Tale of Toby

Tragedy at the Manson Mansion

CHAPTER 1

Droplets of water quickly rush down the dark marble grave as sheets of rain spread across the vast cemetery. A young boy with a blue raincoat too long for himself stands unaffected by the rainstorm staring intently at the grave marked “Tobi.” The boy is holding a soggy black stuffed cat with a loose right arm, the string that held together the limb to the body showed it must have been stitched back together on countless occasions. The child slowly walks closer to the grave, kneeling in the moist and soggy ground right before it. Placing the black stuffed cat on top of the grave he drags his fingers across the engraving. Leaning his forehead against the marble he whispers,

“I’m sorry Tobi, I’d do anything to have you back.”

He then stands up, leaving the waterlogged stuffed animal on the top of the grave and walks away from it. His large black rain boots pressed into the dampening earth as he walked, excreting water from the muddy ground. The boy walked away from the graves and to his parents. Reaching out his hand to his mother under a transparent umbrella he hops off the grass onto the pavement below, splashing into the puddling water as it flows to the drain.

“Ugh really!”

“Sorry mommy. I just wanted to splash.”

“It's okay, it's okay don't worry. Lets go.”

The two walk across the pavement to the jet black jaguar before them, the boy opens the door for his mother and forces a smile. As he walked around the car to the passenger seat he held his long face down to the floor dragging his hand on the hood of the car as he moved. His beautiful mother rolled her eyes and smiled with a nod of her head trying to encourage him to hurry up. The nod shook her long wavy hair across her chiseled cheek, still looking perfect as she had just gotten it done this morning.

“Mommy can we visit tomorrow again?”

“No Honey Mommy is busy.” She answered as she fumbled around in her purse.

“What about the day after that?”

“Look Georgie, I’m on a tight schedule this week. There is no way I can make another visit this week. How about next week?”

“But Tobi will get lonely.”

“Honey.”

“Mom it’s true! He tells me he gets lonely a lot.”

“Okay calm down.” She took a moment's pause to think of a quick solution. “How about next week you bring a present.”

“Yes! That's a great idea, Tobi would love a present.”

“Good, so it's settled. Next week.”

The following week had wonderful weather and the young boy visited the grave yet again. This time bringing a tennis ball and dog treats wearing blue flip flops, cargo shorts and a brown tow mater t-shirt. He sat down next to the grave and layed the treats on it , with a tennis ball on the ground.

“This way you’ll never get bored in heaven.”

The young boy had thin brown hair slicked back and a barely visible scar across his neck.

Georgie is a character, at eight years old he is quite quick witted. Although he uses his natural intelligence to influence others for good rather than bad. Georgie is sentimental and caring, like a nanny. But his crazy temper can get the best of him when he talks back and begins to challenge his parents on decisions.

Georgie sat on the freshly cut grass for about a half an hour talking out loud about all of the fun things Tobi had been missing out on.

“And, and yesterday me and..—“

“Honey, we really ought to go now.” Georgie's mother interrupted as she glanced at her watch.

“Just five more minutes please mom?”

“Okay, fine. I’ll be waiting in the car.”

“Thank ya mommy!”

She paced back to the car in her red high heels and tight white dress accentuated by her pearl necklace and red lipstick. She sat in her jaguar, closed the door and dialed a number.

“He’s still going every week?” crackled a man from the car bluetooth connected with her phone.

“Yep, every week he asks. Sometimes more than once a week and I’ll take him whenever I’m free.”

“Speaking of which, are you free Sunday the 9th? I’m meeting my boss for dinner. I'd love it if you could come.”

“I’ll have to check my schedule, I think I can.”

“Okay great.”

“Oh, and when do you get back from Dubai? Because me and the ladies wanted to go out on the yacht for a little girls day out.” She said as she adjusted her makeup in the mirror, still glancing back at her son talking to the grave.

“Wednesday afternoon is when the flight touches down so you can go thursday I’ll stay home with Georgie.”

“Okay, sounds great honey thank you.”

“Your welcome, but aside from that. We really need to find something to do about Georgie, he’s been hungover about Tobi for over a month now.”

“Babe, it's a month, it's not gonna kill him. Besides Tobi was his best friend since his birth he’s gonna need a while. But sure, I’ll try something.”

“Thank you. Anyways I've gotta get to that banquet soon so I gotta go.”

“Okay, love you. Muah.” She blows a kiss to the speaker in the car as she hangs up and beeps the horn.

“Ugh, well it looks like I’ve gotta go. I’ll see you tomorrow!” Georgie bounces up from the ground and begins to head towards the car.

“Wait.”

The child pauses, and turns to the grave.

“Did.. Did you just speak.” He asked with a grin filling up his whole face.

“Come back tomorrow alone, and we can have fun.”

“Okay, I’ll try!” He exclaims and scurries back to his mother.

