Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It’d been a week. An entire week since Lorelei had seen her son. 

She’d sent Jackson to kindergarten like every other day. Granted, that day had been “Bring-a-Friend” day. Which was some special event at the kindergarten she had been unable to attend due to work. But it was hyped up so much by the kids and staff.

Her little angel never came home that day. None of those kids, nor staff and parents who attended, came home. It was as if they vanished into thin air, taken by the building itself. She still remembered that afternoon- her and all the other parents calling the police, begging for their children to be found. Tears and hugs as she both sought comfort from, and tried to comfort, fellow distraught parents.

The police said they’d handle it, that they’d find everyone. Or, at the very least, find answers. They hadn’t found shit. If anything, there had been more questions found. The building was empty, with no clues as to where anyone had gone. The only clues were items left by the kids, and a few feathers in the playroom.

A week without her angel felt like a week of Hell. And she had finally had enough of it. She was going to figure this out herself. Either that, or she’d disappear too.

Two water bottles- one with a faded “Momma Bear” label- a box worth of energy bars, the hunting knife her grandfather gave her, and a small first aid kit. That was what she packed into her old hiking bag. There was no telling what could be there, what could’ve happened. Better to be overprepared than under. Though she didn’t bother with her cell phone. She had no one to call anyway. The only person she truly cared about in this world was her son- the smiling face that looked at her from the photo she tucked carefully into a pocket of her bag.

Lorelei would never have admitted she had a pack of cigarettes and a lighter in her pocket. She had a quick smoke before she left- just to soothe her nerves a bit.

Once her bag was packed, and her cigarette put out, she set off to her destination. Banban’s Kindergarten.

She never realized how creepy an abandoned kindergarten could be. Police tape was everywhere, but she disregarded it. Instead, she ripped some of the tape down and went inside the building like she had many times before. The lobby was completely silent, the opposite that it had always been whenever she picked up or dropped off Jackson. It had always been bustling when she had been there, full of kids and parents and staff welcoming them. The lights were still on, illuminating the simple mural of the mascots on the wall of the stagnant room.

Lorelei slowly approached the mural, looking over the various mascots depicted on it. She remembered how Jackson rambled on and on about them, saying that Opila- the pink bird- would watch him and his friends in the playroom and sing to them at naptime. That Banbaleena- She never understood how that name was greenlighted- would teach them basic lessons in her classroom. Those were just some of the stories that he told about the mascots. She remembered listening to those stories.

She needed to hear those stories again.

“Too bad you guys can’t help me find him.” She gently touched the mural, closing her eyes briefly and taking a deep breath. Once she had her moment, she stepped back and looked around for any sort of clue that could lead her to her son.

Neither of the two doors would open. A blue keycard scanner seemed to taunt her from the entrance of the maintenance room. “Ugh..” She kicked at the door out of frustration. It gave her a little satisfaction. Though she flinched at the noise it made- an echoing thud in the silent lobby.

Backing away from the locked door, Lorelei decided to check the rest of the front room. She knew this place well. She’d been the one dropping off and picking up Jackson every day, she’d seen this room twice a day- sometimes three if she needed to bring him something he forgot at the house.

A blue keycard on the front desk caught her eye, and she immediately grabbed it. Maybe something in the maintenance room could lead her to her son? It was worth a shot. She was desperate, and it was all she had.

Lorelei returned to the maintenance room door and swiped the keycard over the scanner. The sound of the door opening made her step back slightly, the woman absentmindedly shoving the keycard into her pocket. She stepped inside and scanned the room. A pile of boxes were in the corner, across from a shelf and tool rack. It was the item perched on the shelf that caught her eye.

A drone. She remembered having one of these as a kid, messing around in her backyard. She hadn’t touched one in actual years. “Why would-?” Lorelei shook her head and looked around the room. She’d save her questions for later, when she had her son back. She picked up the remote, trying to turn it on. 

The drone wouldn’t turn on, and she opened the panel on the remote. She exhaled through her nose when she saw the reason it wouldn’t turn on. The battery compartment was empty. “Of course-” She muttered as she turned to leave the room.

A crumpled paper caught her attention. Slowly picking it up, she felt her chest tighten. She easily recognized Jackson’s handwriting, and the drawing of him and the bird from the mural.

‘Dear Momma,

I’m fighting the monster to protect my friend, Claire!’

Lorelei had to hold back a slight laugh. Of course her son would try to be a knight in shining armor in a game. She noticed more writing on the page, an arrow pointing to the pink bird.

‘Opila is pretending. She is very nice!’

He spoke fondly of the mascots, acting as if they were real. She always meant to ask one of the staff about that, but it slipped her mind every time. She just figured it was puppets or suits or something of the sort. Something to keep the children entertained during the day. 

She carefully folded the note and tucked it into her rucksack. That’d be going on the fridge when they went home. 

Leaving the room, she decided to check the small cafeteria area connected to the lobby next. She remembered the times she was offered to sit and have a snack with her son and his friends by staff. She had taken up the offer many times. It was nice to sit with her son for a bit, watching him talk with his friends, and being able to chat with fellow parents also having a snack with their kids. A small yogurt cup was usually what she had here.

