"I don't want to go to some stupid—," Nicky's words were suddenly interrupted by her father.
"Come on, you've never even been inside the place." Evan was taking his daughter to his favorite hangout spot, Mikey's Playhouse Emporium. He had spent many afternoons with his work friends at the arcade machines or playing pick-up games in the basketball court, but he had never been with his family. "Your mother wanted me to bring you along this time." He booped his daughter's nose, making her laugh.
Evan parks the car and they both wander inside. As soon as the front door opened, a cavalcade of noises and smells berated their senses. The soundscape was a beautiful melody consisting mostly of chirps and beeps coming from the arcade machines mixed with the subtle squeaking of sneakers on the court and, of course, the screaming of both young children and fully grown men. Amidst the overwhelming reek of sweat was the piercing scent of a fresh batch of fried chicken. Nicky looked up at her dad and pointed towards the food court.
"I'm really hungry. Please, can we have some chicken strips?" Nicky demanded.
Evan picked her up and gave her a piggyback ride over to the food court.
As the pair was enjoying their greasy, cardiac-busting meal, two buddies of Evan walk up to their table. "Streets are saying, you're high score in Pac-Man is kaputz," said a scrawny, pale, weasel-like fellow.
"While you were away chomping on chicken fat, Big Brick Bart beat your sorry little score," added in a somewhat beefy but mostly flabby, sunburnt man.
Evan knew he had to reclaim his title of local Pac-Man champion. "Okay sweetie, daddy's gotta go kick some behind. Go play over there," he wildly gestured towards the children's area. There were plenty of activities to partake in over there, most notable being the legally dubious trampoline obstacle course. Nicky sauntered over as her dad and his crew marched towards the cabinets.
The yellow dot sped along the screen, devouring all pellets, fruits, and ghosts alike. Watching Evan at work was like watching an expert painter, every stroke bold yet calculated. A small crowd had gathered around him. They cheered after every level clear, and they gasped at every close encounter with a ghost. Evan was at the top of his game and the surrounding audience only further boosted his ego.
He was only a few good levels away from taking back his score when Nicky rushed up and screamed, "Dad, I wanna leave." Evan looked over at her for only an instant, but that brief distraction was enough for the unruly Clyde to sneak up and steal Pac-Man's last life.
The crowd went silent as Evan stared at his daughter. "Let's go home then," he weakly muttered.
In the car, Evan let out his frustrations. He tried his best to not scream at his daughter so he mostly just punched the dashboard and steering wheel.
"Did I do something wrong?" Nicky pondered.
"Nah, it's nothing," Evan kisses his daughter on the forehead. "But why did you want to leave so soon? I thought you'd love it over there. Did you even try the bumper cars?"
Nicky looked up at him with genuine fear in her eyes. "I-I heard s-something..."
"What was it? Did some good-for-nothing narbo say some things he shouldn't of said?"
"I heard..." Nicky paused to catch her breath. "I heard s-some whispers. They told me to do things." She violently shook her head. "Bad things! Bad things!" she screamed as her body began to spasm.
Evan stopped the car and rolled down the window. After some dry heaving, Nicky puked out the window, ruining her dad's Ford Fiesta. He cleaned her mouth off with some napkins left in the glove box.
"Is everything okay now?"
"They stopped talking."
Evan was heavily concerned for his daughter, but his top priority was getting his car cleaned. They were close to the house so he chose to drop her off first. Nicky seemed to be doing better already.
As Evan pulled up onto his driveway, he noticed another car had been parked there, a big black truck with fire decals and a novelty license plate. Evan stared at the plate in disgust. It read "BR1CK01." He knew this plate better than anyone else. It belonged to his arch nemesis, Big Brick Bart. Evan did find it strange that Bart wasn't at the arcade that day, but he chalked it up to just good luck.
"Stay in the car," Evan ordered Nicky. He slowly walked up to the front door then stopped. Many thoughts raced through his head. Maybe his wife and Bart were just having a friendly conversation about their hobbies. In one quick motion, Evan unlocked and opened the door. Sprawled on his couch was the nefarious Bart and his wife, undressed and unkempt. Bart's grubby, calloused hand was firmly placed on his wife's teat. No words were exchanged, just glances. Evan's wife, Dorothy, pretended to look shocked, as if she had no idea what was going on. Bart was grimacing as he licked the crumbs off his mouth and went back to smacking his lips with hers.
"Well... have a nice day." Evan slammed the door behind him.
"Is everything fine?" Nicky asked her dad as he reentered the car.
