Blueberrymuffin
A chinchilla addicted to sweets
Travis's eyes darted towards the door, or at least where he thought the door was. He clutched the monitor tightly in his hands.
Beat
He couldn't deny he was afraid. As long as he didn't turn on the monitor he should be safe... he just needed to stay quiet. But.... he needed to check the cams... those godforsaken animatronics could be anywhere.... even behind him! He whirled around to be sure. After almost a year of spending his nights here he had learned not to take chances. After the... incident with sprinkles.
Beat
He held a handheld monitor in his hands. It was roughly the size of a tablet. Black, and battered. The creampuffs pastry palace manager didn't bother to have it fixed. Who cares if it made a static noise loud enough to alert the animatronics of his exact location, right? Wrong. Travis cared. He was the one risking his life to be here.
Beat
He reached to find the power button, hand shaking while he hesitated. He knew all to well what would happen if he did. Needless to say it was a risky move. He weighed his options. One one hand it would make it ridiculously easy for the animatronics to hunt his ass down. But on the other hand, he would draw them all here and, if he was fast enough, he could hightail it to his office while the animatronics search the closet for him.
Beat
No risk, no profit. He felt along the edges for the elusive power button, once his fingers felt the raised button he pressed it. Quickly shifting through the cameras as a annoying loud static filled the air. A homing beacon of death . Travis was surprised to see smokey, sprinkles, and blueberry in their respective rooms. Well, blueberry never moved anyway. Travis didn't have time to care about why blueberry didn't seem to work at night. He was greatful for it.
Beat.
Knock...knock...
A knock was heard at the door..... where... where was creampuff!? The door burst open behind him. Creampuff smiled at him "hi little one." Oh. There she was.. shit. The fox screeched as she lunged at him. Travis's world went black as his head was slammed into the floor.
Beat
Gears grinding roused him. The seemingly random screech of metal against metal screamed in his ears. Eyes screwed shut travis knew what awaited him once they realized he was awake. Shit. He lay still. Undercover of darkness like a child with his face pressed into the folds of his mother's dress as long as he kept the steady rhythm of his breathing constant they wouldn't know. They had laid him on his side on the platform. His cheek rested against the wood of the platform. A terrifyingly familiar sweet smell in the air. Shit.
Beat
Travis feverishly wished he had heeded the warning of his wife. She had begged him to quit. 'Think of our baby!' She would wail 'should she really grow up without a father?' But of course he, like the idiot he was, would argue how much they needed the money. Otherwise they would still be living in a filthy, rundown apartment in the ghetto. Raising the child on the wrong side of town. At the thought of his beloved family he held in a sob. The momentary stutter in his breathing was all it took. Cold metal hands grabbed him by the arms, hoisting him to his feet. Holding him still.
Beat
He didn't look at them, already knowing who they were. After all, he had been hiding from them for just shy of a year.
Beat
On his left stood a bear. Sprinkles was mostly white. Her forearms, hands, calves, feet, ear tips, and belly were pink with splatters of sprinkles. Her purple eyes looked back at him with a happy smile. Sprinkles is SUCH an ORIGINAL name he thought to himself sarcastically.
[ ] Beat
On his right stood a dragon. Smokey was red with dull horns decorating the sides of her head. She had green eyes, green claws, and a spiked tail. As well as a iron chain around her neck. She was smirking at him. He absolutely HATED smokey's dumb smirk. Honestly the dragon smirked in a way that looked so stupid he had laughed the first time he saw that smirk a year ago.
Beat
Finally, creampuff stood in front of him. A mostly purple fox with yellow calves, feet, hands, forearms, underbelly, tailtip and eartips. A red heart shaped marking over the left side of her chest. An affectionate look in her light blue eyes. "Why do you run from your mother?" She asked, looking hurt. It wasn't that travis didn't want to yell in her face that she wasn't related to him at all along with a few curses. He couldn't. Frozen stuff with fear. shit. Why didn't he listen to his wife? " me and your sisters finally caught you. " he didn't respond, eyes locked on hers. Her eyes were almost hypnotic... travis immediately looked away. Creampuff grabbed his face and leaned towards him. "Its okay to look. It won't hurt little one. "
Beat
Her hypnotic gaze catching his again. He suddenly felt more relaxed than he had in a long time... this felt nice... creampuff gestured for sprinkles and smokey to let him go, making sure her eyes stayed looking at his. "Come to your mother.." she said tenderly. Travis stumbled towards her, no longer aware of anything except her gaze. So nice.... sleepy... he yawned as she held out her hand for him to take. "Walk with me little one " she smiled warmly.
Beat
They neared the edge of the platform as he held her hand. Eyes half open he walked with her. Twenty feet Below them twin giant mixing bowls lay. Both filled with several tons of cake batter. Four giant iron whisks stirred them. Two to a bowl. Occasionally they would strike each other. Causing a loud screeching noise.
Beat
The noise snapped him out of his trance. He wobbled on the edge. Trying not to fall in. shit shit shit shit!! Creampuff smiled at him. She grabbed his hand, pulling him into her embrace. He instinctively wrapped his arms around her so he wouldn't fall. Gripping her sides tightly.
Beat
"Let go little one. It will only hurt for a second." She assured him "you won't remember a thing." She suddenly bit his arm, he pushed away only to fall over the side. Just barely cheating death by grabbing onto the whisks handle. His demise only a few feet below him.
Beat
Creampuff scowled as smokey and sprinkles simply watched him hang from the handle by his arms. She grabbed a plank from the platform's wooden floor and threw it at him. Hitting his arm. He let go with a cry of pain. Then screamed. Gripped by the basic and irrational need to hear his own voice. Perhaps the final and most basic act of human communication might ease the ordeals cold mechanical efficiency. It didn't.
Beat beat beat.
He hit the batter. The whisks pulling him under.
Beat beat beat
Sweet batter filled his mouth, nose, leaking into his lungs as he struggled in the current made by the whisks, the current continued to draw him closer to the whisks, away from the surface and precious air. His lungs screamed for it.
Beat beat beat- ....
Silence
The whisks ground his to smithereens as if he were nothing but a lump of flour. Crushing bones and lumps alike. Red swirls tinted the surface of the batter for a few minutes as a speck of light rose from the batter. Creampuff caught it in a bottle once it rose high enough. Smokey and sprinkles rushed over to see their newest addition. " hi little brother!" Sprinkles said happily. Smokey waves at the light. As it bounced off the interior of the glass. A vain attempt to cross over to the otherside. " I went let you get out that easy" creampuff smiled. "Go to bed little ones. I'm heading to the blueberry Forrest playroom. "
Smokey went to the dragon's lair room, sprinkles left for her stage. What would happen, now that there were no more suits without occupants? She wondered as she powered down.
Creampuff dodged trees in the playroom. The room was designed for toddlers, to play with the blueberry animatronic. Usually hide and seek or tag. Of course blueberry lacked any sort of personality, he would often drone on and simply follow his coding. A simple piece of machinery lacking intelligence, soul. All of the animatronics had been like that in the beginning. Although one by one they had received the same gift that blueberry was about to receive. Life. The empty shell would now be like the rest of them. Alive. Well, as alive as they could be. She cradled the bottle close. She loved her newest child already. Although she needed to find his new body before dawn.
Thirteen years later....
Skylar smiled as she sat in her office chair. She had a decent office. Brightly lit posters, cheery cobblestone walls, no doors, and a monitor with wifi access. First night of a new job. 400 bucks a week to watch 4 animatronics walk around a bakery at night. This would be so easy! She laughed at the thought before pulling out her phone. Why, hello Facebook, Netflix, and YouTube. So glad you could entertain. This wasn't bad. First job. 18 years old. Making $1600 a month to do nothing.
The red colored landline phone on her desk rang. She frowned, then retrieved it. Bringing it to her ear she answered "hello?" "I-i don't have long. Listen carefully i-ill make this quick. My name is travis Maine. I worked before you. In two minutes creampuff will call this phone to ask you to go down to the mixer room in the basement. Do NOT go. It's a trap. She'll try to offer you cake. Say NO. She's not going to offer cake. She's going to bake you into a cake. You need to run and hide. The best spot you can find. Don't call back. This is a recording. Im.... I'm not here anymore.. soon I went even remember doing this... but that's besides the point. What ever you do NOT look creampuff in the eyes. I did and paid the price. Go hide then tomorrow quit and find a safer job." the recording stopped and Skylar nearly dropped the phone. She recognized the voice immediately. Then the phone rang "hi, it's me creampuff! Come down to the mixer room for cake and a party just for you!-"
Skylar was already running.
Skylar sighed at the memory of her first night. she played with her orange hair idly as she looked at her plate, her blue eyes narrowed. Pastry. The new age answer to driving ones blues momentarily away. A few table spoons of baking powder, a generally tasteless dash of oil, a cup Of selfrising flour, a teaspoon of sweet cream, accompanied by a ten pound bag of sugar and suddenly life was supposed to be all in order again. What drivel. Not even close.
She continued to stare at it. She then looked towards the bill a waitress had slipped surreptitiously onto her small table. She gawked at it, both surprised and dismayed at the amount she owed, and would have to pay. Even with the employee discount the price was simply outrageous. Who would pay twenty bucks for a pastry!? Well, apparently she had to. Having already ordered and eaten a few bites.
A block away from her house she could have ducked into a local cafe and acknowledged that importunate inner voice saying that such a simple treat would be more fairly priced there by far. But no. Instead she had sat in traffic for an hour and a half to arrive early to be able to sample the catery while fresh. At night she got all the free left over pastries she Liked. Here those who imbibed in anything more than water played heavily for such a privilege. As she now discovered.
However, creampuffs pastry palace had to pay for its expensive animatronics somehow. Military grade robots aren't exactly cheap, to say the least. There were a total of four animatronics; sprinkles, smokey, blueberry, and the face of the company, creampuff. Skylar had chosen to eat in the blueberry forest playroom. Only she knew what the animatronics occupied themselves with at night.