The memories continued to whirl through her mind, and she almost missed the wall mural at the cafeteria entrance. The bright green gorilla with a chef’s hat and apron. 

‘Jumbo Josh says: Eat lots of fruits and vegetables to become big and strong like me!’

She remembered that mural well. She always thought Josh was a cute character- and a nice deviation from gorillas being big, ready-to-fight brutes. She was looking at kaiju movies in particular. She adored the gorilla chef with his little hat and white apron. 

Jackson always said that Josh would serve them lunch, the large gorilla moving between tables with trays of food balanced on his arms. 

Something else he talked about was the fact that Josh wouldn’t let kids leave the cafeteria unless they ate something. Something she attributed to the staff making sure the children were eating before going off to play- something she always did with Jackson at home.

Shaking herself from her thoughts, Lorelei noticed two batteries on the floor and bent down to pick them up. Maybe they’d work in the drone remote? Not that she felt she had a real reason to use it. But you never knew. It had to be here for a reason, surely.

Returning to the maintenance room, she put the batteries in the drone remote and again tried to power it on. The drone whirred to life, lazily floating in the air. Despite it being years since she last used one of these, she easily maneuvered it into the main lobby. The hum of the spinning blades broke the silence, something she appreciated.

She noticed a button over the door across from the front entrance, the entrance to the ‘Creativity Area’. Getting an idea, she piloted the drone towards the button. Once the blade guard collided with the button, there was a soft chime, and the door opened. 

“Huh.. Wonder why this was a system.” Lorelei shifted the remote in her hands, slowly walking into the hallway and steering the drone ahead of her. 

She’d only been back here once, back when she first came to ask about enrolling her son. They’d given her a tour of the back, where the kids would be during the day. Some part of her wondered why it had only been once.

Her skin prickled. She felt like she was being watched. Lorelei paused to take off her bag and dig her knife out, clipping her bag shut again and slinging it back over her shoulder. Armed with a drone and a knife, she felt… well not really better. But it was what it was. The hum of the drone was barely a comfort, breaking the silence that sent shivers down her spine.

On the left side was a classroom, the colorful plastic chairs strewn haphazardly around the room. She felt worry in her chest. Why was it a mess…? 

The whiteboard didn’t serve to comfort her. “What did we do wron” was written in black marker across the well-used board. The ‘g’ was more a scribble, as if whoever wrote the message had been interrupted. Lorelei swallowed. What was this? Why would someone write this?

“Maybe it was just a kid who got put in time-out.” She tried to reason with herself. “Maybe they were asking what they did wrong to be put in the corner, or something. It has to be… yeah.” She knew kids could be dramatic at times. And she wouldn’t put it past an upset kindergartener to drag a chair over to the whiteboard to reach up and write on it. 

Another mural caught her attention. Banban, she recognized the main mascot. He was a humanoid deer with fluffy fur fringing his smiling face. Party hats covered his short antlers and his tongue hung out almost like a dog's.

“Sharing is caring, your-” Lorelei paused reading the quote out loud. “...” She stepped back, clutching her knife tighter. ‘Pancreas is mine’? Why on earth would a children’s kindergarten mascot be drawn with a quote like that? It had been different when she had toured the kindergarten. It had said ‘what's yours is mine’ from what she remembered, which also didn’t sit right with her. But that had been less creepy. If she had looked closer, she’d have seen that the strange, horrifying phrase had messier paint.

“Jackson? Baby, are you here?” She called out for her son, only to be met with the eerie silence. She didn’t like the fact it was so quiet. No response from her son, or anyone. 

She noticed a button behind yellow-tinted glass, over the ‘naughty corner’, where a single plastic chair sat against the wall. The whiteboard was right next to it, which added to her self-soothing theory that the writing on the board was from a kid put in timeout.

“What is it with all the buttons?” She muttered to herself. Maneuvering the drone into the small space between the glass and the wall felt like it’d take longer than her patience would allow. So, considering this place was basically closed down anyway, she brought the drone back a bit, flying it as fast as it could go at the glass. 

She stepped back from the splash of yellow shards, the now-broken glass leaving enough space for her to fly the drone at the button. The creak of a door made her whip around, knife at the ready. All it was was a closet opening.

“... Now why the fuck is this a thing-” Lorelei slowly approached the closet, pocketing her knife so she could see what was in there. A hammer, and a crumpled slip of paper. ‘Distraction at 1’. “.... Nothing makes sense in this fuckin place.” At least the hammer was something useful. Picking it up, she slipped it into the side of her bag for later.

The classroom was void of anything else of use, or any clues that could lead to her son. Something about being in the room with a mural of an organ-wanting mascot made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. So, after turning off the drone and tucking it into her bag alongside the remote, she left the room and returned to the thankfully still-empty hallway. 

Across the hall was a completely dark room with a blue keycard scanner at the entrance. Pulling the blue card from her pocket, she swiped it on the scanner. The reader accepted it with a soft chime that was a stark contrast to the next noise.

