Chapter Text
His legs are killing him, but he refuses to stop pedaling. Instead, he doubles down, raising his body off the seat and standing on the pedals of his bike as he pushes forward.
He is out of breath, and he can feel his hands trembling on the handlebars, but he doesn’t loosen his grip on it. His chest heaves as loud wheezes escape him, the sound of his own breathing loud even to his own ears.
It’s late - almost midnight - but he isn’t taking a popular road, so there’s no one around to see him. He rides past rows of trees, leaving the city far behind him now as he pedal further beyond its outskirts. Without any lamppost to light the way, and with the thick branches above swallowing the glow of the moon, the world around him is almost completely dark.
The only thing keeping him on the dirt road is the small flashlight taped to the front of his bike, its weak beam flickering as the bike rattles over the uneven bumps of the ground.
The air is cold - after all, it’s almost winter now, with autumn ending soon - and despite the layers of clothes he’s wearing, his fingerless gloves leave his hands exposed to the bite of the cold. His breath comes out in small puffs of fog in front of him.
He looks ahead, and there - in the distance - he finally sees it. An abandoned building, sitting at the edge of an equally abandoned parking lot.
A grin spreads across his face.
He cheers internally and pushes harder on the pedals despite his exhaustion.
Fuck, he’s glad he trusted Karl on this one.
It had been a toss-up whether the guy was telling the truth. "Supposedly" there was an old Playtime.Co building abandoned somewhere in the outskirts of the city. He thought Karl was full of shit - places like that usually get demolished before squatters start moving in.
But this time… Karl wasn’t bullshitting.
When he finally rolls into the parking lot, he swings the bike sharply and lifts the front wheel off the ground, popping into a wheelie. He bounces once on the back tire and spins the bike in a small jump flip before bringing it to a clean stop right in front of the main doors.
He lifts a hand to the black cap on his head, pushing it back a little so he can get a better look at the entrance.
A soft whistle slips past his lips - quiet, careful not to make too much noise. After all, he has no idea if any druggies are hanging around the place.
He bounces once or twice on the bicycle seat before hopping off. He rolls the bike over to a nearby pole before kicking the foot stand down so it won’t crash to the ground. Then he shrugs the backpack off his shoulders and lets it slide down to the floor. Kneeling slightly, he opens one of the small front pockets and rummages inside before pulling out a wire lock.
He bounces back on his feet before he works quickly, looping the wire lock through the bike’s frame and tightening it around the metal pole. A click echoes in the empty parking lot as he snaps the lock shut.
He glances around the place first, and what surprises him the most is that there’s literally no one sleeping near the garbage bins behind the building.
What the fuck…
The place is completely deserted. For a moment, he wonders if cops make rounds here during the night and drive off anyone getting too close. Because it makes no sense otherwise. A building like this, abandoned, sitting on the outskirts - and no squatters?
It almost sounds too good to be true.
Still, Jake doesn’t consider himself a pussy, and he ignores his suspicions.
So he moves forward, walking around the building with only the flashlight of his phone to light his way as he circles toward the back. Before rounding the corner, he gives the garbage bin a quick check.
He’s been climbing fences since he could walk, so jumping on the metal lid of the bin is nothing. The tin roof clangs softly under his weight as he lands on it. He lifts the lid and immediately pulls a sleeve over his nose, accidentally bumping his septum piercing in the process.
The smell is bad. But… honestly? Not nearly as bad as he expected. There’s barely any food inside. Most of what looks edible is still sealed in packaging. Instead, the bin is filled mostly with products. Boxes that once held toys - or whatever else the place used to make. Plastic parts from broken things. From where he’s standing, he can even see the leg of a chair sticking out from under the pile.
And toys. Lots of discarded toys.
The whole thing feels eerie. For a split second, his creative brain imagines the things moving, with those plastic eyes blinking at him.
He scoffs at himself, looking away.
Jake, you’re fucking sixteen years old. You’re not a kid anymore. Toys don’t come alive.
He hops inside without much hesitation, sets his backpack on the metal lid above him, and pulls off his gloves, stuffing them into the pockets of his jeans.
Then he starts digging. He quickly grabs a few individually wrapped cookies and checks the date on the packaging. And what the hell.
Those things are still good! Two whole years left before they expire.
He grimaces. It’s probably some chemical nightmare keeping them edible that long, but food is food, so he stuffs the packaged snacks into his backpack - carefully sliding them into pockets that aren’t already occupied. The slimy grime coating the wrappers is disgusting enough to make him gag, no way he’s letting that shit touch the Monster cans in his bag.
He’s about to jump out of the bin when he hears shuffling behind him. He spins around immediately, heart jumping straight to his throat, already expecting to see flashing lights or a cop leaning over the edge.
But the sound comes from inside the bin.
As if in slow motion, a fucking blue cat toy starts walking - well, more like scrambling forward with a faint whirring sound. Jake feels his heart stop, his eyes widening impossibly wide as he stares at it. Then, the toy’s voice box - seemingly broken - crackles to life:
"Click the button to feed me candy!"
The whirring grows louder as it heads straight toward him.
Jake screams at the sight of it getting closer and desperately tries to jump out of the bin, but his shoe slips on the weird red sticky liquid coating the walls and bottom of the garbage bin. He falls on his ass with a wet smack. He screams even louder.
Until the toy’s broken voice interrupts him again.
"Nom nom nom! Feed me more!"
The cat bumps into him. Again. And again. It keeps bumping into his leg, completely harmless.
Jake just sits there, staring at it blankly. A few seconds pass by, then a few more, before finally, a breathless giggle escapes him, his disbelief bubbling out as the adrenaline slowly drains from his body.
He keeps staring at the stupid thing for another moment before shaking his head.
"Shit… okay. Wow." He lets out a shaky breath. "I guess those batteries still work even after all these years."
He sighs and shakes his head before pushing himself back onto his feet. Then he looks down at his pants, and his face twists in disgust immediately. The red sticky mess is smeared all over the sides and the back of them. He just knows his ass is completely covered in it - he can feel how damp the fabric is now. It’s so bad. It feels disgusting.
He glances at his hands and sees the same red liquid coating his palms.
Jake gags.
For a second, he hesitates, clearly debating what to do, before wiping his hands across the knees of his pants. They’re already filthy anyway.
Once he’s done, he brings his hands closer and sniffs them. At least it doesn’t smell bad. If anything… it smells like strawberry. Artificial strawberry, he guesses. Like those dolls Kelly used to have - uh, Strawberry Shortcake, he thinks they were called. It doesn’t smell rotten at all, which honestly feels weird considering where he is.
Something bumps into his shoe, pulling him out of his thoughts.
His shoes had been light grey before. Now they’re light grey and red. Gross.
Jake looks down and sees the cat toy again, still bumping aimlessly against him. Its little wheels - he assumes they’re wheels - are spinning like crazy, the whirring loud enough to make him wonder if it could rival the noise his bike makes when he jams an empty soda can in the spokes.
He crouches down and carefully lifts the toy off the garbage floor. Its little wheels spin uselessly in the air, whirring loudly for a few seconds before the sound slowly dies down, like the thing just… gives up.
Jake stares at it. For a moment, he just holds it there, puzzled, as the toy seems to calm down in his hands. Maybe he’s just projecting human behavior on a piece of junk, but the way it suddenly stops struggling feels weird.
Freaky, even.
