Mable: Enjoy!
Going Home in a Box
Chapter Sixteen
Scott thought about it for a while. In fact, he was still thinking about it now as he stared at the road stretching into the darkness and felt his nervousness start to increase. This was a bad idea and he knew it, but he couldn't deny that he too was a little curious to see if there really was another Circus Baby in use somewhere, and to make sure she wasn't alive.
What convinced him to go was not that though, but Fairyland Park itself. Sometime after the gift exchange, he had gone into his office and looked around online for this supposed amusement park. Though amusement park was a little bit of a stretch. It was more like a kiddie park, the kind with smaller attractions and a docked ticket price, and probably very relaxed security. More like a mini-golf course than a theme park.
The drive there had been a long one. Two hours not feeling like much until he was hunched on the wheel looking around outside like he had already broken the law. Baby and Ennard were in the back, with the former shutting herself down to 'sleep' during the trip and the latter watching the road from between the seats. The stretch of highway was thankfully quiet, so there wasn't much risk of him being spotted.
He was still wearing his suit. Constantly fussing with and adjusting it, especially the bow around his neck, and it always brought a smile to Scott's face. It wasn't going to ever be camouflage, but the way he thought it would at least play more into the 'man in clown suit running around town' instead of 'possibly feral mechanical creature prowling the streets'. Besides, it looked good on him. Better than he was expecting it to.
The town around the park was quaint, small, none-too-interesting or threatening. A little patch of suburbs and a roll of fast-food restaurants and gas stations, a stop in the middle of an otherwise long trip. The park being here was probably less to draw out tourists and more because the land was cheap. Following the directions, he himself wrote down, it wasn't long before Scott drove up on Fairyland Park.
From here it looked more like a permanent fairground than an amusement park, but he couldn't make out too much except the entry booth, the closed front gate, and what looked to be a building that probably housed bathrooms. Scott could feel his nerve starting to wane as Ennard planted his hands on the seats and leaned in to get a better look. The clown gave a low hum.
"…Okay, so I gotta admit I'm a little disappointed in the size of this place," he said. He tapped his fingers on Scott's shoulder. "But hey! Looks like they don't have much for security, right?"
"Probably not, but they might have someone sitting in that booth over there," Scott said and pointed towards the entrance. "Or maybe a motion detector. Something. Probably an alarm if we try to open the gate."
"Well, we're not going through the front gate, are we?" Ennard asked mischievously. He pointed in the opposite direction. "How 'bout you take that access road and loop around back?"
Scott knew what was coming even before he was standing outside the chain-link fence that surrounded the park. Now that he was seeing inside, he got a better feel for what Fairyland was: a quaint, cute little park with only a few small coasters and a couple of other attractions broken up by paved walkways and a few decorative fairytale themed statues. Definitely a park aimed at children more than all ages.
Honestly, it was the type of place he would've really liked as a kid, and it didn't look like the type of place where they would be too afraid of someone breaking in unless to vandalize.
The van was parked back twenty or so feet on the side of a dirt road. Scott kept a lookout at the fence while Ennard woke up Baby.
"Rise and shine, Babydoll," Ennard chirped as she snapped awake.
"Are we here?" she asked.
"No, we're there," he answered. She gave him a look and he cheekily slid out the back and offered his hands to help her out.
It took a minute to get to the fence. Walking on grass was never great, especially not craggy grass with clumps of crumbly dirt underneath. Better than getting her wheels stuck in it, she supposed. Once there, they stared at it momentarily.
"We can still turn back," Scott offered. He knew from the silent stares he received that this was not going to happen. With a sigh, he turned back ahead. "Okay, let's… let's get in there."
He decided to take the lead and started trying to climb the fence. He vaguely remembered climbing one of these when he was a teenager at least once, as a short cut to get home from school, but he hadn't remembered it being this difficult. It wasn't even from his prosthetic either, it was just a mix of his shoes slipping and the fence mesh sticking up past the end and jabbing into anything he rested onto it. He got a leg over.
He caught sight of Ennard coming up behind him and whether it was foolish pride or sheer embarrassment that this was being watched, Scott raised a hand- and wobbled on the fence because of it.
"It's okay! I've got it!" he protested. He leaned over further. "Just let me get down and- oomph!"
He dropped off the fence and landed on his feet but staggered and almost tripped over a decorative shrub. He managed to pull together what was left of his dignity and gave a simple, "It's been a while."
"I know exactly what you mean," Ennard said. He then hopped the fence like it was nothing. "It's been a good, gosh, maybe two months since I hopped one of these babies. Where does the time go?"
Scott knew from that sly look alone that Ennard was toying with him. "Yeah, yeah."
"Speaking of babies, over or under, Babydoll?" the clown asked, looking back at their third.
"Under," she answered. Then proceeded grab the lower part of the fence and uproot it, even breaking some of it in the process. Scott's eyes were as wide as saucers, and he was between staring at the amount of damage and looking around frantically to make sure nobody could hear but ended up staying rigid through the whole thing. Baby crawled under, dusted mulch off herself, and then bent the gate down again. "There. No one will notice."
Well, no. Someone would notice if they looked, Scott thought. In all likelihood though, it wouldn't be noticed until sometime long after they were gone.
Ennard snickered and pulled him in with one arm. "The look on your face right now, Scottie...~"
"Looks a lot like the one I had coming off the fence?" Scott guessed. More laughter bubbled up, but Ennard kept it hushed. They then stepped onto the pathway and started through the park.
As worried as Scott was, both Baby and Ennard kept a vigilant look out for cameras or night watchman. Though they also had alternative motives, with Baby looking for the animatronic stage and Ennard just taking in the sights.
He tried to keep a cool head as he looked around at the park. Eventually he spotted something slightly worth note.
