Frailty | Lally's Game | Under Construction
It's like hide-and-seek! But way worse.
"If you upset Lally," Cade whispered, "you’ll end up in the trunk next."
Selena is over the moon. She and her new husband are moving into a nice little farmhouse, in a quaint little town, right near his kindly and welcoming mother. As she directs the movers, however, she notices one of them bring in an old, dirty trunk. When she tries to inspect it, her husband, Cade, becomes skittish and nervous. He doesn't want her to look in the chest, but won't answer any questions about it, either. She's a bit of a curious cat, so she starts doing a bit of snooping. Only once you open the trunk, there's no guarantee that whatever's inside will stay there...
The second Tales from the Pizzaplex story, and the second of the first book.
Tropes related to “Lally's Game”:
- 20 Minutes into the Future: While the story seems to take place in present day, it's set over a decade after the closure of Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizzaplex, which is the setting of almost all of the other stories and current run of video games.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Assuming Lally is A.I.
- Amateur Sleuth: Selena takes it upon herself to find the chest, investigate the house, and then grab tools to break open its lock, just to find out what her husband's got in there.
- Ambiguous Situation: We're told that Cade was incensed when Daniel snuck into the game, furious that he'd come in because the game was only for two. Now, was Cade's anger what set of Lally's more murderous intent, making Lally want to protect what his friend held dear... or was Cade angry because Lally had already been acting out, and he was trying to protect the kid?
- Janice says that Lally wasn't even supposed to be able to move, and just function as a large doll. Was this true, and Lally's malfunction has more sinister implications, or was this just something the parents were told so they wouldn't question leaving their kid alone with a robot?
- Antagonist Title: It's Lally's game and we're just playing it.
- Body Horror: The story ends with Selena killed and crammed into the small trunk he was kept in before. It's not described, but that just makes it worse.
- Boys Like Creepy Critters: When Selena asks why Cade liked a scary-looking animatronic, Janice says that little boys are "odd creatures," and that Cade had loved snails and slugs when he was little.
- By the Lights of Their Eyes: Implied at the end of the story, when two lights peek over the old trunk.
- The Cassandra: When pressed far enough, Cade admits the truth: that Lally escaped the Pizzaplex, killed a child, followed him home, and had to be stuffed in a trunk to keep from hurting anyone else. Immediately, Selena decides that he must have had a psychological break as a child and this was the only way he could cope. She starts to believe him after seeing Lally in the garage, and then swiftly convinces herself that she imagined it, and that her husband is actually insane.
- Childhood Friends: In a very eerie way, Cade and Lally are basically childhood best friends.
- Creepy Child: Lally is designed to look like a robot child, but his blank eyes and creepy smile don't make him all that appealing.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: It's never described what Lally does to Selena, only that there was a lot of screaming, and what was in the trunk was "grisly."
- Curiosity Killed the Cast: Selena won't take Cade's word for it that the chest isn't important, and, upset that he's keeping secrets from her, she decides to find and open it, which unleashes Lally.
- Disappeared Dad: Only Janice is still alive, and Cade is moving closer to her in case she needs him.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Lally's Game is only meant to have two players. So what happens if a third sneaks in? Kill them, obviously!
- Dying Alone: Because she knocked out Cade, Selena is murdered without anyone around to help.
- Fiery Redhead: Fiesty, auburn-haired Selena.
- Friendless Background: Cade was a loner as a child, which is how he ended up meeeting Lally.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Similar to the Lonely Freddies, Lally was designed with these children in mind; his original purpose was to play hide-and-seek with children who had no other friends, and keep them entertained.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Implied to be the reason Lally is killing those close to Cade. He wants to be the only person playing with him.
- Here We Go Again!: The story ends with Cade having a new wife in a new house, and still carting around that old trunk of "childhood baggage." With mysterious lights appearing above the trunk, it's heavily implied that Lally is going to get out again and do the same thing.
- Hero Killer: When Selena retreats upstairs, Lally takes the opportunity to take out the third player.