She observed blueberry as he chased several children in a game of tag. Blueberry was a light blue chinchilla, about six feet in height, left eye brown, right eye gold, dark blue forearms, calves, hands, feet, underbelly, innerears, eartips,and tailtip. He also wore a red catcollar with a tiny silver bell. The collar was new. Children often have the animatronics gifts, which was most likely the case with the collar.
Part of her reason behind her choice of seating was that every animatronic had a designated room or 'play area' in which they roamed, only leaving the area when the last child had gone. Their programming made them search for more children and call out for them. Smokey told stories in dragon's lair, sprinkles sang and told jokes in the main cafe on stage, while creampuff impressed adults with complex conversations, she almost seemed alive, blueberry occupied blueberry forest playroom and watched the toddlers. But of course rather than watching he often joined in on the games. Blueberry himself was the reason she sat here. She couldn't figure him out.
During the night the animatronics had a peculiar mindset. The nightguard, Skylar, had to be thrown into the mixer in some morbid ceremony. Somehow that made her their little sister. Being thrown into a machine that mixed cake batter, which would definitely kill her, was their family welcoming party. While normal people threw parties and offered cakes these guys simply baked you into a cake. What made her nightly peril even more perplexing was blueberry.
She was completely vexed by his complete lack of participation. While the others searched and called after her, he would simply hide. Staying out of sight of as long as he could. Whenever sky spotted him he would simply run away from her. He seemed incapable of violence at all, preferring to hide and therefore avoid the conflict.
"Ow!!" She snapped back to reality as a child began to cry. He had fallen over. Skylar rushed to comfort him, inspecting the wound, thankfully it was only a small scrape. She sighed in relief. She then hugged him to try and calm him down "sssshhhhhhh..... its Okay.." "i-it hurts... " he whimpered. "Its okay" she smiled softly, glad the toddler was calming down. She looked up, blueberry duck behind a tree. He had Been watching them. She released the child from her embrace as the chinchilla peeked out from behind the tree. His gaze was of both curiosity and the slightest hint of sadness.
Fifteen minutes later she was staring awkwardly at her table, he was still watching her from behind the tree. The room was empty besides the two of them, the children had left once they realized he didn't want to play anymore . Giving up she threw her hands in the air. "You win blueberry. " there was more than a smidge of agitation in her voice. As she left the room. Blueberry leaned against the back of the tree. Why had the nightguard been watching him he wondered to himself. She was so familiar, from a distant memory that slipped from his grasp. Like smoke through his fingers. Where had he seen her before..?
Skylar left for home. She had a nice two bedroom apartment. Since it was new it hadn't been decorated yet. Well except for the picture of her family. Her mother, father, and herself as a toddler. Her father had gone missing a few days before her fifth birthday. So that was the only picture she had of him. Of course that had been thirteen years ago, she still remembered his voice. She simply went to bed. The memory of her first night on the job still fresh. She had been working there for almost a week. She drifted off to sleep
An alarm clock buzzed, annoying static. She sat up. Was it time already? A moment's glance at the clock had her jumping out of bed and grabbing her uniform. It was 11:50 PM. She was going to be late. Sprinting to her car she hopped inside and swerved out of her driveway. Going a few miles above the speed limit.
Upon arrival she ran inside. Her normal routine consisted of; grab a donut, sign into the hand held monitor, and find a place to hide. Plucking a chocolate donut from a nearby counter she ran towards her best bet. Jungle playplace. To get there she would have to; run through the main cafe, through the hallway, through blueberry forest playroom dodging trees and plastic shrubs, then through tea party castle. After a few more halls she would be there. Plan in mind she began her mad dash. Halfway through the hall way she was grabbed from behind, suspended in the air by the back of her shirt collar. Sprinkles turned her around and smiled joyfully. "Hi little sister!"
Meanwhile;
Creampuff closed her eyes. In a pitch black room, he still didn'twant to risk being seen by her. "Do you realize what's at stake creampuff?" A male voice asked, "ive given you several gifts already. " Creampuff sighed softly. "I know.." something shifted behind her. Something cold. Something ancient. Although she had never seen him before she tried to imagine what he might look like. He was lightweight and hated being in the light. Not much to go by besides long thin fingers, three on each hand to be precise. "Where are the others?" He inquired, "searching for their new little sister. If we're lucky they'll catch her tonight." She replied, a soft chuckle came from behind her. Strings curled around her arm.
"And why would you catch another? I only gave you enough lace to bind three. She would simply move to the otherside. A heartbreak with a pulse." She lowered her ears, having already been aware of that. "That's why I summoned you. I need more... I want to keep her... she'll be the last one I swear." "You said travis was the last. Yet you were dishonest. " the voice spoke in an irritated tone. "Besides, you are out of suits. Unless you wish to offer yours Lucy. And you don't want to do that."
Creampuff flinched at the mention of her real name. From when she had been alive, when she had started all of this. "But. I still see the same potential in you that I saw the day I bound you to that suit. I'll lend you one from fazbears pizzeria. And more bindings. " creampuff felt her heart swell with joy, she would get to keep Skylar after all! "Thankyou-" "BUT THIS IS THE LAST TIME. DONT ASK AGAIN." The voice sounded demonic, creampuff shivered with the cold. She was now alone in the room. Her eyes opened. "Thankyou marionette." She smiled at the black bunny suit that lay on the floor, it had a white permanent grin as well as white glowing eyes. She began unwinding the string from her arm joyfully.
Skylar kicked desperately at sprinkles, only to be successful at hurting her own foot. She screamed, knowing it was futile. She was the only human in the bakery. Sprinkles simply giggled "ssshhhhh.... hehe!~" the bear put a finger to her lips, smiling.
In blueberry forest playroom blueberrys ears perked as he played a tune on his keyboard. He sighed, "of course she got caught..." smokey frowned at him "be happy blue! That means you aren't the youngest anymore!" She clasped his hand. Practically dragging him away from his keyboard.
Sprinkles spun on her heel, now facing the main bakery rooms direction she began to March. Her goal, the basement. Also known as the mixer room, Skylar continued to try to fight to no avail. Sprinkles possessed a strength which dwarfed her own. Sprinkles made it to the bakery room, she made a beeline for the basement door.
The bear took her sweet time descending the steps, into the shadows below. Smokey and blueberry flanked a metal ladder leaned against the framework that led up to the platform. Blueberry didn't meet her eyes, he stared at the floor, thoughtful. He knew her from somewhere... but where? Why had she watched him earlier? He wondered to himself. Smokey grinned like an idiot and waved.
Sprinkles held sky in one hand, beginning to climb the ladder as creampuff burst into the basement, holding a bottle wrapped in white string. Smokey climbed the ladder next, followed by blueberry and lastly, creampuff. Sprinkles set Skylar gently on the platform. The others climbed onto the platform. Smokey and sprinkles grabbed sky, holding her still by her arms. Creampuff walked around them, stopping in front of sky. "You'll love being a part of our happy family. We love you. " Skylar kept her eyes closed, remembering the call from travis.
"Look at me honey. I'm not going to hurt you if you look at me." Creampuff spoke in a low coaxing tone. Blueberry stood in the background, watching as sky kept her eyes firmly shut. Creampuff frowned "Look at me." Sky shook her head, the fox stomped her foot, "look at me sky!" Blueberry stepped forward "mother?" Creampuff whirled around "what!?" She snapped, blueberry flinched. "I... I just wanted to know if I could try something. " she softened "and what's that?" Creampuff asked. Blueberry fidgeted with his fingers. "I wanted to toss her in..." the fox brightened, "sure thing blue! Good to see you finally want to help!"
They moved aside, allowing blueberry to grab Skylar, he pinned her arms to her sides once she started struggling again. Creampuff, smokey, and sprinkles backed away to watch. Blueberry approached the edge, bringing his mouth close to her ear. "I'm going to throw you over them. Slide down the ladder and try to make it to blueberry forest. There is a storage room under the Bush in the far left corner in the back. Hide in it and wait for me there." He whispered as She stuttered in confusion.
he reached the edge and looked down. To his surprise there was a man hanging onto the whisk handle. He was in his early twenties, orange hair, brown eyes, and a look of desperation. The man mouth something, blueberry heard a male voice whisper in his ear "help me..." something invisible hit the man in the arm and he fell in, vanishing before he hit the surface.
Pain exploded in blueberrys arm as he collapsed, accidentally dropping sky over the edge as he struggled to breathe. He couldn't breathe, he started screeching in agony. It felt as if he were being crushed simultaneously. The voice, which only he could hear, screamed as well. Begging the chinchilla to stop the pain.
Skylar hit a flour sack with a painful thump. She heard unearthly screaming from the platform but was to busy hauling ass to register it. She reached the basement door and ran, her side hurt.
The other animatronics crowded around blueberry, creampuff shoving the others away and grabbing his face, her was full of worry. And fear. "I told you to never look into the mixer!" She yelled in a panicky tone. His gaze met hers and he immediately stopped, relaxing. "Mother?" She threw her arms around him "dont you ever do that again! I told you it was dangerous!!" Smokey and sprinkles began looking around for sky "I think our little sister got away..." sprinkles said nervously, smokey snorted "you dont say." Creampuff was to focused on blueberry to pay attention.
Skylar sat in the corner of the storage room. There wasn't much in it to hide behind, why had he saved her? After what felt like an eternity the trapdoor opened, blueberry dropped in. He looked over at her tiredly "I'm Guessing you wondered why I saved you?" He asked, to sky that was the understatement of the century. "Yeah." She stood, he frowned at her. "It was a onetime deal. Once your shift ends leave and dont come back. " "but-" he cut her off "you will leave and DON'T come back. If you do I WONT hesitate to throw you in next time." He glared at her, the whites of his eyes a terrifying shade of black, he approached, quickly cornering her. "Got it?" Skylar nodded quickly.