"See that little merry-go-round over there?" he asked. Both clowns looked over. "Freddy's had one exactly like that."
"Neat!" Ennard said.
"Is it the same one?" Baby asked.
"Probably not. I mean, there's some differences. It just looks really close," he said. A slightly awkward attempt to make conversation, though that could go for a few things tonight. Ennard slung an arm around his shoulders and kept him close, which equally made him feel reassured and fear that he was getting too comfortable.
"There's a building over there. Maybe that's the stage," Baby said, directing their attention past a spinning cups ride and to a section of closed up stalls. They continued on with her leading the way.
Though much to her dismay, that was not the stage but some other attraction entirely. It was a two-story building painted like a castle with fairy and unicorn cutouts outside the doors and a spiraling slide down one side. The bottom floor looked to be lined with numerous full-length windows, which looked to be a mirror maze on second glance, and a large sign above the supposed entryway read "Magical Castle".
Baby huffed a little and intended to roll straight past. Unfortunately, this wasn't to be.
"Oh-ho-ho, what have we got here?" Ennard asked, sizing up the building.
"I think it's a funhouse. With that wall of- hall of mirrors on the bottom floor, it probably is," Scott said. He then noticed Ennard looking at him and did a slight double-take, not trusting the glint to his gaze. "…What?"
"I bet this is the only attraction in this whole park that doesn't need to be on to work," Ennard said, rolling out the last word. He gave Scott a little shake. "Let's go in."
"What?" Scott asked again, almost dumbfounded. Ennard motioned his eyes to the funhouse, as though that was supposed to be convincing him. "Why? You know it's not going to be fun with the lights off and no music."
"Why not? When's the next chance we're gonna get to go run around a real-life funhouse? We gotta take the chance why we can!" Ennard exclaimed excitedly.
Baby couldn't say she was surprised at his budding interest in some run-of-the-mill funhouse, but she was slightly disappointed at getting distracted. "You do remember we're trespassing, right?" she asked.
"I didn't say we were going to set up shop in there. In and out, whole thing'll take three to four minutes flat!" he answered. He made a finger snapping motion while mimicking the sound. "Besides, it's not like we're sticking around long. Second we find the band we're out of here. We ought to do something fun while we've got the chance."
Neither Scott nor Baby could figure out if Ennard was trying to lighten a relatively tense mood or if he just really wanted to see the funhouse while he had the chance. Either way, she decided it wasn't worth fighting him on it.
"Fine. Just don't take too long," she said before turning back around.
"Sure, but I was kind of suggesting we all went in together," Ennard gently prodded. Then physically prodded as he walked up behind her and planted his hands on her shoulder, steering her around and back towards the funhouse.
Baby sighed and pressed down one of her skate stoppers. The smallest amount of resistance and Ennard got the message to stop pushing.
"Even if I felt like squeezing through all those mirrors, I don't feel like getting trapped in a slide," she said matter-of-factly. She easily ducked and twisted, rolling out from his grasp. He gave a pouting slump, and she rolled her eyes at him, a tinge of playfulness. "You get five minutes. Any longer and I have full right to leave you."
"O-Okay, if you're really sure," Ennard said, giving her a double thumbs up. She nodded and turned back around to continue down the path. "But if you change your mind, you know where we'll be! And don't do anything Scott wouldn't, ha ha!" he called after her, though not too loudly. Once it was clear that she wasn't changing her mind or looking back, his shoulders dropped with disappointment.
That sort of cleared up whether this was just an Ennard thing or an attempt to salvage the evening thing. Scott couldn't say he was surprised Baby turned down the offer. She had been a woman on a mission since they got here, and he wouldn't have been surprised if she managed to find the animatronics on her own now that she cut both of them loose. Apparently Ennard thought it was still worth a shot, and Scott gave him a comforting pat on the back.
"Still want to go in?" he offered.
Ennard perked up in an attempt to pull back on the mask, but his expression was a little uneasy. "Sure thing! Time's a-ticking so let's get a-moving."
They started heading to the funhouse entrance, but before they could even get up the steps, Scott dared to ask, "Are you worried about her?"
"About Baby? Nah! She's pretty good at not getting caught," the clown answered, rolling out from the question just as easily as Baby rolled out of his arms. "…Why, are you?"
"A little. To be honest, I'm really, really hoping that the website was wrong or that it's just… any character other than Baby… because I know she's going to be disappointed if she doesn't find another Circus Baby, but if she does find another Baby… I-I don't know. I don't think she's going to take it well," Scott confessed.
He led the way up the steps and shined his light over the glass panes. Numerous plates of his own reflection stared back, with Ennard's behind it, looking towards the Scott outside of the glass.
"I know… but what could we do? She wanted to come," Ennard offered. Scott nodded slowly before he suddenly noticed something, and his look changed to surprise as he turned right around.
"Are you saying you didn't want to come?"
"Hey, I'm always down to break into a funfair," Ennard said, raising his hands and with a coyly goofy sort of look in his eyes. A look that quick started to crumble into concern. "…When there's not this much emotional baggage hanging on."
"…Do you think I made the wrong choice saying yes?"
"No! No, no. Quit that. You put that look back," Ennard 'sternly' scolded. "If there's one thing Baby hates it's being babied. She's a big girl and she can make her own decisions… Which is why we let her go off on her own in the dark so we could go play in the Magic Castle. Which reminds me..." He smoothly turned Scott around and started to nudge him towards the entry into the maze. "Let's get a move on! We're at least down to four minutes."
"I don't mean to burst your bubble, Enn, but we probably just spent that five minutes talking out here," Scott reminded. A little smile daring to return with a slight chuckle as he found the doorway in.
Something about dozens of flashlights shining back in an otherwise nearly pitch-dark room of mirrors was a little eerie. He could see his own hesitation on his face, along with the amusement on Ennard's as he slowly leaned in to whisper.