He’s about to drop it back into the bin, bending down to put it where he found it, when the toy suddenly purrs.
The sound glitches through the broken voice box, distorted and creepy, but it’s still unmistakably a purr. Jake pauses, hesitating, before deciding not to put it back. Instead, he sighs, already knowing he’s already being stupid.
He chuckles under his breath.
"Yeah, yeah… soft queer Jake. Too soft for his own good again."
He shakes his head, annoyed at himself, but still brings the toy closer to his face. Without proper light, he can barely see shit, and the weak beam from his phone doesn’t help much as he turns the toy around in his hands, inspecting it.
He lifts one of the paws. Or… where there should be a paw; One of them is missing. Jake squints at it, turning the toy slightly. Maybe that’s why the whirring was so loud.
As he studies the hole where the paw should be, he realizes something: The red liquid coating the bottom of the bin… is coming from inside the toy.
He blinks in surprise, then glances at the other broken toys scattered across the trash. His face twists in a grimace. Why the fuck would toy makers fill dolls and toys with red liquid? It feels straight out of a horror movie. Like the toys are supposed to be people - and right now they look like they got murdered or something.
He looks back at the blue cat in his hands and finally switches off the flashlight on his phone now that he’s done inspecting it.
He tries prying open the latch on the toy’s back, hoping to shut it off since there’s no visible button anywhere on its surface - but the thing won’t budge. It’s glued shut. Maybe because of the liquid. It is pretty sticky.
Jake sighs and sets the cat toy down on the metal lid of the garbage bin before climbing out. This time it goes smoothly - turns out not panicking helps a lot.
He grabs both the toy and his backpack before hopping down from the lid, back on solid ground. Crouching, he places the toy on the pavement to free his hands and slides his large backpack back on his shoulders.
When he looks down again, the cat toy is already moving. It spins in messy circles on the ground, running around while its motor whirs loudly. One of its front paws jerks up and down with every turn, the mechanism probably linked to the spinning of its wheels. It's really freaky.
He sighs and walks away from the toy. For a second, he even considers waving goodbye to it, but decides against it. Jake feels like he did a good thing, pulling it out of the bin - but he also doesn’t feel comfortable bringing it with him. Sure, it might be cute in daylight, but right now, at midnight, with no lights around… It’s just creepy.
He’s not scared or anything, it’s just weird, okay.
Then he hears the whirring again. It’s so loud. Jake turns his head - and realizes the cat toy is following him. It moves dutifully after him, though clumsily. It’s a toy after all, and its little wheels struggle against the cracked pavement of the parking lot.
It’s so fucking creepy.
Jake starts walking in an awkward zigzag, keeping his eyes locked on the thing the whole time. Goosebumps crawl up his arms when the toy ends up zigzagging too, its movements somehow matching his.
Okay, no joke? Fuck it if that makes him a sissy - but now he’s actually scared. Like, legit scared.
He immediately jumps up onto the higher step near the building, getting off the parking lot floor.
The toy stops for a second or two, and Jake watches it carefully as the thing suddenly rolls faster, trying to climb up after him. It bumps against the step once… twice… But it doesn’t give up.
The silence soon fills with the constant mechanical whirring as the toy’s wheels keep spinning across the pavement. Jake just stares at it, feeling dread. What if it manages to climb up?
Then the wheels finally catch awkwardly on the edge. The toy whirs uselessly in the air for a second before tipping over and falling onto its side. It keeps spinning like that for a moment.
Then, slowly, it seems to give up again. The wheels stop, and it lies there on the pavement, immobile now, its little head facing forward - not even toward him.
It’s… Sad. Sad in the same way it feels when you accidentally kick your dog in the muzzle because you didn’t see him there. He hesitates for a moment - but curse his soft heart, he can’t leave it like that.
Jake sighs loudly before stepping down from the ledge and crouching over the toy. It lies there motionless, but he notices the head bobbing ever so slightly from side to side. The movement is subtle, and from the awkward angle, he almost misses it, but it’s definitely there.
He frowns and reaches down, grabbing the toy. Straightening up, he lifts it closer to his face.
"Okay. Okay so. Look, I'm quite frankly freaking the fuck out." He exhales sharply. "Like, I feel as if I'm in a horror movie and you're coming alive to murder me."
Now it has stopped moving entirely. Nothing happens.
"...Hey so. I'm not gonna leave you behind again, okay? Not unless you want to."
He feels incredibly stupid talking to a toy, but when he suddenly sees and hears the wheels whirr again, he knows he’s not imagining things. The sound cuts out just as quickly, but he can hear a faint purr.
Jake lowers the toy to eye level and studies its face. The little painted eyes stare back at him, dull and flat. They don’t reflect anything. How can it even see?
"Can you answer a couple of questions?" The wheels spin briefly again, but the voice box stays silent. Jake squints at it. "...Can you talk? Like earlier."
The toy goes completely still once more, and for a second, Jake wonders if he said something wrong.
Then the same glitching voice crackles out again, repeating the exact same line he heard before:
"Click the button to feed me candy!"
Well, that’s that, he guesses. Poor thing only has pre-registered lines. That sucks. It means he can’t exactly communicate with it. The cat toy whirs again in the air, almost like it’s sharing his frustration. And that’s when Jake gets an idea.
"Hey why not like… two whirr of your wheels means no, and one means yes. What about that?" There’s a short pause, like the toy is actually thinking about it. Then it whirs once.
Jake’s face lights up, and he smiles widely, cheering inside. Fuck yeah. He’s a genius. He giggles under his breath, suddenly feeling way less scared of the thing.
"Soooo are you like… a bot? An A.I? Like artificial intelligence." Two whirrs. Okay, no. But then the wheels spin a few more times again.
Jake tilts his head. Did it not understand the question?
Alright. Moving on.
"Are youuuu… a toy? Like a real toy?" One whirr. Nothing follows. Jake nods slowly. Okay, he can work with that.
"Were you cursed into a toy?" There’s a long pause, but then the cat’s head slowly bobs side to side, making Jake frown in confusion.
Wait- what?
The toy whirs three times, and Jake blinks. Then he realizes-
"Wait… are you saying you don’t know?" One whirr. "Were you always a toy?" Another yes.
Jake stares at it, not entirely sure what to think. That’s weird, for sure. He honestly doesn’t know what else to say to the toy. There’s a lot there to unpack, and he’s way too tired to start wracking his brain over it right now.
Jake looks at the cat with an unsure smile.
"Then I guess we’re going to be sticking around together?" he says, the words sounding more like a question than a statement. The excited whirring that follows answers him clearly enough, though. His smile grows a little more genuine.
"Guess we’re pals now. But you need a name…" As he says it, Jake tucks the cat under one arm, holding it comfortably against his side as he starts walking toward the entrance of the building.
He glances across the parking lot and feels relieved when he spots his bike still locked to the pole. No one around either. Speaking of that…
How long has he been here?
Jake pulls his phone out and checks the screen. 1:23 AM.
Well. That explains why he feels so damn cold. He’s been fucking around outside for an hour. At this point, he can’t even feel his ass anymore, the red liquid soaked his pants long enough that the cold has practically frozen the fabric against his skin.
He finally reaches the front door and leans toward the wide window beside the entrance. He tries peering inside, but he can’t see a thing. It’s too dark outside - and just as dark inside. Shining the flashlight from his phone against the glass wouldn’t help either.
