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[Name] POV
An hour had already passed, and I was hanging out with the Smiling Critters. I told them about the outside—well, not all about the outside. The outside is no different from here; that's what I told them.
"You're telling me, living toys don't exist outside?"
Asked the chicken critter.
"Yeah, boring, right? It's actually pretty normal out there, well, if you ignore some chaos."
And the usual quiet cat decided to chime in.
"It's much better out there… than here…"
Dogday perked at Catnap's tone, hinting at something in the factory. Dogday didn't want me finding out some things that shouldn't be known to outsiders like me because… it would endanger me.
The others also looked at Catnap simultaneously, with Bubba shaking his head. I noticed their strange expressions, but I pretended not to notice.
I turned to Catnap, tilting my head, 'confused'. "Why not? It seems nice here…"
Catnap merely huffed, turned his head away, and returned to sleeping on the couch.
Dogday discreetly pinched Catnap's side, making the purple cat hiss at him.
Because of what Catnap said, everyone was silent. The silence was awkward.
"uh… Is something wro–"
There was a knock on the door. Bubba, being near the door, went over and opened it.
The person who knocked turned out to be Stella, accompanied by two security guards.
"Hi everyone!... Thank you for taking care of our lost guest. Now I will take her back."
Everyone turned to Stella. Although they seemed relaxed with her, they were on guard for the two men behind her.
I stood up from the couch, smiling at Stella. Then I turned to the critters.
"It was nice meeting you guys…"
I waved at them all and grinned widely at Dogday. I was about to follow Stella when I turned and ran to Dogday, which surprised him slightly.
"Here! Let this be a gift for becoming my first friend here!.."
I handed him some kind of keychain of a blue ballerina.
As I walked back over to Stella, who was waiting, I waved at the other critters.
"Bye guys! I will visit when I can! I promise! I will give you something from outside when I come back!"
Bobby was dramatically crying, like she would see me off to a battlefield or something, with Crafty by her side patting her back.
Catnap was just there, sleeping on the couch. Kickin waved goodbye, of course, Hobby was beside him. Bubba just nodded at me, while Dogday…
Dogday was staring at the keychain before his gaze went to me, now beside Stella, walking away.
He had… a strange feeling…
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No one's POV
A while back
In the dimly lit security room, two scientists stood in front of many cameras. One light-skinned, the other fair-skinned; a female and a male, both blonde.
Minutes passed, when soon one camera caught their attention. It started glitching; everything was in time-lapse in the footage in Playcare.
Thirty minutes passed in the CCTV until there was something that stunned them. There was a glitch in the screen before it was back to normal; everything was the same as before, except for the figure of the girl lying against the bench near the CCTV. A figure that wasn't there, but appeared out of nowhere for just a few seconds.
And just a few minutes later, Dogday was seen approaching the sleeping figure of the girl.
Stella paused the footage.
"That's…"
"I don't know how to describe the feeling inside me," a fair-skinned blonde man stood beside Stella.
"The girl is a mystery; she appeared out of nowhere… Eddie…"
"We should retrieve her immediately. The toys have already made contact with her. What if she does something?"
"But she's just a child… how can she do something?"
"Don't underestimate children… Miss Greybers… look at the toys. Remember what those things did to the employees underground."
"...."
Stella went silent; there was only the faint sound of children playing outside the room in Playcare.
"The private investigator is already doing their task… If they don't find anything about her… she'll be an anomaly… which only we… could find…"
The man continued, with a look like he accomplished something great.
"That girl has a secret within her… which is why, we need to open her up and force it out of her…. Harley would be delighted…"
"But…this…what if she's just an innocent bystander!"
Protested Stella. She already felt horrible for making the children live in misery by being a toy… she felt so horrible, working with the same people who… turned the children into what they are…
Well, there are some former employees and bystanders who got a hold of forbidden information.
So the company has to silence them… Well, not completely—they're reborn by the company…
"We are doing this for the betterment of the future… this could help many people…"
But the process is painful… and the outcome is cruel.
"It's better to bring security with you, retrieve the girl, and bring her to the labs."
With that, Eddie left Stella in the room. Stella contemplated for a moment before following out to carry her task.
---
They failed to notice the slight flicker of one of the computers, the glitches turning slightly green and purple for a moment… and the face of a pixelated Bunny was shown… before the computer turned off.
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Present
[Name]'s POV
I was following Stella, the guards walking on either side of me.
We passed by many employees as we entered some sort of door leading to the underground.
White hallways were now in sight as I kept following Stella.
"uh..miss?.. Where are you taking me…?"
I asked Stella innocently. Stella stiffened slightly, turning to look at me.
Her expression soon relaxed, and she sent me a gentle look.
"Don't worry dear, we're going to a lift that will bring us to the very surface. If we use the tourist lift, it'll take us a long time to reach there… since it is for a tour."
I hummed, nodding.
And by mistake, I tripped… Stella, of course, a concerned woman for children, immediately knelt over and helped me.
But she froze when she touched my skin…
It was… very cold to the touch, so cold.
My skin wasn't cold when she held me hours ago, on our first meeting.
She shook her head, pulling me up. "Are you alright, dear? Did you get hurt?"
I smiled and said nothing.
Stella stopped asking questions and felt weird in her heart. Her hands were trembling slightly as she instead kept walking until we reached a metal door that slid open…
The two of us walked inside; the guards merely stayed out as instructed.
I looked around and noticed there were four extra scientists inside, a table… and a bed… this room looked like the ones used for… surgery…
The scientists, one closer to me, grabbed my arm and dragged me to the bed.
I turned to Stella, who was already a few meters away from me, looking away.
As I heard her mutter, "I'm sorry… I'm sorry…"
When Stella turned to the door… she heard something, a brutal crack… with a squelch, and soon the blood-curdling screams of the other scientists…
She turned around so quickly, what she saw made her legs give up on her. Her whole body froze; she was pale. Her eyes were dilapidated.
…..