She looks at the uniform in the mirror, the dim light of the huge bathroom along with the weird smell coming out from the red colored stalls makes the ambiance very displeasing to Charlie. Makes her feel sorry for whoever must clean the place. The uniform fits her well, not too tight but not baggy at all. She fixes her black tie, finding it quite annoying to use, and as she takes a deep breath, glances fully to herself in the mirror. “It’s not that big of a deal… you can do this.”
A creak is heard from behind her. One of the stalls’ doors have open. She freezes up for some seconds in front of the mirror, trying to process the sight, before she turns around and leans over to try and see inside the stall. “Hello?” She crouches down to see any shoes inside any of the stalls. Was this some kind of joke for the rookie type of situation? She walks up slowly to the third stall, taking a glance inside, only to find the toilet and some paper on top of it. She sighs and shuts the door.
She fixes up her long hair, and heads up to the door of the bathroom, only to find the sound of emptiness around the whole pizzeria. The only faint sound that could be heard was the fridge, coming from the kitchen. She realized the door from the kitchen was left open, so she walked up to it and closed it, not before peeking deeper inside to see if anyone was still there. The place was surprisingly clean for a pizzeria kitchen. At the left side were the counters, a sink, and some stoves.
At the opposite side, there were wooden shelves, filled with either jars of condiments or other cooking ingredients. At Charlie’s left, there was the ordering window, facing the rest of the main room, although the grid was closed now. At the end of the room, there were 6 ovens, stacked in pairs and next to each other, while next to them remained the fridge. And lastly, at the center of it all, was a small section divided in two. One half, in front of the counters, was a frying area.
The second half though, was not that visible since a small wall was separating it from the fryers. Above it, there were many pots and pans hanging from a pole on each side of the area. Charlie could still feel a faint smell of pizza, a smile crossing her face as the smell triggered some nostalgia, even some hunger, in her. She closed the door, heading back to the entrance of the bathroom hallway, walking out into the dining room. The place remained the same, although a bit messier, it looks even grander now that it was empty…
“Hey there” Charlie startled out, as she turned to look at Carlton getting out of the boy’s bathroom now wearing a t-shirt. She takes a deep breath before he starts walking up to her. “So… you uh, you’re starting with your shift right now, huh?” “Yep” Answered Charlie dryly.
Carlton looks around the place, taking his hands inside the pockets of his dark blue jeans as a slight smile comes across his face. “Pretty empty looking during the night, right?” The boy asked back to Charlie, as he began to feel a little too ashamed. “Yep” Answered Charlie once more to the attempt of banter.
She remains serious for quite some seconds, but as she looks back at Carlton at her side, she softens her face a little, along with a sigh coming out from her. Carlton looks back to Charlie, noticing her expression and looks away. “Look, sorry for what happened earlier today I uh… I kind of messed it up a little but, what do you say we get know each other a little better…?” Charlie remains quiet for some seconds, a little awkward but slightly surprised. “Look, I’m sorry but, I’m not interested if you are implying what I think you are implying…”
Carlton remains steady, his face a little more serious as he takes a deep breath. “But, if you are okay with it, we can… at least, get to be friends… you know…” Carlton looks back at Charlie, trying to hold his gaze for a little bit. “Oh, friends.” Carlton sighs, looking away for a slight second before looking back at Charlie. “Yeah sure, that seems fine to me.” Answered finally. “Alrighty then, I need to get to work so…” “Yeah, have a nice night.” Said Carlton while a slight smile pulls from the corner of his lips. “Yeah, you too.” Carlton begins walking away up to the entrance, slight shrugging off. He sighs while he whispers to himself. “At least I tried…”
Charlie stands there, watching him leave, and as soon as he slams the door shut, a look of slight pity for him appears on her face. “I’m sorry, buddy…” She takes her flashlight from the belt of the dark grey pants, not turning it on yet but having it ready on her hand once she turned off all the lights. “I’m better off alone right now…” She begins walking up to the other end of the room, right where the small stage was resting, empty and abandoned. Next to it, there was a grey door, to which she knew she had to head for. As she walked across the room, she took her time to notice many things she did not see before.
She saw a wall next to the entrance, filled with little kids’ drawings. Many of them were just colorful blurs and only some of them look a little detailed, at least they looked what one would expect from a little kid. But at the center of everything, there was a bigger drawing, overlapping some of the others. It had a yellow rabbit holding hands with some kids. Three were at his right side and 2 at his left. A shiver ran down her spine as she saw it, a strange sensation went over her head, but she ignored it. She took glances at the giant stage in the middle, looking at the red curtains wrapping around it.
