Flop Top was so exhilarated. It was only hours to go before he was to meet his new owner. The old lady had promised him that he was going to live in a place where he would have the most amazing adventures.
His hair that usually flopped over his wide, chocolate brown eyes, and his half-moon ears was stood up with the anticipation of what excitement was to come. Tunnelling, flying, climbing - they were all on his list.
Flop Top was restless so slowly peered out of his box to see a bleak brown room; it was so cold and bare. As he looked all around him he saw none of the colour and friends that he had left behind in the toyshop. Flop Top felt sad as he gazed across the empty darkness. But as he turned to slump back in to his snug house his left eye caught sight of something extremely large and fat that gave him some hope. You see, next to his box there was another box. It was a lot bigger and brighter than his box with a huge golden bow and a bright red label. "Oh boy! Oh boy!" Thought Flop Top excitedly, "It must be full of friends, playmates and my new family."
At that moment Flop Top heard a noisy outside the room and dived back into his box. He couldn't wait until he was unwrapped; he even leant against the box to start planning what he should do with his new family. He had so many ideas that he struggled to decide on what should come first. The caring, gentle bear then imagined what his new friends would look like. They might be soft and furry like him, or spiky and hard like those monsters that he had heard many children talk about when they had come into the shop. Maybe there would even be some of his old friends like Rabbit and Hedgehog from the toyshop. A box that big was bound to include someone he knew. Flop Top had just begun to envisage the fun that he, Rabbit and Hedgehog would have together when he felt large, heavy footsteps shaking the ground outside his box. Instead of being scared about the rumbling sounds Flop Top was eager for them to get closer so that a pair of gentle, kind hands could reach down and bring him out to meet his new friends and his new playground.
As the box was heaved, jerked and squashed Flop Top tried his hardest not to injure himself as he collided in to the sides of his soon to be old home. The box was twisted and turned, as a loud voice from outside questioned why he could not hear any sounds coming from the inside of the box. At last the lid of the box was ripped open and a pair of cold hands reached down towards the delighted bear. Flop Top tried to see in to the eyes of his new owner, but the blinding rays of light that shone in to the box meant that all he could make out was the shape of a large, fat oval shaped head. As his eyes grew accustomed to the light he was able to see that the face starring back at him was not reciprocating the cheery smile that he was genuinely wearing. Instead his new owner was sharing the most disparaging comments about Flop Top with the whole room and glaring at him with a face that the kind bear had never seen before. The boy had eyes that pierced in to Flop Top's smile and he had a mouth with the dirtiest teeth that looked ready to attack and behead the poor quaking bear who was now wishing that he was still safe up on his own toyshop shelf with the rest of the guys and that this was just a nasty dream.
Flop Top didn't have long to think about this though, because just as quick as he had been thrown out of his safety zone he was callously thrown to the solid, harsh floor with a thud and thump as the ungrateful boy hurried to the larger box.
As his new owner speedily ripped through the second present the soft bear that had been promised a great life by the old lady who had bought him was now trying to move his aching head, aching legs and broken heart. As a tear trickled down the soft but dirty fur of Flop Top he heard noises coming from the boy that raised his depleted spirits.
It was the most unusual and confusing sight the bear had ever seen. This child was cheering, clapping and even showing a dirty-toothed smile because of a large black box that had red and black things trailing from it. The worried little bear was relieved for two very different reasons. One because he had seen a smile from the boy and knew that a cheerful emotion was possible from him, but mainly because he now knew that the box did not contain any toys like him. He was now of the opinion that he would have hated any of his friends like Rabbit, Hedgehog or anyone else to experience the throbbing pain and tormenting dread that he was now going through.
Unexpectedly the hard, fat hands that had dismissed him so viciously were once again coldly wrapped around Flop Top. The stranglehold from the harsh prodding fingers was almost unbearable for the bear that was now using his long scruffy hair to hide his weeping eyes and cover his terrified ears.
Unfortunately for Flop Top his ears were unable to block out the echoing thuds and stomps that came from below, they were obviously going on a journey. The stomping noises grew louder and louder as the child marched upstairs with the thunderous thudding sounds of his parents behind him, all the time complaining about him not helping them with carrying the big black box.
All of a sudden the thudding footsteps stopped, the complaining voices stopped and even Flop Top's heart that had been racing a thousand beats a minute stopped. The anxiety ridden bear peeped his left eye through his smooth, tickly strands of hair to see that the obstacle in front of them was a large white door which had a sinister sign attached. The sign read 'War Room'. Flop Top's heart jerked itself forward causing the poor bear to tightly squeeze his eyes as it returned to the old pace of a thousand beats a minute.
