In a second his blue eyes opened wide as his body straightened, his mouth wide open seeking the air his lungs lacked as if he had just come up for air.
'Yihhhhuurrrrrrg! HAAAa! haaaaa!?' he gasps, crawling, his vision blurred by tears.
He doesn't know where he's going, his distress leads him to a corner of the room and then he felt nausea overwhelm him, vomiting the horror of what he has just experienced. Andy completely emptied his stomach before falling on his back away from what he has just vomited, his eyes staring wearily at the worn ceiling, one of his hands cradling his heart beating wildly in his chest while fragments of dreams return forcefully to his mind, grimacing he passes a hand over his face to support his burning forehead.
"Kpmffff...hhhhmm...hhhhaaa...ha...ha..." breathing while swallowing the horrible taste in his mouth, he straightens up a little, rummages in his backpack, takes out a bottle of water and empties it completely, once finished he feels a little better physically "...good heavens...what did I just see?"
A nightmare, and not the kind you can forget or try to rationalize, it's more like the kind you relive with your eyes closed and that are impossible to forget, Andy continues to draw inspiration and above all to take stock of these visions which for him indicate that his mother really did something to him.
"Why don't I remember?" he wonders, his teeth clenched with stress, especially when he sees his mother holding a vial of blood against her.
"I'm sorry, my angel."
It was horrific; had his own mother tried to experiment on him? Was she, in the end, as monstrous as all the Playtime executives? Tilting his head back, Smith swallowed the tears of despair that burned his eyes. He wanted to scream, or even have a good cry to finally release what he was feeling right then and there, but being so close to the end, he couldn't, not yet.
"..."bringing his gaze back to his hands, he inhaled deeply, gently passing his thumb to the corner of his eyes to wipe away the few remaining tears. "...it's not time to cry yet..." he told himself as he finally stood up.
Slightly dizzy, he placed a hand against the wall for support, then his gaze drifted towards the door he had come from. His brows furrowed at the memory of the gas that had sent him to the land of nightmares. He hadn't seen Catnap, but given the absence of pipes in the room, he would bet it was him. Yet, it made no sense since he was still alive. Why hadn't Catnap taken the opportunity to kill him?
"Unless he's trying to torture me?" he muses, splashing water on his face, pushing his pink bangs against his head, and sighing, "...by Zeus, I'm going to need a vacation after all this."
Between the deadly chases and the mind-bending puzzles, Andy thinks about what he will do once he leaves the factory with the toys he has saved, then his attention returns to the double doors that invite him to continue, his eyes narrow then he throws both hands of his Grabpack to open them not wanting to be smoked out a second time, once sure he moves forward mentally noting the signs of the enormous feline's passage, claw marks, dried blood, toy reduced to pieces, his steps lead him to the hall and he takes a moment to admire the chandelier above his head.
"Oh! Mommy, look, they've captured the moon!"
Surprised, he turns his eyes to the side and looks at an ethereal image of himself as a child pointing at the moon surrounded by clouds. Next to him is the blurry shape of his mother, which evaporates as soon as he tilts his head to see her face better. Shaking his head slightly, the human looks around melancholically. During his visits, he couldn't help but envy the children living in what he thought was an amusement park built for them. He remembers begging his mother to spend sleepovers with them, but she always refused. It is only today that he realizes that if she had agreed even once, then... he too would have been transformed into a toy.
*Slap!*
Slapping his cheeks together sharply, Sonia's son took a deep breath, then his dark blue eyes fixed resolutely on the floor above him.
"More than a walk," he murmured to himself.
Examining the surroundings with his flashlight, he looks at the closed doors fitted with heavy metal bars; clearly the children could not go out at night, which reminds him of the tape talking about how Catnap used smoke to put everyone to sleep. His gaze finally falls on a heavy metal door with a sun drawn on it. Looking through the windows to see the power generator, he understands that it probably serves to power the building.
"If I want to find Poppy, I'll have to get everything working again," he thought, looking towards the hole in the ground. "In the dark, she won't risk running loose with Catnap... I really hope she's okay."
Out of the corner of his eye he notices something dangling from a plank, grabbing it with one of his colorful hands he looks at a gas mask in Playtime colors, delighted to have finally found protection against this nightmare gas he puts it on to adjust it to his face then once satisfied he attaches it to his hip, seeing no other direction to move forward he jumps into the hole, arriving in what looks like a basement he still feels his surprise rise when he sees a race car.
And no, it's not a small car, it's as big as a go-kart. Walking around the contraption, Andy can only applaud the engineer who built this life-size toy without having done any horrible experiments. Seeing that the path is blocked by heavy wooden crates, the blond man reverses the car and then positions himself at the back to pull the mechanism. His eyebrows rise to his hair as he listens to the sound of the engine, but especially as he sees it speed through the crates and then crash into a wall at the back, making the human grimace as he sheepishly watches the accident he has just caused.
"...as for discretion, that's ruined," he muses as he puts on his gas mask.
Advancing through the red cloud, he feels genuinely oppressed under this mask, especially with his reduced field of vision. Finding a platform with a purple footprint, he steps onto it and performs a boosted jump that propels him to the next room. Removing his mask, he takes a long breath of air before looking down at what he has just walked over.
...
