Seeking for the truth

by AyumixRose

Upon finding a package from 'Playtime Co' in the mail that was meant for her sick uncle, Lily decided to take it upon herself to find out the truth behind the mystery deaths of those who used to work there and possibly find out more about herself. Art by @cuineart over on twitter

4. Fly in a web

NEW NOTE (1/31/24): SO THE SAME THING AS CHAPTER 1 this whole chapter will need a full read through as I redid just about everything here.

---

Tic-tok

Tic-tok

"Lily are you doing okay?"

Tic-tok

Tic-tok

"You seem to be fiddling with your necklace a lot. Do you need a drink or anything?"

Tic-tok

"No…sorry." I let out go of the necklace feeling the blood stain blue bead hitting my chest. "I just… I'm not looking forward to this part of my journey is all."

Dr. Smith frown before looking over her papers. "If you want to skip this pat and go to the next that's fine. Will come back to it later."

"No. That's alright." I sat up in my seat. "That part is even worse then this, it's just the memories I don't want to remember." I heaved out a sigh. "This part is going to be long, so I hope you get comfortable."

.

.

.

.

This part begins with a strange dream of an unknown past, that look familiar to me but at the same time it did not

---

The gentle breeze of summer air rustling the leaves as the clouds calmly float through the sky. A toss into the air as the sounds of giggling children rang out. The sizzling sound of food being book on the grill as an older man hummed a tone, watching the two girls tossing the ball back in forth over the net.

"…up…"

'-are stabilize -, should we proceed to the next round?'

Thick re liquid floats around the tank, two men standing before it looking down at the machines.

'Not yet Joseph, we still need more time.'

'I see… then what about the progress with, Steven.'

'There were some problems with 103, however I now know what needs to be done. Though I must say Joseph, I didn't expect you to actually hand me your cousin for such acts.'

'Very funny -, even though you want to get your hands on hand him for what he did.' The younger of the two look up at the tank 'After all it was by his hands that all of this is happening.'

'Yes…that foolish boy. Filled with so much pride, greed, and arrogance.' The older man looks over to a closed door in the far distance. 'And now look at him. So sure, he got away with it, and now he is reaping what he sowed.'

'Indeed.' The younger man walks around the machine up to the glowing red tank 'So he'll fulfilled his purpose, and I can move on to the next stage.'

'…Joseph, are you sure you still wish to go through with this? And what about you girlfriend, Susan? If you still go through with this procedure, I can't guarantee if you will still be 'you'.'

The younger man placed a hand on the tank looking up. 'Susan knows nothing about me being here or what I'm doing. I…didn't want her to go down the same paths as me. And I don't care what happens to me, what I must sacrifice…ever since you've shown me her, what you are doing…

"…ke up…"

The ball suddenly goes across the street. The youngest yelling that she'll get it followed by the older man telling her to watch the streets.

"…wake up."

Bright lights, screeching tires, a loud crunch and a bang followed by screaming fill the air.

"wake up…"

'…Even if my mind forgets, I know my soul will still remember the promise I've made, and to atone for my sins that I made on that day.'

"Wake up."

---

"!"

Startle awake, I jerk in place eyes snapping open seeing everything around me in a blurred vision.

"…" A pain groan escaped my mouth, shutting my eyes again at the pounding headache in my head.

What was that?

I tried to recall what I saw, but everything is still fuzzy. It felt like a memory or something but that can't be right, can it?

That field.

That tank.

Those men…damn just trying to look back is making the pain in my head increase.

Damn it, fine, think about something else. Like why am I on the ground. Did I pass out? The last thing I remember was opening Poppy's case, the lights were flickering and a fain floral small. Was it the smell that cause me to pass out?

"Mmm…" I groan upon feeling something lightly tapping my cheek. "Wha…" Slowly opening my eyes. My vision slowly came back to normal; I see a blurry face looking down at me with dead fish like eyes and a smile right in my face.

"..."

"..."

"...!?"

Needless to say, my next action was within my right as I immediately swung my fist punching whatever was looking down at me.

THWACK!

I realized a second too late that it was Huggy looking at me in concern when I heard him yelp in pain.

Oops.

I guess he was trying to wake me up when I passed out after freeing Poppy from her case.

Anyway, I need to go back and apologize to Huggy for hitting him. Though, he should have known better then to be directly in someone's face when they are passed out and slowly coming back to themselves! ("I am so sorry Huggy! I really didn't mean to hit you! Honest!") In my defense he was asking for it. ("Aw come on, don't be that way! I said I was sorry!") Also, I'll take this as a slight payback for the nightmare fuel that will haunt me for life that he gave me back in the vents.

After getting Huggy to finally accept my apology and reassuring him that I'm fine. And that I probably had passed out due everything that has happened in the past hour has finally caught up to me. And no Huggy, it wasn't your fault...for the most part. Obliviously I didn't say that part out loud.

Once everything is back to some semblance of order, Huggy carefully grabs my hand helping me back up to my feet. Just before I fully stood up my vision begin to swirl again as a static sound rang in my ears.

"Mm!" I groan grabbing my head, feeling my knees wobbling as I staggered in my place. I could faintly make out Huggy concern sound as he grabs on to my shoulders holding me in place.

I squinted up at him barely making out his shape in this dark room as a film like scene covered my eyes, replacing it with those memories of the field and the tanks, hush words trying to come through but not loud enough to make out what they are saying.

"Shit…!" I moaned squeezing my eyes shut rubbing my head willing for these vision to either go away or just show me what the hell is going on. A small yelp of surprise came out upon feeling Huggy pulling me to his chest as he wraps his arms around him.

There was some kind of humming sound coming out of this throat, and for once…it actually sounds human. I can't here any of the usual sounds he makes just a simple of hum of…a human male if I try to listen carefully.

This sound…the song almost sounds familiar…but were did I hear it?

A question for another time. Thanks to this…song…and Huggy slowly rocking side to side the pain and the noise in my head are slowly fading away.

"…"

I let out a sigh as I relax in his hold, leaning in his embrace as he continues to hum. When the song came to an end, Huggy carefully let go of me standing back up to his full height looking down with a tilt to his head, questioning if I'm alright.

"Thanks…" I mumble rubbing my neck looking to the side. "Sorry about that. I…just had a weird memory? Or a vision?" I sigh looking down at the floor "I don't know, I saw something. There was a field of two children playing, a tank filled with some kind of liquid, people talking and…" I frowned trying to remember the last part but all I got was static in my mind.

Trying so hard to remember what I saw, I almost miss Huggy's body suddenly going stiff out of the corner of my eye. When I look up at him confuse wondering what could have caused him to suddenly stiffen up. I was greeted with his smiling face, head tilting further to the side as if he was wondering why I'm looking up to him.

Frowning even more I open my mouth to speak.

"You, okay?"

I get the feeling that if he could blink, he would as he moved his head back up, before nodding his head.

"You sure? You suddenly went stiff when I spoke about those visions. Do you by chan-!"

I was caught off when Huggy place his hand on top of my head rubbing it around, making my head move around.

"…"

I am so confused right now.

But…

I glance up at him beneath his arm, looking at his smiling face taking note of something in his eyes. I can't make out what…but it's something important, deep down I just know it.

He's hiding something from me.

I think he knows what I was talking about and is avoiding the conversation. I have no doubt if I keep trying to push for answer he'll just keep deflecting them. Not to mention I have yet to fully pack down on how to read him like I did before.

Alright…I can play the waiting game, have been for the past 10 years. One way or another I'll get my answers.

"Quit that, you're going to mess up the hair tie" I groaned smacking his hand off my head trying to fix it up. "In any case…" I started looking around the room—taking note of the lack of a doll in the case.

Weird.

Now that I think about it, I don't recall anyone else speaking after all this time and I'm sure I heard her speak. You'd think she would pipe up during this time. Looking around on the floor I couldn't spot her anywhere. If she not here, then…where is she?

"Hey Huggy…" I don't know if he was affected by the smell as well, but he was defiantly up before me. "…do you know where Poppy is?"

He tilted his head like he was debating on something before nodding his head. Before I could ask, he suddenly turn around, ducking to avoid the ledge before moving on.

"Wha—Hey! Wait up!"

Running after him, I ran back to the main room of—I'm guessing is Poppy's room—I paused in my step looking around noticing a couple of things. First the dresser that was blocking the door is tilt over on its side, like someone knock it down. And second, the hallway that led us down here is now closed off by a bunch of drawers, cushions and the rocking horses that were in the room, all piled up blocking the way from where Huggy and I originally came down from.

"What the…"

Before I could continue my train of thought, Huggy lifted his arm pointing at the door. I was confused for a moment before remembering the question I had asked him.

"She went through the door?"

A nod.

The only way she could have done that was if the dresser was moved and I know for the fact that she wouldn't be able to with her size. So that only left…

"Did you knock down that dresser?"

A nod.

Alright so I was right about that.

"And those…shelves…did you put all those up there?"

Another nod.

"…"

The pure confusion I feel at the moment at his response has me reeling back for a moment.

Why? Just…why?

Moving the dresser so we can get access to the door, understandable. But the hallway? That I don't understand. I get that at the moment getting back to the main entrance is kinda out of the question, however that doesn't mean we could have found something along the way to help us out.

There's so much I want to ask him; I could feel my mouth opening and closing struggling to come up with something only to settle on one word.

"Why?"

Why help Poppy out in moving the dresser. Why did you also close of the entrance to the hallway. And so much more I want to ask. Luckily Huggy seem to understand what I was trying to ask, as I watch him move his arms around followed by some grunted noise. It took some guessing, but I managed to put together a piece of what he's trying to say.

"Okay…" I scratch my head "Let's see if I got this part right. Poppy asks you to move the dresser so she can get through the door. Which I'm sure you would have to open it for her as I don't think she would have been able to."

Were pretty much going back over what I just ask him in the beginning but alright, it probably leads to why he blocks off the entrance. Can't believe I'm playing some form of charades with a living doll to get some form of answers. What is my life right now?