"GOOD" he went and sat in the opposite corner while Skylar thought about what she should do now. This wasn't good at all. She had to come back. Otherwise she would never find the answer to the question she had asked herself since the day her father disappeared. What happened to him?
While Skylar plotted her next move blueberry let his mind drift away to a calm and peaceful sleep.
Travis shivered with the cold, which was something that no longer happened as often as it used too. He thought for a moment, then decided that no matter what today would be seen as a happy one. For once he was going to go an entire day without moping. He had woken not to long ago, the first traces of dawn leaked through the cracks of the shattered window to his right.
He loved his blanket. He was proud of it. The thick warm blanket was the first thing he had bought from an actual store in years. More often than not he was only able to afford preused goods from thrift stores. Poverty deprived him and his family of the luxury the rest of the world called regular shopping. Travis had bought the blanket along with two others just like it when he had received a heafty tip from his job as a waiter, two hundred dollars. The combined price of the three blankets was fifty dollars so they had enough to spare for groceries.
He pulled the thick blanket up to his chin, contemplating on whether to get up or just lie in bed and sleep. He worked long hours to be able to provide what little they had. The end result being him often skipping sleep for days at a time. Otherwise they would be on the streets. Today he had the day off. Travis rolled on his side with a sigh.
He looked at his wife,she slept in the cot next to his. The steady rise and fall of her chest proved her asleep. She was around his age, early twenties, and in his opinion she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her messy blonde hair covered half of her face. For him it had been love at first sight. As cheesy as it sounds. For her it had taken much more time to consider him anything close to a highschool sweetheart.
He smiled to himself, today was a very important day. For the three of them, at least. He rose from his makeshift bed to begin his silent journey to the closet. Silence was crucial since his wife Susan was a ridiculously light sleeper. He crept into the closet to get dressed, closing the door behind him. After a few minutes he slowly opened the closet door, dressed in his best looking pair of bluejeans, a slightly faded blue tshirt, and black sneakers. He snuck into the bathroom, proceeding in washing his face, and combing his curly orange hair. His brown eyes looked happy. Today was going to be great!
Once ready travis left their bedroom, his goal was to reach the smaller bedroom. His resolve to have a good day began to dissolve as he walked through the short hallway. He stepped over pots and pans, even cups. These caught the water which leaked from the roof in several places. They could barely afford the rundown two bedroom apartment in which they resided. Being a waiter didn't exactly pay well. Between his job and his wife's disability check they could barely even afford the place. The cots were the only furniture they owned.
Once reaching the spare bedroom he slowly peeked into the small room. "Skylee.." he called playfully, knowing the toddler was asleep. She snuggled her favorite toy, a blueberry plushie from creampuffs pastry palace. "Skylee.. its time to wake up..." he scooped her into his arms. She was around four years old, her fourth birthday actually. Her sky blue eyes opened sleepily. "Daddy I wanna sleep..." she whined while snuggling up to him "let me sleep..." travis chuckled quietly "we're going to a palace today remember?" He whispered in a tender tone. "We gonna meet bwuebewwy today!!!" Her eyes snapped open as she yelled happily, leaping from his arms. She began to try and push him out of the room "go! I need ta weaw me besties!"
Travis suddenly clutched his chest, falling backwards and landing on her "oh no! Gravity is increasing against me!" "Daddy no!!" She wailed pitifully "I wanna meet bwuebewwy but I can't if you make me into a pancake!" He laughed, then stood "oh alright. I'll let you get dressed." He left the room, he headed for the dining room which was also the kitchen. Travis prepared two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, which was their main diet. It wasn't like they could afford more than one pastry. The special treat was planned to be skylars fourth birthday present.
Once everyone was ready they all climbed into the car. Travis struggled to buckle Skylar in her carseat. She was to excited to stay still. After a few minutes he managed to strap her in before driving off. Two hours later the trio piled out of the car, sky looked as if she were about to explode, like a can of soda shaken one time too many would randomly burst with excitement.
Skylar skipped to the entrance. It indeed looked like a castle. Sixteenth century stone made up the exterior walls, complete with battlements as well as watchtowers at the corners of the walls. The entrance itself was designed to look like a downed draw bridge. Travis and Susan followed their child, holding hands. They entered. Choosing to sit in blueberry forest playroom. A waiter smiled as he walked to their table, he handed menus. "What do you want honey?" Travis asked sky. She pointed to a random spot on the paper, a purple bear claw with sprinkles. She wasnt paying attention, where was blueberry?
"Daddy can I go play? " she asked politely as she could, "of course honey." He replied with a smile. She jumped out of her seat and ran in search of the chinchilla. She checked the plastic shrubbery, he wasnt there. She dodged the other children as they ran about in some game. She checked the entire room. He wasn't behind the trees, or the bushes, or daddy.. he wasn't anywhere!
Her bottom lip began to quiver, blue eyes bright with tears she plopped onto the ground and began to cry. She had waited her entire life to finally meet him, she was heartbroken. "Why are you crying?" A curious sounding voice asked from behind her "i.... I can't find bwuebewwy!" She wailed, the voice behind her laughed "oh you found him alright!" He sounded happy. She whirled around in fury "no I didn't ! Dont laugh at-!" Blueberry was smiling at her. Skys eyes went wide, the toddler leapt into his arms in pure joy "bwuebewwy!!" He laughed again "and what's your name little one?" "Sky! I'm sky!" Her voice was muffled from pressing her face into his chest. He was irresistibly soft and smelled like freshly baked blueberry muffins. She LOVED it.
"Cuddle!" Close to twenty other toddlers began to climb all over him, petting him and seemingly trying to snuggle him to death. "Hi! I'm blueberry!" He repeated the greeting to each child, followed by a enthusiastic "wanna play?" He picked up each one in turn. "Wanna play?" He repeated again "try and catch me!" He stood, still holding a child as he began to sluggishly shuffle walk forward "wanna play?"
Travis had been watching "the commercial makes them seem so lifelike. " "false advertising?" Susan suggested with a shrug.
The manager watched travis closely on the camera. "Hmm. He'll do. " the statement was short but its meaning clear. An assistant grabbed a white envelope on the managers desk than ran.
Travis and Susan chatted while Sky ate as quickly as she could. The toddler was practically choking down the food. "Honey slow down," travis warned, "you're gonna choke. " Susan agreed "you're fathers right. Slow down." She advised, skylar frowned. She was eager to get done so she could play with blueberry again.
"Excuse me sir." He turned to see who had tapped him on the shoulder. A woman with a brown bun smiled at him. She held an envelope to him. "The manager would like to know if you would consider taking up a job as a nightguard. If you agree then visit her office as soon as you decide. If not then keep the money to aid you financially. " she rushed off, travis looked at the envelope in confusion "um... that happened. " he opened the envelope his jaw dropped. The envelope had at least twenty one hundred dollar Bills.
He and Susan stared at each other. "Yes." They spoke simultaneously. Travis jumped up and bolted for the office, he ran in without bothering knock "I'll take it!" He looked overjoyed "sign me up!" He knew how badly his family needed the money. Besides, how bad could the nightwatch be? The manager smiled "may I call you blue?" "You can call me anything you want as long as I'm hired!" He laughed
Blueberrys eyes opened, he looked around. Confused by the dream. Skylar was already gone. He couldn't help but wonder "who in the name of pastries was travis?" "Blue!" Sprinkles knocked on the trapdoor "its almost showtime!" He jumped up, quickly getting ready for the bakery to open. The dream quickly faded from memory. After twenty minutes he didn't even remember dreaming at all.
While that commenced.....
At home skylar sighed. She lay on her bed in her pajamas while her uniform was being cleaned. She mulled over yesterday's events. Going back wasn't going to be easy. If she were lucky blueberry would still hide at night. She hoped he would. Dealing with three hellbent robots was hard enough. Going against a fourth would be hell of a lot more difficult. Her phone rang in her pocket. She pulled it out, idly glancing at the caller ID. It was her mother. Great.
She put the phone up to her ear and answered. "Hi mom." She tried to act cheerful. "Hi sweetie! I just called to see how being the manager at taco bell was going!" Her mother replied happily, skys happy act had worked. "Taco bell is going great. I get free tacos" she lied, skylar hadn't been completely honest about what her new job was. Mostly because she didn't want her mom to worry over her, or get mad.
Her mother had warned her not to become the nightguard. She had reminded her almost every day about when her father had disappeared there. The one thing her mother forgot to mention was WHY he had disappeared there. Which had caused sky to get the job in the first place. Thanks a lot mom. "Maybe I can come visit you sometime? I really miss you sweetie." Skylar sighed "mom I really busy nowadays. But we'll figure something out. Okay?" She offered, her mother's voice sounded a bit saddened "okay skylee. I love you." Skylar immediately regretted what she had said, she hadn't meant to sound harsh. "Bye mom. Love you." She hung up and sighed. "I'm screwed."
A few hours later she parked her car in front of creampuffs pastry palace. She had brought a jacket to ward off the crisp autumn night air. She took it off. Knowing it would only put her at a disadvantage. The full moon gave the bakery an eerie vibe. Shadows seemed to blanket most of its exterior. Making it look like some sort of monster that would swallow her whole. How ironic. She thought to herself. Its already trying to tell me I'm going to die. She walked to the entrance, silently opening it with her keys. She stepped inside.
Skylar quietly made her way down the hall. She listened to blueberry playing on his key board "this is my sweet addiction~ " he sounded happy, she inched closer. She needed to slip past him without making him aware of her presence. "lacking in any form of jurisdiction ~" she peeked into the room, making sure the door frame hid her from his view. " yet full of contradictions ~" he actually had a good voice. She couldn't help but wonder why he didn't sing for the kids. His back was turned to her. Apparently he was no longer hiding himself like before. Great. Just great. She frowned, it would be far easier if he would just hide already. She looked around the room. There were several trees she could hide behind as she made her way to the otherside.