Curiosity took over her for a moment and lifted her hand to try and pull away some of the curtain, but she stopped herself from doing so, not because she was doing something bad, but almost like something pulled her hand away. “Just a kids restaurant…” She keeps walking and notices a huge entrance with a bright red neon sign above it that read, “Arcade”. She eventually reaches the door, and as she steps through the door and closes it behind her, Charlie finds herself in a hallway. At her right was a door at the end of the hallway that had a sign that said, “Parts and Service”. At the other end there was a door with no sign, but it probably led to the arcade, and right in front of her, remained a door with a small window on it. She continued her walk up to the door in front of her, remembering the instructions Jessica told her to turn the lights off. She got through the door, finding a supply closet.
A very weird place to keep a generator, but there it was, at the left end of the room. The generator had a red glowing light bulb on it. Charlie walked closer to it, glancing the room around her, watching all those cleaning supplies resting on each metal shelf, as well as quite some strange props, between one of them, she could notice a weird pink cupcake with jumpy eyes and two teeth coming out from what would supposedly be its mouth. Charlie frowned slightly at the sight, and finally reached the generator box.
She then rose her fingers, flipping the switches from the main rooms: The dining area, the arcade, and the kitchen. As soon as she pulled it down, she could hear the dim sound of the power leaving the lights of the main areas. She walked out of the closet, noticing how the hallway lights were still on. As she wanted to keep walking towards the door to the arcade, she could hear a faint knock on the door of the closet. She turned to stare at it, looking at the window for some seconds. The knock appeared again. “Who’s there…?”
She hesitated for some long seconds, but ended up walking towards the door, watching her every step and trying for each to be as cautious as possible. She peeked through the window, but the room was too dark to see anything inside. Muffled sobbing began to be heard inside the room. It sounded like a little kid. “Hello? Kid? Calm down… Calm down I’m here.” Charlie quivered slightly, as her mind became blank for some seconds. How did she not see him in there? How could she already be failing so miserably? But, if he was in the place the whole time, who left him there?
Charlie struggled with the door, not managing to open it as much pressure as she put onto it, she struggled and struggled, until silence invaded the hall once more. She placed her ear against the window, but the room was dead silence. She took a sigh, taking some steps back to take in the view of the door while she thought of how to open it, but what she was not taking into consideration, was the large silhouette in front of the window. Charlie gasped. She almost lost her balance as she saw the strange figure, which barely resembled some kind of chubby head. But on top of it, she could barely make out two long objects, sticking out of the head, almost like… bunny ears.
Charlie followed her instinct and walked away, looking at her every side until she reached the arcade door and went through it. As soon as she got out, the whole room was almost pitch black. She could feel the silence screaming in her ears, and while panic did not surge yet, she held onto her flashlight tightly and turned it on, revealing now a dim ray of light that she now had to follow. On her way through the arcade, she managed to see some claw machines at one of the walls of it, as well as some pinballs and minigame machines. There was this one that called her attention, and it was named, Fruity Maze.
Charlie’s hand tweaked ever so often. She kept her guard on, taking in as much as she could from the bare sight the beam of light, she was holding could give her. She knew that now, was the time to look out the most. “…Is this some kind of prank?”
Charlie stepped in front of the door at the end of the arcade room, taking one more look behind her as she moved the flashlight in an angle that could let her see most of the room, making out the confetti filled carpet and the game machines placed in some type of hallway shape. She would then go through the door, taking a breath and leaving her flashlight on her belt once more as the illuminated lamps of the hallway signal her path up to the office. Charlie recognizes this hallway as the one she first saw and follows the same road up to the end of it. She finally reaches the strange doorway to the security room.
She takes her time to analyze this strange handle that rested at the top of the doorway. Was this some kind of gate? She carefully took the handle in her hands and began to pull but to no avail. She struggled for many seconds until the gate finally fell downwards, just like Charlie. She took her time to pick herself up, thinking to herself how odd of a choice for a security door. She takes the handle with her two hands once more, slowly lifting the gate, which had a printed warning sign on it for a very good reason in fact. As she reached the highest, she could get, Charlie heard a click coming from the gate and noticed that the weight of it was no more. She slowly let the handle go and saw the door remain upwards.
