Chapter Text
The playhouse had always been loud and bright. That was its whole thing. It was impossible to miss with its bold lights and sounds. For some reason, I always seemed to find myself back there.
The playhouse was huge, the ceiling reaching up to at least forty feet to fit all the tubes and slides. There was a crawling area near the top where all the kids would sit and look at the playhouse’s cafe. Near the tubes was a small stage area with three animatronics, Rosemary, the lynx who was also the reason the playhouse was named “Rosemary’s Playhouse” then to the sides of Rosemary were Clifford and Kennette. Nobody really knew who or what they were but people still liked them nonetheless. I stepped forward, clenching my fists. This is where I had gone last time, but last time I went back. This time I wasn’t going back to him.
I timidly shuffled over the carpeted floor, making my way to the cubbies. I sat down next to an open cubby and unbuckled my first shoe. It came off with an audible pop, I chuckled. I reached for my other shoe, unbuckled it and popped it off as well. I grabbed both my shoes and placed them into the cubby. I stood up and brushed my skirt off. I walked slowly, trying to decide where I would stay. Sure, I could’ve gone to a better place, but Rosemary’s was just home. I already knew some of the staff and all of them were nice and understanding. I decided to head to the cafe because usually only two people were working there and I knew them both. I stepped up to the cafe’s counter. I had to stand on my tip-toes to be able to see over it. “...hello?” I said softly, placing my hands onto the counter, I saw an employee fixing up the soda machine. “...hello?” I repeated, this time a little louder. The employee turned his head and began to walk over, his blonde-into-red hair bounced on his shoulders. His name was Clover, his father had built the place and was the current owner. I already knew him from my previous “visit” and knew that he was someone I could trust. Clover leant onto the counter, “Hey, kiddo, what’s up?” he said calmly. I looked up to him, staring at the little red teardrop marks under his eyes. “...hi… I was wondering where—well if—I could stay…” I replied anxiously. I dug my fingers into the countertop, scratching off the cheap pink paint that was used to hide all of the scratches. “M’kay, we have stuff set up in the arcade and in the quiet room for people to stay and there’s two girls who sell snacks in the arcade,” he explained, pointing to the various locations he mentioned. For some reason, I didn’t expect it, for him to actually tell me where to go. I nodded, “...thanks…” I whispered. He gave me a thumbs up. Though, I didn’t want to sleep yet.
I strolled around the playhouse, admiring all of its colors. Soon enough, I found a staircase. Reluctantly, I made my way up. At the top was a door, the knob was in the shape of a flower while the door itself was painted a light cyan. I carefully turned the knob and pushed the door open. I expected there to be a giant creature inside, eating children or something. Instead was a smaller version of the tubes and slides with a cardboard cutout of Rosemary next to a small ball pit. There was a big window behind them, showing off the main play area. The thing that intrigued me was that the cutout was holding a balloon. It seemed to be taped to their paw. It was the same shade of light cyan as the door. I reached out and pinned the balloon’s ribbon down with one hand and using my other to gently remove the tape. Once I got it off I grabbed it, wrapping the silvery string around my fingers. I looked over to the tubes. There was a heavy layer of dust on them, it seemed like no one had been there in a while. But then, I heard a knock on the door. I froze. I turned my head to look at the door, the knob was turning. I tried to figure out what I would do, where I would hide, what would happ–“Hello? Is anyone here?” a voice called. I looked out to the window behind the Rosemary cutout. I could feel my heart pounding loudly in my chest. Slowly, I turned around. There was a girl standing in the doorway. She had blonde curls framing her face, with a little black and red beret on top of her head. She wore a matching black and red dress. “I… I…” I stammered, tightening my grip on the balloon’s ribbon. She simply smiled and stepped forward, “I haven’t seen you here before, are you new?” she asked. I wasn’t sure what to say, I just nodded. Though, I wouldn’t really count as new since I’d been here before and knew the staff. “That’s fine, I’m Tiana, my sister and I run the snack booth in the arcade,” she explained with yet another smile. “M-My name is… Kiki…” I replied softly. I looked to the floor, playing with the balloon’s string. “That’s a nice name,” she complimented. I smiled slightly. “....thanks….” I whispered.