"so please ignore the friction!~" he sped up the tune, absorbed in the music. She tip toed past the door frame to hide behind a plastic tree, then left its safety by stepping closer to the door. She prayed, no, BEGGED God for him not to turn around. Being killed by what was once her favorite animatronic was not on her agenda for today. "Because, little one, this is my sweet addiction!~" he slowed the tune, making sure the recording feature was on. Even if he wasn't allowed to sing during the daytime, he could definitely sing at night as long as his chores were done. Skylar dared to take another step towards the adjacent hallway. A few more steps and she could hightail it to a good hiding place. She didn't notice blueberrys ear twitch when she stepped towards her goal.
He continued to sing as he hit the keys with ease. "Although we may give you some restrictions ~" she took another step, painfully aware of how close the door was. It took every ounce of her will power to stop herself from sprinting to the door and out into the hallway. Running was a potentially fatal mistake. She couldn't risk it. Blueberrys left ear perked up, listening although he didn't turn to face the doorway "You may be our newest addition!~" she gently took as quiet of a step as possible. She was so close it was killing her not to run. She was about three feet away now..
"You're a fraction of the cake~" he continued pressing keys, seemingly still absorbed in his song. Skylar had never heard of this song. She wondered who wrote it, maybe the animatronics had written it? She carefully stepped again. Blueberry went silent, this time she noticed, to her horror, that both his ears had perked, swiveling to pick up any sort of noise that may alert him of an intruder. She waited, holding her breath as she made sure not to make a single sound. His ears swiveled a few more times before he continued to play.
She sighed in relief before taking another step. A crunching noise was heard.. she had stepped on a lays potato chip. Damnit! She bolted towards the door. She had just barely made it to the door frame before she was tackled from behind. Blueberry flipped her over. Pure rage burned in his eyes, his usually happy face was saturated in anger. He had her firmly pinned to the floor beneath him, their faces inches apart. The last thing she saw before blacking out was him screaming bloody murder at her.
Her head throbbed. Her eyes open to reveal only darkness. She sat up, was she dead? A soft sound came from nearby. A sound almost like A clink of two wine glasses bumping together in a toast. She stood only to hear the noise again. A loud zap of electricity was heard as the room was suddenly bathed in bright orange light. She instinctively covered her eyes. "Why did you come back?" It sounded like blueberry. Fuck. "Hi blue.." she removed her hands from her eyes. She was in the cluttered storage room. Blueberry was holding a wrench, he was sitting on a pile of boxes facing her. The breaker box was mounted on the wall next to him. Probably where the zap had come from. "Because I can" she decided that she was going to die she wasn't going to be a coward about it.
He frowned "you're stupid sky." She crossed her arms, she knew it was true but she wasn't giving him the satisfaction of acknowledging it. "If you're gonna kill me do it already. I'm not a fan of games." The chinchillas frown deepened "I'm not going to kill you sky." The teenager gave him a confused look "why not? You said you were. " he jumped off the boxes "yeah, well i changed my mind." He shrugged, sky looked at him skeptically "why? " she grinned "oh I see, you don't have the guts." He obviously took offense to that, stomping towards her. He angrily pointed a finger in her face "watch it nightguard." He hissed "I could always change my mind about sparing you."
Convinced it was a bluff she rolled her eyes "yeah yeah okay dad, " she replied sarcastically. He shot her a death glare. She raised her hands "fine. I'll shut up." He frowned at her, still not happy "anyway, like I was going to say before you insulted me, if you're stupid enough to keep your job here then hide in this room the moment you get here. It's out of sight but not out of hearing so don't turn on that annoying monitor. I hate that stupid the static noise." Her jaw fell open "youre... giving me a place to hide?" He nodded, looking around the room. "I had thought that i had made that obvious already.-" she jumped on him in a hug. "Thankyou! you wont regret this ! I swear!" He stiffened in surprise, then slowly hugged back with a smile. She was just like a kid.
Several hours later...
Skylar sighed in relief. She had made it through the night with out interacting with a single animatronic besides blueberry. Dawn light filtered through the trees in front on her. A beautiful sight to behold. Most of the sky was still a velvet black with millions of pinpricks of light. Twinkling stars. In front of her the sunrise began to unfold.
Slow at first with the darkness melting to reveal a light blue hue surrounded by a deep purple at one corner of the horizon. Then like a single drop of food coloring in a glass of water it began to spread, more colors began to form in the glassy sky. Warm orange signaled the birth of a new day had almost arrived. She gasped softly at the sheer beauty of the sunrise. The perfect way to end her work day. The sun's yellow face peeked out from the treeline as the last of the stars winked out of sight.
She stood. Skylar had gone to sit on top of the bakery once the clock had chimed six. Blueberry had been charging when she had left. She hadn't realized that the animatronics batteries were charged like phones. The teen had exited the storage room to find blue slumped onto the floor. What looked like a phone charger had connected the back of his neck to the wall. "I'd hate to pay their electricity bill." She chuckled to herself "maybe that's why the food is so damn pricey. Or they're just cheapskates. Jerks won't fix my monitor"
she stifled a laugh as she walked to the edge and looked down at the rickety ladder "oh. Joy." The teen pulled a bag of candy from her pocket and dumped half of it into her mouth. She then eased herself onto the ladder. The last thing she needed was a fall from this height. Especially if the ladder broke. Slowly she descended downwards. Smiling triumphantly once she reached the bottom. Skylar turned towards the bakery and flipped the finger on both hands. Giggling as she raced to her car.
Cream puff watched from the window with a frown, smokey and sprinkles flanked her on both sides "did you see that children? That is a very disrespectful child. She needs to be punished. " she told them, smokey grinned "definitely ma! I wish I could summon the knights of the round table to do 'er good justice like they do baddies in me stories! Very distasteful!" Smokey threw back her head in a laugh.
Sprinkles on the other hand simply watched the teen leave. She felt guilt gnawing at her insides with jagged teeth. She had no idea what had come over her when she had caught sky. She remembered the rage she had felt the moment she had seen her. Then sick, twisted glee when Skylar was in her grasp. Almost as if she felt... vengeful. Yet skylar had nothing done to her that needed to be avenged, she wondered to herself, why did she feel like she was obtaining revenge when she had grabbed sky and thought of tossing her into the mixer? She didn't know.
The bear lowered her ears. Smokey noticed, looking at the sprinkled, pink and white bear in concern "what's wrong little sister? Are ye alright?" Sprinkles snapped out of her thoughts "I'm fine.. just... tired I guess." She replied quietly. Cream puff smiled at her "come on little one, I'll read you a bedtime story to help you sleep." The purple and yellow fox offered her hand to sprinkles, who accepted and allowed herself to be led away "okay mama..." smokey shrugged her shoulders before returning to her original task. Staring out the window.
Skylar drove towards home. The good thing about the nightshift was that when you drove home at seven in the morning there's no one else heading that way. They are all in the opposite lanes trying to go in the opposite direction but stuck in annoying traffic. Sky on the other hand was having no difficulty going the speed limit of sixty miles an hour. Since there were no cars in her lane there was no traffic. Score one for sky, score zero for every one else.
Skylar smirked, now that she had a place to hide at night she could focus on finding out the truth. If she was lucky she might even convince blue to help. "He must have it in his memory files somewhere..." she mused "if I'm lucky he can show me how to access it so I can see what happened that night. " oh. Wait. He didn't want to interact with her.... damnit... if she bugged him too much he may decide that he didn't want to hide her anymore and kick her out. Or worse, lull her into a false sense of security and kill her when she least expects it.
"Well... I guess I'm going during restaurant hours again. " she turned off of the highway, towards her home "and I guess I'd better not piss him off. So i can't let him catch me doing what I'm about to do." At that moment she couldn't help but feel as if they had switched roles. Today she would be the one trying to not get caught watching him during working hours. Not the other way around.
About six hours later, around noon, sky crept into blueberry forest playroom with one goal in mind; find out as much of his interests as possible. If she learned enough about him then she could get him to be her friend. And if she obtained his friendship then that memory file was as good as hers. Then she could solve the mystery and quit.
She spotted him playing with a blonde haired girl with hazel eyes, she wore an expensive purple dress with matching bows at the top of her pigtails, as well as a golden necklace. The fact that he was letting her ride on his shoulders meant they had probably known each other for a while. "I'm glad you like your collar blue! I had mommy and daddy make it just for you!" She was around the age of six, one arm holding his neck for support while the other pet him on his ear.
"Annabelle you know I love it!" He replied happily, this caused the girl, now known as Annabelle, to squeal in delight. Blue covered his ears in pain "too loud anna!" He whined with a wince, she hugged his neck "sorry blue, I forgot you can hear things way louder than everyone else can..." she teared up "s-sorry... " he immediately looked regretful "it's okay don't cry Annabelle, you just forgot that's all.." he looked at the children around the room, most of them either pretending to be him or playing games he had taught them.
"You're still my favorite Annabelle. " the child clapped happily "I with I could take you home blue!" She hugged his neck from behind, nuzzling him "I wish I could keep you!" upon hearing this a woman who looked similar to the child in question stood and grabbed her wallet "harold watch Annabelle. I'm getting her a birthday present she'll never forget. " she eyed the chinchilla as she told this to the man who sat next to her.
He wore a high quality business suit and had a very neat appearance. While she wore an expensive looking blue sundress with a matching name brand purse and heels. Her blonde hair was neatly held in place by hairspray yet still kept the appearance of falling around her shoulders. Controlled chaos.
She walked off with an air of authority. A large check should do. She smirked. Skylar did not like the way this was going. She wasn't going to let anybody mess with her mission to find answers. ESPECIALLY some rich lady wanting to spoil her kid. She balled her fists.
