Trapped in PlayTime

The Game Station

Eight
The Game Station

    Allison stumbled away from the case, feeling Jansen's hand on her back as they watched Poppy with wide eyes.
    "I'm sorry," Poppy said, "Do I frighten you?"
    Allison's chest was heaving with shallow breaths, "Wha- uh... what-?" she couldn't get the words out, her mouth dry and voice a whisper. She swallowed hard, stuttering the next time she tried to speak so she gave up trying.
   "I can get you out of here," Poppy said, lifeless eyes snapping back and forth between Allison and Jansen, "You don't belong here,"
    Allison doubled over, putting her hands on her knees as she took ragged breaths. "Oh god," she breathed before sinking into a squat, pressing her hands together and putting them to her forehead as she silently prayed.
    "How- um," Jansen cleared his throat, "How can you help us out of here?"
    "I have the code to the train in the Game Station," Poppy said, voice lowering, "It will take you out of the factory,"
    The creepiest part about Poppy, when Allison looked back up at the doll, was that her mouth didn't move when she talked. She sounded like she was speaking from a voice box in her chest; which Allison confirmed by noting the cord in the doll's back when it turned around later.
    "You know my name," Alli whispered, words barely a breath. She looked up at Poppy with watery eyes and an open mouthed expression, shock and wonder mixed on her face.
    "Yes," Poppy said, tipping her head to the side as she studied Allison, "You were here with me. I never forget a face,"
    Allison shuttered involuntarily. "Never?"
    Poppy shook her head. It was a mechanical movement, snapping as it turned back and forth, making her curls shaking.
    Alli took a breath, "Okay..." she said slowly, "Then- where do we go for the code to the train?"
    "Oh!" Poppy said lightly, walking around the edge of her case with soft taps of her porcelain feet, "It's in The Founder's office,"
    "You know who Elliot Ludwig is?" Alli asked, watching the doll through the glass sides of the case.
    Poppy stopped, as if frozen by the name, then her head turned slightly and she looked back at Allison. "We don't say that name," her tone had dropped, the words ringing with danger. Allison was to never mention Elliot again.
    Alli swallowed, chills running down her arms, "Okay,"
    Poppy turned around again, voice chipper, "Just follow me to the office!"
    The lights flicked off again with large industrial clunks, making Jansen and Alli reach for each other instinctually. When they flicked back on again both detectives looked around through the swimming red lights, trying to find where Poppy had gone.
    "Here, sillies," Poppy said, directing their attention to a vent over their heads in the ceiling. "Follow me," she disappeared into the vent, her feet making soft tinks along the metal as she walked.
    They followed the sound, coming to a door in the wall that was blocked by a tall bookcase. The sound went past the door, leaving Alli and Jansen with not much choice but to shove the bookshelf over and force the door open. The hall beyond the door was dark, but Poppy's footsteps in the vent were still audible, so they pulled out their flashlights and followed her.
    "Good," they heard Poppy say from over their heads when they past a grate in the vent ceiling, "I thought I lost you for a moment there,"
    "How are you sure the train will get us out?" Jansen asked, but the question went unanswered; most likely because Poppy didn't hear him.
    "The train is most likely the shipment train," Alli answered it instead, "Or it'll take us down to shipping, at least,"
    "This is crazy," Jansen hissed, "Like- living toys, maybe I could reason my way out of that one. But talking toys?" he shook his head in disbelief.
    "Welcome to my childhood," Alli's eyebrows flicked up and she pressed her lips together. "You learned to accept the insane after a while,"
    "Jeez," he breathed.
    "Here!" Poppy called to them, redirecting their attention again.
    They wandered into a lobby-like room, doors with wooden letters spelling out the names of their occupants hung above them. The lights were dim, cracks spiderwebbed across the tiled floor, some letters had fallen and scattered across the room, and some of the doors had broken off of their hinges. But still the room was light with color, spots and lines and splashes, colorful posters, and large building blocks.
    "This is the door," Poppy said, disappearing into the vents again and disappearing past a door that had EL IO LU W G, written over the top of it, the other letters fallen to the floor in front of the door.
    Alli glanced at Jansen then stepped over the fallen letters and chunks of plaster to open the door.
    The room beyond it was in perfect condition, which caused Alli and Jansen to frown at each other with suspicious unease rising in their chests.
    "It should be right on the desk!" Poppy said from inside the vents, "I would come in and help you- but... I don't like this room," her voice dropped again at the last sentence.
