The truth is still the truth, even if no one believes it. A lie is still a lie, even if everyone believes it.

- Unknown

Koa was on her back on the floor, staring wide-eyed to the ceiling. Her pupils were pinpoints in her eyes. Her right hand clenching over her heart, which was pounding erratically. Her breathing was unstable and she was soaked in sweat. She was laying on her back, on her Grab-Pack, and it was very uncomfortable for her back, but she paid little mind to it. After a few minutes, her heart rate and breathing slowed down. Once she was calm enough, she blinked once. Then twice. Then she gave a final sigh before her breathing was completely stable.

Looking around, not getting up off the floor, she noticed she was in a small front room of Home-Sweet-Home. Looking back up with a small frown on her face, she tried to think of what had just happened. Only, the memories were faint now, as if it happened so long ago, as if they were of no importance anymore. That was when Koa understood. She was hallucinating the whole thing. It was a very vivid nightmare. The Red Smoke was a sedative and hallucinogenic.

"A warning would have been appreciated, Ollie!" She yelled out loud without thinking.

Sitting up with a groan, she took her Grab-Pack off for a second to stretch her stiff back to pop the joints and release the tension. Once she finished, she stood up and picked up her Grab-Pack and put it back on her back. Noticing her knife a few inches away on the floor, she bent down to pick it up and put it in its sheath. Refocused on her mission to find the building's generator, Koa moved forward towards the doors that lead further into Home-Sweet-Home.

Once she was inside, it was an impressive sight. This building was designed more like a mansion for a very rich family. Guess Elliot Ludwig really did want the best for the children. Walking around, careful of her surroundings, she noticed a cardboard cutout of Mommy Long-Legs, which she ignored. Looking away, she noticed a large hole in the floor. Carefully stepping forward, she noticed something hanging on a broken floorboard. Using her Grab-Pack canon to retrieve it, she realized it was a gas mask. And it was still in tack! She smiled with joy and relief. Now she had something to keep from passing out next time she encountered the smoke. Looking around again, she noticed all the other doors in the room required a battery to open up. Looking back down into the hole, she noticed a rather big race car toy at the bottom.

She jumped down the hole in the floor and landed safely on the ground behind the toy car. Further inspection of the car showed it had a pull string. Using her Grab-Pack, she pulled the string and held on, which charged up the car as the back wheels were spinning rapidly. Once she released the string, the car suddenly charged through wooden crates and a cement wall! Just then, Red Smoke started to fill the room. Koa immediately retrieved and put on her newly acquired gas mask.

Looking behind her, she saw the hallway behind her was blocked off. Following the destruction left behind by the car, which was now up in flames, having crashed, she found another hole in the ceiling above her. By chance, she glanced down and saw a platform for her purple launch hand. Better prepared this time, she launched herself up through the hole landing safely in what was obviously a laundry room. Seeing it was clear of the Red Smoke, she removed her gas mask. Not finding anything of importance in the laundry room, she moved on, careful around the unstable debris and broken furniture littered around the building. Making through a few doors, she found another TV and VHS tape. Playing the tape, The screen showed an empty bed. The familiar voice of a man she nicknamed 'The Scientist,' spoke up.

"Subject is stable, designated number 1322. Clear neural abnormalities were detected in his recent check-up. Though highly irregular, we've pulled him from the Home Sweet Home just before lights out to perform-"

"What are you doing with my friend?" The voice of a small boy interrupted.

"I-! What are you doing out of bed!? How did you get in here!?" The Scientist demanded.

"Is Kevin sick? Why did you take him away?" The boy questioned innocently and genuinely concerned. Koa's hands went to her mouth in complete shock and disgust.

"I-I…" The Scientist hesitated, then responded with realization, "yes… Kevin is very sick. Very, very sick. But we want to make him better. But he can only get better if we take him to where we can provide proper care, and give him proper rest."

Koa frowned. To a child, these words would seem genuine and sincere. But any adult would sense the lies in his words a mile away.

"Will… D-Do you think he will be okay?" The boy asked, worried for his friend.

"I should think so," The Scientist responded. "We're good at what we do, son. We paid attention in school, learned, and got our proper rest when we needed it. Just like you need it now, I should think. Come now, let's get you back on to bed." It was obvious the Scientist wanted the child to just go away and leave him be. He sounded too insistent in his words.

"O-Okay." The boy responded, seemingly not entirely convinced.

"It's been a pleasure meeting you, Joseph. And I promise you, your friend will be alright. When you see him again, he'll never have been better." The Scientist said, obviously lying through his teeth.

The TV screen then went black. Koa stood there in complete shock, her reflection staring back at her from the TV screen. Turning around, she slowly stepped towards the wall… then vomited. Once she finished, she stood there, leaned over, her hands on her slightly bent knees, heaving.

'It can't be! It simply can't be!' Koa tried to deny herself the truth. 'These adults were experimenting on the children!'

"They were just babies!" Koa quietly shouted out loud. "Just. Babies!"

After a few minutes, she sniffled, wiped her nose and mouth on her arm brace, and pulled herself together. Getting angry now was not going to help, and she was still in danger. Looking around, there was no way out from here. Backtracking her steps, she climbed through a large hole in the wall into a bedroom, and opened the door. After walking through the door, she paused when she heard loud footsteps not too far from her. Looking to her right, she immediately ducked down behind the discarded dressers in the hall.

CatNap was right there!

He walked right past her. He didn't even notice her. Once it was quiet, Koa crawled under the wooden planks nailed to the wall, which were not really blocking the door well. Once she was in the room, Koa had to pause. She couldn't help but notice how skinny CatNap looked. After ten years of no one being here, it must have been harder for the toys here to survive. Refocusing once again to her mission, Koa continued her search for the generator.

Climbing through more holes in the walls and opening more doors, Koa found a door that required two batteries to open. The generator had to be on the other side of that door. Finding the first battery in the floor, she plugged it in and started searching for another battery.

Her search led her to a room filled with bunk-beds and cradles. And in the room, was a large, knocked over Bobby Bearhug statue. And there, in its back, was the second battery. She retrieved the battery and jumped back down the hole in the floor.

She hurried over a pile of boxes and entered another room, only to pause in her tracks. There, sitting on a bed, cradling a picture frame in her paws, was Kissy Missy, the female counterpart of Huggy Huggy. Despite her smiling mouth, Koa could sense the depression radiating from the poor, pink toy. Standing on her toes, careful not to intrude or catch Kissy's attention, Koa caught a glimpse of the picture in her paws. The picture of a sad looking little girl.

'Why does she look familiar?' Koa thought to herself with a frown. Glancing back at Kissy, she decided to leave her be. Returning to the receptacle, she plugged in the second battery and activated the power, opening the door. After finding and crashing another toy car, she was disappointed to find herself on the second-floor balcony in the main lobby of Home-Sweet-Home instead of finding the generator.

While there, she found a cardboard cutout of PickyPiggy. Her dialog disturbed Koa as she named dishes that represented some of the other Critters, like an elephant and unicorn. Disgusted, she continued her quest.

After charging more receptacles, finding more batteries, crashing more cars, braving more Red Smoke, and crawling through more vents, Koa finally found the back-up generator for Home-Sweet-Home. After rerouting the safeguards and power lines, Koa successfully turned on the generator. With her mission completed, she made her way back out of Home-Sweet-Home. Luckily, it wasn't a long journey back out. Making her way back to the front halls from the back halls behind the generator, the front door was just up ahead.

Truth is dangerous, dangerous to all those people who have been living in fictions, beautiful lies, nice dresms, utopias.

- OSHO