Huggy nodded with a thumbs up before continuing his charade. Crouching down by the door holding his arms in a way to mimic hair, before mimicking a talking motion with his hands. Then he stood up holding his arms up in the air opening his mouth in a menacing way before taking a few steps towards me, which caused me to take a few steps back in a mixture of shock and confusion. After that he made another Poppy gesture before mimicking him picking stuff up and putting them in the hallway.

Once finished, he stood back at me with a proud smile on his face as his hopeful eyes look down at me, waiting for my response. And I almost felt bad for crushing that look, because…

"What?"

What the hell was that? I didn't understand a damn thing he was trying to say. The only thing I got was something like Poppy still talking to him after he knock down the dresser. And that is all.

"I'm sorry…what?" I ask again in confusion. "I… did not get any of that."

Huggy gap at me before smacking his forehead dragging it down his face letting out a deep sigh.

"Sorry, Huggy, there is only so much I can translate at this time. I only understood that Poppy was still talking to you. After that you've completely lost me."

My response was the click of his tongue as he looks around trying to find something that could help him speak. I still feel a bit bad for not fully understanding him, but I also think that even if I could…I'd still be a bit lost.

In the meantime, Huggy seem to have a lightbulb moment as he face suddenly lit up and out of nowhere grabbed my hand pulling it out.

"Huh!?" I exclaimed in confusion watching has he used his other hand to spell out…words? Yeah…I think that's what his trying to do. It's…actually not a bad idea, though I hope he don't plan to explain everything letter by letter, it would be a pain to translate all that and a massive time consumer.

"Sorry, could you respell that please?"

The annoyed look he gave me before letting out a huff and rolling his eyes. He slowly—this time—spelt out the words.

A-S-K-P-O-P-P-Y

"Ask Poppy…?" I read out loud once I fully process each word. "I should ask her why you block the entrance? Is that what you're telling me?" Huggy nodded his head standing back up, letting go of my head. "Okay…wait." I frowned before snapping my head towards him. "You make it sound like we are going to meet her or something!"

He nods his head again.

"Why?"

He gave me a look that clearly reads ask her when you meet her.

"Alright, alright, I get the message. Geeze, sorry for being in dark here." I mumble moving over to the door. Opening the door, I nodded my head to Huggy, letting him go first as he needs to crouch down to get through.

For visualization he basically has to get on his hands in knees to squeeze through the door. I won't deny it's a bit funny to watch. Closing the door behind me, I look down the hallway and seeing two painting on both sides of the wall. On my right was Bron and on the left was Huggy both doing a happy pose. I huff lightly under my breath as we walked down the hall.

Cute.

Approaching the two doors on either side of the hall, I check them both and finding out they are locked.

'This way...'

"Huh?" I looked around upon hearing a whisper of a woman's voice. Okay. I know I suddenly hear things, due to something sparking a lost memory, but I can tell the difference between a memory and something else speaking to me.

...Well, I hope I do.

"Hey Huggy, did you by any chance hear a voice say, 'This way'?"

He looked down at me confused shaking his head 'no'.

"..."

Maybe it was a memory...?

Though something tells me it wasn't.

Moving further down the hall we came across a three way coriander. In front of us was a room with a red door with the name plate Elliot Ludwig written on top. That's the founder of this place if I recall, is that his office? What's it doing all the way down here? And it's pretty close to Poppy's room too.

On our left is a closed metal shutter blocking our way to continue, but the one on the right is open.

"Hmm..." I walked over to the hall on the left looking up at the two padded screens, taking note that they are turn off.

"Lovely..." I mutter under my breath with a deep sigh. Welp looks like I'll be looking for a power source... again.

Looking back down to see through the metal gate, I was surprised by what I saw.

"What the hell!?" I gasp in disbelief at the sight before me. "There's a giant hole in the floor! How are we supposed to go through that?"

Maybe we'll get lucky and don't have to...

I felt Huggy crouching down a bit behind me, to get a better look through the gate and felt him let out a huff in surprise too at the sight. I don't think he'll be able to do a running jump to get across that, even with me in his arms, the hole is just too big.

Feeling something tapping at my shoulder, I looked up to see Huggy frowning before he pointed at something through the gate. Looking closely, I spotted something like a handrail attach to the ceiling in the center of the hole.

How convenient.

And oddly suspicious.

"Nice catch, Huggy. Maybe I could use the Grab-Pack to swing us to the other side."

Huggy nodded in agreement.

"But uh...how are we going to do that?" I question looking back down at the hole. "We basically have one shot to get it right, or it's game over for the both of us." He shrugged, looking confused as I am.

I let out a low sigh, letting go of the shutter "Guess we'll think of something once we get the power back on to this thing." Turning around, I passed the door to head to the other side of the hall; but I was stopped in my tracks by Huggy. I looked over to him questionably as he pointed at the door, tilting his head, as if he is asking me why I haven't gone in there.

"It's more than likely the door is lock... like all the other doors I ran into this building." I told him "I want to see if there was anything on the other end first. If we don't find anything I'll check the door out, and if it is locked, we can just break the door down. Don't worry I want to check out that room too, but right now we need to find the power source if we want to move on." He looked at me and then to the door before removing his hand from my shoulder.

Nodding my head, we continued down the hall we stumble across something similar to the other hallway, but this time the hole is small, and we can see the floor. Really, I could just ask Huggy if he could carry me to the other side as it would be no trouble for him; however, ...

"I think...we just found the key to our problems, Huggy."

Huggy nod in agreement before looking at me in confusion.

It's strange there's another handle above the cave in floor, but I'm not complaining at the moment.

"Hang on, I need to think for a moment..." I began to mutter to myself. "If I do this...then try that...we could maybe do that next...Mmmm, got it!" I exclaimed pounding my fist into the palm of my hand, looking up excitedly at Huggy. "Okay listen up! What I'm going to do first is to test out the swing on my own to get the feel of it. I'm going to need you to stand in the middle in case I fall. Last thing we need is me breaking something. Next, once I got the swinging down, we'll then do it together; were you'll hold onto me as I swing us across. We might need to try different holding positions and see which one is comfortable. Sound good?"

Huggy was silent for a moment processing the sudden information that I had dumped on him before he agreed with a thumb up and stepping down to the bottom floor looking at me.

"Okay. Ready?"

He nods.

Taking a deep breath in, I step back a bit, before taking off in a sprint - right before I get to the edge, I jumped shooting the red hand at the bar. 'Nice!' Though my achievement was short live, as the moment I began to swing up the red hand suddenly let go of the bar.

"Shit!" I cursed as I fell backwards to the ground, luckily Huggy was standing there in case something like this happen as he safely caught me in his arms.

"What the heck...?" I looked down at the red hand. "Crap, is there seriously something wrong with it?" I question as Huggy put me back to the other side. I looked over at the ladder and shot the hand at it - grabbing and releasing a couple of times - taking note that the hand locks up at random times.

"Oookay. We are defiantly not using this hand unless it's for opening a door." I spoke. "Bummer, and this is my dominant hand too. Looks like we'll be sticking with my less dominant hand and pray for the best."

Trying it again with my left arm this time with higher success, I told Huggy that I think I got it down and now we should practice with the two of us together. So, our first couple attempts we had ourselves face to face, and while it did work there were some problems with this method.

1) Huggy is way taller than me, who stands at the 5'5" compared to some who is straight up 17 feet tall, so that would mean his back is facing the hole with me being the eyes to direct where to walk.

Okay, not bad...to a degree.

Problem 2) His legs.

Again, with his height. He would be running backwards and jumping at the right time for me to get the swing just right. And while that did work, the problem was that his legs had caught the edge making us fall to the ground...and almost slide down the hole. Which we do not need!

3) A solution to that would be him basically wrapping his arms and legs around both our bodies. Now Huggy may have very long arms and legs, however his torso is about the same size as me, so that wouldn't be a problem in wrapping his limbs around us.

The problem was our companied weight, and the fact it makes moving the Grab-Pack a bit harder. We didn't even get to try the swing as the weight of Huggy and the pack cause me to...well...basically face plant to the floor; but more with Huggy once again landing on his back sparing my face a broken nose.

Needless to say, that position was quickly scrapped.

Mainly for Huggy's poor back then anything.

Now the next one we tried had much better results.

For this one I had my back to Huggy's chest, with his arms wrapped around my waist and his torso providing a secure grip between the two of us. This way he has a better view of when to jump and even better; he can lift up his legs, so they don't smash against the ledge. Plus, he can land on his feet if I toss us far enough for him to do so.

"Phew, glad we got that problem sorted out." I smiled up at him when we safely swung over to the other end. "On another note, how is your arm? The stiches holding up?" I had almost forgotten about them till I felt a bit of a warm wet feeling on the side of my jacket. With all the swinging and sudden arm movements that he did I worried that the stiches had torn.

Huggy lifted up his arm looking at the wound were the stiches are before giving a shrug.

"…" I can't make out the wound from where I'm standing, so I gesture him to bend down while I turn on my flashlight to get a better look. "…Well," I began poking around "Seems like everything is still holding." I step back wiping my hands on my jacket to get some of the blood off, it's already stained with it why not add some more. Though I did frown at the dried blood staining my hands, making a mental note of finding some wash area to get all this blood off my hands.

"I still can't tell if it's healing or not, but it looks like it'll leak some blood out when ever you put pressure on it." I told him "Not quite sure if you can reproduce blood like I can so it's best to be careful from here on out."

Huggy look back at his shoulder, bringing a hand up under it and pulling it out looking down at the blood staining his hand. Tilting his head, he looks down at me with a nod of understanding.

"Well…" I begin "Guess we keep moving forward, then."

We begin to march on to the next room. However, ...

"Keep going..."

"!?" I suddenly paused in my step at the sudden - much clearer - female voice and because of my sudden halt Huggy had bumped into me. Luckily, he caught me before my face hit the ground.

"Thanks, and sorry about that." I said "So...um...you heard that voice this time too, right?"

He nods, looking around the hall as if he was trying to search where the voice came from. And I don't know if it's because he can't tell where or who said it; his face suddenly changes back into his 'attack mode', as I recently dubbed it. He proceeded to walk in front of me after making a 'stay put' gesture with his hands and walked into the other room.