    Alli and Jansen crossed the plush rug to the mahogany desk, staring at it for a moment.
    "We shouldn't touch it," Jansen said, "Chain of evidence,"
    Alli snorted, giving him a look, "What are they gonna do? For all we know SWAT won't even investigate this far,"
    "Wha- what is SWAT?" Poppy called to them and they both fell silent with wide eyed glances to each other.
    "The good guys," Alli said after an aching moment of silence, "The people who are going to help us get out of here,"
    "Oh..." Poppy said slowly, the word falling quiet.
    Alli turned her attention to the desk and Jansen scoured the room, taking in all the information. She ruffled through the papers on the desk, most of them blacked out, their writing illegible. She pulled open drawers, unsure of what else she was searching for; besides the code to the train. She wanted something, to find one piece of evidence that would prove to the world she wasn't crazy. To finally give her closure on what happened to her sister.
    "Hey, Al, look at this," Jansen said, motioning to a framed picture on one of the walls.
    Alli looked up at him then crossed the room to look at the picture.
    "Look familiar?" he asked, looking at her to see if she would recognise anyone in the image.
    Alli frowned, "Yeah," she said softly, putting her fingers gently to the glass, "This is- Lilly," she said after a pause, "But... it's not, at the same time,"
    He watched her for a moment, "Go on," he prompted after she went quiet.
    "Lilly didn't look like this," she said, unable to pinpoint exactly what was different, "She- she didn't look..." she frowned at herself, "Happy?"
    "Right," Jansen said softly with a single nod, "Okay,"
    She let out an irritated breath, "Well the last thing I knew about Lilly is that she was dead-" she stopped herself, "But she was also a toy," she glanced at the photo with a sickening feeling growing in her chest, "Who does this look like to you?" she asked, pointing to the other girl in the photo, glancing at Jansen. "This is Elliot Ludwig," she whispered, "This is Lillith Ludwig," she pointed back to Lilly, "And this- was Poppy," her words fell with a hush.
    He looked at the picture for a moment then face fell in realization. "No-"
    She nodded slowly, glancing behind him at the vents. "Same as Huggy,"
    He shook his head at her, "How is that possible?"
    She gave a helpless shrug, "Hell if I know,"
    He put a hand to his head, "I can't even start to believe this right now,"
    She took a breath, "Let's just- get out of here, yeah?"
    He nodded in agreement, "Sooner the better,"
    She went back to the desk, ruffling through the papers in the drawers and coming up empty.
    "Here," Jansen said, holding up a file he had forced from the filing cabinet. He held it out to her as she approached him, her eyes taking in the remaining contents of the drawer before she took the file from him.
    She flipped it open and glanced through the papers, "This is it," she breathed, tossing the file back onto the other hanging files in the drawer. She help up the paper to him, "I'm sure we would have been able to figure this out at some point,"
    He nodded with a look of agreement, "We could have guessed that for sure,"
    "Got it!" Alli called to Poppy.
    "Good!" Poppy said from outside the office door, "Let's get going!"
    Alli and Jansen made their way out of the office again, shutting the door behind themselves. Poppy was standing on the floor waiting for them as they turned to look for her.
    "May I see?" Poppy asked, "I can confirm that it's the correct code,"
    Alli held it out to her, the glass fingers clasping down on the paper. "Couldn't you have just told us the code since you need to confirm it?"
    "No," was all Poppy said, starting to walk away. "This way to the Game Station!" she said, voice light and breathless.
    Alli and Jansen followed her away from the lobby and down a hall.
   "I'm glad to be able to help you," Poppy said, "Help was something I never got- no one came to save me- so I'm glad I'm able to save you both from the monstrosities here,"
    All and Jansen glanced at each other nervously.
    "We must move quickly though, before he notices you're here," she continued, leading them into another vestibule. "Mind the gap," she said, motioning to a large hole in the middle of the floor.
    Jansen let out a breath and crossed himself; fingertips touching his head, chest, and shoulders.
    Alli took a breath, "Who is he?" she asked Poppy.
    Poppy turned to face her, pale face shining against the dim light, "He-" she started but there was the sound of loose rumble tumbling into the sinkhole to their left.
    Both Alli and Jansen scrambled back, terrified that it was about to sink more and the edges would creep towards them, pulling them in.
    "Oh god," Jansen breathed.
    "You were fine when we were hanging precariously over a void of nothingness," Alli hissed at him as he gripped her shoulder.
    "These scare me more," he hissed back, "I can't explain it!"
    She shook her head briefly.
