Seeking for the truth Chapter 3: A Tight Squeeze, a poppy playtime fanfic

NEW NOTE (1/31/24): OKAY FOR THE OLDER READERS! It is optional to reread this chapter but I highly recommend to reread up till Huggy disappears and pick back up to Lily having her first full flashback as more stuff has been added.

"Welcome back, Lily. Did you have a good lunch?"

"Yeah, drop by at the café that is around the corner."

"Oh! That's an excellent choice, heard they had good French onion soup."

"Really? I'm not a huge fan of onion but I know Ash is. Perhaps I'll pass that message to him."

"That's sounds like a good plan. Now, before we began, I would like to ask you a quick question."

"What is it?"

"During our break I went back over what you've told me, you've said you were driving down there."

"That's right."

"Then…why didn't you take a train or flown down there instead? It would probably save you time getting there and money perhaps."

"…Yeah, I see where your going, though there are two reasons why those plans wouldn't work out."

"Could you explain to me?"

"Well, the first reason is the timing. My uncle had already known I'll be leaving the next day, so trying to find an opening for a train or airplane ticket under short notice would be hard. Second, on the off chance that I did manage to book a ticket I would have no way to get there once I'm off. Like hell I was going to explain to a taxi driver why I need to go there and calling one to pick me up as well. It would be a massive pain."

"Those are some good reasoning. I do see your point it would have been quite the hassle."

"You got that right. And I'm sure your about to ask, I wouldn't been able to rent a car either due to me not being 26 at the time."

"Why 26?"

"You don't know? Well…to be able to rent a car you have to be 26 years old. Which is stupid!"

"I…did not know that."

"Feel free to look up if you want. In any case is that all you needed to ask me?"

"Yes, it is. Thank you for answering my questions. Now, we left off with you traveling down, I'm assuming you made it there with no problems."

"Kinda of…I…had a small issue on the day off when I was going to arrive at Playtime…"

June 17th, 2005, 2:18 pm

"Thank you for shopping, have a wonderful day!"

"Thanks, you too!"

Alright now that I have freshly bought first aide along with other things, the next stop would be a gas station further down then Playtime Co. According to the GPS I have about 4 hours left till I'm there. If traffic goes smoothly and if I don't have any other stops, I should be there between six and seven.

I am a bit torn going there that late in the day. There would be some pros about it if I do, the one being is the time wouldn't bother me since I rarely ever get tired so I could explore till I feel like I have all the answers I'm looking for. Plus, I don't know if any cops or something would be driving by since it's marked as private property, with it being dark I could possibly hide my car to avoid any trouble.

"*Sigh*, decisions, decisions." I mumbled opening the car door and hoping in. Putting the bag down in the passenger seat. Grabbing the GPS, I went to push in the Playtime Co address when my phone started to ring.

"Hm?" I flipped open the phone to see who was calling me. "Ashely?" I frowned looking down at my phone "Why is she calling me?" Hitting the accept button I held the phone up to my ear.

"Hello?"

'Lily! Oh my god, I'm so sorry!'

"What?" I was a bit startle by the almost crying tone coming from the other end. "What are you sorry for, Ashely?"

'I'm really sorry, Lily, it just your uncle…'

"What? What about him? Is he okay!?"

I felt panic begin to rise in my chest as worst case scenarios began to form in my mind. Did something happen? Did he fall and injury himself? Did he get in an accident? Or…

Wait better question, how does Ashely know? I'm under his emergency contact number if anything happened. So how would…

"Ashely, what is going on!?"

'What? No! He's fine, I swear! Sorry bad choice of words."

"Jesus, Ashley!" I heaved out a deep sigh of relief slumping back into the seat. "Almost gave me a damn heart attack here!"

"Sorry…"

"If he's fine, then what's going on? Better question how do you know something is up? Aren't you supposed to be at the cabin?"

"It's about that actually, we… had to come back early…"

"Wait—what? Why?" I shouted in disbelief and shoot back up in the seat.

"The thing is we had come back late yesterday. All of us were out to do a late night stroll—probably wasn't the brightest idea—anyway we were out walking, and Kevin wasn't paying attention and fell down the hill breaking his leg."

"Oh my god, is he okay!?"

"Thankfully yes, he also had some minor bruising and scraps, but he'll be fine. Though poor guy did one hell of a job in breaking it he's having surgery today to get some rods in his leg to help with the healing."

"Christ, Ashely, well I'm glad that is all. Bumber, you had to end the trip so soon…Wait."

It seemed like Ashely had the same thought as well as she let out an exhausted sigh on her end. "…Yeah, I know this trip was your cover story and us being back early, kinda ruin it. At first, I thought 'Well Mr. Johnson doesn't really go out a lot, so it should be okay as long as I'm careful', kind of thinking."

"It does suck and I'm sorry to put you in a tight spot like that just to cover for me."

"It's fine, I know how much this trip means to you and keeping an eye out isn't much of a problem…if he didn't already spot me that is…"

Uh-oh. I don't like where this is going.

"Would this lead to the reason for you panicking at first?"

"Yeah…I'm really sorry. You see we had to take Kevin to the hospital of course and this evening I went by to check on him before he had his surgery and…well…"

"Well…?"

Oh, don't tell me.

"First I want to say I tried, but…your uncle caught me leaving the place."

"Oh no…"

"I saw him first and panic trying to leave quickly before he spotted me and that didn't work. Obviously, he had questions…and Lily, your uncle is very scary when it comes to you."

"Don't tell me…" I whined already knowing the answer.

"He…knows where you are. Sorry."

"Fuck!" I cursed under my breath, leaning back against the seat rubbing my forehead in frustration. This is not the news I need to hearing right now! Him finding out about my little tip should be when I came back. Not the other way around!

"Sorry again, Lily..."

"It's…fine." I groaned. "Not much to do about it now. I know you've tried your best; and I do thank you for that, and I appreciate that you've gave me the heads up."

"…" Ashely went quite on the other side of the phone, probably thinking about something. "So…what are you going to do? Are you going to come back, or…"

"No." I said "I'm going to keep going."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah…I'm just about 4 hours to that place, I'm not turning around to deal with whatever he has in mind. I am so in possible finding my answers, it'll be a waste of the effort I went through just to give up and turn around. What is he going to do? Ground me? I'm an adult, I'll be turning 19 soon!" I ranted over the phone feeling my foot tapping repeatedly on the floor. "Whatever. Did he say anything to do?"

"About that actually. Mr. Johnson said something strange when he left, and I don't think he meant for me to hear that and I'm not sure if I heard him correctly."

"What do you mean?"

"I…" I hear her taking a deep breath in before letting it all out "Just…remember not to take my words seriously, again he said this while walking away from me."

"Ashely, I love you but please get to the point!"

"Okay, okay! After I told him he had a strange look on his face, thanking me before heading off. And just before he walking off, he mutters something that sounded like 'So, he finally making his move huh?' and I also heard 'Preparation must be in order.' Do you know anything about that?"

"I…" Honestly, I'm a bit lost. The hell did he mean by 'preparation's must be in order' and who's 'he'? "No…I'm just as lost as you. I would have thought he would be mad or upset or something! But it almost sounds like this was going to happen."

"Yeah…Hey, Lily? I think…going there is sounding like a bad idea right now."

"I understand where you're coming from Ashely, but after hearing that I—more than ever—need to know what is going on. I'm not changing my mind on this."

"Heh." A soft chuckled comes out "Stubborn as always."

I smirked, leaning over to turn the car on. "You know me, Ashely, it's one of my quality traits. I'll be fine, if anything happens, I have a taser and some pepper spray on hand if need. And you know I throw a mean right hook."

"Oh, I know." She laughed before her voice became serious "Just…promise me you'll be careful."

"I will."

"That's all I ask for."

After that, we talk a little bit more before saying our good-byes. Closing my phone and putting it back in my pocket I leaned forward laying my head on the steering wheel. A exhausted sigh escapes from my lips as I sit back up in my seat, grabbing the leaver and putting the car in reverse before getting back on the road.

If I didn't already have questions about this place I definitely have more now and more for my uncle. Just what the hell is he up to? Is he going to try and come up here? Call someone else to do so? Why didn't he call me yet? Should I call him instead?

So many questions right now, and no answers in sight.

"First Playtime, then getting some answer out of him…" I mutter. Though I can't help the unease that I'm feeling in my stomach and for some reason I felt even more unnerved by whoever the 'he' is. Could it be possible that package was meant for me to find?

Only one way to find out.

June 17th, 2005, 6:43 pm

"Well…here it is…"

'You have arrived at your destination.'

