A/N: Okay, so I'll try to make it brief since people seem to dislike long authors notes. We're going to try something new, or something I've never seen before. Our story is going to consist of arcs, as in, there are going to be different stories all part of one big plot. We plan on 5 arcs, but that could change depending on if we want this fic longer or shorter. Anyway, I sincerely hope you enjoy the first chapter.
Arc 1, Ch. 1: The Night Shift
Mike let loose a heavy sigh as he flopped down in his lone wooden chair stationed in his kitchen. Another dead end. His eyes swept across the round piece of plastic and foam that served as his kitchen table.
Covering every visible inch of its surface was a multitude of newspapers, scattered and tossed about without care, all open to the "Help Wanted" section, each adorned bright red streaks of his trusty permanent marker somewhere on its contents.
Some of the occupations had been scribbled over viciously, as if in frustration. Some had been circled, but a large red X had been plastered over it, indicating another failure.
Mike rolled his eyes in annoyance. This was bad. Another word to better describe it would be pathetic, but "bad" stood to be a gentler term. He was 22 years old and jobless. Again.
Mike wasn't sure why he couldn't hold a steady job. Maybe it was because of his "take no shit" attitude, he really couldn't deal with the smart mouthed customers, or maybe rotten luck just loved to follow him.
Either way, without a job, he was screwed, plain and simple. There was no way in hell he would ask his parents for financial aid. He loved them, but if his mom found out her "little Mikey" was in any trouble, however small, she would fly out to see him immediately, dragging her husband along with her. That could not happen.
But without a job or money he would lose his apartment. Not that it was much of a loss. His "living quarters" were mediocre at best. From the large hole in the wall where it was obvious that a fist, or head, had been driven through it; to the constant yelling and thumping from the couple upstairs, whose arguments made their way down to Mike's level. Let's not forget the army of roaches that had taken up base in his cupboards.
Yeah, it wasn't great, but it was as cheap a place he could find and old man Greg had always been good to him.
Sighing again Mike tossed his newest paper on the table. He ran a hand through his thick black hair and picked up his red permanent marker. Flipping the paper to the "Help Wanted" section, Mike skimmed the list of possible jobs.
Schoolteacher? No. Pet sitter? No. Sales assistant? No. Painter? No.
Mike viciously scratched out the last occupation in frustration. Why wasn't there ever any jobs within his expertise? Which was nothing, but that was beside the point! Mike threw his head back and groaned. Yet another empty set.
He nearly shoved the paper aside to join the ever growing pile, when an ad caught his eye, particularly the "no previous experience" and "night shift" part. Freddy Fazbears Pizza, huh? A kid's party joint. He thought he had heard of it a few years ago, for reasons that escaped his memory.
The requirements fit Mike perfectly: No experience required, nights from 12 a. 6 a.m., watch the premises and animatronics for the duration of the shift. And best of all: he would be alone. No customers. No staff. Seemed right up his ally. So Mike took out his phone and dialed the number. He didn't have to wait long before someone picked up.
"Hello, this is Freddy Fazbears Pizza parlor and birthday planner, where all the fun begins, how may I help you?" a bored voice drawled on the other end.
"Um, hello my name is Mike Schmidt, I'd like to apply for the night guard position…"
Surprisingly, Mike had been hired on the spot, no interview necessary and he was to start that night. Odd. After being transferred by the bored women on the other end Mike had ended up speaking with the manager.
The man had been obviously drunk. His words slurred over themselves, making it difficult to understand, he went into fits of forgetfulness, often repeating his instructions. This man ran a place where young children visited? Wow.
Eventually, Mike got the message: come at 10 for orientation and signing on.
Mike glanced at the clock on his stove. 2 p.m. He had awhile. Well if he was going to be up all night he ought to take a nap, on that thought, Mike capped his marker and swept the newspapers into his arms to dispose of. If this went well, he shouldn't need them.
A couple hours later Mike began his trek to the restaurant, no need to waste gas on a 2 mile walk. On the other hand, he wasn't too eager to meet the owner of the place anyway. He hadn't seem like the most pleasant person.
Mike slowed his pace as his destination appeared on the horizon, taking half steps until he stood right outside the restaurant.
The outward appearance of the building was, put simply, shitty. Even in the near darkness Mike could make out the graffiti of various kinds that peppered the exterior. Only select letters on the sign actually worked, and the bricks that made up the building were dirty and crumbling in some places. Mike idly wondered how the place was still possibly in business.
