Complicated Situation
We need to find a way out that keeps everyone safe.
"So, lemme get this straight. Ten years, you hid us here almost immediately, DogDay got taken and you don't know where he is, Hoppy is gone, and the other bigger body toys are like bodyguards to this place?" I asked, summarizing it made it feel so little, yet so much at the same time.
He made a face that I caught immediately, "What? Is there more?"
"Yes, but.. no."
"Quite being vague with me, just tell me straight up." I sighed.
He shifted away uncomfortably, obviously not wanting to continue the conversation. Fuck, he was always like that. I'm surprised I got any of that information out of him earlier. It was probably because he was overly emotional earlier over me waking up after ten years.
Me and the other critters started to suspect something was wrong over time. He was incredibly dodgy when it came to sentimental conversations. Even during our sleepovers he would lay his head on DogDays lap and purr his heart out, showing a type of affection in front of us he never showed in front of the workers or kids, yet he'd get quiet when we spoke of our families—or lack thereof— and would sometimes even excuse himself from the conversation if it was brought up. It led to a lot of speculation from Kickin and Hoppy that he came from a cold or abusive household.
It never became an actual conversation though, as DogDay would shut it down almost immediately.
"He'll tell us when he's ready, talking about his home life behind his back will only prevent him from talking about it to us."
"Oh come on! We've known him for seven years! How much more time will it take for him to tell us?" Hoppy complained, she sounded more hurt than angry in her little rant, but DogDay didn't pay much mind to it.
"Only. When. He. Is. Ready." He emphasized, glaring down at Picky who gave in but still complained from time to time.
Despite his order to shut up about it, we all found out by accident. You see the scientists weren't that considerate of our feelings, Catnap included, and would often say stuff relating to our backgrounds to tell us apart or because their lives were miserable and they wanted to remind us that so were ours.
It just so happens that day they were especially careless.
Picky sighed dramatically, laying on the carpeted floor.
"Picky?" DogDay called, squatting to her size while giving her a reassuring pat on the back.
I sighed, cracking my neck before she listed her complaints.
"I'm tired! Those kids are something else, even I wasn't that bad." She complained, her face hitting the floor in exhaustion.
He comforted her for some time as the rest of us cleaned up the mess the kids made. It was mainly toys—actual toys— but there was other stuff like crayons, paper, paint, and even clothes and makeup for dress up.
"It'll be fine Picky we'll get a break soo—"
"Wait you have Catnap now?"
DogDay looked up in surprise at the mention of our purple friend, as was the rest of us. Most of the employees who.. well know try their hardest to avoid us. Only the lower level employees and children try to get anywhere near us. This also couldn't have been a mistake of direction, they have to know we're here, I mean, it's our section of the building... The voice was small, but the sentence was still pretty clear.
"Why are they coming over here?" Kickin whispered to Bubba, looking at all of us for answers we didn't have once Bubba shrugged.
"Shit. Good luck with that, I heard he's.. harder to deal with compared to the other critters."
There footsteps came closer, the tapping of their shoes against the marble floor made my heart beat faster in fear before they stopped right at the corner closest to us without them seeing us.
DogDay rolled his eyes as he stood from his crouching position, "Do they have nothing better to do—"
"Oh yeah. I heard, he's either clingy or completely closed off because of his parents right?" He said, he sounded so casual, as if he wasn't saying something so personal.
DogDay twitched, his face contourting in a confused yet annoyed expression. Picky started to get up quietly while the rest of stood there silent. Crafty seemed to be slightly panicking as spoke in her usual whisper, "I don't think we should be listening this is an invasion of his pr—"
"Shh!" Hoppy shushed her to try and listen more, which earned her a glare from DogDay.
Hoppy had been complaining more and more about how secretive the cat was being even though everyone else has spilled their deepest secrets with each other. And DogDay has been the one to reel her in everytime, but now it was scientists with a big mouth, and DogDay couldn't stop them.
"Kinda, I mean I get it, the guys parents just sorta.. left and never came back. Sawyer said his mom walked in with him and just.. left him in one of the aisles when he was looking at the Huggy Wuggy toys."
We heard the other person click his tongue in disapproval.
"That's fucked," he said, the irony wasn't lost on me in that moment.
"That is fucked? Since when did you have a conscious?" The other laughed as their footsteps echoed back throughout the hallway away from us.
We all stood there in silence for what felt like hours, the sound of their shoes slowly walking back felt taunting. The air had never felt so still to me in such a long time. I was the first to move and looked at my friends faces.
Bubba looked almost traumatized, Crafty had her hooves covering her mouth in shock, Kickin looked uncomfortable, Hoppy was staring at the floor in regret, Picky was halfway off the floor and was just staring off, and DogDay.. DogDay looked like he wanted to cry.
"DogDayiskinda.." he began looking away from my hard stare.
"Cutinhalf.."
I stared at him in disbelief. I waited for him to tell me he was joking, that this was a sick joke he wanted to play for some reason. Yet he didn't. My hand came over my mouth to conceal what I was hoping were just curses and not vomit.
"How and why."
"ThePrototypewantedtotorturehim psychologically and sohehadoneoftheremainingtoys.. cut himinhalf."
"So you didn't do it?" I asked quickly, feeling some sort of odd sense of relief wash over me.