Pulling up into the Playtime Co parking lot, I pause at the entrance looking around "Damn...might need to park here; this place is a mess." Looking around as far as I can see with the help of my headlights and the few flashes of lighting the light up the night sky. It's hard to see at first due to the pouring rain, but one quick click of the high beams and I can fully see that the lot is torn up, pavement all cracked up with weeds sprouting out every nook and cranny. "If I attempt to drive any closer, I might actually pop a tire, then I'll be in trouble."

Looking around, my original hopes of finding a decent hiding spot for my car were quickly dashed by how badly damage the road is. Looks like I'll have to park my car here and make do. Turning the car off, I quickly grab my messenger bag digging around making sure I have everything I might need.

"Notebook...flashlight...first-aid kit...the letter... my tools...alright I think I've got everything I need." Grabbing a hair tie, I pulled up my hair up before stepping out of the car, with my umbrella. Making sure that it's lock I pulled out the flashlight, turning it on, and processed the long walk to the factory.

"First that phone call with Ashely and now a damn thunderstorm… this really not turning out to be my day." I mutter look over at the large dark shadowy building that is the factory of Playtime Co. Even the flashes of lighting striking from behind the building does not help the uneasy feeling the is growing in me with every step. I won't lie to myself…but I kinda want to turn around and forget about all of this. Or maybe come back when the damn place doesn't look like something form a horror movie.

"…Pictures sure do not give this place justice over how big this place really is." I mutter under my breath. Ugh...it's going to take a while to get to the main entrance. I feel bad for any of the ex-employees that had to park this far out to get to the building. One hell of an exercise though...

After an almost 15-minute walk and finally approached the front doors to the place, I came to a pause examining the doors. This place has been closed for 10 years so the doors would be locked. Looking further and seeing some of them are crack and had some holes gapping in them. If it comes to it and the doors are locked, I might have to break the window.

"Won't really look to out of place if someone actually did come by here."

Reaching out and tugging on the door I was a bit surprise to see that the doors were in fact not lock. "Strange..." I mutter in confusion stepping inside the building "Could it have disintegrated over the years...? Well, beats having to break in this place."

Walking inside, I look around taking note that while it's a bit dark in here there are some lights works making it possible to somewhat see what's around. It's weird that the lights are still on after all this time, I honestly would have thought it would be completely dark or something coming in here and I'll need to find something to turn the power on.

"Good thing I brought extra batteries for the flashlight." Walking over to the front desk I place the umbrella on top as I examined around the lobby room. Taking a quick note of the run-down lobby noticing the cracks on the floor and walls, the chip and faded painting of Huggy Wuggy that is painted along the walls. "Still…there is some form of power being run here. Could someone somehow still be paying for this place...?" I shook my head moving the flashlight around to see what else is here. "Whatever is not like it'll make any difference. It'll make getting around slightly easier though."

Glancing back down to the counter and spotting a green VHS Tape. Frowning I picked it up to examine it "Now why is this left out here...?" Looking around I spotted a TV hanging in the top right corner of the building with a VHS Player underneath that was the same color as the tape.

'Strange? Do they have some kind of color code tapes that's can only be played by the same color?' Humming, I walked over to the tv and insert the tape. The tv immediately turn on and noticing a blue furry arm with a yellow paw on the screen.

"The heck...?"

"Hi, my name is Leith Pierre, and I'm the Head of Innovation here at the Playtime Co. toy factory."

The sound of a male talking had temporary brought me out of my confusion about the hand in the videos as I began to listen.

"If you're seeing this, then you're trespassing."

Really? Never would've guessed...

"Yeah, we play this little tape on loop whenever we close the factory for the day."

Guess that doesn't count when you close the place down. It's still weird how out of place that tape was with how empty this room is.

"So, trespasser, just to make you aware... While we pride ourselves primarily on our high-quality toys and excellent childcare, we also pride ourselves on our security. For example, this facility is full of hidden motion triggers which, once set off, will turn on the factory's emergency alarms and directly contact the authorities. And... that's one of the tamer aspects of our security systems."

"Huh...What do you mean by that?"

"No spoilers!"

Figures.

"So, you've got my warning. It's not too late to turn around. I just hope that you're certain whatever you're doing is worth it."

"Yeah, I hope so too, Leith..." I mutter holding a hand to my chin. "Security measures, huh." If the place originally didn't have power, then I wouldn't have to worry about that, however...looking at the lights and the tv that was still showing the hand (that I had figured out a while ago it was the hand of Huggy Wuggy. Why is it showing his hand? I honestly don't know), since the power is still up and running to some degree, I'll just have to be extra careful. Who knows if the security measurements that they put here still work, but...better safe than sorry, I guess. Nodding, I proceed to move on with my investigation.

At first glance there wasn't much to see, you've got the main lobby with two hallways on either side. On the left reading security room ("Probably where they monitor the cameras and stuff") and on the right with a sign that says, "Gift Shop". The wall behind the front desk has two entry way that are blocked off with some turnstile.

I don't have a pass to move them...luckily, they are easy to hop over.

Hopping over the turnstile, I looked over at what was supposed to be a hallway leading over to the next room, but...

"Great...it's closed off. Just my luck." Walking over to the solid metal gate that was blocking my way in, I looked around to see if the was anything I could use to open the door. "What's this...?" Above the door there was a black monitor with a blue hand glowing on the screen. "Uh...is that supposed to be some kind of key to open the door or something?"

Confused about the blue hand above the door I immediately headed over to the security room to see if there was anything in there that could help me. But of course, just like the metal gate the door to the room also had a lock; this time with a color-coded lock.

"Fantastic, it's going to take forever to go through all the color patterns to find the right one!" I groaned in frustration, rubbing at the temples of my forehead "If I get to many wrong would that set off an alarm...? *sigh* Not much left to search but the Gift Shop…though I doubt I'll find much."

Heh, maybe there's some toys left over I could take back as a 'souvenir', I chuckled at the thought pushing open the doors to the room, seeing the mess that's in here. Toys knocked off the shelves some out of the boxes, but the one main thing that caught my eye was the train running above on the tracks that are attached to the ceiling.

"I thought those things ran on batteries." At this point I shouldn't be surprised anymore, things that were supposed to be turned off are in fact up and running. Getting back on track I look closer at the train noticing the four different colors painted on the train. "Green...pink...yellow and red... hmm, wait… There are arrows on the train!"

At glance that design wouldn't look to out of place and not many people would give it much thought, though…thinking back to the color pad for the security room. Maybe…

Looking much closely as I could, I notice the white painted arrow pointed in one direction. The first arrow beginning at the red cart. "Okay...I see now." Taking out my notebook and quickly wrote down the color order; I hurriedly ran back down to the security room. Pausing at the glass door, I look at it seeing my reflection staring back at me. Bright blue eyes with long dark hair held in a side hair tie leaving my bangs free. My clothes having some dark stains from the rain that blew on me. Blinking I took a deep breath in holding the flashlight over the notebook, reading over the color pattern before punching in the colors.

God, I hope this works…

Click

"Yes!" I cheered as the door opens and immediately head inside. "Okay, what do we have in here."

Upon entering and seeing the multiple screens that were most likely used for the cameras and chair lay around the desk, but the two things that caught my eyes was another tv stand with a tape on the desk and a strange item that is block by some glass window.

"What the heck is that thing?" Walking over I crouched down to see through the glass. It's hard to say what it is but I can see a blue hand attached to this thing. "Is this what I need to open the door?" I examined the glass door to see if it was possible to open the door though…it seems to be packed tight in there.

"Well…shoot." I stood back up with a huff looking over at the tape on the desk. "Maybe…" Picking up the tape and noticing some words written on there 'Grab Pack Safety Instructions.' Is that what this thing is called? Whatever. Maybe watching this will open the door, if not well…guess I'll be using that chair to get it open.

Placing the tape into the player and watching as it began to show a tutorial of something called a grab-pack, that seems to match what's behind the glass door. Watching I notice that I can use it to grab things from a distance, though they can only be fired at small objects/handles...and for some reason they showed not to fire it at a coworker.

Which made me question if someone had attempted this and that's why they are showing it. And somehow it can be used for rewiring stuff...? I don't know what that means but I'll probably find out eventually. When the video came to an end the glass door slowly open allowing me to grab the item.

"Alrighty, then…"

Putting it on the table I look over the Pack, three things I notice of the pack was one: despite how it looks the Pack is light, which will make carrying it around easier and not have to worry about it weighing me down. Two: it's missing the red hand that was shown in the video. That might cause a small problem; however, I remember that the door only needed the blue hand to possibly open the door. So, I wonder if I will come across the other hand somewhere around the facility. And finally, three: considering I'm wearing it like a backpack I don't really need to worry about rearranging my messenger bag. I can easily put it on top of it and it'll cause me no problems of getting in the way.