Jake sighs, hoping the place isn’t filled with druggies. Though… the windows aren’t smashed. That alone is weird. The place has been abandoned for years. Thirty, if Karl wasn’t bullshitting him.
And not a single broken window? Weird.
But then again, he’s currently holding a sentient blue cat toy in his arms, so maybe weird stopped meaning anything tonight.
Speaking of-
"Oh, I know what I’m gonna call you." He shifts the toy slightly under his arm. "I’m calling you Bluey. Or Blue for short." He doesn’t even need to look down to know the toy approves; The purring had immediately grown louder. Jake snorts quietly before turning his attention back to the door.
He grabs the handle and tries it, hoping maybe it was left unlocked - that would explain why nobody needed to smash a window to get in. But the handle doesn’t budge. He tugs on it again - then once more, like maybe it’ll magically open. But nope. That door isn’t opening like that, no sir.
Jake pulls his hands back into his sleeves, shoving them deep inside. He can barely wiggle his fingers right now. He’s really cold. He needs to get inside, if only to get out of the wind.
That’s when he notices the numpad mounted beside the door, hidden behind a small plastic grey cover. Jake pulls his phone from his pocket and shines his flashlight on it. The thing looks old. Really old. Nothing like the tech people use now. Hell, there isn’t even a screen to show what numbers you type. And one of the buttons is so worn down that the number on it has completely faded.
He leans closer, squinting as he studies the keypad. Then he presses one of the buttons.
Click.
Jake exhales in relief when he hears it respond.
So the place still has electricity running. Hopefully - and he crosses his fingers at the thought - there’s no alarm system waiting for him the second the door opens. He starts trying random combinations, pressing the buttons randomly. While he works, he hums quietly under his breath and rocks back and forth on his heels. He even dances a little on the spot, trying to warm himself up.
Completely focused on the keypad and the door in front of him, Jake doesn’t notice the large shadow moving across the entrance hall, but the cat toy in his grasp does.
As he finally unlocks the door - thanks to the power of deduction, also known as trying every possible combination with the faded numbers - Blue suddenly starts whirring loudly again. Jake glances down at the toy, confused, while tugging the door open.
"What's up?" he asks.
Blue’s protests only get louder as Jake steps one foot into the doorway and starts entering the building. Honestly, it feels like dragging a younger sibling out of an ice cream shop while they’re throwing a tantrum. Jake lifts the cat toy up to his face again, using his broad back to hold the door open while he talks to it.
"Look, I don’t know why you don’t want to come in, but if I stay out here, I’m gonna freeze to death. So either you come with me, or I leave you outside." Blue’s wheels whirr again. Twice. And its little head sways side to side.
Jake frowns. The reaction is enough to make him glance at the dark lobby with a faint sense of dread - but he honestly doesn’t have another option. At sixteen, he’s too young to squat with the homeless in his city. Grown men are not to be trusted, he learned that pretty damn fast. And he’s too old for the daycare shelters now. When he was younger, he could lie his way inside and stay the night - hide in a closet or something until morning. But those doors aren’t opening for him anymore.
And now Kelly’s parents think he and her are dating, which is gross. Because of that, crashing at her place isn’t an option anymore either.
And going home? Jake would rather face Michael Myers.
He looks down at the protesting toy again and mutters, "...or Chucky."
He steps inside despite the protesting toy and lets the door close behind him. The mechanism catches it before it can slam close, the door shutting behind him with barely a sound. The interior is dark, but not completely: A few ceiling lights are still working, casting a faint glow over the lobby.
So he had been right. The place still has electricity - and no security alarm. Damn. He’s lucky.
He can feel Blue trembling against his side, the toy shaking. Jake pats its plastic head a few times in an attempt to reassure it while he slowly walks deeper into the main entrance.
The place is huge. Big enough to hold large crowds easily. He vaguely remembers people in the city talking about this place before. Apparently, it used to be really popular. Karl had said something about an incident that forced it to close down… but Jake can’t remember the details; he had been pretty high when Karl told him the story.
Jake makes his way toward the reception desk and stops there, staring up at the large mural painted behind it. The faded painting shows a toy welcoming visitors inside. Jake squints at it for a second, remembering having a toy like that when he was little.
Except his had been pink.
The memory is fuzzy, distant, and he can’t remember what happened to it. Maybe it got dirty, and his mom threw it out. Or maybe it got lost when they moved. Who knows.
Still, he finds himself smiling faintly at the mural, remembering happier moments of his childhood - before his stepdad showed up.
He shakes his head with a scowl, pushing the thought away before moving on. Jake sets Blue down on the reception desk, and, instead of walking around it, he plants a hand on the counter and jumps over with a cheerful "WOO!", using his arm to pivot his weight. His backpack shifts on his shoulders as he swings over, his feet hitting the floor on the other side with a soft thud.
He turns immediately, grinning at the toy. Jake lifts his hand up in the air, holding it there expectantly.
"C’mon."
Blue rolls forward across the desk, its wheels spinning just enough to make its remaining paw lift.
Smack. A high five. Jake’s grin widens.
Guess he was right - everything on the toy must be connected to those wheels. He laughs, a soft giggle escaping him when the cat starts purring again. Looks like the toy finally calmed down. Good. He had felt kind of bad dragging it inside when it had seemed so scared - but Jake really hadn’t had any other choice.
The teenager’s eyes fall on a VHS tape sitting on the desk, and he whistles, impressed. Those things are ancient. His mom still has a few lying around somewhere, but he’s never actually used one himself.
Jake picks it up and turns it over in his hands, reading the messy writing scrawled across the label. Leith Pierre Closing.
He lifts a hand to his right ear, absentmindedly playing with the ring of his upper lobe piercing while his other hand pushes his cap back. His eyes scan the room, looking around for a VHS player, but a sudden burst of loud whirring and purring pulls his attention away. Blue is zooming across the desk, chasing the computer mouse like it’s prey, making Jake snort softly in amusement.
It’s actually kind of cute.
He reaches out and places his hand over the mouse, moving it back and forth to keep Blue engaged. The toy’s wheels spin faster as it tries to follow the mouse, purring loudly. At some point, he must have pressed one of the buttons, because the computer screen suddenly flickers to life. Jake keeps playing with Blue absentmindedly, but his eyes are now locked on the monitor.
The screen shows the feed from several surveillance cameras. Discarded toys are scattered all over the place in the different rooms he can see. He clicks through the camera views one by one, checking each feed. They don’t seem to go very far - only a few areas have active cameras. One room is labeled the Gift Shop, another labeled Security Room, and the last one shows the main entrance, the one he’s currently standing in. He waves at the camera in amusement, watching himself wave back on the screen.
His attention returns to Blue. The cat toy seems done playing with the mouse now, sitting there quietly on the desk. Jake shrugs and decides to explore the computer instead. He’s got time to kill anyway.
He clicks through a few folders, scanning the files one by one. Most of it looks boring - purchase histories, customer lists, shipment logs. Names, numbers, dates. Still, he opens a few out of curiosity. Some of the files include names and ages, causing Jake to frown slightly.
What did Karl say again…? Something about… orphans, right? His memory is hazy at best. A few names stand out in the lists, highlighted in red for some reason, but the files don’t give any extra explanation. That part is weird, but Jake quickly loses interest.
What really grabs his attention is the toy catalog. There’s so many of them, it’s insane. He scrolls through the list.
Cat-Bee.