My only guess is, he is checking out if he can find the source of the voice and see if it's a threat or not. If I'm going by this correctly in Leith tape, Huggy acts something like a security to the factory. So of course, if someone else is here—other than me—he would go and well...images of the vent chase flash through my mind...yeah...he would do that.

I did lose sight of him as he turn to the right and not long after followed by loud banging sounds and seeing a couple of metal barrels being thrown across the room, and very loud bang of a door being thrown off its hinges. I blinked multiples times looking down the hall in bewilderment as to what I just saw and heard.

The hell...?

Before I could even call out to him, Huggy came back out of the room. He still had his open mouth smile, though his eyes were not dilated anymore, to which I'm guessing it means that while he didn't find a threat his guard was still up in case something did happen. That voice had to come from somewhere after all.

"So... Uh...it's all clear in there?" I asked when he approached me.

He nods then holds out his right hand.

"Hm?" Looking down I see that he is holding a large key with a poppy flower welded on top. "A key?" I pick it up examining it much closer, it probably goes to Elliot's room if I had to guess. "Thanks. Was there anything else in there? Like a power source or anything?" He shook his head 'no' in response. "Alright guess we can go check out that room then."

---

Opening the door, I wasn't all that surprised by what I saw - given the fact I had originally suspected that this was an office room. What surprise me the most was the lack of dust in the room. Sure, there were some places—like the Gift Shop—that had some dust, but this office was closed off and abandon for who knows how long. I would have thought to at least see some speck of dust on the shelves or the desk in the room.

Either way I looked around the room as Huggy stood outside, still on guard, taking note of all of the kid's drawings hanging on the wall. There were a couple of things that stood out to me. One was one of the vents doors in the room is on the floor. Second was the bigger vent with handprints painted on it—why are there handprints on it? —with it being pushed back out from the wall a bit.

"Am I supposed to use the Grab-Pack for this thing?" I wonder out loud as I looked over the desk, spotting another tape, a note underneath it, a picture frame, and a blueprint of a toy.

Frowning I went to move the tape to the side to pick up the note, however I miss calculating the distance between the tape and the picture frame knocking it on the ground with a loud smashing sound.

"Oh crap!"

Bending down, I carefully pick up the broken frame—being mindful of the broken glass—when I laid the frame back down on the desk, I am able to get a better look at the image.

"What's this?"

Before I pick up the picture movement from above caught my eye. Looking up to see Huggy leaning down to see into the room eyes moving around as if he was looking for something.

Oh…

Must be wondering about that noise.

"Sorry about that sudden sound Huggy." I apologized holding up the picture "I accidentally knock over this picture frame. Everything is alright here."

Huggy looked at the picture then back to me before doing one more look over in the room. Once he determined that everything was okay, he nods his head and stood back up leaving only his legs and the lower part of his arms to be seeing through the door way.

"Hmm…" Holding the picture back down, I took an immediate note that this is an old picture due to it's black and white coloring. Yet despite this it seems to be in good condition like it was freshly taken. Looking closer at the picture, there's an image of an older man sitting in a chair with two little girls sitting in his lap.

"Is this Ludwig?" I wonder out loud. I mean it has to be giving that this picture frame is in his office, and those two girls… Guessing wise the oldest looks around six or seven years old while the little one is still a baby, probably about a year old at most.

"I remember reading that Ludwig had two children. Are these them?" Flipping the picture over I look down and spotted some writing in the bottom corner. The words are pretty faded but I'm able to sort of make it out. Doesn't really help that it's written in cursive, always struggle in translating those.