Oh well. Mike thought. And made his way across the deserted street before pushing his way inside through the unlocked doors.
Surprisingly, Mike found the interior of the place was much nicer than its outside.
Long tables were laid out before him in a straight rows, with colorful tablecloths reaching end to end on each one, party hats lined down their centers neatly. From where he stood, Mike could easily make out the large arch that led to the bathrooms. To his immediate right was a large area blocked from view by heavy velvet curtains. A sign could be clearly seen reading "Sorry. Out of Order." Spotting another door, Mike guessed was the kitchen, well less guessed and more read the sign "KITCHEN" that was plastered to its surface.
The most astonishing thing about the room though, was reserved for the stage. Three multicolored lights shined down on the massive piece. Upon it stood three animalistic robots, all deactivated at the moment, a purple rabbit, a chicken, and a bear; all of which Mike assumed were the main attractions: the animatronics.
Ambling up to the stage and coming to a halt Mike inspected the bear. It wore a black bowtie and a small top hat was placed upon its head. The chicken and bunny also donned their own outfits: the chicken wore a white bib with the words "LETS EAT" written across it in large red letters. The rabbit simply wore a bright red bowtie. Returning his attention to the bear, Mike could've sworn it was staring back at him.
Shivering, Mike looked past the robot to spy a door behind it. "BACKSTAGE. STAFF ONLY." Looking back to the animatronics, he studied them closely. They were dirty, the fur covering them was ripped and thinning, but was pretty unnoticeable unless you really got a close enough to look.
A heavy hand suddenly fell on Mike's shoulder. He nearly screamed, but instead settled on a yelp, keeping his composure and some dignity. Whirling to face his "assailant" Mike was met with the harsh, stinging scent of alcohol.
Mike reeled back and attempted to hold his breath as he got a good look of Mr. Blanke, his new boss now, apparently.
Frankly, the man looked terrible. His bloodshot eyes aimlessly looked Mike over, his hair was thin and stuck close to his skull. He opened his mouth revealing rows of yellow teeth, and he still clutched a half empty bottle in his hand.
Once again Mike questioned the legitimacy of his "boss", he couldn't believe the man owned this place. It was for children! He suddenly had an immense concern for the kids who came there. He hoped none of them would go missing.
"So you're the new guard, eh? Well get a move on. We hafta get you settled." He drawled. At least he had sobered up enough to form coherent sentences.
Mike nearly gagged from the stench coming off the man's breath, but he held it back. Not the best first impression on your boss, even if he was too drunk to notice.
Mr. Blanke turned and plodded past the tables and down a long, dark hallway that Mike had missed at first, it was nearest to the curtained off area. To the left of it Mike noticed another hallway identical to the one Mr. Blanke had travelled down.
Taking note of this, Mike quickly followed his boss, taking a moment to take in the camera stationed at the entrance to the hall, and the janitor's closet. Mike stopped behind Mr. Blanke and waited patiently as the man fumbled with the keys to the office. Once inside Mr. Blanke sat down and pulled out a stack of papers and a uniform, promptly handing them both to Mike.
"Right, so sign those and go change, the uniform should fit, it looks about your size."
Mike wasn't sure what Mr. Blanke was thinking, but the uniform was obviously not his size, seeming to be several sizes too big for him. He nearly objected before shrugging and draping the uniform over his arm. Now for the paperwork. Mike shuffled through the small stack.
"What is all this?" he asked.
Mr. Blanke looked at him before taking a swig from his bottle.
"The usual contract, waivers, insurance, promise to keep silent of the doings in the restaurant … nothin' too fancy."
Mike didn't like the sound of that, but signed and initialed where it indicated anyway, he might as well try the job first and his shift was to start soon. Handing the paperwork back to Mr. Blanke, Mike turned to leave to go change, but Mr. Blanke stopped him.
"On second thought, before you go I'd like to show you your office." He said surprising Mike.
"An office?"
"Yep." Mr. Blanke confirmed. Standing, he discarded his empty bottle and pushed past Mike to exit the room. Mike turned and followed suit, trailing a step behind. Taking a right they advanced further into the hallway, Mike following until Mr. Blanke turned into yet another room.
The space was… unusual to say the least. In the middle of the square room sat a cushy computer chair, directly in front of that stood a small desk-like structure, it was tall enough to reach the eye level of any person sitting in the chair and thin enough to allow easy entrance and exit of the office. Attached to the top of the desk itself sat a tablet of sorts.