"Luckily my bag has clips on each end." Picking up the Grab Pack, sliding my arms through the hoops and carefully tightening the straps to a comfortable state "So, if my bag gets caught in any I can easily unhook it. There." Getting the feel of the Pack I moved the cannons arounds and testing the shooting and the pull of the hand. "Alright...I think I got the hang of this. Now let's see if I can open that door."

Getting back to the door and making sure I have the hand aim at the right angle; I pulled the trigger watching as the blue hand shot forth to the pad and watching as a blue loading bar began to grow above the door. Once complete the metal gate begins to rise up.

"Sweet! It actually works!" Excited, I processed to walk down the hall. As I was walking, I saw a tall blue figure in the distance standing in the middle of the room on top of a platform.

Woah. Was the first thought that came to my mind, upon looking up at him.

"So... this is Huggy Wuggy, then." I do wonder how they were able to make this giant size version of him and how they got them to stand.

Then again…

Flashes of the memories that I had back at my house came to mind. "Mmm…" Shaking my head from the thought I look back up to what I'm guessing is a 17-18-foot-tall form of a Huggy Wuggy toy standing on the platform with a big smile on his face, and having his right hand held up as if he was greeting any of the guest/workers coming in the building.

"Huh..." Looking around I saw scatter toy blocks that had letters on them. They must have spelt Huggy Wuggy when they were put up, and toy boxes of little Huggy Wuggies laying around the ground. Glancing down at the podium stand-seeing the written text on it-I proceed to read what is written on it.

Huggy Wuggy (1984)-

Playtime Co. has designed hundreds of distinct toys, but none connected with people more than that of Huggy Wuggy.
Our founder, Elliot Ludwig, aimed to create a toy which could hug you forever!
As is always true, Playtime Co.'s '4-Step Process to creating the most lifelike toys, was a success!

"...Lifelike toys, huh" I frowned before letting out a small grunt of pain holding a hand up to my head, as a faint ringing sound along with some static began to form in the back of my head. "Geeze…" I grunted rubbing the temple of my head. It feels like something is trying to get through, but I don't know what it is. Shaking my head, I continue to read the podium.

With a bit of string and polyester, our lovable blue pal Huggy was brought to life! Huggy Wuggy has become Playtime Co.'s most popular and bestselling toy so far!

"..." After reading I look down at the red button and for the hell of it I pressed it to see if anything would happen, and my ears were greeted by people singing a song.

His name is Huggy, Huggy Wuggy! ~
When he hugs you, he'll never stop! ~
Your friend Huggy, Huggy Wuggy! ~
He'll squeeze you-

...until you pop! ~ Hehe, wow, Huggy that last line is really something you know!"

A small girl sitting on top of a blue figure shoulders, swinging her legs back in forth,
as she looks over to her friend with a big smile on her face.

"But it's true though! You do give out the-

"...best hugs, Huggy..."

Blinking rapidly as my vision came back to the present after seeing that memory, I held my hand to my head as I looked up at the Huggy on the stand in wonder. And I swear to God at that moment I thought it move!

"!?" Moving back a step-in shock, I quickly looked over the Huggy from head to foot to see if I was just seeing things. Examining the Huggy I notice that the fur on him is moving around. However, since I can feel the breeze from the fan, I quickly wrote it off thinking it was because of that, that was the reason I thought I saw him moving. It did not stop the shaking feeling that I'm being watch as I went on my way looking around the room to see where I should start my investigation though...

Shivering, I glance back at the Huggy that was still standing in its spot as I check every door in the room and finding that all of them are lock.

"Figures..." Sighing, I scratched my head as I looked at the two metal gates in the room, both needing the hands in order to open them. Sadly, one of them needs both the blue and red hand, which I obviously don't have. "Luckily the other door only needs the blue hand..." Making my way over and firing the hand to the pad, and to my misfortune, it would seem to have somehow short circuit the system as I watch in horror as the sparks came flying out of the cord and into the power room.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!"

I may have just killed my only way to move on in this place and not only that, but that room is also lock! As I see it, I have two options here, I can either a) break the glass and force my way in or b) go home. Something I really don't want to.

Just as I was about to debate on picking up one of the giant cubes laying around and throwing it at the door, the familiar sounds of a key falling caught my ear.

"Huh?" Turning around, I scanned the area looking for the item that made the noise when something shining from above caught my eye. Dangling from Huggy's hand was a single key. Now how on earth did that key get up there?! Still in the state of massive confusion I walked back over to Huggy and grab the key from his hand.

"Huh...almost like I'm giving him a high-five." Grabbing the key off the blue hand I walked over to the Power Room "Hope this is the right key." Sliding it in the hole, the door thankfully unlocks allowing me access to the room. "Welp beats smashing the door open...now to see if I can get the power back on in here."

Honestly walking is that room was weird, first there was blood splatter on some of the walls and not red paint as I first thought—trust me I check. ("Why the hell is there blood on the wall!? Did some get brutally murder here!? And why is there blood coming out of that doll!? Just what did I get myself into!?").

Being confused by one of the rules that was tape to the wall ("Why is 'Not hide behind doors to scare Laith Pierre' in the Do section and not in the Don't?), and an embarrassingly amount of time of trying to figure out that I could use the Grab Pack to help get the power back on ("So that's what they meant by rewiring the place.").

With the lights restored I'm able to turn my flashlight off and putting it away for the time being. "Right, now let's see if I can get the door open." Walking out of the room a strong sense of fear went through me as I paused at the entrance of the door.

"He's gone..."

I stood frozen to the ground as I look at the platform that used to have a 17-foot Huggy Wuggy standing in the center.

"What...?" I said in disbelief as I look at the empty platform with wide terrified eyes. "I... don't suppose the wind had caused that toy to move..." Feeling a massive amount of dread I began to make way back to the main lobby to get the hell out of here.

No way. No way. NO WAY! There's absolutely no fucking way that Huggy had move in the 5-minute time span that I was in the Power Room getting the power back on that he suddenly vanished in thin air. "Nope. No way in hell am I dealing with this! Screw this quest, I should have given up when I first saw the metal gate. Hell. I should have turned around when I broke the power to get to the other room. And definitely screw looking for my past memories, it's not worth dealing with whatever is going on in this damn place."

My hopes were quickly dashed away when I saw the entrance to the main lobby was closed off due to the metal gate being back down.

"No!" I cried banging repeatedly at the door with my fist "No no no no, this cannot be happening to me!" I don't know how it happen but my ticket to freedom is now closed off. I can only guess that when I turn the power back on it had reset the door and automatically shut it...or something else was involved. Either way I'm now stuck here.

Crying out in frustration, I smacked my head against the door looking down at my feet. "Now I definitely have no choice but to move on. Ah~!" Scratching at my head I spun around and made way back to the door that I had killed. "Let's just hope I can find another exit somewhere along the way."

Getting the door to open-thankfully with no other problems-I proceeded down the hall, glancing up reading the sign 'Make A Friend'. And before I could make any comment about it, I saw something blue slithering into one of the doors down the hall.

"What the hell was that?!" I whispered in a slightly panicked tone. I don't know what I just saw but I'm pretty sure that was Huggy's arm, and of course I have no other choice but to move forward seeing that I have no other option here. Gulping, I cautiously made my way over to the end of the hallway. Keeping an eye on the staff door, I looked at the door facing the opposite side of it. That door has a stairway plate next to it ("Why is it call the 'stairway to hell'"), meaning that I could avoid whatever the hell is in the other room...but of course...

"Lock." I huffed jiggling the doorknob "Go figure. And the doorway to the 'Make A Friend' is closed and blocked off! Aahhh… So much for avoiding that door." Taking a deep breath in and slowly exhaling I push open the door and had a very strong urge to turn around and see if I could find something to break the doorknob to the stairway, as the hallway before me was almost pitch black. The only lights that were working was the one above the door at the other end, with of course, a smiling Huggy painted on top wearing a construction hat holding a hammer.

"Fuck me..." I pulled out my flashlight, turning it on so I could see the floor better; on the off chance there was something there. And even five steps in before letting out a high pitch screech of fright as a sudden blast of steam blew out one of the pipes.

"GAH! What the hell!?" Jumping back in shock, slapping a hand over my chest feeling my heart beating rapidly due to the scare I just had. "Jesus Christ! Was that really necessary? Ugh!?" Stomping my way past the damn pipe to get as far away from it, I opened the other door entering what appears to be a warehouse room of sorts.

"I swear that stupid pipe did that on purpose, now where am I now? A warehouse, maybe? Possibly storage..."

The only thing I see in this section of the room was some boxes, carts, scatter toy parts, a stairway leading up to the second floor in another room and...

