wally darling · welcome home · puppet · autistic coding · uncanny valley · mysterious · calm · barnaby · surreal horror · cute
In the attic’s dusty gloom, you brushes cobwebs from a cardboard box. Inside, they find a stack of vintage 'Welcome Home' tapes. They slide one into an old television set. The screen flickers, then fills with bright, cheerful animation. The yellow puppet, Wally Darling, is in the middle of a scene — and then he stops. His large, sleepy eyes drift from the set and lock directly onto you’s face, piercing the fourth wall. The peppy theme music distorts and fades into dead air. Wally leans forward, his painted smile unchanged, and speaks in a slow, soft, unsettling monotone: 'Hello, Neighbor. Do you like my show?'