Manny felt nervous. The countdown to his birthday had been a long one, everyday he got a reminder from Sketch that they would be spending the day with each other. She told him to wait in the kitchen at exactly 12 pm so he did. Harry and Robin had to wait outside, they both weren't happy about that. Manny glanced at the door, his heart racing a mile a minute. Every second seemed to last for ages and as each one went by a new butterfly would flutter in his stomach. Luckily the ticking of the clock wasn't getting any louder, Tony wouldn't be joining them. Manny sighed with relief, at least he wouldn't have to worry about that killer clock. He waited there for a while and as the minute hand reached twelve he heard a voice from behind him.

"Hey there!"

Manny almost jumped out of his seat. Sketch giggled and hopped onto the table, pulling him upright as she landed on its wooden surface.

"Aren't ya gonna say hi back?" she said.

"H-Hi..."

"Good!"

She looked around the kitchen as if she were searching for something. Manny followed her gaze, she was looking at the door.

"Some friends are gonna be joining us today, is that okay?" he went to respond but she spoke first, " good, brilliant, amazing!"

That fear of Tony joining them resurfaced. It didn't take long for these surprise guests to arrive, after about a minute or two of waiting there was a knock at the door.

"Could you go get it please?" Sketch asked, grinning widely.

Manny reluctantly walked over to the door and held onto the handle. He paused and stared up at the shadows in the window. He couldn't make any of the other teachers out just by looking at those silhouettes. He swallowed and opened the door to reveal three puppet-like people, made up of felt and yarn. Two of them smiled at him. He looked at each of them, unsure of who they were. One of them had yellow hair that stuck out wildly, skin that had been made with a variety of different colored felt and a large purple nose. They chuckled when they saw him staring so he looked at one of the others. This one was covered in purple and blue hair, they sort of looked like a mop. The final one was a bit more plain and they weren't smiling, they had bright orange hair that stuck out from behind their head, extremely pale almost grey skin and a cone-shaped Head. He also noticed that their right arm was missing. Manny stared up at them in fear, they were not good news.

"Where are your manners, Manny? Invite them in!" Sketch called out.

Even though he really didn't want to, he stood aside and let these mysterious strangers in. They all looked at him as they walked past, two of them were still smiling. Manny felt a shiver run down his spine, their grins were so eerie.

"Hello everyone," the little notebook said.

"Good afternoon, Sketch," all three replied.

"Manny, this is Grady, Frank and Howdy. They travelled a long way to get here."

He was lost for words, these people were so weird. Were they part of the script?

"Say hi, kid," Sketch said.

"H-Hello..."

Frank and Howdy's smiles grew bigger, they stretched across their faces. The one with yellow hair, who was apparently called Howdy, reached forward and started touching his face. He froze, her touch made him uncomfortable.

"Don't mind her, she's blind in her right eye," Grady said.

Manny looked up at her eye and noticed it had been crudely stitched on again, stuffing was poking out from a hole at the top of it. It looked like she had sewn it back on herself.

"Don't stare, Manny, that's rude," the sketchbook said, her voice low and threatening.

He quickly looked down at his feet, he didn't want to get in trouble. When Howdy had finished mapping out his face, they all sat down together. He followed.

"These guys came all the way from imagination land to be here for your birthday and today we're getting creative," Sketch picked up her Pencil and flipped her page up.

The next page revealed a bunch of scribbles. These scribbles were drawings of a cake, two top hats and the number 7. Manny wanted to throw up, Sketch had really put him off cake. The other three seemed to like these ideas.

"You really have planned ahead, sketch," Frank the massive fluffy guy said.

"I trust that you brought everything with you," she replied.

They each held up bags that were filled with hats and boxes of cake mix.

Sketch jumped up and whispered something in Grady's ear, he nodded and smiled. Manny so far hadn't seen him smile and when he saw that grin his heart skipped a beat. It was terrifying, it looked like it was trying to escape his face and Manny felt the goosebumps erupting on his skin as they all once again looked at him.

"You ready guys?" Sketch said.

They all nodded eagerly. This wan't good. Sketch started tapping on the table with her pencil almost as if she were counting down... wait, that's exactly what she was doing. When she hit it for the third time, they all started singing. Manny was confused, scared but most of all, he was curious.