The Ludwig Family-1936
Elliot Ludwig
~~lly-6
~~~

The only name I was able to fully make out is Elliot Ludwig, the last two names are so faded that I could barely make out part of the first daughter's name and age. The second name is so faded it's just looks like scribbles to me.

I sigh flipping the picture back over looking over the smiling family. At first, I wonder where the wife is before remember reading an article that she passed away shortly after the birth of her youngest daughter. Something along the lines of succumbing to her wounds from the robbery.

"…That must have been hard for him." I mutter putting the picture down to the side and picking up the note I originally wanted to grab.

"Alright let's see what this says then…"

Experiment 814

I frowned at the title written above "Experiment...?"

Notes:

-This experiment utilized alive rat

-Rat was fed 3 portions daily for 2 weeks

-At end of the two weeks. The rat was killed and submerged into a Poppy flower and preservative gel mixture.

-1 week later, an electric shock was applied to the rat (still in the gel) in an attempt to revive it.

-The rat remained unresponsive.

"What…" I mutter in disbelief rereading that part over again. He was trying to bring it back to life…but for what reason. What did he mean by preserving it with a poppy flower? What does a poppy flower have to do with any of this? Is there something more about the flower that we don't know about?

Analysis:

I still believe in the potential of the poppy flower. Its unusual properties lead me to believe that the
proper mixture and procedure could have life altering properties. The poppy flower has
for a long time carried heavy symbolism, and I don't believe that's for no reason.
Perhaps something larger than a rat would yield different results.

"...What...?" I reread the paper even more confused. The properties of a poppy flower, experiments, test on bigger things than a rat. Just what the hell was this place even doing. I glance up to look over at Huggy, who had his back towards me, standing guard, as he looked around the halls; and a brief memory of the black tape we watch before entering Poppy's room comes to mind.

Experiment 1006.

Something larger than a rat...

"...humans..." My eyes went wide in shock as the paper slipped out of my hand. "They've...experiment on humans..." I whispered as the realization hit me like a truck. But how could have they done that without anyone notice-the orphans! Playtime Co. also became an orphanage back in its time. If something happens to a child, they could have played it off as if they got adopted or something, no one would be none the wiser.

And I was one of the orphans here as well…that would also mean…

Flashes of an operating room appeared in my head followed by the strong smell of iron.

"…"

Oh, dear god I'm going to be sick.

And sick I was, as I immediately bent down next to the trash can and threw up whatever content was left in my stomach.

The sound of me hurling had Huggy turning around in surprise as he tried to squeeze his way into the small room. I stopped him before he could enter, holding my hand out as I shook my head.

"I'm...I'm fine, Huggy..." I panted spitting into the trash, shakily getting back on my feet wiping the drool of my chin.

Hah! Yeah right. That's probably the biggest lie I've ever told. I am in no shape or form 'okay'.

But how am I supposed to explain to him 'oh hey I just found out Playtime darkest secret! You want to know what it is? Well, buddy, they've been experimenting on children! But that shouldn't be too surprising, I mean look at you! On top of that I was probably one of them too! Haha, funny story, right?'. Yeah, that'll play over well. Hello mental hospital this is Lily Johnson checking in for a possible...permeant stay.

Though I've had glimpse of my time in that room, I luckily don't remember all of it...and I think that's one memory that I don't want to recall at all.

Huggy, who was still squatting down at the doorframe, look over at me with concern. I saw his mouth open and close a couple of times, before letting out a huff of frustration. Given the fact that he can't speak, besides any grunt or growls coming out of him, it probably is frustrating for him to not speak his concern to me.

I tried to give him a reassuring smile, but I can tell it was force and giving by the look on his face it wasn't working. "I promise I'm fine...It's just...well *sigh*" I let out a deep sigh scratching my head as I looked over to him. "Huggy, can I ask you something?"

He frowned before slowly nodding his head.

"Do you...remember who you were before coming to be Huggy Wuggy?" I slowly asked him. I have to know. No, I need to know if what I had previously thought was true or not.

Because something like Huggy or Poppy, hell 1006 shouldn't be possible without some sort of experimentation involved. Whether they used actual human beings or not is something I don't want to cross just yet. I mean they could have used bigger animals instead of humans, though it doesn't explain Huggy behavior as he strikes me as more of a human behavior than that of any animal that I know of. He can understand everything I tell him and knows how to read, and even though he can't speak, he can communicate really well. Definitely not something you would see in an animal.

But what if it was a combination of both. Sure, Huggy has some human traits - I remember seeing some human teeth in his mouth, and admittedly I didn't give it too much of a thought...but there is other—sharp—teeth in there. And Huggy behaves very well and can clearly think, though his grunts and growls don't sound like a human. In fact, it could be from some animal. There are other animals that are bigger than a rat. Perhaps they did use other animals before switching over to a combination of both. Maybe to see if there were better results in the mixture before going straight to humans.

I don't know...and I don't think I want to know the answer to that.

When I look over to Huggy and saw that his body had stiffened by the sudden question. I frowned in concern at the glaze look in his eyes. There is a strange blankness to them when he held up his hand looking down at them.

"…" It's probably a bit rude of me to ask that sort of question to him. I'd might have spark some unpleasant memory or something along those lines.

"Hey… you don't have to answer my question if you don't want to." I quickly reassured him "It was a bit rude of me to ask anyway…"

Huggy slowly shakes his head and looks at me before raising his hand with a so-so gesture. I look at him in confusion before he looks around the room and made a writing gesture next.

I blink. "You…want to write something down?" He nods. "Okay then…" I know I have my notebook with me, and I could give him that, but...I want to save those pages for any important information I may stumble upon. Sure sparing a few pages wouldn't hurt me in the least, but if he needs to write down a lot of stuff…

Perhaps I can find some on the desk. I dug around the drawers and found some blanks papers and some documents with just random info about reports from the staff. A quick read showed nothing of importance but the back side is blank so I can use those as well if Huggy needs more papers to write on. As for writing materials, I've brought plenty of pens with me so sparing one with him will be fine.

Gathering all of the materials I walk over to Huggy—who sat on his hands and knees just to be able to reach through the door. Placing the papers on the floor in front of him I pull out a pen and handing it to him, watching as he tried to find a good grip before writing down on the papers.

His words were a bit rough giving that he doesn't have a proper hold of the pen, but it is eligible enough to read. When he finished writing he handing me the paper. Grabbing it I carefully begin to read it:

I take no offense to your question.
It was bound to come up eventually.
The answer is a bit complicated at most I can say
in the beginning I had no recognition of who I was
over time my memories did come back to me.
Some parts are still hazy but I know enough to know who
I was.

I have to say upon first reading this I get the strong feeling that Huggy has a much older mind set. Like he's an adult trap in a doll, which…seems to be the answer so far. The 'It was bound to come up eventually' line sort of implies Huggy knew what I was really trying to ask. Not to mention something like him couldn't have been made from normal means.

Though going over his note, it implies that when he first came to be he had no memories of his former life till over a period of time did they slowly come back to him. And that while some parts are still hazy, he has enough to know who is was before.

"I see…" I said putting the paper down. Just before I was about to ask him another question, a piece of paper is shoved into my face making me lean back a bit.

Okay then…

Taking it, I read over the much smaller note.

I'm sure you have a lot of questions to ask
however we mustn't waste time answering
things that can be told at a later time.
For now I only answer one question.

"…" Well, I won't deny now that I have a proper way in communicating with Huggy that I have a lot of questions I want answers to. However, he does have a point we are wasting a bit of time and not to mention the limited amount of paper that I have so it would be best to save these for more important stuff.

Though he did say he can answer just one question, so what should I ask him? There's so much stuff but there is one that's standing out to me at the moment and one I'm curious about.

"Then…" I start putting the paper down, looking up at him "If it's not too much to ask…do you remember your real name?"

I have two reasons to ask this kind of question. One is mainly to see what his real name is and if he wants to be called by that instead. And maybe…just maybe if we get out of here in one piece, I could potentially look up the name and try to figure out if there is a missing person report on him or something.

Huggy tilted his head to the side as if he was debating the question over in his head, and for a moment there I was starting to wonder if he even did remember his own name. Just when I was about to take back my question, he looks back down and started writing again.

Yes I do know my birth name however
my birth name is of no concern
I gave up that name when I became Huggy Wuggy
And that is who I am now until the day I die
I will always be Huggy Wuggy and nothing more.

"…"

What? What did he mean by that?

'My birth name is of no concern.' Is he implying he doesn't care about his original name? Or has he just gotten so use to being called Huggy Wuggy that he just gotten use to being called that instead?

'I gave up that name when I became Huggy Wuggy.' Is he saying he willing let himself become some kind of man eating monster? If so, then why? What reason would he have to let himself to become that?

'Who I am now until the day I die and nothing more'. What does he mean by this? Does he really not like his birth name or something? That he doesn't want it to be known and carries it to his grave.

The questions that I have.

What was supposed to be a simple question turn into a million questions in return, but I know Huggy won't answer them at the moment. Perhaps later down the line I could ask a bit more. Damn it all…

"Tch…you know you just left me with even more questions now right?" He nods his head before pushing the papers and pen back in my direction. "I know. No more questions. Doesn't mean I won't ask them at a later time." I mumble the last part picking everything up.

"All that's left for me to do is check out what's on the tape and then seeing where that vent leads too."

His eyes flicker over to the vent before giving a small nod and carefully back out of the doorway to stand back up.

"Now then…" I mutter walking back over to the desk pulling out my notebook, grabbing the picture I carefully place it in-between some pages for safe keeping. Digging out some more paper and carefully putting them together I put all the items back in my bag.

"Well…guess it's time to watch that tape now." Though with all this time that we've wasted maybe I should just ditch it and move on. "…" I glace over at the TV, then again there might be some useful information that I can't pass on.

"No choice then…" Picking up the tape and putting it in the player, the TV flicker on playing whatever is on the tape.

"Playtime Co. is the product of a great man, by the name of Elliot Ludwig. His sights were always set on brining amazing toys, to amazing children around the globe. Ludwig spent countless hours in the factory, working overtime relentlessly in an attempt to continuously innovate and surprise. In the early 1940's, an unfortunate family death had pushed Ludwig down to his lowest."

My eyes narrow at that last statement. A family death? I remember reading something about that an in article, it was some kind of tragic accident. From what I recall Ludwig and his eldest daughter witness the death of that child. I just can't even begin to imagine how they felt.

With what I know so far about this…experiments…and the existence of Poppy and Huggy, is it possible that Ludwig probably trying to find a way to bring his kid back to life. It's possible that he couldn't get over the sudden loss of his child. Not to mention the cruel twist of faith this poor man went through, his wife died in a tragic accident followed by his youngest child…