"Still want to go in?"
He couldn't back down after that challenge, not when he knew the scariest thing in this whole park was likely standing directly behind him. "Sure. It's just a little darker than I thought… but that's what this is for. So just, uh, stay close."
"I plan on it," the clown said. A low hum hanging in his chest.
It turned out that the mirror maze was going to be significantly more difficult in the dark. The flashlight being reflected was disorienting and there wasn't really the ability to use outside light to get much bearings beyond direction. At first Scott led, but eventually Ennard was actively helping, until it got to the point that they were less trying to solve a maze and more trying not to fall over each other while walking around the walls.
"Hey, you want to hear a creepy story?" Ennard asked out of the blue.
Or it wasn't that out of the blue. There was a distinctly uncomfortable feeling in the pit of Scott's stomach the closer he was getting to the back of the maze. A claustrophobic feeling, mixed with the dread that he was about to get stuck trying to run through these tight corridors. Again though, from what was beyond rational guesstimation.
"Uh… No?" Scott answered.
"It's got a really neat twist ending," Ennard coaxed. "And it's not that creepy. Like, not as creepy as, y'know, our new prison." He reached up to pat his hands on the ceiling and walls, practically towering in the tight space.
He knew Ennard was leaning into something, but he decided to take the bait. "Sure… but not a lot of gore?"
"Gore only works when you can see it," the clown tutted. He gestured for Scott to turn around and keep going, and once he did, he began:
"As far as I know, they say this is a true story, but people tend to stretch the truth when they're scared. Sometimes they think they see things in the shadows that aren't there. Sometimes harmless people look like killers hiding in the shadows. All I can tell you is that wherever the story came from, they believed what they saw was real, and that's what makes all the difference.
There was a family on vacation in a small town just like this one. They were trying to get in the last week of summer before the kids went back to school, but they weren't the only ones who had that idea. So, they found themselves stuck staying in motel just beside the city dump."
"That's a real-life horror story alright," Scott joked. He looked back at the clown with a smile.
Ennard tsked and shook his head in playful chiding. "You're not taking this seriously."
"Sorry, ignore me. You keep going while I find us a way out of here."
"My plan exactly!" Ennard chirped, then his voice dropped back into a low, haunting tone. "The man books two rooms. One for his wife and him and the other for his three children. The first night seems to go well, but when they get up the next morning his son tells him that something weird happened that night. Late, late after the parents went to bed, the kids were woken up by a noise outside.
They looked out to see a tall man walking out of dump. He stopped in the field between them and stared up at the motel. The kids weren't too sure because they couldn't see its face, but it looked like it was staring at their window.
Mom and Dad assume older brother is playing a joke and the younger kids believe him, so they don't really do anything about it. They go out, enjoy their day, and return to the motel that evening. They tuck in their kids and go to sleep… But a few hours later, they're awoken by their oldest son who says the man from the dump was standing underneath their window. Not believing him, his parents send him back to bed.
They're not woken back up, so they think everything's fine. But everything's not fine. Their kids are exhausted! When they ask, they reveal that the man had climbed up to their window… and watched them… and tapped on the glass… all night."
Ennard tapped his fingers on the mirror wall. It echoed through the tight passageway.
"Mom's a little uneasy, Dad doesn't believe them. The mood of the day is dead on arrival. They go do their activities before returning to the motel, but tonight the kids are afraid to go to sleep. The parents head to bed. A few hours later, Dad wakes up and hears something funny from the next room. He heads over and peeks into his kids' room…
There is a bloodless white face staring in the window. Sharp fingers scratching at the glass." Ennard scraped his fingers on the wall. "The older and middle kids are hiding in the corner, but their younger sister is slowly creeping towards the window. Dad then realizes that the thing is opening the window. He runs in and grabs his daughter just before a long, greasy, metal hand reaches in and misses. The creature drops down from the window and disappears.
Now realizing that his kids are telling the truth, Dad wakes Mom and they consider going to the police, but in the end decide to stay the night in their own room all together, since they're leaving the next day and it's the witching hour. Dad sleeps on one side, Mom on the other, kids in the middle, and with their bedroom window covered up… but Dad wakes up to a noise a little later and realizes his daughter is gone.
Frantic, he heads back into the kids' room and finds that there's nobody there, but the window is wide open. He calls out the window for her and in the distance, he hears a faint: "Daddy!"
He runs out of the motel and heads towards the dump. He calls for her again. He hears her again: "Daddy!"
He walks into the dump. Piles of trash and heaps of scrap metal tower above his head as he frantically calls for his daughter. Each time she replies, but her voice sounds hollower, echoey, wrong, until he doesn't hear it any longer. At that moment he comes up on a deep pit dug into a mound of garbage and leans down to look inside. There is a body wrapped in trash bags inside. He calls for her, she whispers back, and he crawls in…
Only for the trash bag wrapped body to turn around and reveal the white face from the window. Now he could see it in all its horror. Long, sharp teeth like needles. Hunks of scrap metal and trash sticking out of its body. It had the face of a lost toy thrown away and forgotten, and its body made of the garbage it absorbed. He couldn't make it out before it ensnared him and pulled him deep into its lair.
The next morning Mom and children awoke confused to find Dad gone and the only person who saw him leave? His youngest daughter, who got up to use the bathroom and heard him go down the hall and leave the hotel. He is still missing to this day, but everyone knows where he is. In that pit of bodies hidden in the dump."
Ennard leaned in close to whisper into his ear.
"The Hurricane Clown has claimed another victim."
Scott released any held breath in a disbelieving guffaw as the bottom fell out of any tension.
"Why?" was all he could ask.
"Because I forgot to on the drive here," Ennard cockily answered.
