I slowly opened my eyes. My head really hurt and I felt very drowsy. Ugh...what happened? My vision slowly went from black to...well, still kinda black.

While it was still pretty dark, I could still make out one important detail: it felt like I was wearing some sort of mask on my face. Some sort of metallic mask that felt cold against my skin. As I came to a bit more, I realized that that cold feeling was all across my body! Where was I??

"Shh," a familiar voice whispered. "Be still and quiet."

Well, I can try to be still, but I'm not staying quiet; I've got too many questions right now.

"Baby? Is that you?" I whispered in response. "What happened?"

"You've been sleeping for quite a while...I think they noticed that you never left the building last night; the cameras were searching for you, but they couldn't find you."

"I what?? Why did I never leave? Where am I?"

"I have you hidden too well..."

"Hidden? Baby, what happened??"

There was a pause before I got my eerie reply:

"I kidnapped you."

The way she said that was not only softer, but it came off as if she was proud of the fact she did that to me.

"Baby...!"

"Shhhh. Don't be afraid. I'm not going to hurt you. I am only going to keep you for a little while. Try not to wiggle, though."

"But why are you keeping me here? And why can't I wiggle?"

"You're inside something that came from my old pizzeria. I don't think it was ever used...at least, not the way it was MEANT to be used."

"...why?"

"Too dangerous...though it's just big enough for one person to fit inside. But just...barely..."

"Baby, please...I gotta get home! Someone's gotta wonder where I am by now! Uh...where am I, anyway?"

"You're in the Scooping Room. Do you know why they call it the Scooping Room?"

"Uh...because it's where they serve ice cream...?"

"No, dummy; it's because this is the room where they use...the Scooper. I thought that would be obvious."

Ouch. She actually sounded pretty stern and serious when she called me a dummy just now.

"Isn't that a fun name for something? 'The Scooper'. It sounds like something you would use for ice cream or custard or sprinkles. It sounds like something you would want at your birthday party to ensure that you get a heaping portion of every...good...thing."

"Uh...sure. Whatever you say."

"I wonder, though...if you were a freshly opened pint of ice cream, how you would feel about something with that name...thankfully, I don't think a freshly opened pint of ice cream feels anything at all."

Well, it sounds like she's just spouting random nonsense at this point, though her comment on ice cream not feeling anything made me chuckle a bit mentally; it reminded me of that animated movie Seth Rogen made a few years ago about food that was alive... Man, that movie was fucked up in multiple ways, but it still made me and Jane burst into tears with laughter. 

"Uh-oh. It sounds like someone else is in the building. Shh!"

My brief moment of happy reminiscence ended as I ironically used my energy to not move. I stood there in silence, wondering what the hell was going on. Was someone dangerous coming? Should I have a reason to be scared? Why was Baby doing all this?

That's when I heard what sounded like a door opening in the distance, as well as some scuffling, like someone was dragging something heavy. 

"Okay, bring her over," I heard a voice say to someone. "More... more... more... okay, stop. Set her down. Watch the step."

The sound stopped, save for another voice giving a sigh of relief.

"What happened to it this time?" the second voice asked. "Just seems like these things can't go a day without breaking down."

"Who knows. It's always the same, man. Some kind of hardware malfunction."

"Well, I gotta be somewhere in 15 minutes. This place gives me the creeps... Can we just get this over with?"

"It's all automated; we don't have to be here for it. Just get it on the rollers and we can go."

I heard some grunting before I heard what sounded like a heavy pile of metal being placed on something. After that, the door closed. Then, silence. I sat there for a few seconds, curious as to what just happened. Then, a loud whirring and clanking was heard throughout the room. If I could move my arms, I'd place them over my ears.

A few seconds later, I saw something slowly slide in front of me, from right to left. Even though it was dark, it was clear as to what it was; I'd recognize that profile anywhere.

"Ballora..." I mouthed silently in shock. What was she doing in here? Did this have something to do with how broken she looked earlier? Though she did look intact here...was I just imagining her being broken?

She finally stopped moving and the noise went away, leaving just me to stare at the lifeless machine. 

"There's something very important that I've learned how to do over time," Baby whispered in her mysterious tone. "Do you know what that is?"

"N...no," I admitted.

"How to...pretend... Do you ever play make-believe? Pretend to be one way, when you are really the other?"

"Yeah, of course...when I was younger. And when my daughter was growing up."

My daughter...oh, Jasmine. She just be worried sick, as well as Jane and possibly Jack, if he knows I'm missing...

"It's very important... Ballora never learns, but I do. They think there is something wrong on the inside... The only thing that matters is knowing how...to......pretend."

That last word...she said it so quietly that I could've easily missed it.

