Chapter 1

Saturday, November 14, 1987

Picton, New South Wales, 1:37 PM

21-year-old Jeremy Fitzgerald woke up on the couch, a white, frayed blanket over him and a ragged red pillow under his head. He was average height, at about 5" 8', and he had long, disheveled brown hair, scraggly stubble on his face, and the unkempt beginnings of a beard. His head throbbed and his throat was raw, and he felt generally pretty crappy.

"What the blazes happened last night?" he muttered. Jeremy surmised he had gone on an unexpected beer run last night and went to sleep drunk as a donkey. That would explain the headache, that was for sure.

Jeremy's breath tasted foul in his mouth, and he tore off the blanket and stumbled to the kitchen in his apartment, searching for some water or a soda. He opened the white, greasy refrigerator, and when he looked inside, something didn't make sense.

There was no beer in the fridge.

I guess I didn't go out on a beer run, Jeremy thought. Then how the heck did I end up like this?

Jeremy shrugged and got out a Mountain Dew, and sat down at the table after retrieving some pizza from the box he bought yesterday at Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria, the pizza place down the street. He didn't go there on a regular occasion, for the fact it was mainly for kids, but the pizza was so good that Jeremy couldn't resist the temptation most of the time.

As Jeremy ate the pizza and drank the soda, he wondered how he had woken up so bedraggled and so late. He didn't recall staying up late watching TV or playing NES, or even hanging out with his best friend, Fritz Smith, or his girlfriend, Victoria Samedi.

When Jeremy finished eating, he got a quick shower and pulled on a pair of jeans and a red shirt, as his other clothes stunk of body odor. What was odd was that Jeremy didn't recall ever owning the shirt he had had on, which was red and white striped with JEREMY F. printed on a black nametag in cyan lettering.

"What should I do today?" Jeremy muttered to himself. Hanging out in his apartment had crossed his mind, as had going to the game store to buy a game he'd been dying to get since July, Kid Icarus.

That's a good idea, Jeremy thought. Now I just need to get the money.

Jeremy had a $100 note and a 50 cent piece in his wallet, and he wondered if there was any more money he could scrape up in case he wanted another game.

"Ah, there's some," Jeremy thought aloud, as he entered the living room and found a 20 note and a ten cent piece tucked in an envelope and resting on the couch. Jeremy plucked the money from the envelope and inserted it in his wallet, and stooped down to get the envelope and throw it away.

A flash of black marker distinguished itself from the white envelope. Jeremy noticed the black marker was writing, and sloppy writing at that, and it took him a few seconds before he could make out, "Paycheck for Jeremy F., courtesy of Fazbear Entertainment."

As soon as Jeremy read the words, he remembered. Last night he was working his last night-shift day at Freddy Fazbear's, and those damned animatronics had tried to kill him. The bunny, the chicken, the fox, the bear, that balloon kid, that golden bear, and the puppet... he couldn't forget them, and he never probably would. He had gotten out alive, but he was still terrified of those things. Jeremy shuddered, and Kid Icarus was promptly forgotten, flushed out by images of Foxy in the hall, Toy Bonnie in the vents, and slumped-over Golden Freddy in his office.

Jeremy put on his sneakers and walked out into the warm summer day, on course to Victoria's house. Apart from Fritz, she was the person he confided in the most, and Jeremy needed to talk to her. Fritz probably wouldn't take this seriously.

When he arrived at 47 Hampton Drive, Jeremy knocked on the wooden front door of the small house where Victoria lived alone. "Vicky? You there?" Jeremy called.

The door opened, and Victoria stepped out, her purse in her hand, like she was about to go somewhere before Jeremy had come. She had on tight orange yoga pants, a plain yellow shirt, and her ginger hair was pulled into a ponytail. She was skinny and fit, but she was only about 5" 2'.

"Hey, Jeremy!" she exclaimed. "Didn't expect to see you here right before I was leaving for the gym. Where have you been lately? I haven't seen so much as a hair of you since last Friday at the cinema."

"Victoria, I actually came to tell you about that," Jeremy explained. "And no, I wasn't cheating on you."

