Chapter 7: Former Caretakers

When Elli woke up, she was back in her bunkbed. Her DogDay toy was right beside her, which she hugged tightly. But the Poppy & Playtime book was gone, even from the shelf Nathan took it from. Trying not to let that bother her, Elli joined Rez for breakfast and told him what happened to her and Nathan last night as the three of them rode the train to the Game Station.

"Sounds like those numbers you found in the book might be a message of some kind," Rez contemplated. "But I'm not sure if it's in code."

"That's what I thought," Nathan said. "Do you know what the numbers and letters could mean?"

"Can't say for sure." Rez then remembered something. "Didn't CatNap used to make all of us fall asleep with that red smoke of his?"

"Yeah, until that one girl screamed from having nightmares," Nathan said.

"Oh, yeah! I remember her!" Elli exclaimed. "What was her name? Martha?"

"Marie," Nathan answered. "She was adopted by the Payne family shortly after that incident."

Hearing the word 'adopted' again, Elli thought back to Kayla's body and shuttered. Rez noticed this and put a hand on Elli's shoulder in a comforting way.

"Didn't we have human caretakers during that time?" Rez said, trying to shift the topic from adoption. "And not the toy ones like we have now?"

Elli thought back to that time, which was only two years ago. "Yeah, we did. Claire was the name of the caretaker we had, right?"

"I think so." Rez sighed. "Claire was so nice. Then one day, she never showed up and that's when Mommy started taking care of us instead."

"Right, because Mommy used to only be at the Game Station," Elli recalled. "But after Claire disappeared, Mommy took over as our caretaker alongside one of Miss Delight's sisters named Miss Brooks."

"Yeah, though Miss Brooks started acting strange after Samuel was adopted," Nathan said. "One time, I saw her talking to herself."

"And Gaby told me Miss Brooks actually broke a kid's arm," Elli recalled. "That's when the workers took her away and she was never seen again."

"Just like Claire…." Nathan scratched his chin. "Do you think her disappearance and Miss Brooks' might be connected in some way?"

Elli and Rez shrugged, unable to come up with an answer. Then at the Game Station, Rez tried to do better at the games to not get Mommy's attention while the other two followed his example. Much to their relief, Mommy left them alone as they performed above average and continued the rest of the day acting as normal as they possibly could.

In Home Sweet Home, Nathan was looking through the Smiling Critters VHS tapes trying to figure out what he and the other kids were going to watch that night. He then noticed each tape had a title and number on the case.

"Guys," Nathan said, motioning Elli and Rez to come over. When they were close enough, he whispered, "What if the numbers inside the book were referring to these tapes?"

"But that doesn't explain the letters," Elli said quietly.

"Maybe the answer lies in the videos," Rez suggested.

"Let's try one out." So Nathan picked the tape with the number 3 on it.

Popping the tape in, the kids were treated to the third episode of Smiling Critters. It consisted of two stories: the first story was about CraftyCorn, a white female unicorn, losing her paintbrush and asking the other Critters to help her find it, while the second one was about Bubba Bubbaphant, a male blue elephant, keeping a secret for one Critter whose name wasn't revealed till the end of the story.

"Could the 'B' next to the '3' have been a reference to Bubba?" Elli guessed after the episode was over and the kids were heading upstairs to their bunkbeds.

"But if that were the case, there's a bunch of A's in the seventh episode of Smiling Critters," Rez said, holding up the VHS tape for it. Then he picked up another VHS tape. "And in the ninth episode, there's one 'B.' So I'm not sure if that's it."

Nathan took the third episode of Smiling Critters out of the VHS player, put it back in its case, and lay the tape alongside the tapes for the seventh and ninth episodes respectively on the floor. He observed the cases side-by-side, examining them top to bottom. The numbers and titles read as thus:

-Episode 3: "Missing Paintbrush / Bubba Keeps a Secret"

-Episode 7: "KickinChicken Gets Trapped in a Haunted House / Lazy DogDay"

-Episode 9: "Riding the Waves / What's Behind the Door?"

"I can't tell what's special about these episodes just by looking at the cases," Nathan said.

"Let's watch all three of them this weekend," Elli suggested. "That's when we don't have to go to the Game Station because the workers are off-duty."

"Sounds like a plan," Rez said. "Let's invite Dale and Gaby to watch with us so it makes it seem like we're watching these episodes as a group and not just the three of us."

"You're planning to watch three episodes of Smiling Critters in one day?" Mommy interrupted as she snuck up behind Elli, Rez, and Nathan. She stretched her neck over their heads and was looking at them quizzically. "That's not good for your eyes, children."

"We'll take breaks between episodes," Elli promised.

"By doing what?"

"Um, going outside," Rez suggested. "We were thinking of…."

"Playing a game of tag with the other kids!" Elli said, much to Nathan and Rez's surprise.

"Tag?" Mommy turned her head sideways. "You haven't played that game since you were younger, Elli."

"I know, but I want to play it again," Elli emphasized. "Because I think I can run faster than I did before."

"Sounds fun," Mommy smiled. "Mind if Mommy watches while you play?"

"Not at all," replied Elli.

Though inside, she was nervous at the thought of being watched by Mommy. But she hid her anxiety with another fake smile, this one being more convincing than the first.

"What's the idea of playing tag?" Rez asked Elli as the two of them ascended the stairs along with Nathan.

"To see how fast we can run," Elli said.

"But why?" asked Nathan.

Elli motioned the boys to a closet that was identical to the Secret Closet and closed the door behind her once they were inside.

To be continued…