CHAPTER 2

Georgie and his mother approached their driveway with the car's right hand blinker flashing. Pulling in about a hundred feet there is a gate. The gate is black with a beautiful twist on the sides. In the middle is a large gold M in cursive. The mother puts the car in park and pulls out a gold card from her purse. Then she swipes the card on a sensor that was erected from the ground. The light on the sensor turned from red to green and the large metal gate slowly opened. They drove up the long and twisting driveway, going up a hill to a beautiful mansion. Upon arrival there was a circle to pull into. With a big fountain in the middle, a child angel spitting water from its mouth. Coming out of the main front door was the nanny of the house, dressed in a formal maids outfit. The front door is wide, wooden and old while highly reliable. As the mansion stands to be 150 years old. The nanny walked out and greeted the two as they parked and got out of the car.

“Hello, Mrs. Manson how was your visit?”

“Fine, fi..”

“It was so much fun! Tobi actually spoke to me!”

The Mother rolled her eyes as she continued into the house, heels clicking on the hardwood.

“Great! I wanna hear all about it.”

The nanny lovingly put her arm around Georgie and guided him inside as he went on about the details.

“That's preposterous, none of that could have happened dear, it was most likely your imagination. Don’t worry about that. Okay?”

Nanny was suddenly serious, leaning off her recliner seat to stare directly into Georgie’s face. She stopped her knitting and pulled down her purple reading glasses, “Okay?”

“But Nanny, I was so excited. I might finally have a friend again, why can’t I have a friend Nanny?”

“Oh, my. Darling, of course you can have a friend. You can have as many friends as you want. But someone that I can see with my own two eyes, not a ghost or someone from your imagination.”

“It wasn't from my imagination Nanny, I swear!”

“It’s okay darling, sometimes our minds play tricks on us.”

There was a short silence and mutual acceptance, Nanny went back to sewing and adjusted her glasses, then Georgie asked a troubling question for his Nanny to answer.

“Nanny?”

“Yes, Georgie?”

“What is a 'ghost’?”

“What did you say?”

“What’s a ghost, you said ‘not a ghost or someone from your imagination.’ What’s a ghost?”

I said that? Nanny thought to herself.

“Uh.. Um. well maybe you should ask your parents about that type of thing.”

“Why?”

“Some people believe and some do not.”

“Like how some people believe in God and some don’t?”

“Exactly like that, there are rumors and writings about them. But no one knows for sure if it’s all made up or all real.”

“What are the rumors?”

“Some are scary and some are violent, they aren’t all bad stories. But the bad ones are even scarier than a lion or a tiger.” She said with a smile.

“Scarier than the lion on the safari?”

Georgie had his eyes wide open and was leaning in to the conversation.

“Yes, except. They don’t run and jump, the ghosts are free to move as they wish. They supposedly fly in the air, traveling through space and time.”

“Can you tell me? I like to hear scary stories!”

“I don’t know how your mother would feel about it all.”

“I won’t tell them, I swear on my mother!”

“Never, Never Ever! Swear on your mother, ever!”

“Okay, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, I know you're serious. I’ll tell you--”

“Yayy!” He cut her off. She cleared her throat and then she continued.

“But. I’ll start with a nice one to show you how some might see them. Here come sit on my lap.”

Nanny put the sewing stuff onto the floor beside her and helped Georgie onto her lap.

Nanny is a big woman, Mom and Dad hired her a few years ago. But Georgie feels like it’s been forever and loves her like he loves his own mother. She eats a lot and she is encouraged to take what food she wants, however she has gained some significant weight. Georgie even said to his mother “her arms look like wings, the way they hang with fat.” Her thighs squished in between the wide recliner seat, filling it entirely. Nanny does just about every household chore, from cooking to cleaning, gutters, dishes and bathrooms to making dinner, beds and bedtime stories. She may be a bit chubby however her strength is that of a strong-man, she had been known to hold off a robber once in the past.

“One day on the shores of Libya there lived an old man. He sold shells, pearls and homemade surfboards making enough to have some food and shelter. No one in the town he lived in knew him dearly, and no one talked with him about anything besides his business. The small town had only one doctor and no police force, but there was a small group of “officials”. Apparently he died from disease all of a sudden, no one dared to check. As a result, his body was left to decompose in his shop, until a curious young girl approached the scene. Around your age, she inspected the scene and told officials she saw a suicide scene. Slit wrists, died from loss of blood with no one else around. There was dried up blood everywhere and a bunch of bugs. However, what she didn’t tell the officials that she told her family was that she felt a hand hold onto her shoulder when she got there. Her parents told her she was afraid and imagined it.