"So, you didn't make that up on the way here?"
"Nope!"
"Are you sure?" Scott looked back at him with a teasing smile, reflecting the flashlight off the mirror to illuminate the space.
"Oh, I wish I could take credit for that, but it was Burke's kid who told it to me. You remember when he called saying his theater group was talking about me? That was it!" Ennard said. He brightened up while he said that, like the idea alone exhilarated him.
"I don't know why you get so happy about that. I know they say 'any publicity is good publicity', but I don't think that counts when people are calling you a garbage monster that… eats people?" Scott furrowed his brow before suddenly remembering something. "Wait, what part of that story was real? You being at the dump, right?"
"The part where I hang out at the dump." Scott gave him a look. "I'm serious! If you don't believe me, ask Carl. The original was a lot worse before I toned it down."
Scott paused for a moment and considered if he wanted to ask the next question. He even started to turn like he wasn't going to before giving in and turning back. "How much worse?"
"Gore only works when you can see it, but they painted a pretty good picture," Ennard said. He too seemed to consider stopping there before blurting out, "Graphic depictions of harvesting and trash stuffing. There was a dog too."
"…Okay, almost regretting that decision. Thank you for keeping it tame," Scott said. Apparently, the theater group weren't the only ones who could paint a nasty picture in only a few sentences. Ennard snickered and pulled him back into a tight hug, now padded by his new suit. His nose poked his ear with a squeak and Scott chuckled.
"You know the scariest part?" Ennard murmured in the same low tone he used to tell the story. "You're sharing a house with that same trash monster. It knows where you sleep…~" He gave a sinister crackle and drummed his fingers on his arms.
"I think it's worse that I'm sharing a bed with a guy who spends his off time hanging out at the dump," Scott replied.
It caught Ennard by surprise and he burst into laughter. It echoed through the mirror maze at a volume that would've concerned him if they were standing outside. He was such a goof, Scott thought. He turned back and caught the clown by the chin to pull him into a gentle kiss. Ennard gave a delighted squeak and pressed back, like he was kissing back even when it was through a mask.
Scott had a choice then. They had taken up a bit of time already, but they had reached the back of the room beside some stairs that led to the upper floor, with him stopping long enough for Ennard to finish his story. They could go upstairs and search for the way out, but it could take more time if there turned out to be more obstacles. Chances were there was something up there to slow them down. So, they could also turn around and leave the way they came in.
Unfortunately, Scott wasn't thinking and made his choice when he leaned back in for a second kiss. The mood shifted instantaneously. The quirky little squeak was replaced with a curious hum, and he didn't have far to go before his back was against the mirrored wall. Ennard practically had him pinned in before he tilted his head and moved in further. Pressed in so close that his teeth grazed over Scott's lips.
This was what spiraling felt like, Scott realized. He could barely keep his head above water as one of his hands grabbed at the back of Ennard's jacket. He didn't know if it was stop him or to just hold on.
Ennard did eventually draw back, and Scott took the opportunity to turn his head upwards, trying to get control of himself. Baby was probably waiting right outside the funhouse by now and while he didn't want to stop- the tingling in his chest and along his skin being attributed to that- his better judgement started to slip through, along with concern and paranoia. He decided to tell this to Ennard.
"Uh- hah." The timing was bad. The second he started to speak, he was cut short by a bundle of wires sliding out of Ennard's mouth and up along his throat, ending the lick with a little nip to his chin accentuated with a playful 'nom'.
The moment came to a sudden halt when Scott fumbled with the flashlight and lost his grip. It fell to the floor with a loud clatter and went out. Scott winced at the sound of a battery flying out and rolling somewhere. Ennard flinched at the noise and froze up in place. A long moment passed in that dark hallway of mirrors.
Then Ennard began nibbling at his chin again.
"Ennard, wait. About Baby," Scott reminded. Ennard gave a disappointed hum but didn't argue, giving him one last kiss on the cheek before pulling back.
"Don't go anywhere," he quipped before crouching down to retrieve the flashlight and batteries. "We have what, two minutes left?"
"I-It's more like we have two minutes before it's twenty minutes," Scott said. He self-consciously fixed his clothes, knowing his face was probably burning beet red and there was nothing he could do to fix it. He reached blindly to give Ennard another pat on the back, missed, and ended up patting him on the head instead. "But maybe she's not keeping track," he offered, knowing she probably was.
"Eh, she is. But it's me! I get a thirty-minute buffer just in case," Ennard replied. "…Which I'm gonna need. I think these mirrors are messing with my already pretty sketchy night vision, 'cause I'm missing a battery."
"Take your time," Scott said. Though after a few seconds of standing in the dark, claustrophobic hallway, he began trying to help feel around on the floor. Hopefully Baby wasn't waiting outside.
In reality, Scott and Ennard's whereabouts were the last thing on her mind.
Neither was the assumed stage that she was still looking for. That was a big part of what she was doing, but it definitely wasn't what had been clouding her mind since she got here. Something had been bothering since she had gotten inside.
She was glad to get a few minutes away from the two because of it. Not because of anything they had done to worsen it, but just the feeling itself, especially once she realized what it was.
This place reminded her of the toy store her father used to take her to.
It was such a sudden and intrusive revelation that crept up only when she started seeing little gnomes and statues of fairies and elves sitting on toadstools and fishing into artificial streams. When she was a little girl, her father used to take her to a toy store that was themed a lot like this. It had that faux fairytale themed with unicorns and fairies painted on the walls, or at least on the walls of the designated girls' section.
Maybe that was why he called her Princess. It used to make her feel special, now it made her feel like her a fool. Like her father's fool.
