Sid Phillips checked his side mirror. Looking over his shoulder, he pulled the gear shift to reverse and backed the large green truck into its designated space. As he climbed down onto the pavement, wiping his dirty forehead, a large red headed man joined him. "That's the last one for today," he said, handing Sid a blue energy drink.

"That's the last one for forever," said Sid, taking the can. "Thanks."

As he popped the top and drank down the over caffeinated syrup, his coworker watched him. "Sure you won't reconsider?"

Not pausing his drinking, Sid shook his head. "Mmm, mmm."

"Too bad. You have real potential, Kid. Coulda be one of the best. In fact," he gestured widely to the landfill behind him. "One day, all this could be yours."

At this Sid started to laugh, choking on his drink as he did. His coworker laughed with him. "I'm just joshing ya, Phillips. Go on. Have fun at college."

"Thanks, Supes." Sid wiped his mouth and crushed the can. He tossed it into a nearby pile then began to peel off his orange safety vest and gloves. "I guess I'll return these to the office and head on home."

"Yeah…" As Supes watched him walk toward the white trailer that they called Headquarters, he called, "Hey, Phillips?"

He turned. "Yeah?"

"What are you gonna do at college anyhow?"

"I'm going to art school…" And at this Sid smiled proudly. "I'm gonna be an animator."

Sid's dingy brown sedan screeched up in front of the house. As he got out of the driver's side and slammed the door, he sang to himself. "Doo doo doo doo…" Drumming on the mailbox, he reached in and helped himself to the contents. He was shuffling through them as he sauntered inside.

"Hannah! Hey Hannah!"

"What?" His sister had been already halfway down the stairs when he had started to yell. It had been years since she had traded in the flower print pants for thick black glasses and the bobbed haircut for a ponytail, but the septum piercing was still new, and judging by the way she winced every time she touched it, still tender.

He tossed her a thick manila envelope, which she just barely caught. "You got a package in the mail."

"It came!" Her eyes widened as she looked at it. "It finally came! My response from Mary Lou Fulton!" She pressed it to her chest. "Do you think..."

"Duh," Sid tousled her hair. "Of course they did. Why wouldn't they?" She took a deep breath, her hands beginning to tremble as she clutched the envelope. "Hey!" She looked at him. "Don't even worry about it. Straight A-student, Big Brother-Big Sister Program…They'd be crazy not to have you."

She smiled nervously. "Thanks, Sid."

"When you do get to Arizona, just take lots of pictures of lizards for me."

"Ew!" She swatted him with the envelope. "I hate lizards!"

"I know," he said impishly, ducking up the stairs. "And Arizona's full of them! And snakes! And spiders!"

"Ew, ew, ew!"

He grinned as he headed down the hall to his room. From down below, he could hear a shriek of joy. Guess we're both going to college…

In his room, Sid closed the door. "I'm home."

There were a few creaks. Somewhere something jingled. The black comforter he'd had since he was sixteen lifted and a few eyes peeked out from under the bed.

"Hi Guys," he said, walking past them to an old rusty chest. As he pushed up the lid, they began to emerge. Standing off at a distance, they watched as he pulled out wrinkled clothes and tossed them aside.

"Well today's the day. Put in my notice two weeks ago. Just gotta pack a few more things and I'll be on my way. Let's see. Shirts, pants, socks, toothbrush…What am I missing?" There was a tug on his pant leg and he looked down. "Babyface…"

As usual her expression was blank but in her claws she held a clunky pair of black headphones, complete with antenna attachment. She extended her limbs outward for him to take them. As he did, he sighed.

Standing, Sid made his way to the bed and sat down, staring at the headphones clutched in his hand. "Thanks Babyface." The Toys, all a mishmash of parts and pieces to make Dr. Frankenstein proud, gathered at his feet…

1995:

Back then he was terrified of them. He had slept on the couch for a week, refused to go in his room, until the issue was forced. By his mother of course. Dad just stared at the TV, muttered something about his shows being interrupted, and zoned out until he fell asleep. It was no surprise to anybody that he eventually died in that armchair of a massive coronary.

The first night back in his room, Sid didn't move a muscle, nor did he sleep. He huddled in the corner of his mattress, waiting for them to attack. As soon as the sun rose, he bolted. Three more sleepless nights would pass the same way and by the third day, Mom was threatening to confiscate his entire horror movie collection.

But on that fourth night, something happened. As he gripped the Maglite in his sweaty palms, he could hear squeaking on the floor. Nearly jumping out of his skin, he switched the light on and pointed the beam in the direction of the noise.

It was the Spider with the baby doll head. Caught in the light, it stopped and stared at him. Unable to move, he stared back. "D-don't come any closer…"

It blinked its remaining eye. Then it moved out of the light. By the door, it picked something up in its claws.

Sid moved the flashlight to see what it had. "My headphones!"

The Spider Baby extended the antenna, the placed the headphones on its head. Sid scrambled off the mattress. "Hey, those are mine!"

It turned quickly and snapped its claws at him, sending Sid scuttling away on his haunches. Satisfied, it sat back and began to listen to the music pouring from the ear pieces.

Grouchily, Sid pulled his knees up to his chin. "That's not even a good station…" he grumbled.

The Spider just turned away. As the music continued to play, it started to sway to the music. Sid's hazel eyes narrowed. It began to snap its claws in rhythm and he growled. Was it mocking him?

