I collapsed on the ground, barely motionless trying to silence my whimpers of pain as the golden bear costume I was stuck in began to come undone. I groped for air trying to soothe the agony of my body, pierced by the metallic rods released by the springlocks. Stumbling to rip the deathtrap of a mascot costume, I crashed myself back into a wall, releasing more of the springlocks and sending more of the animatronic endoskeleton in my chest.

I fell to the ground, beginning to feel myself getting numb from the pain. I began to talk to myself hysterically, "Oh god, Oh god! Why… It hurts...it hurts…" My vision started becoming blurry; I knew no one was coming to my aid anytime soon, and this was where I was going to die. Bones crushed, organs ruptured, I stared blankly at the wall as a pool of blood collected under me, questioning to myself: Where did everything go wrong?

My morning began rainy, arriving at my job at Fredbear's Family Diner. It was a local restaurant, not that popular but still well loved by families in the community.

I let out a large yawn while passing though the two red entrance doors. The small dining was lined with tables and chairs surrounded by lines of novelty arcade machines. I smiled at the sounds of the games making all types of buzzes and sounds and the happy laughter of the children. The smell of freshly cooked pizzas created a warm atmosphere.

I walked passed the showroom over to the prize counter, my regular work position, where I was greeted by a smirky face "Hey Henry, You're late."

I returned his smirk with an irritated gaze. "Hey Vincent, did I miss anything?"

He sat back from his chair, pushing the purple locks from his face, "Nothing yet, Bonnie and Freddy are acting alright." We both looked across the diner. The main attraction of the restaurant were the two interactive animatronics, Fredbear and Bonnie. The two bright yellow robots moved on the stage playing with a group of small children.

I grabbed a chair and sat next to Vincent, joining him at watching the two automatons. Now our jobs weren't just to run the little prize shack and count tickets for young kids; Vincent and I were actually mechanics. Our main duties were to maintain the expensive robots and take their place if necessary. These two mascots were more special than any other old chuck e cheese robot in that if they break down or malfunction, we can slip inside them. The revolutionary endoskeletons inside allowed for the mascot to switch from animatronic to wearable costume, meaning that we could just go in and play the part.

We sat there for hours in silence watching the robotic mascots perform pre-recorded lines. As I finished helping a kid get a toy, a young boy came up to the counter. "Hey, is Fredbear sick?" I looked across to the stage with discontent. The Fredbear animatronic was acting funny. Instead of his routine movements, he began to twitch, and his words became shriek and repetitive.

"Looks like you have to go and fix Freddy," Vincent snickered, trying not to alarm the kids listening to our conversation.

Excited to finally do something, I hurried over to the stage. I hopped onto the stage and flipped the hidden off switch behind Freddy's neck. "Sorry kids, looks like o'l Fredbear needs to take a break, but he'll be right back!" The children crowding around the mascots whined at my announcements. I held a smile while keeping the lifeless suit up as the crowd dissolved to go play in the arcade.

I took a small exhale and started to lug the husk to the spare changing room. I set the animatronic on the wall to look for the special spring crank to lock up the endoskeleton. After searching for a moment, I finally found it in the corner of the room. Reaching for it, I noticed it was wet. I looked up to find the corner of the room dripping water from the outside. I knew that I had to dry off the crank because water could affect the springlocks, but at the same time, I began hearing small children from the other side of the door chanting for Fredbear. Trying to make a hasty decision with kids rioting outside, I had no choice but to quickly wipe the crank with my shirt.

I shoved the crank inside the back of the chest and turned it forcefully. I kept spinning the crank until I heard a nice click noise. Hearing the uproar of kids outside, I hurried to lock the other parts of the costume. The head locked in rather quickly, tucking the animatronic eyes within the mask leaving to hollow holes and causing the jaw to drop locked out of place. Turning the final springlock in the right leg, I noticed that there was no click noise, but I couldn't tighten it anymore. Figuring it was fine I began to suit up.

I slipped on the costume rather quickly. The pieces slipped on tightly around my body, slightly compressing me and making my movements stiff. I shoved the bear head on my head and swiftly headed out to the showroom.

My exit from the safe room was instantly met with cheers and small grabby hands. I attempted a wave but the paws of the animatronic made it nearly impossible. Maneuvering carefully through the sea of over-energized children I made it to the stage next to Bonnie.

Now this is the part that I hated the most, having to pretend like I'm a robot and act with the fake golden bunny. The kids watched eagerly as the first routine began. In my best Fredbear impression I started, "Hyuck Hyuck hey Bon Bon"

The animatronic stalled for a minute, but eventually responded to me. "Hi Freddy! Will you look at this great group of friends we have right now?"

I acted along, gesturing to the crowd of peering eyes. "I know! Hey Bonnie, why don't we sing them a little song?"

"That sounds great!"

"Ok Bonnie get read-"

Just then Bonnie cut me off and began to sing the song. It caught me by surprise, but I caught myself and began singing and dancing along.

We went along with the scheduled routines. Every of my movements, every breath had to be precise. The big danger of using a springlock suit was that they were very easily set off. Any wrong move could cause the springlocks to return to animatronic position and injure the person inside the costume. Now, even if I was just doing it to be safe, I never figured a springlock failure would happen to me… until it.

I was midway through a joke when the first springlock set off. Instantly I felt the searing cut on my right calf. It was the one that didn't lock earlier, and now I see that it wasn't set right. I winced in pain as the metal rod stuck into my leg. I let out an unintentional yelp in the midst of Bonnie's line, causing all the attention to go to me. I reached for my leg, to try and find comfort, but my hasty move caused another springlock to pop out. This time my right arm, I began to feel blood flow down the sleeve of the costume.

From the mask, I could hear the muffled screams of the older kids, but the younger ones stared confused at my awkward behavior. I tried to continue on with the act, not to scar the whole diner. Trying to act calm, I announced, "Look's like I got a booboo, um I'll be right back. Trying to apply as little force on the remaining locks, one of the head locks came undone. This caused the left animatronic eye to return, completely blocking my vision.

I trudged slowly to the safe room, every step I took caused another lock to go undone, leaking more of my blood on the showfloor. Breathing heavily in pain, I finally got to the door.

So there I was, staring blankly at the door in my final moments. I couldn't move a muscle thanks to the various rods protruding from my body. As I was about to close my eyes for the final time, something miraculous happened.

The door to the safe room creaked open. I muttered out, "V-Vincent."

He shut the door behind him and stood there staring at me. But, it wasn't in shock, or in fear. He didn't seem like he was going to rush for help or anything; he was just...standing. Then a truly wicked grin grew on his face. I tried again "Vin...cent."

"Shut up and die."

I mustered all my remaining strength to reach for help.

"That's it," Vincent groaned in irritation. "If this doesn't cause Fredbear's to go down…"

My arm trembled in the air, as a last resort for him to do something.

"Fine Henry, if you won't give up… I guess I'll make you." He came closer to me and began to kick my dying body. Every last springlock that wasn't already set off was now popping out.

As the last joints snapped throughout my body, I felt a single tear fall from my face. The last thing I saw was his face. I heard his laugh as he left me in the room, alone… so alone.