Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Prologue: The Train Station Accident

October 16th, 1999, Saturday

It was already pretty late night, as he was walking out of the entrance, and exit at the same time, of the familiar place he worked for six years already. Even, when he wasn't one of the people, who were the stars of the show, not even being the Main Character of the show, his role was still important. As he was the only one, who had the contract with many of the factories. Through trains, the factories would always send their creations to that very place, even writing a little "thank you" on the little paper, due to them being thankful for someone bothering to pay them lots of money just for creating and delivering all those important stuff needed to maintain that place. Not only food would be carried over through trains, but also toys for the animal Toons, such as Pebble and Coal, props for the upcoming episodes, decorations for the events taking place there and even, which would rarely happen, arrive with a box full of tapes featuring classics from the 30s and 40s era of cartoons.

Though, the last ones were for him and Dandy only.

As most Toons were not focused on that era of animation industry for various reasons. One of them was because they were already creating a cartoon for thousands of people to watch on their private TVs, with the VHS tapes always releasing with the compilation of various episodes. Some even speculated, that soon enough the manufactory responsible for the VHS tapes would release the "Complete X Season" of their little show, which as the title suggested, would feature all the episodes from a selected season. Due to him not having the contact with the creators of those VHS tapes, as he was more concerned over delivering important stuff to the building and keeping the place maintained, he was unaware if they were already making those compilations or not. Otherwise, others preferred to watch the cartoons, if they even wanted to watch one, from 50s, 60s or even — from 70s! It didn't matter if they were the first attempts at TV series or not, they just preferred those cartoons from that period of time.

And that was it.

Even then, it didn't matter to him at all. As he cared more about others' safety and well-being than some tapes related to the show they were creating or those cartoons they requested him to try to get, whenever the time for him to make order supplies would come. The number one priority for him was keeping others safe and making sure the place wouldn't fall apart. Which, if someone asked him how he often felt, he would definitely answer with one word: "exhaustion". As not only having to count how many X edible items were left to consume, but also hearing others' begging for anything personal, like for the new boxes gloves, for the new tie or bow or even for books, while writing it all down, was pretty much draining his energy the most. Making him often fall asleep as quickly as he just lied on the bed.

Despite him doing all of that effort to ensure everyone's healthy and well, he didn't apply for such a job at the Gardenview Educational Center and Museum. Originally, when the show was just being drafted by two people — Mrs. Keen and Mrs. Walton, with the auditions being hold for years and years, he applied for the role of "The Star of The Show's Closest Friend", which not only would make him be able to appear in the episodes his closest friend — Dandy, but also he could get the fame and popularity as all those stars would get. Or even, if he would be less popular than Dandy, he would still be considered "popular" by being her closest friend, who knew almost all her secrets, including the one of her hiding her real gender from others. Though, with him being always the type of person to do more than one thing, he applied for another role — "Technician", which he thought would be a role within the show. It didn't even specify what it meant, but out of all other options being available, it was the most plausible for him.

And then, the results came in and, instead of getting his first option from the auditions, he became the "Technician". With him learning, it was Astro, who got his first applied role, in spite of the fact he wasn't even that close to Dandy as he was to her! Of course, both him and Astro were her childhood friends, but he was definitely closer to her than that moon would ever be! Oh, he wished to be her closest friend! He wished he was living up to that role and not just making things up, completely omitting him from all the conversations he had with others, too!

Not even Bobette was that secretive about him being her childhood friend!

Despite all the anger he had towards Astro, he accepted the role he got, but still making bitter remarks about how he deserved to be in the show. Not to mention how his childhood friends — Bobette, Ginger and Rudie were all put into the category of being just for Christmas period. So, it wasn't just him being screwed over by the auditions. At least, that was how he interpreted it, in all honestly.

Even, after all those years had passed, he still was bitter over the results and how his childhood friends were screwed over it. However, it was there for more than one reason, as he started to grow more and more concerned over Dandy. With her spending more time with Astro, his heart was filled with odd anxiety. Yes, he knew the moon well, he knew his pet, Oster, well as well. They were all childhood friends, who would always do various activities together outside school, such as doing group projects, fishing, playing games and more. Despite it, he could still feel something was so off about the moon.

Astro came out as a shy, often tired, but otherwise friendly moon, whose most memorable things he'd often do were related to him sleeping in odd places, that were, in no way, meant to sleep. Such as inside one of many trains, that would come and go. It happened so various times, that the clock-like Toon would wonder if he secretly wanted to drop everything and leave such place. Though, it seemed unlikely, because of how Astro seemingly got along with others, specifically with Shelly, who he could tell had…

Closer relationship than friendship.

Of course, he wasn't supposed to know that, he just learnt about it accidentally, when he was going to check on the train, only to see those holding hands. It could mean nothing, because lots of friends hold hands, but the way they held it looked more like the way the couples would hold hands.

He shook his head, trying to forget about the entire thing.

Why was he even so interested in others' relationships?!

He quickly made his mind focus on Astro and Astro only, once more, as he remembered more about him. Due to him having a feeling, that the Astro everyone knew about, wasn't the real Astro, but instead a fa-

Suddenly, his eyes found himself near the same train station, where he would find that train with supplies. Something was immediately off, because that specific train wasn't there. He was simply met with nothingness with any sort of light there barely making him notice the empty rails he was welcomed with.