He blinked at me, "I'moffended."
"Right, sorry." I apologized, his glare was making me feel a tad bit guilty, especially since from his point of view it was ridiculous to think he'd cut his boyfriend in half.
I cleared my throat, "Do you.. know where he is exactly?" I asked, watching as his face twitched.
He looked away, "Ido."
I perked up immediately, "That's great! Then we can.." my enthusiasm fizzled out at his expression, "What..?" I asked poking his arm in an attempt to get him to look at me.
"..Hedoesn'twanttoseeme. Hehatesme. HethinksI didthattohimbecausethePrototypecanmimicvoices—"
"The Prototype can mimic voices?" I interrupted him, flinching back when his head turned to glare at me.
"Yes, hecan. Extremelywell." He spat, he sounded so bitter when he said that.
Then his words actually sunk in. DogDay was the only person that could actually get through to Catnap, and the Prototype made it clear he didn't like that. If he couldn't get Catnap to fully distrust DogDay, he'd get DogDay to hate Catnap.
Shit.
This is more complicated than I thought it was gonna be.
"..What do you mean he hates you?" I asked, I've never seen DogDay truly hate someone, not even the Nightmare Critters, and we have reasons to.
"WhenItrytofeedhimheturnsaway, whenItrytotalkto himhedoesn'trespond, evenwhenItrytocleanhimhe doesn'tlookatme. Ifeelit'sselfexplanatory, evenifhe doesn'tsayit, andhehaseveryrightto."
I couldn't really argue with that, especially if he thinks Catnaps the one who did it.
"Wait, why don't you just tell him—"
"Therearecamerasinthere. IfItellhimthePrototype willkillhim. If Itellhimaboutyou'llthePrototype will findthisplaceandkillyouallalongwithme." His voice cracked at the end and his eyes watered but he didn't try to get closer for comfort.
I nodded, trying to process everything while still having so many questions. Eventually I sighed and asked one more question about DogDay, "When was the last time you saw him?"
He looked surprised before squinting like he was trying to remember.
"Iwanttosay.. twoyearsago?"
"Two years?!" I exclaimed, this time he didn't look very upset I interrupted him.
"You left him alone for two years?!" I gripped his arms by accident, only noticing too late before he reacted.
"He told meto! Hesaidhedidn'twanttoseemyface, whatwasIsupposedtodo?!" He defended himself, wriggling out of my grip and crawling back a good foot away. I was about to say something back before he beat me to it, "Istillfeedhim, andIkillthetinycrittersifI find outtheyatepartof him." He hissed, a low growl emitting from the back of his throat.
I sat there thinking for a moment. Ate part of him kept ringing in my ears. I wanted to ask for an elaboration on what he meant, but was a question with such an obvious answer truly needed? It's been ten years, and if this place is abandoned, then that means no bulk products of food is dropped off every month for the children in the orphanage. All food would have been taken within the first month. That means there is only thing left to do to keep them satisfied.. cannibalism.
"Ok.." I breathed in, "Ok, ok, ok." I breathed out, ruffling the fur on my head as I processed the information.
I stared at the floor for a minute before looking back up at Catnap, who was now a couple feet away with his hair standing and a suspicious look on his face. He doesn't like being squeezed, not even in a hug, so that was my fault.
"Is there anything else?" I asked, sitting on my knees and looking him in the eyes.
He blinked before his eyes softened and he inched closer. He nodded and I wanted to cry, 'Why is there so much..?' I thought, noticing how he was trying to be closer but kept backing up.
"Hoppy.. Isalive." He started, giving me an awkward smile.
I felt myself perk up. I let out a sigh of relief my hand resting on my chest as I let out a small smile.
"Do you know where she is?" I asked, already knowing that he might not if he's trying to keep her alive.
He nodded, "She'sinSafe Haven." He stated, I stared at him for a minute before he finally understood, "Oh! Safe Havenislikealittlebasethesmallercrittersareinfor protectionfromthePrototype." He quickly explained, apologizing right after for always assuming I knew things I shouldn't.
"It's fine," I chuckled.
I tried to imagine it, a safe place away from the Prototypes influence, a place he didn't know. Then I looked around for a minute, realizing I'm already in one in a way.
"I'mnotsupposedtoknowaboutitasit'sagainstthe Prototype, buteveryonethereknowsmeaside from Hoppy—" He paused suddenly, looking at me with a blank expression that I just blinked at in confusion.
"Um.. Thereasonshedoesn'tknowisbecauseshe'dtry tospeeduptheplanmeandDoeymadeanditwould complicate thingsmorethanitalreadyis—"
"Plan?" I interrupted, holding in my laugh as his eyes became slits in annoyance.
"Yes. Aplanthatneedstobechangednowwithyou wakingup." He sighed, his tail swishing back and forth behind him.
I hummed, waiting for him to elaborate on this 'plan', only to be met with silence.
"I see you don't want to tell me this plan of yours and Doe—" I stopped myself, looking down at the floor.
I gazed at the floor as if it was new, ignoring Catnaps prodding and questions asking if I was ok.
How could his name just go in one ear and out the other? Catnap said it so casually that I didn't think twice about who he was talking about. My head shot up and I wanted to laugh at his flinch and his hair prickling up in surprise at my sudden action.
"Doeys alive?"