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Sliding down a long tube slide, you anticipate another form of backhanded horror purely out to get you. Everything that's been happening so far is most likely well deserved but you still wish for a break.
Your body lands directly into a massive ball pit. Scrambling to sit up, you notice a bright yellow animatronic walk onto a platform at least 10ft above you. His loud and high-pitched voice boomed. " Hooo hooo hooo !"
He dived directly into the ball pit below, disappearing into the sea of plastic balls. Hesitant to step further due to your lack of seeing the potential threat, you try to shuffle closer to the wall of the pit.
Suddenly, something grabs your foot and throws you up in the air. You yelp and brace for the pain of the uncomfortable sea below only to feel someone catch you and hold you close. Looking up, you find a jester with a bright sun mask looking directly at you.
“Helloooo! New friend! You're sure up late! Are we having a slumber party? Where are all of your friends?" On the right side of his mask was a crescent moon with triangles surrounding his entire head. You hear bells coming from his arms and how when he walks and skips he doesn’t make a sound.
You tense up and stare intently at him. He stares back. “Small parties are great too! We can finger paint, tell stories, drink Fizzy Faz until our heads ex-PLODE, and stay up all night! Doesn’t that sound fun?”
Once he sets you down you slowly walk backward, hoping he can’t catch up when you break into a full sprint. He starts to play with blocks and creates a little arts and craft station, prime time for you to book it.
Finally turning around and running, he doesn’t seem to notice.
You notice a large wooden door that almost resembles a drawbridge. Making a run for the exit, you didn’t expect someone yanking you back and up from the ground. Flailing and screaming in the air alerted the first attendant.
"New friend, this area's off-limits! You're gonna get us in trouble." The entity holding you turned you to face the bright sun jester. “How about some entertainment? I know! Let’s play tag! I’ll be ‘it’ and you two can run!”
Eternal panic practically paralyzed you. Is this yellow freak teaming up with someone? Are they noticing how weak you are against two people? God, you’re so stupid. How can someone be so dumb that they actively put themself in this situation?
The person holding you dropped you to your feet. Quickly turning to see who it was revealed an animatronic that was practically parallel to the yellow attendant. Except he had a blue nightcap with stars on it, his skin was paler with blue and dark grays mixed in.
His mask was what truly caught your eye. It was a crescent moon with a similar smile to that of the Zelda Moon. The left side was pitch black with striking red eyes on both sides. He held out his hand to you. You in return stared at him confused.
“Well, c’mon friend! Run along with Mr. Moondrop so you don’t catch the scary ‘it’ touch!” The sun clown clarified. Looking back to the robot in front of you, you accept.
Suddenly getting yanked, you tried to keep up with the thing running ahead of you.
Soon enough, you two hid in one of the compartments of one of the massive play structures in the daycare. Sitting directly across each other, you felt too nervous to talk.
Moondrop spread his hands over the floor, revealing chunky star glitter out from under his palms. “You’re very naughty for staying up this late.”
His voice sounded like rocks being crushed and loud glass smashing on the floor. Honestly, it unnerved you. How can someone with that uncomfortable voice be trustworthy, let alone your temporary playmate?
You curled into yourself, holding your knees to your chin. “Playing tag is very scary, isn’t it? Never knowing when they might jump out and throw the title ‘it’ onto you is terrifying.”
What was he getting at? Was he trying to scare you? It didn’t help that Moon was too tall for the space you two were stuck in, practically towering over you. Instead, you just nod and go along with what he was saying.
He lifts up a clump of the chunky stars on the ground and throws it on your head. “Nevertheless, it’s not as scary with new friends such as yourself, little starlight.”
You lift your head quickly, feeling sheepish at the fitting nickname. Settling into a comfortable silence as he spreads stars throughout your hair, you notice how relaxed you are. Despite his intimidating demeanor, you start to enjoy his company.
After a couple of minutes, you hear someone climbing up one of the many tube entrances to the small area you and Moondrop occupied.
Sitting up, you feel the thudding of someone crawling near your entrance. Panic settles in due to the fact you completely forgot about the game you three were playing. Scrambling to get up, Moondrop holds your hands, effectively keeping you in place.
“Why the rush? It’ll be more fun to run at the last minute.” You don’t know how, but the smile on his face grew wider. Scaring the pure soul out of you.