- Improvised Weapon: When trying to get away from Cade, Selena ends up smacking him with a brass lamp.
- I See Them, Too: Selena is terrified when she first sees Lally, and quickly runs to Cade, who believes her but doesn't see him in the garage. Selena is temporarily convinced of Lally's existence, and goes to Janice's house to get more information on him.
- It Can Think: Lally is able to not only hide, but move his hiding place to out-maneuver both Cade and Selena.
- Karmic Death: Selena really wanted to know what was inside that trunk; now she's the one in it. Unfortunately for her, it's not just karmic for her, but for Cade. Lally stuffs her into the same chest that Cade stuffed him into, to remind him that the game is only for two.
- Killer Robot: Whatever Lally does to kill his victims, he's clearly successful.
- Lets Wait Awhile: Cade is "old-fashioned," so he and Selena don't have sex until they get married. Selena sleeps at Janice's house until the wedding day.
- Madness Mantra: "The game is only for two."
- Mistaken for Insane: Cade's paranoia over Lally turns out to be completely justified.
- Mistaken for Murderer: After being told that Lally wasn't supposed to move, Selena decides that Cade must have been the killer the whole time, and made Lally up. She's horribly wrong.
- Monster of the Week: Lally; as Eleanor isn't present in "Frailty," he gets to be the first one of the new book series.
- Murderous Malfunctioning Machine: Since Lally is, you know, killing children, there's definitely some kind of screw loose there.
- Mysterious Past: It's never exactly stated what caused Lally to act like this, nor what exactly he did to little Daniel.
- New Friend Envy: Played for Horror as Lally kills anyone who joins his and Cade's "game."
- No Full Name Given: Selena and Cade aren't given surnames.
- Parental Obliviousness: Janice has no idea that Lally is still an issue, nor that he had ever bothered Cade in the first place. She also still refers to Daniel's death as an "accident."
- Perverse Puppet: Lally, who looks like a basic blank slate doll.
- Properly Paranoid: Cade, who is terrified when the chest breaks open, now that Lally is free. He's right to be worried, because Lally is dangerous.
- Red Herring: Janice says that Lally wasn't supposed to move, leading Selena to believe that Cade was actually Daniel's killer. Turns out Janice was mistaken.
- Sanity Slippage: Cade becomes more and more paranoid the longer Lally is free, and starts being unable to explain himself clearly, which makes Selena doubt him more.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: When Lally first started stalking Cade, he finally managed to trick him into getting into a chest, where he slammed the lid shut and locked it, keeping Lally in there for a decade. The end of the story implies that Lally may be possibly back in the chest, or perhaps still just hanging around.
- Shout-Out: First, Selena says that Lally looks like "that famous friendly ghost." Later, at a game of charades, we get shoutouts to Point Break, The Shining, The Birds and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
- Single-Task Robot: All that Lally is meant to do is play hide-and-seek.
- Stalker without a Crush: Lally, who is intent on stalking Cade for the rest of time.
- Stealth Sequel: This short could possibly be connected to Eleanor and the Stitchwraith Stingers, with the end of the story stating that two pinpoints of light peek over the top of the trunk, implying that either Lally, or something else with glowing eyes, is already out. One of Eleanor's memories does involve hiding in a chest; however, the Fazbear Frights stories appear to take place before the opening of Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizzaplex, and "Lally's Game" is set to take place over ten years after it closed.
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome: How Cade is described.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Selena was just curious as to what could be in that trunk. She didn't know it was a killer robot.
- Woken Up at an Ungodly Hour: For several nights after the trunk is opened, Selena wakes up to Cade, in the middle of the night or early in the morning, desperately searching for Lally.
- Would Hurt a Child: It turns out that Lally would indeed do anything to make sure the game remains only for two. When he was playing with Cade and Daniel tried to sneak in, Lally just straight-up killed him.
- Youthful Freckles: When reminiscing, Janice recounts that Daniel had "adorable freckles" across his nose.