“So much security for a kids restaurant…” What if her dad had one of those as well at the old location…? She looked at the whole office, noticing some dark colored shelfs at the back and a small table with some coffee mugs and some paper balls. File cabinets remained at each side of the room, and right in front of all of that, rested a dark-colored and quite long desk. The desk had monitors on top of it, most of them were small while one of them at the right, was the biggest.
A red telephone rested besides these as well as an empty cup with red stripes. She saw a control pad right in front of those monitors, waiting for her along with the black roller chair. As comfortable as it looked, the feeling of it was not likeable at all as she placed herself on it. She shifted in the seat but decided to not mind it. With the chair, she took some steps closer to the desk, her eyes taking in the control panel below her, as her fingers began to glide over it. “If I’m not mistaken…”
Charlie’s index finger remains hovering over a big button in the panel, and just as she suspected, the button initiated the monitors right as she pressed it, now presenting the whole monitoring views of the restaurant. A small victorious smile crossed Charlie’s lips, and her fingers began hovering the panel once more, ready for her next move. While she tried to make her next move, her ears ringed just like the red telephone on the desk. She wrinkled her face, thinking to herself who could be calling at this time of the night? She rolled up to the phone while the ringing continued to sound, and finally, she took it onto her hands, cutting the ring out. “Hello?”
For very brief seconds, she heard static. “Is this thing even… uh, hello? Hello, hello?” The audio was heard in a saturated mess, but she could still make out the words the boy was saying through the telephone. “Hello? I can hear- “ “Well, hello there, I’m sure that if you are hearing this, then number one, you might be attempting to answer me, but you don’t have to bother at all, since this is a recorded message. And number two, this place was probably the only job available for you… it always is, one way or another…”
The boy cleared his throat after speaking, while Charlie leaned back on her seat, relaxing a little as she held the telephone on her right ear, which ringed up closer to it. She glanced back at the monitors, now having the entire view of the party room, bathroom hall, kitchen, arcade, and entrance all to herself. “If that is the case… welcome to Freddy’s…” The voice garbled slightly through the telephone as he spoke. Charlie let herself relax on the back of the chair, keeping her eyes sticked to the monitors.
She feels her eyelids begin to blink slower than usual but shakes her head quickly. She takes a glance at the watch hanging above the poster, containing the three animal-like mascots she always hears about, but something was a little off about the illustration though. The watch indicated that it was 11:55A.M. Surprise then invades her, but she knows she must get accustomed to this type of schedule. “My name is John, and I was in that office before you, working the nightshift, in fact I am right in here, heh… Now, being a little transparent with you, I am recording this message within some secrecy, mostly because…”
The voice on the telephone cuts a little as the boy’s breaths become a little steadier, just so he can then continue to speak. The over saturation of the audio softened, but so did the boy’s voice. “There are many things, going on in this place that… either many people would call me crazy, or my superiors would probably scold me if I told this to someone. But, since I figured more people would come through here, I decided to try and… help them.”
A small chuckle comes out of him afterwards, while a slight smile came across Charlie’s face. Her ear ringed up closer at the phone, almost as if she wanted to listen to what the boy wanted to say. “I’m sure, if you have lived quite some time in town, that you have heard good things about Freddy’s like, “Oh, it is the joy of Hurricane.” Or something like that…”
As Charlie remained listening on her seat, she started to hover her fingers over the panel once again, and finally decides to press another button, which causes the big monitor to change into another view. At first, the screen seems dark, but as the seconds pass, it begins to brighten dimly, revealing the image of what was kept inside that large stage. “Let me tell you, that is not entirely true… for one specific reason, in fact…”
Charlie leaned into the screen, squinting her eyes as she got a better view at those animatronic mascots the boy just called out through the phone. She could make out three shapes, standing very still in a row across the stage. At the very front of the camera was a giant bunny, holding a guitar in its hands. Although it was viewing him from a profile angle, Charlie managed to recognize… it was the one at the closet window.
“You see, things in here can get… bizarre sometimes. Especially during the night.” Next to the bunny, she made out the quite further away shape of some kind of round shape, holding its right hand up to its chest level, and on it remained still a cupcake. And finally, the one in the middle of them, a placed more onwards than the other two, remained a quite bulky figure, wearing a top hat on its head and holding a microphone with his right hand.
