Treasures of The Damned

4. Sandman

Briar looked around, her eyes wide and scared. She paused for a few moments, before thinking. "Of course-...they wouldn't keep the animatronics on stage if they're not performing...they're probably in some maintenance area backstage." She whispered.

She slowly made her way around the stage and the seats, not paying much attention to what was going on around her. She was more interested in listening, just in case, there was a security guard or something to sort around that she would have to avoid.

As she slowly made her way through the building, she paused for a moment. She was locked in. She could very well get into major trouble for this, we're talking prison time. She gulped in as she continued to tiptoe around the building. She found her way back into the main section of the park, her heart was thumping out of her chest.

There were a lot of things in this amusement park, she often found herself watching some of the screens that remained on of the dances her father and the other members performed. The dances were complex, but ATEEZ made them look easy. She would snap out of her trance and continue to sneak around. They had so many places to get food and drinks, she wondered if any of it was still operational after closing. She debated making herself some noodles but decided it was probably not a good idea.

She slowly made her way through every building. Every once in a while, she'd look around and slowly explore everything. Seeing it all while there was no one else around, and the lights were dimmed was strange but also interesting.

She read a note in each building saying that all the photocards for the theme park had been bought by a collector who had collected almost every single Ateez photocard. That's impressive... there are thousands of Ateez photocards. She thought to herself before shaking her head and going to find somewhere else.

A door was left creeping open, she made her way slowly towards it and slipped in. A bead of sweat dripped from her brow to her upper lip. She wiped her sleeve on it and continued down a dimly lit hallway. She was on edge, any little noise made her jump. She was so afraid of a security guard jumping out at her and calling the police. At the end of the hallway was another door with the words 'BACKSTAGE' printed on a sign. She managed to find her way back to the main stage. Great...

She slowly opened the door and looked around. Standing in a circle formation in the center of the room was ATEEZ. Her breath caught in her throat, everything got a whole lot more creepy. She made her way slowly to the group, she reached the center after slipping between Jongho and her father's arms. She stared at the group, they were weirdly realistic up close. She felt like they were still there in that moment as if they could come to life once again.

She stared at her father's animatronic for a moment, before turning to Yunho and Seonghwa. Confetti was stuck to Seonghwa's animatronic cheek, she gulped as she stepped closer toward him. She stood on her toes and reached toward Seonghwas cheek. She plucked the confetti from his cheek, throwing it on the floor. She began to slowly back away but as she did that, Yunho and Seonghwas animatronics' heads jolted to the side. Their voices, but distorted, began to ring out. Their arms and legs moved, almost knocking her off of her feet. She yelled out but covered her mouth, tears stung her eyes. They stopped abruptly, remaining in that mangled, distorted position.

Her heart was thumping even harder now and a lump formed in her throat.

She sprinted from that room, feeling like she was going to vomit. Whatever just happened, she never wanted to see that again.

She got out of that hallway and sunk to the ground, she placed her knees to her chest and began to cry. She tried to stay as quiet as possible, to not alert anything, or hear her cries echo along the walls.

Soon, movement alerted her and in an instant she was sitting up, looking around with wide eyes. She sniffled, wiping at her eyes and her nose with her long sleeves. She slowly stood, using the wall for support before shifting and looking around. She made her way through the hallways slowly, coming back to the backstage, where she'd seen the animatronics earlier.

A small, barely audible gasp escaped her lips when she looked into the other room. Three of the animatronics were missing.

Looking closely, she saw that, through the outfits they were wearing, Seonghwa, Jongho, and Wooyoung were missing. She paused for a split second. "Where the hell did they go-...?" She whispered to herself, scared out of her mind. They were just there two minutes before she'd first gone into the room. All of them had been there, she was sure of it. They couldn't have teleported there, right?

She slowly turned around, shaking her head and wrapping her arms around herself tightly. "I'm just going insane. The chip might be malfunctioning...there's no way those animatronics were gone. Right?" She turned back into the room, and yep, they were gone. "How in the hell-...?"

She took a small, shaky breath. This couldn't be happening. She was just imagining things. It was because she was all alone here in this theme park. She was just seeing things...

So then why, when she turned around to get out of the main building, did she run right into the chest of a very familiar pink-haired animatronic?

She yelped in surprise and jumped back, looking at the same animatronic she'd just seen in the room right behind her.

Her heart dropped, even more, when the Seonghwa animatronic opened his eyes. They were dark, almost blood-red, and he blinked a few times before glancing down at her.

He just stared at her, not moving or saying anything, until a smirk, not the beautiful cooked one everyone loved, but an evil sinister one, appeared on his lips and he reached out to her, still with that sinister, malicious glare.