Row by row of white lights turned on with sharp clicks, illuminating the playroom she remembered seeing when she had toured the kindergarten. It reminded her of a poorly put together diorama of a yard. With fake, leafless trees, a swingset, and a wooden climbing structure surrounded by walls painted with green hills, trees, butterflies and a blue sky. What caught her interest was something in the corner. 

Walking over for a better view, she looked at the little space surrounded by a short, plastic white-picket fence. There was a sign on the posts of one of the fences, raised to a height a young child could read. Meaning she had to bend down a bit to see what the sign said.

‘Opila Bird Mission!’

‘Something took Opila’s eggs and scattered them around the playroom! Find all 7 for a special prize!’

Opila Bird. The bird Jackson always talked about. “Huh..” Lorelei kneeled down beside the fake nest that was within the fenced-in area. There was a cushioned pedestal beside the nest, as if something was supposed to be there. All 7 eggs were tucked in the nest, rather neatly for kindergarten kids to have done it.

An orange keycard stood out to her amongst the green eggs. Deciding to grab the keycard from the nest, the young mother stood and pocketed it. “... I am not gonna understand this. I don’t remember no Opila Bird mission.” Shaking her head, she continued her search for her son. 

A boarded entranceway caught her eye, and she slowly walked over. “Ball pit closed.” Lorelei read the sign out loud, flinching at her own voice in the silence. Didn’t Jackson say the ball pit would be opened on “Bring-a-Friend day”? 

Now the hammer definitely came in handy. Pulling it from the pocket of her bag, she used the back of it to pry the boards off the wall. Each board clattered to the ground at her feet, uncomfortably loud. 

She felt sweat on her brow when she finally got enough boards ripped down to slip into the room. She put the hammer back on the side of her bag, ducking beneath the remaining boards.

Her heart dropped when she realized why the ball pit was closed.

There were no balls in the pit, instead it was just blackness. An empty abyss. Lorelei felt her heart clench. Lord knew how deep that pit could possibly go down. It almost looked like it went down forever.

In the darkened room, she noticed something on the wall. Thin, three-toed footprints and little dots in a row that led up from the darkness to the edge of the walkway she was on. As if something had clawed its way out of the void below. Something that definitely wasn’t human.

“Sweet Hell in a handbasket..” Lorelei swallowed, trying to keep her panic down. Her throat felt like it was closing. What had happened here? Where was her son? 

What was that noise? 

The click click click click of claws against the floor made her turn around. And the source of the noise made her scream.

Taller than she was, standing at the boarded entrance of the ball pit, was Opila Bird. 

At least, she assumed the trembling, feathered beast was Opila. Its steps staggered as it approached, its beak clicking open and shut as it stared her down. Teal liquid dripped from the tip of its beak, the same color splashed across its torn feathers and scratched-up legs. Some part of her terrified mind compared it to those videos she saw of neglected birds that had plucked themselves from stress. 

Opila suddenly shrieked and ran at her, wings flared and beak open. Lorelei grappled with her bag, scrambling to get any form of weapon to fight off the demon parrot. Her panic made her forget her knife was in her pocket.

Getting an idea, she whipped her pack at the bird just as it reached her. She heard the unearthly shriek and the not-much-quieter clang of the items on her rucksack as she slammed it into the bird’s head.

Opila stumbled sideways, wings fluttering as her legs scrambled to stay beneath her. The bird stumbled close to the edge of the pit, and Lorelei, in a moment of instinct, swung her bag again. 

Her bag barely clipped the bristled feathers, but it was enough to cause Opila to lose balance and fall into the pit. The screeches echoed in the darkness before going silent. She didn’t even hear the bird hit the bottom.

“.... The FUCK was THAT-!” Lorelei screamed into the silent darkness of the ball pit. She stared down into the pit, her chest heaving for air.

Jackson had spoken about Opila as if the bird was a docile, motherly creature. Not the plucked, trembling thing that had run at her. 

“The mascots are alive. The fuckin mascots are alive- Sweet Holy Spirit, Jackson wasn’t playing pretend-!” Lorelei slowly stepped back from the pit, her shaking hands dropping her bag, which now had teal splatters from the bird. 

Now she really had to find her son. If the mascots were alive, and all just as crazed and seemingly murderous as Opila…

Her heart thundered in her ears. There was no blood on it. It didn’t hurt anyone. She tried to calm herself. The bird only seemed to have plucked itself. Unless it was somehow smart enough to clean itself up, which she severely doubted. It was a bird. A bird that shouldn't even be alive.

Once she got her breathing under control, Lorelei picked up her bag and slung it over her shoulder. She had to find her son. She had to.

Leaving the ball pit room, she returned to the playroom- glaring at the sign for the Opila Bird mission. The pedestal must’ve been for the bird to sit, considering the sign said the eggs belonged to the overgrown parrot. “Cannot fuckin believe they let something like that near my angel.” She shook her head with a soft growl, stomping over to the little fenced-in area.

