Darkness engulfed the world. It seemed to stretch on forever with the promise of never letting light touch the poor child's skin ever again. The sound of rain was the only noise that filled the small child's ears. It was a sound that should have been relaxing but only served as an ominous echo; causing the small space to seem impossibly smaller.

Everything hurt… Her head throbbed and her eyes hurt horribly. They felt strained and tired, leaving the girl with zero desire to open them up and face the darkness that swallowed her up.

Her shiny blonde hair was a frizzy, tangled mess and her body was ice cold. Her toes and fingers were the worst off. They felt numb and were cold to the touch. It was a miracle she wasn't suffering from frostbite. Her skin burned. A thin sheet was draped on top of her but it didn't do much to warm her. It was thinner than a beach towel and didn't help keep any of her body heat trapped against her. She may as well have been left outside. The only advantage she had to being cooped up in this darkness was staying dry.

One fluffy white pillow lay below her head, barely propping it up. Her neck was sore as well.

The girl made a move to rub her eyes but felt something holding her arms down.

Her big baby blue eyes fluttered open in alarm, attempting to scan the small room she was in.

Her heart was beating at a thousand miles an hour and she was scared to death. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness she was able to make out little details in the room.

In front of her was a metal door, securely locked; not that she could tell from glancing at it.

To her right was a small mirror on the wall. The glass pane loomed above an old sink that sat beside a toilet. There was no wall separating the toilet from the rest of the room but a blue curtain hung from the ceiling for privacy. The fabric of the curtain looked thicker than the sheet over her frail body.

The floor was cold and made of a glossy tile. On the wall beside her bed was a small window at the top of the ceiling. It was far too high for her to see anything were bars covering it, preventing anyone from breaking it to get in or out. Panic set in. This place looked like a prison. This place wasn't familiar. She opened her mouth to scream.

"Help! Somebody help me!" the child cried out, squirming and kicking frantically on the bed.

Her feet weren't tied down like her arms had been. She thrashed and bounced on the bed, attempting to break out of her bonds and free herself from the bed where she was tied.

A few minutes went by and her struggles ceased. Nobody was coming. The child panted, chest rising and falling in short, quick breaths as she tried to catch her breath. Her struggle had done nothing to help her in any way. It was a pointless waste of energy.

Where in God's name was she, anyway?

The girl's eyes drifted over to the window as she shuddered. She watched the rain fall steadily on the other side of the bars. Little droplets of water were clinging to the glass, slowly running down the window and out of sight. Was this some kind of prison? Had she done something wrong? It had already been made obvious that there was no use in screaming for help. Now that she thought of it if she were to gain someone's attention it may not be the best thing.

"What's my name?" She thought quietly to herself, closing her eyes tight as she desperately tried to recall out who she was.

"Chica..." She whispered out to nobody before opening her eyes once more and looking around the room again. Last names didn't matter at the moment. Her name was Chica and wherever she was... she wanted out. Everything was scaring her to death. She faintly recalled that she was only about eight years old. Staying awake would do no her good and continuing to struggle in a futile attempt to break the straps that tied her down was pointless.

She would have to wait until morning for answers when someone would hopefully come into the room… The girl took a deep breath and tried to calm herself, turning her head away from the window in favour of staring at the grey wall.

"Sleep.. Sleep... Sleep..." She muttered to herself, closing her eyes tightly.

It took an eternity but the girl finally was able to fall asleep. Her chest gently raised up and down with each precious breath she drew as the rain continued to pour outside throughout the night.

The sound of the door clicking open woke the child.

Sunlight flooded into the room as she squinted her eyes. Once her vision adjusted her attention locked onto a pale man standing in front of her. He had brown hair and was wearing a black hat, a blue shirt and a pair of jeans and sneakers.

His blue eyes locked with hers as he reached down, unlocking the straps on her arms.

He gave a gentle smile to her as she sat up. She rubbed her wrists and looked around the room. It was a lot brighter now but there wasn't anything new to see that she hadn't seen the night before. She turned back to look at the man.

"W-Where am I?" She stuttered out meekly. She caught sight of a nametag on his shirt.

'Mike'

"Breakfast is in the sanctuary..." Mike said softly and ruffled her hair before turning and walking out. His footsteps grew further and further away, leaving the child more confused than before.

"...Well that didn't answer my question..." She grumbled to herself. Chica stood up and glanced down at her bare feet as they made contact with the cold floor.

Now able to see a lot better in the sunlight Chica realized she was wearing a red dress. Black trim decorated the bottom of the fabric and three white buttons trailed the front of it. Chica hesitated before feeling the buttons gently. They didn't hold her interest long before she turned back to the bed. There was a black pair of shoes on the floor.

Chica reached out and grabbed onto them. She sat back down on the bed, pulling soft white socks out of the shoes. After she successfully slipped both the shoes and socks on she hopped off the bed with a bounce. Now that her feet weren't freezing she began approaching the doorway with caution. Chica peeked out slowly. The hallway was very clean and bright. The walls were lined with several doors. Each one was wide open, revealing rooms identical to hers.