A dress, a little yellow dress, aged, a wave of emotion takes hold of him as he observes the laundry room in which he finds himself, abandoned children's clothes on the floor, swallowing a sob at the sight of the cart overflowing with clothes, the young man rushes into a hole in the wall to fall into a room resembling an office, then his eyes fix with horror on a window giving a view into one of the children's rooms.
"Those monsters..." he growls, clenching his fists as he sees the board filled with notes on the children's behavior in their private lives.
He knew, those who worked on this side of Playtime were real monsters with human skin, no consideration for children becoming toys, nor for those they observed in their rooms, no respect for life, his blue eyes turned towards the direction of his mother's office.
"And you, Mom? Which side were you on?" he whispered, his throat tight.
Moving forward again, he takes in the desolate scene around him: scattered notes, bloody marks on the walls, handprints on overturned furniture—all signs of utter panic. Andy thinks Catnap must have come here to hunt down the scientists; it's unlikely humans could be stronger than a giant cat capable of putting them to sleep. Reaching the second part of the room, he looks at the two possible paths and decides to take the one blocked by a control panel. Running his blue hand over it, he watches the door descend into the floor. Peeking his head in first, he looks to his left at the path blocked by debris, which slightly reassures him that no one could take him by surprise. Moving to the right, he comes across another desk filled with notebooks locked in cabinets. Then, seeing a VHS player, he immediately starts looking for the corresponding tape. It's while retracing his steps that he stumbles upon small rooms with stools in the middle. At first, he doesn't see the purpose of such rooms before realizing that It resembled a cell, clicking his tongue he continued to search then his eyes saw the cassette in one of its rooms, bending down he went under the half-open door to reach it, once in hand he straightened up before freezing completely as he felt something rubbing against his neck.
...
(Wednesday...damn Wednesday!...is it Catnap?!...)
Slowly he takes a step forward, his body tense and ready to do anything to survive what is about to happen to him. Gently he tilts his head to the side to look over his shoulder, he feels his heart pound in his ears as he sees purple, then he turns completely around, his mouth opens to let out a war cry but it remains hanging open when he sees that he is not dealing with the predator from Playcare, no it is rather the miniature version of Catnap that he has in front of him because the little plush toy is suspended by its own tail by some staples, frozen like a deer facing headlights, he thinks of just moving to ignore the umpteenth toy corpse when he hears something.
"...nnnn...mmm..."
Blinking two or three times, Andy hesitantly raises his finger to press on the belly of the little creature, which in response moans, writhing on the spot. The mini-Catnap is now facing him, and the human hears what sounds like a heavy sigh.
"Great...I'm so hungry I'm hallucinating..." a female voice mutters hoarsely, then a soft, humorless laugh escapes her large black mouth, "...I guess it's over..."
Seeing that she was about to cry about her fate, Andy pushed her again, eliciting a disgruntled grunt from her.
"Hey! Would you mind ar-..." swaying on the spot, she pauses for a very long time under the slightly amused gaze of the blond. "...you...you're real?" she murmurs incredulously. "No way! You-
"Shh!"
He quickly put his hand over the little plush toy's mouth to silence it, placing a finger on its lips, then he rummaged in his bag and took out a screwdriver with which he removed each metal fastener holding the little Catnap, once the last one was removed he caught the captive who let himself be carried away docilely, then he placed it on the stool and knelt down to be at its level.
"Are you alright?" he asks, concerned.
"Ouch!" she said simply, smoothing her tail twisted like a Pikachu's. "As good as one can be while hanging like a monkey..." she snarled, after a few minutes she turned towards him with her head tilted to the side. "I'm not dreaming, am I?" she said, trying to touch his face.
Andy lets himself be observed while watching the little Catnap who seems to be in good condition despite the grime embedded in the tissue of her body, he also notices that instead of wearing a moon-shaped medal she has a small yellow scarf tied around her neck, apart from that she really looks like a very cute version of the giant cat he met.
"It's real," he confirms, taking out some chocolate bars and giving them to the little girl, who lets out a cry of joy before lunging at the offered food. "Gently! You might choke!"
"No chance! I'm so hungry *crush, crush* mmm! That's good!"
She quickly ate as much as her small stomach allowed, and when she was finished, the two looked at each other, trying to determine if the other was trustworthy or not.
"So...how did you get here?" asked the little purple cat, standing up with her arms crossed over her small chest, no doubt wanting to look intimidating. "Nobody can get past Huggy."
"Let's just say we finally came to an agreement," the human explains simply, running a hand through his hair.
"...huh?" she said incredulously. "How can you hear? Huggy is the factory's security guard and he doesn't let anyone in or out!"
"Well, at first yes he tried, then I saved him," Andy admits, scratching his cheek.
"S-saved him?" she said, letting her arms fall back to her sides, then she shook her little head and stared at him. "O-Okay! And Mommy?! You must have run into her!"
"Yes, she's fine too," he said with a chuckle as he saw her remain motionless, then his expression became more serious. "Now I need you to answer a few questions, okay?" Seeing her recoil, he quickly placed a hand against her heart. "I promise I won't hurt you... I just want to talk, then I'll leave you alone, I promise."
"..."she looks at her feet for a second, then she crosses her arms and looks at him. "Counter-offer, I'll answer your questions but you help me accomplish my mission."
"Your mission?" he repeats stupidly. "What kind of mission?"
"It's top secret! I can't tell anyone who isn't part of the group," she replied, raising her nose in the air, visibly very pleased with herself.
