Playtime with Percy; Before Playtime

Saturday; Precious Remembrance

June 1, 2002

Percy's left hand was tirelessly strumming the strings. His other hand was holding the electric guitar. He knew all the notes, where his fingers were meant to be, how to hold them correctly, and the other necessities of playing the guitar. He was programmed with it, but it also became a hobby of Percy's. He felt the vibration without the stage and show stage, strumming each cord with pleasure. He went on playing the guitar for 10 minutes or so. He finally finished his solo with an echoing string. The five people watching him clapped.

Percy smiled at his audience. They were all men, the audience, and 3 of them were at a table when the one with the formal black suit and sleek black hair stood. Percy knew all of them. The man in the black suit was the announcer, which Percy had seen him address the stage many times. The two hadn't had a close relationship- they were friends, to say the least, but Percy never got to see some insight into his life outside the playhouse. Or his name. Too late to ask now, since the announcer was laid off during the times when the playhouse was low on money.

The Man closest to him from the table was wearing a red button-up shirt with black pants and a red tie. He had some facial features and was smiling ear to ear. It was John Johnson. He was much happier here, wearing his golden ring on his index finger.

The man next to him was wearing a red Sunset Hawaii shirt with gray capris, and short brown hair similar to John's. He had green eyes and a sizeable brown beard. He was a bit plump and oversized. Those eyes... Percy remembered that the man was in an ad. The voice of the ad. Suddenly Percy evoked he had seen him in the factory once, in a tour of the factory that John led Percy and his friends through. He'd seen the man in the office, going through papers and files. Ironically, he looked exactly the same from the tour. When was the tour, 10 years ago? Maybe?

The man behind him had the same brown hair as the two other men and had a blue polo shirt with dark gray sweatpants. He had a young classic look, which made Percy feel happy just looking at him, though he couldn't understand why. He looked familiar too, but still, Percy couldn't figure out who he was.

The audience clapped for a while, then stopped. Percy grinned. Men didn't say anything, and Percy put the guitar down on the rough surface of the stage. Percy walked down the left staircase with the men staring at him.

Percy stopped, expecting them to say something, but didn't. Instead, they just stared at him, straight into his soul. The only one not staring was the young man in the classic, plain look who was looking off into the distance, away from Percy. Weird, though. The only thing surrounding the stage and the men at the table was a black misty shadow. Percy shrugged it off and walked off the staircase. Next, he found himself facing a black abyss.

Percy didn't feel his feet touch the ground. Instead, he fell forward, the wind starting to pick up, and then starting to fall. Percy screamed in confusion and shock, with his body twisting and spinning the air. He got quick glances at a hole that showed a white sky in it, and the 3 men, expect the younger one, watching him fall.

They were... smiling.

Percy felt sick to his stomach with all the twisting and turning, and all of him seeing a black abyss surrounding him, and the fact that the men were almost...happy... that he was falling. Percy screamed more, but the wind was so loud that he couldn't even hear his own voice. He tried twisting his body to face the men but then realized when he was spinning that the hole with the white sky was gone.

His body felt numb from all the twisting and turning he was doing, his body and eyes aimed at where he was falling. He screamed a bit more but finally gave up due to how sore his throat was already from screaming. He shut his eyes and gave in to the darkness.