On either side of the chair was two, large security doors currently pulled up, which were obviously operated by the large red buttons within easy reach of the chair, labeled "DOOR", directly under each of the buttons was an equally large button, this one transparent, labeled "LIGHT".
Experimentally, Mike pressed the button, a light flickered behind him in the doorway for a few seconds before going out. Weird.
Along the back wall was another desk, this one took up the entire length of the wall. On it sat nothing but junk: a deactivated monitor, a mini fan that was on at the moment and twisting back and forth slowly, a little fake cupcake.
Tacked all along the wall around the desk was an assortment of pictures obviously drawn by children. They depicted crude drawings of the animatronics holding a child's hand or singing and performing on stage.
Mr. Blanke snapped his fingers in Mike face.
"You done gawkin'?" the man growled.
Mike snapped to attention and nodded.
"Good, now this here's your office. This is where you keep watch of the place using this fancy thinga-ma-jig." Mr. Blanke gestured to the tablet.
"Just tap the room you wanta view an' it should show right up on the screen." He pointed to the mini map of the place and tapped a room immediately the screen switched to the room he had indicated. "Just remember, these cameras can't see everything. They have blind spots. Understood?"
Mike nodded again.
"Now these're your doors." Mr. Blanke continued, jerking a thumb behind him, indicating one of the doors. "Tap these buttons and they should close right up tight." He tapped the button as an example and the door slammed shut with a dull thud. "I see you already figured out how to operate the lights. Any questions 'fore I go?"
Mike stared at him and asked the obvious question.
"Uh, yeah, what's with the heavy ass security doors?"
"Oh, that. They're a security measure in case someone you can't handle breaks in. Mr. Blanke answered. "Well, that, and something else." he muttered. Mike heard, but chose to ignore it. "Just close the doors, call the police, and voila, problem solved.
"But be warned, everything runs on power: that camera, the doors, lights, everything. When your shift begins that power begins to shrink until nothings left." he again lifted the tablet and pointed at the screen indicating the left corner; "POWER: 100%" it said. "Once that happens, you're on your own in the dark"
Another question burned on Mike's tongue.
"What's with the power shortage?" he asked.
"The restaurant can't afford to keep the power on all hours of the night, even for the night guard." Mr. Blanke said with finality. "Anything else?"
Mike shook his head no, it was still a little mysterious, but there wasn't really anything more to ask.
Mr. Blanke clapped a hand down on Mike's shoulder. "Good. I'm going home" with that, he slipped past Mike and exited the office.
Mike glanced at his wristwatch. 11:46. Nearly time for his shift to begin. He gazed at the doorway Mr. Blanke had exited through, thought for a moment, and strode through the open door opposite of it.
The bathrooms were closer to the east hall anyway, and he didn't really fancy running into Mr. Blanke again. The man wasn't so bad, there was just so much of his unexpected behavior Mike could take. That and his breath.
Every positive thought concerning the man vanished from Mike's mind when the lights promptly shut off, leaving Mike in utter darkness, save for the one back-up light stationed at the end of the hall.
Mike stopped in shock. He heard a swish as the door was opened and closed and a click as they were locked up. Allowing his eyes to adjust Mike stumbled his way to what he hoped was towards the bathrooms.
Asshole.
Mike tightened the belt around his waist another notch.
As he had feared, the clothes were much too big, but by tucking in his oversized shirt and tightening the belt around it he made it work.
He checked himself out in the mirror. Navy blue slacks with an ash blue shirt. Huh. Not bad. He took one look at the cap with the words "SECURITY" stitched into it with bright yellow letters and hooked it to his belt.
With that, Mike slipped his loafers back on and exited the men's bathroom, flicking the light switch off as he left.
As Mike stepped through the bathrooms archway he was met with suffocating darkness. The only light source coming from the backup on stage and in the two located in the front of the hallways.
Mike grabbed his flashlight Mr. Blanke had assigned him and shone it around the room until it landed on the animatronics on the stage. Damn those things were creepy. He continued to stare at the slumping forms from across the rooms, that is, until a loud, blaring alarm went off from his pocket, nearly giving him a heart attack.
Pulling out his phone Mike clicked the alarm off. 12 a.m. His shift had begun. With one last look at the prone forms on stage, Mike turned and walked down the east hall towards his office. He wasn't sure, but he felt something was watching him. Like eyes were boring into his back, prompting Mike to quicken his pace. This entire place was creepy.