"Okay?" he replied hesitantly. "And what will my mission be?"
"You'll escort me while we're here. I can handle the Ruined, but against Catnap..."
He won't even try to reassure her; against Catnap, his chances of winning are really slim, even with his gas mask. In terms of pure strength, he is clearly not up to the level of the Smiling Critter.
"The Ruined?" he repeats, tilting his head to the side.
"Ah yes, you probably don't know..." she sighed, raising her arm while explaining, "The Ruined are the toys that follow Catnap, small and enraged, believe me, you don't want to cross them."
"So he has an army," he mused, standing up with his hands on his hips. "That's not going to make things any easier for me in finding Poppy..."
The mention of the redhead made Mini Catnap jump out of his seat and grab the collar of his jacket, his face almost touching his.
"Poppy's here?!" his voice gets shaky and Smith notes that this is the first time he has heard joy at the mention of Poppy.
"Yes, you know her?"
"Who doesn't know her?!" she said ironically, dropping her jacket and sitting on the shoulder of the human who watched her bounce in her new seat. "It changes absolutely everything!"
He would like to know more, but the invisible threat of Catnap and small toys that can appear without warning forces him to put aside his curiosity.
"Listen to me, human, I'm here to find out what Catnap is hiding," the kitten explained, standing on his shoulder. "I was investigating when he surprised me and locked me up here."
"He did that?" he said, quite curious to know why he hadn't eliminated him like the others.
"The worst torture here is dying of hunger," she explains, rubbing her full belly. "He inflicts that on heretics."
That's a word that greatly worries Andy, who shudders slightly at the thought of all the other dead toys he has encountered.
"Heretic? What kind of god does he worship that justifies this?" he hisses, grunting.
"Believe me, he's no god...actually he looks much more like the devil," she murmured, shaking her small head as she leaned forward to look the blond man in the eyes. "Enough dawdling, we need to move before he comes back to do his rounds."
"Wait, I found this," he says, showing the VHS tape. "I need to see what's on it."
"Why bother?"
"I'm investigating someone too," he replied, walking up to the TV.
"The subject is stable, designated number 1322. Clear neurological abnormalities were detected during his recent examination. Although very irregular, we took him out of his home just before lights out so that he could perform…"
"What are you doing with my friend?"
Andy felt his blood run cold as he listened to the small, troubled voice in the scientist's monologue; unconsciously, he moved closer to the desk to lean on it.
"I... What are you doing out of bed? How did you get in here?"
"Is Kevin sick? Why did you bring him in?"
"Yes… Kevin is very sick. Very, very sick. But we want him to get better. But he can only get better if we take him somewhere where we can give him the proper care and allow him to rest properly."
"You... You really think he's going to make it?"
"I believe that. We're good at what we do, son. We paid attention at school, we learned, and we got enough rest when we needed it. Like you now, I think. Come on, let's go back to bed."
"All right."
"It was a pleasure meeting you, Joseph. And I promise you that your friend will be fine. When you see him again, he will have never been better."
He wants to hit them, honestly Andy has never wanted to hit someone so much in his whole life as those damned scientists daring to abuse an innocent child, clenching his teeth he raged to pick up the cassette again under the curious gaze of the little plush toy.
"...did you know them?" Andy asks, sniffing a little.
"It's...hard to say...unlike many, I've kept a good part of my memories, but after living like this, I have...trouble remembering everyone," she admits, looking at her purple paw.
"Pardon..."
"No, don't be...at least you care."
Letting the silence extend for a few minutes to digest the news, he timidly raised an open hand towards little Catnap who was looking at the member with confusion.
"Andy Smith, pleased to meet you"
Sketching what looked like a smile, she clapped her hand.
"My name is Cathy"
Once the introductions were over, the two resumed their journey, retracing his steps, Smith grimaced when he saw a Bunzo and a Bron hanging around a hole in the wall, unable to wait any longer he began to whisper to Cathy.
"Why were they subjected to this?" he asks, pointing to the dead toy dangling in the void.
"That's the fate reserved for those who betrayed Catnap; desert the ranks and you'll end up like that," she explained uncomfortably. "The others are devoured."
Swallowing a reply, he opens the door which leads to a corridor, wanting to ask for directions he opens his mouth when two small fluffy arms silence him and in surprise he steps back, confused he watches his new friend signal him to say nothing, straining his ears he finally hears...footsteps, heavy and accompanied by a noise that reminds him of a saw cutting wood, his eyes widen as he realizes that Catnap is right there.
Backing behind the door, he puts one knee on the ground while trying to see if he is moving away from their position or not; as time passes, he hears nothing but the frantic beating of his own heart echoing in his head.
"He's gone..." he said quietly to a frightened Cathy hiding in the hood of her yellow sweatshirt.
"No," she asserted, her voice rising. "That's how everyone gets tricked; he pretends not to have noticed us, and as soon as we leave, he pounces on us!"
This really resembles the behavior of a cat, or a hunter far too sadistic for Andy's liking, who takes the risk of passing his flashlight through the corridors to search for the deadly feline. Not seeing it, he ventures forth on tiptoe. He quickly finds the room controlling the power supply to the doors, but it needs two batteries for it to work. The first one is right at his feet. After putting it in, he searches around him, opening doors with fear in his gut about who might be hiding behind them. He tries to ignore the messages calling for help written in blood, the children's drawings showing Poppy, Huggy, and Bunzo, some depicting them surrounded by red. Then, reaching the last door at the end of the corridor, he was surprised to see a light in a corner. The entrance was hidden by boxes, but by slipping to the side, he had the incredible surprise of finding someone.