She knows it was real, when she looked up to see who it was she said she saw a man, the one who laid dead right in front of her. The little girl must have been scared out of her mind but she did what the old man said. He pointed into a small closet, and told her to take the bag in the closet to her auntie. She did so and her auntie broke down crying. She repeatedly swore by and told these stories all over town but no one would believe her. The only one that believed her was her auntie, who happened to leave the town once the bag was given to her. She told no one what she knew and no one knew what was in the bag, not even the little girl. Nothing could be proved, in fact some details were rumored to be entirely made up.”

“Wow, I would believe her. Was the ghost trying to be nice?.”

“Oh I’m sure you would. And I don't know, some say that.”

“Wow.. Next up, scary.” He smiled with an evil grin and rubbed his hands together.

“Okay, okay. You little rascal, fine. So, one time on the outskirts of a third world city, don’t remember which one but I believe it was around Kenya. There was a house, the house used to be the town church but the church had since moved 15 years ago. A Lot of the hooligans of the town, the young kids, would have parties and trash it. Local police could not control the huts they inhabited, no one could stop them. The entire group was filled with men carrying machetes where they went, if they didn’t have a machete they had a gun. After three straight days of trashing this particular place they left, however a small boy who wanted to be at the party hung around hiding in the bushes. The young boy was curious and went inside the degraded church. No one is exactly sure what happened but the entire town heard that boy scream. When good Samaritans came running, ‍in the middle of the beat up church stood a smiling boy, with tears rushing down his cheeks and a broken arm. He told no one what happened, he stopped smiling the moment he left the church. Since then this outspoken boy never spoke again. He would only stare and nod, didn't even answer his parents, did not cry when beaten and never felt happy or emotional. No one ever went to that old church again since it has been labeled as a haunted house. Not even the lawbreakers dare to break that law, spiritual forces were taken very seriously in that area.”

“Woah, that is weird. Imagine being that kid, it was probably really scary. But I wasn't scared! I would never be scared.”

“The scariest times are only when it happens to you.”

The boy looked up and listened dearly to what she had said.

“You sure know a lot of stories.”

“Yes my dear, I have been to many places, heard many things and lived many years.”

CHAPTER 3

The next day the boy wakes up even more curious than before, he sneaks out of his home and shows up this time alone with his green electric powered scooter getting him there. The graveyard was only a couple miles from home and Georgie had been allowed on a scooter ride before. He was wearing a purple sweatshirt a bit too big for him and grass stained denim shorts with a white stripe down the sides. In his small purple jordans he steps off his scooter onto the grass and runs to the grave, dropping the scooter behind him as it crashes into the pavement.

Back at home there was no one, his mother had left for a meeting and his father was still in Dubai. The house was watched by the landscapers, cleaners and his nanny who was fast asleep in her cozy brown recliner chair in the guest room. No one knew where Georgie was or that he had left.

Running to the grave Georgie slides in on both knees grabbing the grave's edges with his soft hands. He attempted to shake the grave yelling out “I’m here Tobi!” his smile didn't fade when there was no response and his white teeth were all out ready for his surprise. But no surprise came, he waited for a half an hour twiddling his thumbs and playing with the tennis ball. Shaking it in front of the grave and then tossing it away as if Tobi would jump out and go get it like he used to. Laying down staring up at the clouds he no longer had a huge smile, he was bored.

“Well, I’ll come back another time.”

Caleb slowly got up using his hands which caught his big sweatshirt on the ground dirtying it. He stood up, brushing the specs of dirt stuck to his palms and sweatshirt off. Turning away, he heard a noise and immediately dropped back down to the stone.

“Speak to me Tobi!” He cried out.

“Who are you talking to!?” Yelled out a voice to the right of Georgie.

Turning he saw a lone sycamore tree on top of a small hill without graves, with a silhouette on the branch. It moved swinging off the branch under the shadows of the tree. The figure appeared to be a person and leaned against the tree.

“My dog!” Caleb yelled back.

“I used to have a dog!”

“Really? Me too!”

“Didn't you just say you were talking with one?!” yelled back what appeared to be another young boy.

“Yeah, but he's in heaven.” Georgie said he didn't have to yell anymore as the other boy approached him with his hands in his overall pockets. Strolling over the boy seemed slightly leaned back while wearing a plain white t-shirt under his overalls.

“Oh, so that's his grave?” The boy was now a good 10ft from Georgie and stopped walking.

“Yep, I visit him all the time.”

“Really? I’m here all the time too!”

“Really? We should hang out whenever I see you here then.”

“Yeah, that sounds great.”

Georgie stood up and walked over to the other boy just a few inches taller than him and held out his hand. “I’m Georgie, wanna be friends?” They shook hands and the other boy stared at the interaction and said “Yeah, yeah I do Georgie, I’m Tobi.”

“That's my dog's name!”

“Crazy aint it.”

“Totally. Hey, what's his name?”

Georgie pointed to the other boy still near the sycamore tree.