We both stood there, just staring at each other. I held out the balloon, “...do you want this?” I blurted. Tiana smiled, “Sure…” she replied. She walked over to me, I stepped back. The door behind her remained open, someone could still walk in. She reached out and grabbed the ribbon attached to the balloon. I felt my grip on the ribbon loosen as she pulled it away from me. Tiana stepped away, returning to her original spot. So we continued to stare into each other. Her blue eyes dug into my skull, the silence was so loud. Too loud. I shut my eyes, though I didn’t think Tiana noticed. I heard little pounds on the ground, piercing their way through the quiet. My eyes opened to an empty room, with the cyan door wide open. I sighed. I peered to the side of the room. A sort-of magenta tube led out of the room into what seemed to be the main playhouse. I shuffled toward the mini playhouse’s entrance. Slowly, I got down and began to crawl into the mass of tubes and hidden areas. Dust was spread out on the floor like a blanket. I sneezed, hitting my head on the top of the tube. There were pieces of chewed up gum on the ceiling. I quickly moved my head back as soon as I noticed. I ran my fingers through my hair in an attempt to see if any gum had made its way into my hair. Thankfully, I couldn’t find any and continued to crawl. The tubes were big enough that a kid wouldn’t get stuck but definitely small enough that someone with claustrophobia would rather die than go in. My arms brushed against the sides of the tubes, I shuddered. I kept slowly crawling. I looked at every single piece of trash and closely examined them. I ended up in a slightly bigger hangout area. The ceiling was raised enough that I could sit down without being hunched over. I leant down onto one of the plastic walls in the room, breathing heavily. I sighed, looking to the little bit of light that peaked through the windows from the other rooms. My fingers dug into the foam floor as I pushed my back against the wall harder. I sucked in air through my teeth. I shut my eyes and tried to think. It couldn’t be that long until I made it to that tube that led out right? I sighed again. I got back onto my knees and continued my long “journey” to the outside tube. The floor was disgusting to touch–it had some sticky residue that made every inch almost unbearable. The tunnel was cramped and I could barely see in front of me. To add onto the sensory overload, it smelled like sugar and caffeine which when mixed together gave the tube a sickly sweet scent. I shuddered, I kept crawling, passing by candy wrappers and more chewed gum as I went on my way. I could see more light coming in through the outside tube so I began to crawl faster. My breath was heavy, I sucked in air through my teeth. My arms were sore from all the crawling and my knees were scuffed from the carpet. I knew I had gotten there when the space opened up so I had at least two feet more to crawl in and the way the light poured in. I crawled even faster, hoping to make it out of this cramped nightmare. When I reached the end of the tube everything got bigger. The tube had extended so I had at least four more feet of space. The ceiling had raised two more feet, so it was way more comfortable to crawl through. I saw a ladder leading down from a hole in the floor. Reluctantly, I crawled towards the space and dropped a foot down. I hooked my foot onto the ladder and dropped down onto the ladder. I climbed down, and down. The ladder was weirdly long, so long my hands were beginning to ache. My whole body was aching from the crawling and climbing. I looked up to the tube where I had come from, it was getting farther and farther away. I reluctantly looked down, the purple foam floor was inching closer. When I was close enough to the ground, I dropped down. As soon as I hit the ground, my legs gave out beneath me. I stumbled over my legs and fell over, hitting my chin on the foam floor. It didn’t hurt as much as if I had hit my chin on concrete but it still hurt nonetheless. “...ow…” I muttered as I pushed myself from the floor onto my feet. I rubbed my chin, the pain was already starting to go away. I wobbled a bit, trying to keep my balance. Slowly, I stepped forward. It seemed like I was in the main playground. I walked carefully, trying not to trip over my own feet again. I made my way to a bright pink tunnel, it wasn’t as cramped as the others and didn’t seem any smaller than the one I had just come from. I kneeled down and crawled into the tube.