"I'm relieved," Victoria said. "The gym doesn't close for a while, so we can natter a bit before I leave. Come on in."

Jeremy had been in Victoria's house many times before, but he was still surprised by how much neater it was than his apartment. They sat down together on her couch in the living room.

"Hey, want a drink or something?" Victoria asked.

"Nah, I'm fine, I just had a soda and a slice of pizza before I came," Jeremy said. "Anyways, I've got a lot of explaining to do. Remember Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria?"


"So, they tried to kill you? Why didn't you quit?" Victoria was shocked to hear the beloved characters from each of their childhoods had come to life and came after Jeremy.

"Fucking contract, that's why." Jeremy scoffed. "You know that fine print they have on those things? Let's just say I probably need glasses."

"Well, I'm glad you survived, Jeremy," Victoria said. She hugged his arm protectively. "Don't you think we should go complain? Animatronics trying to kill someone can't just go unnoticed."

"I honestly don't know," Jeremy said downtroddenly. "Sure, we can try, but it won't help anything."

Victoria shrugged. "Forget the gym. How about some lunch at Hungry Jack's?"

"Okay, food's on me," Jeremy said, fishing his wallet out of his pocket. He opened it up to count his money, when a crumpled up sticky note fell out.

"What's this?" Victoria said. She crouched down to retrieve it, and she uncrumpled it and read aloud, "Work the day shift, 2:45 PM on Sat."

"Oh my god, I almost forgot!" Jeremy remembered the guy who had left him a message on the phone every night of his shift, and he remembered being told to work the day shift today, for a birthday party. "Victoria, I'm sorry, I have to go work my last shift today. You want to come with me, maybe?"

"Why not?" Victoria said. "I don't really have anything else going on, so I'll go."

"It's 2:13 now," Jeremy pointed out. "And Freddy's is a 5-minute walk from my place. We should really get going; I still need to wash my uniform."

Jeremy and Victoria got up from the couch and headed towards the door.

"We'd better pick up the pace if we want to be on time, Jeremy," Victoria said, rushing. She retrieved her purse and opened the door for Jeremy, who politely thanked her.

The two jogged down the sidewalk on Hampton Drive, crossed on the crosswalk, went down Bentley Boulevard, turned a corner, and sprinted down the cement sidewalk on Mills Street, where Jeremy's apartment was.

"Stay here, Victoria," Jeremy commanded. "I'll be out quickly."

"Okay, but hurry, Jeremy!"

Jeremy opened the door to the building and entered his apartment on the 1st floor. He ran to his bedroom, where the Freddy Fazbear Pizzeria uniform lay wrinkled on the bed.

I can't wash and dry this in time! Jeremy realized. His watch read 2:17, and he knew washing the uniform wouldn't be quick. Improvising, Jeremy rushed the shirt to the sink, immersed the uniform in warm, soapy water, ran cold water over it, wrung out the water as best as he could, and hastily ironed the shirt. By the time he ran out the door at full tilt to regroup with Victoria, his watch read 2:28, 17 minutes before the birthday party would begin.

"Jeez, Jeremy, that was pretty fast!" Victoria marveled. "What's your watch say?"

"It's about 2:30," Jeremy answered. "We have plenty of time now; there's no need to hurry."

"Okay, do you need anything besides your uniform?" Victoria asked.

"My wallet, but that's in my pocket." Jeremy said.

"All right, that's good." Victoria and Jeremy continued to walk casually down Mills Street towards Freddy's, which was a couple of blocks away on Estrella Road.

"Who's the party for, even?' Victoria asked.

"Dunno. Some little girl, I believe," Jeremy said.

"You need to wear that shirt more often," Victoria said. "I really like it. The stripes, and that nametag is cool, too. I'll get a job there so I can get one of those."

"Stop fooling around," Jeremy said. "You don't want a job there. I'm lucky to be alive after that calamity."

"Yeah, but you made it," Victoria encouraged. "Never get yourself in another dangerous situation like that again, you hear me?"

"Sure."