"Oh, CandyCat!" he mutters. Jake glances down at Bluey, who is quietly purring on the desk, and nods to himself. Guess that’s the official name of that toy. He keeps scrolling.
Bunzo Bunny.
"Ah, Huggy Wuggy," he says when he recognizes the toy painted on the mural. Then another file catches his eye.
Kissy Missy.
Jake opens it and leans closer to the screen, studying the image of the pink version of Huggy Wuggy. It looks softer, cuter than the blue one. Something about it sparks a warm, nostalgic feeling in his chest. Maybe he can find one here. He glances around the empty lobby thoughtfully. If he’s already exploring the place, maybe he could grab a Kissy Missy toy to bring home.
Jake looks down at Bluey again and tilts his head slightly, wondering if the little cat toy would want to come home with him too.
After a couple of minutes, Jake starts getting bored with the computer. He grabs Bluey again and, this time, walks around the reception desk instead of jumping over it. Before leaving, he remembers the tape and snatches the green VHS from the counter.
Jake scans the lobby, looking around for a VHS player. He doesn’t find one right away - but he does spot something else.
Near the entrance doors, there’s a green box on the floor. Since he’s already searching for something, it’s the first thing that catches his eye. He walks over and crouches down to inspect it. Setting Bluey gently on the ground, Jake turns the box around so he can read the front properly since it had been facing the wrong way.
The box shows a toy named Boogie Bot, with the Playtime.Co signature printed neatly at the bottom. Jake pries the box open with a bit of effort and peeks inside.
There’s a toy inside. He pulls it out of the box and glances at Bluey beside him. The cat toy clearly couldn’t care less about the discovery, busy swatting at Jake’s shoelace instead.
Jake clears his throat awkwardly.
"You think the toy is also alive?" Bluey pauses, but then its wheels whirr twice. So… no.
Jake nods slowly to himself and puts the toy back into the box, closing it again. He picks Bluey back up and begins wandering through the lobby, still searching for a VHS recorder. There has to be one somewhere if someone left a VHS tape behind… right? For now, he puts the VHS tape in his backpack.
As he walks around, something large catches his eye: A bright poster hanging on the wall. It shows one of the Playtime.Co toys - a big red dinosaur with a friendly smile. Above it, bold letters read: Eat Healthy, Like Bron! Jake squints at the poster for a moment. He guesses that must be the toy’s name.
While looking at the poster, he hears something in the distance. The sound makes him glance past the double doors of what looks like the Gift Shop. From where he stands, he can see a toy train moving along a track hanging from the ceiling, running back and forth across the room. The small locomotive is still working, circling steadily above the room. It’s kind of impressive, honestly, and Jake finds himself wondering who the hell is paying for all of this. The electricity bills alone must be insane.
Further inside, another painted mural covers one of the walls. This one shows CandyCat - Bluey. Jake smiles. He tugs one of the doors open and steps inside.
"Look, Blue. It's you." He lifts the cat toy as he walks closer to the mural, holding it up so it can see the painted version of itself. Jake expects the toy to react happily. Instead, the cat toy whirs twice. He frowns, bringing it closer to his face and staring into its painted eyes.
"What do you mean by no? It's not you?" The cat toy whirs twice again. Huh. But it’s… the exact same thing. Jake stares at it, confused.
"But you're a toy." One single whirr answers him.
…Yeah. No. He’s not going to keep asking questions. Blue seems confused enough as it is.
He sets the cat toy down, letting it look around the room while he walks over to one of the CandyCat boxes stacked on a shelf. He pulls one out and removes the toy inside, turning it over in his hands and inspecting it from every angle. It’s clearly Bluey.
So why the hell did it say it wasn’t? Maybe it just can’t recognize itself?
As he examines the toy, he notices the same little hatch on its back - the one he couldn’t open on Blue. Curious, he pries it open and notices inside are two slots for batteries. Huh. There’s no red liquid anywhere inside the toy either, which feels… strange. He expected something - maybe a pocket filled with the stuff, or some weird internal mechanism - but it’s completely empty.
Did they discontinue the idea because it was too creepy? Jake shrugs to himself, closes the hatch, and places the toy back into its box before sliding it neatly back where he found it.
He explores the Gift Shop, but all the other toy boxes are empty. Well, almost all of them: One more Boogie Bot box still has something inside. Maybe they just weren’t popular enough to be stolen?
Actually… did thieves even come here? The place is pristine. Sure, it’s messy, boxes are scattered everywhere, the shelves are half-cleared, but it’s not covered in graffiti or trash, there’s no broken beer bottles, no piss on the floor. Nothing like that. For a place abandoned for thirty years, it’s… weirdly clean. There aren’t even cigarette butts on the floor. If nobody has come here since the place closed, then why does it look like this? It makes no sense. There’s no sign of anyone living here, no squatters, no thieves. Yet everything looks like it was tossed around in a panic. The boxes are scattered like someone had thrown them everywhere in a hurry.
Maybe someone died during Black Friday, and they just shut the place down? Yeah… that would make sense, but Jake isn’t convinced. He finally pulls out his phone and opens the search engine, hoping to find an actual answer. Somewhere nearby, he hears Bluey purring softly, but he doesn’t pay attention to what the toy is doing as he scrolls through page after page.
And none of it is conclusive.
There are tons of theories online. Like, a lot of them. Apparently, employees, customers, and even orphans disappeared overnight at the factory. Creepy. He keeps scrolling through the search results, reading whatever scraps of information he can find. There are also a lot of pending lawsuits. Apparently, they’ve been dragging on for years. With the founder, Elliot Ludwig, dead and his successor, Leith Pierre, gone without a trace, the cases have been stuck in limbo ever since. Shareholders keep throwing the blame at each other, shifting responsibility around without anything ever being resolved. One name comes up again and again, though: Edward M. N. Ritterman. From what Jake can gather, he seems to be the only person still around who could possibly be blamed for what happened. Yet somehow, no one has managed to actually hold him accountable - for the factory, for the disappearances, for any of it.
The dread he felt earlier - when Bluey protested at the entrance - creeps back. Okay… maybe freezing outside would’ve been the better option after all. He suddenly feels stupid for coming in here.
Still, it’s better to leave now than later.
Jake walks back toward the exit of the Gift Shop, grabbing Bluey on his way out. He smiles at the toy as he lifts it.
"Hey, so maybe you were right, I’m ready to bounce," he says casually. "I warmed up enough, I think we can camp outside or find a 24-hour convenience store somewhere." He shrugs. "Yeah, it’s gonna suck not sleeping tonight, but I can tough it out." The cat toy purrs in his hands, and Jake’s smile grows a little wider.
Yeah. That’s a good plan.
Exiting the Gift Shop and walking down the hallway, he notices something for the first time: The large toys that he assume were supposed to sit inside the showcase windows are gone.
Jake walks a little faster.
When he reaches the end of the corridor, he finally spots the VHS player he’s been looking for this whole time. He pauses there for a moment, hesitating. Then he sighs. Fuck it. He’s already been here a while, and nothing has jumped out to kill him yet. Besides… he’s curious about the tape. The name written across it reads Leith Pierre - the guy who disappeared years ago. That alone makes it worth watching.
Jake sets Blue down along with his backpack before kneeling to unzip it. He pulls out the tape he shoved inside earlier and slides it into the player.
The VHS player glitches a few times before finally playing the tape:
"Hi, my name is Leith Pierre and I'm the head of innovation here at the Playtime Co. toy factory."