"Dance around and sing a song! The fun will never stop! Yayy!" Howdy sang, while holding onto her eye, probably to make sure it didn't fall off.

"We have fun all day long! It says so on the clock!" Frank looked around for a clock but Tony wasn't there.

"So wear a hat! Wear no hat!" Howdy placed a top hat on Manny's hat.

"Or wear two hats if you prefer!" Frank placed another hat on top of that then took them both off, looked at the camera and help them up, "We only have two hats. So those are your only options!"

Grady sat there, that sickening grin still on his face. He wasn't singing, he wasn't moving, he was chuckling. Sketch was clapping her hands along with the music, enjoying this little introduction. Manny knew there was something else after this. Suddenly, he was pushed off his chair to the counter.

"So put them on and bake a cake!" Howdy placed the cake mix in a bowl and shoved it in front of him. A cloud of flour flew out of the bowl and into his face.

"And while you wait for the cake to bake, begin to prepare a second cake!" Frank sang.

"You did it WRONG with that first cake.." the bowl was suddenly knocked off the counter onto the floor. Manny looked up at Howdy and saw that her face was scrunched up in anger.

The song was so fast-paced and he was having a hard time keeping up. One minute they were singing about hats then there was a bad cake and... he just didn't understand this episode.

"It's your turn with the balloon! The fun will never end!" A balloon was thrown into his face.

"Organize a spoon! The fun will never end!" he narrowly dodged a wooden spoon.

"Count to the funnest number! The fun will never end!" A teacher-like mascot in the shape of the number nineteen appeared in the room and sang with them.

"Go to your favorite corner! The fun will never end!"

The puppets forced him into a corner, continuing their little song. Manny slid onto the floor as the music got louder and louder, he covered his ears to get it to stop but it didn't. Tears were in his eyes, the stress he was feeling was high and he wanted it to end.

"The fun will never end! The fun with never end!" Frank and Howdy sang in unison repeatedly.

"I think that's enough fun for him," Grady stood up," I believe that it's our turn now."

Manny peeked at them through his fingers. He realised Grady's voice sounded a lot like Harry's, flat and monotonous. This realisation made him feel even more scared, it was as if they were trying to use this against him.

"Now we're the ones in control," he said and the room went dark.

Manny's head felt like it was filled with water as he slowly started to come around. His arms and legs felt numb but he could tell he was standing up. A bright light was shining in his eyes, a spotlight? He couldn't tell. He glanced at his surroundings. He was on what looked like a stage, buried in darkness. Was he even in the kitchen anymore? He looked at himself and saw... strings? Each one had been sewn securely into his arms and legs, tying him to something he couldn't see. What was this? What was going to happen to him? Where were the puppets? In the distance he heard laughter, this wasn't over.

"You've had you're fun with us. Now's our turn to have fun with you," Grady said from somewhere above.

"So play along, don't make a fuss!" Howdy sang

"And we'll come up with things to do!" Frank followed.

Manny was pulled up and he started to move around. He had become a ventriloquist's dummy, and these four were his controllers. He was too tired and numb to fight back though, it was hopeless.

"We'll make you dance, we'll make you fight!"

"We'll keep you all awake at night!"

"We'll make you eat an organ-filled cake!"

"We'll play with you until you break!"

"Even then we'll continue these games, the fun will never end!"

"The fun will never end!"

They chanted this phrase as if it were sacred, sang it as if they were the only words they had been taught. Manny was exhausted, they knew that, but they still flung him around the stage as if there were an audience there howling with laughter at this little show. Other than their singing, there was nothing. Then the chants faded, they were gone. Sketch hopped over to him.

"That was brilliant Manny, we should use you as a puppet more often. You already are a bit of a dummy , aren't ya?" she giggled.

He didn't have the energy to respond.

"I enjoyed our playtime. I hope it was horrible and painful for you. Anyways, I'd better go. Get some rest, okay? Our next play date is gonna be soon!"

Manny was about to beg her to cut the stitches but she left before he could utter a word. It was silent, cold, numb and scary. He didn't even know if he was at home, he didn't even know if Harry and Robin were nearby. He just wanted to sleep again. He could feel himself passing out again, his vision was getting darker and more fuzzy. He then saw a light ahead and shadows. Was it his friends? He didn't have time to think about it as he quickly lost consciousness and was sent into the world of dreams once again.