Mike leaned back in his chair and blew out a bored sigh. He checked his watch. 2:52. Three hours to go and God was he bored!
The night had been uneventful, to say the least. Everything remained quiet. Mike would've gotten up to stretch his legs, but the feeling of being watched still lingered on his mind. So no. No exploring. So the silence stretched on, until a phone suddenly rang from the desk along the wall. Mike leaned forward in in his chair. He hadn't seen a phone when he had first inspected the desk.
Mike stood to answer it when the ringing was suddenly cut off. An automated message began to play. A panicked voice drifted out of the phone speakers.
"Hello, hello! Is this working?!" the voice urgently spoke on the other end. Mike sat back down confused. What?
"Listen if anybody's getting this, it means you're in that hell! Get out nowbefore they get there!"
Mike listened, his face twisted into a confused expression until he smirked and leaned back in his chair again. Nothing but a prank. He thought as he interlaced his fingers behind his head.
"…If it's too late to leave just be sure to check your cameras, don't let them get close, it's your only chance."
On that note, the message ended and the phone clicked off.
"Yeah, alright kid." Mike said aloud.
While Mike didn't believe a word of what the word what the prankster had said, he had reminded Mike that he hadn't checked the cameras in a while. He flipped the tablet up and began to cycle through the rooms, tapping each square that represented a room.
Just as he finished checking each camera, something seemed off to Mike. Going through each room more slowly, he stopped on the stage camera. Wasn't there supposed to be three animatronics? Mike thought back to when he had first arrived. He remembered a duck, bear, and…a rabbit!
What the hell? The prank call from earlier echoed in his mind, but he shook it away. That was impossible. Those things were robots. What little intelligence they possessed was spent on their performance. They couldn't move on their own.
The only other option was someone had broken in. Mike furiously began to cycle through the cameras again until something caught his eye in the West Hall.
When he switched back, what he saw caused his heart to leap to his throat. At the end of the hall, barely visible in the flickering back-up light, stood the form of what was undeniably the animatronic rabbit from the stage.
Mike stared until the camera, without explanation, cut out, leaving a blank, black screen. Mike tapped the screen, but it stayed stubbornly dark.
Mike frantically placed the tablet down and pounded the "light" button. There, in the doorway, stood the 'bot. Its face flickered ominously in the light until it went out. It rested a large paw on the doorway and stepped one foot into the room.
Heart pounding Mike attempted to slam the door in its face, but it refused to budge, instead the button clicked with each frantic press. The thing stepped into the office, reaching for him while simultaneously yanking on its head with its free hand.
Mike gave it no chance to touch him. Jumping from his seat, he stumbled around the tablet's desk and dashed from the room through the opposite door.
Searching behind him, Mike ran blindly down the East Hall, straight into a hard solid form. Bouncing back and landing on his ass, Mike stared, horrified, at the chicken animatronic. It began to bend down, as if to help him up, its arms outstretched. Mike scrambled back out of reach, stood, and raced in the opposite direction right back into the office.
Mike stopped dead in his tracks, he had completely forgotten the rabbit. It was still there and took another step towards Mike, who took an identical step back. Again Mike ran into the hall, and somehow slipped past the chicken. Actually it seemed to allow him to pass, even stepping out of the way it seemed.
Mike reached the Dining Hall and made straight for the doors. He grasped the handles and yanked. The doors stayed closed, efficiently locking him in. What place had doors that needed to be unlocked with keys from the inside as well as the outside?!
Mike patted his pockets, then he remembered. The keys were hanging in the office on a hook behind his chair. He was trapped.
Mike turned around to return to his office. Hopefully those things were out of there by now. He was met with the tall, intimidating forms of the animatronics. Damn those things were fast! With all forms of escape blocked Mike had nowhere to go as they advanced on him. He slid down to the floor with his back flat against the door.
As the things drew closer Mike's heart beat faster, they soon stood directly above him. The rabbit bent down and reached for him.
At that moment, Mike did the most embarrassing thing of his life. He fainted.
"Oh dear, why'd you have to go and meet him directly Bonnie? Now look at him!"
"Calm down Chica, he'll be fine, he didn't have a heart attack. 'Sides how was I supposed to know he'd freak? I can't read minds for crying out loud!"
"Well let's get him backstage. Whatever keeps attacking the other guards could still get him and Freddie still wants to meet him."
Well there you have it. I hoped you liked it. Review if you would like, but we would appreciate the feedback. 'Till next time.