The building known as Home Sweet Home loomed across the distance from up the plastic hills which it perched. As Gabe approached he took note of its outward appearance, it has definitely seen better days, its apparent state of decay was proof enough of its long abandonment. Intriguingly however is its theme, while most places he has been through so far always had that whimsical, childish circus feel to it, the orphans main lodgings are much more softer on the eyes.
A massive two-story house, with wooden walls and a greenish shingled roof, it looked like an old house an elderly couple would have owned. Definitely lives up to its purpose as an orphanage. But yet, looking at it from below, Gabe couldn't help but feel his skin crawl as the building loomed in the backdrop like a malevolent shadow. The few lights left on due to its backup generator cast an eerie orange glow from behind the broken windows. Barred windows. He swore he could have seen something move behind one of those curtains.
He enters the front door, the rusted hinges creaking dangerously loud, he cursed himself mentally for not thinking that through. If there is anything in there, which is most likely, then they definitely hear him coming. The wooden floor boards creaked even more loudly than the hinges, despite taking inventive steps inside. He guessed that subtly and stealth are out of the question right now.
Making his way inside Gabe took in his surroundings. The state of interior is even more foreboding than the exterior. From just the view down the hallway alone sent chills up his spine. The faded wallpaper is either peeled or torn, its pale patterns depicted on the greenish background showed twisted vines with images of poppies and then daisies with smiling faces. The antique glass lamps are all either lit off, or shattered and strewn across the wooden planked floor. Massive claw marks are near everywhere with holes and broken pieces in the wall, ceiling, and floorboards. It almost looked like a twister blew through here.
However as he passed further along down the hall and into the enormous living room area, it became clear that this was no natural disaster, but a terrible catastrophe none the less. There are toy bodies nearly everywhere, but most of these corpses are different from the typical Huggy or Mommy or any of the other mascots, many of them are plushies of the Smiling Critters. The whole cast of them, with their body parts shredded from their lifeless husks. Their rancid scents of decay still prevalent in the stale air.
Gabe decided not to stick around for much longer, at least in one place. He came here for only one purpose after all. Ollie mentioned something about a backup generator somewhere deep within this building, but it would seem that it is offline in the moment. He doesn't know whether or not he has to turn on the generator manually or remotely. He really should have asked Ollie about that. He's basically going in blind. And anything could happen.
Venturing upstairs he finds himself in Home Sweet Home's nursery area. Rooms filled broken or tossed over cribs. A sobering reminder that this place was once used for children, orphaned children. From infants to adolescents. But as he looked around he noticed something else about this place. The windows, held bars. Not like the more elegant bars that some windows have to at least give some appeal to the eyes, but crude, cast iron jail bars. In a nursery.
Why the hell would a nursery of all places need bars? Sure maybe to keep some of the more naughty children from sneaking out and running lost in a factory, but why a nursery? Did they really expect a baby to somehow find their way out of their crib and then make a grand escape through a window? Unless,..unless it's to make sure that no child ever manages to escape.
As Gabe pondered these thoughts, just then there came a sound of something scurrying fast behind him. Gabe instantly turns around, pointing his flashlight in any direction he can find. But there was nothing there. Gabe assumed it might have been Catnap to make such a sound. But that sounded too light, Catnap was much bigger and heavier than that. Whatever it was that made that noise was small, and nimble too.
YOU ARE READING
Poppy Playtime ~ An Angel's Bleeding Heart
FanfictionHe did not want to go back, he really didn't want to. But the more he tried to shake the thought out of his head, the letter will always reappear, crawling from the depths of the back of his mind. He remembered this was his cycle, day in and day out...