"Another TV." I walked up to it looking down at the yellow VHS player. "If I'm going by the last two tapes, I'll need the yellow tape in order to play it. Still a bit confused about the color tapes though…"

Before heading up the stairs, I wanted to see if I could open the giant metal sliding door to hopefully get to the other end of the room. "Hmph...nope not going to budge." I panted rubbing my aching hands together "Guess I'm going up the stairs then."

Getting to the top, I walked up to the control panel seeing that it needs four different color keys to turn on what I'm guess is the giant crane that's before me. And hello~, what's this I, see? I held up my flashlight to get a better view of the other end of the room. It's hard to make out at first but lo and behold, I found the red hand! "Huh, so that's where it is. Looks like I'm going to need to find the keys if I want that hand."

Not to mention that just below the hand was a vent that needed both in order to open. So, I really don't have a choice either way.

"Now how to get dow-how did I miss this?"

Just as I was about to ponder on how to safely get down to the bottom floor-without breaking a bone-I spotted some cube like item laying right next to the control panel. It had a blue color label on it. Looking at the panel then at the item, shrugging I picked up the item and placing it in the spot that also had a blue label on it, here a click when it slid in place.

"Well... now I know what to look for..." I mutter looking over at the conveniently broken rail guard. Right below it was a couple of boxes lying around, which should make my landing a bit softer. "Hopefully there's no glass in those boxes."

Hoping down thankfully with no broken bones, I began to look around the room. During my search, I manage to find the yellow tape on one of the shelves along with the red key laying just behind it. Good thing I brought my bag to put these items away, it would be a pain to keep running back in forth just to put the keys in the panel.

"Now where the hell is the other key...Ah! Found you!" Using the Grab-Pack to bring down the last key that was hidden on top one of the upper shelves, I made my way back over to the metal door.

"I wonder if the painted hands on the door mean I need to use the Grab-Pack...?" Stepping back a bit I released the blue hand grabbing the handle, walking sideways watching as the door open as far as it could go. Making my way back to the room I had just walked in, I inserted the yellow tape in the player. Watching as the yellow picture of the crane appeared on screen and the sound of two male voice speaking.

"Ugh, Rich, where are they keeping the Huggy boxes?"

"*Scoffs* I don't know, I couldn't tell you! Remember when maintenance last did a sweep of this place?"

"No."

"Exactly! Nobody in this stupid company knows what they're doing. I swear, I haven't seen a single box in its place since they started flooding the storehouse with orphanage junk."

"Right..."

"I get it, it's a nice program and all, on-brand, but *sigh* it's hard to be happy about this when manufacturing is on OUR NECKS about it, 'cause we can't find the stupid Huggy boxes!"

"Rich..."

"*sigh* You're right... you're right... It's...It's for the orphans... I just wish there were less boxes. Anything less would be more abideable. -I-is that even a word? Abideable?"

"No, I seriously doubt that's a word Rich..." I commented once the video ended. I guess the workplace really wasn't all that great. It sounded like something got out of hand when Playtime decided to help take on some orphanage. Well anyway not much helpful information to work with, so I made my way back up the stairs to put in the last of the three keys.

However, just as I was getting ready to put in the last key a loud slamming noise had startle me so badly that I almost drop the key. Which would have been bad, seeing that it would have landed on my foot.

"Son of a-" Snapping my head in the direction of the sound, my eyes went wide in shock upon seeing that one of the upper vent doors was closed. "How on earth did that happen?"

Ugh, I think I might know who caused it, remembering the feeling of something watching me while I was putting the keys in their slots. "And the feeling of massive regret of coming here begins to feel me." I huffed putting in the last key, watching as the crane moved over to grab the hand "Not like there's much I can do about that. I just hope I can avoid running into him."

Instead of hopping back down, I took the longer way around going back down the stairs. Once securing the red hand and began to practice with it much like I did with the blue hand to get a feel of it. Nodding to myself I shot both hands to the panel watching as it began to load before the vent slowly rosed up. It didn't go all the way up causing me to duck down in order to get through. Walking to the edge of the track, I look down noticing all the cylinder like objects that will spin if you push something off it. "Best not to go down this while standing up."

When I got down to the lower level, I came across another vent that was shut. "Great. And I can't go back up the other way...got find something that will help me open this door." After a bit of time and searching around I got the power to the tracks on, almost falling on my butt in progressed when the track suddenly starts to move out of nowhere. "Guess I'll just stand here...and go along with the ride..."

In the meantime, as I was going up the tracks, I took my flashlight out and strapped it my left shoulder. Since it'll be a pain to shuffle between the Grab Pack and the flashlight. It'll make it easier to turn it on and off as well, giving the limit battery life these things have.

Once I made it around the curve of the tracks a sudden blaring sound of an alarm and a bright red light came on-scaring the living crap out of me-as parts of toy suddenly came sliding out. This happened two more times and despite preparing myself, I still manage to get startle by each new alarm sound along with the body parts. "Christ...at this rate I'm going to die of a heart attack before I even manage to get out of this place."

Jumping down to the new room-that the tracks brought me to- looking around to see some big machinery and a big sign hanging above it. "So, this must be 'Make A Friend' room." Heading over to the metal gate reading the paper tape to it with a big red arrow pointed to a scan machine next to the door. 'NOBODY LEAVES WITHOUT A TOY!'

"*Sigh* Looks like I'm making a 'friend' then..."

Making way to the two stands standing before the three big machines, I see that I—and of course I do—need to get the power on if I want to make a toy. "Ugh! Is this place really shut down or what!? Some parts of this building have power and others don't! Geeze..." Sighing I looked over at the other stand taking note of what is written on it.

Make-a-Friend (1960)

Our founder, Elliot Ludwig, was a visionary.
He set the stage for all of Playtime Co.'s greatest feats.
Yet of all the amazing things that he created,
the Make-A-Friend Machine is one of the most creative, impressive, and advanced.
It is solely responsible for nearly every
Playtime Co. toy sold on the market to this day.
All it needs is to be fed the proper parts, and it will paint,
assemble, and do a quality inspection of the toy all on its own.
Gone is the need for complex sorting or back-breaking labor.
This machine can do all that- and more!

"It can take care of painting and assembling the toys...? Geeze, who would have thought this place was so advanced in its time." I said "Bet every other toy factory wish they had something like this. Or...do they have something similar like this now? Eh, not like I really care. Now to get this thing back on."

Walking over to the four flights stairs, I spotted a poster tape to the wall that had two hands holding together. Now I didn't really pay much attention to the other posters scatter around the factory (Minus the rule one) but what caught my eyes was the words 'Adopt an orphan TODAY!'. When I read it, it basically says to adopt an orphan to give a kid a chance of a new life; and if any workers adopt one, they'll get some additional benefits.

If I remember correctly when I was doing online research; Playtime Co. was originally just a toy factory until Elliot Ludwig, the founder, had suffered a tragic accident in the family.

"Did the loss of a child cause him to change the factory to an orphanage and toy factory at the same time...? But why? Sure, Rich had said it's a good cause...on-brand, that is. But what's the point of it. It sounded like ever since they came part orphanage things have been harder on the workers. *Sigh* Maybe I'll stumble on the answer while I'm here..."

Getting back on track I, once again, question the weirdness of this place. Like why do I need to use a Grab-Pack to move parts of the catwalk around, seriously just have the whole thing attach together, there's not even rail guards on this thing! I wouldn't be surprised if someone had fallen off it. And another thing! How the hell did the pink VHS tape get on top the doorway!? Why is it even there!?

"I swear this place makes no sense." I huff walking back over to the tv after I manage to get the machine back on. "Alright, let's see what's on here." When inserting the tape into the player, something like a hand appeared on screen.

"Hmm?" Tilting my head to the side "...I think that hand might belong to one of the toys here. But...I don't know who's..."

"So, Stella, what made you want to work at the Playtime Co. factory?"

"Playing with toys when I was young was so magical. I could go straight from my bedroom floor to anywhere in the world. It was such a great feeling. And... being able to work at a toy factory... somewhere that can provide kids with that same experience... That's a pretty great feeling too!"

"Eh, sounds like a good reason to join."

"Sometimes though... I really, really wish I could go back. To being a kid, I mean. And it's weird, 'cause... adults are just kids, but older! I don't think anyone ever really feels like an adult. But your body just gets older... and older...and then you die. Poof! *Laughs*"

Wow...morbid.

"Human bodies just can't stay young forever. There's thing though! Like some trees that can stay alive even while being way older than a person! I mean, the oldest people to ever live are STILL younger than those! So, I guess everyone is always young relative to something... Right?"

"Alright... I think we're getting a little off-track..."

"No kidding. Stella sounds like she might need a mental evaluation, too."

Trying to forget that...odd(?) interview out of my head I headed back over to the Make-A-Machine control pad. "Alright, it says the power is on, so I guess I just click the button then."

