Terrance puffed on his cigarette, tapping his foot impatiently to a nonexistent rhythm. He watched the whips of smoke trail off into the night, and smiled as it brought his attention to the car pulling into the parking lot. The headlights flashed across the dark landscape as the car pulled over the speed bump. The car pulled up beside the only other one nearby.
The engine died with a sputter. Terrance slipped his hands into his jeans pockets and ducked down. Under the light of the lonely street lamp, he could see a young woman pull her keys from the ignition and check herself in the mirror. Satisfied, she flipped the visor up and threw open the door. Terrance rose up and leaned back against the trunk of his own car.
"About time you showed up." He said. The woman gave a brief smile.
"Sorry, I expected you to be late again." She shrugged. Terrance just roller his eyes. "Did you bring what I asked for?"
"Yeah. Here." Terrance fished his keys out of his pocket. The key slid into the trunk lock and turned with a click. The white hood popped open. Inside, a flashlight and crowbar were sitting atop a pile of sheets and extra clothes. He handed the flashlight off and kept the metal rod for himself.
"Why exactly do we need these again?" He asked, tapping the curve of the crowbar in the palm of his hand.
"How else are we going to get in?" She asked.
"That reminds me." Terrance asked, nodding toward the building behind him. "What are we doing here?"
"Okay, remember I told you about my dream of opening that little Italian restaurant?" She waited for him to nod. "Well, you're looking at the future sight of Little Italy."
Terrance hesitated a moment. "You really want to do this now? Right before the wedding? Jessie-"
"Wait," Jessie interrupted. "I thought that too. But then I found this place. The owner was selling it practically for pocket change. I couldn't pass that up."
"What for. This place isn't, like, haunted or anything, is it?" Terrance glanced backward nervously.
"No, no. Nothing like that. He inherited the building from his late uncle. Apparently there was a pretty bad fire a few years ago, and he got trapped inside. But, I checked, the man was put to rest, so no ghosts. Maybe a few wild hobos, though, so did you . . ."
"Right here." Terrance opened his jacket flap, revealing the handgun holstered on his belt beside a golden badge.
"Alright. So, are you ready to head inside and check the place out?" Jessie asked, motioning toward the door. With a nod from her fiancée, she followed him up onto the sidewalk by the front door.
Jessie, too busy with imaginings of her new little bistro, failed to notice the gravely patch in front of the door, and it reminded her with a harsh landing. Terrance turned at the sound of her scream, and, after seeing her uninjured, couldn't help but chuckle.
"Shut up and help me." Jessie said, extending her empty hand. Terrance pulled her up to her feet. She brushed the gravel off her jeans and rubbed her sore backside.
"Shall we?" Terrance raised an eyebrow.
"Just hurry up and get the door open." Jessie groaned.
Over two dozen planks were nailed over the front door of the little building. Whoever put them up had never intended them to be opened. The crowbar started at the top, easily ripping the weather-beaten, rotted planks. It took almost fifteen minutes and a sore back for the next week, but finally, the last board clattered down.
Jessie stared at the doors. Any name that had once been printed on the dirty glass had long since faded. Despite the relatively short amount of time since its closure, the place had deteriorated quickly. Or, perhaps it had been a wreck while still opened. The couple stood at the doors of their dream, too nervous to go inside. They just gave each other the occasional glance.
"Ladies first?" Terrance offered. Jessie just rolled her eyes, trying her best to hide her hesitation. She reached for the handle and tugged. Locked.
"Locked? He didn't give me any keys." Jessie said expectantly. Terrance stepped forward and drilled his elbow into the glass, sending the shard skittering across the ground.
"What the hell, Terrance. This place is ours now. You just broke our door." Jessie complained.
Terrance just shook her off. "The glass was ugly anyway." He stepped over the frame of the door and set his foot down on the black and white checkered tile inside. The glass crunched underfoot. Jessie took his hand and followed.
Jessie split the oppressive blackness of the restaurant with her flashlight and shined down the hallway ahead of them. They were greeted by cold, stifling air. Faded pictures in shattered frames were hung the length of the hallways, intermittently woven with flyers and newspapers of an old pizza parlor. Terrance flipped the cobwebbed light switch, but nothing happened.
"No power." Terrance frowned.
"What did I buy?" Jessie asked, studying the clipping. "Listen to this. Grizzly murders at Fazbear diner." Terrance chuckled, but a glare from Jessie shut him up. "It's not funny."
"No, not the headline. I remember this place now." Terrance said. "This used to be a museum, or something like that. It burned down. We investigated it for arson."
