So, I just recently had an idea and discovered a tool that I am really excited to share with all you fellow writers on here! Not sure if anyone else does this, but to save some time and stress on proofreading chapters before posting, I thought - hey! Why not try and find a free text to speech tool on the web to read it out loud to me to help me catch errors? And low and behold, not only did I find something, but I found one that can give you a more intuitive reader, so it sounds more, you know, natural.
Of course, I'm positive I'm not the first person to think of this, but it not only sped up my proof reading and helped me catch mistakes I might have otherwise missed. It also had the unexpected effect of making me feel like my story was now suddenly a book on CD, which made me far happier to listen to than it should have, I'm sure!
Anyway, I just thought I'd share, in case anyone else might want to try this who hasn't yet, and would want to hear what their story sounds like being read by someone else out loud and all. I found it not just helpful, but also very fun! But I digress, so without further ado, let's find out what's gonna happen to Mirabelle! :P
Pushing past another pair of large doors on the second floor, thanks to her newly acquired pass, Mirabelle made her way down the hall into the 'Superstar Daycare'.
Huh, maybe the 'superstar' thing is a reoccurring theme for the kids, she guessed.
This place seemed pretty calm and friendly, which was a nice change of pace compared to what she'd been experiencing so far. That was the impression she was getting, at least, until she entered into what looked like a mini-lobby for the facility, and came face to face with what appeared to be a giant statue of nightmare fuel!
"What the hell is that?" she found herself wondering aloud in disgust.
She thought she remembered seeing toys of a sun and moon character in the gift shop, but she hadn't realized that their theme had come from the Daycare.
"People actually bring their children in here? What were they thinking? Do they want to give kids bed wetting issues?" she questioned.
She warily skirted around the disturbing center piece before coming up to a railing that looked to be there to stop kids from falling to the floor below. However, she found that there didn't seem to be any way down into the actual Daycare, except for one.
She grimaced at the sign that read: 'Slide Into Fun!', that currently sat above a literal plastic, rainbow slide. Well, so much for her not wanting to be treated like a seven year old! But she supposed that since it was the only way in, and there was no one around to see. . .
Swinging herself into the tube, she pushed off and rode her way down, landing into the massive ball pit below. Guess that hadn't been so bad. Except, after swimming through the silly, little orbs to try and find the way out, it was made abundantly clear that she'd thought that too soon.
The creaking of machinery above her caused her to realize that she was, in fact, not actually alone! A full size animatronic of the creepy sun figure was dancing around on a theater balcony above the ball pit.
"Hooo, hooo hooo!" he called out as soon as he spotted her, and then proceeded to dive head first straight into the middle of the pit with her, showering balls to all sides! He disappeared beneath the surface.
Alright then. No way was Mirabelle about to stick around with that thing swimming in there with her! She instantly launched herself out of the ball pit like it was on fire, scrambling up the fake castle wall and somersaulting onto the matted floor below! She flipped back to see if it would try and follow her, and prepared herself to run.
"Helloooo!" The sun bot announced, as it suddenly sprung out from under the balls. He casually wandered closer, and she could now see that he was a bit shorter than her, making him slightly less intimidating, if only slightly.
"New friend! You're sure up late! Are we having a slumber party?" he asked, in an excitedly manic tone. "Where are all of your friends?" he wondered, glancing around as though he were surprised that they were currently alone in the room.
It was certainly unexpected to see him acting so friendly, but it seemed as though this one wasn't actively hunting her like the others. It made her wonder if he was running on a different network, since this section seemed to be completely separated from the rest of the complex.
"I'm sure they've gone home by now, but why are you still active? The Daycare closed hours ago," she pointed out to him.
"Oh, well, that's alright. Don't feel bad. Don't feel blue. I can keep you company," he offered, completely ignoring her question.
This guy's programming was obviously way less advanced than Freddy's.
"That's alright. I'm not really looking for company," she said wearily, before attempting to step around and past him.
"Aw! Come on! But it will be fun!" he loudly declared, rushing around to plant himself in her way again and standing uncomfortably close.
"We can finger paint, tell stories, drink Fizzy Faz until our heads ex-PLODE and stay up all night!" he chanted, dancing around in front of her.
"Yeah, I think I'll pass. I'm not planning on being here all night," she snapped, pushing past him once again.
Not that it deterred him any. He kept right on her heels, trying to make himself as much of a nuisance as possible while she proceeded to poke around for an exit.
"Well, as long as you are here, I should warn you. There is only one rule: keep the lights on. ON. On. . ." he trailed off in a menacing tone.
She paused her search to turn and fix him with a skeptical look.
"Why? What happens when the lights go out?" she inquired, feeling just a bit curious at the sudden shift in speech.
"Not good! Not good! Don't make me worry for my new friend," he requested. The sunny robot then began attempting to cling to her arm.
"Hey! What are you –? Stop that!" Mirabelle protested, shaking him off of her while backing away.
In doing so, she bumped into a stack of plastic drums decorated with moons, stars, and musical notes. They ended up toppling over and rolling in different directions.