Jake stares at the TV screen, but it’s completely black. Every now and then the image glitches, but nothing else appears. Is the thing broken? He frowns slightly, arms folding on his chest as he keeps watching the empty screen.
Anyway… Head of Innovation? Wasn’t Leith Pierre supposed to be Elliot Ludwig’s successor? The guy who took over after the founder of this place died? Jake guesses the guy must’ve had two roles, but still… what the hell does Head of Innovation even mean?
As the tape continues to roll, Jake pulls out his phone again and searches for what that position actually means inside a company.
"If you're seeing this, then you're trespassing. Yeah, we play this little tape on loop whenever we close the factory for the day. So trespasser, just to make you aware. While we pride ourselves primarily on our high quality toys and excellent childcare, we also pride ourselves on our security."
The definition of Head of Innovation makes him grimace. So… it’s basically a pompous way of saying you encourage your employees to be creative. Great. His expression only worsens when the tape mentions that the company "prides itself on its security."
Jake glances around the hallway again. Seriously? There was no alarm when he came in, no locked gates, no tripwires like in the movies. Nothing that even remotely looked like security. So what kind of security are they so proud of exactly?
"For example, this facility is full of hidden motion triggers which, once set off, will turn on the factory's emergency alarms and directly contact the authorities! And that's one of the more tame aspects of our security system. No spoilers..."
"So, you've got my warning. It's not too late to turn around. I just hope you're certain whatever you're doing is worth it."
Well, Jake muses, that answers his questions. And for the record, Leith Pierre, he’s leaving now, thank you very much - he thinks sarcastically. He picks Blue up from the floor and heads toward the entrance, his pace quickening until he’s almost jogging. The tape didn’t help soothe his dread. If anything, it made it worse. He grabs the handle of the door and pulls.
Nothing.
Jake frowns and tries the other door. And it doesn’t fucking budge either. His stomach drops. He sets Blue down a little too roughly on the floor and grabs both handles, trying to yank them open at the same time. Still nothing. He pulls, pushes, and slams his shoulder against the door.
Nothing.
The panic starts creeping in fast. The room suddenly feels smaller than it did a few minutes ago.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck, why is it not budging, why-" He throws himself against the door once. Twice. Three times. The door barely moves. "Why is it locked from the inside?! What the fuck is this bullshit?!"
Jake staggers back from the doors, running a hand along the rim of his baseball cap. He slides it sideways, then finally spins it around so the rim is behind his head. He drops his backpack to the floor before shimmying out of his leather bomber jacket right after. He rolls the jacket tightly around his hand and forearm, securing it there with one of the sleeves before moving toward the large bay window beside the entrance.
Jake plants his feet the way Coach Pete taught him. Like a boxer. He bounces lightly on the balls of his feet, throwing a couple of quick practice punches into the air. Left. Right.
Then he clenches his teeth and swings. His fist slams into the glass. If it had been the cheap kind used in his house or at school, it probably would’ve shattered. Unfortunately for Jake, it isn’t. The glass doesn’t even crack.
Pain shoots through his hand as the impact bounces back against his knuckles.
"OW- OW, fuck!" He quickly untangles the jacket from his arm and lets it drop to the floor so he can inspect his hand. His fingers hurt, and his hand throbs and is slightly numb, but he can still move it, so at least it isn’t broken.
Fuck. He is really trapped here. Jake crouches down, wheezing loudly as it suddenly feels like he can’t breathe. His chest feels tight. He covers his face with both hands and squeezes his eyes shut. The panic is rising fast, catching in his throat, and for a moment, he thinks this might be a panic attack - or the beginning of one. But then he hears a faint whirring sound, followed by something bumping against the window.
Jake opens his eyes and looks down. He sees Bluey repeatedly bumping into the glass like it’s trying to help him break it. The sight pulls a breathless laugh out of Jake. He reaches down and grabs the toy, holding it in both hands as a softer smile spreads across his face.
"Hey, it's okay. I'm okay." Bluey whirrs again. "I swear I'm not lying."
Jake straightens slowly, forcing himself to breathe properly. He needs to calm down - for Bluey’s sake. The poor thing doesn’t need him completely losing it, especially when this is his fault they’re in this mess. He should’ve known to wedge something in the door.
Fuck.
"Look, it's no big deal," Jake says, already slipping his jacket back on while still holding Blue. "Places like this always have emergency exits or windows that open easily. You know, for fires and stuff." He shrugs his backpack back on his shoulders and pulls his cap forward again.
"No way we're actually stuck here." Bluey purrs in his hands, causing Jake to smile a little wider. "And worst-case scenario?" he adds. "I call a friend to come open the door. Or the cops, I don't care if I get in trouble." He adjusts the straps of his backpack.
"Besides, I’ve got food in here. Enough for a couple days, actually." A crooked grin appears on his lips. "I was running away from home for fuck's sake. I ain't some damsel in distress, yeah?"
Well, time to search this place for another door or something to get the fuck out of here. Since he already explored the Gift Shop and found nothing useful, Jake heads straight toward the Security Room, hoping he’ll have better luck there. On the way, he notices a toy lying on the floor. He pauses and bends over slightly, recognizing the toy from the receptionist’s computer earlier: Cat-Bee. Jake pokes the toy with one finger, but it doesn’t move.
He shrugs. Turning around, he nearly jumps when he realizes he’s standing right in front of a huge poster, showing a doll with bright ginger hair and wide blue eyes staring directly at him. Across the top, the bold letters read: Poppy Wants To Play.
Jake stares at it for a moment. The doll is, quite honestly, creepy as hell. Those massive eyes feel like they’re following him, and he can’t believe the target audience for this place was children. At twelve, he would’ve pissed his pants just looking at that Chucky-looking thing.
Shaking the thought off, he continues down the hallway and finally reaches the Security Room. Jake grabs the handle and tries the door. Locked, of course. He rolls his eyes… until he notices the numpad beside the door. The buttons are color-coded, making Jake grimace. Yeah, sure, this whole factory was meant for kids, but locking your security room with some kind of color puzzle still feels weird. Still, a few of the colors look faded, their lights flickering weakly beneath the plastic, giving him a clue of where to start.
Jake starts trying combinations, pressing different sequences like he did earlier with the other lock. A few minutes pass, and then- click. Jake smirks, feeling victorious.
He enters the Security Office and immediately looks around, scanning the room for anything useful - or at least a window. No luck on the window, but there’s a computer, though. Jake isn’t surprised to see it’s still working. The screens glow faintly in the dim room, but his optimism dies the moment he tries to use it: The system is locked behind a password. He tries a few obvious guesses anyway, but nothing works. Jake sighs and starts digging through the desk, hoping for a sticky note or something equally stupid with the password written on it. No luck there either.
What he does find is a set of keys hanging neatly on the wall. He grabs them without hesitation and reads the labels one by one.
Lobby.
Cafeteria.
Theater.
Normal enough. Two keys stand out immediately to him, however.
Innovation.
Testing.
Jake grimaces. Yeah… no. He has zero interest in whatever the hell those rooms contain. Stuff called Testing never ends well in horror games, and he’s not about to push his luck. He slides the keys into his pocket and pulls out his phone to check the time.
2:34 AM. Damn. Time really flew.
Blue seems interested in the glowing screen, so Jake puts his phone on the computer desk along with Bluey to let the toy look at it. His wallpaper - a looping animation of DOOM Guy tearing through demons - moves across the screen while Jake opens more drawers in the desk. This time, he finds something useful.