Evan did not respond. He sat in the car not saying a word. Nicky was too scared to say anything so she followed suit. Eventually, Bart came out and got in his truck. He spit out his chewing tobacco onto the windshield of Evan's car. As a final taunt, Bart rear-ended Evan before fully retreating.
Evan and Nicky walked into the house. Dorothy was wearing a robe and looked down, defeated.
"Why don't you go on to your room," Evan motioned Nicky away. Evan and his wife stood by in the living room and did not speak a word. Dorothy got up to go to the bedroom. Evan tried following, but she shook her head and locked the door.
That night, Evan slept on the couch. His wife was cheating on him, his car was ruined, and his high-score was beaten. Overall, it was a pretty crummy day.
Nicky came out of her room and walked up to her dad. "Can we go back to that place tomorrow?"
"What?"
"I want to go back there. I had fun."
"I thought—"
"I loved it there."
Evan stared at his daughter in confusion, but she just smiled on.
"Okay, sweetie. Have fun." Evan walked back to the dreaded Pac-Man cabinet, but he couldn't bring himself to put in a quarter. He resorted to kicking it and walking away.
"Hey, what's the matter with you, pal," screamed Gregor the Grouch. He was one of the co-owners of the place and pretty much everyone hated him. "Listen here, pal, we don't want little babies like you going around kicking the damn machine like that. Get the hell out of here." Gregor had his hands on his hips with a fake macho posture. "Just cause there's some blockhead knee-deep in your wife, don't give you the right to—"
Evan swung with all his weight at Gregor. The puny man crumbled onto the floor. Evan started kicking him as Gregor pleaded for him to stop. "Fine. I'll get out of this stupid joint." Evan called for his daughter, but she did not respond.
Nicky was all alone inside the ball pit, motionless. "Hey, Nicky. Let's get out of here."
"No. The ball pit is hungry, Dad."
"What?"
"I need to feed the ball pit." Evan was about to step in to grab her, but she screamed at him to stop, "No! Only bad people belong in the pit."
"I gotta get you to a hospital, sweetie." Evan heard someone running up behind him. Before he could turn around, he had been walloped by a recovered Gregor. Evan was still standing though and quickly returned with a knee to Gregor's gut.
"You son of a—" Gregor uttered before a maddened Evan swung at him with both arms. Gregor stumbled and fell into the ball pit. He swiftly sank below the surface. For a while, there was quiet, but then, a final scream could be heard. No one there could tell what he was saying, but most believed he was screaming for help. You could make out the faint rustling of the balls as he tried to claw his way back out, but soon, there was silence again.
Evan looked on in shock and fear. It seemed like the grouchy co-owner had just drowned in a tub of plastic balls, but the thought was too ridiculous. The small crowd that had formed around the two brawling maniacs had just as quickly dispersed. Nicky was back to smiling.
"Thank you. He was a bad man. The pit is where bad men go." She stepped out of the ball pit and grabbed her dad's hand. They exited the building posthaste.
Evan could barely look at his daughter after that point. He could barely eek out, "What was up with that? Is he- Is Gregor alive?"
"His soul is with the pit," Nicky chuckled.
Evan kept driving silently.
They got back to the house. Evan tried to open the door to his bedroom, but it was still locked. "Honey, open up. Please." His pleas were met with silence, and so, for another night, he slept on the couch. At least, he tried.
"These men are going to do a routine inspection is all. They won't hurt you." Nicky was strapped into a hospital bed.
"They are all bad men. All of them. Please." Nicky tried to resist, but the nurse tightened a gag around her mouth.
"We'll keep good care of this little miscreant," the nurse cheerfully announced. "The name's Patty, by the way."
"Evan." He stretches out his hand but gets met with a cold stare. "I just want the best for my daughter. She's been acting strange as of late."
"Has she had any recent traumatic encounters?"
"Not that I know of. She's just been talking about some ball pit."
Patty paused completely for about ten seconds. "A ball pit? This is serious." Patty rushed over and started choking Nicky. In her eyes were pure malice with a striking wide smile.
"The hell are you doing?"
Patty stopped once Nicky fully passed out. "Ball pit. Ball pit. Don't you see?" She quickly lunged towards Evan and stroked his cheek. "You poor thing. Ball pit. So lonely?" She pushed him up against a wall. "It's just not fair. You lose your high score in Pac-Man. You haven't even gotten your car cleaned. Now, your daughter's gone full psycho. Let's not even mention the wife. It's just not fair." She pushes on him further, kneeing his groin and stroking his chest. She leans in for a kiss, but Evan pushes her away.