She had been thinking of her father quite a bit recently. There had been a time after his appearance that he had faded out of her immediate thoughts and the pain of his betrayal- second betrayal- had died down. A time when he was truly gone and she had gotten some form of closure, even if all it did was open her eyes instead of offering any comfort. She wasn't sure if the reopening of Freddy's did it or if it was just a matter of timing.
Remembering those assumed happier days of when he took her to get toys and ice cream did little to numb the pain of him using her like he had. It all left her very confused.
She only realized that she had been staring at the ground when she spot a plastic frog toy on the ground. One of those cheap ones that you would press the back down of to make it hop. She raised her head up and looked around and only then spotted what looked to be a cleared-out area nearby, and she wheeled over to it, briefly putting her feelings to focus on the task at hand.
That was when she finally found the outdoor atrium, or what might've been one. There was an uncovered stage with some basic decorations and a few speakers. There were rustic log benches for the audience to sit on, topped with maroon pillows to cushion them. It looked quaint, but the acoustics had to be horrendous- or Baby thought so.
There were also no animatronics on stage, but she had a hunch where they were. The back wall of the stage was really the wall of a trailer behind it, which was likely where they stored the animatronics afterhours. Considering the rather lackluster security, locking up the animatronics was a must, and Baby wheeled off the path and walked through the grass to find it sealed with a chain and padlock.
It would be relatively easy to break through it. Baby felt the lock in her hand and while it was rather sturdy, she was sure either it or the chain could be broken with her claw. However, she agreed not to break anything, so she was going to either need Scott's consent or Ennard's encouragement to justify doing so. That way she wouldn't be breaking her promise.
She wasn't surprised when she returned to the funhouse to find nobody outside. She could faintly hear their voices inside, so she knew they were still in there. Instead of going in after them she waited for them by the slide, already preparing a flat sort of look for when one of them came down.
Which never happened. Much to her surprise, Scott and Ennard walked right out the door they came in. She caught up with them quickly.
"What took you two so long?" Baby took one look at Scott's slightly scuffed hair and quickly looked away. "Never mind. I don't need to know."
"Don't even act like that. I'll have you know I spent the last ten minutes crawling around looking for batteries," Ennard said matter-of-factly, planting his hands on his hips.
"The door was locked. The door up the stairs- there's stairs at the back that leads up to the second floor, and there's a door at the top that was locked," Scott explained. Just the flustered way he said that suggested this wasn't the whole truth, but Baby let it slide.
"I see. Speaking of locked doors, I found where they're keeping the animatronics," Baby said. They were a little quieter than she expected them to be, so she simply beckoned them. "Come along, I'll show you."
"S-Sure thing! Lead the way, Baby!" Ennard chirped, giving her a double thumbs up. Though as she turned away to do so, he and Scott shared an uneasy look.
It didn't take long to get back to the stage and the trailer behind it, where Baby had Ennard look at the padlock.
"Do you think we could pick the lock?" Baby asked. Ennard hummed and looked at the bottom of it.
"Ehhhh, no can do, Babydoll. Even if I had the tools and the know-how, this is a pretty tiny keyhole. I don't see it happening," he said.
"There must be another way to get the lock off," Baby suggested. She found his hesitation kind of strange, and he almost looked a little nervous. "I know you've broken through much stronger."
"Heh, true! But there could be an alarm on this thing or… Something?" Ennard stole a glance at Scott then abruptly stood. "What a shame! Well, it happens. Better safe than sorry."
Baby looked between them, her suspecting that Scott had probably mouthed to him not to do it or something. "So, that's it? We come all this way and then are stopped by a flimsy, little chain."
"Well, uh-," Scott started, only to be interrupted.
"I can get this padlock open, we can look inside, close it again, and be on our way in only a few minutes. They won't care that we broke the chain, they are only concerned about the animatronics," Baby tried to convince. She had to pick her words carefully. She didn't want to coerce him, but she did want to convince him. "Please. We can't have come this far to stop."
Scott felt both of their eyes on him. Baby, who desperately wanted to tempt fate, and Ennard, who only didn't want to tempt fate because of the possible backlash from the other clown. It was a bad position to be in and he could already tell that nobody was going to win from this decision. He looked around behind him, hoping for a quick excuse to get them out of the area and avoid him making the decision, but there was nothing there.
With a tired sigh, he turned back and looked to Baby. He ran a tired hand along the back of his neck and sighed.
"…Okay."
Ennard's mouth dropped open, looking at him with the same shocked aghast that Scott himself felt.
"But that's all we're doing! Just… Just opening it up and looking inside. No touching the animatronics. Heck, no even- no leaving the padlock. If they see it, they might notice it wasn't cut by, uh… normal means," Scott rambled. He wet his dried lips and added, "Only so you can look, Baby, and only because it looks pretty dead out here."
Baby honestly didn't think he was going to say yes. "Thank you…" was all she said, then turned and quickly caught the padlock and chain in her claw. She worked with it for a minute, applying pressure and twisting, adjusting so she could break them in a clean fashion. With one hard snap, yank, and twist, the padlock was crushed and the chain broken. Overkill perhaps, but they were taking it anyway, so she let them fall to the grass.
She wasn't sure why she hesitated now of all times, but she did, just long enough for Ennard to decide to take lead. He pulled open one of the doors and leaned in to look. He paused for a long, frozen moment before-
"Ooooh, I see a familiar face already!" He couldn't hide the little twitch of nervousness, but he walked into the trailer unconcerned. Baby felt something tighten in her chest cavity.
"Is it me?" she quietly asked.
"It's Foxy!" Ennard called back. Both Baby and Scott's heads snapped over.
"Foxy?!" Scott asked. He hurried over and shined his light inside to see Ennard's back, but the clown stepped aside eagerly to reveal what he found. The flashlight illuminated a familiar white and pink fox character. Or white-ish, as time hadn't been kindly keeping its plush body that crispy colored. One of its eyelids was rolled down lower than the other and its mouth was ajar, with its body hunched forward in an off position.