A taser and a baton. He squeezes the trigger on the taser once to see if it actually works, and the weapon’s electricity snaps loudly between the prongs. Jake’s eyebrows lift, impressed. Fully charged, it seems. He pockets the taser without hesitation and slides the baton in the loop of his pants. He’s never used a taser before, but he’s not about to say no to a gift like that - especially when the whole place is still making him nervous.
He explores the room a little more and eventually finds a few chocolate bars tucked inside one of the drawers. Each one has a toy mascot printed on the wrapper. Jake checks the expiration date. Soon… but not today. Good enough. He keeps one for himself and stuffs the other two into his backpack before sitting down at the computer desk. Pulling out his phone, he checks the battery. 63%. Jake clicks his tongue softly.
He pulls a charger out of his bag and crouches under the desk, following the mess of cables connected to the computer until he finds the power strip. The chocolate bar ends up clenched between his teeth while he works, unplugging a couple of things and forcing his charger into place. Once he’s done, he crawls back out from under the desk and plugs his phone in. The charging icon appears, and Jake exhales, relieved, and takes the chocolate bar from his mouth, chewing on it while he unlocks his phone. He opens YouTube and lowers the volume almost all the way down - just in case there’s someone… or something else in the building. Then he presses play. A Dark Souls speedrun starts to play.
Jake leans back in the chair, Bluey sitting nearby as he watches the run while slowly devouring his chocolate bar. While eating, Jake notices something odd: Bluey isn’t looking at the phone or at the video anymore. The cat toy’s attention is completely fixed on him - or more precisely, the chocolate bar in his hand. Jake slowly stops chewing, a faint discomfort creeping in at the feeling of being watched while he eats. Then it hits him that maybe Bluey isn’t actually watching him eat, but rather watching the chocolate bar. Just to make sure he isn’t imagining things, he waves the chocolate bar left and right, and Bluey turns toward it every time. Jake blinks.
He hesitates before asking, "Are you… hungry?" One whirr answers him, followed by the broken audio box right after:
"Click the button to feed me candy."
The sound still sends a chill down his spine, just like the first time he heard it. Still… Jake shakes off the uneasiness. He unwraps the chocolate bar completely and places it on the desk right in front of Bluey. Then he waits. And waits. Jake tilts his head slightly. Can it even-
"Hey, can you eat-" The rest of his sentence dies as the cat toy’s face splits open, revealing a fleshy mouth hidden inside the toy’s head, lined with rows of sharp teeth that look more than capable of tearing through anything.
Jake doesn’t move. Doesn’t dare speak. He just watches as Bluey devours the chocolate bar in seconds, chewing loudly like it hasn’t eaten in a long time. And suddenly Jake remembers something: When he found Bluey earlier, the toy had been surrounded by sweets, but they were all still sealed in their packaging, and Bluey’s little paws wouldn’t have been able to open any of them. And plastic wrappers probably wouldn’t taste great, or be easy to swallow. Jake feels sympathy for the toy. He gently taps his knuckles against the toy’s forehead, almost like petting a real cat, and in response Bluey purrs. Jake smiles softly at it.
"You want more?" The toy whirrs immediately, causing Jake to chuckle in amusement.
He opens his backpack and digs around until he finds another chocolate bar. He bites off half of it himself before offering the rest to Bluey. The toy devours it with the same eager enthusiasm.
Jake pulls out a bottle of Gatorade and takes a long sip while watching the small creature eat. And slowly, he realizes that if Bluey had wanted to hurt him… It could have. Instead, the toy had just bumped into him and followed him. Had it felt lonely, sitting alone in that garbage bin for who knows how long? Unable to eat or drink?
Jake feels something close to pity.
"Hey… you want anything to drink too?" he asks hesitantly. Bluey whirrs happily again. Jake awkwardly pours Gatorade into the bottle cap and slides it in front of the toy. It’s clumsy, but Bluey’s long tongue - just like in the mural - slips out and starts lapping up the juice like a real cat. Jake keeps refilling the cap until the voice box crackles again:
"Nom nom nom, heheh okay no more candy, my tummy's full." Jake nods in understanding and screws the cap back onto the bottle. Still, he asks just in case.
"What about another chocolate? You want more?" The toy’s broken voice box answers him again, "Nom nom nom, I said no more!"
Jake puts the Gatorade bottle back into his bag and zips it shut. He stays seated for a few minutes, watching his phone charge while he and Bluey quietly watch the YouTube video together. When the battery reaches 75%, he unplugs the phone and crouches back under the desk to retrieve his charger, stuffing it back into his backpack before standing up.
The walk back to the main entrance is short and uneventful. Thankfully. Maybe the silence is giving him a false sense of security, but he’s not about to complain. Nothing has jumped out at him yet, and that’s good enough.
When he reaches the main entrance again, his eyes land on the tourniquet gate blocking the entrance to the Lobby. Jake tries to push it, but it refuses to move, locked in place. He shrugs. Stepping back a few paces, he grips Bluey a little more firmly in one hand, then breaks into a short run. His palm slaps against the top of the barrier, and he vaults over it in one quick motion, swinging his legs across before landing cleanly on the other side. Bluey purrs and makes a few happy little sounds as they reach the Lobby door. The toy starts fiddling with the zipper of Jake’s jacket, completely unfazed by the jump, trusting him completely, causing Jake’s smile to soften.
He fishes the set of keys out of his pocket and finds the one labeled Lobby. Sliding it into the lock, he turns it and unlocks the door.
The door’s unlocking system is… loud, but the worst part is how slow it is. Jake stands there, tense, glancing over his shoulder every few seconds while the thick metal plating over the doorway retracts with a grinding noise. Piece by piece, the barrier slides away. He watches it open, absentmindedly wondering why a toy company would need a door made of such heavy and thick metal. It almost feels like it was designed to keep people from getting out.
The thought makes him shiver. Jake pauses for a second, forcing himself to breathe slowly as his anxiety starts creeping back in. It’s fine. It’s okay. The moment he finds a window or another exit door, he’s out.
Finally, the metal barrier finishes retracting, revealing a corridor beyond it, and the Lobby. Jake’s attention is immediately pulled by something blue, something big, standing in the distance. He remembers it from the receptionist’s computer: Huggy Wuggy.
Jake hesitates before stepping forward. His hand reaches to the baton hooked on his belt, his fingers brushing against it as he cautiously approaches the Lobby. His eyes narrow slightly as he watches the giant blue toy, searching for any twitch or movement. He isn’t expecting it to hurt him - after all, Bluey hasn’t tried to harm him, and these toys were made for kids - but he doesn’t trust the thing either; he remembers the rows of sharp teeth hidden inside Blue’s mouth.
Still, when Jake gets closer to the massive toy - way taller than he is - he stops. The thing isn’t moving at all, staring straight ahead with its palm open in a friendly greeting. Meanwhile, Blue starts squirming in his arms.
Jake lowers the cat toy to the floor, and it immediately begins wandering around the lobby, exploring the area with innocent curiosity. Jake glances back up at the giant toy one more time, an awkward smile on his lips. If it’s alive like Bluey, he wants to show he’s friendly. Jake clears his throat awkwardly.
