Closing of the Day Care

Today I noticed an article in the local newspaper about the Day Care center I used to work at. I hadn't been paying much attention to it after I left it, but the news had caught my eye. The article was a small one, but it informed me that the center was shut down. It didn't go out of business, nor did the lack of staff cause it to be closed. Instead, the police were forced to shut it down because more and more children had gone missing since Brian. I tried checking which children had gone missing, but to no avail. The police had kept everything quiet which was why the article seemed so hidden. No other information could be found on what happened to the children, or if anyone had any idea who did it. If it is anything like what happened to Brian.....then I have some sort of idea where their bodies will turn up, but I hope I am wrong. As for Robbie, I have yet to tell him about the article. He's feeling much better than before, but I don't want to worry him.

Not the Same

It's been ten days since I started going back to work, and even with Robbie with me I find it hard to enjoy the job like I used to. The children are still friendly with me, but I just can't be the same with them. No one questions what happened to Brian, and none of them act strange around me. I just can't try to get close to any of them again, I'm afraid if I do they'll just end up dead like Brian...it's a terrible feeling. Robbie's been putting on puppet shows almost weekly at the daycare, I think it's mainly to keep me happy or distracted. I dread that the other employees will start to realize how unenthusiastic I am and ask me to resign. But..it is better to have me working than to have me moping around the house all day, I think.  Maybe I'll try to go research something tomorrow, and maybe Robbie will come with me.

Robbie's Random Shenanigans

I finally was able to get home, and I'm very tired. I'll explain more tomorrow, but the puppeteer's show was called 'Robbie's Random Shenanigans'. His name was of course, Robbie. It was very unique, as he used more than one or two kinds of puppets, and as far as I could tell, only a few of them weren't home made. He was very entertaining, and it was easy to see how much he loved doing his job. The children all loved the show, Brian especially. It was worth staying at the day care late, even though I'm so tired now. I'll tell more about the show itself and Robbie tomorrow.

Something Exciting

When I went to leave for home from the day care today, one of the older employees stopped me and told me that for the Christmas holiday, they're having a professional puppeteer come in to do a show for everyone this Friday. Obviously because of all the preparations they have to make, I was asked if I could stay late on Thursday and Friday. Seeing as I don't have anything to do besides take care of Roc and decorate for Christmas, I accepted. I'll have to get more information on him tomorrow, but as of now I'm very excited to see this show. It's not often one sees a puppeteer much anymore.

First Day..Again

Today was the reopening of the Day Care. About half the children altogether had left the day care, and I could see why. The police had given out small, vague details about the whole indecent and I guess parents weren't too happy to hear such things. Brian wasn't among the kids there, which I thought was strange until I realized it was Wednesday.

When the children went out to play, we had most of the staff (including myself) out there with them. I noticed the scenery changed around the day care. None of the day care itself was harmed, but the forest near the day care was. The trees nearest the day care looked partly destroyed, their limbs were torn off as if lightning had hit them, or something had crashed into them.  It wasn't like that the day Brian vanished, but I hadn't been near the day care until today. If Brian is at the day care tomorrow, I'll talk to him (but I'll try not to ask too many questions about it all).

Almost Hallowe'en

Well this is the last week of October, really, and I've been noticing my class work is now slowing down. Even college-age students are quite excited about Hallowe'en, I know at least I am. Even though I don't plan on partying or anything like that, I do plan on giving out candy at least. Maybe I'll be able to say hello to some of the children, I haven't seen them since Brian's vanishing...

Speaking of which, the Day Care called yesterday; they'll be re-opening  on November 3rd, so that means I'll be heading back to work soon. I tried to ask if they found Brian, but they hung up immediately after telling me when they were opening. I won't be mentioning Brian to them, or to anyone really as it  has become a touchy subject. It being so makes me think the worst, I'm afraid.

