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It was Friday night and you and your father had a ritual for when your mother was gone. He would order a pizza (with whatever you wanted too), grab one of the blue cans from the fridge that you knew wasn’t for a little kid like you, then let you watch whatever you wanted while he drank cans of the blue stuff. You usually ignored him, focused on watching whatever you wanted. It wasn’t something you weren’t allowed to do normally. He was a figure in the back of the room and your mind during these fun nights. He had already drunk several of the cans tonight. You knew deep down he was too loopy to do anything. Chances were when the pizza would come, you would have to pay like usual.
Your hand traced the cabinet where your family kept its extensive VHS collection. You knew a VCR was pretty old; some of your former classmates already had CDs. You took a deep breath and tried your best to shove those memories away. This was what you had. And sure they may have flashier stuff… But this was your VCR and it still ran perfectly fine. Combined with the cable, you had endless hours of content on this small TV.
You looked over all the familiar titles. Your whole childhood was here. Disney, old Television shows, old family albums recorded…
What is that?
You pulled it out. You don’t think you’ve ever seen this before. There was a smiling yellow thing on the cover, with ‘Welcome Home’ written in rainbow lettering. On the back, there was faded text, though the box was too worn out to read. There were more characters adorning the side. You saw a star, a man with four arms, and more people who looked like the character on the cover. You shrugged. Maybe you needed something new?
You were about to put the VHS into the VCR when there was a knock at the door. You groaned and got up. You reached into your Dad’s pocket and grabbed his wallet. You opened the front door.
“Got an order for ya. Cheesesticks, a large pizza, and a 2 liter of pop?”
“Yep!”
“Alright, your total is 25.13.” You grabbed the bills and change and put the money in his hand. You included a small tip. He handed over the food.
“Hey…” He tried his best to look into your home. “Are you alone?”
“Of course not! My dad is here! He’s in the kitchen!’
“Huh… Thanks for the tip.”
You shut the door and put the food on the coffee table. You tried shaking your Dad awake to tell him the pizza was here. He only grunted and turned over. You sighed and went back to the VCR. You put the tape in.
The tape started at the credits before flipping to static. You grumbled and went into the kitchen. You grabbed a knife from one of the moving boxes neither of your parents had unpacked yet. You went back to the living room. Your small fingers nimbly rewind the VHS with a butter knife. In one swift motion, it was back into the player.
It started up, and you hit ‘PLAY’ on the player. In an instant, a yellow man came on screen. He had a large blue pompadour with a cardigan and an ascot. He smiled warmly at the camera.
“Welcome Home, children! It’s so nice to see you again after so long! I know everyone is bursting at the seams to see you once again.” He crossed his legs.
“We all have something fun planned to celebrate your return! I heard Poppy has made cupcakes and I know
“Now come on children,” Wally smiled and extended a hand towards the camera as it moved in, “won’t you join the neighborhood and come on Home?”
He stared directly at the camera, and you swore he was staring at you directly. His chest even seemed to be moving like he was breathing. You stared at him for several seconds, not liking the silence. You swore his pupils even dilated, for only a moment anyway.