Picking up an egg from the nest, she pulled her arm back in preparation to send it flying across the room. However, before she threw the egg, she paused and slowly put it back down into the nest, exactly how it had been before. She already threw the bird down a seemingly bottomless pit. This felt like adding insult to injury. However that did not stop a verbal insult from slipping from her mouth, “... Fuckin bird.”

The hallway was as silent and empty as she left it. Further down the hall from the classroom and playroom, she saw the light of an orange scanner. She had the orange keycard from Opila’s nest. “Damn demon parrot was good for something.” Lorelei muttered to herself as she walked to the end of the hall. Two murals were on either side of her. 

Banbaleena says: Kindness is free, so sprinkle it everywhere!

Captain Fiddles says: Ooga booga, booga ooga!

Perhaps she’d have laughed had she been in a better mood. But she was shaking from adrenaline high, and even more determined to find her son. She briefly glared at both murals- Banbaleena looking like a white, feminine Banban while Fiddles looked like a monkey with two tusk-like teeth sticking from his bottom jaw. 

It was just an office, some boxes stacked in the corner. But not a single soul. “Fucking HELL-!” She picked up a chair two steps in front of her and chucked it across the room, hearing the sound of breaking drywall and then metal against the wooden floor.  “Where could everyone be?! I’ve searched this entire fuckin nightmare kindergarten and still NOTHING!” Her screaming echoed in the empty room. She felt tears stinging her eyes and dripping down her cheeks. “All I get is a Goddamned DEMON PARROT ATTACKING ME!” 

Her rage continued for a bit longer, in the end leaving her crying and trembling in the empty- and now messy- office. Taking a few deep breaths to steady herself, she decided to actually look around the room.

There was a boarding pass on the desk, and she took a look at it. Uthman Adam was the name on it, and it seemed he was heading to Madrid, Spain for whatever reason. Crumpling the pass and tossing it on the floor, she groaned. “Nothing.. Nothing. NOTHING!”

A flash of orange light beneath the desk caught her eye, and she paused. Another keycard reader? She had to kneel down to scan the orange keycard against the reader. Why would this one be hidden beneath a desk?

At first, it seemed like nothing happened. Until she heard the sound of boxes clattering against the floor. Her first instinct was that the demon parrot returned, and she grabbed the knife from her pocket as she turned around.

The floor had disappeared on the other side of the room, slowly being replaced with what looked like some sort of open elevator that rose from the darkness below before coming to a stop where the flooring had once been.

“.... why the actual fuck is this a thing here?” Lorelei slowly stood and approached the lift, looking it over. The metal railing was broken and bent, which didn’t quite bode well for her.

Maybe everyone went down the lift for some reason? It was a chance, and a chance she was willing to take to get her angel back. She took the time to open her bag and organize everything. She kept her knife in her pants pocket, while a pouch on the side of her rucksack was designated as where she’d put the keycards she found. She felt she’d need them- and maybe she’d find more along the way. With the hammer in the other side pocket of her bag, she felt she was ready. She zipped her rucksack back up and stepped onto the lift.

Scanning the orange card against the reader and pressing the downward arrow next to it, she sat down and waited. The slow descent into darkness sent chills down her spine, and she closed her eyes. “You’re okay, Lorelei- You’re okay.”

The deep rumbling noise made her eyes shoot open, and she looked around wildly at the darkness around her. What on earth was that?

A giant, light green hand was grasping the edge of the lift. And it looked eerily similar to the hand she saw on one of the murals, holding a plate of fruits and vegetables. Except it was covered in scratches, the same teal liquid she had noticed on Opila creating tiny puddles on the floor of the lift.

“No fuckin-” She was interupted by another rumble, and a light green face peeked at her from beneath the lift, framed by darker green fur. “Way…”

She easily recognized Jumbo Josh, even if his hat was missing and the oversized gorilla looked as panicked as she was. Her scream was answered with one of his own, the sound almost deafening. Clasping her hands over her ears, it barely blocked out the screaming.

Or the sound of the lift squealing beneath the weight of the green gorilla, the sound of bending metal, or the snap of the lift breaking. Josh’s screams, and her own, only got louder as they fell.

And then it all turned to black.

The sound of crashing within the depths of the kindergarten didn’t carry very fair.

It was very different within another part of the kindergarten. The entire class worth of children were merely sitting on the floor under the watchful eyes of the staff, playing with whatever had been scrounged up to keep them entertained. A wobbly, tail-wagging canine with bird talons and limp wings was playing with some of the kids beneath the watchful eyes of a staff member. The parents that had been present for the disaster of Bring-a-Friend day were keeping a close eye on their kids. They were past the stage of yelling at the staff. There wasn’t much they could do, clearly. The tension was high, but there was little that could be done.

The collapse of the ball pit had thankfully gone without injury thanks to two of the mascots… before they got scared off. The monster that did that would’ve perhaps shredded them all had Stinger Flynn not intervened.

Something about the jellyfish’s behavior made the staff uneasy. He wouldn’t let them leave, even after a week. He said it was too dangerous to do so, with him prowling. But there was something else to worry about.

A student was missing. 