Kissy Missy.
Sitting there on a bed, his hands supporting a frame with the image of a smiling little girl, he silently looks at the room, rather well maintained despite the years. On the walls, he looks at drawings by Missy with the words "Best Friend" around them. He looks at the empty bed, then at another frame on the bedside table, this time with two girls. Squinting, he recognizes the first one as the one in the photo that Kissy is looking at; she is arm in arm with another girl, laughing.
(This is surely her room...and one of the two must have been her before...) sniffing slightly, he lowers his eyes, opening his mouth a little, then closing it with his eyes. (What could I tell her? That I'm sorry for her? That...that there must be a way to give her back her old life?...if only...if only I could do that for them...)
He feels stupid, or rather completely helpless, seeing what has been done to innocent children. How can you help someone who has lost their body? How can he understand someone who has lost their own name? Nor can he imagine what happened ten years ago. Andy feels powerless, seeing that he would like to help them all. It breaks his heart to have to close that door, but in trying to do good, sometimes you do even more harm. Swallowing his tears, he pulls himself up after throwing out a hand.
"Are you okay, Andy?" Cathy asks softly from under her hood.
"...honestly, no," he sighs, walking into a room filled with cribs he doesn't dare look at. "This place only reminds me of all the horrors of Playtime...and also..."
"Huh?"
"No, nothing," he assures, banishing the nightmarish image of his mother stabbing him with a syringe. "Tell me one thing instead," he says, moving into the other rooms and noticing overturned beds and destroyed furniture. "Why doesn't Catnap live here with his followers? Where are they, anyway?"
"I told you, he's hiding something here and he doesn't want anyone to find out," she explains, her hands at the edge of her hood and her eyes scanning for the giant cat's sign. "They all live in the Playhouse. A word of advice: don't go there under any circumstances. It's Catnap's church, and no one has ever come out alive."
"The Playhouse..." he said to himself, taking a moment to fondly remember that huge playground. He also happily remembered playing in the pool below, especially the time he managed to beat the others in a swimming race. "Well, thanks for the advice, Cathy."
Their discussion stops when the blond boy finds a statue of the Smiling Critter red bear collapsed flat on its stomach in the middle of the dormitory, curious he approaches it to inspect it and discovers with astonishment that it was a machine hidden under all that padding, studying the head he looks at lenses at the end of a camera and seeing cables heading towards the surveillance room Andy quickly made the connection.
"I see, they must have used it to make sure the children were sound asleep," he sighed, running a hand through his hair. "They must have done that after the child we heard accidentally wandered into their office."
"And also for those they take with them..."
"Eh ?"
"Nothing...please continue"
"Okay?" he said hesitantly while picking up the battery from the back of the giant camera.
Clearly he had run into another evasive person, if it weren't so frustrating he could laugh about it, jumping through the hole in the floor he looked around and was intrigued by a series of heavily closed doors, chain with combination padlock, nailed wooden planks, the worst was the door at the end of the corridor which in addition to being metal also had electronic security to prevent it from opening except for someone with a Grabpack and a blue hand, his eyes noticed that compared to the others this one had a small trapdoor like the ones on the... the realization hit him so hard that he froze for a minute.
"Andy? Why aren't we moving forward anymore?" asks Cathy, who comes to hang on his neck.
Silently he advances, gently pushing his partner back into his hood; the only sound that can be heard is the slow breathing of the human, the sound of his shoes creaking on the wooden floor; passing by a door, he notices a name scratched in a corner.
~Jane~
Curious, he ran his fingers through the marks; no normal tool could have done that. Pressing his ear against the door, he heard nothing at all. Frowning, he approached the two doors facing each other, each bearing very particular claw marks.
~Tim~
~Harley~
Same thing, no noise behind, he even tried knocking to maybe get an answer, clicking his tongue he moves towards the last one, looking down he notices that the wood is much more damaged, given the marks he concludes that Catnap must come here very often, bending down he looks at the name written right next to the frame, obviously even Catnap cannot damage the metal which reassures him.
~Izzy~
Taking a deep breath to swallow the part of his brain screaming that he was acting too much like an idiot in a horror movie, he pressed his ear against the cold metal; for a moment he thought he had made a grave mistake, then he vaguely heard something that sounded like a muffled murmur.
"Do you hear that?" Smith asks his passenger, who climbs onto his head to press her own ear to the door.
"Yes...yes!" she whispers hopefully, raising her head and looking at the red light, her eyes darkening slightly. "We have to open this door!"
"Wait a second," he said, picking her up and setting her down on the floor. Facing her, he frowned, pointing towards the door. "Do you know who's hiding in there?"
"Yes and no," she said, shifting her weight. "Andy, listen to me, we have to free them if—"
"So you know," he accused neutrally, seeing Cathy avoid his gaze, he sighed, "You're not making things easy for me, you know, playing the mysterious one."
"...I'm sorry...but once they're free I'll explain, I promise!"
"All right"
"I'm...huh?"
"I said okay."
"Um...I didn't think you'd say yes, I was thinking about how to convince you," she said sheepishly.