"But with so much ambition, he rose back up and continued to fulfill his vision for the Playtime Co. toy factory. Ludwig could never be content on leaving a project unfinished, but just how did one man come to create such an astounding empire? How did he manage to stay determined, even after suffering such a tragic loss? It all began in the faithful year of 19-"

The tape was suddenly cut out by the static, preventing me from hearing the date.

"Damn it." I cursed under my breath. That date could probably help me dig around online to get some context clues. Digging around my bag I pulled out a bunch of printed paper of articles that I had found in the library that I had dropped by on my way here.

-ELLIOT LUDWIG-

Playtime co was founded in 1930 by the brilliant Elliot Ludwig.
Like his namesake, Ludwig was a visionary and creative genius. Ludwig devoted every waking second of his life to bring joy to children. However, in 1935 a tragic
accident Ludwig lost his late wife, Molly, leaving
behind two of his children.

"So, his late wife's name was, Molly…" I muse reading the paper. The factory was founded in 1930 then almost five years later, he lost is wife leaving behind two kids to take care of. That must have been hard to manage. Is it possible that sometime around that he decided to incorporate the orphanage to Playtime, to help the load of work and taking care of his kids?

"Hmm…" I ponder and continue reading the paper. Ludwig sure did suffer a lot of tragic accidents in his life.

Despite this, as well as an unfortunate family death occurring
later in his life, Elliott never stopped creating.
Ludwig revolutionized the toy industry and brought happiness to millions.
The world will never be the same.

"…" I reread the artic again, looking over if anything else that might have struck out as important. "Hmm…did I…" I pull out my notebook flipping it to the page I was looking for. "Here we go…"

It's some news articles that I had found in the library when I was searching for anything regarding Elliot Ludwig or the factory itself. Sadly, I couldn't print a copy so, I had to write down a brief summary with any important dates or information. The article is about the tragic loss that happen in the Ludwig family.

The accident happened on a nice summer day in July 1943, when the Ludwig family were outside enjoying the day. The daughters were out playing in the front yard and Ludwig was cooking on the grill. Then suddenly the youngest child ran into the road to get the ball and out of nowhere is hit by a car that was speeding down the road.

My eyes narrowed at the small headache that is trying to form. 1943…Almost thirteen years after Playtime came to be. A shame I can't find the kids name, actually both of his daughter's name have been blacked out and no matter how much I look I couldn't find anything. Moving further down the page I pick up where I left off.

When the ambulance arrived at the scene, almost 15 minutes later, the child was already dead upon arrival. The diver involved in this accident was 19 year old, Joesph—like the daughters his last name was black out—and his girlfriend Susan Greenfield.

It's strange that Joseph last name was black out, if he was a minor I would understand but he was already an adult. Not to mention his girlfriend's last name wasn't black out at all.

"Hold on…" I mutter looking back over the two names. Those names sound familiar…

'…Joseph, are you sure you still wish to go through with this? And what about you girlfriend, Susan? If you still go through with this procedure, I can't guarantee if you will still be 'you'.'

The younger man placed a hand on the tank looking up. 'Susan knows nothing about me being here or what I'm doing. I…didn't want her to go down the same paths as me. And I don't care what happens to me.

"…"

Could that have been the same person?

Shit did I write anything down about them?

I quickly flipped through the pages to see if I had written anything down. And sadly, I did not find anything.

"Damn… must have not given them much thought." I mutter flipping back to the previous page. "In accordance with them, the witness, and the Ludwig family. The couples where being chased down the road by another unregistered car, that was trying to cause them to crash. Which resulted in Joseph not seeing the youngest daughter in the road…What the hell?" I mutter under my breath.

So, the daughter could have been alive if the other driver wasn't trying to kill or cause serious harm to the couple? That is messed up! The poor man was trying to get away from a mad driver and ended up killing someone in the process.

I heaved out a sigh rubbing my forehead, this damn headache is really getting on my nerves.

Man…I'm really regretting not looking more into the incident. I was on a time crunch at the time and was only looking for any important information about Ludwig history and Playtime. However, there is one thing that I read that had caught my attention before leaving.

And that the driver was never caught, and I don't recall seeing if they ever were.

"…" I blankly stare down at my notebook before gently closing it and putting it away. "What a mess…"

Despite what I read I couldn't find any hint of when the living toys were made. I have the answer as to why Ludwig started doing these things. I think he was hoping to bring his child back to life through those means. I can't say I don't understand how he feels, but…possibly using human experimentation just to bring your dead child back to life isn't right.

"I also feel like there's more to this story I'm not seeing." I mutter "Maybe I'll find the answers in this building or wait till I can get my hands on a computer and look further into it." I look at the door and call out to Huggy.

"Hey, I'm going to check out if the power source is back here, think you can stay guard till I get back?"

Huggy bent down to look at me then at the vent before his concern eyes laid back on me. I can tell his worried about me being out of his sight.

"I'll be fine." I reassured him "If the vent is too long or there are many turns, I'll come back around and get you."

Still staring at me he slowly nods his head and pulls back out of the door frame to stand guard.

"Alright."

Pulling the vent down so I can hop in it I made my way down the slope, that will thankfully let me climb back up. On the bright side it wasn't a far walk to get to the other end. Popping my head out, I see what looks like a storeroom of sorts. Looking down to the right, I spotted two power poles to attach if I want to turn the power on.

"Sweet! Looks like I found it. Better go tell Huggy, before he changes his mind and makes his way down."

But before I do that I needed to see if I can find a safe way down and back up. Glancing down I see a pile of boxes that I could hop on and right above me is a handrail that I can grab and pull myself back up. Though the jump down is pretty far and I don't want to chance anything…

"Looks like he coming with me anyways…"

Turning back around I made my way up the vent. "Hey Huggy." I called out to him. "I found the power source; however, to get to it the drop down is pretty far. I might need you to help me down."

Huggy nods his head and carefully made his way into the room giving it another glance, eyes stopping for a brief moment at the drawing on the wall, before making his way over to me.

I hop down the vent, so he can get in front. Looking up at him I begin to speak before we moved on. "I only need help getting down, there's a handlebar above the entrance I can use that to get myself back up, then help you."

Huggy nods his head in understanding before climbing into the vent with me following behind him.

---

"Down we go…"

Once Huggy place me on my feet I gave him a nod in thanks. I then proceed to looked around the room to see where I need to start the power line. I can see the poles and the other key, just not the starter one. As I was walking further into the room a loud crashing sound echo throughout the room.

"Shit!?" I curse jumping back a bit.

Huggy went stiff as well at the sudden noise then quickly looked around. When I look over to our right and spotted a cardboard box that was on top of the shelf suddenly fall down, and standing where the box was the missing doll, Poppy.

"Poppy!?" I exclaimed in shock, while Huggy let out a sigh rubbing his head.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." She apologized rubbing her head in a sheepish manner.

"No. No, it's okay." I told her as I try to make my heart stop pounding a mile a minute. "What are you doing up there anyway? Huggy and I were trying to find you."

"Still…I didn't mean to scare you two. I didn't know the ledge was that much shorter when I pushed the box." She said with a smile. "In any case, I'm actually quite happy to see you awake at last, Lily. I hope that gas didn't give you any nightmares, even though it was a small dose it's still possible."

Gas? Was that the red stuff that I accidentally inhale when I open her case? And nightmares…? Well…I guess that vision I had could count as a nightmare. Better question though…

"I…don't know if it was a nightmare, but…I did see something strange in my dream. Like a past memory or something." I begin to answer her question before going to ask mine. "But how did you…" I trailed off when I saw a flash of recognition go across her eyes.

"Oh right, Huggy told me everything." She begins "When you collapse after opening my case, he explained what has happened." A somber look filled her face "I'm…sorry to hear about your memories, Lily. And it sounds like with you coming back here they too are coming as well."

"Oh! Um…yeah, they are. In bits though, and every time they come I get a really bad headache."

"Hmm…" Poppy had a thoughtful look on her face. "Memories are a tricky thing. My only guess is because your memories are trying to come in so fast your brain is stopping it from overwhelming you, hence the headaches you are having."

"Maybe…" I mutter.

I mean it's possible that is the case. I think any doctor would have said the same thing and just tell me not to force myself to remember and let it come to me naturally.

"And to answer your question, I was up here trying to get the power back on. Didn't mean to make you guys look for me, I had planned to meet up with you once I got this place up and running again. However,..." She looks at the power source "It…would seem that I don't have the necessary tools to start it. Here." She moved out of the way, showing one of the control panels. "The other one is inside the metal cage."

"Alright, just give me a second to get everything running." Shooting the blue hand to the first panel, I proceeded to wrap the cord around the two poles before moving over to the cage: firing the red hand at it. Upon hearing the sound of the power coming on I release the hold of the cannons bringing back both hands.

Walking back out of the cage, I heard Poppy clapping her hands. "Great job, Lily! I also wanted to thank you for freeing me. I was stuck in there for so long. So, thank you, Lily." She bowed her head.

"Oh, your welcome and thanks!" I smiled up to her.

I don't know why but I felt pleased upon hearing her approval. Not to mention it feels a bit weird having a conversation with an actual talking toy. Sure, Huggy can make some noise, but to hear actual words coming out of the mouth…it's going to take some time to get used to.

"Hey Poppy?" I quickly spoke up when I saw she was about to turn around to the vent behind her. "Can I ask you something really quick? If we have the time of course."

Poppy turns around titling her head to the side with her arms crossed in consideration. "Hmm…if it's just one question that's fine." She unfolds her arms looking down at me. "And I'm sure you have more, but I want to get you out of here as quickly as possible. It's too dangerous for you to stay here."

"I understand."

I get where she is coming from. After my first encounter with Huggy it was quiet the shock to see a toy coming to life trying to kill me at first. Though…thinking back to that massive pit fall, I guess I have to also worry about this place falling apart as well. I'm not going to deny as much as I want my answers and memories this place is a bit to dangerous for my taste.

"There is a lot I want to ask, but there is something that has been bugging me since I've woke up." Poppy titled her head "I'm wondering why you had Huggy block that entryway. When I tried to ask him. His…answer…was, well…to be blunt. Terrible." I bluntly stated, ignoring said toy gawking at me in offense. "I couldn't understand anything he was trying to say. So, he told me to just ask you."

"That so…" Her eyes moved over to Huggy. "Huggy, could you show me what you did with Lily?"

At that, Huggy just let out a deep sigh before repeating the same thing he showed me back in the room. Once we came to a finish, I look over to Huggy waving my arms at Huggy.

"See! How am I supposed to get anything out of that?!"

Poppy just let out a small laugh at my response. "Oh Huggy…you seem have forgotten that Lily doesn't remember how to speak your langue." Having said that Huggy huffed crossing his arms and turning away with a pout.

I kind of felt a bit bad, but…yeah, next time trying to explain it a bit better Huggy, then neither of us would be in this situation.

Poppy—with a smile and eyes filled with laughter—looks back over to me. "Well to explain why I had him do that; you remember the room you where in before entering mine?" I nod my head. "With this place in shamble and the toys freely roaming around, I didn't want to take the chance of them coming in with you being in a compromise position. Huggy and I could handle ourselves, but with Huggy having duty to watch over you. Fighting anything in a tight space will be hard on him."

