Work Text:
Hi!
My name is -----! And if you’re reading this, that means you’ve gone deep into the factory. I’m here too! At least… I think I am.
I suppose starting from the top is in order.
I am one of the many orphans in Play Care. At the time I’m writing this, I’m nine years, four months and eleven days old.
For as long as I can remember, I have always lived here. In the factory. My earliest memory was of someone picking me up from my bed and telling me to get ready to meet Miss Delight.
Ever since starting school, I was placed on the Wuggy Team! If you don’t know what that means, we had different teams. It was to separate us and be sure all the classes were filled with children that had the same interest.
The Wuggy Team was the most popular one, but only few were chosen in it. I was one of the lucky ones.
The other teams were Boogie, Kissy, Candy, Critter and Boxie. I had lots of friends everywhere, but I gotta admit that the children on the Boogie Team always made me nervous.
I remember all of my days were full of games, and I loved Play Care. There was never a rainy day. The huge stuffed toys were so cool, and I always wanted to be one of them.
I remember playing with them.
I remember having fun with them.
…
I remember… laughing with them.
I miss those days more than I can say.
But, anyway! As Stella would say ‘No time for tears, we have a story to tell’!
I remember the school most of all. The teachers… Miss Delight.
Miss Delights?
Misses Delights? Misses… Delight?
There were a lot of them, and they all looked the same. But they had different things to teach us.
Most liked the Miss Delight that taught us playground games. She had this huge box of different balls, and she would always explain what they were used for.
The black and white was a football that you kick.
The orange with the pretty lines was a basketball that you threw into a basket.
The tiny one with the holes was a floorball that you hit with a stick.
But anyway...
My favorite Miss Delight was the one who taught us about biology.
Did you know that the human face has 30 different muscles, and that we use six muscles to move our eyes around in their sockets? And that adults have at least seven meters worth of internal organs? And that we are all born with all of our teeth, both the baby ones and adult ones? Or that humans used to have a tail but due to evolution we lost it?
I… I’m rambling again.
I guess I need to explain how I got so far away from Play Care now.
It all started six months ago.
Play Care was a happy place. We had friends everywhere. I liked the Smiling Critters. Bubba Bubbaphant was my favorite, but I must admit that I could really use a hug from Bobby Bearhug or a distraction from Kickin Chicken.
DogDay always had the best stories…
But I noticed that there was a new toy added to the Play Care. I was told that it was not a new toy, but it was new on the Play Care, and that we should leave it be. It was there to guard, to keep bad people from coming in or keeping all of us inside.
I guess after what happened with Theo, they didn’t like the idea of any of us wandering.
This new toy…
It was a huge Jack in a Box toy. The adults called it Boxy Boo, but I noticed pretty quickly that it responded to another name.
I had this friend, Derek, who was always getting into trouble. I remember hearing Miss Delight being annoyed with him, and some of the adults weren’t happy with him either.
One day, when someone was yelling at Derek, I noticed Boxy Boo peeking out of his box, as if someone had called for him.
That normally didn’t happen.
So, I decided to try it one day after I made sure no one was gonna notice. I went near Boxy Boo and started calling out different names, and every time I said Derek’s name, he would peek out.
I was so amazed by this that I decided to name him ‘Derek’. He seemed happy about it.
And I would spend time near him. I would sit by him and talk. I was happy to tell him everything. He couldn’t speak, but I could tell from the way he looked at me that he wanted to tell me something.
Everything changed on August 8th. I remember that day clearly.
I remember waking up, going to school, and then CatNap came to all of us during breaktime. He said that he would like to play a game with all of us.
I have to admit that CatNap has always been scary, but he had never done anything bad. So, everyone followed him. Or… almost everyone.
I noticed that Derek got out of his box and went through the exit. I decided to follow him.
I remember how nervous I was when I walked through those doors.
I remember how boring the white hallways were.
I remember how loudly my footsteps echoed around.
I… I remember… the lights changing from white to red.
I remember people screaming.
I remember running.
I remember the sound that Boxy Boo made… as he swallowed someone whole.
…
My friend… just swallowed someone.
Derek rushed around the hallways, and I followed him. I’m not sure why. Maybe I wanted to stop him.
I ran after him, and then…
Then I saw another toy. A toy which I had never met in person, but I’ve seen his posters.
Yarnaby.
He was a lot bigger than I thought.
But it wasn’t his size that scared me. It was his face.
It had… slit open in the middle. His eyes were looking around and he… He was on top of someone. I saw the huge mouth that opened from between the two halves of his face.
Yarnaby saw me, and I think he got nervous. He quickly closed his mouth and started to walk toward me.
I was scared. So, I ran.
I ran away from Play Care. Away from Yarnaby.
Away from the world that I have always known.
I think it’s been a week now.
The noises have stopped.
There hasn’t been toys roaming around here.
I think I’m stuck.
I don’t know where to go.
I found this computer and decided to write my story down.
Stella used to say that writing it down helps.
It keeps the nightmares away.
Keeps the mind sharp.
I… I don’t know if it works.
I would love to go back to the Play Care, but I don’t know what CatNap did with my friends.
Is there even a Play Care to return to?
I would really like to hear guidance from Miss Delight, maybe she could tell me how to act in this situation.
Is any one of the Miss Delights an expert on this?
I…
I wanna go back home.
I’m so hungry. I’m really cold.
I can hear little feet walking around, and I don’t think they’re friendly anymore.
I’m so scared…
Please…
If I’m still around…
Come find me.
Please…?