Beat
He couldn't deny he was afraid. As long as he didn't turn on the monitor he should be safe... he just needed to stay quiet. But.... he needed to check the cams... those godforsaken animatronics could be anywhere.... even behind him! He whirled around to be sure. After almost a year of spending his nights here he had learned not to take chances. After the... incident with sprinkles.
Beat
He held a handheld monitor in his hands. It was roughly the size of a tablet. Black, and battered. The creampuffs pastry palace manager didn't bother to have it fixed. Who cares if it made a static noise loud enough to alert the animatronics of his exact location, right? Wrong. Travis cared. He was the one risking his life to be here.
Beat
He reached to find the power button, hand shaking while he hesitated. He knew all to well what would happen if he did. Needless to say it was a risky move. He weighed his options. One one hand it would make it ridiculously easy for the animatronics to hunt his ass down. But on the other hand, he would draw them all here and, if he was fast enough, he could hightail it to his office while the animatronics search the closet for him.
Beat
No risk, no profit. He felt along the edges for the elusive power button, once his fingers felt the raised button he pressed it. Quickly shifting through the cameras as a annoying loud static filled the air. A homing beacon of death . Travis was surprised to see smokey, sprinkles, and blueberry in their respective rooms. Well, blueberry never moved anyway. Travis didn't have time to care about why blueberry didn't seem to work at night. He was greatful for it.
Beat.
Knock...knock...
A knock was heard at the door..... where... where was creampuff!? The door burst open behind him. Creampuff smiled at him "hi little one." Oh. There she was.. shit. The fox screeched as she lunged at him. Travis's world went black as his head was slammed into the floor.
Beat
Gears grinding roused him. The seemingly random screech of metal against metal screamed in his ears. Eyes screwed shut travis knew what awaited him once they realized he was awake. Shit. He lay still. Undercover of darkness like a child with his face pressed into the folds of his mother's dress as long as he kept the steady rhythm of his breathing constant they wouldn't know. They had laid him on his side on the platform. His cheek rested against the wood of the platform. A terrifyingly familiar sweet smell in the air. Shit.
Beat
Travis feverishly wished he had heeded the warning of his wife. She had begged him to quit. 'Think of our baby!' She would wail 'should she really grow up without a father?' But of course he, like the idiot he was, would argue how much they needed the money. Otherwise they would still be living in a filthy, rundown apartment in the ghetto. Raising the child on the wrong side of town. At the thought of his beloved family he held in a sob. The momentary stutter in his breathing was all it took. Cold metal hands grabbed him by the arms, hoisting him to his feet. Holding him still.
Beat
He didn't look at them, already knowing who they were. After all, he had been hiding from them for just shy of a year.
Beat
On his left stood a bear. Sprinkles was mostly white. Her forearms, hands, calves, feet, ear tips, and belly were pink with splatters of sprinkles. Her purple eyes looked back at him with a happy smile. Sprinkles is SUCH an ORIGINAL name he thought to himself sarcastically.
[ ] Beat
On his right stood a dragon. Smokey was red with dull horns decorating the sides of her head. She had green eyes, green claws, and a spiked tail. As well as a iron chain around her neck. She was smirking at him. He absolutely HATED smokey's dumb smirk. Honestly the dragon smirked in a way that looked so stupid he had laughed the first time he saw that smirk a year ago.
Beat
Finally, creampuff stood in front of him. A mostly purple fox with yellow calves, feet, hands, forearms, underbelly, tailtip and eartips. A red heart shaped marking over the left side of her chest. An affectionate look in her light blue eyes. "Why do you run from your mother?" She asked, looking hurt. It wasn't that travis didn't want to yell in her face that she wasn't related to him at all along with a few curses. He couldn't. Frozen stuff with fear. shit. Why didn't he listen to his wife? " me and your sisters finally caught you. " he didn't respond, eyes locked on hers. Her eyes were almost hypnotic... travis immediately looked away. Creampuff grabbed his face and leaned towards him. "Its okay to look. It won't hurt little one. "
Beat
Her hypnotic gaze catching his again. He suddenly felt more relaxed than he had in a long time... this felt nice... creampuff gestured for sprinkles and smokey to let him go, making sure her eyes stayed looking at his. "Come to your mother.." she said tenderly. Travis stumbled towards her, no longer aware of anything except her gaze. So nice.... sleepy... he yawned as she held out her hand for him to take. "Walk with me little one " she smiled warmly.
Beat
They neared the edge of the platform as he held her hand. Eyes half open he walked with her. Twenty feet Below them twin giant mixing bowls lay. Both filled with several tons of cake batter. Four giant iron whisks stirred them. Two to a bowl. Occasionally they would strike each other. Causing a loud screeching noise.
Beat
The noise snapped him out of his trance. He wobbled on the edge. Trying not to fall in. shit shit shit shit!! Creampuff smiled at him. She grabbed his hand, pulling him into her embrace. He instinctively wrapped his arms around her so he wouldn't fall. Gripping her sides tightly.
Beat
"Let go little one. It will only hurt for a second." She assured him "you won't remember a thing." She suddenly bit his arm, he pushed away only to fall over the side. Just barely cheating death by grabbing onto the whisks handle. His demise only a few feet below him.
Beat
Creampuff scowled as smokey and sprinkles simply watched him hang from the handle by his arms. She grabbed a plank from the platform's wooden floor and threw it at him. Hitting his arm. He let go with a cry of pain. Then screamed. Gripped by the basic and irrational need to hear his own voice. Perhaps the final and most basic act of human communication might ease the ordeals cold mechanical efficiency. It didn't.
Beat beat beat.
He hit the batter. The whisks pulling him under.
Beat beat beat
Sweet batter filled his mouth, nose, leaking into his lungs as he struggled in the current made by the whisks, the current continued to draw him closer to the whisks, away from the surface and precious air. His lungs screamed for it.
Beat beat beat- ....
Silence
The whisks ground his to smithereens as if he were nothing but a lump of flour. Crushing bones and lumps alike. Red swirls tinted the surface of the batter for a few minutes as a speck of light rose from the batter. Creampuff caught it in a bottle once it rose high enough. Smokey and sprinkles rushed over to see their newest addition. " hi little brother!" Sprinkles said happily. Smokey waves at the light. As it bounced off the interior of the glass. A vain attempt to cross over to the otherside. " I went let you get out that easy" creampuff smiled. "Go to bed little ones. I'm heading to the blueberry Forrest playroom. "
Smokey went to the dragon's lair room, sprinkles left for her stage. What would happen, now that there were no more suits without occupants? She wondered as she powered down.
Creampuff dodged trees in the playroom. The room was designed for toddlers, to play with the blueberry animatronic. Usually hide and seek or tag. Of course blueberry lacked any sort of personality, he would often drone on and simply follow his coding. A simple piece of machinery lacking intelligence, soul. All of the animatronics had been like that in the beginning. Although one by one they had received the same gift that blueberry was about to receive. Life. The empty shell would now be like the rest of them. Alive. Well, as alive as they could be. She cradled the bottle close. She loved her newest child already. Although she needed to find his new body before dawn.
Thirteen years later....
Skylar smiled as she sat in her office chair. She had a decent office. Brightly lit posters, cheery cobblestone walls, no doors, and a monitor with wifi access. First night of a new job. 400 bucks a week to watch 4 animatronics walk around a bakery at night. This would be so easy! She laughed at the thought before pulling out her phone. Why, hello Facebook, Netflix, and YouTube. So glad you could entertain. This wasn't bad. First job. 18 years old. Making $1600 a month to do nothing.
The red colored landline phone on her desk rang. She frowned, then retrieved it. Bringing it to her ear she answered "hello?" "I-i don't have long. Listen carefully i-ill make this quick. My name is travis Maine. I worked before you. In two minutes creampuff will call this phone to ask you to go down to the mixer room in the basement. Do NOT go. It's a trap. She'll try to offer you cake. Say NO. She's not going to offer cake. She's going to bake you into a cake. You need to run and hide. The best spot you can find. Don't call back. This is a recording. Im.... I'm not here anymore.. soon I went even remember doing this... but that's besides the point. What ever you do NOT look creampuff in the eyes. I did and paid the price. Go hide then tomorrow quit and find a safer job." the recording stopped and Skylar nearly dropped the phone. She recognized the voice immediately. Then the phone rang "hi, it's me creampuff! Come down to the mixer room for cake and a party just for you!-"
Skylar was already running.
Skylar sighed at the memory of her first night. she played with her orange hair idly as she looked at her plate, her blue eyes narrowed. Pastry. The new age answer to driving ones blues momentarily away. A few table spoons of baking powder, a generally tasteless dash of oil, a cup Of selfrising flour, a teaspoon of sweet cream, accompanied by a ten pound bag of sugar and suddenly life was supposed to be all in order again. What drivel. Not even close.
She continued to stare at it. She then looked towards the bill a waitress had slipped surreptitiously onto her small table. She gawked at it, both surprised and dismayed at the amount she owed, and would have to pay. Even with the employee discount the price was simply outrageous. Who would pay twenty bucks for a pastry!? Well, apparently she had to. Having already ordered and eaten a few bites.
A block away from her house she could have ducked into a local cafe and acknowledged that importunate inner voice saying that such a simple treat would be more fairly priced there by far. But no. Instead she had sat in traffic for an hour and a half to arrive early to be able to sample the catery while fresh. At night she got all the free left over pastries she Liked. Here those who imbibed in anything more than water played heavily for such a privilege. As she now discovered.
However, creampuffs pastry palace had to pay for its expensive animatronics somehow. Military grade robots aren't exactly cheap, to say the least. There were a total of four animatronics; sprinkles, smokey, blueberry, and the face of the company, creampuff. Skylar had chosen to eat in the blueberry forest playroom. Only she knew what the animatronics occupied themselves with at night.