“Those friendly, cuddly, and dancing robots are not exactly what you think. Here at Freddy’s, nothing is what it seems, in fact. Let me get you through the basics first.” John paused for a few seconds before continuing. “You maybe have noticed the fancy equipment in front of you already. Don’t worry, it is not as fragile as it seems, you can try it off as much as you want. Although be careful with coffee…” A slight smirk came across Charlie’s face, feeling a little calm and slightly entertained by his mannerisms.
“Then, you have uh, the main attraction of the place. First there is Bonnie, the blue bunny of course, then you have Chica, the chicken with a cupcake on her hand, and Freddy. The lead singer. They are the main three of the place.” The boy takes a very deep breath, only for Charlie to hear some steps through the telephone, followed by some garbled banging while the boy is startled. “Right... uh, can’t forget about Foxy… That one’s been decommissioned inside pirate’s cove.”
Charlie passes by the camera that shows that small stage with purple curtains. It was still closed away. She keeps swinging the lever through the different places of the restaurant, watching the dark insides of the supply closet on her way, now seeing there was nothing inside at all. Charlie takes a deep breath, leaning her cheek to her hand as she tries to process everything. As much as she begins to feel some weariness, she keeps herself from relaxing.
Stolen story; please report.
What the hell is going on in this place? Why is this John guy trying to help specifically? Was it all some twisted joke that the people concocted to scare Charlie for being the newbie? Marla couldn’t be behind any of this, she wouldn’t do a joke of this level. Maybe it was the Carlton guy she saw earlier; he must be related to all of this in some twisted way.
“But look, the main point is that… the animatronics get a little… quirky, specifically during the night, at least that I know of…” Charlie winds up changing the main monitor inside pirate’s cove, although, it was pitch darkness. She tried going through the cameras one at a time, with every force she still had in her sight, but nothing seemed to appear as most rooms remained dimly lit or completely shrouded in darkness.
“To make it short, they have this programming that allows them to move during the night. It’s something about their servos not locking up, just your engineering stuff, you know. Now, that would not be a problem… if they did not have this feature in their programming…” Charlie began to feel her eyes droopier. She tries to resist against the tiredness with all her strength, almost as if lifting a heavy weigh on her shoulders. She knew she had to listen to the whole message, but her body necessity was beginning to take over her.
“Basically, once the animatronics start walking…” She feels the telephone leave her hand and slowly rest on the desk while the boy’s voice fades away from her ears. She manages to wake back up for some seconds, but the sleep was getting back again right up to her body, and then her eyes. The last thing she would see before closing them, is the main monitor, viewing the main stage camera. Charlie blinked, and then shut her eyes, even though, the blue bunny was nowhere to be found inside the stage.
…
“Charlie? Charlie, where are you?” Sammy walked through different kids, playing in long rows of arcade machines, enjoying the ambience of the party soon to begin. Music playing in the jukeboxes all around the place. Both adults and children would bring themselves to relax after a long week of school. Everyone but Sammy and Charlie. He walked up to the red door at the end of the room, grunting a little to push it open, but when she finally did, he found himself in a hallway that led to another door upfront and the bathrooms at the left side. But at the right corner of the hallway, he found Sammy, curled up and sobbing.
“Charlie!” The muffled sound of the music gave the two a little more auditive space, allowing their little kid voices to finally be heard between each other, but all Sammy could hear, was the silent sobbing coming from Charlie. “Charlie…?” Sammy sits next to the defenseless girl. He turns his head to look down at her, and then opens his arms although unsure if he should. “Do you want a hug?”
Charlie’s sobbing softens. She lifts her head up, wiping her tears with her wrist as she takes the hug with her little brother. Afterwards, the two remained seated, the small girl taking slower breaths and feeling as if the world around them has slowed down. “What happened?”
“…No one wants me there at the table. Your friends don’t want me there, not even… not even Michael wants me there…” The little girl begins tear dropping once more while her voice cuts off. The world begins to speed up for her, as even the words that came out of herself hurt her, doubting why they did, or maybe she didn’t want to accept they do hurt her. The boy puts a hand on her shoulder, as tender as the touch of a brother can be.
“But… why?” A frown comes across his mouth. The anger of a little kid kicks in. His concern for Charlie as well as how unfair he feels the situation is make him stand up with such determination. “It’s not fair! They can’t do that! I’ll go up to them and teach them a lesson…” The boy remembers the words his mother used to tell the two, to always stay calm and think about what they must do. Sammy breathes deeply, staying in silent while Charlie’s sobbing remains, a little softer now but still persistent.