"Oh, Funtime Foxy!" Scott said. He came up to get a better look, noticing again the plush suit and the hook on its hand. "No, wait. This is a Toy Foxy. It's the same line as Marionette. They were sort of in that time between diner and pizzeria."
"But this can't be the same one that was with Mari. The one that bit Jeremy? I thought that was the Mangle," Ennard asked.
"It's not. Or it is. That Toy Foxy was, uh… Out of commission a lot of the time. People started calling it the Mangle, it bit Jeremy, then Mangle was put out-of-service. This might be the same model, but it's a different bot," Scott explained.
Ennard stared at it thoughtfully, rubbing his chin, and then dared to ask, "So, what's the chances of a second Puppet popping up?... Ha ha, OTHER than Charlie." He grinned a little while Scott fumbled.
"None. No. There was- from what I know- only the one Puppet… At least, when I was talking to managers and employees from other locations, none of them ever mentioned another Puppet… But I'm pretty sure it was one of Henry's own."
While they were talking, Baby made her way into the trailer and tried to see past them. It was rather cramped on the inside as it wasn't just holding the animatronics themselves, but what were likely props for the stage. She could see what looked like a bird animatronic just passed Ennard and something wide blocking her view on the other side. No sign of Baby just yet, and this "Funtime" animatronic wasn't even part of her line.
"Excuse me," she warned, then squeezed behind Ennard and deeper into the trailer.
It was harder for her to get around the stuff, having to shove a carboard box of wires aside just to get to the bird animatronic. Actually, it looked to be a seagull, with a little cracking on the rubber of its facial build. The third animatronic, the big one, looked to be some kind of generic character she hadn't seen before. A female from the eyelashes with a pink plush suit, perhaps an elephant or pig, but Baby didn't care to pay more attention.
Not when she caught a sprig of red hair in the dull light. It poked out from behind the pink bot's shoulder, revealing a final animatronic in the back. That hair color looked familiar.
"Ennard…" Baby began in a hushed tone. "…I think I found her."
Ennard's head snapped over and Scott inwardly winced. Between them all though, Baby was the one most fearful of her findings. She had not only found another Circus Baby, but she had found one with real hair. That alone was devastating.
"Really? What's she look like?" Ennard dared to ask.
"I don't know. I can't see her behind this thing here." Baby gestured to the pink animatronic. "Help me. We can move it together without damaging it."
"You got it, Boss!" the other clown agreed and came over. He got about halfway through wrapping his arms up under it when he noticed its face. "Now there's a nice set of eyes…" he murmured, leaning in closer to study the glassy, blue orbs.
"Ennard," Baby huffed.
"Sorry! Sorry, heh, always gotta be on the lookout," Ennard apologized. He wrapped his arms under. "On three we move her back in this direction."
"Uh, are you two sure this is a good idea…?" Scott cautiously asked. As though the two weren't going to do it anyway. "Or wait, here, let me at least move Foxy-."
"No worries, we got this!" Ennard reassured.
"Step out of the way, please. Once we start moving, we cannot stop," Baby warned.
So, he did. He kept the flashlight on them and watched with bated breath and gritted teeth as the two dragged the surprisingly light, for its size, animatronic aside. It was set down in the middle of the trailer, partially trapping Ennard between it and Foxy, so that Baby could turn around and see what wait behind it.
Which she did, and she immediately got an eyeful of it. It was unlike anything she expected.
"What…?" she began, almost speechless. She rolled closer to see better. "Is that…?"
Ennard peeked out and gawked while Scott was now the one whose mouth dropped open.
"What is that…?!" Baby began to twitch as she stared at the animatronic in front of her. She jabbed her hand at it. "What is that?!"
What that was would happen to be the most bizarre animatronic that any of them had seen. It looked like Circus Baby only in details, but it itself was a caricature stretched and elongated like it was pulled from a funhouse mirror.
It did have hair, Baby was correct. Two broom-like red pigtails stuck out of the top sides of its head, but that was all the hair it had. There was something akin to a painted plate between them, almost giving it the impression of being largely shaved around the pigtails. It had a molded on red top, but it was almost bikini-like, no frills around the shoulders and with a long expanse of belly-buttonless stomach. Its long red skirt was a little more modest but frayed at the end.
But these were the somewhat normal details. It was everything else that was borderline uncanny. Long, skinny arms and legs, with a matching neck that stood at least six or seven inches longer than pleasant to the eyes. Its face was dolled up with heavy lidded and painted eyes with thick lashes, bright red lipstick, and round blushed cheeks jutting out of its face. It sort of looked like Ballora, but instead of her more elegant stature, it was emaciated and inhuman.
Baby could've never imagined the amount of disgust and horror she was going to feel seeing this thing. This mannequin thing dolled up to look like her. It actually offended her to look at it.
Ennard snorted through the hand covering his mouth and Baby turned on him in an instant.
"Don't you DARE laugh! Look at this- it's hideous!" Baby spat. She turned back on it with a glare. "Its body, its face; it's obscene! What is this?!"
"Oh wow, that's- yeah, that's not great…" Scott said. He was just as shocked as she was. When she looked at him, he could only shrug. "I don't know what to tell you."
"Looks like it came out the wrong side of a funhouse mirror," Ennard snickered. Apparently, they were thinking alike, but that didn't excuse how hard it was for him to stop laughing.
Baby gave an aggravated huff and waved widely with her arm, gesturing him towards it. "Make sure it isn't alive. Please."
"Good call. Two seconds," Ennard said. He stepped around a spool of cable and leaned in close to the other Baby. While studying it, Baby turned away with a low, staticky noise in her chest, like a low growl.