The tunnel seemed like it hadn’t been cleaned in years. I mean, sure, the smaller area looked like it hadn’t even been touched in a while so of course it wouldn’t be clean, but this? The main playground? It was disgusting, more pieces of chewed-up gum and candy. Ants were crawling up and down the tube, I gagged. I felt a bug crawling on my arm. I quickly turned my head to look at my arm but nothing. I shook my head, it must’ve been my imagination. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was crawling on me. I could feel the little legs crawling up my arm. It wasn’t there though, no matter how many times I checked, there was never a bug. I crawled faster, trying to escape this cluttered mess. The entrance was close, I could see it. So I crawled faster. I wanted out. No, I needed out. The tubes smelt worse than the smaller ones, and they were stickier too. Every time I felt my hand touch the sticky floor I shuddered. And not to mention the bugs crawling. I felt them everywhere. They were everywhere. Then, it got worse. The bugs were under my skin. I could feel them tickling my veins and muscles, brushing by my bones. I gagged. It was so overstimulating that it took me a second to realize my head was pounding. Hard. I could feel the wave of nausea setting. I needed to throw up so badly. I hated it. Thankfully, I made it out the tunnels in time. I gasped for air as soon as I saw the wave of light pour in. I crawled out into the front of the playhouse. My breath was heavy, I sucked in air through my teeth in an attempt to calm myself down. I looked to my hands. They were red and swollen. They were bleeding. There was blood dripping down my hands, with little bites everywhere. The ants. I scratched my hand. It hurt. I saw them. Little ants crawling underneath my skin. Pushing up the skin they were under. I gagged again, I was going to throw up. I held up a bloody and bitten hand to my mouth in attempt to not vomit but–
It was everywhere, there was so much of it too. It was strange because I hadn’t eaten a thing. It soaked into the carpet, staining it. Thankfully, it didn’t get on my socks or any of my clothes but it was everywhere. A kid looked at me and pointed. “That girl threw up!!” he yelled, still pointing at me as if he’d never seen someone throw up. I gagged again. I looked to my hands, one was covered in vomit. But besides that there was nothing. No blood, no bites. No ants. I shook my head. I was going crazy. Everything was getting blurry. I could faintly see a silhouette of someone running toward me. I felt so bad. I just wanted to go to sleep. Or maybe this was my guilt. Luring me to go back home, to just put up with…him. I shook my head softly. The figure got closer, it kneeled down. Our faces were so close. I wanted to back away. The gray and white blur of a person said something. I couldn’t hear. It sounded like TV static. It opened its mouth again, this time it screamed. Buzz buzz. Buzz buzz. It put a hand on my shoulder and shook me back and forth. I tried to push it away but my body was too weak. I felt faint. My head was pounding so hard I couldn’t think straight.
I woke up on a bright pink couch. It seemed to be a lounge, the smell of coffee and other things floated around the room. I sat up, holding a hand up to my head. I looked around the room in an attempt to figure out where in the playhouse I was. Or if I was even in the playhouse anymore. Something soft brushed against my legs, I shuddered. I looked down, expecting to see crawling bugs. A light pink blanket was draped on top of me, it seemed to be made out of something like wool. I grabbed the top of the blanket and pulled it up to my chest. I curled up into a little ball and leaned back onto the couch. My head was still pounding but a little softer this time. I wanted to just sleep but there was something inside me that stopped me. Something that told me to explore. I threw the blanket off me and sat up. The room was so cold, it felt like ice. I stood up, every inch of my body shaking. Carefully, I shuffled over to a dull blue door. I grabbed the door knob and turned it. It led out to a hallway with yellow and pink doors. I stepped forward cautiously. I looked to my sides as if a car would come out of nowhere and hit me. I took another step forward. The pink carpet on the floor reached out through the entire hallway, never seeming to end. I shuffled through the hallway, looking at all the doors as I passed them. Then, it came to me–where I was. The employees only room.