"Oh, no, no, no! What a mess! Oh, which was the bottom? Where is the top? Clean up! Clean up!" the sun bot suddenly exclaimed, before frantically rushing around, picking them all up and restacking them exactly how they'd been before.
During this time, Mirabelle noticed that he'd stopped paying attention to her. Now being much more focused on the 'mess'. This suited her just fine. Now she could get back to hunting for a door.
However, after another minute of searching, she discovered to her dismay that this place had absolutely no openings to the outside. She couldn't even see any windows!
"Ugh! This is a nightmare!" she moaned out, getting the Daycare attendant's attention. He ran back over and began dancing around her again.
"Isn't there any way out of this place?" she lamented.
The sun bot responded by gesturing toward the large, oak doors that led back into the Pizzaplex.
"Gee, thanks," Mirabelle told him with extreme sarcasm, which of course had no effect.
Next to the doors, she spotted what looked like some kind of employee area, complete with computers and a desk.
"Oh yeah. Didn't Freddy mention something about maybe finding a security badge at one of those?" she recalled aloud, before heading in that direction.
At hearing this, Mr. Sun Man seemed to go into another frenzied state, once again blocking her path. He was waving his arms out in front of himself and wildly shaking his head.
"New friend," he grunted in a placating tone. "This – this area is off-limits. You're gonna get us in trouble!" he warned warily.
Mirabelle tried to step around him, but he quickly placed himself in her way, much more insistently than before. No matter which way she moved, he moved with her, blocking the path to the desk.
"Don't you want a puppet show? I have glitter glue! Do you like glitter glue? Googly eyes?" he continued making suggestions, attempting to dissuade her from the area.
The girl glowered at him in frustration, until she noticed they were near another pile of plastic drums. She flashed him a devious smirk, before promptly kicking at the stack, sending them flying everywhere.
The robot sun immediately wigged out again, dashing after the discarded toys.
"Oh, no, no, no! What a mess! Oh, which was the bottom? Where is the top? Clean up! Clean up!" he repeated in the same manic tone.
Now that he was out of her way for the moment, Mirabelle ducked back behind the desk to poke around.
It was all typical office-looking stuff for the most part. Pens, forms, note pads – there was also a pretty heavy duty Maglite tucked underneath that she decided could come in handy. She plucked it up and stuck it in the side pocket of her cargo pants.
Also beneath the desk was what appeared to be a small, mounted panel that had a label reading: Level 1 Security Badges, scrawled across it. Bingo! Except, she discovered that it was locked when she tried to open it.
Although, that wasn't going to be a problem for her. It didn't look like a very formidable lock. And considering her circumstances, she decided that a bit of breaking and entering would be forgivable. So, using increased force, she dug her fingers into the side of the thin, metal door, and wrenched it open. There hung an assortment of badges, so she wasted no time in snapping one up.
However, before she had a chance to really look at it, she was startled by the sudden blaring of an alarm. A moment later, and everything went dark!
"No – No!" she jumped when she heard the sun screaming, turning to find him perched on top of the desk next to her. "Why would you do that? Lights on! Lights on! I warned you! I WARNED YOU!"
Much to Mirabelle's increasing discomfort, he suddenly began gagging and writhing in a very disturbing manner, like he was in pain or something. Until finally falling backwards off the desk.
The girl simply blinked at where he had just been, wondering if maybe she should – she didn't know – check on him or something? But the sound of moving metal and the gurgle of a low, sinister voice froze her in place.
"Naughty girl. Naughty girl," it chanted, before a pair of blue, tinted hands rose up from the other side of the desk, pulling a mostly white face with glowing red eyes up with it.
This animatronic looked almost exactly like the sun one had, only it had swapped color pallets. And instead of the bright, sunshine complexion it had before, now it's face looked like the darkened moon one, and it had replaced it's sun spines with a blue night cap, but still retained the same demented smile.
Mirabelle did not like the looks of it, she was thinking it was probably time she noped the heck out of here!
"It's past your bedtime. You must be punished!" It hopped up on the counter again. "Nighty night!"
The pajama clad bot lunged towards her with murder in his eyes. Mirabelle just managed to dodge in time, scrambling away and heading for the open play area to try and get some distance. Seemingly unphased by this, the psycho moon just turned to fix her with his menacing, red stare.
"Bad children must be found," he growled, advancing on her once again. "And put to sleep," he added with a cackle, giving her some seriously bad Hypno vibes!
"Man, screw this!" she cried, her fear unintentionally leaking through in her tone. Oh well, no time to think about it now.
Fueled by adrenaline, she managed to dodge another attack. This time, making a beeline for the exit. She slammed into the door, attempting to push it open, but it wouldn't budge. She noticed a scanner next to it. Her hands were shaking as she fumbled for the badge to see if maybe it would let her out. However, holding the card up to the device only produced an error sound as the display glowed red.
Panic was starting to set in as she heard the stomping of the crazed animatronic over her shoulder. Mirabelle flipped around to see him almost on top of her! She felt an involuntary scream escape her lips before barely avoiding his grabbing hands. He hit the door instead, with so much force that it gave a little at the hinges before bouncing back.