Reading

Well, I was able to leave a little bit earlier than yesterday. As I said, my shift isn't exact, so expect variations in when I post these updates. Today was the day I was to read to the kids, and they let me pick a book out of a little bookshelf they had. I decided to pick the oldest book they had sitting on the shelf, it looked worn and unused for some time. The book I chose was 'Der Struwwelpeter', and the title itself was vaguely in my memory. I looked through the table of contents and read the only narrative poem that looked familiar. I'll share it with you.

The Story of Little Suck-a-Thumb

One day, Mamma said, "Conrad dear,
I must go out and leave you here.
But mind now, Conrad, what I say,
Don't suck your thumb while I'm away.
The great tall tailor always comes
To little boys that suck their thumbs.
And ere they dream what he's about
He takes his great sharp scissors
And cuts their thumbs clean off, - and then
You know, they never grow again."

Mamma had scarcely turn'd her back, The thumb was in, alack! alack!

The door flew open, in he ran, The great, long, red-legged scissorman. Oh! children, see! the tailor's come And caught our little Suck-a-Thumb.

Snip! Snap! Snip! the scissors go; And Conrad cries out - Oh! Oh! Oh! Snip! Snap! Snip! They go so fast; That both his thumbs are off at last. Mamma comes home; there Conrad stands, And looks quite sad, and shows his hands;- "Ah!" said Mamma "I knew he'd come To naughty little Suck-a-Thumb." Afterward, I was able to talk to some of the kids as they were doing various little projects. I was able to meet Brian, who was drawing some sort of picture. He didn't seem out of the ordinary at all, just a little shy. He told me he liked the poem, and added with a smile, 'I think I've met that Tailor,' and he showed me his fist with his thumb hidden. It was amusing, and when I looked at the picture it didn't seem out of the ordinary at all. Whatever the tour guide said about him being strange, I certainly don't see. (But then again aren't we all a little strange?)

First Day

I'm quite worn out from the first day. Not that much happened, I got a tour of the place (as much as a tour can be, it's a six room building with a small attic and half-finished basement, along with a playground outside), along with some information on the children that go there. I'm going to change their names for their privacy's sake, as I bet you can guess I'm going to talk about them.

One child in particular, Brian, was said to be different than the others as the guide told me. He's 7, and is quite bright but they just say something is "wrong" with him. I'm not sure what to expect as I won't be able to meet or interact with any of the kids until tomorrow. If it is what I think it is, he probably has some 'morbid' outlook on the world, or some disorder that isn't natural in a child his age. I think I'm a little too excited to meet him and see what exactly is wrong with him. I do know he is a human, and I'm not going to treat him as some sort of experiment (although it will seem that way dlks bad habit of mine).

The children, after being told I was going to be working there voted on what I was to do with them. There's about ten of them in the group that will be there when I work, and they decided I should read to them. I'll look forward to that tomorrow.

I got the job

I was going to wait to post this tomorrow after my first day of work, but I was so excited I couldn't wait. They called me back about half an hour ago to tell me I got the job, and that I was to start tomorrow. I can't wait to see how everything goes, and they seem fine with me working with the older kids. Classes are usually over by noon, so they told me to come in by one, and I'll work until the kids are picked up, or enough of the permanent staff can handle the children who are still there after their dinner/snack time.
Wish me luck~

Job Hunting

I've decided to look into getting a job, as much as I'd love to simply keep my mind focused on my studies, bird watching, and Roc none of those generate any sort of income. I've been looking around at a few places, and already I've ruled out working at some fast food place. Even though I don't mind people there is a lot of pressure and stress with working with a lot of people over the course of the day.

There is however, a Day Care center that is near the forest where I bird watch. This place interests me as it would help me with my studies (after all there is a lot of psychological study in children), and give me some experience with simply working with them. I say children because I really don't do well with babies, I think 6 years and up will be the age range I'll work the best with. After I work up the courage to go and fill out a résumé, we can hope for the best. Roc certainly approves of me getting a job (I've been talking to her, she's the only other creature I really talk to besides family), and seems very excited about being able to be in a quiet room all day without me walking around.