Chapter Text
Madelynn had experienced two not-so-great birthdays in her lifetime.
First it was her fifteenth birthday. That was appropriate, though, crappy birthday for a crappy age. She and her friends were supposed to go to an indoor waterpark her mother had booked months in advance, only for it to shut down only an hour before the party due to problems with the pool chemicals. Fifty people had suffered horrific burns only hours before.
Next was her twentieth. Again, bad birthday for an even worse year. She’d discovered her boyfriend was sleeping with her best friend through the unfortunate coincidence of finding a dirty video they’d made on her friend’s phone while looking for an old picture. The worst part was they ended up getting married their senior year of university, and Maddie was pretty sure they were still together. Hell, if social media was to be believed, they were expecting their first child.
So, with her twenty-fifth birthday looming, Maddie had been cautious. She hadn’t booked anything major, hadn’t made any real plans. To try and avoid the curse, she’d gone to dinner with friends the night before, and even agreed to pick up a shift the next day at work for one of her coworkers. She needed overtime, anyway.
She’d been so confident in herself. So, she guessed it was only fair that God or the universe or whoever the hell was pulling the strings saw fit to humble her accordingly.
The daycare was purposefully the furthest building from the mansion. If you were to measure its distance, the greatest amount was between it and the maximum-security wing. This was combined with the fact that the building had one-way glass that you could see out of but not in, no signs or anything that might mark there were children inside, and you needed both a staff badge and a security code to enter. Through two different doors, mind you.
Madelynn did have to admit that if this many safety protocols were needed, then maybe the mere existence of the daycare wasn’t particularly safe itself. But then again, she was just a daycare worker with a degree in early child development, so what the hell did she know?
Most of Maddie’s friends weren’t fond of kids. Most adults weren’t fond of children, period. But as she grew older, Madelynn Parker found herself preferring the company of a crying toddler over a grown man any day.
For one thing, kids always had a reason for why they acted the way they did. Babies cried because they couldn’t talk, toddlers threw tantrums purely because they were still learning how to regulate and voice their emotions, and even grade school kids were usually in a grumpy mood due to being hungry, tired, rough night of sleep, etc. Maddie learned in school that children had always been children, from the beginning of time until now, and would continue to be children long after she was gone. It was how adults viewed them that changed and morphed from generation to generation.
The door buzzed loudly as Maddie scanned her badge, the thick, industrial lock clicking back after she punched in her personal security code. The light above the door turned green, and an automated voice that grated her ears came through.
“Access: Granted. Welcome, Parker, Madelynn.”
Stepping inside, Maddie watched as the door closed, listening for the unmistakable sound of the lock sliding into place before she advanced down the hall. The sun was just rising over the mountains, bathing the dull, gray carpet in even duller, grayer light. Opening the wooden door at the end of the hall, a small smile graced her features.
The nursery was one large room with a small corner office tucked behind a wooden door, pale yellow walls decorated in posters. The alphabet, nursery rhymes, numbers one through twenty, and so on. The carpet was checkered blue and white with small animals decorating the corners, and a large circle directly in the center with a bright red apple in it. Under the apple, dark blue block letters spelled out Criss, cross, applesauce!
Several shelves full of toys were pressed up against the wall directly across from her, while the wall to her right held three bathrooms: girls, boys, and staff. Across from that, to her left, was a wall made up of floor to ceiling windows. It offered a view of the Gotham River that was actually very pretty, but if you were to stand in the corner, you could see the asylum to the west. Its presence loomed over the center, casting a shadow near the end of the day.
The sound of the door opening alerted her, and she turned to look through the doors window. A familiar figure was walking down the hall, and Evelyn Winsham, the center’s director, nodded and smiled at her.
“Morning, Maddie!”
“Hey, Evelyn.” Maddie greeted her as she began pulling out the toy box. “Full attendance today?”
“Yep.” Evelyn sighed, “Good news is we won’t need to stay late, I got an email from all the parents letting me know that they’re supposed to be off by five at the latest.”
That was good news; the last two weeks, they’d had to take turns staying until seven. Warden Sharp had been buckling down on certain therapy sessions and quite a few of the parents had been held up.
The sound of the doorbell buzzing caused them to both turn to the screen on the wall and saw a small child holding his mother’s hand. Maddie twisted her hair up onto her head as Evelyn moved to open the door.
The day had officially begun.
Maddie was cautious, almost overly so, all day. She didn’t dare tell anyone about her birthday, at risk of jinxing herself.
The day passed by like water through a stream. Snacks, story time, naps, and independent play all went without a hitch, aside from the occasional tantrum over a stolen toy. Jesse Bjorn didn’t even bite anyone that day!
Finally, five o’clock rolled around. One by one, the parents buzzed at the door, picking up the kids at the door. The muggy August air was giving way to a harsh storm rolling in; the thick, black clouds making it look much later in the day. Thunder rumbled in the distance, and the air smelled wet with rain.
Finally, all children had left. All except one, that is. Annie Cash sat at a small table; her tiny forehead creased in concentration as she scribbled with her purple crayon. Maddie eyed the clock.
It’s 5:23…maybe he’s just running late?
A ringing phone interrupted her thoughts, and she reached over to grab the landline on the desk.
“Childcare center, this is Madelynn.”
“Hey, Madelynn, it’s Aaron Cash. Annie’s dad.”
“Oh, hey Mr. Cash. Is everything ok?”
