Missing Children-plaza [TESTED]

The PLAZA was supposed to be a sanctuary.

Hundreds of children.

She reaches for me.

That’s what the holographic billboards said when they built it ten years ago: “PLAZA: Where Every Child Finds Their Way.” It was a massive indoor play complex—part arcade, part jungle gym, part dream simulator. Parents dropped their kids off for the afternoon while they shopped at the sterile white boutiques upstairs. Missing Children-PLAZA

I turn my head slowly. Through the headset, I see a plastic pink figure crawling through the vent. It’s a five-foot-tall animatronic mother, her smile bolted into place, her eyes made of cracked camera lenses. She drags a velvet bag behind her—one that squirms. The PLAZA was supposed to be a sanctuary

It read: “They are not missing. They are cached. Come to Level -3. Bring a hard drive.” That’s what the holographic billboards said when they