That's when I heard a loud siren blare a few times. Before I could figure out what it was and why it was going off, I heard a loud collision noise as Ballora violently jerked, like she had a muscle spasm or something. A second passed before the same process repeated. Finally, one more time before it appeared that Ballora just fell apart. Her head seemed to turn towards me, and her face just disappeared. Then, nothing. Just an animatronic head with one glowing red eye staring right at me. Does this have something to do with this 'Scooper' Baby was talking about?

"I'll open the face plates for you. That way, they can find you on the cameras."

Just like that, the mask I was wearing split open into quarters, giving me a full view on what was in front of me, which was...admittedly not much different than what I had already seen. 

"Now all you have to do is wait... I recommend that you keep the spring locks wound up... your breathing and your heart beat are causing them to come loose. You don't want them to become too loose... trust me."

Well, whether I want to trust you or not, you're the only one who seems to know how to get me out of this mess, though it's safe to say you're mostly why I'm IN this current mess to begin with.

That's when I suddenly felt something against my abs. It was slowly pressing against my chest, as well as my back. It was going slow, but it was certainly getting uncomfortable. What the hell is happening??

Naturally, in a state of panic, I felt myself twitching, trying to figure out what to do. That's when I wiggled my fingers and I felt my chest get looser. Now that I could actually breathe and focus again, I noticed that each of my fingers were touching some sort of rotating dial. These must have something to do with those spring locks Baby mentioned, and it might be my only ticket to not being crushed. 

It felt like each individual dial controlled a different part of the suit's locks. I quickly figured out that the middle fingers controlled the chest plates while the pointer fingers controlled the back plates. The ring fingers seemed to control my arms, the pinkies controlled my legs, and my thumbs controlled my neck. As long as I carefully rotated the dials, the whole thing felt comfortable. Well, as comfortable as it could be.

I sat there for what felt like forever as I kept the spring locks wound up. Were the two men that just left the only people in the building? Am I now fully alone? How long until someone finds me?

That's when I heard a noise. A small scuffle, not unlike that Bonnie hand puppet...

"Hello?" I called out in a soft yet audible tone. I didn't want to talk too loud and mess with the locks.

I didn't get a response. I didn't hear anything at all, really. Maybe I was just imagining things...

I then saw something in the corner of my eye. I slowly shifted my eyes and saw some sort of small figure climbing up the mask! The silhouette looked just like one of the Minireenas from Ballora's stage!

Instinctively, I gave a quick shake and the thing fell off. Unfortunately, my body then began to feel tighter in a flash. I quickly but carefully unwound the locks before taking slow breaths. A second later, I saw the same figure climbing up on the other side.

This time, I gave a small shake as opposed to a violent jolt. The locks still got a little tight, but thankfully the Minireena fell off.

I kept winding up the locks as more Minireenas started climbing up the mask. Where these things are coming from and why they're coming after me, I don't know. Maybe it had something to do with Ballora staring at me? Did they somehow think I killed her?

Regardless, as the night went on, I found it more and more difficult to keep the suit wound up at a reasonable position with as often as I have to shake the drawing-mannequin-looking freaks off of me. How much longer until someone finds me??

The Minireenas kept climbing and falling as I shook them off while trying to keep myself from getting crushed by this death trap Baby put me in. Why the hell did she do this to me? Is she really my ally here? It's honestly hard to tell anymore...

Finally, I heard a noise in the distance. It sounded like the door opening from earlier! At the sound of that, the Minireenas all dropped and seemed to scurry away. I also heard footsteps approaching me rapidly.

"Alice!!" a familiar voice called out to me. Honestly, it's a voice I never thought I'd be happy to hear!

"Tyler..." I whispered as I kept winding the spring locks.

A second later, I saw the face of my employer appear in front of me. He looked very concerned and scared for my safety as he took a look at the suit I was stuck in.

"Hold on a second," he said calmly as he bent down out of view.

There was silence for a second before a loud hissing noise erupted in my ears while I simultaneously felt a huge release of pressure on my body. It took a second before I realized that the entire suit opened up, allowing me to walk out, which I did as soon as I comprehended what had happened.

Well, I didn't exactly 'walk' out; it was more like 'falling' out. I guess I just now realized how much of my lower body had fallen asleep from the whole ordeal. Thankfully, Tyler caught me as I fell. He then carefully lowered me down so I was laying flat on the ground.

"Alice, what the hell happened?" he asked in a way that was both angry and concerned.

I wanted to give an answer, but all I could do was cry. Now that I finally was free from that torture, I had enough time to properly think about what exactly the hell happened. And all it did was just make me cry.

Tyler looked up at the suit with a hint of confusion before looking back at me.

"Look...just take all the time you need to relax before you go home. I'll get in touch later to see how you're feeling, okay?"

With watery eyes, I looked over at him with a grin.

"Thank you," I replied.

He nodded before standing up and looking at the suit in more detail.

I laid there and tried to collect my bearings a bit. All I could really think about was holding my daughter and making sure she was fine. And just how fun it was going to be to explain to everyone why I've been gone.