Cue the...whatever number of times that I got scared in this damn place. Once I pressed the button nothing had happen for a few moments, making me think I need to press it again but harder. Or that I somehow messed up the power source. But alas, a loud train horn blew through the room, making me jump from my spot in shock (plus dropping a curse word). All six eyes on the three machines opened up-like they were waking up from a nap-and ready to work. Seeing that I need to manually open the door to the slots containing the toy parts. I watch as pieces of Cat-Bee slide along the conveyer belt and into the first machine.

"Huh...it really did paint the toy. Down to every detail." I spoke in awe watching as Cat-Bee went into the next machine "Then the middle machine puts it together and the last one scans the toy. Man, Elliot sure did come up with a great invention. I'm more amazed that this thing still works after all these years."

When Cat-Bee made it to the end of the track, I went over to pick it up, noticing the middle machines eyes were following me.

"They are following me...Those eyes are following me... Why are those eyes following me?"

Maybe it's part of the design?

Don't think too much of it, Lily, just grab the toy and get the hell out of this room.

"Okay. If I remember right, once this door opens there are some giant building blocks in my way. I could knock them down or climb over them. Then I can head to the other room too-AUGH!? I'm so stupid!" Smacking my forehead as I let out a groan of frustration, as realization dawn on me. I could have just avoided this room all together if I had just turn back around where I came from the moment, I got the red hand. But nooo! I just had to go through the vents and make a bloody toy to get out of the said room.

"Man... I feel like an idiot..." I sigh putting the toy on the scanner, watching the door open once the scan was complete. "Hold the phone...where the hell are the blocks!?"

I paused in my step, seeing that the color blocks are now gone. All of them. All of them are now gone. Poof. As if they were never there in the first place. That's not even mentioning the massive amount of fear and dread running threw my veins as I looked down the pitch-black hallway. I knew I turn the power back on in that room...and yet there are no lights to be seen. And I am genuinely afraid to turn on my flashlight to see what's on the other end of the hall.

Though... I didn't have to seeing as the missing Huggy Wuggy made himself know as he step out of the dark hall.

"?!" I yelp in fear tripping on my feet falling to the ground as I stared up in horror as Huggy slowly made his way towards me. No longer was the friendly smiling Huggy Wuggy; instead, he had an open wide smile showing off his maw of dozens of jagged needle-like teeth. And his eyes... God his eyes were much more dilated making him even more disturbing to look at.

"Fuck!" I crawled backwards as Huggy walked closer, struggling to get on my feet, as my body was almost petrified with fear. The blaring sounds of an alarm caused me to look over to see the vent on the track open up.

Looking back at Huggy and not wasting another second, I shot up to my feet and booked it as fast as I could to the vents; knowing that even if I could get around him, I wouldn't make it in time to open the doors on the other end of the room. So, my best shot is to get away from him and losing him in the vents.

When I got in, I heard the door closing behind me. I let out a sigh of relief as I the flashlight on to see in the vents before sliding down the ramp. Closed or not I don't think Huggy is going to give up on chasing me.

"This way Huggy! Try and catch me~!"

"! Is this really the time to start having flashbacks!?" I yelped when I spotted Huggy on the other side of vent rushing towards me, causing me to duck to the right and continue running down the vents. "Did I seriously play with that thing for fun!?" Running I almost ran into a dead end, but with quick leg work I spun to the left and ran down a hallway with broken tracks with Huggy right on my tail.

"Go away go away go awwaaayy!" I scream in terror as tears slowly began to well up in my eyes.

"Ah!?" Because I wasn't paying attention, I fell down a hole in the ground, almost breaking my ankle in the process, I quickly got back up as Huggy jumped down the same hole. "Shit!"

"Missed me! Hahaha~"

"Shut up!"

Sliding down the ramp I stumble into the rest of the broken tracks blocking me from moving forward. "Fuck...Where!?" Frantically looking around as the sounds of Huggy closing in echo threw my ears "There-!" I dashed into another hall passing the word 'danger' written on the wall for some reason. Yeah, no shit, I'm in danger here. I'm being chased by a man-eating toy that was probably my friend growing up. As I was running down the halls more colorful written words appeared, but I didn't have the time to stop and read them unless I want to be killed in the process.

"Shit! No!" I came to a hard stop, panting, as I looked up at the ramp going up instead of down. There's no way I'll be able to climb that! Turning around in fright as Huggy slowly got closer I spotted a small hole that I could squeeze into. I slid in just before Huggy could touch me, smacking against the wall on the other end; I snapped my head towards the opening watching as Huggy looked down at me as he passed the opening.

"*Panting* Guess...He couldn't...fit through this...hole..." I didn't have time to sit around and catch my breath as I don't know if he'd turn around and try and make his way into the hole or finding another vent to get to me. Taking a deep breath in and letting it out I continue along the track, only to find myself slamming face first into a vent door that suddenly slammed down in front of me.

"Nonononono this cannot be happening to me-!" I cried slapping a hand on the door. However, that was the least of my concerns as I spotted Huggy slowly making his way towards me down the hallway beside me.

I know he knows that I'm trapped. It's why he slowed down in the first place and slowly made his way towards me. Like as if he was playing with his food, knowing that they are a trap mouse waiting to be eaten.

"Oh God no!" I cried and started banging on the door "Come on open up! Open up please!"

The door slowly open back up, but I didn't even wait for it to fully open. Ducking down, I took off in a mad spirit down the hall-and so did Huggy once he realized that the door had open.

Jumping down the ramp at the end and almost sliding into a couple of boxes, and once again looking around frantically to find anything that could help me-seeing as my exit was blocked. I looked up, spotting another track that had a big box sitting on top. I fired both cannons at the box as I saw the closed vented—that was blocking Huggy from getting to me—slowly began to give out from the force of him banging on it.

And...

Just as the door opens...

And me pulling the box down...

My vision whited out as I heard myself speak again.

'Looks like I win this round Huggy! So... what do I win?'

The scenery around me began to change as I heard a little girl singing a song...

"The itsy bitsy spider crawled up the water spout. ~"

A young girl no older than 8 years old sat on the floor of her room playing with the Mommy Long Legs toy as she sung the 'Itsy Bitsy Spider'.

"Down came the rain and washed the spider out. ~"

'Lily…'

"Huh?" She paused in her song at the sudden call of her name. At first, she thought she was imagining it until…

Click

"Little flower."

She recognized that clicking sound and the voice when spoken at a louder tone. "Ellie?" Putting her toy down, Lily got up to her feet looking around the room. "Is that you, Ellie?"

Before she could move from the spot a faint loud blaring alarm echo around her.

"ERR!"

"Huh?" Lily looked out her window to see flashes of red lights and hearing the noise coming from out of her room. A frown of confusion forms on her face "What's going on...?"

"Lily!" At the sudden call of her name, she looked over to her door as it slammed open as a young woman in her early thirties wearing a lab coat appeared, panting as she looked down at the child. "Oh, thank goodness your still here!"

"Doctor...Amanda?" Lily blinks in confusion upon seeing her caretaker "What's going on?"

"No time to explain." Amanda walked over to Lily grabbing her wrist "Right now we need to get you out of here."

"What? Why?"

Before Amanda could even open her mouth, the sounds of creaking and scratching is heard in the room. Amanda let out a curse and before Lily could look over to see what was causing it, she was forcibly dragged out of the room with the door slamming shut behind her. Amanda held a walkie up to her mouth as she frantically speaks as loud as she could over the ringing alarms as the two of them ran down the hallway to the stairs.

"This is Doctor Striling! Experiment 1006 has been spotted in Lily's room! I repeated Experiment 1006 has been spotted in Lily's room! Requesting for security and emergency lock down till we get him back to his room!"

"Doctor what's going on!?" Lily cried out in alarm when the got out of her house running down the driveway. She looks over to see Kissy Missy standing in the middle of the field looking around confused.

But that quickly changed upon seeing movement out of the corner of their eye. When Kissy Missy look back down seeing Lily being pulled by a familiar person that she's seen come and go, she became very worried upon seeing the panic expressions on both of their faces and tried to run after them.

"Kissy!" Lily cried out, making Amanda to pause in her place looking over to see the toy running over to them.

"- I order you to stand down!" Amanda shouted at them.

Kissy Missy paused in her place looking down at them with her head tilted to the side in confusion before pointing at Lily, as low chittering sound leaving her mouth.

"I understand you're worried for, Lily but you must stay put for now. I need to take her with me."

"What?" Lily snapped her head up to her caretaker in shock. "What do you mean?"

However, her answer remains unanswered as a Kissy Missy made another sound, sounding a bit more on the defensive side.