“Let’s go back.” Said the boy, now standing in front of Charlie. “…What?” “It’s not fair for them to leave you out, because it is my birthday, and you are my sister.” He stretches his hand to her little sister from above, thinking to himself he looked like one of those comic superheroes to Charlie. “But what if they kick me out again?” “I won’t allow them, don’t worry Charlie. It will be alright, I promise.”
Charlie wipes the remains of her teary eyes, before taking Sammy’s hand. She stands up, even though the girl still feels that sense of fear building up in her stomach. Sammy begins to lead her through the hallway, finally reaching the door outside, the arcade machines still bopping, even though it was now relatively empty. This could only signal one thing. “I think the show is about to start, let’s hurry!”
The two-start running through the hallway, Charlie’s nervousness sticking onto her still as the stronger lights of the main room begin to shine over the two of them while they exit. The tables were all set up with confetti clothing, and the dining room had balloons floating around every corner. The smell of frying and pizza came from everywhere, as the lunch was served some time ago by now. At the right end of the room, there was a table with many presents on it, but they were all surrounding a big cake, decorated with white and blue frosting.
The adults were talking on the tables, while most of the kids were starting to gather around at a carpeted circle in the center of the tables, ready to see how the stage in front of them opened. The music faded out, being replaced by the voice of a man. “Ladies and gentlemen, boys, and girls…” The two kids recognized the voice of their dad even through the contained excitement he was holding, but he still added enough cheerfulness, showing off the inner showman he always tries to be for his kids. “We have finally reached the awaited moment of the morning; we’re celebrating one very special day for one very special kid in the public, and guess who is right on time to greet him?”
The kids all cheer up and start shouting the name, almost in unison. “Fredbear! Fredbear!” “Please welcome everybody, the beloved Fredbear!” The red giant curtains begin to open, as a silhouette is finally shunned by the colorful spotlights behind it, revealing a big bear. A big yellow bear.
Charlie’s ears start buzzing, just like the sound coming out from the hanging telephone from the desk. She covers her ears as fast as she could, but even with that, she couldn’t stop hearing the pining buzz, almost like if it was inside her head. The office lights, along with the whole building’s energy, started to go crazy. Everything was flickering on and off as Charlie grunted at the buzzing in her head. She fell off the desk to her knees, hitting her head slightly with the border of the desk.
Then, images of what seemed to be the animatronics started flashing before her eyes. Their eyes appeared empty or bloodshot, accompanied by a very strange sound of some robotic mumbling, almost like if a machine was malfunctioning, which began to sound louder through her ears, piercing her head. But the sound she heard clearer, were whispers. “It’s me. Charlie, It’s me.”
Charlie screamed, hugging herself as she remained twitching, almost like feeling an immeasurable pain, she could not stop from harming her. Right then and there, everything ceased. Charlie was panting, still on her knees, looking at all sides. She saw the left hallway was now pitch dark. She took a hand to her chest, feeling how her heart is beating at a very precarious pace. She grabbed the flashlight from her belt, trying to recover the little amount of bravery she had left in her. She stood up and began walking slowly towards the darkness of the hall. She turned her flashlight on, the beam shining shakily the door of the manager’s office.
She walked up to the dread filled hole, and as soon as she leaned in, a shiver ran down her spine as she pointed her flashlight to the emergency exit door, only to find nothing there. She then moved the light beam to her right. She found a red bowtie in front of her. She lifted her flashlight and found a pair of glassy eyes staring down at her, also revealing the blue hue of the furry carcass in which they were inside, and the blue bunny ears hovering. Bonnie reached for her abruptly, almost too quick for machinery with the magnitude of his, all while a screech came out of him, too loud but also too curdling to come out of his servos and circuitry. She pulled away just in time. Her heart skipped a few beats right as she got back inside the office, and with all her force, held onto the handle of the gate and pulled it down.
She pressed her back against, feeling her heartbeat right at her ears. Knocking was heard from the other side, along with a strange, pained moan, very persistent. The banging went on and on, becoming louder and louder. It ceased, finally. Charlie remained still, pressing herself against the door while fear remained consuming her bit by bit. She took a very deep breath, looking at the cameras from the door. She walked up to them, staring into them almost as if her life depended on it.