Mirabelle bolted back to the center of the room, her only thoughts revolving around wanting to keep him at bay! But she knew she was going to have to do something to stop him, eventually. This couldn't continue forever.
She considered ducking into the giant jungle gym, but quickly realized that he'd just follow her inside. She'd have a lot less maneuvering room and he'd only end up cornering her. What she really needed was to come up with another way out of here, and fast!
Before she really had a chance to consider her options, the moon bot suddenly took to the air! How? She had no idea, but if she hadn't gone to the bathroom earlier that night, she was pretty sure she would've crapped her pants!
Frozen with terror, Mirabelle could only watch in horror as he crashed into her, knocking her to the ground. The only thing she had time to do was put her arms up to try and protect her head before he began wailing on her with a volley of punches. He wasn't trying to capture her. He was trying to kill her!
Mirabelle couldn't stop herself from letting out another scream at the attack, but he just continued the assault, slamming into her over and over! Until finally, he managed to tear a hole in the sleeve of her hoodie.
Another swing, and there was the unmistakable sound of metal clashing against metal. The berserk robot hesitated for a moment, seeming to finally realize that none of this had really caused any damage to the girl. He glanced at his fist and then back at her now exposed arm with shock.
"Yeah," she stated with a small nod, almost like a confession.
He managed to recover a second later, attempting to throw another punch. However this time, feeling a bit more confident with this turn of events, Mirabelle succeeded in catching his fist before it reached her!
She used this momentary hesitation to her advantage, tucking her legs up under him and launching him off of her! Mirabelle scampered to her feet, before glancing down at her hands, feeling her own measure of surprise. Was she even stronger than she first thought? It dawned on her that she'd never actually tested it before.
The sound of the Daycare attendant pushing himself up caught her attention. Well, no time like the present, right?
"Bad! Bad! Bad!" he was growling at her.
"It's about to get a whole lot worse if I have anything to say about it!" she snapped, advancing on him this time!
The psycho moon bot had only a moment to process what was happening before she was suddenly in his face! He began backing away, glancing around with concern, until he finally bumped into the exit door.
"Now it's time for you to take a nap!" she yelled at him, before lobbing a punch to his face so hard that, not only did the metal crack, but the hinges on the door finally gave way, forcing it open.
The animatronic's body hit the ground outside and skidded a ways before finally coming to a stop near a decorative planter. He convulsed as the damage to his head sent up a few sparks, but then he was still.
It was a shame that Mirabelle never got a chance to celebrate her victory before getting a glimpse of movement out of the corner of her eye.
"Hey, kid!" She turned to find none other than Monty advancing on her while sporting a wide, toothy grin. "Time to give up," he taunted.
It seemed that all the commotion in the Daycare had alerted the others to where she was! Mirabelle whipped her head around frantically to find the rest of the band members slowly converging on her!
"Are you lost?" Roxy asked creepily.
"I'm just trying to help," Chica chimed in with mock concern.
Mirabelle felt herself about to have a full blown meltdown, when a sudden loud, bang behind them briefly took the attention off her. They all turned to find the moon animatronic had started convulsing again, banging himself against the planter.
Not feeling ready to die yet, or being one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Mirabelle took complete advantage of the distraction. She bolted towards the gap between Chica and Roxy, thundering up the stairs before they realized what had happened. She heard Roxy let out a growl of rage from behind her.
"You can't run from me!" she shouted, and they all began to give chase.
Mirabelle made it up the stairs and around a corner. Keeping an eye out behind her for her pursuers, she wasn't watching where she was going, and suddenly collided with something very large and solid. Her eyes panned up to find a giant, robotic bear looming over her.
Lungs filling with air, she was about to let out a horrified shriek, but she never got the chance. Seeming to sense this, Freddy promptly reached down and yanked her up off the ground and into his arms. He made sure to rotate her so she was facing away from him and proceeded to clamp one of his massive hands over her nose and mouth. The other he wrapped around her body, effectively pinning her to him. He did a quick scan of the area before rushing down the hall.
Meanwhile, Mirabelle tried to wrestle out of his grip, struggling for all she was worth. But this just caused him to hold her tighter. He was obviously way stronger than the demented little Daycare attendant!
Ducking into one of the guest rooms, Freddy slammed the door closed behind them and dropped to the floor. Scrunching himself down so that they would be hidden beneath the windows, all the while keeping Mirabelle clamped right up against his chest.
She attempted to renew her struggles, but it was no use, not from this position. Freddy held her fast, listening carefully for the other bots outside. They made an effort at calling for her for a bit, but then eventually, he heard their voices fading away, and all was silent.
Expecting the worst, Mirabelle had tears streaming out of her eyes, which were currently squeezed tight with terror. At seeing this, Freddy finally let her go. Mirabelle gasped, now being able to breathe properly again, and slid to the floor in a trembling heap. She choked on a sob before reflexively curling herself into the fetal position.
"If you're gonna kill me, then just hurry up and do it already!" she wailed, crying violently into the carpet below.
Pretty sure we all know what's coming next. . . Until the next time! Bye! Bye!