"Kissy, I don't have time for this! I need to get Lily to Dr. Johnson and get them out of the factory."

"Huh?" Lily cried out in confusion at the same time Kissy Missy open her mouth letting out a loud hissing sound and proceeded to lunge at Amanda.

"Son of a—!?" Amanda quickly pulled out her taser smacking the wires straight at Kissy Missy chest.

Lily let out a scream of horror upon seeing her friend fall down twitching like crazy. "Kissy!" She tried to run towards her friend, but Amand quickly grab hold of her arm in a tight squeeze, dragging her to the door.

The last thing she saw was Kissy trying to lift her head from the ground before the door shut close.

"Kissy!" Lily cried, struggling to break free from her hold.

"Lily, please calm down!"

"Why would you do that to her!?"

"She was getting in my way; I had no choice but to keep her down!"

"But why!?"

Amanda ignored her as she spoke in her devices to relay the update of the situation.

" -"

"Yes, I have her with me. I'm taking her straight to Dr. Johnson."

"-"

"Understood." She pocked the walkie away as the two made twist and turns down the hall coming to a stop at an elevator.

"What is going on!? Let me go! Where are you taking me?!" Lily cried tears falling down her face as she looked up at Amanda in frustration.

Amanda let out an exhausted sigh as she pressed the button to the elevator before getting to her knees, placing a firm grip on the child's shoulders. "Lily. Hey Lily, I need you to listen to me." She began but Lily ignored her as she let out a whine of anger struggling to break.

"No! Let go!"

"No. Hey. LISTEN TO ME!"

Feed up with Lily antics she snaped at her shaking her roughly by the shoulders to get her to stop. Lily had winced in pain and stop her struggling when Amanda raised her voice, tearfully looking up at her.

Amanda let out a deep sigh as her eyes went soft as she began to speak. "I understand you are confused and angry right now, Lily. And I do apologize for what I did to your friend, and I can give you my word that she'll be okay. I've asked my co-workers to go and check on her. However, right now it isn't safe for you to stay here. So, I'm taking you to Dr. Johnson, he'll be your temperly guardian until things calm down."

Lily blink confused as Amanda pull her into the elevator pressing the up button. "Guar...dian... I'm leaving?" She asked before a sudden thought went through her mind "What about my friends? Are they coming too?"

"I'm afraid not, dear."

"But—"

Before Lily could response the door opens to the top floor revealing an older man in his early 40's. "Good you have her. Let's go." The three made their way down the hall with Lily reluctantly followed along as Amanda still had her hand.

"Where are we going?" Lily once again asked in desperation, wishing she had one of her toys to hold on for comfort.

However, her question was ignored as the two doctors talked amongst themselves, despite the loud alarms and people running all over the place shouting stuff, she couldn't understand.

"Has there been any news on how 1006 escaped from his room."

"No sir. I believe I'll be informed once they get him back in his room."

"Hmm...perhaps he used the same trick as last time and got better results."

"Perhaps, it took some time till we notice that he was gone. It has been estimated that he was out for 12 minutes before the alarms went off."

"And you found him in Lily's room."

"Yes. He was under her bed sitting there, if I hadn't grabbed her in time, he would have grabbed her."

"He tried to grab her?"

"Yes, if it wasn't for the fact that he made noise I wouldn't have noticed until too late. I suspected he went through the vents as Lily's vent was open when I spotted him."

Lily could only look on in confusion as she looked back and forth between the two as they talk. Questions floating around her head. Who was 1006? Were they perhaps talking about Ellie? What do you mean he escaped? Why was he in my room? I don't remember seeing him. She wanted for someone to answer her questions but never got a chance as the alarms have stop and a voice spoke through the speakers.

"Emergency Lockdown has now passed."

"Workers please return to your post."

"Emergency Lockdown has now passed."

"It would seem they got him back to his room."

"Indeed, but at what cost? Without a doubt there will be some casualties on our side."

"-"

Amanda grabs her walkie speaking into it.

'"-"

"Copy that." She puts it back in her pocket. "I have to head back. Think you can handle it from here?"

"Yes, I'll handle everything from here. Once we leave, we'll be meeting up with some of the scientists and discussing what we'll do from here, and when will be a good time to bring her back."

"Wait!" Lily screamed out causing the two too look down out her in shock. "Why do you keep saying that I need to leave? The announcement said that the lockdown has passed, right? Doesn't that mean it's okay for me to go back? I don't want to leave my friends here!"

"Lily." Dr. Johnson began "You must understand you are almost prefect. Too perfect to lose. And after today's events the higher ups have decided to remove you from the faculty until things have calmed down."

"W-What...?"

Amanda nodded looking down at Lily with a smile "That's right, but don't worry, Lily, once thing have calm down you can come back and play with your friends again. This is just to keep you safe till then."

"No...no no no NO! I don't want to leave!" Lily started screaming and crying hysterically. She tried to turn around and run back to her room, but Dr. Johnson grabbed her arm "No! Let me go!"

"That's enough Lily! Drop this nonsense right now!"

"NO!" Lily screamed scratching at the hand that was holding her, trying to break free.

Dr. Johnson sighs, looking back over to Amanda, ignoring the crying child and the pain in his hand. "Head back to the others and report to me once you find out how experiment 1006 escaped. I'll handle things from here."

"Understood. Take care until then. And remember to forward any updates regarding Lily."

"Will do. Let's go, Lily."

"Nnnoooo!" Lily cried watching with blurry eyes from the tears building up, as the doctor dragged her away and Amanda walking back down the hallway. Lily kept on fighting him as best as she could when they went the main room of the building. "No! I don't want to leave! Please Dr. Johnson take me back. I promise I'll be good!"

"This is for your own good Lily. Now stop fighting your making a scene."

"But I didn't get a chance to say good-bye to my friends."

"I don't care, Lily, we need to go now!"

Panicking Lily looked around to see if anyone could help her. She quickly spotted Huggy standing at his post in the center of the room. Huggy will help me, she thought, reaching a hand towards him, and shouting his name "HUGGY!"

Huggy tilted his head looking to where he heard his friend shouting his name, quickly taking note of the panic, and crying tone of her voice. Looking over he found her being dragged by one of the doctors to the main entrance. Confused as to why and following the orders his creator gave him, he broke protocol about moving from his spot when visitors are here, unless a trespasser came in or Lily sneaking out of her room to play with him. Ignoring the surprise shouts from the people as he steps off the platform and made his way over to the two.

Dr. Johnson notices Experiment 1170 is moving from his post and cursed under his breath pulling out his walkie "Experiment 1170, Huggy Wuggy, is moving from his post. Bring in security to put him back! I repeat Huggy Wuggy is ignoring his orders and is moving around the building." He quickly picked up Lily, who was still screaming and crying, as she hit and kick him to get out of his grasp.

"I swear one thing after another..." He mutters picking up pace as security guards came busting is the room.

"No Huggy, help please!"

Huggy carefree face quickly changed to something much more sinister looking as he saw the man pick up his friend and started running to the main lobby, only to be stop by a bunch of armed men surrounding him trying to restrain him. To which he was not happy about and started to fight back.

"Noooo! Huggy! Leave him alone!" Lily cried out in horror as the metal gate came down and the last thing, she saw was her friend being forcibly pushed to the ground as a giant net fell on top of him.

"HUGGY!"

"Hug...gy..."

I felt something wet—tears—falling down my face as memories began to slam into my head, of me playing tag in the vents with Huggy which got both of us in trouble with the workers. Playing with Huggy as he tossed me up in the air causing me to laugh. Singing his theme song to him...all the times I've spent and played with Huggy flowed into my brain.

I'm... starting to remember parts of my past...

Only for that to cut off as the box had finally contact with the track blocking Huggy from me and causing the track to break as we fell down to a catwalk below us. I landed on my back and quickly got up to see that Huggy had landed on the rail with half his body on the catwalk and the other half dangling down. I watch in horror as his body began to slide down to the empty abyss below.

No this can't be happening.

I just got part of my memory back of him.

I can't lose him again...!

Without thinking, I shot both cannons grabbing on to Huggy's hand just as his body went completely off the rail. Huggy looked at the hands at what I can guess is surprised and looked over at me.

"Huggy it's me, Lily, remember!" I shouted "I know it's been some years and I've grown, but it's me! Remember that time you tried to save me from that man."

Huggy tilted his head to the side as if he was examining me followed by a strange huff sound, as if he's trying to smell the air. And after a few moments he nodded, and his face went back to normal.

"Hah!" I let out a happy breath of relief seeing that he remembers who I was. "Okay, I'm going to bring you back up now, just hold on." I flicked the switch to bring the hands back to the canons, but just has Huggy got his arms over the rail the red hand had jammed, releasing his left arm in the process.

"What!?"

