mary.”

“You have a child?” He asks

“I did.” Teddy states “I don’t know where she is or even who she is, all I know is that I’ve been searching far and wide for her. Come with me, we’ll walk and talk.” As she extends her paw for Bobby to take which he does.

“How long have you been searching?” Bobby asks as they walk down the old, cracked road.

“Years.” Teddy answers “But it feels like an eternity, and I fear that I’m no closer to finding her than when I started.”

“Have faith!” Bobby says optimistically “I was searching for someone for hours and I found you.”

“That’s different.” Teddy says “You weren’t looking for someone in particular, I am. I found you by chance, if I’m lucky I’ll find her the same way.”

“Where are we going anyway?” Bobby asks

“We have a ways of travel but there’s an apartment a good few blocks away that we can stay at, at least for a while.” She says

“What’s there?” Bobby asks

“People, supplies, and most importantly shelter.” Teddy answers