She observed blueberry as he chased several children in a game of tag. Blueberry was a light blue chinchilla, about six feet in height, left eye brown, right eye gold, dark blue forearms, calves, hands, feet, underbelly, innerears, eartips,and tailtip. He also wore a red catcollar with a tiny silver bell. The collar was new. Children often have the animatronics gifts, which was most likely the case with the collar.
Part of her reason behind her choice of seating was that every animatronic had a designated room or 'play area' in which they roamed, only leaving the area when the last child had gone. Their programming made them search for more children and call out for them. Smokey told stories in dragon's lair, sprinkles sang and told jokes in the main cafe on stage, while creampuff impressed adults with complex conversations, she almost seemed alive, blueberry occupied blueberry forest playroom and watched the toddlers. But of course rather than watching he often joined in on the games. Blueberry himself was the reason she sat here. She couldn't figure him out.
During the night the animatronics had a peculiar mindset. The nightguard, Skylar, had to be thrown into the mixer in some morbid ceremony. Somehow that made her their little sister. Being thrown into a machine that mixed cake batter, which would definitely kill her, was their family welcoming party. While normal people threw parties and offered cakes these guys simply baked you into a cake. What made her nightly peril even more perplexing was blueberry.
She was completely vexed by his complete lack of participation. While the others searched and called after her, he would simply hide. Staying out of sight of as long as he could. Whenever sky spotted him he would simply run away from her. He seemed incapable of violence at all, preferring to hide and therefore avoid the conflict.
"Ow!!" She snapped back to reality as a child began to cry. He had fallen over. Skylar rushed to comfort him, inspecting the wound, thankfully it was only a small scrape. She sighed in relief. She then hugged him to try and calm him down "sssshhhhhhh..... its Okay.." "i-it hurts... " he whimpered. "Its okay" she smiled softly, glad the toddler was calming down. She looked up, blueberry duck behind a tree. He had Been watching them. She released the child from her embrace as the chinchilla peeked out from behind the tree. His gaze was of both curiosity and the slightest hint of sadness.
Fifteen minutes later she was staring awkwardly at her table, he was still watching her from behind the tree. The room was empty besides the two of them, the children had left once they realized he didn't want to play anymore . Giving up she threw her hands in the air. "You win blueberry. " there was more than a smidge of agitation in her voice. As she left the room. Blueberry leaned against the back of the tree. Why had the nightguard been watching him he wondered to himself. She was so familiar, from a distant memory that slipped from his grasp. Like smoke through his fingers. Where had he seen her before..?
Skylar left for home. She had a nice two bedroom apartment. Since it was new it hadn't been decorated yet. Well except for the picture of her family. Her mother, father, and herself as a toddler. Her father had gone missing a few days before her fifth birthday. So that was the only picture she had of him. Of course that had been thirteen years ago, she still remembered his voice. She simply went to bed. The memory of her first night on the job still fresh. She had been working there for almost a week. She drifted off to sleep
An alarm clock buzzed, annoying static. She sat up. Was it time already? A moment's glance at the clock had her jumping out of bed and grabbing her uniform. It was 11:50 PM. She was going to be late. Sprinting to her car she hopped inside and swerved out of her driveway. Going a few miles above the speed limit.
Upon arrival she ran inside. Her normal routine consisted of; grab a donut, sign into the hand held monitor, and find a place to hide. Plucking a chocolate donut from a nearby counter she ran towards her best bet. Jungle playplace. To get there she would have to; run through the main cafe, through the hallway, through blueberry forest playroom dodging trees and plastic shrubs, then through tea party castle. After a few more halls she would be there. Plan in mind she began her mad dash. Halfway through the hall way she was grabbed from behind, suspended in the air by the back of her shirt collar. Sprinkles turned her around and smiled joyfully. "Hi little sister!"
Meanwhile;
Creampuff closed her eyes. In a pitch black room, he still didn'twant to risk being seen by her. "Do you realize what's at stake creampuff?" A male voice asked, "ive given you several gifts already. " Creampuff sighed softly. "I know.." something shifted behind her. Something cold. Something ancient. Although she had never seen him before she tried to imagine what he might look like. He was lightweight and hated being in the light. Not much to go by besides long thin fingers, three on each hand to be precise. "Where are the others?" He inquired, "searching for their new little sister. If we're lucky they'll catch her tonight." She replied, a soft chuckle came from behind her. Strings curled around her arm.
"And why would you catch another? I only gave you enough lace to bind three. She would simply move to the otherside. A heartbreak with a pulse." She lowered her ears, having already been aware of that. "That's why I summoned you. I need more... I want to keep her... she'll be the last one I swear." "You said travis was the last. Yet you were dishonest. " the voice spoke in an irritated tone. "Besides, you are out of suits. Unless you wish to offer yours Lucy. And you don't want to do that."
Creampuff flinched at the mention of her real name. From when she had been alive, when she had started all of this. "But. I still see the same potential in you that I saw the day I bound you to that suit. I'll lend you one from fazbears pizzeria. And more bindings. " creampuff felt her heart swell with joy, she would get to keep Skylar after all! "Thankyou-" "BUT THIS IS THE LAST TIME. DONT ASK AGAIN." The voice sounded demonic, creampuff shivered with the cold. She was now alone in the room. Her eyes opened. "Thankyou marionette." She smiled at the black bunny suit that lay on the floor, it had a white permanent grin as well as white glowing eyes. She began unwinding the string from her arm joyfully.
Skylar kicked desperately at sprinkles, only to be successful at hurting her own foot. She screamed, knowing it was futile. She was the only human in the bakery. Sprinkles simply giggled "ssshhhhh.... hehe!~" the bear put a finger to her lips, smiling.
In blueberry forest playroom blueberrys ears perked as he played a tune on his keyboard. He sighed, "of course she got caught..." smokey frowned at him "be happy blue! That means you aren't the youngest anymore!" She clasped his hand. Practically dragging him away from his keyboard.
Sprinkles spun on her heel, now facing the main bakery rooms direction she began to March. Her goal, the basement. Also known as the mixer room, Skylar continued to try to fight to no avail. Sprinkles possessed a strength which dwarfed her own. Sprinkles made it to the bakery room, she made a beeline for the basement door.
The bear took her sweet time descending the steps, into the shadows below. Smokey and blueberry flanked a metal ladder leaned against the framework that led up to the platform. Blueberry didn't meet her eyes, he stared at the floor, thoughtful. He knew her from somewhere... but where? Why had she watched him earlier? He wondered to himself. Smokey grinned like an idiot and waved.
Sprinkles held sky in one hand, beginning to climb the ladder as creampuff burst into the basement, holding a bottle wrapped in white string. Smokey climbed the ladder next, followed by blueberry and lastly, creampuff. Sprinkles set Skylar gently on the platform. The others climbed onto the platform. Smokey and sprinkles grabbed sky, holding her still by her arms. Creampuff walked around them, stopping in front of sky. "You'll love being a part of our happy family. We love you. " Skylar kept her eyes closed, remembering the call from travis.
"Look at me honey. I'm not going to hurt you if you look at me." Creampuff spoke in a low coaxing tone. Blueberry stood in the background, watching as sky kept her eyes firmly shut. Creampuff frowned "Look at me." Sky shook her head, the fox stomped her foot, "look at me sky!" Blueberry stepped forward "mother?" Creampuff whirled around "what!?" She snapped, blueberry flinched. "I... I just wanted to know if I could try something. " she softened "and what's that?" Creampuff asked. Blueberry fidgeted with his fingers. "I wanted to toss her in..." the fox brightened, "sure thing blue! Good to see you finally want to help!"
They moved aside, allowing blueberry to grab Skylar, he pinned her arms to her sides once she started struggling again. Creampuff, smokey, and sprinkles backed away to watch. Blueberry approached the edge, bringing his mouth close to her ear. "I'm going to throw you over them. Slide down the ladder and try to make it to blueberry forest. There is a storage room under the Bush in the far left corner in the back. Hide in it and wait for me there." He whispered as She stuttered in confusion.
he reached the edge and looked down. To his surprise there was a man hanging onto the whisk handle. He was in his early twenties, orange hair, brown eyes, and a look of desperation. The man mouth something, blueberry heard a male voice whisper in his ear "help me..." something invisible hit the man in the arm and he fell in, vanishing before he hit the surface.
Pain exploded in blueberrys arm as he collapsed, accidentally dropping sky over the edge as he struggled to breathe. He couldn't breathe, he started screeching in agony. It felt as if he were being crushed simultaneously. The voice, which only he could hear, screamed as well. Begging the chinchilla to stop the pain.
Skylar hit a flour sack with a painful thump. She heard unearthly screaming from the platform but was to busy hauling ass to register it. She reached the basement door and ran, her side hurt.
The other animatronics crowded around blueberry, creampuff shoving the others away and grabbing his face, her was full of worry. And fear. "I told you to never look into the mixer!" She yelled in a panicky tone. His gaze met hers and he immediately stopped, relaxing. "Mother?" She threw her arms around him "dont you ever do that again! I told you it was dangerous!!" Smokey and sprinkles began looking around for sky "I think our little sister got away..." sprinkles said nervously, smokey snorted "you dont say." Creampuff was to focused on blueberry to pay attention.
Skylar sat in the corner of the storage room. There wasn't much in it to hide behind, why had he saved her? After what felt like an eternity the trapdoor opened, blueberry dropped in. He looked over at her tiredly "I'm Guessing you wondered why I saved you?" He asked, to sky that was the understatement of the century. "Yeah." She stood, he frowned at her. "It was a onetime deal. Once your shift ends leave and dont come back. " "but-" he cut her off "you will leave and DON'T come back. If you do I WONT hesitate to throw you in next time." He glared at her, the whites of his eyes a terrifying shade of black, he approached, quickly cornering her. "Got it?" Skylar nodded quickly.