"You promised, in my family a promise is sacred," he explains with a smile. "That's enough for me to understand that it's important to you, come on, let's open this door."
Amazed as the blond with pink bangs put it back on its perch, Cathy could no longer say anything as she watched him retrace his steps to put the second battery in place because apparently the power had to be restored so that the mysterious door could finally be opened.
*COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO!*
"By Zeus!" he hissed, stepping back and looking around fearfully. "Did they have to do that?!"
"Don't dawdle, Andy, if Catnap spots us the mission will be ruined! We need to restore power to open the door!"
"Don't worry, I'm not likely to forget."
Placing another mental note to curse the one who designed the place, Smith advances up the stairs, his heart pounding, knowing that his mother's office is just a few meters away. Arriving at the top, he had the displeasure of seeing yet another closed door. Suppressing a groan, he turns his gaze to the dormitory on his left and immediately notices the race car just waiting to be started. Then his dark blue eyes see once again the inscription that he has been seeing ever since he arrived here.
Written in blood on an overturned mattress : "The Hour Of Joy"
The more he sees this word, the more he concludes that it is an important event for the toys, who seem to be the only ones living in the bowels of the factory. For a moment he wants to question Cathy about it before changing his mind when he remembers why she came in the first place. Getting to work after realizing that there is no way to move forward, the human moves a ramp in front of the life-size race car under the alarmed eyes of the little purple cat.
"He might hear us!" she whispered in his ear.
"At this point, I think we have no choice!" replies the blond man simply, pulling on the mechanism.
The two watched with a fascination one might have watching a Lego tower collapse, the engine screamed, the car flew for a short moment before smashing through the barricade built with destroyed furniture and impaled toys, then ending its run in the ramp surrounding the first floor. Cautiously, the two headed towards their newly unlocked access to assess the extent of the damage, although honestly Andy didn't care. Noises above his head accompanied by an electronic laugh made him get on his guard while Cathy whistled.
"Darn! I knew that not meeting a single one was too good to be true!" she said, hitting the human's shoulder with her little paw.
"Is this one of the Ruined you were telling me about?"
"Yes...those are Catnap's eyes and ears, it's thanks to them that he can easily track us...we need to hurry, Andy."
"Hmm"
He was well aware of it, besides, he ignored the cardboard cutout of the pink pig whose name is...Piggy? Yes, surely that's it, in any case none of them gave him any good information, entering what looked like a huge living room where the children came to relax when he didn't want to go outside, advancing cautiously into the room he found a new TV, knowing that a cassette must be around here he started looking under the eyes of Cathy who shared her concern about staying too long in the same place.
"Andy...if Catnap we-
"Listen, I'm ready to give up finding this cassette if you can tell me what 'hour of joy' is in return?" he asks through gritted teeth, getting no answer he resumes his search.
"...Sorry..."
"...don't be," he sighed, opening a cupboard to find what he hoped was an important clue, taking the cassette, he headed towards the player.
( Celebrations can be heard in the background)
"Ah, and here they all are."
"Of course, they wouldn't miss it for the world!"
"Missed that?" Andy thought to himself, looking at the still image of the child staring at the camera as if he were about to cry.
"Who is it, Mrs. Brooks? Who's leaving?"
"Tell us! Tell us!"
"Leave? So...someone has it...wait a minute"
He understands, perhaps because he has long understood that here horror can take different forms, but Smith understood it as soon as little Cathy started sniffing behind his neck. Gently, he reached behind to caress the head of the little girl trapped in a plush body, trying to soothe her as she surely relived bad memories listening to her cries of joy.
(Shh) "This week, Dr. White has chosen our dear Samuel Lee!"
(Cries.)
"Now, before he leaves, let's all say one last goodbye to Sam, okay? With me. 1... 2... 3!"
"Goodbye, Sam!"
(Applause.)
The video stops, the screen goes black again, Cathy continues to sniffle, for a moment the blond just wants to reduce the cassette to shreds and never hear about it again, then he slowly regains his composure while watching the umpteenth proof of the lack of humanity within this factory.
"So that's how they covered up their actions...they made everyone believe that the chosen children were adopted, but...it was false," he sighed sadly. "That's what you meant earlier, right?"
"...at first nobody questioned anything...everyone was happy here and...the people who came to adopt us were so kind, we couldn't have imagined...then one day a whole group left and I felt bad," she explains, crying softly while snuggling against him. "A few weeks later it was my turn..."
"...forgive me, I...I shouldn't have..."
"Don't worry...unlike many others, I...I came out of it just fine."
Trapped underground, reduced to surviving among cannibalistic toys, driven mad, and she dares to say she's doing well? Andy doesn't know whether to applaud her mental strength or cry at seeing a child who thinks he's lucky after what he's been through here.
Silently he began to solve the umpteenth Playtime puzzle, which involved opening doors via electrical relays placed on the ceiling. Advancing cautiously, he opened the doors while aiming through the collapsed walls to reach the power source. After leaving the toddler's room, he rubbed his eyes together because being plunged into darkness and squinting at the slightest suspicious movement was making his eyes hurt.
Then he had a moment of panic when he looked to his left at the bright eyes of a giant toy, and without hesitation he threw himself backwards to hide behind the wall.
"Hey! What's wrong with you?!"
"I...I saw something," he whispered, panting.
Alert, little Catnap climbs down from her hood to look, then her small shoulders lower as she turns towards the human behind her.