Seeing her distress, Scott reached out and rubbed her upper arms comfortingly.
"It looks nothing like you," he assured her.
"I should hope not," Baby hissed. She stole a look back before looking forward again. "Ugh! Yes, it does!"
"No, it doesn't. It just… It looks like something else that was reformatted into a Circus Baby theme. Probably was a completely different type! Could've been a…" Scott looked over at it. "…Scarecrow."
Baby half-scoffed and almost laughed despite herself. She blamed it on her being distraught because there was nothing funny about that thing standing nearby.
"Well, I have bad news, Baby," Ennard announced as he came over. He put an arm around her shoulders and patted her arm. "I'm afraid that… you won't be getting a new sister."
"Wonderful," Baby grumbled.
"Think you can check the others?" Scott asked.
"Heading in that direction! Mind holding the light? It's better doing the eye trick when you're not in complete darkness," Ennard asked. Scott agreed and they turned, not even really having to take any steps, to address the pink animatronic.
Instead of watching them, which would've probably been the better use of her time, Baby found her eyes dragged back to that other Baby. Hers meeting its glassy, drooped ones. She felt that irritation grow at seeing it, but she could say without any doubt that she didn't envy it. While it had some hair and a slightly more human build- no, scratch that. She might've been bulkier, but even she was less off-putting than this one. In a way it gave her a sinister reassurance.
She rolled closer and looked it over. How it would perform for children was beyond her. She could see that its feet were mounted on a stand so probably that would keep it upright while it waggled its arms around.
She also noticed that it was wearing a silver necklace. The only reason she took note of it being that it reminded her of the silver bell necklace of Charlie's. She reached forward and flicked at the heart shaped pendant, which moved freely, loosened from the heart shaped slot that had been made in its chest. That was an odd sort of outlier. Jewelry that wasn't molded on wasn't common in animatronics, so she assumed this wasn't an Afton original.
If she thought about it, and this moment did bring those memories back, she could remember seeing her father working on the original Circus Baby once or twice. Unable to work in the house, he had a garage or warehouse he used to work in, though she couldn't remember if it was the warehouse she was familiar with or not. She could remember that Henry was frequently there and that her brothers were never allowed to go. Being his favorite, she was.
She could remember one of the first times she had seen Circus Baby. It stood before her so glossy and freshly painted, with pretty eyes and a cute skirt. To her it was more beautiful than any of the Freddy's animatronics. Feminine, cute, perfect for her, and she had thought- and she was sure her father had said once- that she was made for her. She remembered poking the cold metal before her father came in and…
He had grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back so quickly that she fell off her own feet, and then dragged her back by the arm. She suddenly had a vivid memory of how her arm had pulsed when he grabbed her.
It was so jarring to suddenly remember that, that her father grabbing her roughly and wrenching her back. She couldn't believe he had touched her like that. She always remembered him spoiling her with ice cream, dollies, bedtime stories; happiness and innocence. She had been loved and adored back then and this memory was a stark contrast to that. Her father was a monster, no denying that, but he used to dote on her.
…But that wasn't the first time he had roughly grabbed her. It wasn't even the roughest he had been with her.
It was like that memory was a key that unlocked a door that hid others behind it as they all started to slip out. Some days her father came home different. Sometimes he would be acting weird and she would know not to bother him. Weird, her childlike mind would've identified it. Her now matured mind identified it correctly: intoxicated. She didn't think he was an alcoholic, but there were days when he came home wrong.
But just as quickly as she latched to that thought it unfurled in her grasp. It wasn't the alcohol because he could be just as rough sober. He could lose his temper and yank her aside or drag her along. In fact, she vaguely remembered having to wear a long-sleeved shirt on a warm day and being grumpy about it. Her father had taken her out for ice cream after school to reward her and told her how good she was.
Perhaps to apologize without apologizing, because she was hiding a bruise put on her. A welt on her arm when Daddy accidentally grabbed too hard. Though it was always her fault when it happened, or she thought it was.
Baby's claw tightened as her eyes stared dead ahead. Occasionally shifting just the slightest bit as the vivid memories started to ooze their way back. Staring at the feeble animatronic but instead watching the horror unfold inside of herself.
It wasn't even that she loved her father or thought he loved her, it was just that some part of her did still look back at those times of childhood bliss to remember when she thought things had been better. Just like earlier with the memories of the toy store. Days of playing dress up, of playing in her dolly dreamhome, of being a princess. Being loved, being adored, being snapped at only when she asked too many questions, grabbed only when she stepped out of line.
She remembered his calloused hands grabbing her around the arm and dragging her out of his garage, grabbing her chin and holding her still so he could slowly explain to her why not to interrupt him, hoping she would get it this time because she was such a bright little girl, but she could be so thick sometimes. The loving hands that would carry her to bed, the ruthless hands that would grab her by the biceps and shake her.
And when she was being too loud one of those hands would clamp over her mouth and silence her.
Baby was overheating to a dangerous level. She only realized it when something akin to a fan started humming from inside. Though she didn't think she had a fan anymore, so it could've very well been static. It was hard to think about it when she was in the middle of remembering something so horrible, so vile that she couldn't handle it. Yet she had to stay silent because she wasn't alone.
She could hear Scott and Ennard talking behind her, oblivious to what was happening. She didn't want them to notice her, to know what she was thinking about. She didn't want to think anymore.
Suddenly even caring about whether there were any other Circus Baby animatronics seemed like such a moot point. The thought that she would even care- that she was stuck in the body of something he loved more than her- hurt in a deep way she had never felt before. It was a weird feeling, something leaning closer to anger than anything else. She wanted to scream, and it took every ounce of willpower not to, like she was fighting off his influence all over again.