Make sense, I thought.

"With me needing to check things out further ahead and Huggy being your only line of defense, I ask him to block that entrance just in case anyone tried to come. It wouldn't stop them, but it would give Huggy enough time to move you to safety."

"I see…" Now that I have my answers and thought back to all those hanging toys outside of the door and all those catwalks, it wouldn't be that far of a reach for a toy to suddenly pop up. With me being knocked out and Huggy can only move so much in small spaces, if a toy came in with bad intentions, Huggy would have a rough time.

"That makes a bit more sense, thanks…for answering my question."

"It was my pleasure to help out when I can, Lily. Now then!" She claps her hands together "With that out of the way let's get going." She turns around hopping back into a smaller vent behind her.

"There's a train station nearby." I heard her voice echoing through the vent "It needs a code and I have it. We're gonna get out of here as soon as you get on up here. Heh." She pops out from the other side of the vent next to the one I had jumped out of.

"Right." Walking back over to the vent Huggy and I came out of, I shot the blue hand to the bar. When I reach the top and climb back into the vent, I turn around to lean down holding both my hands out for Huggy to grab.

Taking both of his hands and very carefully pulled him up. Once inside the vent and making sure Huggy's arm is okay, we heard Poppy speak up.

"Head back to Ludwig's room, I'll meet you there." Poppy told me as I heard her feet tapping in the vent.

"Got it!" I called out in response. Giving a nod to Huggy we quickly made our way to the other end of the vent. Climbing out and giving Huggy a hand, I look around the room trying to find Poppy, she did say she'd meet us here.

"Hey, I'm up here! I see you *giggles*" I looked over to see her standing in the vent that had its door knocked down. Guess that explains how it fell down, but how did she get in this room when it was lock? Was there another vent that she used to get to this room? "I should be able to follow you through the vents, this way." She waved as she turns around walking back into the vent.

Okay...guess we'll just follow her to the train then. Though I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the fact there is a train here. Then again this place looks huge on the outside and especially from what I've seen so far inside…I guess it's possible they have built a train in this place.

Once she is out of sight I look over to Huggy with a shrug. "Guess were following her then."

He nods in agreement before letting me go first through the door. When he crawled out of the doorway, we made our way over to the gated hall. Looking up to see the hand symbol glowing—confirming the switch had indeed been what we were looking for—I quickly got to work in getting the gate back up.

Once the gate is back up the two of us go into the other hall looking at the deep pit before us. Taking a deep shaky breath and slowly exhaling to calm my nerves, I looked up at Huggy. "Ready?"

His eyes look down at me then to the pit before nodding. He bent down picking me up as he wrapped his arms around the both of us, giving it a slight squeeze to make sure his hold around me is tight. Walking back a couple of steps he looks down at me waiting for me to give the signal. Letting out a shaky breath feeling my heart beating a bit too fast for comfort, for a good reason too! One slip up and it's game over.

I slowly nodded my head. "Alright...let's do this!" And pray for the best as we only have one shot at this. No pressure or anything!

Without wasting a single second, Huggy took off running and jumped as far as he could from the ledge. I swear my heart almost jumped out of me as we flew over the pit, you literally can't see anything at the bottom besides darkness. Quickly taking aim I shot the blue hand to the rail, holding the trigger button tight so as to not accidentally let go of it, we swung across and landed on the other side safely on our feet.

"Oh, thank God!" I sigh in relief as Huggy put me back down. "I hope we don't have to do that again." Huggy nods his head in agreement. "Alright, let's go and meet up with Poppy...Huh?" I stop in my tracks upon faintly hearing someone humming a song. "Is she humming?" I asked out loud.

It…kinda sounds familiar somehow, but I don't recall ever hearing this song.

Huggy look at me with a shrug of his shoulders, before nodding his head in the direction of the door.

"Guess we'll find out when we get to her."

Continuing on down the hallway, the humming of the song grows louder, and I almost trip on my feet at the sudden static feeling my eyes and ears. It was only thanks to Huggy's quick reflexes that I did fall to the floor.

"Thanks…" I groan through the pain still pounding in my head. He looks down at me in concern. "Sorry…something…something is trying to get through just…give me a moment."

Even though I tried to reassure him that I'm okay, Huggy just held me tighter to him, to which I'm taking a full advantage of as my knees are starting to feel a bit weak. After what felt like forever, the headache started to fade away along with the noise. Taking a shaky deep breath in before letting it out, I slowly pulled myself out of Huggy's hold.

"…Thanks. I'm okay for the time to begin. Let's not keep Poppy waiting on us." I told him.

Huggy hesitated for a moment as his eyes moving up and down looking for anything that could be out of place before landing on my face. It's hard to say but it almost looked like he was frowning for a second before he just nods his head.

Turning around I walk over to the door grabbing the handle to push it open. On the other side I saw Poppy, who was indeed humming, standing in front of a giant hole. A quick glace around the room showed that all pathways were block. I internally groan as I approach Poppy, don't tell me we have to go down that hole. And here I thought we avoided all that!

When I walk up to her and open my mouth to call out to her when suddenly a vision overlaps my view. In it were two girls—sibling if what I'm seeing correctly by their appearance—both swinging on the swing-set attach to the branch of the swing. It almost looks like they were competing on who can swing go the highest.

When I blink my vision went back to normal with Huggy holding on to me and Poppy standing next to us.

"Oh…hey, Poppy, sorry about that." I spoke with a shaky tone, trying to regather myself.

"Don't apologize." Poppy quickly said looking me over as Huggy help me back to my feet. "Are you okay? I suddenly heard Huggy yelling out in shock and found you unconscious in his arms."

Huh?

I passed out?

That quickly, too.

The hell just happen, it didn't even feel like a full memory or something.

"I…" I lick my lips before opening my mouth "I don't know what happen exactly just that I had a weird vision out of nowhere. Actually…" I look down at Poppy. "I started to feel something when I heard you singing. Maybe that's what caused it?"

"…" Poppy frowned before her eyes widen when she suddenly realized something. "It's quiet possible, I just to sing that song to you when ever you were upset, frustrated, or had a nightmare. It always seems to help calm you down."

"…I see." No wonder I thought it sounded familiar. But how does it explain it showing me those siblings?

"Well, in any case I'm glad you both safely made it across the pit." She said "I must admit I was unsure if you could."

"You and me both Poppy." I said, "But somehow we pulled through."

Now that I got a closer view of her, I could make out the details of her outfit. She is wearing a flouncy, large blue dress adorned with many bows and frills.

Huh, the outfit is almost similar to my porcelain dolls I have back at home. I honestly can't fully remember why I got them, just that they felt familiar somehow to me. Taking a closer look at her face I notice that like my dolls her face - and possible hole body - is porcelain with a faint hint of freckles covering her checks. But what caught my eye the most was her eyes; they look very uncanny-realistic-looking blue eyes.

Oh, please don't tell me that those are actual human eyes!

"I'm glad to see my worries were unneeded."

The sound of her voice snapped me out of my spiraling thoughts.

"Oh yeah." I chuckle lightly scratching my cheek "It wasn't easy, but we made do."

A smile appeared on her face. "That's good to hear. Now then, before I explain what we are going to do next do you have any last questions you want to ask me? I may not be able to answer all of them, but I'll answer what I can."

"Oh?" I'm a bit shock she is offering this, giving the fact that she seemed to be in a bit of a rush in wanting me to get out of here. "Well…in that case, I do have some in fact." Bending down to my knees I open the flap of my bag and dug around till I found the letter I was looking for.

"Here." I handed her the letter watching as she took it and look it over before continuing "I don't know if Huggy told you this or not, but a couple of days ago I got this package and found this letter along with a tape with a commercial about the you, the Poppy doll."

"Hmm, Huggy did mention something about a letter." She mutters eyes narrowing a bit.

"I…know you said you've been trap in that case for a long time but…do you by chance have an idea on who could have sent this? At first I thought it was meant for my uncle, though when I saw the tape my memories from here started pouring in my head so suddenly that I decided to come here instead of him."

Poppy nodded at my explanation before a frown form on her face. "Your uncle?"

"Yes, maybe you know him. It's - Johnson."

"- Johnson is your uncle!?" Poppy exclaimed in shock eyes widening upon hearing the name and even Huggy also went shock head snapping down at me as if he is wondering if he heard that correctly. "As in Dr. Johnson?"

Now I'm suddenly feeling very confused and a bit worried about what is going on with me upon hearing his name. Is there something important that I am missing.

"…Yyeesss?" I slowly replied.

Upon hearing my answer Poppy gains a thoughtful look as she mutters under her breath. "He's still alive? But how?"

"What?" I asked.

What did she mean by that?

Poppy shook her head. "It's nothing."

I frown and open my mouth "But—"

"Lily." Poppy spoke in a stern voice making me flinch a bit at the sudden tone change. "I would love to answer that question, but I don't have the answer myself. I can only say I've known that man for a very long time and am surprised he is still alive. It's something I would like to ask him myself if I get the chance."

"…" Well now I have even more questions about that statement. Though, I have a strong feeling Poppy would just tell me to drop it or straight out ignore me till I'm forced to drop it myself.

"Fine." I sigh "Then, about the letter. Are you even able to answer that instead?" I know I'm giving her a bit of an attitude—and judging by her face she knows it too—but I'm a bit peeved that she can't try to at least explain a bit more.

Poppy frowned before letting out a tire sigh, head tilted to the side as a glaze went over her eyes, as if she is recalling something. "There are two possible answers to whom may have sent you that package. Though one individual comes to my mind, although I'm a bit hesitant if it was her. If she knew where you'd live she would have probably found a way to leave this place to get you."

Oh?

"Really who?"

She blinks letting out a low sigh under her breath. "I must be frank with you Lily." She started in a serious tone. "There are a good handful of toys living here that could have sent this letter. However,..." She turns back to the hole looking down. I could only stare at her in confusion "Out of all the toys you played with - having a connection to them - only one had the closes attachment to you... One - from what I heard - took it the hardest when you left. Killing a couple of the staff if I remember correctly" She mutter that last part to herself.

Either way it sent a shiver down my spine, knowing that there was another toy - besides Huggy - that would kill a person. And I had a close relationship with them.

"Who..." I slowly ask, feeling the static and ringing trying to fill my ears. There are memories...voices trying to come through the longer she talks about this individual. "Who was this...toy, Poppy?"

Letting out a deeper sigh, she turns around tilting her head up so she can look me in the eyes. "Where I am taking you, is where she resides at. There's a high chance we might run into her."

"Who is she Poppy...?"

The ringing is starting to get louder.

"...Mommy Long Legs. Or 'Mommy' as the children like to call her."

"...!?" My breath got caught in my throat the ringing is now sounding louder as the faint voices that I was hearing are slowly becoming much clearer to hear.

'Lily! What are you doing out of your room?'

'*hic* M-Mommy...*hic*

'My sweet child, why are you crying!? Here, come to Mommy.'

'Was it those humans? Mommy swears she'll end them if that's the case.'

"..." Blinking as the ringing slowly went away, I rub my check when I felt a tear sliding down my face. Taking a deep breath in and slowly exhaling, tapping at Huggy's hand that was on my shoulder I look up at him, reassuring him that I'm fine before looking back down to Poppy, who had a frown on her face.

