
anyways, here's the story

Life Lessons
Part I: Furby vs. Beanie Baby
That year, there were two toys that consistantly sold better than any other. I can't say I really understood that, until I actually saw one in person. Maybe it was the sounds they could make, or maybe it was the fur... whatever it was, I wanted one. I knew I couldn't affored one, but that wasn't a deterent. I nervously tried to look around for potential witenesses, but I couldn't... I couldn't take my eyes off of them. I was about to committ the greatest sin I had ever committed in all my short life, and I was powerless to stop it. My world was shrinking, and my mental awareness of the outside world was begining to waiver. Suddenly, I felt as if a weight that I didn't even know I had had been lifted. It flowed out of me, making my pants damp. Apparently, that toy had so consummed me that I forgot completly about where I was heading - the restroom's. Tears filled my eyes. Everyone in the store was probably looking at me, and laughing at me. I would never be able to shake this one off. Soon, I wouldn't have any friends at all, and all because of this stupid toy. If I had had any power over what this toy was doing to me, I wouldn't have urinated on myself. A tear rolled down my cheak. It didn't matter, now.
I walked towards the stand they were on, when all of a sudden, a cart cut me off. Soft, and plush, these new toys bore semblance to animals of all varities. A man unloaded them and placed them on previously empty stands, making it pretty obvious that they were to be sold. Not that that really mattered too me, though, as I had my heart set on another toy. But just as soon as I resolved to get around this new obstacle, I realized that I could no longer even see the original toy! My concentration broken, the memory of that toy began to wear off. The toys in front of me weren't so bad. After all, they, along with one other toy consistantly sold better than any other. And unlike the original toy, I could actually affored this one. So I grabbed one without hesitation, payed for it, and never looked back. I didn't have any desire to lose control like I just had... again.
A few days latter, my older brother was sorting through some recently purchased toys. They didn't particuraly interest me, so I played with my own new toy, rubbing it, and pretending as if it were climbing all over and cudling me. I had been pestering my parents for a pet as long as I could remember, but never made any head way. This was the closest I had ever come. It's beady eyes would stare at me, and I would grow even more fond of it. It looked so innocent, and so helpless. I almost felt bad even when I left it alone for a few minutes. Every time I came back to it, my heart was filled with joy. Just then, something caught my eye. It was the same toy that had brought out the worst in me not too long ago. Why had my brother gotten one of these!? Not that it mattered, though.
I couldn't control it before, and I couldn't control it now. I jolted out of my chair, and as I was about to leap towards my brother, to grab what was due me, I paused. Something was holding me back. I turned around, and saw that there was a rather big gash in my toy. Apparently, a part of my toy was caught between the rods of the chair I was sitting on. When I got up, instead of giving way, and coming through those rods, it tore. I was horrified. My heart began to sink, and in my despair, I fell to my knees. Only in its destruction was I able to realize its worth. Was that other toy really worth it? A single tear rolled down my cheeck. Just then, my brother spoke to me.
"I had intended this toy to be for you, but now that I see what happens to the toys you care about, I think I won't give it to you. This toy is a little too expensive for you to break. I wonder if the neighboor's kid likes these things?"
I didn't have the heart to listen to anything else he said. I had just lost the most precious things I had, or was about to have, and I had no one to blame other than myself. I really was alone, now. My brother walked off with what he had intended to give to me, and that was the last I ever saw of that toy again. I eventually disposed of the toy that I had bought myself, and haven't missed either, since. In fact, to this day, when I see either one of them in stores, I am reminded of a part of myself I would rather forget.