Springtrap's Revenge

Chapter 1

"The calm before the storm"

He awoke with a scream,bolting upright on his bed.A hand reaching out to grab the stress ball from off the nightstand. The other hand over his face. It had fet so real he was sure that he was bleeding. There was no blood. There was no wound to his head. No ax had struck clenched the stress ball tightly as he tried to calm himself had been such a godsend lately. The nightmares had been plaguing him almost since he had started to work at Fazbear's Horror Attraction. Ever since they found...It. Things have since started to become worse for him since the fire that burned the entire building to the ground. The nightmares were growing in their frequency over the past two weeks. He wished they would stop. He couldn't take any more of the stress! As badly as he wanted to see a therapist he just could not. They would think him insane and send him away to an asylum somewhere. There was only one person he could talk to about everything and he honestly did not want to burden her.

He was too busy calming himself down to notice footsteps coming down the light turning on. A knocking at his bedroom door nearly made him jump out of the bed. As the door open a head peered in."Todd?" Asked a drowsy belonged to his roommate and friend. "Are you all right?" He turned his head to look at the girl standing in the doorway. "Y-yeah. I'm fine Maria." Todd replied, trying to keep to make it sound like he had not gone through another episode. She wasn't convinced. Maria stepped inside and sat down at the edge of his sighed as she started to rub his back gently. "Another of those nightmares?" All he could do was nod at his friend's question. She frowned with worry. Wondering if there was anything she could do to help him. "Do want to talk about it?" Todd shook his head. He didn't want to go back into all of that. Several minutes passed in silence. Maria quietly got up and walked downstairs to the kitchen. He could hear her going through the cabinets. No doubt she was going to make something to help soothe his nerves.

The hallway light flickered for a moment before returning to normal. Todd hadn't meant to disturb the house's newest resident. He hadn't meant to wake Maria either but it had happened. "Don't worry kid, I'm fine." Todd wasn't sure if the boy was truly present or not, but might as well try to assure the spirit as well. It felt rather weird talking to something that may not even be there. Maria's footsteps told of her return from the kitchen."Here." She said handing Todd a small plate with a cup on rising up. "Let the tea sit for a few minutes before drinking. Hopefully this will help calm your nerves." She gave a small smile. Trying to look reassuring even though her eyes were beginning to body telling her to go back to bed. He reached out to take the plate and cup offered to him. A single whiff told him was one of those herbal teas. It was not his particular favorite to drink but he couldn't bring himself to refuse his friend's gesture. Or deny that it did have some affect in soothing his nerves after suffering a nightmare. "Thanks. I'm sorry to have woken you guys up..." His shoulders drooping downward. Maria was already waving it off. " Its fine. I've started to expect them nowadays." Her reply made him feel a twinge of guilt. Before he could say anything she gave him a quick hug and left his room. The door closed and the hallway light now off. "Its not fine..." He muttered to himself before sipping the tea.

Todd groaned when his alarm clock started to sound off. He hadn't realized that he had gone back to sleep. There hadn't been any dreams or nightmares. Maybe the tea helped? He was too groggy to think about why. All he knew was that he had a dreamless sleep. He reached out to stop the alarm, turning over to look at the time. Eight in the morning. His usual wake up time. With some effort he sat up and rubbed his eyes. Today he'll head out into town to look for a new job,without Maria to tag along. He didn't want her to stop attending her college classes for his sake. Getting up off the bed Todd stretched and headed over to his dresser.

Downstairs Maria was already up and about. Dressed for the day table was already set for breakfast. This morning she thought it might be a good idea to make some pancakes for special version of pancakes. Frankly she starting to come to her wit's end at what to do to help him. She started to look into psychology to find ways to help her friend cope and ultimately get past the nightmares. It was what had given her the idea to get the stress ball Todd had been using. Okay she bought it after looking up ways to relieve stress. Still flipped the pancake over. At the very least she can try to do things that she knew would make Todd happy. Maybe it could help him build a sort of buffer against the negative effects? She sighed to herself.

Todd trudged downstairs,feeling tired and even drained. A look in his bathroom mirror showed he was starting to develop dark spots under his eyes. He began to perk up a bit when a delicious scent hit his nose. A deep whiff told him Maria was cooking this morning and that she was making her special rainbow pancakes. What made them rainbow?All the M n M's she mixed into the batter along with some chocolate young man started to move quickly towards the kitchen to confirm what his nose told him. Yes! It was true! Todd licked his lips in anticipation. When Maria turned around to look at him she chuckled a little at his face. " Just a few more and we'll be digging in, all right?" She said cheerfully,placing one of the pancakes onto a plate so she could get started on another. He nodded. It started to feel like today was going to turn out as a good one! There was something he noticed about the kitchen table though. Three plates were set and ready. It took him a few moments to process that Maria had taken the ghost boy into consideration. Everything on the table was set up for three people in mind. There was even a napkin for the boy as well.

'That's Maria for you...' Thought Todd as he stared at the third plate. She really was a good person. A realization came to him. What was maria doing home right now!? Wasn't she supposed to be at college right now? "You're not in class right now!" Todd blurted out. Maria flinched a little at his outburst. "Actually, I requested to take most of my classes online. I still have to go back to the campus for my problem 'll be all right." She flipped the pancake over. He was already shaking his head. "Not its not all right! You shouldn't drop everything just for my sake!" It wasn't the first time Maria put her life on hold for him. He remembered a few years back when he had broken one of his legs while on one of his family's hiking trips. Maria literally skipped school, earning poor grades for not turning in a due project,just to stay with him at the hospital. Only leaving when visiting hours were over and the nurses were able to force her to leave. On one hand he liked his friend's loyalty. He was one of the few people to see how far she would go with it. On the other hand he wished she would find a way to balance it out or even keep focus on her own life.

"Todd, its fine! This gives me more time to do things, that's all." She waved her hand. "I can probably snag some more days for my job." Todd shook his head. No use in arguing with her once she had her mind made up. He had a very good idea of what she aimed to do with her new found free time. He gave a small sigh. "Whatever...I'm going to go get the mail." With that he walked out of the kitchen. Some fresh air should help him.

Outside it was rather quiet in the neighborhood that Todd and Maria lived in. It almost felt strange to him. Somewhere, out there in world beyond this little corner of suburbia, something terrible could be happening. Or perhaps the beginning of a horrible thing. A shiver went down Todd's spine at the thought. He walked down the drive way towards the mailbox,trying to get rid of those thoughts. He didn't want to think of the possibility of someone going through a similar experience or once that could be worse than his own. Or that there were parents out there missing their children. Could the boy haunting him be missing his parents? Were they missing him too?

Todd walked back to the house with mail in hand.