The little boy had wandered off and was lost within the halls of the kindergarten. The room he found himself in was dark. “Hello? I’m lost!” He called out, his little arms crossed over his chest. His green eyes were wide as he looked around. 

The shadows shifted, and he stepped back as a blue creature stepped into the light in front of him. “Whoa-” He recognized that spider from a wall mural he saw while he was wandering. He was too young to read the words, but if there was a wall mural, this had to be a mascot! And he loved the mascots.

The spider slowly approached, as if nervous. It lowered itself to the ground, looking at the boy curiously. The little boy looked more amazed than afraid. “You are a big spider! Bigger than all the ones at home!” 

The spider seemed to laugh, looking around before getting up and slowly approaching. His feet tapped against the cement floor as he did. The little boy didn’t back up, “Do you know where we are? I’m lost and I need to find everyone else.” The spider nodded in response and scooped the boy up in his four arms.

“Whoa-” The child giggled as he was lifted, noticing a tag on the spider’s vest. N-a-b-n-a-b.. “Nabnab? That must be your name! Mine’s Jackson.” He noticed the spider’s nod and smiled. “We’re friends now.” The little boy decided. He was content to be carried, looking up when he heard the startled voice.

“Jackson!” He recognized her as one of the people working at the kindergarten. She must’ve come to look for him.

“Hi, Miss Nicky!” Jackson smiled and waved, “I made a new friend! His name is Nabnab!” He looked up at the spider, “Nabnab, that’s Miss Nicky!” He didn’t understand the spider’s narrowed eyes and clicking mandibles, Nabnab not paying him any mind and instead staring at Nicky.

Jackson flinched when Nicky started yelling into her radio, his hands darting up to cover his ears as he stared at her with wide eyes.

“We have an emergency! I found Jackson, but the spider found us! You need to come get us now!” The moment those words left her mouth, she threw her radio at the wall. Pieces of broken plastic scattered across the floor. Nabnab started hissing as he backed away, cradling the confused child close. 

“.... Miss Nicky?” Jackson’s voice was quiet, a hand grasping one of the arms holding him as his hands left his ears. “Nabnab, do you know what she’s doing?” The spider’s response was a hiss, three eyes focused on Nicky.

“The stupid spider probably does know.” Nicky picked up a crowbar that had been left on a shelf, “But everyone else will believe my story. You two are about to be very helpful.” 

Jackson held on tighter as Nabnab suddenly took off into the darkness of the room. He could hear Nicky stumbling in the blackness, cursing as she tried to find her way. Those noises quickly faded behind them.

Nabnab scaled one of the massive shelves, getting to the top and carefully setting Jackson down. The little boy could barely see, feeling a gentle pat on his hair and hearing the tap of the spider’s foot against the wood. 

And then he was alone. He didn’t understand any of what had just happened. He was trying to figure it out, but he just couldn’t. Maybe Nicky was afraid of spiders? But why would she smash her radio? His little mind worked hard to try and figure it out.

Nabnab returned, the spider picking him up again. Jackson leaned into the gentle arms, “What was she talking about?” He looked up at the spider as he was carried down to the floor again, “She acted like you were so scary! Is she afraid of spiders? Momma always said my cousin was. She’d probably be scared of you.” 

He got the click of the spider’s mandibles in response. And once they left the dark room, Jackson could finally get a good look at his new friend. There was a gray party hat on the side of Nabnab’s head, which one arm reached up to fix. 

Jackson closed his eyes and rubbed them with his fists. He was tired, and he wanted his Momma. He wondered what she was doing right now.

He heard Nabnab hiss and opened his eyes, watching the spider mime out a ‘be quiet’ before climbing to the ceiling. Jackson put his hands over his mouth so he wouldn’t exclaim how cool that was.

It was one of the teachers who walked by. The man flinched when he heard the sound of clicking mandibles, looking just as startled as Nicky had when he looked up. “Hi!” Jackson took his hands off his mouth to wave, “Mr Samson, this is my new friend, Nabnab. He is very nice. Miss Nicky doesn’t like him.”

Samson blinked, stepping back as Nabnab climbed back down to the floor. The spider set Jackson down, gently pushing the little boy forward. Jackson hesitated before approaching Samson, getting picked up and not minding it. He was tired and didn’t want to walk anyway. The teacher looked at Nabnab for a long moment, the spider’s arms held against his chest as he waited.

“... thanks, Nabnab. We’ve been looking for this one.” Samson finally said, holding Jackson close as turned to walk off. He heard the clicks of the spider’s feet behind them, heading back towards the maintenance room. Jackson shifted to wave over Samson’s shoulder, yawning.

They got back just in time for Flynn to say they needed to move on. And the jellyfish refused to explain. There were murmurs amongst the staff, though none dared oppose the giant jellyfish. The parents cast desperate looks at some of the workers, who shook their heads in return. Not a lot they could do against Flynn…

“C’mon, Flopsy.” Samson glanced at the blue-furred canine, who stumbled unsteadily on three legs as she followed them. The mascot’s tail wagged as she was picked up by another teacher, her tongue hanging out of her uneven jaws. Jackson giggled tiredly at the mascot.