She saw the supply closet, only to find darkness, but no shadow seeming to move inside. She saw the left hallway, but nothing was there, not even a single silhouette moving. She then checked the camera to the emergency exit, nothing. What was happening? This is not just a cruel joke anymore; this is something else. Charlie then changed the main monitor to the main stage, but she found static. “?Oh no no, no!” She started to hit the monitor with her palm, afterwards trying to change the camera, only to discover that the other cameras did work.
“…What?” Charlie began to change to the other rooms, finding that every camera did work. When she returned to the main stage, the camera was now fixed. Everything was in its place. Bonnie was standing there just like a new lamp post placed on the sidewalk. As if nothing had happened. “What the hell…” Charlie scratched her head. She leaned back, only to fall on her seat. She remained contemplating the monitor for many seconds, recollecting her thoughts like paperwork that was just spilled out of a suitcase. She took a glance at the clock above the wall. 6:04 A.M. The shift had ended.
She looked at the monitors one last time, having all to herself the view of Freddy’s right in front of her eyes. Truly, nothing was what it seemed to be. She pressed the off button on the panel and rose from the chair, her legs stepping across the room unsure of where they’re headed, or why they’re headed anywhere in there. She walked up to the closed door, gripping the handle while she took a deep breath, not wanting to open the gate at first even though she saw everything was normal now. Finally, Charlie lifted the gate, looking sideways in the now lighted hallway, glad to finally see once more the usual blank environment. She began walking down to the door at the other end, the same feeling of dread she felt during the night now mixing with some uncertainty while she attempted to remain composed.
Once she got out into the party room, she saw the darkness surrounding every corner, except for the light still above the drawing-filled wall. Shivers came down Charlie’s spine as soon as she handled her flashlight, illuminating some of her path on the way out. Before she could go through the archway, she looked back at the main stage, not feeling it as empty as it she thought it was. She walks up to it, extending her hand to pull some of the curtain away and glance inside, only to see the big brown bear standing above her, along with his two mechanical partners at each side.
Their figure, as lighthearted as it was during the day, imposed an unusual sensation of unconformity. Their remaining pose was a performing one, as if they were turned off mid-show. The gloss on their eyes shined almost as if they were filled with life, one that has been trapped in there for a long time. She let go off the curtains, finally walking back to the colorful archway, signaling once more the dawn of the morning.
…
“Gosh… What a night…” Charlie lays in her bed, finally ready to peacefully recollect her thoughts at her safe place, and what she could call home now. Did anyone else, apart from that John guy, knew anything about the animatronics moving during the night? Well, of course her first thought went to the technicians, they would be the ones who would most likely be aware of the programming they did themselves. But all those strange… visions.
A gas leak can be discarded of course. She checked the kitchen before heading onto her shift. Even then, the hallucinations were not compared to what she saw in the dark. The gleamy eyes of Bonnie, remained clear in her memory for some reason. They looked off, something about them did not sit quite right with her. None of them did. Their failed attempts at looking like friendly animals, only faltered the more she tried to remember them. But her memory doesn’t always play like that.
She remembers an old one. The one her father used to have as the mascot of the old place. A yellow bear. She can still picture its big silver eyes, and its large open jaws, moving up and down. Even then, she knows there is a very deep memory about the main three. One buried deep inside the old workshop at that restaurant.
The lamps remained steady over Charlie; the muffled sound of the music came through the walls as the quite moody hallway now covered her with its own empty atmosphere, except for the remaining smell of pizza coming from the door in front of her that led to the kitchen. She held a small bag of popcorn on her hands and was humming a light tune while she approached the empty security office at one end of the hallway, with its large entryway giving a clear sight into the inside. Maybe the guard was on his break.
She finally walked up the long hallway that led to a double door with the label, Employees room. As she reached for it, she pushed it open, finding most of the employees in there, and the security guard was in fact on a small break, taking some coffee for himself. “Oh, hey there Charlotte.” The employee near the jukebox waved at her, and she waved back, putting up her gentle smile. “Hey there, Mister! Is my daddy in there?”
She points up to the door with the label, Parts and service, as she finished speaking. “Oh, yes he is, you may pass.” He walks close to the door, opening it inwards for Charlie to go through. “Thanks, Mister!” The door closes behind Charlie. The only thing she could see was the dim light of the room on top of some shelves filled with hands and glass-like eyes. She felt a sudden weight on her chest, feeling that the eyes were staring down at her from all sides, watching her every step as she turned around the corner of a shelf.
