Prayers of the Forsaken

2

Gregory yelped as he fell into the ballpit at the bottom of the slide, momentarily fumbling to get his head above the colorful spheres.

Gross. Who knows how many slobbery, snotty, otherwise filthy kids had played in these balls? Not that he was one to talk, but still.

Gregory shoved his way through the ballpit, though he froze at a cheerful, "Ho, ho ho!" from above him. His head snapped up as a jester-looking animatronic pirouetted to the edge of a platform branching out from the castle mural on the wall. With a flourish, the animatronic swan dove into the ballpit. With Gregory.

Freddy hadn't mentioned a daycare animatronic! Though, now that he thought about it, there had been that statue of the two animatronics in the daycare lobby.

Hopefully this one wouldn't try to kill him.

The new animatronic didn't reappear, but Gregory didn't want to move towards it. Though with a cursory glance around him, it didn't look as though there was another way out of the ballpit.

Well...the animatronic didn't exactly seem hostile, per say, but there was really only one way to find out.

Gregory pushed further into the ballpit, and just as the play area came into view above the walls, the jester animatronic popped up out of the balls, effectively scaring Gregory enough to fall back into the pit, the balls engulfing him.

"Hello--oh, dear! Sorry, new friend!" The new animatronic hoisted Gregory out of the ballpit, carrying him over to the mats and spinning him around gleefully. "You sure are up late! Are we having a slumber party? Where are all your friends?"

"I don't--"

"Oh dear, you have a boo boo!"

Gregory wrinkled his nose, reflexively pressing his hand to the cut on his cheek. "I'm fine," he snapped. "Put me down!"

"Oh, I'm sorry!" The sun-faced animatronic planted Gregory on the floor, getting on one knee and raising spindly fingers to the boy's face. "Oh my, oh dear, this simply won't do!"

"Stop!" Gregory exclaimed, slapping the animatronic's hand away. "I'm fine! Just leave me alone!"

"Oh, new friend..." The animatronic clasped his hands together in a pleading motion. "Please let me treat your injuries? It hurts Mister Sun so to see you hurt!"

"I'm. Fine. I've had worse!" Yeah, that didn't comfort Sun. The animatronic gasped, pressing his hands to his cheeks before scooping Gregory up and ignoring his protests as he walked him to a bench on the side of the play area.

"Alright, new friend!" Sun said enthusiastically, reaching into the cuff of his pants and drawing out a small container with a red plus on the top. "Let's see...oh my. How did this happen?" The sun-faced animatronic pointed at the handprint bruise on Gregory's arm from the STAFF bot. "No matter! We'll get you fixed up and--oh no!"

Gregory lashed out with his good foot, knocking over a precarious stack of circular containers. Sun gripped his head, looking frantically over the bins. "Which is the bottom, where is the top? Clean up, clean up!"

Gregory took his chance, darting away from the daycare attendant and looking around the daycare. Where was he supposed to find the security upgrade?

"Aha!" he exclaimed quietly, spotting a long desk at the back of the daycare. He hurried towards it just as Sun gave a distressed exclamation, suddenly dropping down from the ceiling in front of Gregory. The boy rammed into his legs with a grunt, falling back onto his rear end.

"Oh, I'm sorry! But I have to keep track of you!" Sun set Gregory on his feet, brushing his clothes off in a hurried, anxious manner. "If you're going to be spending the night, there's just one thing you'll need to know!"