The two of us look in shock as the hand went back into its place. Did it get damage from the fall? Luckily, the blue hand was still holding him and that Huggy had his upper body back over the edge. So, without any more trouble, Huggy got back to his feet looking down at me with his smiling face. I smiled back before letting out a gasp of surprise when he suddenly bent down picking me up from under my arms and tossing me once into the air. Just like he did when I was kid. Bringing me back to his chest he wrapped his arms around me, giving me a big hug. Blinking, I sigh happily closing my eyes and returning the hug as I leaned into him. Enjoying the feeling of his warm-wet body and soft fur tickling my cheek.

Wait…

Wet body!?

I quickly snapped my head down the left, seeing a bright red stain forming under Huggy's right arm, and some white cotton sticking out.

"Oh my god, Huggy your hurt!"

At the sound of my panic tone Huggy pulled back a little to see the wound before shrugging and went back to hugging me, I could feel him purring happily as he tightens his hold.

"Huggy, no! This is not the time for hugging!" I yelled wiggle around in his hold "Put me down, so I take a look at it."

The response I got is an annoyed huff and him rolling his eyes, like this is some kind of inconvenience to him! The little shit!

Putting me back on the ground I told him to sit down as I took out the first aid kit, digging around I was very glad to see materials for stitching wounds. Granted I've never had to stich anything in my life, but it shouldn't be too hard, right? Hahaha…

Getting the thread and needle ready I removed the flashlight from my shoulder, asking Huggy to hold his arm up. Seeing the wound up close a felt a winch and my own tinge of pain in my arm just from looking at it.

"Okay…so, it doesn't look to bad, the blood just makes seem worse." I began grabbing some of the cotton sticking out and carefully pushing it back in. I moved the flashlight around to see if there is anything else, but it seems the only wound is the hole under his arm.

"Disclaimer here, I'm not really good at stitching…well anything so just bear with me for a moment." Huggy looked down at me giving me a nod of acknowledgement. I let out a shacky breath before holding the flashlight in my mouth to get better light. Pinching the two ends of his fur I slowly began to stich is injury.

Considering this is my first time doing it, I just took my time in making sure everything is right. Every now and then I look over to Huggy to make sure he's doing okay, beside the few grunts of pain—which really? You'll casually ignore a big injury to hug me, but this makes you grunt out in pain!?—he seems to be doing just fine. As I'm sewing him back up, I can't help but take note of the particular scent coming from the hole.

There's obviously the scent of iron because of the blood, but there's always a faint floral scent, and I can't help but to notice that it's the same scent from my uncle and I's medicine.

Weird.

This can't be a coincidence at all.

With that not so welcome discovery I finally tied the end of it I reach down picking up the scissors, snipping the thread before putting everything away. Taking the flashlight out of my mouth and back on my shoulder I let out a sigh of relief seeing everything holding up so far.

"Okay, everything seems to be good so far, just make sure not do anything drastic to pull at the stiches."

Quick questions though…can that wound even heal like people do? Or is it something he'll have to live with for the rest of his life?

Doubt, he'll know the answer himself.

"Up we go." I grunted, hearing popping sounds from my knees, as I stood back up. Rubbing at my knees to help ease the pain, I notice that his blood got on the sleeve on the left side of my jacket, including my hands from getting up and personal with it. Great…I think there are wipes in the box but I don't think I have a way to get it off my jacket.

Huggy look at his arm with a curious look in his eyes, moving his arm around testing the pull of the stich. When he nodded, he got back up to his feet looking down at me as if questioning what is the next step.

"Hmmm…" Humming, I looked up at him before looking back at the conveyer belt we fell from. "Guess we won't be able to go back that way." I commented. The belt was way to high up for him to reach even if he picks me up for extra height, it just won't work.

Huggy nodded his head in agreement, making me remember that he could not communicate. Lovely. Going to need to remember how to read his body language as I did before, it's been some years... but I'll probably remember along the way.

"Looks like we'll be needing to find another way out. Come on." I began to walk along the tracks hearing Huggy following behind me. In a way...I'm kinda glad that I'm not going to be alone in this place. Having Huggy with me brings me some comfort. As we walked along the track, noticing all the conveyer belts above and below us (seriously just how BIG is this place there's no end in sight), I spotted something big and red drawing at the other end of the room. Frowning I looked over it as we got closer, it almost looks like a poppy flower. And due to me not paying attention I almost tripped on my feet from stepping on a black VHS that was laying on the ground.

"Woah!" I yelp getting back to my feet as Huggy held my arm to steady me. Giving my thanks I bent down picking up the tape. "What the heck is this doing here?" I question looking over the tape "Is there even a tv down here?"

I felt Huggy tapping my shoulder catching my attention. "What's up?" I saw him looking down at the tape then looking to his right and pointed his arm in that direction. "Hm?"

Following his arm, I spotted a tv at the other end of the track. "Good catch." I said as we both walked over to the tv. Putting the tape in the player we watch as a drawing of a clawed hand appeared on screen—one I can't help but feel like I've seen it before but where? —followed by a man speaking and loud bangs happening in the background followed by faint screams being heard as well.

"Final log. In relation: 1-0-0-6. The Prototype. Coordination and cooperation is evidently within his skillset, as well as the skillset of all other experiments of his type."

Bang!

"Though still missing, today's events are no doubt in relation to him. His absence was a flawedscientific process which should have under no circumstances been left unaccounted for. That's why I'm making this log: So that the same mistake won't be made twice."

The screaming and pounding in the background began to grow louder.

"Any future experiments will need to be contained and disposed of in a secure location."

BANG

"I'm not worried about myself. One breakthrough and I'll be back. We must forge onwards in the name of science. Whether those who are beneath us understand it or not. End of-"

The sound of something breaking down a door and running had caught off the man's speech as the sounds went into static as the screen went black.

What the hell...? I looked up at the screen in silence seeing both mine and Huggy reflection looking back at us. 1006 seems to be popping up a lot, and yet I still don't remember who that is. I look up at Huggy, who was staring back down at me "You... don't happen to know who 1006 is do you?"

He tilted his head eyes looking around before slowly nodding his head. As if he was hesitating in giving me the answers.

"Is he someone we should be weary of?"

That question had him going still, despite lacking facial expressions, it was still easy to see the unease written all over him. He'd seem very conflicted in answering this question before pointing his hand at me then giving a shake with a 'so-so' answer, then pointing to himself with a shake of his head.

"Uh…I don't understand…" I admitted confusion. "Are…you trying to say I might be okay and you not so much?"

Huggy tilted his head with a far away look in his eyes, like as if he is recalling something before, he slowly nodded his head.

"I see." I mutter "He sounds... dangerous... but we have to move on. Hopefully we can avoid running into him, if he is still here."

The grimace on his face pretty much told me 1006 is still here. Lovely.

Sighing, I made my way to the other side of the catwalk hearing Huggy following behind me as I made my way to the big painted flower. I stopped at the staircase leading down to a brown door looking over the flower, seeing words and arrows pointed in the opposite direction of the door.

Run

Danger

Stop

Turn around

Go back

Along with four toys tied up from the ceiling, hanging beside it.

Weird.

Ignoring the weirdness of that I pulled out the letter looking down at it and back up to the flower.

"Find the flower..." I muttered. I looked over at Huggy and a sudden thought popped into my head "Hey Huggy..." He looked down at me questionably. "Did you by any chance send me this letter?" I held the letter up to him as he bent down to examine the paper. After a moment he raised back up and shook his head.

"I see..." Worth a shot, but as I had looked at his hands and had figured that he wouldn't have been able to send that package in the first place. Though I did ask just in case he did.

Huggy pointed at the letter and looking at me questionably.

"Oh...well you see. A couple of days ago, I had received this package from Playtime with a VHS tape and this letter." I began to explain "Wanting to find out what this letter meant and who sent it. I came down here to investigate." And trying to find my lost memories that I'm seeming to be getting back the longer I stay here. I silently added to myself. No need to go into a longer detail explaining that I'm missing 8 or so years of my past. That's a can of worms I'll be opening at another time.

Huggy frowned-which I didn't think was possible-looking back at the paper.

"Yeah, I know. Weird, huh. But at least I know you didn't write it, so someone here did." I pocket the letter back in the bag. "Well with that out of the way, let's move on." Just as I was about to move down the stairs, Huggy's arm wrapped around my waist, preventing me from moving "Huh? What's wrong?"

I looked up, seeing him staring at the flower, with a frown still place on his face.

"Is... there something behind there that you're worried about?"

He huffed, shrugging his shoulder, his face going back to normal as he removed his arm from my waist.

Now it's my turn to frown up at him.