Not like any of the kids really understood this was not a planned trip.

Chapter Text

“Ugh…” Lorelei groaned as she regained consciousness. It took a few heartbeats for her to register anything.

Her back hurt, which didn’t surprise her considering she had had her rucksack on when she had fallen. She didn’t feel like she had any major injuries, thankfully. “Now hopefully everything in my bag is in-..tact..” She trailed off her thought when she became more aware of her surroundings.

There was soft fur beneath her, having cushioned her fall down into the darkness. It took her a few moments for her vision to clear. All she could see was green.

Green. Everything came rushing back to her, and she scrambled against the soft fur. Lurching sideways in her panic, she lost her balance and hit the concrete floor. “Ow! Fuck!”

She heard a much louder groan beside her and froze, slowly lifting her head. 

A pair of eyes that were easily twice as big as her head stared back at her with the same level of nerves. Josh got up and backed away, cowering from the woman despite being more than three times her size. 

“... Josh?” Lorelei sat up, staring at the green gorilla. He tilted his head at the sound of his name, hesitantly lowering himself down so his head was on her level. “... You’re real… Jackson wasn’t playing pretend.” She put a hand to her forehead, “Oh sweet Hell in a handbasket…” 

She flinched as one of his giant hands came towards her. Until she realized that he was holding his hand out to her, as if offering assistance. Lorelei slowly reached out, using the large hand to help haul herself to her feet. “Thanks.” Despite everything, she smiled, surprised when Josh returned the gesture. “Hey… do you know where everyone is?”

The question just seemed to distress the mascot, and he shook his head with a sad look. He looked around, rapidly grunting as if trying to say something. However he quickly realized that it wasn’t any use. He didn’t speak english.

“So we’re both pretty lost.” Lorelei sighed, looking around. There was an orange keycard reader glowing in the darkness. She heard Josh behind her as she walked over to it, but the door was too small for him to follow her past this point. The sad noise from the gorilla as she opened the door made her heart hurt more than she would like to admit. 

“I’m sorry, Josh.” She turned to face the massive green mascot, “But I have to find my son.” She took off her bag and dug around in it. She took a few moments to make sure nothing was broken in her bag (surprisingly, and thankfully, everything in her bag was intact) before grabbing one of the energy bars she had packed. She took off the wrapper and held the bar out in an open palm, “Here. I don’t know if you guys need to eat, but it’s something.” 

It baffled her how something so big could so gently take the energy bar from her outstretched hand. Josh inspected the bar for a moment before eating it, giving Lorelei a grateful smile. She held back a small chuckle, shoving the wrapper into a side pocket of her bag, “Alright, big guy.. I gotta go. Be safe, alright?” She couldn’t believe she was saying this to one of the mascot monstrosities, but Josh was a lot friendlier than Opila had been. He had always been her favorite of the bunch.

Josh grunted before turning and disappearing into the darkness. Must be off to find another way out of here. Lorelei thought to herself before putting her bag back on her shoulder and heading through the door she opened. Just what is going on in this damn kindergarten…

There was a short hallway that led to another door. Thankfully her keycard worked on this one as well. And the-

She wasn’t even sure she could call it a room. It looked like she was on one of the highest floors of a skyscraper. The walls were orange-toned, with small windows that were completely black. Just as black as the abyss below the platform she was standing on, and the darkness above that the metal poles holding the platforms up came down from. The massive, dim room made her feel way too small.

How could this be beneath her son’s kindergarten? She had no idea how this was possible. 

Turning around, she saw the entrance she had come through was labeled ‘to the Outer Sector’, which must be referring to the actual kindergarten. Lorelei took an involuntary step back, turning around to scan the room to try and spot any sort of sign, anything useful. A pink keycard lay near the edge of the metal platform, and she used her foot to pull it away from the edge so she could pick it up. 

There was a pink keycard reader on a small pillar across from the entrance she came through, and it accepted the card without issue. Lights flicked on on a too-narrow-in-her-opinion walkway. Pressing the right arrow button, she turned the walkway in that direction, towards the sign that said ‘Comms Sector’. That seemed like a good place to start.

She hated to admit her legs were shaking as she crossed the walkway, struggling not to stare down into the abyss below. But she made it across, and just about ran to the lit doorway.

Only to be greeted with marker on the wall. ‘ The spider is real’

That phrase sent shivers down her spine, even if she didn’t mind spiders in the slightest. She turned away from the writing on the wall, seeing a mural of an orange tentacle- which she recognized from the jellyfish mascot, Stinger Flynn- pointing upward. There was a much less creepy message written there, ‘ There’s an elevator to success, but stairs are great exercise. ’

Perhaps she’d have rolled her eyes at that if her heart wasn’t pounding against the tightness of her chest. Her hand gripped the cool metal railing to steady herself as she walked up the stairs. The one thing that kept her going was the hope of finding her son down here. 

She noticed another scrawled message on the wall beside the door at the top of the stairs. ‘ Behind you ’ Turning around instantly, she saw yet another message directly across from her, written in the same black marker. ‘ The spider is real and it is coming ’, the final word underlined. 