"It's just a statue, Andy," she sighed pityingly. "Well, I understand why they can be scary, you know." Having received no response, she turned to him and noticed that he had stood up and was staring at the door at the end of the corridor. "Uh, Andy? Hello?"
Seeing him slowly approaching, she climbed on top of him to return to her seat, which she found really comfortable from being there so often. Her steps made the parquet floor groan. Then, once he arrived in front of the famous door, he stopped, his fingers hanging a few centimeters from the handle. Running his tongue over his now dry lips, the young man took a long breath.
(Finally...)
Click ~Screech~
With his eyes wide open, Andy Smith finally enters his mother's office after a long journey.
His eyes wandered around this room which was for a time the kingdom of Sonia Smith, the nurse loved by all. Every boo-boo, every cold or stomachache, his mother never refused to treat anyone or put it off. She even sometimes took her first aid kit and ran off to help a kid who had fallen, and he was never far behind her to watch her do it. In his child's heart, his mother really looked like a superhero.
Three beds to his right, one of them bearing a large bloodstain. He looks at the half-erased fresco of Bunzo riding a player character with a small smile. All around, he sees claw marks, and his heart sinks at the thought of Playcare's predator here. Yet, he is convinced that his mother did not fall victim to Catnap. Call it a slim hope, but Smith believes it. Slowly reaching out, his hand caresses the furniture, where he finds some broken vials, half-opened medical books, coloring books given to children who have unfortunately broken a leg. Then his eyes fall on his desk. Slowly, he approaches and quickly finds, under a pile of scattered papers, a heavy brown leather-bound journal, damaged by three long cuts in the cover. At first, he thinks of Catnap, but then he notices how clean and fine the cut is, nothing like the tearing marks the giant cat might leave.
(It's as if she used it as a shield...) he muses, ignoring Cathy who climbs onto his shoulder to read her mother's journal with him.
Logbook, July 6, 1989
~Today I am still waiting for a response from Playtime regarding my application to become a nurse at Playcare. Normally, I wouldn't apply for a job that seems far below my abilities. It's true, after all, not so long ago I was a surgeon with a higher success rate than my male colleagues, who of course couldn't stand that a woman was more talented than them. I was dismissed, and fortunately, thanks to my savings and my father's help, I'm managing. However, I must find a job so that Andy doesn't lack anything. The other day, I found him all alone in his sandbox, building sandcastles only to flatten them with his shovel. I could see he was upset, and when I asked him what was wrong, he just said...
~It's Father's Day~
At that moment, I felt truly helpless because...how do you explain to a little boy that his father left as soon as he learned of his existence? Impossible, that's what I told myself all day while I tried to comfort Andy.
He silently turns the pages.
Logbook, July 22, 1989
I got the job! Not that I doubted it, but it feels good to know I can pay the bills without needing Dad's help. I love him, but sometimes he makes me feel like I can't manage on my own.
I visited the place and it's just as Mr. Ludwig described, a true paradise for children who are alone in the world. I met the other staff members and they are all very kind and attentive. I got along very well with Stella Greyber, who, between you and me, looks like a child in an adult's body. We talked at length about her work here as well as mine. She's such a lovely woman that I'm thinking of inviting her to dinner at my house. I'm sure Andy will adore her.
I also met Elliot Ludwig, he's the kindest man in the world. His vision, his desire to build toys, makes him seem like the perfect embodiment of Santa Claus. He asked me questions, and as we talked, I felt like I was reconnecting with an old friend I'd lost touch with. He told me about how he imagined this place with the help of his daughter, who, from what I understand, has a very vivid imagination.
The day was ruined by the arrival of Leith Pierre. He looks so much like a mobster that I could laugh: impeccable black suit, slicked-back hair, and a signet ring on his finger that he claims to have earned at university. He's the one in charge of innovation here, and from what I've seen, apart from Mr. Ludwig, he doesn't listen to or respect anyone. I didn't even speak to him, but the look he gave me... I don't know why, but when I think back on it, I almost saw pity in it.
I must be imagining things, plus I brought back loads of toys for Andy! Oh my god, I love seeing him smile!
Logbook, August 9, 1989
~Today was weird, I was about to go home when I saw Mr. Ludwig heading back to the factory. He seemed agitated and was talking very loudly on the phone. From what little I heard, he seemed to be apologizing to someone and telling them that he couldn't hire them. Then he saw me, which honestly was very awkward. Then he just went back to the factory, and maybe it's just a feeling, but I got a chill down my spine seeing Elliot go back to work, and I can't explain it.
Stopping for a second, the human looks behind him to check that the doors are still closed, reassured he turns the pages which look more or less the same up to a particular date, and also on the trace of dried tear that made the ink bleed.
Logbook, September 26, 1989
~When I arrived in the parking lot this morning, I first saw the police cars and I hurried to see what was happening. I saw Leith talking with the police and I don't think I've ever seen her so upset as she was that day. Then I saw a body covered with a sheet being loaded into a truck. Much later, I learned that it was Mr. Ludwig who had left us. I barely remember going home. He was such a kind and considerate person towards children. He always took the time to go to Playcare to check if everything was as he had imagined. Every time, I was in awe.
~After that, I heard on the radio what the police discovered in his house...I...I never would have imagined there could be anything wrong with Mr. Ludwig, and now I find out they found children's remains?! I haven't felt well since I heard that, and nobody wants to tell me what's going on. Stella seems withdrawn at the moment, and I imagine she's also affected by what's happening.
