Chapter 1
The Beginning
It was a cold winter’s evening when the boy arrived home from his trip to town.
“Is that you dear?” his mother called hearing the door unlatch. “Come and see this and leave your dirty shoes in the hall!”
Seamus scowled, his worn leather curled up at the toe.
“I’m not dirty!” he muttered.
“You’re in a bad mood all day,” Charlie laughed.
“Speak for yourself,” Seamus scowled as they were both pushed under the radiator by the base of an old coat stand.
“How was the day, boys?” the old stand asked.
“Not bad,” Charlie smiled. “Oh, you’ll never guess what. We were in a queue and I got talking to a lovely pair of high heels.”
“Oh lovely alright,” Seamus said, “more like snotty if you ask me!”
“Well nobody asked you!” Charlie snapped, and continued his story.
Seamus edged away from the conversation. He felt a cool breeze lick his heel, and stepped out from under the heater to have a look. Brian was talking to his mother in the sitting room, so Seamus slipped from the shadows and ventured into the middle of the hall. The main door was slightly ajar, enough for him to squeeze through.
“Just a quick trip,” he told himself as he jumped onto the doorstep.
It was getting dark which always meant uninterrupted freedom. No stopping on the path or hiding in bushes as humans approached. Seamus smiled as he sprinted out the open garden gate. He felt light as a feather dashing down the path, no foot to hold him back, he could go anywhere. Sometimes he wished it could always be like this. He dared himself to go as far as the street corner. He was fast as fast as any shoe ever made.
The street corner and then back to the house, I’ve plenty of time.
He tightened his threads and went for it, sprinting over the patchwork of stone. He reached the corner, touched the curb and turned. He was back through the garden gate in no time, and was half way up the path when a shadow crossed through the light from the open door. With a thud it was shut, and the garden plunged into darkness.
“Stupid move!” the door laughed at the little shoe, “I’ve seen a lot of things locked out in my time, and you know what?” she lowered to a whisper, “they never get back in!”
Seamus shuddered at her unwanted comment. He stayed on the step for a while, in the hope that someone might come and he could sneak in unnoticed. Nobody did. It was cold, it had started to rain, and he couldn’t take the door’s jibes anymore so he decided to look for shelter.
A brown cardboard box sang merrily to himself just outside the garden gate. He was at the base of some bins, which shielded him from most of the rain and looked like a good place to shelter.
“I’m sorry,” Seamus said, interrupting the box’s merry tune, “do you mind if I shelter inside you for a while? I live in the house over there but I’m locked out.”
“No hassle, little shoe, whatever I can do to help. Shub shubby shub shubby do...,” the box sang.
Water always did funny things to rubbish Seamus thought, as he settled into the far corner of the box, making sure to avoid the seeping damp. Granted the box was a little warmer than the doorstep, but now he wished he’d stayed by the heater with Charlie. Would they even notice he was gone, he wondered, as he pulled his lace tight against the cold. Eventually, he managed to nod off to the mumbled song of the soggy box.
“Stop it, ” he muttered sleepily as his small body shunted up against the side of the box. Something had pushed him and he opened his eyes, quickly realising where he was, Seamus tried to escape from the box but where the path should have been he could only see the stars. Confused, he stopped and fell back against the cardboard floor.
“Here we go,” the box laughed.
A loud beeping sound, and the hum of an engine filled the air.
“Will I take this, it’s beside the bins?” a voice shouted.
A large hand appeared over the rim of the box. Its thick fingers gripped the soggy cardboard. Seamus fell forward as the box began to move. Suddenly, the box swung one way and then quickly back the other and Seamus was catapulted through the air. He landed toe first in a pile of screaming rubbish. Everything scrambled around him. Seamus froze. Giant steel teeth, bits of rubbish adorning their razor sharp sides, were moving in formation towards him, eating all in their path. They were mere inches from him, when his threads sprung to life.
Seamus spotted rubbish huddled on a ledge above the chaos, safe from the advancing claws. He extended his lace as far as he could and moved it over the top of the ledge. Finding a hole he wrapped his lace through it, and pulled with all his might. Rubbish was forced from his path, as he moved rapidly towards safety.
“There’s no room, go away,” a milk carton cried.
“Let me up!” Seamus roared as the metal teeth crashed just in front of his toe, “Let me up!” he screamed again, the milk carton moved a little aside.
He scrambled onto the ledge just as the teeth crashed by where he stood.
“Thanks!” he eventually said after his panic subsided.
The carton didn’t reply.