Ben crumbled the piece of paper in his palm and glared at it continuously as if the paper had done something unacceptable. His blue eyes glittered with tears, and he wiped them hurriedly. The sun was setting and it was starting to get dark, so he grabbed his bag and dropped the paper onto the ground in rage. Ben cast one last glance at the ruins behind him, with the ashes and crumbling buildings seemingly fading into nothingness.

"Who cares...I was too young to remember anything anyway." The youngster turned away, as much as the empty feeling nagged at him, and walked away from the area. He liked to call this Town, where he was born. It probably wasn't always like this. There must have been houses and hospitals and schools...

He walked for miles, unable to locate a place, or a town. There was nothing, and even more nothing as he continued. But something caught his eye up ahead, and Ben walked up to the giant tree in the middle of the road. White masks were scattered on the dirt, smiling ominously. Skeletons of people, still in their rotting cloths, lay around, and one had a small notebook in his hand. Ben reached out curiously and tore it out of the skeletons grasp, dusting off the leather cover.

It appeared to be newer than the rest of the objects he had seen on his travels, and so he opened it with much interest. The first few pages were empty, except for the 15th page which had pictures of a tall, towering building. There were pictures and sketches of masks and happy, smiling faces, and the building always in the center of everything. It spoke of a land where there were still people and borders, a place where the children were safe and everyone was pretty.

'It sounds like a paradise," Ben thought absentmindedly. "I hope its real."

.

.

.

"Kate, hurry up honey. We'll be late." The 8 year old girl grabbed her toy, which was a plastic robotic figure, put on her dress and tied her hair back hurriedly.

"Coming, dad!" They two walked out of the house and into the streets. As they were walking, Kate saw one of the handy men standing beside the fence that had the sign: "Keep out. Have a nice day!" She walked up to it and waved with a smile. The creature tilted its metallic head and spoke in a monotone voice:

"Hello, child. Don't worry, you're safe here in Auto-Dale." Kate held up her toy and pressed the small button on the back. It repeated back:

"You're safe here in Auto-Dale." The mechanical being towered over her and watched with its glowing eyes. Kate glanced down to the rest of the creatures body, and her smile fell. There, on its chest, was a crimson substance. Her heart fell, and she held her small toy close to her body as thousands of images ran through her head as to why the substance was there.

"Toys, such imaginative and wondrous things." The creature spoke, and Kate swallowed her fear, smiling again. She slowly let go of the tension and held up the plastic toy to the creature again, pressing the button. The toy waved its arm, as in goodbye. The mechanical creature leaned back and also waved its slender fingers.

"Kate! Let's go, darling." Her father came to fetch her, and Kate bid the creature goodbye with a wave. But she could not help the unsettling feeling in her stomach as she walked away.

"Imagination. So powerful. Your children are full of it! They are often visualizing brilliant and terrible things. But...Impossible things."