It wasn't dark out when Harriette arrived at the Pizzaplex. The building was open and people were in line. Harriette joined a large group of people sort of bunched together, there were lots of kids and few adults, and most of the kids were around Harriette's age. It was one of the kid's birthdays. Harriette worried that someone would notice her the whole time they waited in line.
Don't notice me, don't notice me, don't notice me! Was her only thought right up until she slipped through the door and away from the group. She knew where the daycare was but she wasn't sure she'd be able to get in without an adult. At least not during the day. She'd wait till night. No, she didn't want to risk getting Mr. Sun and Mr. Moon in trouble. Plus she didn't want to get thrown out before she learned all the ways in and out. That way if they had to turn her in she'd be able to sneak back in secretly. Unless she decided not to stay in the pizzaplex.
Till then she slipped through the crowds, blending in with one group or another till she found a space with no people. She slipped further under the building avoiding staff members and bots until she found herself in a room full of garbage. This was good. She slipped a little further into what was quickly realized to be an actual dump. Gross. She found a good space and set up a small base of operations. She used a broken table and two walls of tightly packed garbage as walls, she used a tablecloth for a roof. It was like making a sleeping fort with Mayla. It was nice. It was soothing, and it made Harriette feel safer when she tucked herself inside it to sleep for as long as her body would let her. This was perfect, she had access to food, water, shelter, and nobody would look for her here. She was sure of it. She settled under her baby blanket, curled up into a tight ball, and slipped straight into an inky black, dreamless sleep.
When Harriette woke up she wasn't entirely sure where she was. Curled into a ball, under her baby blanket she thought she was in her cupboard and that everything was a dream. She almost cried. Emelia, Mayla, Genni, Katrina… Mr. Sun and Mr. Moon weren't real. Tears were pricking her eyes, turning her head into her plushies sent an indescribable wave of relief.
Then she remembered what happened with her uncle, no Vernon. She refused to think of him as her uncle anymore. She sat up rubbing gunk out of her eyes. She needed to get to the bathroom but she didn't know if the pizzaplex was still open. Maybe she'd have to find a place in the dump to do it. She shuddered. She really hated that idea, especially since she wasn't entirely familiar with the place yet. She'd have to deal with it eventually though. She debated leaving her backpack and other stuff there. She didn't want to lose it if she had to leave the plex after all. She stood up. She'd find out if the place was still open first. She could probably avoid the staff and use the bathroom without getting caught without it being open. She'd just have to be sneaky and careful. She was good at being sneaky and careful. She had to be living with… She shook her head.
It was chilly in the pizzaplex, because there were so many bodies the heat would be too much without good air conditioning. Mr. Moon had told Harriette that. She was wearing her coat already, so she packed up her backpack and fed Ms. Spider again. It had been a whole week since she'd fed her, but spiders only need to eat once a week. Though they prefer to eat more if they can. She let her out in her little house.
"There are lots of bugs here, 'cause of the trash so you'll be able to catch lots and lots," she said, smiling. She found an empty water bottle and poured some of her water in the lid and set it near where she'd put Ms. Spider's jar. "I'll leave you some water too. I have to go now, stay safe Ms. Spider." Harriette waved good-bye as she pulled her backpack on. Once she was out of Ms. Spider's sight she frowned, sighing. She smacked her cheeks again. "I'll be okay." She told herself. "I just gotta be-" She sniffed, trying to stop the wetness building in her nose. "It really is cold. Maybe I should get a scarf from somewhere. There's probably a lost and found, and it's not really stealing if no one will ever come and get it." She said she'd reached the foot of the stairs. "I'll be okay."
Harriette was grateful to find that there were still people around the plex. She pulled her hood up and made herself as invisible as possible. The plex was so complicated that she was worried she'd never find her way around. She spotted one of the robots handing out maps to guests. It took her several minutes to get the courage to actually walk over to it.
"Um, hello, can I have a-?" She started.
"Take a map," The bot said.
