The Daycare Shift

One Sunny Day

With Chica distracted, Gregory took his chance to escape. He looked around for any patrolling security bots and when the coast was clear, he made a break for the escalators. His heart was pounding. He scrambled up the stairs towards the Daycare entrance and hoisted up the shutters. Straight ahead of him was a colourful slide, and written above were the words "SLIDE INTO FUN".
"If that's not a Daycare then I don't know what is, hehe." Gregory joked to himself, trying to lighten the mood, but failing miserably. He made his way over to the slide and peeked down. It curved to the left half way down, so he couldn't see all the way to the bottom. He took a second to weigh the risk against the benefits, then Gregory climbed into the slide legs first, pushed himself and he quickly flew down. (Slides are weirdly less fun when there's a probability of being captured and stuffed with robot parts.)
As he approached the end of the slide, he saw a ball pit, and there was a loud clattering as he landed waist-high in the sea of plastic balls. Half submerged, Gregory noticed his legs starting to get numb and tingly.
"Huh, must be the nerves." he thought, as he chose to ignore it.
In the background, fun, energetic music was playing in the Daycare, accompanied by the sounds of clown horns and squeaks. It was one of those songs that would get in your head for hours and drive you slowly insane.
Gregory trudged his way through the vast ball pit, hoping to find Freddy and escape. He needed a way out. The balls were rumbling as Gregory moved his way through the play area, and no matter how quiet he tried to be, he was clearly giving away his position. Trying to be more stealthy, he climbed out of the ball pit at the side and stepped onto the squishy, foam floor. There was no sight of Freddy. You'd think he would be easy to see; being a huge, orange bear. But no, Freddy wasn't in the Daycare.

Gregory turned back around to face the ball pit, but instead, he was faced by a creepy, yellow sun. It grabbed Gregory eagerly by the shoulders.
"Hello! New friend, you're sure up late! Are we having a slumber pa-"
"Will you shut up?!" Gregory cut him off, "If you keep talking so loudly they're gonna find me!" The sun looked clearly confused.
"Who's going to find you?" the sun asked with the same volume as before, his voice echoing around the empty Daycare, "Never mind friend! I'll look after you, I promise! Just keep the lights on and stay right he-" Gregory quickly tried to hush the animatronic but it was far too late. He could hear light steps approaching from behind, muffled by the soft floor.

"GOTCHA!"
A skinny, blonde, middle-aged woman grabbed Gregory by the collar, shining a flashlight in his face.
"You think you're real clever, don't ya, Gregory!" she shouted, "You're in big trouble mister! You can't just be sneaking around after hours!"
"Wh-wh-what are you doing Officer Vanessa?" the sun creature stuttered, cowering behind one of the play structures, "Get off my new friend! You're gonna hurt him!"
"Stay out of this!" Vanessa started.
Before the sun could respond, the power went out and the lights went dim. The entire Daycare was left in darkness. Vanessa's tight grip on Gregory loosened, and she looked around, visibly worried.
"Gregory, hide." Vanessa whispered. She turned on her blinding flashlight and frantically scanned it around the room, desperately searching for something.
"Vanessa, what happened? Why did the lights go out? Where's the sun thingy gone?!" Gregory asked in a frenzy. He was in disbelief that the woman he thought was trying to capture him was just trying to help all along.
"Gregory, listen. I can get you home. I just need you to stay quiet and hide. If he catches you awake after hours, he'll punish you in the most brutal way you can imagine."

Gregory listened to Vanessa's advice without hesitation and made his way to the ball pit. He would rather hide and keep his life than argue with her right now. Diving in, he dug his way to the bottom to hide himself from whatever was coming after him. It was at this point that the tingling sensation from earlier had returned, except this time, he felt it all over his body.
"What is this weird feeling?" Gregory kept thinking, "Meh, it's probably just the stress."
He heard someone else rummaging violently through the ball pit with him.
"Vanessa," he whispered, "is that you?"
No response.
Gregory began to feel dizzy and nauseous.
"Vanessa," he said again, "are you there?"
No response.
Whoever was in the ball pit with him can't have been friendly. He had to get out. Gregory tunnelled his way to the top of the ball pit , but he surfaced to a slightly different place. It was the same Daycare in the same Pizzaplex, but with a slightly different layout. The play structures had moved, and the posters on the walls were different. Four big posters lined the main wall, each one with a different animatronic on.
Freddy.
Chica.
Roxy.
And... some blue rabbit?
Whatever this place was, it wasn't the Mega Pizzaplex Gregory was used to.