A shadow remains standing in front of a table, in which another figure is remaining still, with two small shapes almost seeming stabbed into what looked like a head through the darkness. “…Daddy?” The shadow stopped what it was doing, then it turned around, holding a flashlight on his hand, taking it up to his face and revealing Henry’s dirty blue overall falling over his orange rolled-up shirt, along with the goggles on top of his head.
“Charlotte? Uh what are you doing here?” Charlie seems relieved at the sight of Henry’s face; she lowers her guard as she puts up a more curious look on her expression. “I wanted to see what you were doing. Why is this place so dark?” “Oh, right uh, the lamp doesn’t work… You know, now that you are here, I want to show you something.” He leaves the flashlight on the table, opening his arms up to Charlie. “Come over here.”
Charlie walks up to her father’s arms, taking a small scoop of popcorn into her hand as her father lifts her up with one arm, and grunts a little as he reaches for the flashlight with his free hand. “What do you think about these buddies over here, take a look.” He hands Charlie the flashlight, which even though a little heavy for her, she still can hold it well with her two hands. She points it to the figure in front, sitting on the table.
It was an endoskeleton, but it had ears at each corner of its head, quite small, but the most eye-catching thing to Charlie, was the patched up grey top hat resting on the top. “That looks like Fredbear!” “Yeah, he is very alike to him. What about those three?” Henry points towards the dark wall, where three figures were resting against the wall. She pointed the flashlight towards them, lighting up a quite eerie image of three eyeless endoskeletons leaning against the wall.
The three metal frames remained still, yet their eyes gleamed with artificial plastic life, a silicon soul, you might say. Charlie points to the three with some uncertainty but filled with wonder still. “Hmm, the first one looks like a bunny, with those long ears it has. The second one, looks like it is holding a plushy on its hand. And why does the third have a hook on his hand?” “Oh, the hook is because he is pirate. But he still likes to hang out with his other three friends when he is not sailing on the sea.”
The two share a soft chuckle, the lamp remaining on the three figures before Henry lowers his body along with Charlie, sitting her on the cold checkered floor and sitting with her as well. “You know, Charlie, there is something very beautiful about, creating things.” Charlie centers her attention back to her father, the darkness surrounding her, not in a scary mood anymore, but somehow soothing as her father began to preach to her.
“When, you create something, you place a piece from yourself into it, which is what truly gives it its own life, its soul, and it shows it to the world. And once you do that, who knows how many people you can inspire to create many more things. No matter how small or big they are, they still carry a meaning to the creator, and may also give one to others.” Charlie tilts her head, while she takes a glance at her surroundings, taking in the shiny plastic eyes staring down at her.
“…They look scary to me though.” Henry glances with her, taking a sigh and a small smile forming on his mouth. “Well, it does seem like that sometimes…” She takes a handful of her popcorn into her mouth, as the two share some silence from father to daughter. Henry takes a glance at his wrist, realizing its time to start closing. “Well, I think you should go with Sammy and go home with your mother. I’ll be with you in a few hours.” Henry begins to take off his goggles with his free hand, walking towards the table and leaving them slowly on top as he tries to remain the light on Charlie.
“Can I wait for you to come home before going to sleep this time?” Charlie tilts her head, her eyes hopeful as she makes the question. Henry turns to look at her with a smile on his face, one that cannot be seen but still appears through the darkness. “Alright then… just make sure to go to sleep immediately afterwards, please.”
Charlie opens the door of her fridge, only to find some leftover pizza she ordered some days ago. “Well, guess that should do it for now…” Ideas continue running by her head, feeling a slight disturbance even as she eats. Maybe she could go and ask at the pizzeria if anyone has seen any strange things happen. What if she could find that John guy somewhere? He is the day guard now after all, and maybe he was her only option to uncover more of the secrets lying deep in this place.
But what if she didn’t want to find out more? Should she just quit instead? Would it be better to stay in the ignorance and find another job? Maybe there is another option available for her now. Why would she want to keep going back to that place where who knows what type of terrifying things have happened? Charlie looks over at her table as the thought surges through her mind, almost like some calling.
She notices the flyer that came in through her window, remaining still on the table. She leaves the plate with her last pizza slice aside, walking across the room to take the flyer into her hands. It had remained the same as it came to her, and the words written in the back echoed in Charlie’s mind stronger now, “Find us”. What if she was meant to be there?