I don't know if things will stay the same as before.
Unfortunately for Andy, some pages seem to have been torn out, causing a huge hole in the chronology; in the end, he can only read the last two pages, and he feels his blood run cold when he sees bloodstains in a corner of the page.
~...I write these lines to perhaps feel less guilty about what I did, as I said before everything here is nothing like what I imagined, yet I finally found...yes, finding hope was laborious and all those sleepless nights almost drove me crazy but now I finally have it!
~Yet I know that this doesn't excuse what I had to do...whether it was witnessing this hell that we unwittingly created and which today resembles a nightmare from which no one can awaken, I thought about praying that God would forgive me for not saving those who were before me, but my crimes are too great today...~
Deep down, I want to...but who would want to forgive me?
...is this a confession? His lips pursed to hold back the tears that threaten to fall, he turns the page and looks at the very last entry in Sonia Smith's diary.
~To whoever finds this journal, I beg you to burn it so that no one else can use it. What I've written in it must never leave Playtime. This knowledge...no, this curse must disappear for everyone's sake.~
I spent the last six years of my life locked up in Playtime, and I finally admitted that my curiosity led me to know far too much. Even now, I wonder what would have happened if Playtime hadn't hired me. Maybe I'd be living with my son far away from all this...it would be wonderful to see him again. Yet I know I made the right choice, and I'll have to live with that until the end.
~Sonia Smith~
Finally finishing his reading, the young man closed the book, his eyes moist. At first, he tried not to be disappointed or frustrated, but honestly, he couldn't. After coming this far, he thought he'd find traces of her presence, notes about her whereabouts, or even...her body. He'd been preparing for this for ten years now, and all he had were just a few pages about his regrets? Did this mean she was in cahoots with the Playtime executives? That she...that she was kidnapping children at night to experiment on them, turning them into giant toys for everyone to see, like mascots in an amusement park?!
He stretches his arm back to throw the newspaper, his face clearly displays anger, his bare teeth let out furious hisses, then his eyes close forcefully and he abandons his posture, passing a hand over his face.
"What am I doing...?" he said to himself, placing the book on the desk, then he paced the room, slicking his bangs back against his head. "I still haven't found anything in the end. She obviously wasn't here ten years ago, and her diary tells me nothing except that she felt unwell..." He glanced at the book, one hand on his hip. "Even if... Ludwig's death happened here?"
At the time, he was surely too young to understand what was happening, and let's not even mention the children's corpses found at his home. Could that mean he was connected to the experiments? The note found in his office could confirm this theory, as could his mother's note about his strange late working hours. Not to mention that he seems to have died at the factory; even searching his prodigious memory, he can't recall the circumstances of his death. So either Ludwig died of exhaustion and remained an honest man who sincerely wanted the children's happiness...
"Either he imagined all this..." he concluded, taking his chin between his fingers. "Hmm, no point racking my brains over it for now."
With a sigh, he had a brief start, remembering that he was transporting someone, turning around as far as he could, he looked at Cathy, fast asleep in her hood.
"Hey!"
"Huh?! Who?!" she jumped, startled, before looking at the human with an amused expression. "Why did you wake me up?"
"The better question is why you fall asleep, I thought you had an important mission?"
"Yes...but you were reading and I was getting bored, so I felt like taking a nap."
"You certainly live up to your name," he joked, dodging the swipe right in the face.
Does he feel disappointed? Yes, of course. The clues found here are meager compared to the mountain of effort he had to expend to get here. He doesn't know what he was really hoping for: a note clearly stating where she went that day? Or even a cassette tape? Or... her body.
He stopped, paced the room, closing his eyes to keep from crying; it wasn't the time for that, he had far too much to do...
Suddenly opening his eyes, the human looks at the small iron locker hanging on the wall and closed with a padlock; without thinking, he steps forward, looks at the lock, takes out his screwdriver, and slides it inside.
"Andy!" Cathy whispers in a panic. "He's going to hear us!"
"One minute," he said, his heart pounding, then when the click was heard he allowed himself a smile.
Opening the door, he was pleasantly surprised to find two notes and, more importantly, something that left him speechless for a moment: a glass capsule with two metal ends. Inside was a blue liquid, resembling a lava lamp, as the liquid glowed in the dark. Without a word, he loaded everything and promised himself he would study the notes later, as for now he had to help the mini Catnap succeed in his mission. Crouching, he slipped into the room next to the statue and hid in a corner. Slowly sliding his head in, he watched the object resembling Bobby BearHug, which remained there with its white eyes shining in the darkness.
"How could you sleep with that thing right next to you?" he wondered anxiously.
"Catnap, put us to sleep with the smoke," she whispered in Andy's ear.
"Wait...they let him roam free with all of you?" he asks incredulously after witnessing the murderous fury of the giant cat that seems to have hunted down all of Playcare's toys.
"He...he wasn't mean before, he didn't talk much but Dogday helped make him less scary," she explains with what sounds like nostalgia.
(Dogday, huh...so there is a life-size version of the Smiling Critters...Catnap is part of it, but the others...) he sighs while seeing a battery sticking out from behind the enormous surveillance camera (Come on Andy...it's not an army of giant toys that's going to scare you, is it?)