“Oh that is Azrael. Wanna meet my friends?”

“There are more of you?”

“Yeah! Come over here.”

Tobi led Georgie to the tree and stared up its trunk. Inside the tree, hiding in the leaves and clung to the branches were three more kids.

“Chamuel, Haniel and Raguel are up there.”

They waved down to him and began to climb down. “This is our group.”

The five kids lined up together, all slightly taller than Georgie but seemingly younger.

“So your Tobi.” Georgie pointed to the boy he was talking to with the overalls.

“Yup.”

“Your Azrael.” He pointed to the quiet boy who yelled out before. He was in grey sweatpants and a black long sleeve.

“Your Chamuel.” Chamule seemed to be smiling the whole time. He wore light denim jeans and a bright yellow shirt.

“That's me”, he reached out his hand and shook Georgies hand tenderly with an accompanying smile.

“Your Haniel? Or Raguel?”

Georgie pointed towards the boy with glasses. He wore cargo shorts and a sweatshirt. Along with big boots he had big legs. Very big for his age.

“I'm Raguel. Nice to meet ya.”

“Gotcha, im Georgie.”

They began laughing.

“What is it?” Georgie asked innocently.

“I’m Raguel,” he said with a grin, “he is Haniel.” said the last boy.

“Ohh, so Haniel is a trickster.”

“No, I'm just smart.” They all laughed together.

“Okay so YOUR Raguel?”

“Yes I am Raguel.” Raguel was wearing dress pants with a collared shirt, a very formal boy with his hair slicked to the side.

“Okay, I think I got it down. Your Raguel, your Haniel, your Chamule, your Azrael and you are Tobi.”

“Winner winner chicken dinner.”

“See I got it. That’s a lot of names to remember.”

“It sure is, but you got it. Do you have time to play or do you have to get home?”

“I should really be heading home, but you guys can come over if you want.”

“I don't think we can.” Tobi spoke for them all.

“Okay, next time then. I’ll be here next week.”

“We will be waiting.”

Georgie raced back home and sprinted straight to the guest room.

“Nanny, nanny!” Georgie was shaking her as she slumbered in her recliner.

“Uh, what? What! What hospital?!” Immediately she stood up, alert and at the ready.

“Grandma calm down, I'm sorry for shaking you.” Georgie smiled and laughed at her. A shocked face turned to a stern one, she let him know not to do that. Then admitted it was funny. She retired to her resting smile.

“So what is it?” She said with a soft smile and sat back down, leaning into her chair.

“I met some friends today!”

“Oh honey that's great. But you don’t mean today.”

“Yes I do! While everyone was busy I went to the graveyard by myself! It wasn’t my imagination Tobi was there. Except Tobi is a kid now, like me! With a bunch of his friends too, and we are gonna meet up next week.”

The nanny sat straight up completely stunned, frozen in fear.

“Um, what? What did you just say?”

“Nanny! I made some friends at the graveyard!”

“I don’t know who these boys are but I recommend you keep your distance.”

Georgie went from happy to annoyed, why would she scrutinize his only friends? Why does everyone seem to have a problem with Georgie having fun?

“I shouldn’t have told you.” He groans and turns away.

“Listen to me.” Nanny said, grabbing his arm.

“You need to be careful, those boys could be dangerous.”

“Okay.”

“Don’t go see them next week. I’m going to let your parents know about this.”

“Okay. Whatever.”

Georgie was angry, it was apparent with the way his eyebrows bent inwards.

“Go to your room now. Hurry along.”

“I already was!” He barked back and sprinted to his room.. He collapsed into his bed and shoved his face into the pillow. Then he began moaning and groaning like a dog who wants to go outside. He ended up crying himself to sleep, still wearing the dirty denim shorts he had on when he went to the grave. The week passed along and Georgies parents were notified. All Georgie could think about was Raguel,Haniel, Chamule, Azrael and Tobi.

“This boy is mentally ill.”

“‘This boy’ not our boy?”

“You know what I meant, our kid is seeing things and it’s because you let this whole dead dog thing continue to run his life!”

“Excuse me? If anyone is ruining his life it’s you. You spend no time on Tobi, you're always working and traveling. Even when you're home you openly avoid him. It’s not right.”

“This isn’t about work! This is about a dead dog!”

“This is all about work! You're the one who bought him a puppy to avoid the matter of not showing up for his birthday!”

They erupted into a yelling match. It finished with them deciding that instead of digging to the root of the problem for Georgie’s sake, they would instead buy him a new dog for their sake. Georgie however, had gotten over his dead dog. Instead he made a new best friend with one the boys of the graveyard. The boys were so nice to Georgie, no one else showed him much attention. But at the graveyard all five of the boys showed him attention. They seemed almost obsessed with Georgie and Georgie relished the opportunity to be the center of everything. He would be visiting the boys again and soon.