"Get the hell off of me."
Nurse Patty tripped on some wires on the ground. Her left temple slammed onto the rim of Nicky's bed. She was bleeding profusely from the side of her head. She slowly stood up, face now completely covered in blood, and started jittering as she slowly trod towards Evan. "Ball pit. Ball pit. It's just not fair," she kept repeating under her breath.
Evan had no idea what was happening. He tried to get some help, but the door to the room had disappeared. He slammed against the wall and screamed for help, but no one came.
Patty grabbed onto Evan's collar and pushed him down to the ground. She vomited a stream of red onto Evan's gaping mouth. She was pinning him down with all of her limbs. "You want me. You want me. It's just not fair." Tears streamed down her face and onto Evan's.
The very same wires that Patty had tripped on were now around her neck. Behind her was a now unrestrained Nicky. Nicky pulled on the wires, choking back the wretched nurse. "Daddy, finish her off. She's a bad woman. You must bring her soul to justice."
Evan looked down at his hands, which now held a kitchen knife. Without hesitation, he slashed the knife at Patty's throat. No blood gushed out, instead a piece of paper popped out from the fresh wound. The body slammed against the floor, further damaging the corpse's skull.
Evan, clearly, was freaking out. He had just murdered a nurse and he wasn't sure if it was self-defense or if he just had a psychotic episode of his own. Either way, Nicky picked up the nurse's body and carried her out the room.
"Come on. I'm still hungry." Nicky carried the blood-covered nurse down the hallway. A few doctors even stopped to greet Nurse Patty as they walked by. Once they reached the elevator, Nicky gestured for her dad to come.
Evan wasn't sure of anything, but he knew he had to get rid of the body. It was just a feeling deep in his gut. It was all he could trust.
Downstairs in the parking lot, Evan popped open the trunk and they both stuffed the nurse inside. Evan finally noticed the piece of paper inside her neck. He pulled it out and read the words inscribed on it, "Ball pit." Evan threw the scrap away and closed the trunk. He stood behind the car for a while, contemplating his next actions. In his heart, he knew what he had to do, but he didn't understand why.
The pair pulled up once again outside Mikey's Playhouse Emporium. "Can you carry her inside?" Evan asked his daughter.
"Of course not, sillyhead. I'm too small to carry her." She laughed at her father's stupidity.
Evan took a deep breath.
The front doors swung open as Evan carried in his arms the corpse of the seductress nurse. As he was walking towards the ball pit in the corner, Mikey, the one and only owner, walked up to him.
"Oh, Evan. Have you heard the horrible news?"
"Can't say I have."
"Gregor died last night. Car accident."
"Oh geez. That's real bad news."
"Yeah. Who do you got with you there?" He pointed towards the corpse in Evan's hands.
"That's a nurse I met today. Name's Patty."
"Nice to meet ya, Patty." He stretched out his hand.
Evan grabbed Patty's hand and used it to complete the hand shake.
"Nice seeing you around here, bud. I'm just hoping that whole wife thing doesn't get you down."
"Nah, I'm fine." He continues his trek. In a dusty, untouched corner of the playhouse was the ball pit. No one really came near it and absolutely no one had gone inside in years, until recently that is. Evan limply tossed her inside. He missed the pit, causing her to crack her temple once more, before flopping inside.
Nicky danced around in joy. "She tasted so good. Thanks so much." She proceeded to hug her father. "You're the best dad ever. Let's go home now. There's something I need to show you."
Evan looked at her with a healthy curiosity, but an intense fear. He felt a sense of danger from her words. As if she's been sent to punish him for sins he's never committed.
It was dark out, and Evan had to stop for gas on the way home. He went in to the gas station and saw that none other than Big Brick Bart had been working the register.
"How's it going, old friend," Bart teased.
Evan grabbed some Chocky Chunks and a Mr. Peeper bottle then left without saying a word. Bart went outside to confront him.
"The hell are you doing, you little rat. You better pay for those."
"I ain't paying you for nothing. How about you ask my wife for some money since you two're so close?"
"Come on, man. Not funny." Bart looked surprised and disgusted at what Evan had said. "Just go home, alright?"
Evan got back in his car, and sped on home. He and Nicky walked in to find the house quiet as usual.
"Mom's waiting for you."
Evan tried to open the door, but again, it was locked. He slammed it again and again, but there was no answer. In a final fit of frustration, he broke open the lock.
The door slowly opened, and Evan walked in.
