Brief

Charlie Afonso is an ordinary child like any other born in the bustling towns of Salvador De Bahia of Brazil. 27th September 2001 during a warm summer morning was the day Charlie was introduced to the world of the unknown. Such a young mind would never think to face such rarities of life and it all started so soon when he moved to the states with his mother and father when he became a month old, with little to no money in his caregivers’ pockets to raise the child and gather basic necessities they knew that moving to the states would give them a chance to savour the gifts of life.

2005

Within the following 4 years, he grew up with a roof over his head, filled with bowls of food, an education and a house to call home. Although the Afonso family faced many struggles, they managed to hold each other up with the money they relied on - it was better than they would’ve had to face before. This was a gift from life itself that they all equally agreed upon. Charlie was simply a normal child, that is until he reached the age of 5 as he played in a sandbox in his school’s playground. Curiosity struck him as he was fascinated by the textures of the sand - smooth like silk and ran like water he couldn’t restrain himself to take a taste. A broken fragment of a stand arrow managed to find its way into his mouth, cutting his tongue before swallowing it out of sheer shock. That was when he despised the sandbox and simply left without thinking much of it. He vowed not to go near or play in it anymore. Taking a sip from the water fountain on the school grounds did he witness it. His school bag. But with a face, arms… and legs? It was a bizarre moment, his bag came alive? Surely it was just an imagination. After conversing with his presumed bag, questions came with various chuckles from it - it couldn’t exactly talk. Eventually, Charlie settled to name it TOYSTORY after his favourite show. He was unsure why nobody seemed to question how his school bag came to life even if he walked through a crowd.

What’s going on?

2007

For the next 2 years - weeks after turning 7, he grew ever so close with TOYSTORY, constantly talking to it, making it hold items and overall spent the majority of his time playing with it insisting that TOYSTORY was better than his classmates. His parents quickly caught up on this unusual behaviour and have made numerous appointments with doctors, psychiatrists, a spirit medium and a priest. Everything came to a dead-end and their worries grew more than unbearable for them to cope with. They were certain that Charlie was unstable and quietly scheduled an appointment with an adoption centre 2 hours away from their home, agreeing upon the ordeal to put the boy up for adoption to lessen their struggles. Charlie was unaware of what was going on at the time but he knew that the moment he was ushered in by a member of staff of the adoption centre and watched his parents leave without a second glance that this was the last time he would ever see his parents - after all the years they spent together through thick and thin. It has all come to an end and the only sort of familiar company was TOYSTORY packed with his belongings. He didn’t know what he did wrong to upset them.

Charlie was still confident, he knew he wasn’t alone and saw that there were other children within the walls who were in similar situations, some were younger than him, and some were older. All waiting for someone to swoop them into their arms and call them their own. He still couldn’t understand, why did his parents send him here? Was he too troubled or simply unwanted? He grew slowly to understand his parents' decision, he respected it and reassured himself that this was an act of parental love. He continued to love them.

2009-2010

2 years had passed, some children he had met in the beginning weren’t around, they managed to find their home luckily. He cheers for them. Hopefully, we will be next. These are the words he tells himself and TOYSTORY regularly. He still had hope no matter how long he has to wait. A day had passed after his 9th birthday and he was awoken by a member of staff, a lovely lady by the name of Margurite quietly ushered him to the front desk to meet a tall man in black, a fedora shadowing most of his features. He was rather old in age and stood in a hunch. Charlie was carrying TOYSTORY in his arms and it seemed that the man in black reacted to it, but subtly. They eventually talked together in a different room, the man introduced himself as Humphry and he too was a stand user just like Charlie and a member of The Speedwagon Foundation, noting that he has grown too old to use his stand but is able to see what Charlie could. Charlie was soon taken in and he called The Speedwagon Foundation sanctuary home temporarily as he was too young to engage with the organisation, he resorted to cleaning and doing errands for the workers to pass the days - TOYSTORY giving him an advantage from difficult tasks. During the Winter he was told to meet a man who went by the name of Dr. Jotaro Kujo within the sanctuary. He too was a stand user just like him and Jotaro took the responsibility to talk him through what would be awaiting the boy.

25th December 2010

Jotaro escorted Charlie toward their destination, snow layered the Washington paths as the wind pushed them. Charlie was introduced and taken in by the assigned people he was going to stay with. Now, this was a gift from life.