The Toy Room
Martin was a healthy 6 year old. Like many children he loved to go off in to a world of his own.
As an only child of Martha & Cecil Banks, he wanted for nothing. His toy car collection was the envy of his friends who came round often to play in the 'Toy Room' as the name on the spare bedroom stated. It was decorated all in pink for the arrival of Martins sister Louise,but it wasn't to be as she never made it past 10 weeks. The doctor told Martha & Cec that due to complications there would be no more children. The room remained pink in memory of Louise.
Jonathan & Jaymie, the twins from across the avenue came over , as was usual on a Sunday afternoon, and knocked on the door. Sandra knew it was them before she opened the door as neither could reach the doorbell.
As she opened the door both charged in shouting thank you as they ran upstairs. Sandra heard the door bang open then silence. For some reason it made the hair on the back of her neck stand up as instinct roared in her head that something was wrong. he raced up the stairs two at a time. She saw the two boys just stood there staring into the room. Martin was nowhere to be seen. All his cars were lined up along the skirting board facing outward as if at the start of a race.
Nothing else was out of place, not one single toy was out of the three large ottoman's lined under the bay window. The cushions on them all in place where many a time Cecil had found Martin fast asleep. Sandra shouted through the open window to Cec who was tending the flowerbeds at the back of the house asking if Martin was with him. As with Martha, because she had asked, the alarm bells sounded in his head. Something was wrong and he rushed in and up the stairs.
Martha was stood by the window visibly shaking. Cec sent the boys home and put his arm round Martha. She shrugged him off and went on the hunt in very room and cupboard, the garage, the shed, the greenhouse. Martin was nowhere to be seen. It was time to call in the police. The twins mother came over to ask why the boys had been sent home as they were crying because of it and they had done nothing wrong they told their mum. Cecil simply said that Martin was missing and before he could offer more, the police arrived and he asked Mrs Montgomery to go home and that he would talk to her later. Some of the cars were moved from the wall and were staggered across the carpet when Martha took the officers to the Toy Room.She dismissed the sight before it really registered and let the police do their own investigation. Which, like Martha & Cec, turned up nothing. They took all the details and recent photo's of Martin and called it in. There was a rapid response team there in less than ten minutes. They checked the room, especially the open window, then the grounds. Nothing came of it.
The fire truck was on the carpet by the upturned car.
The police proceeded with a house to house search, covering all the outbuildings and asked all the residents to do a thorough search of the interior and report anything , anything out of place or unusual. The Children's Officer spoke to all the children in the neighborhood asking if they had seen anything out of the normal, were there any strangers around , any new cars driving by, especially slowly. Nothing.
The fire truck was now gone and an ambulance in it's place but there was no one to see it.
Before it came on the local news the reporters were at the door clamouring for interviews. They asked had the boy ran off before. Had they shouted or hit him. Martha becoming hysterical and Cecil had to be restrained by the duty constable from hitting one of the reporters. This caused another to shout out if he had taken his temper out on the boy.
The ambulance was gone and the car was now on the back of the recovery truck, but there was no one to see it.
Martha's parents came round to see if they could help and John, her Dad went out with Cecil to comb the neighborhood and local park. The police were already doing this but they felt that they should do so also, better than just sitting there. Cec's Mum arrived and tried to console Martha. Nothing would short of finding her son alive and well.
Time for bed Martin's Mum shouted upstairs. martin put his cars back in the box and went to the bathroom to wash his hands and face. He was almost ready for bed by the time his Mum came in to tuck him in with a hug and a kiss.
Martha excused herself from the two Mums and went upstairs to the Toy Room.
An Almighty scream brought the police constable in and the Mums from the lounge. They all raced upstairs to find Martha literally shaking apart almost and screaming. They all looked past her into the room and saw that nothing was out of place, they had imagined all sorts of things as they ran to the room. Finding Martin dead on the floor was uppermost in their minds. There was nothing so why was Martha screaming they asked her.
All she said was... The toys... and she fell into a dead faint.
When Martin woke the next morning, it being Sunday, he knew his mum & Dad enjoyed a lie in, just on Sunday. The rest of the week they both worked really hard. So he just kept really quiet and went to the Toy Room to play.
He decided that it was time to go to the Zoo and all the animals came out to play wit him.
Martha opened her eyes to a bright light wondering where she was. Cec' was looking at he from what appeared to be a hole. A man in a bright orange outfit asked her what her name was and then things slowly started to clear. She was lying in an ambulance and Cec' was stood on the road outside. The paramedic told her that she had fainted and the police officer had called for assistance.