The crawling got louder and you wanted to run. Leave this small area and escape. Did it get hotter here? You couldn’t breathe. You felt yourself choking. Why won't he let you leave? Did you do something wrong? What did you do this time?
He’s staring at you. It’s scary, why is that thing in the tubes taking so long? You’re stuck. Stuck. Why're you stuck? Just leave. Please just leave. You’re so stupid, just leave.
Leave. Go. Get out. GET OUT.
“Boo! Did I scare ya? You’re ‘it’ my frie-!” The sun jester’s loud opening scared the shit out of you while simultaneously being the last straw. You screamed and cried and kicked at the two robots. Wanting to separate yourself as soon as possible.
“Friend? Friend, what's wrong?” He reached his hand towards you only for you to kick it away.
“S-stop! Please, stop! Just leave me alone! I don’t and never wanted to play this stupid game! I wanna leave, please just let me leave. I swear I’m not a bad kid. Please let me go, I’m not bad, I promise. Please!”
Your hands were released as you cried and wailed for them to leave you alone. You were so tired and exhausted and scared. So, so tired.
Curling into a ball, you sobbed and gripped your hair tightly and painfully. God, this is so embarrassing. You’re crying like a child and they haven’t even left. What a gross display.
After a near 20 minutes, one of them taps you on the shoulder. “I can get you out if you’d like. We can play anything you want.” The sun jester suggested.
“You could even go to bed if you’d like.” Moondrop noted.
Turning your head, you sniffle and accept their offers. Taking the sun’s hand, he quietly leads you out and safely through the play structure.
—
Soon, the three of you sat in the middle of the entire daycare. Each one of you enjoying a quiet moment of arts and crafts with glitter glue and googly eyes. Every once and a while you looked up to check on what the robots were drawing.
Except when you looked up after another five minutes, they weren’t drawing and instead passing notes. One of them read, “ Just let them leave. ” while another read, “ We’re not rule-breakers! ”
Confused, you reached for one of the notes only for it to be snatched. “Sorry friend! I misplaced these! How is your masterpiece coming along?”
The yellow attendant looked over your shoulder, giving you full attention. Weirded out was an understatement, but you didn’t want to push anything so you explain the complications of your jellyfish drawing.
After a while, you yawn and grimace at how loud it was.
Looking up you found the two daycare attendants staring at you. Moondrop put down his supplies and extended his arms to you. Rightfully so you flinched and looked over at the sun.
“Oh, Mr. Sunrise isn’t as excellent a sleep mentor as yours truly. How about you trust me once more?” His voice made you question if that was intentional or a manufacturing error.
“Moonie is right, friend! Besides, with how bright I am I can’t imagine anyone getting a wink of sleep with me! You’re in safe hands.” Sunrise reassured, allowing yourself to give the daycare attendant another try.
Moving towards him, he lifted you into his lap. A soft hum coming from his body only for a relaxing vibration to follow suit.
“How about a puppet show? I know some friends fall asleep to noise so maybe you’d like that as well?” Sunrise offered to which you accepted.
As he gathered his puppets you noticed how pretty the name Sunrise was.
Sun began a storyline that you tried to follow. It was a sweet story about a family diner with animatronics that all ages adored. With a bear, a chicken, a fox, and a bunny that captured the hearts of many afar. You found yourself laughing and giggling at the noises and jokes he made.
Your eyes grew heavy, fighting your urge to sleep and to keep focusing on what Sunrise was doing made your body rock back and forth. The movement kept you awake and attentive which was the complete opposite of the animatronics’ goal.
Moondrop wrapped their arms around your waist and shifted you to lean more against him. Rocking you forward and back while softly vibrating caused you to relax and feel your eyes grow heavy again.
The sun jester opted to end the puppet show. He began to imitate rain with his hands, chanting shushing noises and encouraging you to close your eyes. Finally, you close your eyes and fall victim to comfortable sleep. Unfortunately, whenever you try to fall asleep, it takes a good 30 minutes for you to fall into a heavy slumber. So when you hear hushed arguing from afar and a sudden chill fall on your body, you groggily get up to investigate.