"Hey! Um… hi!" His voice echoes in the empty lobby. "Sorry for coming in, I’m probably scaring you, but I promise I’m not a threat." He scratches the back of his neck, suddenly feeling a little stupid talking to a giant plush toy that isn’t reacting or answering him. "Or, like… a bad guy or anything. I just wanted somewhere warm to sleep tonight."
He waits patiently for a couple of minutes, thinking that maybe Huggy Wuggy is just shy. But after a while, it hits him that maybe he’s being a little stupid. Sure, there’s a living CandyCat wandering around right now… but that doesn’t mean every toy in this place is going to start moving. After all, the other CandyCat toys, the Boogie Bots, and the Cat-Bee he saw earlier didn’t move at all. Jake shrugs and shakes his head, placing a hand over the brim of his cap.
"I’m being stupid." he mutters to himself.
He looks away from the giant toy and focuses on the display board mounted right beneath it.
It reads:
Playtime Co. has designed hundreds of distinct toys, but none connected with people more than that of Huggy Wuggy. Our founder, Elliot Ludwig, aimed to create a toy which could hug you forever! As is always true, Playtime Co.'s "4-Step Process to creating the most lifelike toys," was a success!
With a bit of string and polyester, our lovable, blue pal Huggy was brought to life! Huggy Wuggy has gone on to be Playtime Co.'s most popular and best selling toy so far!
Jake mutters the last sentence out loud, "Huggy Wuggy has gone on to be Playtime Co.'s most popular and best-selling toy so far." He frowns, confused. So… Huggy Wuggy was their first toy? Or just the first one that actually became popular?
Jake looks back up at the towering figure. The fur looks soft, and he reaches out carefully, brushing his fingers against it. It is soft. But his fingers quickly snag in a few knots. The fur clearly hasn’t been cleaned - or brushed -in years. Jake absentmindedly works at a few of the tangles, gently pulling them apart. While doing that, he notices something behind the toy: A tail. A monkey tail. The sight causes him to remember that his old Kissy Missy plushie had one just like that. He remembers grabbing it all the time as a kid, swinging the toy around by it while he played. Jake grimaces slightly. It’s a good memory… but it might also explain why the toy didn’t last very long. He probably played with it too roughly. That… or, again, they simply lost it when they moved, or his mom threw it away. Either way, the tail is too high up for him to reach now. And that’s a shame, because remembering small pieces of his childhood - the good parts of it - is strangely comforting.
I saw this image of Huggy Wuggy by toon_e on Instagram and decided to use their redesign for Huggy Wuggy in this story!
Jake finally turns away from Huggy Wuggy and the display sign, walking around the lobby to look for Bluey. He finds the small toy a few seconds later, playing with an empty box. Jake smiles at the sight and scoops the cat toy back into his arms before heading to the Cafeteria. If he’s going to be stuck here for a while - at least until he finds a window or another exit - he might as well see if there’s more food he can scavenge. He doesn’t have that much in his backpack: A couple bags of chips, some chocolate, dry ramen packets, the leftover macaroni salad Kelly’s parents gave him earlier, and a few drinks. Still… it’d be nice to have more variety. And honestly, those chocolate bars he found earlier were pretty good.
Jake unlocks the Cafeteria door with the key and slips inside, letting it close quietly behind him. The room is dim, with only a few flickering lights still working, barely illuminating the place. The cafeteria itself is completely empty, with no toy boxes, no displays, nothing like that. There’s just an abandoned mop and bucket in the middle of the floor, like someone dropped them and left in a hurry.
Actually… now that he looks closer… There’s a lot of food left behind. Jake grimaces as he sees the trays filled with old, rotten food at several tables, the contents completely molded. The smell isn’t great either.
He makes a point of giving those tables a wide berth as he rounds the corner and walks behind the serving counter. On the employee side of the cafeteria, he starts rummaging around and manages to find a few useful things:
Rubber gloves.
A first aid kit.
Two bags of nacho cheese chips.
Three more chocolate bars.
And a pack of BBQ peanuts.
All of it goes straight into his backpack.
There’s also a coffee machine on the counter, but Jake quickly notices that the power is dead. Which means the electricity running through the reception and lobby area doesn’t reach this far - probably some kind of backup generator powering only the front of the building.
Jake sighs. It’s a shame, because a cup of coffee would’ve been amazing right now.
When he walks back into the Lobby, Jake immediately notices a yellow key hanging from Huggy Wuggy’s monkey tail. He slows down, squinting at the toy as he circles around the platform it stands on. Jake frowns. Did he miss that earlier? He steps closer and reads the small label attached to it: POWER.
Jake crosses his arms, holding Bluey against his chest. After a moment, he shrugs. He doesn’t really need the power to be on right now. If anything, it feels like a trap, and he’s not about to step into something suspicious if there’s nothing to gain from it. His coffee be damned.
Turning away from Huggy Wuggy entirely, Jake heads toward the Theater Room instead. He unlocks the door and slips inside, letting it close behind him.
He jumps slightly when he sees another Huggy Wuggy inside the room. This one looks completely different, though. It seems to be made of gold - or at least sprayed with gold paint. Either way, it looks tacky as hell, even in the dim lighting.
Actually, the whole place feels gloomy. Tools and construction materials are scattered around, as if the theater had been undergoing renovations before the place was shut down. The project looks like it was abandoned halfway through, which makes Jake wonder if they were interrupted long before the place actually closed.
Maybe people started disappearing during that time? It would explain why everything was left behind like this - the trays of food abandoned on tables, the unfinished construction work, the toys scattered everywhere.
Still, it feels like everything came down suddenly. Like shit hit the fan, and everyone either disappeared - or had to run. At first, Jake thought the toy boxes had been scattered because of something like Black Friday, but now that seems pretty unlikely. No one would’ve had time - or even thought - to sit down and eat if something like that had happened. The abandoned food, the unfinished construction, the toys thrown everywhere… too many things don’t add up. There are way too many missing pieces, and trying to connect them all just gives Jake a headache.
And that’s without mentioning the sentient CandyCat in his arms right now. A toy that can eat.
Ah, whatever. Better not think about it too much right now. It’s not like he’s going to solve the mystery tonight, anyway.
Jake heads first toward the vendor area. Popcorn is scattered all over the floor, mixed with the shriveled leftovers of sausages that were once cooking on a grill. The smell is awful, but thankfully, the merchandise itself still looks fine. Everything is coated in a thin layer of dust, which makes sense because It’s been thirty years. Thirty years since anyone has probably been down here. Or at least anyone with a key.
Jake browses the shelves of plushies. Most of them are small keychains or mini versions of the medium-sized toys he saw earlier. Then he spots a Kissy Missy keychain, making him smile.
He sets Bluey down on the floor, and this time the cat toy stays right beside him while he looks through the merchandise. Jake grabs a CandyCat cap, along with another hat featuring a toy he doesn’t recognize - but it’s a dog, and Jake loves dogs.
Both hats go into his bag, and he clips the Kissy Missy plush keychain to the set of keys he’s been using.
There’s a snack booth filled with sweet snacks - M&M’s and Smarties - so Jake helps himself. He stuffs five packs of each into his backpack, then keeps one Smarties box for himself. He pops it open and starts eating a few while wandering around the theater. His exploration doesn’t turn up much. With the place stuck halfway through construction, there’s barely anything left to find. One thing he does come across, tucked away in a small office, is a bright yellow VHS tape. Jake isn’t even sure if he’ll find another VHS player here, and for a moment, he considers leaving the tape behind. Anyway, without power, it’s probably useless, anyway. Still… he slips it into his backpack. Just in case.