Flop Top was set to open his eyes after coping with the excruciating pain, but quickly amended this decision as he heard the sound of the door to the 'War Room' ever so slowly creaking open.
As the boy set about ordering his parents with where to place the black box and what to do to it to get it working Flop Top used the opportunity to examine the new surroundings. Chills swamped the soul of the fearful bear as his eyes caught sight of the most disgusting and violent scenes that he had ever seen. You see, strewn around every inch of the bedroom were blood-splattered, gun totting, and body-mutilated posters. Accompanying these horrific scenes were the deeply devastating bold and blood-drenched words 'KILL,' 'HATE,' 'SHOOT,' 'MURDER,' 'DIE,' 'DESTROY'.
It was undoubtedly the most shocking and upsetting experience that little Flop Top had ever witnessed. Aside from these images was the fact that there was nothing else soft, cuddly, caring or colourful that Flop Top could see in the room. Well except for one unfortunate toy that now seemed to be 100 miles away from what it had started life as. The impatient boy got fed up with barking instructions at his mum and dad so launched Flop Top towards the centre of his unmade bed and marched over to the cupboard at the bottom of the bed to demonstrate to his obedient slaves in a fuming and violent voice precisely what he wanted them to do. Flop Top, pleased to be away from those cold, callous hands tried to edge up the bed to the safety of the pillows and high cover ruffles. There he would be able hide from this awful world that he had been thrown into. It would probably only last for a few seconds, but that was better than nothing.
However, the pillows did not offer that much longed for safety. Instead of the soft warmness that he expected, there was only the sharp cold of metal weapons and soldiers, protecting the pillow from this unwelcome enemy.
As he was unable to hide, Flop Top closed his eyes trying to extinguish all the nightmarish visions that were going to haunt him for as long as he lived. Suddenly some thunderous roars startled him. As he turned to face the direction of these deafening bangs Flop Top realised that it was the black box that was causing this dreadful blare. But that wasn't all that was coming from the box. The terrified bear could not see what the boy was looking at but it was obviously engrossing because his large, fat head was blocking the whole view and emitting a range of cheers and chants in support of whatever it was showing him.
Soon the boy's parents retreated, as they were now content with the fact that their little angel was clearly enjoying himself and getting undying pleasure from their present. This was the cue that Flop Top had been waiting for to investigate what was happening. As he crept closer to the body that had already given him so much pain in such a short period of time the brave bear started to feel himself quiver and shake uncontrollably. Part of the shaking was from the terror that he felt on the inside, but he could also feel the mountainous bed covers vibrating from the noise of the boy jumping up and down and howling at his monstrous box.
As he reached the end of the bed the daring bear moved around the back of the boy to see what all the excitement was about. He soon wished that he hadn't because what he was now witnessing was the most incomprehensible form of pure evil. It was depraved, it was vile, it was sick. There on a screen half the size of the wall and twenty times the size of him, were the blood-covered bodies of monsters, animals, men, women and children. In front of this disaster scene was one lone man with a gun, shooting at anything that moved, or stayed still.
Flop Top wanted to close his eyes from the devastating images, to shut his ears from the scream, but he couldn't. He tried to stop the images entering his brain but it was no use. Whatever he tried the suffering returned to his thoughts and he was unable to forget what he was watching. As tears streamed down on to his soft, gentle fur Flop Top used all his willpower to move. He had to hide. He had to escape.
'Where do you think you are going?' Came the sudden and shocking question from a sinister, cold voice above the petrified bear. As Flop Top stared in to a set of mesmerising red eyes a pair of haunting hands stretched out and took hold.
Flop Top wriggled to escape the choking hold, he twisted, he turned, but to no avail. The bear that had started the day so excited, so happy and so loving was ending it in the most devastating way imaginable. In fact it was worse that anything he would have ever imagined. The petrified bear took a deep breath, tightly screwed up his tear-filled eyes, held his shaking body, reached for his soul and switched off the sounds from outside. He felt his insides warm up as he remembered images of the toyshop, that wonderful, happy place. He saw the wonderful colours of the bears, the fantastic shapes of the monsters, he smelt the sweetness of the chocolate bears and the perfumed dolls and he heard the caring, concerned voices of his loving friends. The voices of his friends, he actually heard the voices of his friends. They were getting louder, faster, stronger. They were not stopping, they were not fading, and as Flop Top opened his eyes he saw through the familiar bright light of the toyshop that they were real.
When Flop Top was asked later about his dream, he did not tell anyone because he did not want to frighten them like he had been frightened. He just told all the toys that it was a dream that luckily was never going to come true.