    "What's wrong?" Poppy asked, watching them as they pushed their backs to the walls of the room.
    "Nothing!" Alli said, trying to keep her voice light. "G-go on," she waved a hand for Poppy to continue her explanation.
    More rubble tumbled within the body of the sinkhole.
    Poppy looked up at them with a wide expression, "They know you're here,"
    "What?" Alli squeaked, not understanding.
    "I-" Poppy started, but she didn't have the chance to finish her sentence.
    An arm slithered out of the hole, pink and rubbery, with a large hand and boney looking fingers. They wrapped around Poppy, consuming her within a cage of plastic and rubber, before she was pulled back into the hole with a scream.
    Alli put a hand over her mouth, horrified.
    Jansen started to quietly pray.
    "What was it?" she hissed to him, looking over her shoulder to see he hand his eyes closed and head bowed, "Sheesh-" she elbowed him, "Could have started that a while ago if you wanted it to mean something," she let out a shaky breath, looking around at their situation.
    The Game Station was painted in large bubble letters over a door in front of them.
    "We're here," Alli said, "She brought us this far at least,"
    "Thank god," Jansen breathed, "You remember the code for the train, right?"
    Alli shook her head, "I didn't have a chance to look at the paper,"
    Jansen closed his eyes and groaned a sigh, "Damn it, Alli,"
    "I'm sorry!" Alli croaked, "I didn't know our guide was going to take it with her when she was dragged into a giant death pit by a giant pink hand!" she snapped a little at the last words, and took a calming breath. "Sorry,"
    "No, you're right," he said, "I looked at it," he shook his head, "I should have memorized it, part of the job description,"
    Alli started to inch her way around the edge of the room, "Right, well," she reached for the handle of the door, "We can figure it out. We said it'd be easy to guess anyway,"
    He nodded in agreement, right behind her. "Yeah- let's just get out of here,"
    She pulled open the door and slipped past it into an almost dark hallway, Jansen right on her heels.
    They followed the hallway, feeling as it started to slant upwards, then they were pushing past another set of doors. Opening this set of doors, light met them, and they emerged into a bright and colorful room with skylights and windows. The train was right at the center of the room, as well as more sets of doors that were slanted into the floor like storm cellar doors. A play structure was to their left and a covered train station was to their right, with other jungle equipment scattered around it and the rest of the room. It felt like a giant Play Place from a fast food restaurant, except for the skybox and overhead scaffolding where the scientists would watch them.
    This room made Alli go cold, the memories coming back to her so harshly she could hear the music that had been playing, and hear the doors opening and closing. The smell of the room hit her and deja vu settled over her like a cloud, making her vision go blurry and ears start to ring. She couldn't breathe, all the air ripped away from her as she looked around, feeling the same terror she had the first time she realized they were going to kill her.
    Jansen looked at her, noticing the shift and the glassiness of her eyes. He put a heavy hand on her shoulder, grounding her to that spot, to that moment. "They aren't here anymore, kid," he said evenly, his voice pulling Alli from her living nightmare and making her take another look around. "Nobody's here,"
    She nodded slightly, still feeling sick to her stomach, hoping she wouldn't be ill.
    He looked towards the train, "Here's our ticket out," he said, nodding towards it before starting to walk in the same direction.
    Alli took a breath, even though it still felt suffocating, and followed him.
    They stepped up to the platform and Alli glanced at the train.
    "There's no power," she said, looking behind herself at the doors built into the floor. "Nothing is going to work,"
    "How do we get the power back on?" He asked, turning to look at her.
    She started to chew on her lip as she thought, "We'll have to go back out there," she nodded behind herself at the door they had just come through, "See if we can find another power station,"
    He nodded in agreement, "Alright,"
    She took a shaky breath and shook out her arms, "'kay,"
    He watched her, "You alright?"
    She nodded with an audible swallow, "Yeah-" but her voice cracked, "I'll be fine,"
    "If anything gets to be too much-" he started.
    "It won't," she assured him, "There's no one here to hurt me now," she said, "You're right,"
    He nodded at her, "And your friends with the giant toys, so I'm not quite worried about them either,"
    Her heart dropped and apparently it was obvious on her face too because he tried to quickly cover his mistake.
    "Sorry," he said hurriedly, "What I meant-t-to say was-"
    "It's fine," she cut him off quietly, "Just- don't bring it up again." she looked away from him, "Let's move. I don't want to be here longer than I have to,"
    He nodded in agreement, and they turned back towards the doors.