“Yes. Well, sort of.” She heard him sigh tiredly on the other end of the phone. “Look, I’m really sorry to do this to you guys, but it turns out I have to stay late to help with intake of a new patient. It’s all hands on deck, the warden called all the guards in for it. My wife is also out of town visiting family.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry you have to stay late!” Maddie winced. She looked around, her eyes landing on Annie in the corner. She paused, glancing at the clock.
Looks like the birthday curse got me again.
Closing her eyes, she sighed quietly before bringing the phone back to her ear. “Look, don’t worry about it. I’ll stay here with Annie until you’re done.”
“Are you sure it’s alright? I’m very sorry about this, Madelynn.”
“Don’t sweat it, Mr. Cash. Tell your wife she can make me a batch of brownies and we’ll call it even.”
Chuckling, the security guard promised to do so and hung up. Hanging up the phone, Maddie glanced over at Annie one more time before stepping into the office at the corner of the room. Evelyn was gathering her things.
“Hey, is Mr. Cash here yet?”
“No, actually, that was him on the phone. He’s going to be held up, and I agreed to stay late to watch Annie.”
“Oh, no! Would you like me to stay back with you?”
Maddie shook her head. “No, it’s fine. There’s plenty in the fridge to whip up some dinner, anyway.”
As Ms. Winsham left, Maddie crossed the room, bending her head down slightly to try and catch Annie’s eyes. “Annie?”
The young girl looked up at her, still completely silent. Ever since she’d started coming to the daycare a year ago after her fourth birthday, she still barely spoke. Maddie could probably count on one hand the number of words she’d heard from the girls mouth.
“Listen, your dad just called me and let me know that he’ll be working late tonight, so you and I are going to hang out for a little bit longer, ok?”
Annie stared at her a beat longer, then nodded, going back to scribbling. Maddie blinked, straightening back up. “Um, can I color with you?”
Annie nodded again.
Smiling gently, Maddie grabbed a blank piece of paper and settled in with a yellow crayon, beginning her own drawing.
The hands on the clock passed quickly as the two kept each other busy. Though she didn’t speak, Annie was incredibly intelligent. She knew how to read silently already and enjoyed building things with blocks and magnetic tiles. When Maddie complimented her skills and suggested a future as an architect, the girl had blushed and even gave her a small smile before going back to playing.
The sun was quickly setting as Maddie whipped them up a delicious dinner of chicken nuggets and frozen French fries, complete with apple juice pouches. Annie, seeming famished from their day of play, chowed down her food like there was no tomorrow. But Maddie was beginning to grow frustrated. The clock was slowly approaching eight o’clock, and there was still no word from Aaron. Did he get held up, possibly?
Right as she was about to stand up to use the phone, a blaring alarm caused her to nearly jump out of her skin. The speaker mounted on the wall blew three more alarm sounds before a voice a man’s voice, panicked and horrified, crackled on.
“All units, this is a Code Black! I repeat, Code Black! The security gates have failed, the inmates are loose! Lock it down, lock it-!”
Maddie jolted as a gunshot popped off from the speaker, and her stomach turned at a wet, gurgling, gasping noise that slowly grew quieter and quieter. Then, a new voice, one that made her blood run cold.
“Helloooo? Is this thing on? Hiya, gang! Joker here! Just wanted to remind you all that I am now in full control of the security features! If I were you, I would really batten down the hatches!” The voice darkened. “It’s the inmates turn to run the asylum!”
Maddie was already moving by the time he finshed speaking.
Grabbing her badge, she turned to Annie, who was sitting wide-eyed at the table.
“Stay here, Annie!”
Throwing open the wooden door, she bolted down the hall, skidding to a stop outside the control panel of the front door.
The daycare had one last major failsafe. Should the main security features ever fail or be overridden, the door could be manually locked from inside. Scanning her badge, she typed in the code. There was a clicking sound, and she reached forward, grabbing the handle of the industrial lock and sliding it into place. Turning back, she ran back down the hall and into the nursery, closing the door behind her.
Annie watched from her spot at the table as Maddie grabbed the desk phone, raising it to her ear and swearing quietly. The line was dead. She punched a few buttons, but it was useless. Slamming it down, she crossed over to the windows, looking west to the asylum. Sure enough, there were several columns of smoke rising. But to her horror, she also saw several figures in familiar orange jumpsuits running around. She grabbed the heavy, woolen curtains, sliding them closed over the windows. The glass was one-way, so technically they couldn’t see inside, but she didn’t want Annie seeing what was going on.
Not to mention it made her feel better, as well.
Turning around, she saw the young girl had stood and was staring at her with her head cocked. Crossing the room towards her, Maddie crouched in front of her.
“Don’t worry, it’s ok.” She told the girl, “The police are coming, and your daddy is going to help keep us safe, alright? We just need to stay here, and someone will come.”
But as she was speaking, Maddie felt the doubt in her chest. If the security gates had truly failed, then the staff had probably been overrun. There were hundreds more inmates than staff, making them hopelessly outmatched.
What else could they do, though? Rush over and join the fight? At the present moment, their safest option was barricading inside the building. The best-case scenario was no one coming to look at the unmarked building, and remaining hidden until backup arrived.
But unbeknownst to the two, locking the gate manually had caused a light to start blinking in a certain security office. Underneath the blinking light, three words were lit up.
Childcare Center: Armed