Then her eyes fell on that gaudy little pendant. It looked like something her daddy would've bought for her to make up for being such a brute. It reminded her of playing princess and dress-up, and dressing in Momma's clothes, and climbing in closets to look for Christmas gifts only to go snooping around the wrong place and have Daddy rip her down by the back of her shirt and fall on her backside so hard that her tailbone aches for hours.
She couldn't stand it. Elizabeth was about to scream.
"You okay over there, Baby?" Ennard must've heard her. "You're making some angry cat noises."
"I'm fine," she somehow managed. Her jaw was locked so tight she wondered if she would break her teeth. "Just looking at this… thing."
She had a feeling that they didn't believe her. Possibly Scott's whisper of, "Let's finish up with this." To get back to her, no doubt, and then see what she was devolving into. She had to pull herself together, but that was easier said than done.
This thing in front of her was mocking her. Not literally, of course, but its presence. An amalgam of human and clown that vaguely resembled Circus Baby. Her father would've loved it, would've loved for her to be something like that more than to even be human. He would've given her a necklace just like that to apologize for everything. No, not to apologize. To pretend that he was apologizing. It was always an act; he was never sorry.
Baby reached forward and tightened her fingers around the heart-shaped locket. Just like the padlock and the chain it could break easily and go unnoticed, thrown away like the piece of valueless metal it was. She rested her claw on its pale belly to keep it from tipping forward before she suddenly yanked her hand and ripped the locket off, the chain snapping easily and dangling from her hand, and causing the mannequin's torso to be tilted forward.
It felt good to break something, but it was only a fleeting relief. It didn't matter what it represented when it really meant nothing at all.
"What was that?" Scott asked.
"Nothing," Baby quickly denied. She began to roll back away from it. "I just-."
The excuse was cut short as the gangly animatronic teetered forward the moment she drew her claw away. She quick nudged it back and it teetered before falling forward again and collapsing onto her. She caught its rigid body and shoved it off just as quickly, watching it fall back against the wall before sliding into the corner. It was so stiff that it simply stayed propped up sideways like that.
"What was that?!" Scott repeated. He hurried back up to her and Baby, mortified at her own clumsiness, hid the necklace under her opposite arm. Not that she wanted to keep the thing, but after all this she didn't want him to find out about what she really had done. Scott shined his light over the fallen animatronic. "Did she move? What happened?"
"I'm- I'm not sure," Baby tried to excuse. Her voice was tight, and she still didn't feel quite herself. Almost like she wasn't in the moment, just observing it through her eyes. Scott must've noticed as he looked to her. She began to grow panicked, "I- I didn't mean for that to happen! I wasn't trying to break it- even if it is the most h-hideous thing I've ever seen!"
"Baby, it's okay. It's alright!" Scott assured her. He put a hand on her arm to try and comfort her, because he could tell immediately that something was wrong. She was jittery just standing there. "We'll just pick her back up, okay?"
Baby gave a stiff nod and kept her head down as Scott stepped in front of her to try and pick the mannequin animatronic up. It wasn't as heavy as he was expecting, but he did have to wrap his arms around the middle to try and lug it up.
Which went alright for about three seconds until he must've hit a release of some kind, because suddenly the rigid animatronic suddenly went limp. As limp as a ragdoll, head dangling on its bendy neck and arms swinging down. Scott, who was already trying to lift it with one and a half arms, lost his grip and it fell before Ennard could reach around to grab it. It fell back into the corner, head bent down near its chest, arms bent underneath and beside it.
Scott stared wide-eyed at the animatronic for a long moment before turning to look at Ennard over his shoulder.
"I think we should head home now."
Soon they were outside. Ennard shut the trailer doors while Scott picked up and carried the chain. Baby was standing to the side, still uncharacteristically silent.
Which meant that Ennard was paying closer attention to the outside world when he suddenly yanked his head up.
"I hear voices," he warned. Scott's teeth clenched as he began to look around. Ennard homed in and patted his arm, pointing towards the front of Fairyland. Scott swallowed thickly and motioned with his hand for them to take the long way.
With them looking away, Baby was quick to swing her arm back to toss the necklace off somewhere in the grass where it would never be found. Except the chain had gotten itself annoyingly tangled in her fingers. No matter how much she shook her hand it wouldn't come free, until the point when her wrist was aching. She was about to rip it off with her claw when she had to hide it again.
As they got further across the pathways back towards the car, the sound of talking grew louder. Loud enough that Scott could hear it at least. There were definitely other people in the park now- if they hadn't been there the whole time. They had to hasten their speed, especially once a flashlight was spotted in the distance. One right about to cut them off at the pass.
"Back," Scott said, pushing back Ennard who was practically on top of him. "Back, back. Somewhere else."
"Hide out in the mirror maze?" the clown offered.
"No."
"Hop the fence back that-a-way?" he pointed his thumb back towards some stalls.
"Uh… Yeah, good call."
They quickly made their way behind the stalls to more fencing and went through the same routine as earlier, except a little more frantically with their motions. Ennard all but shoving Scott over the fence and throwing himself over right afterwards. The lights were getting closer, and chances were whoever was approaching was going to hear something from all of this.
Baby was remarkably calm. In fact, she found that she didn't feel much of anything.
"Baby, come on!" Ennard whispered. He made a grab for her over the fence, and she shrugged him off, determined to peel her way through herself. This time wasn't as difficult as this section of the fence wasn't rooted as deeply.
The necklace's chain only seemed to tighten around her fingers as she climbed underneath. While the park allowed her to leave, this useless little trinket wouldn't let her go. Eventually she gave up trying to free herself from it.
Mable: Sorry if this ending seems so abrupt, but I decided at the last minute to switch the final scene of this chapter to the next one so I could expand upon it. I hope it doesn't feel too anticlimactic because I'm thinking it'll work better there than here. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed!