Eclipse

Chapter 10

CatNap POV:

Somebody knocked on my door, it was most likely DogDay picking me up. To my expectations, it was him. "Oh, couldn't find anything fancy also?" I asked him. "Umm, yeah." He replied, then stuck his hand out for me to grab it, which I did. He walked me to the bar, both of us talking about our day.

. . .

Once we reached the bar, DogDay opened the door for me. "Such a gentleman." I thought while smiling. We stepped in and the other Smiling Critters were at the big round table with nine chairs. we went to the curved booth in the back and sat down. "So, uhh, what do you want? I'll pay for this." DogDay asked me. "No, no, we'll split it." I replied, now looking through the menu.
"Oh, wait, I know something that would make this date even better, one sec." DogDay said and left to the area where you make your own drink combinations. "He's definitely making his special vanilla milkshake." I thought. He eventually came back with two of his special vanilla milkshakes, "Made 'em for us." DogDay said as he sat back down. "What should we get to eat?" I asked him. "I know exactly what to get us." He replied, then signaled a waiter.

. . .

We were walking down the sidewalk in Playcare, admiring the evening darkness illuminated by the streetlights that looked like Bron the dinosaur. DogDay was holding my hand in his, the silence was peaceful, it was so quiet me and him could easily hear crickets chirping.

"What did you think of tonight?" He asked me. "I want to experience it over and over again. I loved how tonight went." I saw him smile, it made me happy. We went over to the statues in the center of Playcare and climbed up it. We sat on the heads of the DogDay and CatNap statues which were right next to each other. We held hands and looked up at the sky. Even though it was metal, the stars on them sparkled and glimmered as if it was the actual thing.

"Looks pretty tonight, doesn't it?" DogDay nodded. "I want to see actual stars though." I looked at DogDay, "That's a pretty silly thought to have, you know we can't leave. The staff wouldn't let us. Also, we gotta take care of the kids. Also, just look at the big fan." We both looked at the fan in the ceiling, through it was the REAL sky. In between the blade was a huge gap that had stars, REAL stars, not artificial ones.

"I never realized, thank you." DogDay thanked me, I replied with a nod. We kept staring at the stars for what felt like a couple of hours before DogDay tapped my shoulder and said, "We should get home. You take care of the kiddos." I nodded.

. . .

It was around noon the next day, me and all of the Smiling Critters were eating lunch in the bar, then the door opened. "Dr. Amieriz? What are you doing here?" Kickin' asked her. "I was told by one of the CEO's that CatNap has been slacking on his job recently. He's been late and missed some of the nights that he was supposed to help the orphans go to sleep. Tell me, have you noticed the ninth chair?" "Yes ma'am. What does it mean?" Picky asked Dr. Amieriz. "That's a surprise. I'll tell you in a week. Mark your calendars!" Dr. Amieriz said, then left.

"It's definitely a new Smiling Critter, we all agree?" Bubba asked everyone, who replied with different variations of yes. "I bet they're cute." Crafty said. "I bet they love exercise." Hoppy said. "I bet they like teaching children." Bubba said. Basically everyone thinks that the new Smiling Critter had a taste in something that they liked to do, except for Crafty. All Crafty did was think that it's a hot and muscular guy who would fuck her brains out and treat her as a slut. I'm starting to worry about Crafty's mental health.

We all ate lunch and went back to our teaching stations. On my way back to Home Sweet Home, I saw people carrying a cardboard cutout of a character I've never seen at Playtime Co. or Playcare. Since there was a shadow, I could only see the cutout's silhouette. It was short, had ears sticking up, and they just seemed generally friendly, they also had a long-ish fluffy looking tail. The pose that they were in was standing up-right, leaning forward a bit, and both of their hands were opened. One was pointed down and bent at a 90 degree angle, the other was reaching upwards as if it was holding an invisible object. Since I didn't want to know who it was early, I looked away and continued my journey to Home Sweet Home.

Words: 817

(Sorry that this chapter is short. To make up for it, how about I make chapter 11 around 2500-3000 words long? Deal? Well, deal or no deal, I think it's gonna be that long anyway.)