Calming down, he looked at the statue, then reached behind his back to grab the battery. Seeing that he had deactivated it, he relaxed and paced the room to find the rest of the way, as it seemed a war had taken place here: beds overturned like barricades, enormous holes in the floor, although seeing the claw marks around them, he could easily imagine who had made them, toys stuck on the ends of wooden stakes or dismembered, or more often, hung there and left. Andy didn't waste any time, not wanting to dwell any longer on the horror that would surely fuel his nightmares for the next few years when he dared to sleep. Jumping through a hole to reach the room directly to insert the battery, he began to search for the last missing one. Very quickly, he found himself blocked by very heavy wooden cubes stacked in such a way that no one could move them, but this didn't stop Smith, who quickly found the solution.
A Playtime racing car.
He had to run to power the door leading to the room, but otherwise everything went well...a little too well for his liking.
(With all the commotion we're making, he should have caught us by now...) he muses thoughtfully as he kneels behind the car to grasp the mechanism (Cathy is probably right, he makes his victims believe they're faster then surprises them when they least expect it...yet it doesn't add up, earlier I was there defenseless, he could very well have killed me...or maybe...he still wants me alive?)
His thoughts break as he watches the car explode through the cube wall and then a door leading to a bedroom.
"Well, the way is clear," he said simply to his passenger, who sighed into her hood.
"Don't delay!"
Following his advice, he quickened his pace, and upon reaching the end of the corridor, he discovered another heavily closed door.
~Damien~
~Cassidy~
~Theodore~
Then they discovered another metal door with a name carved into the wood by Catnap's claws.
~Paul~
Pressing their ears to the door, they heard muffled voices...and distant moans. Looking at the small opening at the bottom of the door intended for meals, Andy had the idea to lift it to see inside, but no sooner had he done so than a red cloud escaped, making him quickly close the hatch.
"By Zeus!" he hisses, already imagining the room in front of him filled with red smoke. "I don't know who's in there, but he must be in a bad way."
"How are we going to do this?" wonders little Catnap to the human who is looking at the neighboring door and especially at the velvety red smoke escaping from it.
"There must be a leak in this corner of the building," he muses, weighing the pros and cons of his next action. "Cathy, are you immune to gas?"
"No, only Catnap is," she said, showing off the yellow scarf she tied around her mouth. "But with this, I can put up with him!"
"Okay," he said, his voice tense at the thought of finding himself in what was essentially the nightmare gas, taking a deep breath and putting on his gas mask. "Here we go..."
Opening the door, he enters the smoke-filled room. Looking around, he finds nothing out of the ordinary, then his eyes spot a ventilation grille. Without hesitation, he opens it and rushes in. Moving forward as best he can, Andy tries to control his breathing, but in a narrow duct with a giant, murderous cat prowling about, it's not easy for a human. Upon reaching the fan, he swears he saw Catnap's ears. Having no desire to stay and check, he continues on his way. Sometimes he runs a hand behind his head to check for Cathy, who, despite his boldness, trembles against his fingers, surely as uneasy as he is.
Finally reaching the end, they wasted no time closing the gate behind them and removing their smoke protection. Catching his breath, the human took out a bottle of water to soothe the dryness in his throat. He offered one to his friend, who tipped the bottle over to empty it. Meanwhile, Andy looked around at what appeared to be another surveillance room, suppressing a groan at seeing yet more evidence of the scientists' twisted minds. He moved into the room, feeling Cathy return to her seat. Scanning the area, he noticed that unlike the other room, this one was less ransacked, giving him the opportunity to read the scientists' notes. His eyebrows furrowed as he saw the children's names crossed out with mentions like "Rogue" and "Insolent," while others were approved and noted as "Kind" and "Docile . "
Not wanting to see that anymore, he tucked the information away in a corner of his mind; seeing his battery was running low, he moved towards-
"AAAAhhh!"
Startled, he recoils, already prepared to face Catnap. His wide eyes search for the source of the danger that made Cathy scream. Backing up to the wall, he prepares to pull out his knife while listening to the terrified whispers of the little girl, transformed into a toy, trembling against his neck. Then his eyes see him.
...
A smile frozen forever, the body covered with chick-yellow down stained by grime and dried blood and soot, his right eye seems to be lost in another world, the left one is covered by a makeshift eye patch made with the orange star that once hung from his neck, from shoulder to fingertips blackened the left arm seems to have been plunged into an oven leaving only skin covered with blackened crust, on his back one can distinguish the vestiges of what was his tail now stripped of its feathers.
His head repeatedly hits the window while he hums a melody.
"Hummhum, hhhhmmmmm, nothing is better than the comfort of home;...nothing is more beautiful than the comfort of home...hhhhouuug!"
Suddenly he began to laugh, his hands on his cheeks as he tilted his head back, his voice cracking like a malfunctioning speaker and he twirled clumsily and continued to laugh heartily before collapsing to the ground, his arms and legs flailing as he trembled all over, his single eye staring up at the flickering light.
"THERE IS NO WAY OUT! THERE IS NO WAY OUT! THERE IS NO WAY OUT! THERE IS NO WAY OUT! THERE IS NO WAY OUT! THERE IS NO WAY OUT! THERE IS NO WAY OUT! THERE IS NO WAY OUT! THERE IS NO WAY OUT! THERE IS NO WAY OUT! THERE IS NO WAY OUT!