"You remember something didn't you?"

"...I remember...something, a conversation then an actual memory."

"I see. It would appear that mentioning her had spark something."

"Something like that."

"..." Poppy stare at me for a few moments causing me to look down at her in confusion. "Well, I believe that's enough talking for now. It's time to head to the Game Station and get out of here."

Before I could say something in response five things suddenly happen all at once.

1) I saw a pink hand rise up from the hole

2) My eyes open wide in shock as I quickly made a move to grab Poppy

3) Huggy suddenly wrapped his arms around me pulling me back from the hole before I could even grab her

4) The had wrapped it fingers around Poppy

5) Poppy let out a scream of shock when she was suddenly yanked down the hole.

"POPPY!?" I cried out trying to force myself out of Huggy's hold. "Huggy, put me down! We have to go after her!"

He just held me tighter let out a low warning growl, as he stares intently at the hole that Poppy was dragged into. After a few minutes have passed with nothing else happening he slowly puts me back to the ground, lightly pushing me behind him as he walked over to the hole. I watch as he examined the hole, head moving side to side before looking over his shoulder to stare at me.

And yep, he really on the defensive now.

"Do you...happen to know who that was?" Still staring he nods his head. "Are they...friendly...by any chance?" Lifting his hand, he made a so-so motion.

Lovely.

It could be a toss of a coin if they are friendly or not. However, giving the fact that they just suddenly grabbed Poppy...I'm gonna go with a no.

"*Sigh* Great...a possible another killer toy, just what we needed." I mutter "Anyway, Huggy we need to go down there and rescue Poppy, besides the fact we need to help her, she also has the code to the train that we need in order to escape."

Huggy sighs nodding his head, as if he was saying 'I know' but was hesitating on jumping down into the unknown as there could be a trap waiting below. I get where he is coming from, but we need to head down either way, all the other exits are blocked. And Huggy knowns that too.

He looks back down the hole eyes moving around rapidly as if he was deep in thought before he nods; turning around to face me.

"You got an idea?" He nods pointing to himself then to the hole, next he points to me before pointing to the ground.

Humming I looked over him trying to figure out he is trying to covey "You want me to stay here, while you jump down the hole...? Are you trying to tell me, you want to check out if there's no danger before I join you?"

He nods.

Well at least I understood him this time.

"Okay, but how am I going to know it's safe to jump down?"

He held both hands around his mouth and made a small growling sound.

I blink "Oh I see now! Once you check out that everything is in the clear you'll call out to me." He nods rapidly holding a thumbs up, I walked over to the ledge of the hole looking down.

"Man... sure is dark down there." I looked up to Huggy "Hopefully I'll be able to hear you. If I don't hear anything in a span of 10 minutes, I'm jumping down regardless...Okay? We just don't know how deep it is, much less being able to hear anything echoing down there." I could tell he didn't fully like that idea but understood where I'm coming at.

"Alright I'll wait for your signal."

He patted my head before jumping down the hole, it only took 2 seconds to fully lose sight of him. Now left alone is this creepy room I let out a shaky sigh pulling out my phone to see the time.

"Huh?"

What the hell?

What was supposed to be a simple time check to calculated when the ten minutes are up, what caught my attention the most is the no bar symbol that shows if I have service or not.

"Nononono, you got to be joking with me right now!" I exclaimed with a bit of a panic in my voice. "This can not be happening."

If I seriously lost signal on my phone then I won't be able to contact anyone much less my uncle if something serious were to happen to me. This must be karma biting me in the ass about tell my uncle I won't have any signal. Who would have thought it would actually be the case.

"Shit. I hope Ashely hasn't been trying to call me…" I whine opening her contact list and hitting the call button.

And just as I fear, it went straight to voicemail.

"Damn it, no!"

I tried all the other numbers on my phone all have the same results.

"Fuck!"

I kick a rock out in frustration hearing it bang against the wall, as I slumped down against the wall.

I took a shaky breath in trying to prevent myself from crying in frustration and the small bit of fear building up inside me. "What shitty luck that I have…" I glance over to the hole. "I hope Huggy is having a better time than me right now."

With nothing better to do the wallowing in my poor choices in life, I got up walking over to the hole and turned on my flashlight shining it down the hole to see if I could at least see anything down there.

"Figures I wouldn't see the ground..." I mumbled moving the light around "Only concrete, dirt and some pipes..." Sighing I stood back up turning the flashlight off putting it back on the strap.

"I hope he got down there okay..."

And not long after I said that a faint noise is echo through the hole.

"Hm...?" Was that Huggy? Walking back over to the ledge I got to my knees cupping my hands around my mouth as I shouted as loud as I could down the hole.

"Was that you Huggy!?"

A faint yell responded after a few seconds. Guess it's okay to jump down then. "Alright I'm coming down now!" Getting to my feet I look down the hole feeling very nervous about doing this. "So much for avoiding fall down deep holes..." I whined before jumping down.

Immediately I felt my stomach lurch to my throat as I felt nothing below me other than the wind from falling down. It wasn't until a couple of seconds have passed that I felt myself landing on something hard and smooth as I continue down.

The heck is this...Huh?

I suddenly began to see spirals of blue light as I went further down.

Hold on...am I in a slide? The hell...

After a full minute has passed, I suddenly saw a light at the end of the tunnel. And thanks to my speed I flew out of it with a 'woah' escaping my mouth, thankfully Huggy seemed to have anticipated that as he quickly caught me before I feel face first to the ground.

"Thanks." I said when he placed me back on the ground.

Turning around I saw that I did indeed come out of a slide. A slide with the name Elliot Ludwig on top. Figures we come out of the founder here compared to the other five slides that are down here. I looked over at the other names on the slide seeing the names of Eddie M.N.R., no clue on who that is, Leith Pierre, that was the guy on the security tape, Stella Greyber, Stella huh...is it the same person on that interview tape? Guess she got the job then.

And lastly...

"Hm..." I blink confused "Where are the letters?" When I took a step forward, I felt something hitting my shoe. Looking down I saw a bunch of letters lying all across the floor.

Well...found them, but what are they saying it's too dark to make out all the letters. "Hey Huggy..." He looked down at me, "Can you hold my flashlight and point it in that direction, please?" I asked him while pulling out the item and handing it to him.

Holding it, he pointed to the direction I asked him to. "Good, just keep it there for a minute I want to write this down." Taking out my notebook and pencil I began to write down the letters.

'J.A.H.Y.E.O.N.I.B.A.M'

Hmm, since they are all scramble, it'll take a while to figure out what order they go in.

"I'll probably sort it out once we leave this place. Thanks again for the help Huggy!" I thank taking back the flashlight and putting the items back in the bag. With that out of the way I began to look around the room, taking note of the three doors here.

To my right was a closed off door, however it's open just a bit where one could take a peek but not high enough to squeeze through. In front of me was an open entrance with the words 'Game Station' and a train above it. And to my left is...

"Uh...what happen in there?"

What look like to be a power room was now smash to bits as sparks of electricity pop out every now and then. I looked down at the floor seeing a black cord that led all the way to the Game Station room. I quickly put the two - to - two together.

"Huggy...did you...smash the power room by chance?"

Two thumbs up were the only answer that I got.

...

...

...

Okay then...

"Right...moving on then."

I'm not even going to bother to ask why he did it other than the fact he just saved me the trouble of turning on the machine.

Entering the hallway, I look down and got a very bad feeling about this. It's so creepy looking it's not even funny. Majority of the room was dark save for a couple of red lights in the ceiling, there were also a lot of pipes along the walls. Not to mention the open gap above the door at the end of the hall.

"Something doesn't feel right..."

Steeling my nerves, we pressed on down the hallway; as we got closer to the end, I aim the right hand at the pad. Once the hand contacted the pad - the same hand that grab Poppy had come down from the open ceiling - grabbing the hand.

"What the-!?"

"Oohh~, I can't believe my eyes! It seems the Prototype was right after all!" A female voice spoke out in excitement as she drags the hand up the ceiling.

I could only watch in horror when the hand had disconnected and a large, slender pink figure similar to Huggy came crawling down the wall like a spider.

Her color palate mainly consists of the color pink, the noodle like hair is held up similar to mine but on the right and being held up in a baby blue hair tie. Her face is decorated with pink plastic color with three eyelashes on each eye. The body is composed of a small angular body, which is colored with a dark shade of pink to resemble a sweetheart-bodice dress.

Strangely her appearance overall reminds me of a Betty Spaghetti doll.

The smile on her face widens as she spoke. "After all this time, you finally came back Lily! It's been soo long!"

I step backwards as her neck stretched down bringing her head closer to me - bumping into Huggy, who let out a low growl wrapping and arm around me. With her being so close I could see that unlike Huggy, her mouth is completely hollow.

Her green eyes - that like Poppy almost look human like - were wide, like her smile, filled with happiness with a hint of madness in them. I was also shocked upon hearing my name coming out of her, but given that Poppy knew who I was, then I guess she would know it too.

"Isn't this exciting, Poppy?" She looked up bringing down her other arm that was still hidden in the shadows. My eyes went wide when I saw Poppy within her grasp, her eyes flickering around franticly as her mouth was covered in some kind of web, preventing her from speaking.

Only Poppy muffle screams can be heard.

"Very exciting, Mommy!" Mommy - wait is this Mommy Long Legs that Poppy was telling us about? - spoke in a higher pitch voice as if she was imitating Poppy herself. Her eyes flicker back down at me as she took a step down the wall leaning forward a bit more.

"Mommy, hear that Miss Poppy was going to just give you the train code to leave. You know we can't have that, Miss Poppy. The Prototype would be very upset to hear that. And very disappointed in you." She spoke in such a disappointed tone of that similar to a mother scolding a child. "Letting poor little Liy leave before she got to see everyone again. Now how is that fair?"

Poppy could only let out a muffle scream, her eyes flickering around wildly.

Mommy ignores her cries as eyes flick over to me, making me flinch back a bit which caused Huggy fur to rise, and his growls slowly get louder.

A sickening grin grew on Mommy face as she continued to speak. "Though if your so stubborn to get the codes back, why don't we make a game out of it! The game station is still working, it will be just like old times! The others would be so very happy to see you again. It not fair that Huggy gets to keep you all to himself."

Huggy's growl increased in warning, as I felt him pushing me to stand behind him, act as a shield.

Mommy held Poppy in front of her, either to use as a shield of her own or to mock her as Mommy use that childlike voice again."

"And if you win all three games, I'll give you the train code! That sounds pleasant, Miss Poppy, Mommy loves that idea! Oohh~ You're going to have so much fun! Head to Musical Memory and Mommy will get things started."

Suddenly her voice took a much darker turn as she slowly lowered her head.

"Obey the rules or I will kill all of your friends and tear your limbs apart one by one and take you to the Prototype myself."

"!?" I flinch back in fear, hand grabbing on to Huggy's legs as I stare up into Mommy manic like smile, eyes filled with so much madness with the promise of pain that's waiting to come.

I don't know if it was the cause of Mommy's threat, me grabbing him or hearing Poppy's outrage scream. But suddenly Huggy launches himself at mommy with a loud grow like scream.

"Huggy!?" I cried out in shock, hearing Mommy let out a scream of pain.

The balls of her necklace falling to the floor, her head snapping back up with blood dripping down her check.

"You wretched beast!"

She may have yelled out in pure anger but the fear in her eyes tell a different story.