"GOOD" he went and sat in the opposite corner while Skylar thought about what she should do now. This wasn't good at all. She had to come back. Otherwise she would never find the answer to the question she had asked herself since the day her father disappeared. What happened to him?
While Skylar plotted her next move blueberry let his mind drift away to a calm and peaceful sleep.
Travis shivered with the cold, which was something that no longer happened as often as it used too. He thought for a moment, then decided that no matter what today would be seen as a happy one. For once he was going to go an entire day without moping. He had woken not to long ago, the first traces of dawn leaked through the cracks of the shattered window to his right.
He loved his blanket. He was proud of it. The thick warm blanket was the first thing he had bought from an actual store in years. More often than not he was only able to afford preused goods from thrift stores. Poverty deprived him and his family of the luxury the rest of the world called regular shopping. Travis had bought the blanket along with two others just like it when he had received a heafty tip from his job as a waiter, two hundred dollars. The combined price of the three blankets was fifty dollars so they had enough to spare for groceries.
He pulled the thick blanket up to his chin, contemplating on whether to get up or just lie in bed and sleep. He worked long hours to be able to provide what little they had. The end result being him often skipping sleep for days at a time. Otherwise they would be on the streets. Today he had the day off. Travis rolled on his side with a sigh.
He looked at his wife,she slept in the cot next to his. The steady rise and fall of her chest proved her asleep. She was around his age, early twenties, and in his opinion she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her messy blonde hair covered half of her face. For him it had been love at first sight. As cheesy as it sounds. For her it had taken much more time to consider him anything close to a highschool sweetheart.
He smiled to himself, today was a very important day. For the three of them, at least. He rose from his makeshift bed to begin his silent journey to the closet. Silence was crucial since his wife Susan was a ridiculously light sleeper. He crept into the closet to get dressed, closing the door behind him. After a few minutes he slowly opened the closet door, dressed in his best looking pair of bluejeans, a slightly faded blue tshirt, and black sneakers. He snuck into the bathroom, proceeding in washing his face, and combing his curly orange hair. His brown eyes looked happy. Today was going to be great!
Once ready travis left their bedroom, his goal was to reach the smaller bedroom. His resolve to have a good day began to dissolve as he walked through the short hallway. He stepped over pots and pans, even cups. These caught the water which leaked from the roof in several places. They could barely afford the rundown two bedroom apartment in which they resided. Being a waiter didn't exactly pay well. Between his job and his wife's disability check they could barely even afford the place. The cots were the only furniture they owned.
Once reaching the spare bedroom he slowly peeked into the small room. "Skylee.." he called playfully, knowing the toddler was asleep. She snuggled her favorite toy, a blueberry plushie from creampuffs pastry palace. "Skylee.. its time to wake up..." he scooped her into his arms. She was around four years old, her fourth birthday actually. Her sky blue eyes opened sleepily. "Daddy I wanna sleep..." she whined while snuggling up to him "let me sleep..." travis chuckled quietly "we're going to a palace today remember?" He whispered in a tender tone. "We gonna meet bwuebewwy today!!!" Her eyes snapped open as she yelled happily, leaping from his arms. She began to try and push him out of the room "go! I need ta weaw me besties!"
Travis suddenly clutched his chest, falling backwards and landing on her "oh no! Gravity is increasing against me!" "Daddy no!!" She wailed pitifully "I wanna meet bwuebewwy but I can't if you make me into a pancake!" He laughed, then stood "oh alright. I'll let you get dressed." He left the room, he headed for the dining room which was also the kitchen. Travis prepared two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, which was their main diet. It wasn't like they could afford more than one pastry. The special treat was planned to be skylars fourth birthday present.
Once everyone was ready they all climbed into the car. Travis struggled to buckle Skylar in her carseat. She was to excited to stay still. After a few minutes he managed to strap her in before driving off. Two hours later the trio piled out of the car, sky looked as if she were about to explode, like a can of soda shaken one time too many would randomly burst with excitement.
Skylar skipped to the entrance. It indeed looked like a castle. Sixteenth century stone made up the exterior walls, complete with battlements as well as watchtowers at the corners of the walls. The entrance itself was designed to look like a downed draw bridge. Travis and Susan followed their child, holding hands. They entered. Choosing to sit in blueberry forest playroom. A waiter smiled as he walked to their table, he handed menus. "What do you want honey?" Travis asked sky. She pointed to a random spot on the paper, a purple bear claw with sprinkles. She wasnt paying attention, where was blueberry?
"Daddy can I go play? " she asked politely as she could, "of course honey." He replied with a smile. She jumped out of her seat and ran in search of the chinchilla. She checked the plastic shrubbery, he wasnt there. She dodged the other children as they ran about in some game. She checked the entire room. He wasn't behind the trees, or the bushes, or daddy.. he wasn't anywhere!
Her bottom lip began to quiver, blue eyes bright with tears she plopped onto the ground and began to cry. She had waited her entire life to finally meet him, she was heartbroken. "Why are you crying?" A curious sounding voice asked from behind her "i.... I can't find bwuebewwy!" She wailed, the voice behind her laughed "oh you found him alright!" He sounded happy. She whirled around in fury "no I didn't ! Dont laugh at-!" Blueberry was smiling at her. Skys eyes went wide, the toddler leapt into his arms in pure joy "bwuebewwy!!" He laughed again "and what's your name little one?" "Sky! I'm sky!" Her voice was muffled from pressing her face into his chest. He was irresistibly soft and smelled like freshly baked blueberry muffins. She LOVED it.
"Cuddle!" Close to twenty other toddlers began to climb all over him, petting him and seemingly trying to snuggle him to death. "Hi! I'm blueberry!" He repeated the greeting to each child, followed by a enthusiastic "wanna play?" He picked up each one in turn. "Wanna play?" He repeated again "try and catch me!" He stood, still holding a child as he began to sluggishly shuffle walk forward "wanna play?"
Travis had been watching "the commercial makes them seem so lifelike. " "false advertising?" Susan suggested with a shrug.
The manager watched travis closely on the camera. "Hmm. He'll do. " the statement was short but its meaning clear. An assistant grabbed a white envelope on the managers desk than ran.
Travis and Susan chatted while Sky ate as quickly as she could. The toddler was practically choking down the food. "Honey slow down," travis warned, "you're gonna choke. " Susan agreed "you're fathers right. Slow down." She advised, skylar frowned. She was eager to get done so she could play with blueberry again.
"Excuse me sir." He turned to see who had tapped him on the shoulder. A woman with a brown bun smiled at him. She held an envelope to him. "The manager would like to know if you would consider taking up a job as a nightguard. If you agree then visit her office as soon as you decide. If not then keep the money to aid you financially. " she rushed off, travis looked at the envelope in confusion "um... that happened. " he opened the envelope his jaw dropped. The envelope had at least twenty one hundred dollar Bills.
He and Susan stared at each other. "Yes." They spoke simultaneously. Travis jumped up and bolted for the office, he ran in without bothering knock "I'll take it!" He looked overjoyed "sign me up!" He knew how badly his family needed the money. Besides, how bad could the nightwatch be? The manager smiled "may I call you blue?" "You can call me anything you want as long as I'm hired!" He laughed
Blueberrys eyes opened, he looked around. Confused by the dream. Skylar was already gone. He couldn't help but wonder "who in the name of pastries was travis?" "Blue!" Sprinkles knocked on the trapdoor "its almost showtime!" He jumped up, quickly getting ready for the bakery to open. The dream quickly faded from memory. After twenty minutes he didn't even remember dreaming at all.
While that commenced.....
At home skylar sighed. She lay on her bed in her pajamas while her uniform was being cleaned. She mulled over yesterday's events. Going back wasn't going to be easy. If she were lucky blueberry would still hide at night. She hoped he would. Dealing with three hellbent robots was hard enough. Going against a fourth would be hell of a lot more difficult. Her phone rang in her pocket. She pulled it out, idly glancing at the caller ID. It was her mother. Great.
She put the phone up to her ear and answered. "Hi mom." She tried to act cheerful. "Hi sweetie! I just called to see how being the manager at taco bell was going!" Her mother replied happily, skys happy act had worked. "Taco bell is going great. I get free tacos" she lied, skylar hadn't been completely honest about what her new job was. Mostly because she didn't want her mom to worry over her, or get mad.
Her mother had warned her not to become the nightguard. She had reminded her almost every day about when her father had disappeared there. The one thing her mother forgot to mention was WHY he had disappeared there. Which had caused sky to get the job in the first place. Thanks a lot mom. "Maybe I can come visit you sometime? I really miss you sweetie." Skylar sighed "mom I really busy nowadays. But we'll figure something out. Okay?" She offered, her mother's voice sounded a bit saddened "okay skylee. I love you." Skylar immediately regretted what she had said, she hadn't meant to sound harsh. "Bye mom. Love you." She hung up and sighed. "I'm screwed."
A few hours later she parked her car in front of creampuffs pastry palace. She had brought a jacket to ward off the crisp autumn night air. She took it off. Knowing it would only put her at a disadvantage. The full moon gave the bakery an eerie vibe. Shadows seemed to blanket most of its exterior. Making it look like some sort of monster that would swallow her whole. How ironic. She thought to herself. Its already trying to tell me I'm going to die. She walked to the entrance, silently opening it with her keys. She stepped inside.
Skylar quietly made her way down the hall. She listened to blueberry playing on his key board "this is my sweet addiction~ " he sounded happy, she inched closer. She needed to slip past him without making him aware of her presence. "lacking in any form of jurisdiction ~" she peeked into the room, making sure the door frame hid her from his view. " yet full of contradictions ~" he actually had a good voice. She couldn't help but wonder why he didn't sing for the kids. His back was turned to her. Apparently he was no longer hiding himself like before. Great. Just great. She frowned, it would be far easier if he would just hide already. She looked around the room. There were several trees she could hide behind as she made her way to the otherside.