"Oh, that's what I wanted, thank you," Harriette said, gratefully taking the map. She found her way into one of the spots that none of the quests used, and laid the map out. "Alright," She looked over the marks of the map. "Alright there's the exit. I'll need to make another for other things, but I'll be able to find most things with this." Harriette wandered around the plex, sometimes sneaking things off tables that were left behind. She made notes on her map to mark off spots that she thought would help. When it was getting close to the plex closing time she slipped back under the plex to the dump with a decent collection of freebies and small lost things. She's found a few tools that employees misplaced. Including a screwdriver. She'd use that to get into the vents. She'd found a keycard, and a scarf, as well as a few dollars in change and a notebook and pen from the trash in one of the employee areas. And that wasn't counting the food she'd found. Several bags of chips, a few cans of soda, a snack bar, some chocolates, a thing of trail mix, and four water bottles. And she still had some stuff from Mr and Mrs. Raywood and her friends from the daycare.
She laid out her supplies. You could survive three days without water, and about three weeks without food. She'd need to wear clean clothes to blend in enough with the crowds and she'd need to be cleanish herself.
She had two things of trail mix, one found the other from the Raywoods. There was a thing of beef jerky; Harriette could only guess it was homemade 'cause the label was written by hand. Five granola bars, and five snack bars. A thing of fun shaped crackers. Two baggies of various dried fruits and some veggies, and seven water bottles, four from the Raywoods, but Harriette already drank one. She could probably refill them and find others too.
The chocolates from games at the daycare; ten coins, four fazbear treats (Tiny chocolate ball with various fillings: I made this up don't worry 'bout it), and two small bars of Fazbear entertainment themed chocolate bars, those were for participating in a clean up game that nobody else had the first two days Mr. Sun decided to have it. Harriette wasn't the best cleaner on the others, but she still ended up with four fun sized bars for the other days. Two for one day, cause Mr. Sun had to do the game twice.
She'd also earned about half a bag of Sundrops, which were Mr. Sun's branded candy. Mr. Sun had started giving them to her because he'd caught her cleaning up several times and wanted to reward good behavior. And some were from naptime because sometimes kids just needed a pick-me-up. They were designed as a pick-me up for after naptime. Mr Moons were a lot more useful in Harriette's opinion, they helped kids get to sleep and Mr. Moon had actually given her a whole bag, she wasn't confident in using them just yet, but she might later.
She had five days of clothes, then she'd have to do laundry, unless she wore some things twice. She might just decide to do it that way. There was a package of socks and underwear, a whole package of each. All for her!
Her two maps and her hand light were also added to her survival supplies, after some consideration she also added her blanket. She pulled the notebook and made some notes. She'd already added notes to both maps. Marking down the stores around the plex, and none marked things in the plex. She listed all of her supplies as well as her comfort items.
She had the transformer that Dudley gave her when he'd started being nice to her. The broken action figure that Dudley had removed the arm from, and three army men from the park. Several broken crayons; two greens from two separate boxes that didn't quite add to a whole crayon, a red, one blue and less than a quarter, and a nearly whole yellow, a melted pink, her almost nub of a box of pencils, a melted blue crayon, her gell pen. The world's tiniest bag with a single button, a piece of thread and a needle in a thing to keep it from stabbing the bag. And a few hair stuff, including a brush and hair ties. Her Sun and Moon Plushies, her drawings of her friends from the daycare, and a few blank pieces of paper; maybe four.
She hugged her pictures against her chest. She definitely didn't want to lose those, and she couldn't afford to lose her survival supplies. She packed all of those things back into her backpack, shuffling to make sure all of it would fit. She'd hold her Sun and Moon plushies, and she decided to put her light and the pen in her pocket along with the maps and the notebook was put inside to coat, there was another pocket inside. She stood and moved around making sure that this would work. She decided that it might not work if she needed her hands for things. She'd have to come up with something for that. She had the needle, maybe if she found more thread she could make something for them. She wished she'd held onto that broken shirt now. Oh, well, no point in crying over spilt milk or whatever.
Mostly satisfied, she settled in for the night.
"Night Ms. Spider," She said, laying the backpack down as a makeshift pillow after pulling the blanket out. She set the Sun and Moon plushies down in front of her and to face them while laying down. She looked at them for a moment.
"Why don't you come to us Harriette?" she had the Sun plush ask.
"I, well, Mr. Moon is part of the security," Harriette said. "I don't want to get you into trouble and you might not be allowed to help me. Even if…" She stopped, shaking her head. "Even though I know you'd want to help me, you might not be allowed." Harriette said. "So, I'm going to learn all the ways I can sneak into the plex and all the best hiding spots first. That way I can… I'll figure something out." Harriette smiled. "So, don't worry. I will come to you soon. I'm sure."