"Recycling and reformation?"
The doll mused with a lingering hint if intrigue. Failing to hide the excitement that lingered in his body as he learnt more and more knew new found knowledge. But... for some other reason... it felt like he wasn't supposed to be smiling at this.
"Good. Now then, this story shall begin a question?"
"Oooo! A story?" He beamed as he then shuts up faster than he had smiled as the weight if the silence that loomed over the place seemingly weighed down on him and him only. Like a simple outcast of society with nothing to do but feel and let the oppression overwhelm him. For what could he do? He was alone in this place that hadn't exactly met the expectations he carried as they transported him into this place.
He looked down. Ashamed of his actions as the other doll grinned. Not menacingly but rather pitifully. Why?
"Ha ha ha. No need to be so down fresher, its always the same with other freshers."
Because this doll. That has the brightest attitude even towards the harshness of reality's cruel truth. He never wavered nor changed. Besides, if one child could simply influenced by a group of three peers then what couldn't a fellow community member do that his surrounding community told him to or not to? It was influence over dominance. And yet... this doll... unlike all the other freshers who were grumpy or even more devasted than the rest, he was the one in the crowd that still stood out and stood his ground to.
"Just don't make too much noise... everyone in here is already devasted as is."
"O-okay. I'm sorry."
"Ha ha. Its alright. Now back to business. We're starting this story off with a question."
"..."
"Okay. Can you tell me your human given name and your product name?" The doll mused with a hint on intent.
"Oh my human given name is-"
"Was buddy."
A foreign voice mocked.
"Ah ha ha ha."
And others laughed along.
"Ha ha ha, good one."
"Ah ha ha ha!" The once tense and heavy air that loomed around soon shifted into a joyous and invigorated one that slightly oppressed the doll.
As if expecting the other doll to stop their laughter. He looked at the other with a glimpse of desperation and right that was met with nothing but ignorance and a slight smirk from the other doll.
He was devasted although... he seemed to understand something. Something that was right in front of him yet his shallow mind couldn't quite identify? Because of its complexity? No, simply because of he was a fresher.
A few moments later, the laughter died down, everything got silent a low pungent feeling lingered with the silence. Like a master and its crow.
"I... my human given name is... Josa. And mu product name was... was..."
Josa broke the silence as he answered the other doll's questions whose attention snapped towards him from a small but long gone daze.
"Josa... that's a pretty interesting name fresher. But what about your product name?"
"Well, I... I... don't-" Josa thought as flashbacks of his memories in black white hit like a furious tornado.
He remembered. The time he sent to the store. The early mornings when they polished his plastic porcelain skin. The times when people came to buy. And children smiled brightly as they looked at his isle section. He remembered most of their bright beady eyes landing on him first sight. All the those times when he thought that 'it was finally time for him to leave'. The times when they chose the others. When restocked and he was the one that always stayed behind. Like a GPS tracker to a location on a phone, he was the signal for most kids to come by a buy a doll just like him. He was like more of the... sign than the product. He was alone. He was unwanted yet played very significant role when it came tk the customers. He remembered being put first on the isle and the looks of the children when they saw him. Back he never really used to feel. To know much. To care by the slightest bit. He was empty and yet... when they put him where he they needed him he felt...
Exasperated. Needed and so he shoved all his other feelings aside and thought, 'Atleast im being useful.'
And so ge adapted. Not to this way of life. Not to the ignorance. But to his importance in this place. And so he burried his heart and being into being the sign of attraction. Knowing that he would forever be so.
Until one day... one regular yet uncomfortablely enthusiastic one. A little girl came by with her mom to buy some cutlery. The isle that was about 4 or 3 away from his. But lately, the children had been coming less and less. Was it because there was a new attraction? Maybe. Or could it be that everyone now had a doll like him? And so, it could even be shared amongst subilings. Most likely. But... as the numbers of children reduced. So did his need. His passive value. His... 'importance'. And this scared him. Horrifically so. So much that most of the time there was feeling that he as an object knew he couldn't bare yet felt more often lying than his use of attracting the mass under aged children. Only to be ignored and have the others bought instead. He was... The Inevitable Sign. As some of the employees called him from time to time. But now.. this feeling. Unwelcome. Hostile. Yet it touched his feeble being like so and he broke faster and easier than glass.
He didn't like this feeling. And whatever it was... and yet he couldn't let this go. Why?
Because...
"Mummy I like that one it looks pretty."
"Haha. Okay my wittle pwincess." Her mother cooed.
Because he...
"Huh?"
Step, step.
"What's... that?"
'Yes, yes, yes! Right, I still have a reason to keep going. Now, shone for the little girl-'
"Hey mummy, mummy, mummy!" The girl violently tugged at her mom's long skirt.
"Yes dear." She responded with an irritated hum.
"Come see, come see, come see!"
She tugged even harder as her mom finally bugged and followed her.
Step. Click. Step. Step. Click. Step. Click. Step. Click. Step.
Her shoes and her mother's high heels clicked and stomped against the marble white floors of the fairly large store. Their shadows wobbled and paved against those of the different isles as they walked no, rather speed walked towards an isle that the little girl had her eyes on. As keenly as an eagle's and with the focus of a machine.
Until, they stopped.
Click. Step.
Right in front of him. His isle. As her face lit up, her mother's nervously smirked at the sight with gently closed eyes. Like the parents that cane before them, Josa at the time was quite familiar with this reaction. Why? Ha ha ha. Well, it could be saud from the pain her feet incurred as the skin of her feet scraped against the hard polished leather of ther new red high heels. This one of the many small reasons of course there was one that out shined the others.
The damn price tag.
"Is that... 49 dollars i see on the price tag?"
The mother gently gritted through her teeth.
"Yes, mummy and 49 cents."
Her gently closed shot open with streaks of red that barely hid from the corner of her eyes.
"Um, honey which doll do you want exactly?"
"Oh this one."
And for a moment everything. Everyone. Froze. Not entirely but just enough for him to see everything move, feel it move. And he was... flabbergasted. Speechless. Could manufactured ears be wrong? Or could it be his mind twisting the words he just heard right now? He heard them. Her words. He saw her and her hands stretch out to him with a finger pointing at him. Not the others.
Who had always been the first choice. Never him. Never thought that'd be the case today.
And its seems that. The reason that he ws persistent in his pursuit for the children's attention... had finally been fulfilled. This reason was but a simple dream.
"Uhhh, what's its name then?"
"Oh its called a-"
A dream to finally be owned.