It, obviously, made his already exhausted mind worse.

'It was supposed to already be there', he thought to himself, stomping onto the ground, as he released frustration about it.

Great, not only he wasted all the time to get there, while he could already be sleeping, but also the train was late! Worst of all, he didn't even receive any letters or any other sort of messages regarding the fact, that it would arrive late!

The owners of the train were incompetent! Were imbeciles, who would care less about being late than to make sure the Gardenview Center would be well-supplied with the goods from various factories!

Idiots!

TOTAL IDIOTS!

TODAL JOKES OF PROFESSIONAL TRAIN OWNERS!

As his whisker-like clock hands started to spin uncontrollably, making lots and lots of noises, with his face becoming redder and redder, suddenly…

He stood still, as he heard a noise. Coming from the depths of the train station.

It sounded like a mix between a cat meowing and a dog howling. At least in his perspective, because that was the first time he ever heard such noise. He didn't shake, at first, with him trying to find logical explanations about it. At first, he suspected it could be Pebble, somehow, leaving his owner's room and gettingv on there.

Which, then, he had to slap himself, remembering how Dandy always locked her room on key, to make sure her pet wouldn't escape.

Then, he suspected Coal could be making those noises, only to realise the Workshop room was closed, too.

Then, the suspect would fall onto Oster, Astro's beloved plushie cat, who appeared to be a mix between a Maine Coon and a lynx. Only for him to realise, it couldn't be him making those noises, as he didn't know how to mimic the dogs' howling.

Wait, then why did he suspect the two dogs? They couldn't mimic the cat's meowing as well!

At that point, what was he even thinking?!

Was he really that desperate to find a reasonable reason behind the absurdity of the situation? That the sound had to be from someone he was familiar with? Or maybe it was related to him being under the strong feeling called fear?

No, he shook his head, once more.

That sounds too absurdist, even for Toons' entire existence!

He wasn't afraid of the noise or anything, at all! He was just taken off guard, with the train not arriving at time and then — with the noise being heard!

Despite that, he felt uneasy with the entire thing going on. He didn't want to start making accusations, that had no ground in reality, but at the same time that part of his mind wanted him to shout the most absurd and unlogical explanations, that he could ever create in the first place. Though, his more reasonable side, that was in control for most of the time, fought against the idealistic and, kind of, romanticist mindset, being fully aware they couldn't be true at all. Because, let's all be honest, despite him and all his co-workers, whom some of them were friends with him, being Toons, there was a line regarding reality not to be crossed under any circumstances.

That line was related to how no mythological beasts, no monsters, unless they were Toons, no legendary creatures, were real. Just because Cosmo could heal others using his hearts, just because of Connie's entire existence being based on her being a ghost, just because of Astro being a moon-like creature with bug-like characteristics, it didn't mean everything fantasy-like had to exist.

Unless, he was forgetting something important, that could make his own line not exist at all or be his own creation.

As he attempted to think about it, to find any sort of logical explanation, another set of noises could be heard within the train station.

As if something or someone making them, was actually there. On the train station. Which he already suspected it was there, with the louder noises already confirming his theory he had in mind.

There was one problem, though.

Who or what was even the source of the entire thing?

Was it related to the train getting delayed, with no information about it at all? Not even a single note from the driver or the company, that owned the trains?

Or maybe it was something completely different?

Needless to say, he felt like he had to solve the problem on his own. While, technically, he could talk about his experience with the owners of the Gardenview Center, Delilah Keen and Arthur Walton and try to find the source of the problems with their help, he had a feeling it was on him and him only.

He was the "Technician" of the entire building, after all. Someone, who took care of others, despite not being their friends.

And despite him wanting to hurt some of them, especially Shrimpo-

He immediately shook his head.

No, don't think about that bully of a Toon! Focus on finding the source of all noises and, if possible, solve it before it's too late! Maybe you will even find something regarding the delay of the train?

As he had all those thoughts inside him, he immediately decided to get further down the train station. In spite of him being all exhausted, he wanted to solve it. He was the one, who helped maintain the place, even when he didn't fill the dream of being Dandy's closest friend on the TV for everyone to see. Even, when his dreams fell apart, he couldn't just leave the place or let it fall into chaos.

He had to solve the problem on his own.

No. Matter. What.

Just hearing the last three words echoing inside his clock-like made him not only go faster, but also constantly look around. As he knew how a careless behaviour could lead to his own and the entire building's demise. He knew from the histories of various people, that if he just ignored any sort of warnings about the potential trouble ahead of him, he could fall down the hole, get struck by something dangerous or something way worse than that. While, he wasn't a celebrity figure, as the people visiting the Gardenview Center never heard of him, with others referring to him as either "the Janitor" or "the Technician", he knew he was still important in the entire story of the building.

As he looked around, he started to notice how the train station appeared to be well-mainted. While he, alongside other Toons, were not the ones keeping the place running, it was still looking so clean, with no signs of neglect appearing there. Not even on the walls, which were painted in various colours, such as maroon, green, yellow, orange, red. Some could say they were painted in colours of rainbows, which would be easily debunked due to the maroon colour being there. Though, for the most stubborn people, maroon and red were one and the same, which would cause other arguments about whether or not separating them was stupid.

If only those people knew, that the maroon colour was a shade of red. Though, it was a combination between red and brown, due to the maroon colour having brownish accent.

Either way, just looking at the complicated rainbow-coloured train station hall made him appreciate all the efforts to keep that section all clean and running. While he was still bitter over the delay of the train with all the must needed goods, he couldn't help but be a bit understanding for all the hard-working people maintaining the entire section of that place. Though, just thinking about them made him wonder if they could have heard that noise, like how he heard it.

On one hand, it was impossible to think he was the only one, who could've heard that sort of noise. Because, if that noise was made by either a person, like an anthropomorphic Toon or an animal, then it couldn't be brushed aside, as if it was nothing. They would have to try to find the source of it and then — tell the Gardenview Center about, possible, troubles and confusions related to the source of those noises.

On the other side, as he mentioned earlier, if the staff of train station did hear the noise, he and others would already know about it. Not just him learning about it now. However, there was also a possibility of those staff members not having as great hearing abilities as him, which made him slap himself mentally.

Of course, humans might have a bit weaker hearing skills unlike Toons, but they could still hear lots of things, such as-

Out of nowhere, he stepped on something, causing it to make various sounds. The sounds, as he could describe them, sounded like something was made from metal. His sight moved down, with them immediately becoming wider. Backing away, he held his breath as he couldn't believe what he saw.

As his heart beat faster, his eyes saw a flashlight lying on the puddle of blood. Being covered in it. Being dirty from it. His mind immediately came to conclusion, in spite of horror he was enduring, that someone before him heard the noises and attempted to investigate it.

Unfortunately for whoever tried to do it, they were immediately attacked by someone, with the "proof" being a bloodstained flashlight. Out of morbid twist of fate, it wasn't even turned off. No, it was still turned on, giving him more "light" on his way, not only giving him a way better view on the hallway, but also the blood marks leading somewhere.

Under normal circumstances, if it was some sort of a sick twisted joke pulled by anyone at the Gardenview Center, he would brush it off and follow the supposedly "blood marks", not worrying about any sort of danger being there. It would always turn out to be a joke pulled out by the jokesters of the building, who used ketchup to simulate blood.

However, it was neither normal circumstance nor it was ketchup.

As he could sniff, in spite of him not exactly having a noise, he could smell iron. Which, from what he read from one of many Brightney's books, that was how blood smelled like. Completely aware of how weird it was, he knew that sort of knowledge made him be aware it was not ketchup. As ketchup smelled differently, with it smelling and tasting like a bunch of smashed tomatoes and various spices put into it.

With that sort of realisation, he was stuck in such a place, completely shocked. At first he assumed the noises came from something or someone harmless, who could be begging for anything. Food, water, friends, anything!

With the discovery, the image became way more sinister, with the noises coming from either someone or something, who was as dangerous as any other dangerous animals or people to ever walk on the Earth.

And the evidence was clear as any obvious knowledge — someone got killed by that thing. Or someone, he was still unsure who or what exactly caused the entire thing. Whoever or whatever it was, it wasn't harmless.

It was dangerous.

His internal insticts were telling him to leave the arena, report the entire thing to either Mr. Walton, Mrs. Keen or the train station staff or even to the cops and wait for the results. However, his feelings and beliefs were telling him to go investigate it, carefully explore the rest of the station, find the one behind it and then — make notes and think later about what to do about it.

Those two sides were fighting each other brutally, arguing over who was right and who was wrong. The "rational side", as he would call his insticts, was arguing over the insanity of going after the blood marks, due to someone getting killed. While the "idealistic side" as he would call his beliefs, was arguing over the fact, that he, unlike whoever got killed, would be extremely careful to not end up as that unlucky person. Both sides had great points, but he couldn't stand there and analise everything perfectly.

As, whoever or whatever caused the bloody mess, could find him and make even bloodier and uglier mess, than how it was before.

So, in spite of him being overall rational person, as he would describe himself, he decided to follow the blood marks. With the rest, he could figure it later, doing anything else. Then, his mind told him something — to grab the dirty flashlight and use it to direct himself onto the "bloody path", as he started to call the entire bloodstained pavement.

Wondering about why he should do that, he quickly realised how dull and how the poor lighted the entire hallway was. How he barely saw anything. The only exceptions being the colours of the walls on the train station and no sight of the goods train being there. However, his other side was telling him not to pick up a dirty object, especially with it being covered in human blood. Human blood, because Toons had colourful blood and it didn't smell like iron at all. It smelled rather like, oddly, candies, than iron.

Either way, he silenced that voice and, carefully, picked up the dirty flashlight. A lot of blood dripped down onto his hands, making him almost gag.

Ughh!

The flashlight was so dirty and so smelly, that he wondered if he should have even pick up in the first place. Only for him to realise something.

The blood was still flesh, due to it immediately causing some of it to fall onto him. It made him disturbed. Not scared. Disturbed and taken away.

To put it shortly, a human, it didn't matter where they worked or if they were a client in the Gardenview Center or not, heard the noises and decided to follow them. Only for them to get attacked by whatever or whoever made them, with the only signs of them ever existing being that flashlight covered in their own blood and blood marks on the pavement. If someone asked him how morbid the entire thing was, he would definitely respond with it reminding him of classic stories about murder mysteries.

Only, in that case, he wasn't any sort of detective and the case wasn't reported to him. He just found it. And, he could become the next victim, a "meal" to that thing if he wasn't careful enough. Not speaking at all was the only thing, that could make it less possible to make.

Even, when he did want to speak, he had to keep his mouth shut.

Then, with him possibly doing everything, before he continued the odd and morbid journey towards finding the case for everything, he used the flashlight to highlight the blood marks and then — slowly followed them. Attempting to make as less noises as possible. Though, a part of him wanted to completely be quiet, only for him to realise he was no cat.

He couldn't just be quiet, as he was still making noises, when walking. Though, not walking too fast or talking reduced the noises made.

'It's still better than nothing', he thought to himself, 'If I want to ever learn the truth behind the entire case of things, I have to try to be as quiet as possible', as he reassured himself, he would look around.

Trying to not only get familiar with that part of the train station, but also to keep himself aware of everything. He had to be constantly cautious, as any suspicious element, even as small as louder and louder noises, could mean danger. And, if he wanted to do anything about that thing, he had to make it out alive first.

It did make him feel like he was in some sort of thriller, with him taking the role of a detective and whoever or whatever caused the mess to happen, being the culprit. With the human taking place of an unfortunately victim of circumstances. Though, he would shake his head. No, it was nothing like l;iving in the world of thrillers. He didn't get the job of solving the mystery, he just found it.

The human couldn't be just a flat character, created by whoever'd write all those thrillers, to put in place of the victim. They had to have a family, a job, beloved friends, beloved pets, anything! And it was taken from them just because of that sick twisted individual, who made those noises to lure them in its trap. Thinking about it made him feel awful for the human, even when he didn't meet them at all.

As, like how he thought before, unlike in thrillers, where victims to murder cases were flat characters created to move the plot forward, the human, who died, was complex. Everyone was complex, as he would often remark. Even the ones, who appear to not be complex, they still had hidden depths.

Even Shrimpo-

No…

No!

How did he even reach such conclusion?!

It wasn't supposed to happen, at all! He was just supposed to conclude, that the way the writers of most thrillers make the victims of various murders just flat characters, with no personality of even any tiny bit of backstory. With the conclusion being supposed to be about how authors should try to make them a bit deeper! Not concluding that Shrimpo, out of everyone, could have any sort of depth! What was he even on?!

Did he even feel anything, other than hidden hatred, for that shrimp?!

Or was it because of the nature of the very situation he found himself in?!

Aghh!

Everything wasn't right, at all! Why, out of all people, he had to come to Shrimpo?! WHY?!

Then, he took a depth breath. Breathe in. Out.

Repeat it 10 more times.

He couldn't lose his mind at that moment, as he could become an easier "prey" to hunt on by that thing being in the train station. Keeping his mind away from all the thoughts and conclusions, that could get him on very high notes, was the best option out of everything. If he wanted to be able to tell the cruel tale about a maniacal thing being hid somewhere in the train station, he had to work hard for this.

With no ifs and buts.

As he stood there, the only other unusual thing he saw, excluding the scarlet marks on the ground, was a poster. At first, he suspected it could be a poster related to Gardenview Center, as he could see various types of them being almost everywhere outside the building. However, as he brought the light on it, it turned out to be an advertisement for a bakery called "All Sweets 'n' Nice", with it having a well-drawn picture of the bakery and various words encouraging people to check it out, which he did hear the name from Cosmo from time to time.

At that time, he assumed it was just some sort of fictional place he made up. It turned out, however, to be all real. Well, maybe he could try to check it out to see if the baking there was way better than Cosmo's? Maybe, but he had to deal with other things first before he could even think of the future.

After checking that poster, he brought the light again on the pavement and then — walked further and further, still keeping calm and silent. Despite the emotions, that were running inside him, despite the frightening atmosphere of the entire thing, he still kept himself composed. At least outside, as inside he was completely off the tracks, with all his sides belittling each other for the entire thing. One of them was literally telling him, that he should have just called the cops to check the entire thing out, with another side telling him he should have just tell the owners of the Gardenview Center.

Despite his insides being so in disharmony, he still tried to not say anything outloud. Not even the silent "shut up!", as the thing could have excellent hearing skills, which could doom him quickly. And who would even find his remains, as no one really checked the train stations, unless their relatives would come there and see them?

Would they even notice him being gone?

He slapped himself mentally.

Of course, idiot! They would notice him being gone, because of no one else being responsible for goods train coming there with important supplies for them! They would definitely try to find him.

However, they could become the next victims of the thing, if they ever decided to find his remains. Or maybe even-

No.

NO!

Stop thinking about "what ifs" scenarios and focus on present! As it was the most important thing to focus on!

Yes, he had to ignore all those thoughts, as they not only were dooming him from the start, telling him he could die. Even with the fact, that he was aware of the possibility of surviving the encounter with the unknown thing, all those thoughts presenting "what ifs" and alternative scenarios, were all distracting, causing his concentration to get worse, with the thoughts of getting killed brutally attempting to overcame him. Ignoring all those ideas, in spire of everything happening around him, was the best option.

Holding his golden chain, that was attached to his head, he attempted to focus on the path of bloodthirsty thing. While the blood marks became less and less, he still could feel the iron aroma in the air, alongside a new type of scent he could sense. It wasn't more iron-like smell. The scent was like something was decomposing, as if the decaying flies landed onto the body and started to consume the leftovers whole. However, it didn't match the speculation he created inside his head — that the thing killed a human, due to the blood colour being scarlet red, and, possibly, dragged it somewhere. Though, there was a possibility of that thing just leaving the body behind and due to how it was pretty damp in the train station, the body could start decomposing. Allowing for that sort of aroma to even exist in the first place.

His speculations could be wrong, as while he did read a thing or two about how human bodies worked, his reasoning for the process of decomposing could be factually wrong. Either way, he couldn't allow any sort of distraction to happen any longer, with him noticing another poster of sort hanging on the wall. Next to him.

That time, he planned to avoid looking at the poster, with his cautiousness being at the highest level. Though, even without the light he could see it promoting some sort of activity outside the train station. At first, he couldn't recognise what was exactly supposed to be on it, due to the incredible poor quality of the poster. Only to soon learn it had to represent some sort of Aqua Park.

It surprised him.

'Odd', he thought to himself, as he passed the poster, 'There are no Aqua Parks where we live… Unless they build one', as he attempted to explain the existence of the poster, he suddenly stopped himself.

Not only he saw the little train stop, where people could wait for their respectful trains to travel from somewhere, with one long bench being as clean as ever, but also he noticed another thing. The blood marks, while they ended exactly near the train stop, they seemed to go to the left. Straight to the back alley. At first, his clock-like hands moved around, showing his uncertanity and nervousness about whether he should check there or just leave the place, inform the higher ups about what he witnessed and then — go to sleep.

Shaking his head, he immediately dismissed that option. He was at the end game of searching the source to all problems, right at his feet. Abandoning it right away, without coming to clear conclusion would mean all the things he did were, ultimately, in vain. He didn't want them to end up being in vain, at all. The clock man went to the back alley, with him still holding the flashlight as tight as before, no matter how much his inner parts were disgusted at him holding a bloodstained object.

The back alley, at first, appeared to be a typical back alley, with various grafittis, trash bins and newspapers being presented, but something was so off about it. With the only reason being the fact, that there were more and more blood marks, almost creating a puddle full of blood. He felt even more disgusted at himself for stepping on it, with there being little to no way to avoid stepping on such liquid. However, what made his heart drop, was how he saw a hand.

A human hand, to be specific.

Not only it had bitten marks there and there, revealing all the muscles and even — a broken bone out for everyone to see, but also it had a part of the clothes the human wore, as they had encounter with that thing. At first, he wanted to to think he was dreaming, that it was all a nightmare he was going to wake up soon from.

It wasn't a nightmare, though, as he could still see a segment of the brown sleeve shirt, bloodstained from the blood. Making it clear who the unfortunate human was to get killed by that thing.

It wasn't a random human, who he had no connection with whatsoever.

It was Mrs. Mendez, or rather — Shanon Mendez, as that was her full name. She's Shelly's Toon Handler.

The one he had talked with a lot of times before.

The one, who always cared about her assigned Toon. The one, who would always be cheerful and curious about various things. He remembered how today, in morning, she said she was going to buy Shelly a dinosaurs-focused book to get new material to use during her shows for children.

And while he saw her later that day, giving her that book to Shelly, he didn't see her at all. At that time, he brushed it off, thinking nothing of it. Because she had a life outside of being a Toon Handler, so obviously she could be out somewhere. Maybe talking with friends or anything like that!

That wasn't the case, at all.

As she heard the noises, tried to investigate, but failed and got killed as a result.

The blood, it was as fresh as ever, so she had to leave Gardenview Center at night or maybe — she left it earlier and, while returning, heard the noise, decided to investigate, failed and got killed. Brutally. His mind was attempting to imagine how her body looked like, only for him to hold his head for a brief moment and then — focus on getting further and further. Even, when his stomach was telling him it was going to be ugly.

Even, when his mind was telling him, that Shanon's corpse was going to be beyond decomposed or even — beyond recognisable.

He still kept going. The journey to find out the truth was no longer about figuring out what was exactlu going on, but to find the culprit of Mrs. Mendez's killer and then — do anything in his power to not allow anything like that to happen, again.

Puddles of blood were getting worse and worse, the smell of iron was overwhelming, with him having various small blackouts of mind. He could even see a rusted-like blood on the walls, one of them literally destroying a poster. It was beyond recognisable, due to the liquid being on it. Even then, he couldn't stop but to go further and further, until he heard more and more noises.

The noises, unlike how he heard them earlier, sounded much less like dogs' howling, but more like cats' hissing. Giving him an idea who or what could exactly be doing that. Though, even with that in mind, he knew he was getting closer and closer.

Maybe too closer, actually.

He should hide somewhere and try to see an entire picture in some way or another. That being thought, soon enough he saw a big trash container.

'That's a great place to hide behind', as he thought, he immediately hid behind, with the noises becoming way louder.

As if that thing noticed him. He didn't care at all, though, as he peaked off from the place he hide, using the flashlight to see exactly what was going on.

Only to almost drop it, as he saw, possibly, the grossiest and the most gruesome thing he had ever seen in his entire life.

A big, possibly around his size, Maine Coon-like plushie-like cat was devouring already decomposed Shelly's Toon Handler's body. He was surprised, as he knew Mrs. Mendez couldn't die days ago. She died that day. Though, there was a possibility, that the monster could put all the maggots inside her corpse to make it decompose faster.

Blood was splattered everywhere. The corpse, oh if he could have forgot the sign of it, he would. As the head was already gone, with segments of her brain being everywhere, as if the beast-looking cat decided to treat it like a burger and smashed it in pieces. Possibly using a mouth… Or mouths? As he soon noticed how there was a big mouth in the monstrous cat's belly, too. Even with the black-tentacle tongue being out as well. The same type of it would stick out from that monstrous cat's "true" mouth, with it all having the leftovers from the corpse. Even the maggots, that it ate as if it was nothing.

The body itself had lots of claw-like marks, with them all being deep enough for him to see even the smallest tip of cracked up bones, that were still barely attached to the meat. The claws itself, that were out of the bloodstained white paws, were as bloodstained as the paws. However, the worst thing was the fact the uniform of Mrs. Mendez was… Deeply a part of the corpse. It was so attached to it, that he could see segments of it everywhere, with the beasts having no problem eating the meat with it. As if its' stomach could handle it.

He didn't want to think about it, at all.

The legs and the arms were, from the evidence of one of the arms being in the hallway, gone, too. He could see the smashed legs on the dead end's wall, as if the cat-like beast decided to hit the legs multiple times at the wall, to see if something would come out of it. Or not. Just imagining the scene itself made Dyle, as it was the clock man's name, almost gag. At that moment, though, making the smallest bits of noises could equal quick death, with him knowing how the beast even treated the ones it killed.

Despite those reactions his body and mind were producing, he still kept looking at the gruesome scene of a crime. The stomach of Mrs. Mendez was fully opened, with all the guts, kidneys, liver, and heart being completely out of it and ending up either inside the beast-like cat plushie's mouths or even being smashed there and there. With the blueish, a bit purplish as well, beast-looking cat being as proud as ever.

The entire scene was driving him insane, with him barely holding himself together. The sweet and caring Toon Handler, who would always be there for her assigned Toon, was gone. And the only thing left of her was decomposed body, with that beast-looking cat being at top of her, treating her as nothing, but a prey it caught.

A beast-looking plushie cat.

As he repeated that sentence, he suddenly started to notice more and more details on that thing, not just the ones he already saw earlier. Not only noticing the cats' mouth, the tip of its tail, its belly and its paw being all white, though dirty from blood, not just the eyes being black with small pupils producing a light, but also one detail, that made him remember another plushie cat he'd see.

It had space-related, mostly stars-shaped, stickers in the lightest shade of purple on its entire body. The only other cat, that had it, was…

Oster!

Astro's cat!

The cat he would always be seen with Astro, no matter if they were a part of the show or if it was in a more casual way. Those two would almost always be seen together, whenever they were performing or not. With Astro acting like the "shy, unsure and stuttering" one, with him having a feeling it was all an act, while Oster acted like the super cool and and amazing friend, that was so overconfident over his possibilities, which often caused lots of messy situations to happen. Such as the one, where Oster attempted to host a show without his owner, only for him not knowing how to the lights, the reflectors and how to decorate the stage, leading to a complete disaster. Despite the deep flaws, Oster was pretty clever, smart kitty, with him showing it through the way he spoke. Unlike Pebble and Coal, Oster could speak, with the explanation why he could speak being a complete mystery to him and others.

Just thinking about those things related to that plushie cat, while looking at the monstrous plushie cat, he could see other similarities between them. No, "similarities" would imply there were major differences between them, because, excluding the eyes, the size and the mouth on the stomach, with the tongues being tentacle-like, there were no differences between them.

Which, in return, shocked him.

Both the cats shared:

• the same pattern of fur,

• the same placement of stickers on their bodies,

• the claws being all black and maybe made from metal.

And while, normally, he would try to argue against about something, such as there being no way those two could be so similar to each other, because there were two similar people in the entire world, in that case he couldn't.

Oster and that monstrous cat had almost zero differences.

They weren't just "similar".

They were one and the same, as he dreadfully concluded.

No!

NO!

Why did he immediately conclude, that the friendly and a bit clumsy, but otherwise smart, Oster could be the same monstrous cat, that literally cost the life of the Toon Handler — Sharon Mendez?! He wasn't an idiot to literally accept the most illogical and weird outcomes, he was a rational person!

It had to be a coindence, that the monstrous-looking plushie cat was almost a 1:1 copy of Oster!

It had to be!

There was no way those two were the same person! If they were, then it would imply Oster could become a monstrous figure!

And if he could become one, then there had to be reason why he could become one!

And if there was reason for it, then-

Suddenly, the monstrous-looking plushie cat's eyes looked at him. Immediately, he stoped peaking out of the trash contenner, with him attempting to calm his breathing down. How did that monstrous figure even spotted him?!

He was as silent as he could be!

Only to realise, that maybe, just maybe, starring too long on that creature could alert it of someone else's presence. A potential prey, if he had to be specific how it could see him.

Knowing, there was no time to waste, he started to slowly head to the exit of the back alley, with him still holding the flashlight tightly. All, while he could hear the hisses and other noises the beast was making. Not hearing any steps alerted him the most, because it meant, that, despite the monstrous-looking cat having out claws, it still could make as silent steps as any other could could.