Stumbling over the blankets and many pillows in the naptime area, you find the daycare attendants bickering. You see Sun jab his finger into Moon’s button. “You know you can’t do that! I won't allow it! The rules state we take care of this friendly face until their parental guardians sign them out or are called for a party. Nowhere does it say we can let this poor kiddo out simply because we ‘feel like it!’”
The yellow animatronic used air quotes while exaggerating the last bit of his sentence. Dramatically folding his arms and huffing.
Moondrop simply stared at his counterpart, a resting scowl on his face. He spoke, his gravelly voice made you wonder if something was wrong with his voice box. “Staying up past bedtime isn’t allowed either, yet here we are.”
Sunrise turned to gasp in an offended manner. “They’re just a kid! Staying up late, accidentally, is bound to happen! They were tired anyway, can’t you see they’re sleeping peacefully now? No ifs, no buts, and especially no coconuts! Our new friend stays with us until a parent or guardian retrieves them.”
The attendant turns and walks in your direction only to stop and see you awake. Awake and crying.
What do they mean, “allowed”? What’s not allowed? Are you not supposed to be here? Did you do something wrong again? Of course you did. Stupid, why can’t you use your head? You shouldn’t be here. They don’t like you here. You should’ve noticed that already.
God, you’re so dumb. You can’t even recognize when someone likes you or not. You should leave. Just go and don’t come back, never come back.
Dummy. Stupid. Can’t you do one thing right like going away ?
You look up, Sunrise is kneeling in front of you. He’s waving his hands and throwing glitter in the air. Doing everything in his power to distract you and ask what you need of him. Past experiences have taught him to wait and listen before jumping up and giving a sudden hug.
Shaking softly and clutching the hem of your shirt only embarrassed you more. You’re not a baby, why are you acting like this? Harshly wiping your eyes of tears and forcing yourself to calm down so you can leave wasn’t working.
You should’ve left way earlier and not have bothered them. Now you’re stuck in this terrible situation all because you were being dumb again.
“New friend? Can you look at me?” The yellow animatronic caught your attention. “Would you like a hug? I give very warm and special hugs to wonderful friends just like yourself.”
Looking down you shook your head. “Oh? And why is that? Big strong kids such as you should be getting the most hugs!”
You sniffle and point to the large wooden door with a red exit light over it, the one you tried to run to earlier. Whispering how you should’ve left and stopped bothering them.
“Oh, oh no no no! You can’t leave! How would we be able to have such a fun sleepover without you here? No, me and Mr. Moondrop over there loves you being here!” Sun opened his arms and shuffled a little closer to you. “Gosh, I’m afraid you’re the only person here that brightens up this big ol’ daycare. Can you brighten up my day by giving me a hug?”
Slowly, you look up. Rubbing the last of your tears, you nod. Maybe you can be of some use. Moving forward, you wrap your arms around his neck, feeling him reciprocate and hug you tightly.
Heat subtly radiated from his body causing you to melt into his friendly embrace. You sighed in content.
“Wowie wow wow! Aren’t you the best friend I could ever have? I can’t believe you tried to hide this absolute perfect hug from me!” He picked you up and spun. Stopping to boop your nose. “Good golly, we should share your great hugging skills! Wanna show our good friend Moonie?”
You nod eagerly, giggling at his praise and how he bounced around while holding you like a beloved trophy. His bright smile and constant talking kept you distracted enough to where you finally noticed how tall he was halfway through the trip to Moondrop.
He skipped and stopped in front of the second attendant who was lying comfortably in the ball pit. The starry jester looked up and took notice of your sudden friendly disposition. Moving to stand up, his joints crackled and clicked in a satisfying tone.
“Aren’t you joyous, little starlight?” The gravelly voice spoke and caused you to giggle. “Let's see, a bright sun holding one of my precious celestials hours after their bedtime? I must object. Shall we put you and those pretty little tears to bed?”
Nodding once again you reach your arms out to the Moon robot, practically tired of all the so far and sudden events of the night.
Sun handed you over to his colleague, quickly feeling a familiar vibration and soft lullaby from his core. His arms and stomach warmed up and relaxed your tense muscles like a weighted blanket.
Quietly and swiftly, you succumbed to the safe rest the daycare advisors nudged onto you.
It felt nice to let go and be treated like a kid. Maybe you weren’t that dumb.