“The spider?” Lorelei questioned, shaking her head. She froze in the middle of the gesture when she caught sight of something blue in the entrance way. She held her breath as she watched as something skittered past the entrance. Thank God it didn’t see her.

She waited until she was sure it was gone to open the door with the pink keycard, using the same keycard to shut it behind her. Taking a few deep breaths, she looked around and risked calling out. The thing was behind a closed door. “Hello? Is anyone here?” Nothing. Still silent.

At least, not silent for very long. She heard a chime, which nearly made her leap out of her skin. “Hello? Hello there!” The voice sounded like a man, perhaps not much older than her? “I’m so glad you’re here- you can hear me, right?” 

“Loud and clear!” Lorelei called out, waving to a camera in case the intercom only went one way. 

“Thank God. I was so sure this was the end.” She could hear the relief in his voice. However, she felt the opposite. Her skin prickled when he said ‘the end’.

“What do you mean ‘the end’?” She wasn’t sure what that could mean, and her mind was running wild with possibilities. Had other mascots gone crazy like Opila? Did something malfunction within the depths of this place? Was her son okay?

“I’ve been stuck in the security room for the past two days. I got separated from my coworkers when everything went wrong, and I came into the security room to try and find them on the cameras. But the door locked behind me. I uh… don’t have the keycard to open it.” He explained, “I.. I have a feeling I know why you’re here, and I can help you.”

Lorelei was quiet for a few heartbeats, thinking, “What color keycard does it take?” She prayed it was orange or pink. Though she felt it’d be too easy if it did take either of those keycards. The universe wouldn’t grant her such a luxury.

“It takes the light blue keycard. Which is usually kept by the maintenance workers.” He sighed in response. “I can open a lot of doors from this room, but of course not the only one that matters right now.”

“Alright…” Lorelei sighed deeply. She just wanted to find her son… but maybe helping whoever this was would get her closer to that. She looked around the room with a soft sigh. It reminded her a bit of the front room on the top floor, with the same logo for the kindergarten on the wall right in front of the door. Though, in this room, there were office desks and-

She noticed another mural on the other side of the room and approached it. It looked almost exactly like the one that was in the front room of the kindergarten. However, this mural had the mascots’ names written either above or below them, and two that she didn't recognize added to the lineup. 

A yellow snail with flowers on its shell and a mushroom hat, who’s name read ‘ Slow Seline’ , and a bipedal toad wearing a vest and hat with the name ‘ Sheriff Toadster’ .

There was another character that was set apart, almost in the shadow of the corner of the room. Completely separated from the rest of the mascots, not even graced with a name. Eight legs, a blue body, a gray party hat on the side of its head… It looked like a spider, partially humanoid, but a spider. 

The spider that the writing on the wall was warning about, maybe?

Lorelei swallowed and stepped back, shaking her head. She reached into her pocket for her knife, turning to one of the cameras, “So where should I go for the light blue keycard?”

She flinched when she heard a door opening, whipping her knife out of her pocket so fast she nearly flung it. She tightened her fingers around it, flicking the blade out. The door clunked and whirred as it opened, the noise followed by the chime of the intercom again. “Sorry! I just figured I’d open the door that leads to the hallway with the maintenance room, which should probably have a spare keycard.” There was a pause, “I should warn you, there might be something else down there. Something that doesn’t take too well to trespassers.”

“... the spider?” Lorelei asked on a whim. She was met with dead silence. And she almost wondered if she should say something else before the voice spoke again.

“Yes, the spider. Nabnab’s taken residence in the maintenance room since he started… acting out.” The voice explained. Nabnab. That was the name of the spider. “Be careful, be quiet, and be quick.” 

“Alright…” Lorelei nodded, her knife in her hand as she slowly walked through the door.

She was greeted with another mural. The same blue spider that wasn’t graced with a name on the big mural. ‘ Nabnab says: Stay close to trusted adults, and don’t go with strangers!’

Lorelei blinked as she stared at that, now noticing the gray vest on the spider’s humanoid torso. She shook her head and walked down the stairs. She was greeted with yet another mural. This one being the toad. ‘ Sheriff Toadster says: Treat others how you would like to be treated, with respect!’

The final flight of stairs ended, and she was greeted with a third mural. The yellow snail. ‘ Slow Seline says: I may be slow, but I am quick to help anyone in need!’  

Maybe these would’ve put her somewhat at ease if she hadn’t already been told the spider was a problem. What if the other two were as well? She didn’t dwell on it, instead following the sign that said ‘ Maintenance’ . 

She heard something crunch beneath her shoe, and looked down. Black plastic was scattered across the floor, as well as a larger chunk that she recognized as part of a handheld radio. Lorelei sucked in a breath, and slowly walked into the room.

It was dark, just barely lit by dim lights above. Huge shelving units towered around her in what almost looked like a maze. There was a light at the other end of the room, much brighter than the middle of it.

Looking around, she noticed a sign to her left. Two big exclamation points were drawn on either side of it.