The ground beneath the two turned into black, hot asphalt as they approached the restaurant's driveway. An array of cars were parked, and some groups of kids and their parents were going into the pizzeria.

"We're here," Jeremy stated. "And with 10 minutes to spare."

"Damn, I haven't been here in years!" Victoria exclaimed. "The exterior is the same as I remember it, and I hope nothing changed inside, either."

Jeremy and Victoria walked past the cars in the lot and soon, they stood in front of the pizzeria, with a sign out front that said, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PHOEBE!" The words were in bright pink lettering, with butterfly stickers adorning the rest of the sign. Jeremy cracked a small smile, reminiscing the days where he had been young and loved this place.

"Hello, Jeremy," greeted the man who gave wristbands to the kids and parents as they stepped into the restaurant. "Is this fine young lady with you?" Victoria smiled shyly, and Jeremy nodded his head. Victoria got a wristband, and the man directed them to the manager of the restaurant.

"Good afternoon, Jeremy!" the manager said, shaking his hand.

"Good afternoon, sir. So, I'll watch over the animatronics, to make sure they don't hurt anyone?" Jeremy asked, remembering what the phone guy had told him last night.

"That's right," he said. "We really fixed the place up, since it's the last day until we temporarily shut down to manage... er... necessities." The manager looked as if there was something he wouldn't tell Jeremy, and he knew it had to probably do with the animatronics. "We even put 'The Mangle' back together."

"That's great!" Jeremy said. "I'll go and monitor the party now, okay?" The manager waved politely, and Jeremy and Victoria went over to the Show Stage.

Toy Bonnie, Toy Freddy, and Toy Chica all stood with blank expressions on the stage, Bonnie with guitar in hand, and Chica and Freddy with their microphones. Everything was bright and colorful, and Jeremy almost wondered how this place was ever scary.

In Kids' Cove, 'The Mangle', as the employees called him, stood up, put back together and looking good, although his endoskeleton showed. Jeremy smiled with pride at Mangle and the Toy animatronics, and he wished that he was a child again, blissfully unaware of the horrors this place contained.

As the minute hand on his watch turned to 2:43, Jeremy straightened his uniform and looked back at Victoria.

"What are you going to do during the party?" Jeremy asked.

"I'll just hang out," she replied. "It can't be that boring, and it probably won't be long. We can go to the gym afterwards, and then you wanna crash at my place for the night?"

"Okay," Jeremy said. He started to make his way to the Show Stage, as the watch on his arm read 2:44 now, and while he walked over, he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"What's up, Jeremy?" Fritz asked. He had the striped uniform that Jeremy was wearing, only with a nametag that said FRITZ S. He was 5" 8', just like Jeremy, but he had a black rasta cut and a teal Penrith Panthers baseball cap. "Are you working at the party?"

"Yeah, are you?" Jeremy asked.

"Naw, I'm doing the night shift tonight." Fritz nonchalantly shrugged. "They told me I just have to sit there for a few hours. Too bad I can't bring my Nintendo, huh?"

"Fritz, trust me, you don't want to work that shift." Jeremy grabbed his shoulders. "I've been working it since Sunday, and those animatronics tried to kill me."

"Jeremy, stop messing around," Fritz said. "Those stories aren't true. You probably were seeing things."

Jeremy's face contorted into a look of exasperation. "Fritz, be safe, then."

"Alright, see you around, Jeremy," Fritz said. He looked a little uneasy, but mostly, he was confident. He walked towards the entrance, and Jeremy hoped silently that Fritz would be safe tonight.

Jeremy's watch now read 2:45, and he could hear the kids all flocking to watch the animatronics' performance. Jeremy rushed up to a spot below the stage, and he watched the kids' reactions to the animatronics, and he smiled when a little girl, who he supposed was Phoebe, screamed, "I LOVE YOU GUYS!"

Jeremy glanced at the stage for a while, watching Freddy and Chica sing and Bonnie strum away on his electric guitar. During the song, he noticed Freddy's blue eyes glare at him for a moment, and then stare back at the kids in the audience. A chill was sent down Jeremy's body, and he hoped to God that Fritz would be okay tonight.