Is she…afraid of Huggy?

Then why make that threat?

My eyes move over to Huggy, only able to see his back. Looking down at his hand and seeing the blood dripping down his claw like hand.

Claw?

I wasn't given enough time to think about it before Huggy let out another scream charging at Mommy, who quickly move up the wall to avoid another hit. Huggy's feet hit the ground with a loud thud, and I don't know if I'm imagining it or not, but it looks like Huggy has gotten taller and thicker.

Mommy let out a chuckle hissy sound as she looks down at Huggy. "So…this is what you truly look like under that smiling face. That man did a fabulous job in creating you. I wonder if Kissy is the same?"

The harsh growl is her only response.

"No matter, I'll just have to rethink on how to take care of you if Lily breaks the rules. And if I have to drag her with missing limbs it wouldn't matter. The Prototype can easily put her back together."

And with that Mommy let out one more laugh before crawling back up the wall. Leaving me in a state of confusion and fear as Huggy is still growling. His arm shooting out to the wall clawing out a big chunk of it as he let out a scream of frustration.

"Huggy…" I hesitantly called out to him, stepping forward before flinching back again when he snapped his head towards me.

I don't know what I was expecting to see but seeing his normal smiling face wasn't it. One quick glance at his hands shows that they are normal too.

"…Are…you okay?"

He was still breathing heavenly but after one deep breath he seem to calm down to nod his head.

"O…kay…" I flinch at the sudden contact of feeling his soft warm palms against my cheeks, tilting my head up to look into his glassy eyes.

Eyes that were moving around checking me over, before pulling away leaving me confuse as he proceeded to walk through the open door.

"…"

Suddenly…I'm starting to feel a bit uneasy around him.

This is probably the first time that deep inside my soul, I'm afraid of him. And yet a part of me knows he wouldn't hurt me without reason, but…that moment between them is really laying it thick on just how dangerous these toys can be.

Taking a step forward I almost trip at the beads from Mommy's necklace. Looking down I see them all scatter around the floor and the one I step on is slightly covered in blood. Bending down I pick up the bead looking it over.

"…"

If ask, I couldn't tell you why I decided to pick up all the beads and placing them into a side pocket of my bag, before going to the other room.

---

Walking into the new room, we were blocked by another gate, however what caught my eye were the two paintings down on each wall. To my right were all of Playtime Co.'s toys gather together looking happy with their logo painted in front of them. The one on my left though...that one is really interesting as it covered the whole wall.

Faded and chipped in some parts, it still showed the picture of what I'm guessing is the 'Game Station'. It holds the image of a big playground with kids running around (Are those the orphans? I guess is where they all played at during the day). In the bottom left corner is a train, guess that is the train Poppy and Mommy were talking about. And speaking of Mommy, she is also painted on there she seems to be having fun but...

"Why are her hands blue? I remember seeing her with pink hands...a mistake perhaps?" Right when I was getting to wonder a bit more a peculiar part the painting caught my eye. "Are those...scientist? Why would people in lab coats be up there? If they were workers keeping an eye on the kids, it would make sense, but the image clearly shows that they are examining them..."

'Mommy, why are the doctors up there?'

'Pay them no mind Lily, it wouldn't do you good to worry about those humans.'

'But I really don't like the way they look down on us. It's creepy and some of them are mean too!'

'Worry not, Lily, if they dare to come down here Mommy will stop them! Now let's go see Bunzo - he's very excited to see you
again! Do you have they instrument you wanted to show him?'

'Hmhmm! Right here! I can't wait to show him! We're going to be the best band there ever existed!'

'*Laughs* Mommy thinks so too! Now let's head down to Musical Memory. And Lily...'

"Yes Mommy?'

'If those humans come near you, don't hesitate to let Mommy know, Mommy would be very happy to have a word with them.'

'Okay, Mommy!'

"!?" I took a couple of steps back at the sudden memory that hit me.

Well, guess that explains how Mommy was so familiar to me, but who was Bunzo again?

"Mommy wanted us to go to Musical Memory...and - if the memory is right - Bunzo will be there too. Looks like I'll be getting more flashbacks again. For the best or the worst, who knows."

CLANG

"!" I spun on my heel at the sudden sound to see the metal gate slowly opening up.

Looking over I spotted Huggy, who had this hand on the lever, looking curiously over at the new open room.

"So, this is the Game Station, huh?" I walked up to the entrance with Huggy standing beside me. As we walked in some lights came on, it was still a bit dark in some areas but plenty enough lights to see around the room. I let out a low whistle as we walked further into the room. Damn this place is big, and all of this is underground too? How on earth did they manage to build this?

My thoughts were suddenly cut off when a blur image of a child ran past me.

"What?"

I turn to the direction of where the child came from...but my surroundings suddenly change. No longer was the Game Station dark and covered in dust and rusted play equipment. No what was before me was a bright room, everything looking fresh as if it was brand new and all around me there were kids running around laughing. I looked over to the side where Huggy was, but he was not there.

"Huggy!?" I called out is a panicked upon not seeing him, however I slapped both hands to mouth in shock. My voice...it doesn't sound the same.

"What...?" I whispered almost slapping my mouth again at the sound of my voice.

It's definitely a child's voice.

It's my voice when I was a kid.

I looked down to examine my body, and yep, it's my body when I was younger wearing the same clothes I've always worn. A simple yellow shirt and blue overalls.

How am I a kid again? That the hell is happening, I was with Huggy just a second ago in a more run down room of the Game Station. Is this supposed to be some kind of memory? Am I... reenacting a past event?

"Hey Lily, what are you doing standing there like that?!"

"Yeah Lily, we've got to hurry up to the main room! Mommy and the others are going to be back!"

I looked back up to see a couple of kids standing not too far from me. Slowly moving my hands from my mouth, I began to speak. "Sorry Jacob, I just had a weird thought cross my mind."

Wait Jacob?

Who is Jacob?

Is it that boy?

Why did I even say that?

And how do I even know this kid's name?

"Man, your always lost in your head, Lily! You're so weird!"

"Jacob be nice!"

"It's okay Amber, I know he didn't mean that in a bad way."

How do I know these kids' names? This has to be some kind of strange memory. The words that are coming out of my mouth aren't even the words I wanted to say much less speak. It's like my body is moving on its own and I'm just watching it through a screen like a first player video game.

"Says you-OW! What the heck was that for Amber!"

Jacob held a hand to his head as he glared at Amber - who only glared back with both hands on her hips.

"Stop being mean to Lily, Jacob! Or I'm going to tell Mommy on you! You know she doesn't tolerate bullying among us."

"Tch!"

"Oh, get off your high horses Jacob. Just because you have a crush on her, doesn't give you the right to pick on Lily here!"

I blink.

Come again?

Even my younger self was confused as she said "A crush...? You have a crush on me?"

I could only watch Jacob's face suddenly turning bright red as he splutters "I DO NOT! Why would you even say that, Amber!"

"Because Mommy said that if a boy is picking on a girl, it means they like them!"

"Well...Mommy doesn't know what she's talking about!"

"Are you trying to say, Mommy's a liar!"

"Woah! Woah! Guys calm down!" I hastily try to calm both of them down, knowing if this keeps up the siblings (How did I even know that tidbit?!) will start a fist fight with each other. However, a loud voice rang out through the room.

"MOMMY AND THE OTHERS ARE BACK!"

The three of us look over to see Mommy and a couple of kids walking up the stairs. All the kids that were playing all stop in their tracks and ran over to Mommy and the other kids that came out with her.

"Come on, Lily." Amber suddenly grabs my wrist dragging me with her "Let's ditch my idiot brother and go see Mommy."

"Hey! I'm not an idiot!"

"Yes, you are!"

As we headed over to Mommy, I looked up to see the catwalk and the room from back on that painting. There were the workers walking all on the walk, some looking down at us taking notes, others talking amongst themselves as they pointed down at some of the kids. Looking over I saw a familiar pair. Isn't that Doctor Amanda and -.

"Hey, Mommy, is it our turn to play Musical Memory!" Amber sudden voice pulled me from my thoughts as we approach Mommy.

When I looked over at Mommy Long Legs, I notice that she isn't dirty compared to when I original first saw her. And her eyes aren't filled with some madness in them, instead they are filled with warmth as we approach her giving us a warm motherly smile.

"Amber, Lily! Mommy so happy to see the two of you getting along."

"Humph" Amber puffed out her chest "Well someone has to keep an eye on her!"

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?!"

"Now, now, you two, no need for fighting." Mommy sternly told us "Where is your brother Amber?"

She shrugged "Probably off in a corner somewhere licking his wounds after I called him out on his crush on Lily here."

"Oh Amber..." Mommy sigh rubbing her head "You really need to stop tormenting that poor boy."

"I will once he stops messing with Lily here and admits he has a crush on her."

"What is Mommy going to do with you two...?"

"Um... Mommy...?" I hesitantly speak up.

"Hmm? What is it Lily, dear?"

"Is it okay if Amber and I go and play Musical Memory?"

"Why of course Lily!" She said with a closed eye smile "Why don't you wait here as Mommy goes and gathers the other children, Amber go find your brother and bring him here too please."

"Will do, Mommy!"

I watch as Amber let go of my wrist and ran back down to the playground to find her brother. I looked back up to Mommy when I felt her rubbing my head.

"Are you having fun, Lily?"

"Yeah!"

She gave me a gentle close eye smile. "Mommy is very happy to hear that!"

"Preparing for departure! In three, two, one - Choo Choo~!"

"!?" I snapped back to reality upon hearing a sudden voice cut out. My view slowly coming back to normal, showing the run down Game Station that I remember walking into. I found myself standing on the circular platform that I was standing on with Mommy. Looking up on the upper deck where the train is, I spotted Huggy standing in front of a cutout board of Kissy Missy, tilting his head to the side in curiosity.

"Huggy...?" He twitches turning around to face me "Did you...no never mind..." He tilted his head questionably as I made my way up the steps. "Sorry just got lost in thought for a moment." I told him with a small smile "Anyway, guess we found the control panel to start up the games here." Looking over at all three levers, there was one that was blinking red above the first lever on the left. "Guess we need to pull this one down first then."

Huggy looked over the panel and giving me a nod. Nodding back, I grab the lever pulling it down. A sudden loud music sound filled the room followed by a familiar voice.

"Hi kids, welcome to the Game Station! I'm Stella and we've got three super duper fun games to play!"

"Oh, it's the woman from the tape, guess she did get the job." Huggy looks down at me questionably "Uh...I'll explain later Huggy."

"These little tests shows us just how crazy strong and smart you are. Follow Mommy Long Legs down the stairs and we'll start by playing Musical Memory, see you in a bit!"

There was a small click in the speaker as if Stella had finished her recording of the tape. The sounds of lights coming on in the far left corner made us to look over to see lights reflecting of a sign, as the metal sounds of the floor opening up soon followed. We looked at each other both shrugging our shoulders and made way down the steps standing in front of the entryway of Musical Memory.

Right as we were about to go down another flash of a memory, (Thankfully not like the last one) popped into my head.

'Bunzo! Bunzo! Guess who's back!'

Clang! Clang!

'Welcome back!'

'Slow down, Lily, Mommy doesn't want to see you trip and fall on yourself!'

'Sorry Mommy, I just got too excited to see Bunzo again!'

'Mommy knows dear, just please be careful.'

'I will! Hey Bunzo, look at what I got! *giggles* Now we can play together! Isn't that fun!'

'Fun!'

I rubbed my pounding head as my vision went back to normal. Man, one memory after another. Taking a deep breath and letting it out I looked up to Huggy.

"Ready Huggy?"

He nods.

"Alright...let's do this!"

As we make are why down the stairs, I can't help but wonder if I'll be getting more memories. Especially since my younger self seems to have a good relationship with Bunzo, guess I'll find out.

---

OLD WORD COUNT: 13,829 NEW WORD COUNT (1/24/31): 18,978