It began to dance faster, bobbing and weaving. Sid's jaw dropped in indignation. It was mocking him! "Give me those!" He tried to snatch the headphones and it ducked out of reach, snapping at him as it did. He lunged. "Give me my headphones!"

As quick as a real spider, it scurried away into the darkness. Sid crawled after it. "Come back here!" It ducked under the bed and Sid bent down to see into the black abyss. "You little…"

The headphones flew out, clobbering him in the forehead. "Ow!" Angrily he rubbed the spot. "Fine! Jerk!" Fuming, he grabbed the headphones from the carpet. Crawling on the mattress, he curled into a ball.

There was a squeak and he rolled over. The Spider Baby was staring at him from the floor but it quickly shot back under the bed frame.

Sid rolled back into his original position. "Whatever."

Slowly, he got used to them. A sort of cold truce was formed. He didn't bother them, and they didn't bother him. Slowly things returned to normal. Sort of. He couldn't blow up toys anymore, or rip them apart and put them back together, but he could still light off unmanned M-80s in the backyard, which he did.

It was one night in late summer, as dusk was falling, that Sid was sitting at the picnic table, throwing smoke bombs and eating hot dogs. Hannah, Mom, and Dad had gone inside to watch a movie but he wasn't interested in that dumb thing that they had rented. As he picked up the smoke bomb carton, something crept up on the tabletop beside him. The Spider Baby.

"Oh it's you," he said, almost bored. It stared at him. "What? Look, see? These are smoke bombs!" He held one out. "Smoke bombs! See? You can't blow anything up with them!" Striking a match he lit the bomb and tossed it into the middle of the yard where it spewed green smoke. "Besides, I thought you toys could see everything."

As Sid ate, the Toy on the table watched, seemingly fascinated. Suddenly it tugged on his sleeve. "Wha?" He said, his mouth full. It pointed to the hissing smoke bomb, then to the carton. Sid swallowed. "Don't tell me they're alive too!"

The Toy shook its head. It pointed to the package again and then made a throwing motion. Sid reached in and picked up a round projectile. He held it out. "Y-you want to throw one?" The Spider grabbed the bomb eagerly. It pointed to the matches and Sid obliged. He watched as the Spider ignited the match on the table like an old pro and lit the smoke bomb. Privately he wondered if it had learned from watching him for so long.

Winding its front claw like a key for a clock, it chucked the bomb into the yard next to Sid's dead green one. After a moment, it began to hiss and emit red smoke. Sid sat back. "Huh. Not bad, Dude."

The Toy turned and stared at him, almost in a huff. Sid shrugged, confused. "What?" It pointed to the crumpled paper wrapper that the smoke bombs had come in. Sid picked the paper up and handed it to the spider, who proceeded to flatten it with its claws. Then it scuttled to a broken blue crayon, stuck in the picnic table slats and left out there for months.

Plucking the crayon out of the table and laying the paper down, it proceeded to scribble. "You can write?" Sid said incredulously.

It held up its message, printed in a wobbly scrawl: NOT A DUDE

"'Not a dude…'" Sid slowly read out loud. "You mean you're a girl." That made sense, he supposed. He had a vague memory of the baby doll he had originally ripped the head from. It had been female with dark curly hair. Suddenly he felt a little nauseous, and he was sure it wasn't his Dad's grilling.

The Toy was scribbling again. BABYFACE

"'Babyface.' That's your name?" He set the paper down. "All right, Babyface. Let's see how far you can really throw." Eagerly she grabbed another smoke bomb and a match.

As she chucked the smoke bomb and it rolled, Sid smirked. "That's all you got? Let me show you how it's done…"

2006:

The toys at his feet stared him up at Sid. He sighed deeply, clasping his hands as he sat forward. "Look, I don't know if I ever told you guys this, but…I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what I did to you." They began to turn and look at each other. "Yeah, I know it's not enough and I can't undo what happened. I mean, I could make excuses. Say I didn't know, or I was just a kid but that's no good. So I just wanted to say…sorry."

Silently, they watched him for a minute. Then one by one, they turned. Back to the corners and dark spaces. Sid didn't know if they had forgiven him but at least he had said something.

He stood up. Grabbing his duffel from by the door, he said, "Well, take care of yourselves." He placed his hand on the knob…

Something tugged on his pant leg. Looking down, he could see two metallic arms wrapped around his ankle.

"Babyface?" Sid bent down and picked her up. "Babyface, I gotta go. I'm going to college. Remember, we talked about this? I would work until I earned the money and then go? Well I've got the money now." Silently, she wrapped her arms around his wrist, pressing her head to his hand. "Babyface…"

He stared at her a moment. Then he let out a long, affectionate sigh. "Babyface, do you want to come to college with me?" She jumped, clicking her claws joyously. He laughed. "Okay, I guess we're both headed to school then!" He placed her on his head. "Valencia, here we come!"

TWENTY-FOUR HOURS LATER:

Sid hoisted his bag over his shoulder as he walked down the dormitory hall. "Wow, that orientation line took forever didn't it?" Inside he could hear irritated snapping. "Well excuse me, College Girl! But you know why you have to stay in the bag! At least until we get to our room." He stopped. "Here it is."

Unlocking the door, he pushed it open and made his way inside. There were two single beds, one bare and pushed against the wall. The other had someone standing in front of it, unloading a suitcase. "Hello?"

The person turned. He was a teenager, several years younger than him, though that was no surprise. His hair was sandy brown and shaggy and he had giant blue eyes. Sid and his new roommate stared at each other.

"Do I know you?"