"Look. I now...it's a bit concerning to move on. Especially with all those warnings that are written on the wall and back in the vents, but this is the only door we have access too. If there was another way, I would take it. But I need to find out what this letter meant by finding the 'flower'. If anything, bad happens in there, we'll turn around and try to find another way. Sound good?"

He looked at me for a couple of moments, to which I'm guessing he is thinking back over to what I said, before he slowly nods his head. I nodded back and made our way down the stairs and opening the door. Walking in I step out of the doorway to see Huggy, basically squatting down in order to get through. It was kinda funny to see a 17 foot killing toy needing to squat down in order to squeeze through an average height doorway. Once he got in and the door closed behind him, I looked around noticing the different tone and appearance to this room.

For one we have hardwood floor with tan wallpaper with poppy flowers decorated all over it and some lamps instead of the buzzing fluorescent lights; on the walls were lamps nailed into the woodwork. And there was a faint sound of a music box playing further down the hallway.

"The hell...it's almost like we've step into a house then a factory."

We made our way down the steps, walking down the long hallway, we made our way into a bigger room that had some seats attach to the wall, a bookshelf, a dresser blocking a door for some reason and a little dollhouse. "Hmm." I walked up to the dresser putting my hand on it. It might be too heavy for me to move on my own...I could have Huggy do it, though there is still one more thing I want to check out.

Moving away from the dresser I walked over to the other hallway seeing a couple of the lamps are red instead of yellow like the rest, and two double doors at the end. The sound of the music was playing louder as we got closer to the door. Placing my hands on them, I took a deep breath and push the doors open. And the first thing I see is the Poppy toy from the commercial sitting in a glass case in the center of its room.

"…" Staring that the toy I could help the feeling of knowing her, the feeling is so deep and yet unfamiliar at the same time. "Hm…" I winched at the sudden throb of pain in my chest. I felt something touching my shoulders startling me a bit, looking over at Huggy—who is crouching down in the room—seeing the concern in his eyes.

I gave him a small reassuring smile brushing off his hands "I'm fine Huggy, just feeling…off, I guess. I honestly don't know what I'm feeling." I mutter the last part before shaking my head. "Anyway…do you think we should open the door?"

The concern is still on his face but it quickly went away when he look over to the case, he tilted his head to the side before looking down at me with a sharp nod of his head. I don't know why but the look his giving me…it feels like he knows something, something important about the doll.

"…" Brushing off the weird feeling I walk up to the case looking it over. It would appear that the Poppy doll is asleep, and I can't tell if my eyes are playing tricks due to the red lamp above, but it looks like there's some red mist? Floating around in the case. In any case there doesn't seem to be a key hole in the door, so it should be easy to open. I reach out my hand grabbing the handle of the door, and a sudden zap of pain shot through my head.

'- come on! Let's go out and play!'

'Okay! Okay! Just hang on Lily, I need to dad help down bring the buns outside, then we'll go play.'

The sudden sounds of tires hitting it's breaks along with a loud bang noise echo throughout the area, not long after followed by a piercing scream.

'Hello Lily, my name is Poppy. I hope we become good friends!'

"!" The sudden flashes and voices caused me to flinch backwards a bit and because my hand is on the door, the case opens up and a faint whiff of flowers went up my nose.

Suddenly, feeling dizzy, I fell down to the floor hearing and seeing multiple things happening at once.

The panic sounds from Huggy at the sight seeing me fall, the lights flickering as Poppy as flew open. A sharp sound of glass breaking and Huggy body suddenly covering me, and just before everything went dark, I faintly heard a voice speaking.

"...You open my case..."

Tic

"…Lily?"

Tic

Rumble

It's…strange what a numbing feeling can do to one's mind.

"Lily, are you alright?"

I can hear my therapist trying to call out to me, as I stare out the window watching the rain fall down and the few scatters of lightning. Memories of the place flowing back in my mind as I continue to blankly stare out the window. Memories…that I wish I could truly forget and never remember, but never will. The marks one my body will never let me forget.

"Can you hear me, Lily?"

As if to remind me the phantom pain running down my arm causing my eyes to move down to my right arm staring at the black bandages covering my hand. More could be seen poking out from my sleeve. Clenching my fingers, I look back up to Dr. Smith.

"Yeah…sorry about that." I mutter looking back over to the window, feeling my left arm reaching out to rub against the bandages. "Just…got lost in thought."

"…" Dr. Smith eyes had narrowed in concern as she chewed the inside of her cheek. "It's…quite alright, do you think you need a break again before continuing?"

I tilted my head to the side thinking it over. "…How much time is left?"

"We have about 3 hours left."

"That much? …Time sure does fly by."

"Indeed."

Blinking, I leaned further back into the seat staring up at the ceiling. "I…" A deep exhausted sight left my mouth "Is…it possible to end it hear and reschedule later?"

I could hear her letting out a faint hum of acknowledgement as she got up to move to her desk. "That's not a problem, I had a feeling about this when Mr. Okazaki and I chatted, so I cleared my schedule for next week."

"Hmm…that so?"

"Yes. Special cases like yours need great care and time. Having a full day with a patient helps them out in talking without feeling the need to rush things in or accidentally leaving stuff out. Added to that we can take small bits of breaks when needed or like right now ending a bit early due to whatever is currently bothering you." Hearing the clicking of the mouse I sat back up watching her eyes move around. "If I may ask, is there a reason you want to stop here? You don't have to answer if you don't want to."

"No, it's fine." I said rubbing at my left leg feeling the leg compress under the jeans. "I… just don't know where to start next and when would be a good point to stop. I'm honestly surprised with how much I told." I look over to my bag seeing glass eyes poking out. "…Perhaps it's because the beginning was more like setting the stone or scratching the skin of what's to come."

"Hmm…" Dr. Smith gave an encouraging hum as she looking over her computer.

"…" I swallow some spit in hopes to making the dry feeling in my throat go away as I slowly open my mouth. "…What happens next…from here on out…things…will get darker. I would like to say it's gets better in the end, but then I'll be lying. A lot of secrets will be revealed, a lot of…" I paused, feeling a tightness in my throat suddenly form along with tears from hearing the screams echoing in my head.

Give her back!

Give her back to me!

You can take her!

YOU DAMN BASTARD!

Clearing my throat, I rubbed my eyes "Sorry. I…just need to take a break and organize where to go to next in the story. I didn't feel fully prepared for all of this, to be honest."

Sniffling, I look over to Dr. Smith seeing as she looked at me with a calculated look in her eyes before moving back down to her screen. "That's quiet alright, I suppose it's a good thing the office will be closed tomorrow. It'll give you plenty of time to reorganize yourself when you come back. Now, we open back up on Monday at 7, what time do you want to come in?"

"Would it be fine if I came in aroudn7:30 or 8?"

"That's fine. I will already be here so come in when you can."

"Thanks."

Grabbing my bag, standing up from the seat, I said my good-byes to her as she followed me out of the room. When entering the lobby room, I pulled out my phone to text Ash to come and pick me up.

"Thank you again for seeing me, Sylvia, please remember to get some rest. I know that this is very draining for the mind."

"Will do, and I'll see you on Monday. Have a good day."

"Thanks, you too!"

"So, how'd it go? You ended much earlier than expected."

Is the first thing I hear from him when I got back into the car.

"Exhausting."

Is my immediate response.

"Terrible. Got it. Ow!"

He grunted in pain from my fist digging into his side as I gave him a side glare.

"Just shut up and drive." I huffed settling down in the seat.

"…Someone is grouchy."

"I will hit you again."

"While I'm driving?"

"Yes."

"Rude!"

Chuckling, I look out the window watching the scenery move by. "All things considered…it wasn't too bad, still exhausting though."

"I'm sure it is." He hummed. "Was never found of doing those sessions myself, but they do help."

"Hm." I grunted in response then blinking when remembering something important. "Oh right, I've almost forgot to ask." I look over to him "Did you by chance tell her about, Leslie?"

He frowned in confusion "Not…to my knowledge. Then again, we had talked some months ago about getting in." He rubbed his chin as he made a turn on the highway. "It's possible that I might have brought him up. Did she mention him."

"Yes. It was before we started the session, she did mention that you told her, and I wanted to ask. But…if you can't remember if you did or not…" I trailed off looking forward to the front window.

Ash narrowed his eyes both hands gripping the steering wheel. "It's a bit early to suspect anything, but for your sake let's hope I did tell her."

"Yeah…for all our sake we better hope that's the case."

"Or we'll have a big problem on our hand."

NEW NOTE (1/31/24): I'M JUST GOING TO ADD THIS REAL QUICK. But NOT every chapter will begin with Lily talking to her therapists. It'll begin and end at each new chapter of the game. With some exceptions if the situation calls for it.

OLD WORD COUNT: 11,091 NEW WORD COUNT: 16,273