He continues searching the area, scratching his head when he realizes something strange. There are no windows. Not a single one on this entire floor, either. Eventually, he stumbles into a room that feels completely out of place for a theater: a Laundry Room.
Jake stops in the doorway, staring at the rows of washing machines. Why the hell would they need this here? For the employees? Or maybe for the kids? Yeah… that actually makes more sense if it’s for the orphans.
Jake shifts his cap with one hand, frowning slightly. They must’ve been taken care of pretty well here. Sure, they didn’t have parents - which obviously sucked - but at least the company didn’t seem to be cheap about looking after them. Clean clothes, a full Cafeteria, toys everywhere for them to play with. Jake feels a little envious, and he feels guilty about it immediately. Being jealous of orphans is pretty fucking pathetic, but he can’t help himself. Because no matter what… It still sounds better than what’s waiting for him at home.
Something bumps against Jake’s left shoe. He glances down and sees Bluey there, looking up at him with what almost looks like curiosity. Jake sighs and brings his focus back to what he was thinking about. First things first… maybe turning the power back on - and cleaning his pants - would be a good start. His ass feels weird because of it. He’s been ignoring it for a while now, but he’d really like to stop feeling that half-damp, half-frozen dryness every time he walks or sits down. Sure, he thought the key looked like a trap, but he isn’t entirely sure if it is, and there’s only one way to find out, and that’s by taking the risk.
Jake picks Bluey up again. "I’m gonna try to power the place up and get some stuff running, okay?" he says, adjusting the toy in his arms. "I’m still looking for an exit, I swear I didn’t forget our main objective." He doesn’t know if Bluey actually cares, but he does. He wants the cat toy to know he’s not ignoring the situation, that he’s working on it.
Bluey bumps its head against his arm in response, making Jake chuckle softly. What a cute little guy. He’s glad he let the toy come with him. If he had been wandering around this place completely alone, he probably would’ve been a lot more… worried. Not scared, pff. Just… you know. Anxious, that’s all.
He retraces his steps back to the Lobby, holding Bluey tight against his chest. Huggy Wuggy still hasn’t moved, but even from a distance, Jake notices that the monkey tail is hanging lower now. Jake squints at it, then chuckles. Yeah… okay. He had his doubts before, but there’s no way he’s that much of an oblivious idiot. That toy is alive too - just like Bluey - and it clearly wants him to grab the key. Maybe it just wants to play?
Jake sets Bluey down on the floor before walking toward the platform where Huggy Wuggy stands. He looks around for something he could use to climb up, but at first, nothing really seems useful.
Well… almost nothing. The alphabet blocks scattered around the base of the display catch his attention. Jake drags one of them closer to the platform. Then another. One block, two, three, four. Each one is made of thick, heavy wood, clearly meant as decoration rather than toys for kids to actually play with.
Jake slides his cap backward before starting to climb his improvised tower. He had left a bit of space between each block so he could use the gaps like steps for his feet. Even with the weight of the blocks, the makeshift stack shifts slightly as he climbs. The tower leans back and forth a few times, forcing him to move slowly and carefully to keep his balance.
When he reaches the top of the makeshift ladder, it immediately becomes harder to keep his balance. The blocks wobble beneath his feet, shifting slightly every time he adjusts his weight. And pretty quickly, Jake realizes that getting down is going to be a lot harder than climbing up. He decides that’s a problem for future Jake. Right now, he stretches upward as far as he can, rising onto the tips of his toes. His arm extends toward the monkey tail, his fingers reaching for the yellow key dangling from it. Just a little more-
His hand closes around the key, and Jake grins and cheers out loud. But the movement shifts his weight forward - too far forward. The stack of blocks tilts, and one slips. Then another. Jake feels the structure give beneath him as the tower starts to collapse.
His stomach drops, his heart slamming painfully in his chest as he realizes he’s about to fall from a high height onto hard wooden blocks.
This is it.
His mom won’t even know he’s gone. She won’t know where he went or what he was doing. He’ll either die here or break something important - his spine, maybe - end up paralyzed and starving on the floor while no one will ever find him. He goes from numb to terrified quickly. Jake screams, squeezing his eyes shut. But then-
Something catches him. Something soft. It wrapped itself around his waist, tightening just enough to hold him and stop his fall completely. Jake opens his eyes, legs kicking instinctively as he realizes…
He’s not falling anymore. He’s hanging in the air. He looks up and meets the empty stare of Huggy Wuggy. Jake glances down at his waist and sees the monkey tail wrapped securely around him. He stares at it in disbelief for a few seconds. The giant toy hasn’t moved much at all - but its head is turned now, looking directly at him, and its tail is holding him in the air, wrapped around him with surprising strength.
Jake lets out a chuckle, the sound coming out a little wet and shaky as he feels tears gathering at the corners of his eyes. He quickly wipes at them with the sleeve of his jacket.
"Fuck- t-thank you, I..." A harsh whirring sound cuts him off, followed by the repeated sound of something bumping against something else. Jake looks down, wondering what could be making this noise, and realizes it’s Bluey. The little cat toy is desperately trying to climb the platform, its wheels spinning wildly as it keeps bumping into the base over and over again.
Jake feels his stomach twist.
"Bluey! I’m okay, I promise! I’m safe!" The cat toy slows down. Well… almost. It stops slamming into the platform but begins circling it instead, restless and clearly worried. Jake lets out another shaky laugh and sniffles.
Fuck, he’s actually going to cry. Near-death experiences will do that, he guesses. He keeps wiping at his eyes before looking back at the giant blue toy holding him.
"Thanks, man. I… I owe you big time." His voice cracks slightly. "I thought I was a goner, and I just… no one even knows I’m here, you know?" He sniffles again before forcing a weak smile while meeting the large toy’s empty eyes.
"Thank you. I didn’t want to leave Blue alone either. It’s kinda my fault it’s here." A few quiet seconds pass. Jake glances down awkwardly. "Um… can you… let me down?"
Almost immediately, the tail lowers him gently onto the platform, and the moment his feet touch the ground, the tail unwraps itself from around him, and Huggy Wuggy straightens up, its massive body turning to face him fully.
Jake stares up at it. The toy is huge. Way taller than any basketball player he’s ever seen. He raises the yellow key and smiles.
"Thanks for the rescue… and the key." Then an idea hits him. Remembering how hungry Bluey had been earlier, Jake slides his backpack off and rummages inside until he finds a chocolate bar. He unwraps it completely before holding it up toward the giant toy.
"Here! A gift from me since you saved me." For a moment, Huggy Wuggy simply stares at it without moving. But then it bends down, taking the chocolate bar delicately. The toy studies it for a second before sliding it into its mouth like a coin sliding into a machine.
"If you need more," he says, pointing toward the Theater door, "there’s plenty in there." He taps his thumb against his chest. "And if you need help opening the packages, I’m your guy. Okay? Okay."
Jake waits a few seconds, half-expecting some kind of response, but Huggy Wuggy just keeps staring at him.
Which is… honestly kind of creepy. Like really creepy. Jake swallows nervously and waves at it awkwardly before he picks Bluey up and starts heading toward the Power Room.
When he glances back over his shoulder, Huggy Wuggy has already returned to its original position - standing on the platform with one hand raised in greeting.
Jake waves one more time at the toy before unlocking the yellow door labeled Power Room and stepping inside, closing the door behind him.