The daycare lobby was quiet. Not a single S.T.A.F.F. bot in sight. The walls were painted with pictures of the daycare attendant and arrows pointing to the daycare drop-off and pick-up area.
The daycare attendant, I shivered. I don't know who decided that that thing should watch the kids too young to enjoy the rest of the pizzaplex, but whoever it was deserves to be fired. It's a tall, lanky animatronic that is meant to entertain young children, but it has two sides to it. Sun is the cheerful caretaker, who plays games and watches the attendees. He is active most of the time, but he isn't more pleasant than the other one. Moon is a horrifying monster, who punishes kids for refusing to sleep during naptime. I still remember Sun's screechy voice and Moon's terrifying eyes. If I could, I'd avoid this room entirely, but if I want to find any clues, I need to investigate even the strangest of places.
The daycare itself is bright blue with a golden statue of the attendants. The play structures are surrounded by a high fence, and the entrance to the daycare itself is a slide, literally. It's small so only children could fit through. Before climbing inside, I had to mentally prepare myself for anything that happens. Then I slid down the slide.
It lands right into the ball pit. It's shaped around several other structures that look to be high towers. I just need to get a look around the daycare and the theater nearby, and then get out. As I swam through the ball pit, Sun appeared on his stage. With a "Yoohoo!" he jumped into the ball pit with me. I panicked. I can't be in this ball pit with Sun. It's bad enough to just be in this stupid daycare.
I tried to find a way out of the ball pit, but suddenly I felt something pick me up from my arms. I yelped and started kicking, especially when I saw Sun's face right up to mine.
"Hello, new friend!" Sun said in his screechy voice. He didn't seem to notice my kicking. That, or he was ignoring it. I eventually stopped when I realized I couldn't even reach him. "You're sure up late," he continued, "are we having a slumber party? Where are all your friends?"
He dropped me right next to a stacked bundle of toys and began to hop from one foot to the other. "We can finger paint, tell stories, drink Fizzy Faz until our heads explode and stay up all night! There is only one rule." His voice lowered, "Keep the lights on. On . On."
"I-I was actually just leaving so," I turned and tried to run, but he grabbed me by the arm. "Leaving so soon? But you just got here!" he exclaimed. He bent his long legs and jumped to the ceiling. Then, he hopped right back down, with some paper and paints in hand. "You can't leave yet, we have fun things to do!" He opened the blue paint and poured it into a paint palette. "I bet I can paint you faster than you can paint me!" He hands me some golden paint. "Do you wanna try?"
"I should really go," I tried to step away one again, but Sun towered over me. "You can't! Not until your parents pick you up! But we can have fun while we wait!" I tried to ignore the intense pounding in my chest. Sun and Moon have always terrified me, but if I want to explore the daycare I need Sun to trust me. Maybe if I try to play along, he'll show me what I'm looking for.
"Well," I began, "I'm curious as to what's in there." I pointed towards the stage opening where Sun had dived into the ball pit. "There? That's just my room! Nothing's up there!" Sun explained.
"I, uh, I want to see it. Yes! I wanna see it!" If there's any room in this god-forsaken daycare that is suspicious, it's that one. Sun tilted his head and said, "Sorry, no one's allowed in there!" Of course it wasn't going to be that easy.
"Um, what about a game? If I win, you have to take me up there," I said. Brilliant! The daycare attendant loves games, it's basically all he's programmed to do. There's no way he can pass this up.
Sun laughs. "Hahaha! Nope!" Shoot!
"Oh, please?" I begged.
"I'm sorry, but I'm not allowed to bring you up there," he said. He almost sounded upset, but that can just be chocked up to advanced voice simulations. "We can do other things, though! Wait here," he exclaimed, and left. I let out a sigh of relief, but he was back ten seconds later.
"Here!" Sun handed me a wooden popsicle stick and some paper mache. He also dropped some safety scissors and other arts and craft materials onto the floor and sat down. "We can make stick puppets!" Ecstatically, he began to cut shapes into the paper, and motioned for me to join him.
One stick puppet couldn't hurt. I sat down and thought about what to make. I looked over at his creation; it looked like me. Sort of. He had cut out a blue shirt and was now working on a head. I guess he still wanted to see who could create the other fastest. I started cutting a circle into the yellow paper.
Suddenly, Sun gasped loudly. "What? What?" I frantically said back.
Sun leaned in close. "I never got your name!"
"It's Gregory..." I said quietly. I was about to push him away, but he jolted upwards with an energetic leap.
"Gregory! My new friend, Gregory!" He hopped around with excitement, and once he was done he said, "I am Sun, haha!"
After that outburst, he sat back down and continued to work on puppet me. My cutout of Sun was only just starting to take shape. I had a few triangles out for the sides of his face. I glanced at Sun's puppet. He's already drawing finer details onto the paper mache. I have to quicken my pace if I want to finish before him.
I sloppily cut out the rest of the triangles and glued them together. With the same yellow, I cut out arms and a body, and with an orange, cut out his legs. Then I glued the parts together and attached it to the popsicle stick, and with a smile, added the finishing touch; small googly eyes.
"Done!" we said at the same time.
Sun gasped. "Is that me?" He ripped the puppet right out of hands. "Oh, it's perfect! Absolutely perfect!" He then handed me the puppet of myself. "I made you!"
I took the puppet from his robotic hands. The quality of the puppet was vastly different than the one I made. I don't know how, but he cut out shapes of brown paper to match my hair. He colored the stripes on my shirt, and hand drew a face. It's shoes even matched mine; blue skechers with red velcro.
"Do you like it?" Sun asked. He has lowered his stance, no longer constantly towering over me. I rubbed the soft paper with my thumb, admiring the craftsmanship.
"I do," I whispered.
"Whoopee! He likes it! Gregory likes it!" He jumped up and danced happily. I thought to myself for a moment.
This was... nice. Much nicer than the last time I was here. He may be scary to look at, and he may be loud, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy myself a bit. Maybe I'm remembering that day wrong. Maybe he really was just looking out for me.
Click.
Darkness.
"Oh no. Oh no no no no no!"