Besides Scraps, but she wasn't exactly a cat. Just cat-looking for her own good.

He didn't bother to look back at all, because he knew, if he looked back he could immediately be met with that ugly bloodstained faces of that thing, possibly risking getting his face ripped out and then — smashed into multiple pieces.

'Don't look back', he thought to himself, as he started to get faster, knowing he could suddenly get attacked behind his own back, 'Don't ever look back. You have only one life, cats have nine of it. Don't waste your only chance to even live', as he tried to boast his own motivation for survival, he suddenly felt something almost touching him.

The beast was close to him!

As a result, he found himself completely running on his feet, with the hissing and other noises getting louder and louder, with the beast attempting to get him at any moment, at any chance it could get. There was no time for distraction — he ignored all the posters he could see, the walls, the blood marks, the hand of Mrs. Mendez, all his thoughts. Everything.

He had everything to lose, if he got himself distracted too much from surviving the encounter — his job, his co-workers, being able to tell the story to others. The adrenaline was so high due to all those reasons, that he would often try to slow down the beast, with him hiding getting inside the train stop, only for him to leave it immediately. Which resulted in the beast making frustrated noises, as it expected him to be hiding under the bench.

Ha, that beast wasn't as clever as Oster!

So, it couldn't be him!

Though, it looked too much like him and-

No!

Under no circumstances should be get distracted! Due to gat, he was running so fast, that he didn't care if someone would see him that way. Or if anyone even saw the entire thing going down. That didn't matter at that moment, because what mattered to him was to make it out alive.

Even, when he felt exhaustion from running, even when his mind was going completely nuts, he still kept running, he still kept himself on feet. Up until, he saw the familiar entrance.

The entrance to Gardenview Center!

Immediately, all his focus was on getting inside, no matter what. Due to the high level of adrenaline, mixed with his own determination of surviving, he stormed inside. No looking back, he immediately ran to the tree and hid behind it. As he knew, that he couldn't close the entrance at all, because of the possibility of the beast catching him and murdering him in cold blood.

Just like poor Mrs. Mendez.

As he was panting, his legs, who carried him all the way there, collapsed. Alongside them, the rest of him collapsed as well. With the pants not stopping, his heart beat started to beat rapidbly. As well as his clock hands were moving rapidly, producing lots of clock-like noises. He attempted to silence both things, knowing how that monstrous plushie cat could suddenly attach him, could rip him apart, could put those maggots inside him, to make his body decompose, could do anything. Just because it saw him as its prey.

All the attempts were in vain, as the amount of things happening at once were too much for him to handle. The feelings, the emotions — they were too much for the poor clock man to handle. Worst of all, he couldn't stop them at all, whether he wanted it or not.

Whether he really wanted to make them go away or not.

He felt useless, really useless. All he wanted to check if the goods train had arrived, not to discover lots of cruesome things happening at once. The Oster-looking monstrous plushie cat, Mrs. Mendez's decomposed and eaten body, getting chased down and now being in open place for that thing to catch him there.

Despite feeling so powerless, just thinking of simply giving up was the last thing he wanted to do. He didn't become the "Technician" for nothing, after all! Barely getting up, he tried his best to hid better than he did before. Though, the clock-like noises from him didn't stop, and neither did the heavy breathing. Well, that was the result of him running away from a people eating plushie cat, after all.

As he was standing behind the tree, with the attempts to calm himself down, suddenly he heard something moving towards him.

That beast was getting to him!

At first, he wanted to get away from that place, get to the nearest elevator, move to the Mrs. Walton and Mrs. Keen's office, tell them about everything and then — hide inside his room! Or wait, why was he thinking so illogically? Obviously, the beast could get to him through elevator! It could stop him from even moving upwards, as it could start scratching it and ruin his chances of escaping from it even further!

He had to stay there, whether he wanted to or not!

Attempting to keep himself together, he hold himself close, as a way to reduce the amount of clock-like noises he produced due to all the emotions he was experiencing. Though, he succeeded for a bit, there was still a long way to go. Which, would be interrupted as he heard another set of noises. That time, they were related to breathing.

In spite of his best efforts to hide from it, the creature found him!

It found him there!

He couldn't even escape from facing the creature, as it could simply chase him down. As it did outside the Gardenview Center. It was really his end there.

However, he didn't want to end up without any sort of attempt to showing he wasn't just a mere victim it could take by surprise. Instead, he wanted to show who he really was, which resulted in him getting out of his hideout spot, ready to face that beast and show how much he was capable of.

Even if it was going to cost his life.

"If you think you can get me down like that, then…", as he was saying it, he blinked for a brief moment, "Then I won't get down without a fi-What?!", when his eyes were opened, instead of seeing a monstrous figure, that killed Mrs. Mendez and chased him down, he saw…

"Astro?!", as he shouted, he backed away, "What are you… Doing there?!", he attempted to ask, using the same articulated voice as he would use during the day.

Which didn't work, as he sounded so nervous, that it came out as him panicking.

Astro seemed to be taken a bit by his sudden behaviour, notable because he appeared to be surprised by his sudden talking about something taking him down. Additionally, Dyle could notice the fluffy moon-like creature wearing anything else, other than his most recognisable night cap and pajama-like outfit.