‘ REMINDER TO ALL WORKERS

1 - Work in groups no smaller than 2  

2 - Carry flashlights at all times. Flashlights are in the equipment room

3 - If in direct confrontation with the spider, make as much noise as possible until help arrives.’

She was alone, she didn’t have a flashlight (why didn’t she bring a flashlight?), and there was likely no help to come if she ended up in confrontation with the spider. “Fuck me-” Lorelei muttered as she slowly stepped out into the darkness of the room, flicking her knife back into the handle to put in her pocket. 

She tried to be as quiet as possible in navigating the room, feeling around with her feet before she took a step. Maybe if she was quiet enough, the spider wouldn’t find her. It was a slim chance, but it was the only chance she had.

Getting to the other side of the room, she looked around. It felt like this part of the room was spotlighted. And being in the patch of light somehow felt creepier to her than being in the dark.

There was a wall mural of… what looked like a two-headed monster with a turtle shell wearing a hard hat on each head, and a high-visibility vest around both necks. ‘ Remember to be safe! Wear a hard hat and high-vis vest when working!’ Lorelei also noticed a drawing of Banbaleena and Jumbo Josh also wearing the hat and vests, both of them looking at the two-headed thing.

“Kay then…” She walked up to an open door and peered into the small room. Metal dollies lined the wall, likely used for moving boxes. There was a table and whiteboard on the other side of the room, the white board covered in messy tally marks. So many tally marks it almost completely covered the board.

The table had what she was looking for, a light blue keycard. Lorelei snatched it up, pocketing it with the others she had collected. “Okay… Got what I came for.” She murmured, slowly walking back out of the room. Her skin prickled. She felt like she was being watched. 

All stealth was forgotten. She was running for the door out of this room, thankful for the arrows she just noticed on the floor that showed the way out of this dark maze of shelves. She could hear the sound of something behind her, skittering on the shelves before it dropped to the floor behind her. She was almost there, almost there. She was just about in the light of the hallway-

Her foot caught on the edge of a box, and she fell. Her rucksack slipped off her back, the hastily-shut bag falling open and allowing the contents to spill across the floor beside her.

Lorelei was about to scramble to her feet when she felt needle teeth in her leg. She screamed and tried to beat whatever it was off her with her other leg, only for claw-like hands to grasp at the limb. The teeth released her leg, and the spider drew back, its grip tightening.

It seemed like it was about to finish her off before instead pausing. The spider released its prey, reaching down to pick up an item that had fallen from the young woman’s bag. Those three eyes widened, briefly looking at her, before looking back at the paper.

The item was dropped, and the spider disappeared into the darkness. The photo of Jackson lazily drifted to the floor, the little boy’s smiling face just staring at the ceiling.

Lorelei lay there for a long moment, expecting that thing to come back and finish her off. Her leg felt like it had been shredded with a saw, tears pricking her eyes from a mix of pain and fear. Slowly sitting up, she hissed in pain as she dragged her injured leg across the floor. One hand reached down to gently touch the wound, which stung like Hell. Her hand came away covered in blood, and she cursed beneath her breath.

She shoved everything back in her bag, pausing at the photo of her son. Slowly picking it up, more tears spilled. “Momma’s coming, baby.. Momma’s coming.” She whispered, pressing the paper against her chest and closing her eyes as she tried to calm her pounding heart just a bit. 

It hurt like a bitch to stand, but she did. With her rucksack slung over her shoulder and the photo of her son in her hand, she basically dragged herself back up the stairs. A trail of crimson droplets was left in her wake, eerily beautiful against the white floor. The murals stared at her from the wall, smiling faces unchanged even as the one of Toadster was smeared with the blood on her hand when she leaned against that wall for a moment.

Every step hurt, like she was stepping on needles that sent fire through her veins. But she kept going, stumbling as she did. 

Her vision was blurring when she reached the room marked ‘ Security Office’. She fumbled with the keycard and swiped it over the scanner. 

The door whirred open just as her body gave out, and she collapsed to the floor in front of the one she just rescued. 

If her mind was working right, she’d see red fur, flattened ears, and wide eyes staring at her. She’d see the mascot grip his head and struggle with some inner fight. Her heart beat in her ears, her hand clutching the photo of her son against her chest. 

She felt herself being lifted, and that was when her consciousness abandoned her.

Chapter Text

Well this has been on the back shelf for a bit...

Gonna try and change that! Hoping to get back to work on this story, especially with all the things I have planned.

I am aware of Chapter 8's release and.... Yeah I'm not gonna go to that point! I'm capping at the end of chapter 7. I may write a Chapter 8 "What If" or dream scenario. As much as I found it interesting and wild. I am not sure how I could fit that into the story I have planned. 

But the chapter 8 mascots will appear at some point. But some story details will not be the same- especially Flumbo and Brushista's roles. Again, this all started before chapter 8!


I hope to start uploading more chapters soon. I should have enough for one or two decently long chapters soon.

I may also do post fanfics that I have in my drafts or perhaps do a side series to this- such as past things in the kindergarten or fun facts about characters (that won't spoil the story of course).