"so please ignore the friction!~" he sped up the tune, absorbed in the music. She tip toed past the door frame to hide behind a plastic tree, then left its safety by stepping closer to the door. She prayed, no, BEGGED God for him not to turn around. Being killed by what was once her favorite animatronic was not on her agenda for today. "Because, little one, this is my sweet addiction!~" he slowed the tune, making sure the recording feature was on. Even if he wasn't allowed to sing during the daytime, he could definitely sing at night as long as his chores were done. Skylar dared to take another step towards the adjacent hallway. A few more steps and she could hightail it to a good hiding place. She didn't notice blueberrys ear twitch when she stepped towards her goal.
He continued to sing as he hit the keys with ease. "Although we may give you some restrictions ~" she took another step, painfully aware of how close the door was. It took every ounce of her will power to stop herself from sprinting to the door and out into the hallway. Running was a potentially fatal mistake. She couldn't risk it. Blueberrys left ear perked up, listening although he didn't turn to face the doorway "You may be our newest addition!~" she gently took as quiet of a step as possible. She was so close it was killing her not to run. She was about three feet away now..
"You're a fraction of the cake~" he continued pressing keys, seemingly still absorbed in his song. Skylar had never heard of this song. She wondered who wrote it, maybe the animatronics had written it? She carefully stepped again. Blueberry went silent, this time she noticed, to her horror, that both his ears had perked, swiveling to pick up any sort of noise that may alert him of an intruder. She waited, holding her breath as she made sure not to make a single sound. His ears swiveled a few more times before he continued to play.
She sighed in relief before taking another step. A crunching noise was heard.. she had stepped on a lays potato chip. Damnit! She bolted towards the door. She had just barely made it to the door frame before she was tackled from behind. Blueberry flipped her over. Pure rage burned in his eyes, his usually happy face was saturated in anger. He had her firmly pinned to the floor beneath him, their faces inches apart. The last thing she saw before blacking out was him screaming bloody murder at her.
Her head throbbed. Her eyes open to reveal only darkness. She sat up, was she dead? A soft sound came from nearby. A sound almost like A clink of two wine glasses bumping together in a toast. She stood only to hear the noise again. A loud zap of electricity was heard as the room was suddenly bathed in bright orange light. She instinctively covered her eyes. "Why did you come back?" It sounded like blueberry. Fuck. "Hi blue.." she removed her hands from her eyes. She was in the cluttered storage room. Blueberry was holding a wrench, he was sitting on a pile of boxes facing her. The breaker box was mounted on the wall next to him. Probably where the zap had come from. "Because I can" she decided that she was going to die she wasn't going to be a coward about it.
He frowned "you're stupid sky." She crossed her arms, she knew it was true but she wasn't giving him the satisfaction of acknowledging it. "If you're gonna kill me do it already. I'm not a fan of games." The chinchillas frown deepened "I'm not going to kill you sky." The teenager gave him a confused look "why not? You said you were. " he jumped off the boxes "yeah, well i changed my mind." He shrugged, sky looked at him skeptically "why? " she grinned "oh I see, you don't have the guts." He obviously took offense to that, stomping towards her. He angrily pointed a finger in her face "watch it nightguard." He hissed "I could always change my mind about sparing you."
Convinced it was a bluff she rolled her eyes "yeah yeah okay dad, " she replied sarcastically. He shot her a death glare. She raised her hands "fine. I'll shut up." He frowned at her, still not happy "anyway, like I was going to say before you insulted me, if you're stupid enough to keep your job here then hide in this room the moment you get here. It's out of sight but not out of hearing so don't turn on that annoying monitor. I hate that stupid the static noise." Her jaw fell open "youre... giving me a place to hide?" He nodded, looking around the room. "I had thought that i had made that obvious already.-" she jumped on him in a hug. "Thankyou! you wont regret this ! I swear!" He stiffened in surprise, then slowly hugged back with a smile. She was just like a kid.
Several hours later...
Skylar sighed in relief. She had made it through the night with out interacting with a single animatronic besides blueberry. Dawn light filtered through the trees in front on her. A beautiful sight to behold. Most of the sky was still a velvet black with millions of pinpricks of light. Twinkling stars. In front of her the sunrise began to unfold.
Slow at first with the darkness melting to reveal a light blue hue surrounded by a deep purple at one corner of the horizon. Then like a single drop of food coloring in a glass of water it began to spread, more colors began to form in the glassy sky. Warm orange signaled the birth of a new day had almost arrived. She gasped softly at the sheer beauty of the sunrise. The perfect way to end her work day. The sun's yellow face peeked out from the treeline as the last of the stars winked out of sight.
She stood. Skylar had gone to sit on top of the bakery once the clock had chimed six. Blueberry had been charging when she had left. She hadn't realized that the animatronics batteries were charged like phones. The teen had exited the storage room to find blue slumped onto the floor. What looked like a phone charger had connected the back of his neck to the wall. "I'd hate to pay their electricity bill." She chuckled to herself "maybe that's why the food is so damn pricey. Or they're just cheapskates. Jerks won't fix my monitor"
she stifled a laugh as she walked to the edge and looked down at the rickety ladder "oh. Joy." The teen pulled a bag of candy from her pocket and dumped half of it into her mouth. She then eased herself onto the ladder. The last thing she needed was a fall from this height. Especially if the ladder broke. Slowly she descended downwards. Smiling triumphantly once she reached the bottom. Skylar turned towards the bakery and flipped the finger on both hands. Giggling as she raced to her car.
Cream puff watched from the window with a frown, smokey and sprinkles flanked her on both sides "did you see that children? That is a very disrespectful child. She needs to be punished. " she told them, smokey grinned "definitely ma! I wish I could summon the knights of the round table to do 'er good justice like they do baddies in me stories! Very distasteful!" Smokey threw back her head in a laugh.
Sprinkles on the other hand simply watched the teen leave. She felt guilt gnawing at her insides with jagged teeth. She had no idea what had come over her when she had caught sky. She remembered the rage she had felt the moment she had seen her. Then sick, twisted glee when Skylar was in her grasp. Almost as if she felt... vengeful. Yet skylar had nothing done to her that needed to be avenged, she wondered to herself, why did she feel like she was obtaining revenge when she had grabbed sky and thought of tossing her into the mixer? She didn't know.
The bear lowered her ears. Smokey noticed, looking at the sprinkled, pink and white bear in concern "what's wrong little sister? Are ye alright?" Sprinkles snapped out of her thoughts "I'm fine.. just... tired I guess." She replied quietly. Cream puff smiled at her "come on little one, I'll read you a bedtime story to help you sleep." The purple and yellow fox offered her hand to sprinkles, who accepted and allowed herself to be led away "okay mama..." smokey shrugged her shoulders before returning to her original task. Staring out the window.
Skylar drove towards home. The good thing about the nightshift was that when you drove home at seven in the morning there's no one else heading that way. They are all in the opposite lanes trying to go in the opposite direction but stuck in annoying traffic. Sky on the other hand was having no difficulty going the speed limit of sixty miles an hour. Since there were no cars in her lane there was no traffic. Score one for sky, score zero for every one else.
Skylar smirked, now that she had a place to hide at night she could focus on finding out the truth. If she was lucky she might even convince blue to help. "He must have it in his memory files somewhere..." she mused "if I'm lucky he can show me how to access it so I can see what happened that night. " oh. Wait. He didn't want to interact with her.... damnit... if she bugged him too much he may decide that he didn't want to hide her anymore and kick her out. Or worse, lull her into a false sense of security and kill her when she least expects it.
"Well... I guess I'm going during restaurant hours again. " she turned off of the highway, towards her home "and I guess I'd better not piss him off. So i can't let him catch me doing what I'm about to do." At that moment she couldn't help but feel as if they had switched roles. Today she would be the one trying to not get caught watching him during working hours. Not the other way around.
About six hours later, around noon, sky crept into blueberry forest playroom with one goal in mind; find out as much of his interests as possible. If she learned enough about him then she could get him to be her friend. And if she obtained his friendship then that memory file was as good as hers. Then she could solve the mystery and quit.
She spotted him playing with a blonde haired girl with hazel eyes, she wore an expensive purple dress with matching bows at the top of her pigtails, as well as a golden necklace. The fact that he was letting her ride on his shoulders meant they had probably known each other for a while. "I'm glad you like your collar blue! I had mommy and daddy make it just for you!" She was around the age of six, one arm holding his neck for support while the other pet him on his ear.
"Annabelle you know I love it!" He replied happily, this caused the girl, now known as Annabelle, to squeal in delight. Blue covered his ears in pain "too loud anna!" He whined with a wince, she hugged his neck "sorry blue, I forgot you can hear things way louder than everyone else can..." she teared up "s-sorry... " he immediately looked regretful "it's okay don't cry Annabelle, you just forgot that's all.." he looked at the children around the room, most of them either pretending to be him or playing games he had taught them.
"You're still my favorite Annabelle. " the child clapped happily "I with I could take you home blue!" She hugged his neck from behind, nuzzling him "I wish I could keep you!" upon hearing this a woman who looked similar to the child in question stood and grabbed her wallet "harold watch Annabelle. I'm getting her a birthday present she'll never forget. " she eyed the chinchilla as she told this to the man who sat next to her.
He wore a high quality business suit and had a very neat appearance. While she wore an expensive looking blue sundress with a matching name brand purse and heels. Her blonde hair was neatly held in place by hairspray yet still kept the appearance of falling around her shoulders. Controlled chaos.
She walked off with an air of authority. A large check should do. She smirked. Skylar did not like the way this was going. She wasn't going to let anybody mess with her mission to find answers. ESPECIALLY some rich lady wanting to spoil her kid. She balled her fists.