"I was going to ask you… The same thing", Astro, wearing a simple shirt with four sleeves, due to him having four arms, and white pants, told him deadpanned, "Why do you look so worked out? And what do you mean something was chasing you down-"

"Haven't you seen that monstrous beast going through our building?!", the clock man suddenly shouted, due to so many emotions still being inside him.

However, Astro appeared to be confused, with his face looking like he was talking to a crazy man.

"What beast, Dyle?", as he asked, his antennas took the question mark form, "What are-"

"A beast looking like your cat!", Dyle was still shouting, "As big as me, having a mouth inside its stomach and-", before he could finish, the fluffy moon bug-like creature chuckled.

Wait, he chuckled?

That was…

So off for him to do that. Unless, Astro was hiding something from everyone, including him, the "Technician" of the Gardenview Center. With him having the feelings of that moon creature hiding behind a facade.

"What a funny story you just told me, Dyle!", Astro pointed, using all his arms, at him, while still chuckling, "As, from what I can tell you, there's no beast wandering across there! Just look!", then, he grabbed him through his chain, forcing him to see the hallway of the lobby.

There was no beast wandering there. Not even being near them.

Not even destroying things.

It was like if he…

No, he didn't imagine that!

Suddenly, the fluffy moon creature released him from his own grip, almost causing him to fall on his knees. In disbelief of the sight, he still wasn't going to give up at proving something did happen.

"I swear, I saw a beast chasing me down from the train station! It even killed-", when he wanted to show Astro the bloodstained flashlight, he realised it wasn't there.

Did he drop it, while he was escaping from the beast?

No, he could swear he was holding it as tightly as possible!

Something was so wrong there, but he couldn't explain what exactly. Besides Astro acting so odd towards him, smiling at him, as if he succeeded at doing something.

"What are you even talking about, Dyle?", Astro asked him, still oddly smiling. As if he was mocking him for even trying to explain himself.

"Maybe you should look at me!", as Dyle pointed at himself, he thought he still had the fresh human blood on himself.

Only to realise he had none.

His eyes widened at that realisation, while Astro chuckled more and more.

"You're acting like there was an actual monster out there", Astro snarkely commented.

Dyle's clock hands started to move as fast as possible, once again.

"Because I saw that monstrous plushie cat monster, when I was checking for the goods train, after I heard-", before he could finish, the moon-like creature put one of his paws on his mouth, silencing him.

All while pecking at him him.

"First of all, there's no monster out there", Astro strongly stated, "Secondly, the goods train arrived way earlier, with me, Razzle and Dazzle, Boxten and Poppy having to help me take the stuff out. Surprisingly enough, we make a great-"

The clock man, suddenly, pushed the paw away from him, with his expression being painted with complete disbelief.

"What? But, the goods train always arrived at 9.00 PM-"

"Well, it arrived a hour earlier, while you were spending time with Dandy", that remark about his friendship with Dandy put him off.

However, he decided to ignore it and focus on the sudden anomalies, that started to happen. Not only his proofs of encountering a monster — the bloodstained flashlight, him having human blood on himself, due to stepping on it and due to the titular flashlight, were gone, but also the goods train arrived way earlier. Unlike how he suspected it got delayed, with no notice.

Though, there was something off about the entire thing, with the way Astro was acting around him. Contrary to how he usually acted like — being antisocial, being quite friendly, but shy, he was mouthful, a but of a snarkly type of person and even — acting like he, the "Technician", was completely in the wrong.

"But, but I saw it!", Dyle was still trying to defend himself, "I saw that Oster-looking monstrous cat and-", before he could even finish, Astro started to walk away from him, "Wait, wait! Don't leave-"

Astro turned to him. He appeared to be not amused with him, even appearing to be annoyed with him.

"You had to make that monster up, that's one", he told him, almost with no visible emotion, "And two, nothing bad is happening there. Understand?", as he exclaimed, he turned his back on him, away from Dyle, as he started to walk away from him, once more. Walking towards the darker part of the entire Lobby.

"Astro!", the clock man yelled at him, "I would never make things up!", as he attempted to defend himself, he quickly realised, that the moon-like creature vanished. Or rather — hid somewhere within the darkness and then disappeared.

The entire encounter with Astro, one of the Main Characters of that show, made him not only frustrated, due to everything, that could indicate a proof of something dangerous luring not only at the train station, but also — inside the Gardenview Center, but also suspicious about Astro's behaviour. As he noted before, he always had a feeling his shy and nervous persona could be potentially a facade, with his behaviour around him confirming it. Though, he didn't want to take it as a 100% confirmation, as, maybe, he just didn't know Astro.

Even then, everything, that happened just now, were so off to him. Making him unsure what he should exactly do.

Should he even tell anyone about his encounter with that monstrous plushie cat, who happened to look like Oster?

Or should he stay quiet?

What was exactly going on?

Was Astro telling him the truth about the goods trains arriving earlier?

"Maybe tomorrow, I'll have a definitive answer", as he told himself, he walked to the middle elevator, which was the one, that would take him to his room, pressed the "D" button and then — could feel the elevator going down, "But I know one thing for sure…", he sighed.

"Something is horribly wrong there"