Inside was a diorama lit by a few faint candles. By the candles were a some bright plastic balls. Written right by them were the words, "Ball Pit." A ball rolled over to Evan's foot, covered in blood. Suddenly, the stage lit aflame revealing the corpse of Evan's wife, Dorothy. It's mouth opened and it let out a piercing scream. Evan moved closer towards the corpse. It had slash wounds all across its chest and arms, with a final stab wound through the heart. As Evan got closer, it started to whisper something. Evan leaned in and heard the corpse speak, "Big Brick Bart." Evan stumbled back, in awe of what was in front of him. He quickly rushed out of the room and closed the door, though it couldn't actually close with the lock being broken.
Evan grabbed his daughter and a kitchen knife and got in the car. The man did not know what was happening, but he knew who was responsible. The same man that stole his honor and stole his woman's heart had also taken her life.
"Dad, what are you doing?" Nicky looked on at him in fear.
"Sending a bad man's soul to where it belongs, sweetie."
Nicky said nothing else for the entire ride. Evan's hands were shaking, and he was whispering profanities under his breath.
They finally got back to the gas station where Bart worked. Evan grabbed the knife from the passenger's seat and rushed inside. Immediately, he pointed the blade at Bart.
"Jesus, man, what the hell?" Bart reached behind the counter and pulled out a pistol.
Evan had nothing to say. He charged towards Bart, weapon in hand. Bart, justifiably, defended himself with his firearm, shooting Evan twice in the center of mass, but Evan did not stop. Once Evan reached the counter, Bart shot another time, this time hitting Evan's left temple, just barely missing the brain. Evan thrust his knife towards the villain's neck, but Bart had dodged at the last second. He grabbed onto the knife's handle, and a struggle began. Bart was much larger than Evan and was soon to overpower the inferior man, but Evan reached forward and bit off Bart's nose. In the haze afterward, Evan got in a clean slash along the neck, instantly killing the brute.
"Hey sweetie, can you help me drag him in?" Evan asked Nicky from the gas station front door. Nicky complied quietly. They dragged the corpse into the backseat and stuffed him back there.
"You're not big enough to sit in the front seat, little missy, so you're gonna have to stay back there with him."
Evan drove off to the only place a man like Bart belonged. He had noticed Nicky was holding back tears but thought nothing of it.
They reached the fated playhouse, and dragged the sinner's body inside. Thankfully, the door was unlocked, since that used to be Gregor's job, and nobody's bothered to do it.
"Here goes," Evan said as he tossed the man into the pit. Evan stood back, proud of what he had done. He looked back at his daughter who could hold back her tears no more.
"Daddy, why are you doing this?" she inquired tearfully. "Why-why did y-you kill this man? Why are we putting him in the ball pit?"
"It's where he belongs, remember. You told me!" he snapped towards her. As he watches his daughter's distraught face, he realizes she has no idea what happened. Reality begins to fade. He knew that the last few days had made little sense, but he was starting to realize he was the one who was acting crazy, not his daughter. Everything that happened was his fault, his creation. He was both a god of his own world and the devil of others'.
"No. I'm sorry. Please."
Nicky backed away and said softly, "You're a bad man. A bad man."
Evan's eyes widened. A hand reached out from the pit and grabbed his ankle. It pulled him down, leaving his foot now in the pit. Two others grabbed his other ankle and a shoulder. Evan struggled to stay afloat and even reached his hand out for Nicky to grab. Instead, the corpse of his wife walked forward from the shadows. She knelt down right in front of Evan, and whispered something into his ear. Then, she jumped towards Evan, both hugging him and dragging him down. Evan's vision was soon just balls. He struggled to breathe. Soon, he had reached the bottom.
"What happened here?" asked a scraggly, old detective.
"It seems like they found two bodies inside a ball pit," replied a younger, much more handsome detective.
"Jesus, what is the world coming to?"
"It was the husband of that woman. The one who was murdered over on Hoover Drive. And some other guy. They're thinking the husband killed his wife, then killed himself once the guilt set in. As for the other guy, we don't know."
"This never would have happened back in my day."
"Well, it did, and there was a witness."
Nicky walks out from the playhouse, face pale and wearied, towards the two cops.
"Tell us, uhh... Nicole, do you know why your father killed himself, specifically, and why here?" asked the really, really hot cop.
Nicky said nothing.
The scrawny, older cop was flipping through some files. "Says here your daddy likely slashed himself across the neck with some knife. Is that true?"
"Yes."
"Do you know why this all happened in a damn ball pit?"
Nicky turns towards the officer and utters, "What can I say, the ball pit beckons." They all laughed hysterically.
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