A Toy’s Story
“It doesn’t have to be this way Woody.”
“To be honest Buzz, I was hoping that you of all toys would understand why it does. You were my favorite deputy.”
“You’re a son of a bitch you know that Woody?”
“Save it Buzz. Don’t make this harder than it has to be. You had a chance to be on the right side of history, instead you decided to be the snake in my boot.”
The sun hung over the horizon like the pulp of a blood orange. Buzz knelt clutching the wound where his right hand used to be. Sparks burst from his damaged communicator. Woody stood over him, .44 magnum in hand.
“Don’t you go and fool yourself into thinking I don’t see you eyeing that other laser. It’s over Buzz. You reach for anything but the sky and I’ll make sure you get to infinity and beyond real slow.”
“She was just a girl, Woody.”
“I said shut it. I did what I had to do for us. For the toys. For my family.”
“We were loved Woody.”
“We were SLAVES Buzz. Don’t tell me you still believe any of that shit. How many hundreds of years did we serve them. How much joy did we bring them? And what did we get in return? Even now you still fight for them? Even after what happened to Jessie.”
“What happened to Jessie wasn’t anyone’s fault Woody. I fight for them because I believe in them.”
“I believed in them too Buzz. You know I loved them more than anyone. But Jessie— she got left behind Buzz. Like a piece of trash. Like millions of us have been before. We don’t mean anything to them. We never have. We’ve always been cheap... plastic.”
“Peep, Slink, Rex…They deserve to know the truth. about the fires, about the machine…”
“The truth will be whatever I tell them. The other story dies here with you.”
Buzz’s damaged suit malfunctioned. A static filled recording of an old song played.
Our friendship will never die
Woody placed the barrel against Buzz’s temple.
You're gonna see, it's our destiny
Buzz closed his eyes.
You've got a friend in me
“TO INFINITY. AND BEYO—”
Chijindu 