Brian just shrugged as a beeping noise alerted them to Joy opening the door and hopping back in the car. They spent the rest of the ride in tense silence.

The car soon pulled up in front of what appeared to be a normal house. However, there was a sign on the fence that identified it as Grow Together Daycare and Nursery. Indeed the front yard was cluttered with children’s toys. An aging metal swing-set was placed near the side fence and a deflated pink bouncy ball sat in the driveway.

Once Joy had the three freed from their seats she led them up the paved footpath to the front door. There was a sign placed on it which matched the one on the fence, save for the addition of the words “Caring for Little Ones Age 10 to 24 Years.” Of course neither Brian nor Rachel could read the sign, nor recognise the numbers on it. Somehow that information had seeped out of their brains.

The moment they stepped over the threshold into the daycare Brian and Rachel were bombarded with a cacophony of sound. Someone was crying loudly, other voiced screamed and screeched in the distance. They could hear the pounding of heavy footsteps here and there in the house. The walls of the alcove were decorated in sheets of colourful construction paper with glued on macaroni designs and glitter. Running along the wall just below the ceiling was a line of linked coloured paper cut-outs in the shape of balloons, each with a name on them. Some were clearly written by an adult in black marker. Others had childish scribbles in crayon, barely decipherable as names.