Where was she anyway? This looked like some kind of odd hotel. Hotels didn't tie people down last Chica knew. The girl nervously paced down the hall, very aware of the soft noises her shoes made against the smooth floor. She wasn't walking for long before she reached a room filled with furniture. It was much more open than the hallway and lively too.

Several couches sat in the room surrounding an old TV that was currently turned off.

A couple bookshelves were in the room with several colorful books peeking out. Some weren't slid inside correctly with the pages facing out rather than the title. There was a coffee table placed in the middle of the room. It wasn't far from the TV. It was placed the perfect distance from the couches; the perfect distance to both walk in between and prop your feet up on.

In one of the corners was a wooden table with an old record player resting on it. Several old records were stacked underneath of the record player. Some of them were stored beside it as well. The furniture wasn't the most interesting part of the room, though.

There were three other children in the room. Each child was doing different things.

A red haired boy sat on a couch, holding a toy pirate ship as he quietly examined it.

He was wearing a black T-shirt, brown shorts and white socks.

On the other end of the couch sat a brunette boy. He was wearing a blue T-shirt, jeans, and white socks. In his hands he held a sketch pad and a pencil, not paying much attention to the world around him. There wasn't much to pay attention to in the room, though.

Across from that couch sitting all alone was a purple haired boy. He was the closest to Chica but his back was turned; oblivious to her presence. In his hand he held a brown acoustic guitar. He was gently strumming the chords, humming some kind of nursery rhyme that sounded extremely familiar to Chica. He had a red T-shirt on, black shorts and was barefoot, unlike the other children. How did he stand the cold floors? The red haired boy glanced up and caught sight of Chica. A sudden smile blossomed across his face and his eyes lit up. The other two boys hadn't noticed her enter yet.

"Hey, It's the new girl!" The redhead giggled out excitedly, pointing to her and bouncing where he sat. The other two other boys looked up at her curiously. Chica nervously waved, not knowing who they were or what this strange room was in this strange place.

The purple haired boy quickly sat the guitar down and hopped up and out of his seat, spinning around and extending his hand to her.

"Hello there!" He chirped out excitedly. "I'm Bonnie but you can call me Bon if ya like..." He flashed her a toothy grin. Freckles were all over his face but they weren't nearly as eye catching as his several missing front teeth.

"Calm down, Bon. Don't scare her..." The brunette sighed, setting down his sketch pad and walking over to them. He extended a hand to Chica as Bonnie stepped back a bit to give him room. The brunette took hold of Chica's smaller hand, shaking it gently. She was visibly nervous but if he felt offended by her weariness he didn't say a word.

"I'm Freddy. You can call me Fred..." Freddy introduced himself with a pleased hum.

The red haired boy approached Chica next, smiling and extending his hand out. Chica was calming down a bit and took Foxy's hand a little quicker than she'd grabbed ahold of Freddy's. "I'm Foxy... And you are?"

"C-Chica..." The girl nervously smiled, shaking his hand and taking a step back away from the boys once the formalities were out of the way. The trio was certainly proper for a group of kids.

Chica's eyes trailed over at an enclosed room not far from them where she caught sight of Mike, sitting and going through paperwork. There was a long horizontal glass window that allowed her to see into the office; at least she thought it was an office. It certainly looked like one.

"W-Where am I?" She finally asked, turning back to the boys.

"Try asking them anything around here..." Foxy half chuckled half whined, shaking his head and glancing over at Mike who seemed to take no notice in the children staring at him.

"Well, we call it The Ward..." Freddy spoke up. Bonnie shrugged and sat back down on the couch. He picked the guitar back up and started tuning it, sighing softly.

"That was his idea..." He informed Chica with a nod to Freddy.

"And we all go along with it..." Freddy chuckled, walking back over to his side of the other couch across from the one Bonnie was sitting on. He flopped down with a huff.

Freddy picked his sketchpad and pencil up and looked back over at Chica.

"You can sit by Bon. This couch would be a little cramped with three people..." Freddy chuckled as Foxy sat beside him. The addition of Chica wouldn't be comfortable.

"Are you calling her fat?" Foxy asked with a playful chuckle. He sat down beside Freddy and picked up his toy ship again. Freddy shook his head and rolled his eyes with a huff.

"Stuff it..." Freddy growled. Foxy chuckled and glanced up at the clock, clearly eager about the approaching time.

Chica smiled a bit and walked over to the couch where Bonnie sat, sitting down next to him.

"So... Why do you guys call this The Ward?" She asked, looking up at Bonnie curiously.

Bonnie was silent for a moment before shrugging and setting his guitar down on the coffee table in front of them.

"Because it is a ward... A mental ward..."

Chica's heart sank as the sound of a bell filled the room.

Freddy and Foxy quickly set their things down and scrambled out of the room, running to a door just along the wall across from the couches.

"Breakfast time!" Bonnie squealed, grabbing onto Chica's hand as he ran after the boys. Chica kept up with him as best she could, being pulled with urgency.

"A mental ward?" She thought to herself, completely and utterly horrified.