The Daycare Attendant

Terrified

Today is a calm day in the daycare. There are less kids than usual. Which makes sense; they're allowing a smaller amount of children in the daycare because of what happened. I agree with this action, though it makes me sad. I just want to help children feel safe and have fun. I want to make them happy. And I can but, less than I wish I could.
Miss Vanessa wanted to give Naptime one more chance. As it is almost 4, I'm quite scared of what might happen. I try to make sure that the children don't notice. I prepared for it though; I put about 10 nightlights in the Napping area. That way Moon will always have one near.
"Mister Sun?" A small girl walks up to me.
"Yes sunshine?" I get to eyehight.
"I'm getting pretty tired, when does Naptime start?" She yawns.
"Well, you can help round up the other kids, Naptime begins in about a minute!"
I see her face light up. She runs off and alerts her friends. I sigh and walk over to give my usual talk. When I get to my spot, I notice one kid still sitting in one of the structures. I tell the kids to wait and I go to get them.
"Hey dearie! It's naptime!"
No response. I look at their face. I find them in my database and see that they are deaf. I smile. I get their attention by gently poking their shoulder. They look at me in question. I sign that playtime is over, and that I'll take them to the Napping area. They nod and climb into my arms. I get out of the structure and bring them to the others. Instead of putting them among the kids, I keep them in my arms.
After my words, the kids run to the Napping area. I sign to the kid that I'll bring them to a bed and they nod again. I walk over to the Napping are as well and place them on a bed. I wish them good rest and leave them to their dreams.

As all the kids nestle in their sleeping areas, the lights dim. I sigh. I wish Moon the best of luck. I already alerted him of the deaf child. I close my eyes. And before I know it, my rays retract. I let Moon take over.
"Alright, is everyone under their blankets?"
I see all kids nod yes.
"Ah good." I look at the deaf child and I see they are already fast asleep.
I look around and sigh. Then, I notice there are more shoepairs than children.
"A child is missing?"
I turn on my hightened sense of hearing and my UV eyes. Then I notice them. There is a child hiding in one of the slides. I make sure I wake nobody and make my way to the slide.
"Hey starshine", I speak in a gentle tone. "What are you doing up the slide?"
The child sniffs. "Leave me alone!" They sound afraid.
"Oh dear, what happened that you're so afraid? I promise I won't hurt you."
The child sniffs again. "Promise?"
"I pinky promise starshine. And I don't ever break promises." I smile. "What's your name?"
They dry their tears.
"My name is Sunny."
"Can you show me your face through the window dear?"
"O-Okay..." and not a second later the child pops up in the window of the slide. I find them in my database, but under a different name.
"Starshine, did you pick a new name?"
They look down. "Please don't use the one that I'm registered under. It doesn't fit me."
"I see. Not to worry, I will change it in my system. Can I use it around your parents?"
"N-No, they don't know."
"Alright. Could you now tell me why you're hiding here?" I help them get out of the slide and I crouch to eyehight.
"I was scared of the other kids. Some were bullying me. I felt alone a-and a bit scared of you. But I see that that was just silly."
I snicker.
"I get that I might look startling to some, but I promise you I'm not at all scary." I smile. They smile back. I put a hand on their shoulder, of course with activated heat sensors.
"I'm sorry the other children were rude to you, Sun didn't notice and couldn't help you. We both apologise."
Sunny looks down.
"How about this; you can come with me to the Napping area, and I'll give you a gift as an apology. It might make you feel better."
They look up at me and nod.
"Take my hand dear, I'll protect you. You can point out those that bothered you and I'll be sure they won't do anything like that again."

I take them to a bed and watch over them as they tuck themselves in. I make sure the blanket is tucked under the mattress nicely.
"Here, as promised."
From behind one of the nightlights, I take out a plushie of myself.
"The stars glow in the dark, see?"
And as I say that, the stars light up with a gentle and wadm glow.
I can see that the child already feels better and I smile. I softly stroke their back to comfort them a bit more.
"Moon?"
"Yes dear?"
"Could you tell me more about yourself and Sun? I'm kinda curious about you two."
I nod.
"Me and Sun are like two separate people in the same body. Sun comes out when there is enough light, I come out in the dark. Sun is more cheerful and excited, I am more calm and wise." I chuckle.
"Well, do you guys ever get frustrated as a result of being two people in one body?"
"Sometimes, but not often. We can communicate with eachother in our head, and we don't really argue. The most we've ever gotten frustrated with each other is when we didn't know who was supposed to come out and our body crashed."
Sunny looks concerned.
"Basically, the situation was not precise enough for us and it confused us. Both of us were okay with presenting ourselves but the body can only present one, and the people around us didn't help much either. So, our body shut down and entered sleep mode. The security guard has us charge up and rest u tik the next day, so Sun could come out again and we wouldn't be confused."
"It sounds like a struggle."
"It was, but it luckily only happened once. If it happens again, there are people present who know how to handle the situation."
Sunny sighs. They cuddle their plush. I move some hair out of their eyes.
"Moon?"
"Yes starshine?"
"Can you stay with me until Naptime is over?"
I check the time, about 37 minutes to go.
"Sure thing. I'll protect you."
"Thank you." They close their eyes and get comfortable. I sit next to them, crisscross, and sigh in relief.

Not much later, I feel unsettled. I have a bad gutfeeling. It is going to happen again, isn't it?
A hot yet freezing wave of electricity moves through my body like a pingpong ball. I immediately move away from the sleeping children and make my way to the security desk. On my route there, I bump into several things and eventually into a pole. I fall over and I mute myself so I don't wake the children by screaming.
My thoughts.
It is eating at my thoughts.
I try to get up, but it feels like I've lost control over my body. My code, my script, all of it is being altered.
Nightlight. I need a nightlight.
I manage to get on all fours and drag my body to the security desk. I get to a light and aggressively flick it on.
...
"It happened, again, didn't it..?"