The lions and tigers were all in a group and they were being looked at by the elephants and the giraffes.
The cages were all open as Martin didn't like to see the animals locked up because they had done nothing wrong.
When Martha's Mum asked what she meant about the toys she almost went hysterical again and tried to get off the gurney. The medic calmly held her back until she relaxed. Now Cec asked what she had meant as nothing was out of place in the Toy Room when he had looked in.
Martha said nothing for a long moment as she ran her hands through her bedraggled hair.
She told them that was the problem, there were no toys out in the Toy Room.
It was time for the parade and all the animals were lined up two by two along the edge of the pink rug. At the end of the rug was the Noah's Ark that his granddad had built for him when he was a baby. It was all bright colours.
Martha said that when she found Martin missing, no that sounds silly, when she noticed Martin was missing , all his cars were lined up along the wall. Now they weren't.
The group around the ambulance looked at each other, hoping one would offer an explanation. No one did.
Martin heard someone scream and it made him jump. He stopped playing for a moment wondering if his Mum had hurt herself so he went to look downstairs. There was no one there. He saw his Nana's big handbag so she must be here somewhere. when he peeped inside he saw the tube of jelly babies that she always brought for him so he opened it and took one out , he loved the red ones.He put the tube on the coffee table as he heard a door open and looked round, but no one was there.
Marion, Martha's Mum came back into the lounge and stopped dead in her tracks. She shouted for Martha. Martha came in at a run as her Mum just pointed at the table, unable to speak.
Martha called in the policeman and told him what had occurred. He shook his head in disbelief hut still called it in.
Cec' went upstairs to use the loo. He couldn't make head nor tail of all this. It seemed that the whole world, his world had gone crazy. He was a logical thinking man and logic always ruled, except here.
He side glanced into the Toy Room as he passed. He had taken three steps before his thought processes kicked in.
He literally back stepped and looked in again. He shouted at the top of his voice for Martha. Everyone came running.
All the Zoo animals were standing nose to tail across the pink rug and the lions were on the slope of Noah's Ark.
The policeman once again asked for immediate assistance, which arrived moments later.
Photo's were taken and later matched up to the ones taken earlier. They did not match, not at all.
Martin heard the commotion on the landing and peeping out of his bedroom he saw his Mum across the way, she was sat on her bed crying, which always set him off crying. His Mum only ever cried when his Dad was angry.
Everyone was in the lounge except Cecil. He was in the kitchen sat at the table with the two detectives. They asked if he knew where Martin was. No. Did he know what had happened to Martin. No. Why did he arrange the toys on the rug. He didn't. Then who did. He didn't know. They said that his wife had told them at the ambulance that there were no toys out in the Toy Room, yet when he looked moments later they were all lined up on the rug. How is this possible. He couldn't answer.
Martin watched as the animals went into the Ark two by two and as the elephants went in he lifter the ramp and closed the pin down, just as granddad had shown him and he put the Ark back in the box.
When the police inspector arrived he asked to see the Toy Room. The constable took him upstairs and pointed out the room. The inspector looked in and asked what the problem was. When the constable looked in an amazed look crossed his face and he shouted for the detective to come.
There was nothing out of place in the room. Everyone had been accounted for downstairs. Their prime suspect, if he was suspected of anything, had been in the kitchen the whole time.
Martha was crying fit to bust, she was unconsolable, she didn't understand what was happening. All she wanted was her son in her arms. She would hold him there forever. She heard a cry or maybe just a sob. It stopped her from crying.
Her mum was watching her like a hawk watches it's next meal. he asked Martha what was the matter. No answer.
Martha slowly stood up and went upstairs. She almost crept along the landing past Martin's room, past her bedroom and then she stopped outside the Toy Room. All the cars were lined up along the wall. She gasped out a sob.
She looked at the toy boxes and there curled up was Martin, fast asleep.
She wanted so much to believe it was really him. She could not move a muscle, she just stared.
Her Mum sensing something went after her up the stairs and saw her daughter just standing in the doorway of the Toy Room. She called for Cecil and as one they all came upstairs and approached the Toy Room.
Marion was ashen and wondered if she was seeing a ghost.
The inspector approached Martin and touched him gently on the shoulder. He awoke and looked at his Mum.
She ran to him and in one move scooped him up into her arms with such a cry of joy that her Mum & Cecil's Mum and the detectives all felt a tightening in their throats.
When he was asked where he had been Martin said that he had just been playing with his toys when they asked him.
For a little while he had entered his own world of fantasy, just like all children do now and then.
This time though, it was for real.
© Dave Timperley 09 May 2017.
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