"Arson?" Jessie asked, regret dripping from her words.
"Don't worry. The investigation didn't find anything. Faulty wiring. Might cost a bit, but it shouldn't be to bad. Look, let's just take this one step at a time. First, we should find the power and get it switched on. Sound good?"
Jessie nodded and took Terrance's arm. He pulled her close and wrapped his arm around her. She kept her flashlight pointed forward as they pulled open the next set of glass doors. The building opened into a large main room. Once, these had been two smaller hallways, but during the renovations after the fire, the wall had been knocked down, making a large rectangular room. More memorabilia lined the walls. The right end of the room had two open doorways. Holding his darling close, Terrance led the way in. A few arcade machines were covered by a plastic tarp.
"Think any of these still work?" He asked.
"I hope so. They could be worth a fortune." Jessie said unenthusiastically. She meant it, but the disheveled appearance of the machines, coupled with the animatronics painted on the sides made her uneasy.
"Let's head back to the main room. The power should be in the back room. The guard post.
"You sure?" Jessie asked. The flashlight trembled in her hand. The silent atmosphere started to work on Terrance now. While he kept Jessie close with one arm, he kept his free hand on his gun.
The door opened with a loud creak, allowing just enough space for a person to slip through. Terrance went first, sucking in his gut and sliding through the jammed door. Jessie looked nervously around the room, her light following her erratic gaze. The far wall boomed, and she jumped back, swing the light around.
"Hey, hey. Relax. It's probably just a rat." Terrance's head appeared in the doorway. "Let's just keep going. The power should be just down here. We'll be okay." Jessie took a deep breath to settle herself and then squeezed into the next room. She kept focus on Terrance standing nearby. When she finally got through, she leaned over, dusting herself off. She stood tall again and let loose a terrified scream. Terrance spun around and saw his fiancée on the ground, crawling backward. The flashlight fell from her hand and rolled away.
"Hey. Whoa, whoa." Terrance knelt down, forcing her to look into his eyes. She waved a shaky finger forward. Retrieving the light, Terrance examined the terrifying sight: a tall animatronic staring down at them.
"What the hell is that?" Jessie shouted, clutching her chest.
"It looks like a display." Terrance inspected the purple fabric. "I think it's an old animatronic."
"It scared the crap out of me." Jessie said, climbing to her feet. "Terrance, I really don't like this place. Let's just go."
"It's just an empty suit. Come on, we're almost there." Handing Jessie the light, he kept her close and they moved on.
They rounded the corner and saw a massive window on the wall. Another turn, and another animatronic display, this one a brown bear. A door sat between the bear and the doorway to the the guard station. Inside, they found box of spare parts, a fan, and a few toys sitting atop a rotting desk. Beside the little plushes, a small tablet rested. Terrance grabbed the little computer, which flickered to life at his touch.
The screen read off a list of different systems throughout the building. Every single one had an error marking next to it. He tapped the button labeled restart all. A small timer popped up on the screen. The vent in the room boomed as the air began flowing again. Next, a computer on the desk came to life, showing a map of the building, as well as security camera feed. Finally, the lights turned on with a click. Jessie covered her eyes and let them adjust before turning off the flashlight.
"That's better." Terrance grinned.
"It looks worse in the light, though." Jessie complained, her courage slowly returning. The lights above the cast a cold, green-tinted light that clashed with the ugly yellow tiles.
"We can worry about redecorating later . . . after the wedding." Terrance and Jessie nodded in agreement. They tried the door right outside the office, but couldn't budge it. Locked. With an annoyed sigh, Jessie started to make her way toward the front door. She rounded her way past the displays when Terrance asked something through the big window.
"What are you saying?" Jessie mouthed through the glass.
Terrance rolled his eyes and disappeared from the window, reappearing around the corner. "I said: What do you think?"
Jessie and sighed and threw her arms in the air as she paced past him. "I don't know if I made the right choice." She shook her head. "I mean, the place has potential, but I'm not sure I even want a place filled with all this creepy crap." She paced right up to one of the displays. One that they somehow missed coming down the hallway. It looked kind of like the purple one, but faded and gold.
"I mean, look at this thing." She shouted, waving her arms at the animatronic. Jessie opened her mouth to complain about something else, but Terrance stopped paying attention to her. Instead, he began focusing on the machine behind her. More precisely, on its eyes. They seemed to be watching him. For a moment, he could've swore he saw it blink when the tablet in his hand began to ring. Not realizing he still had the tablet, he glanced down. The system errors reappeared one by one. Without warning, the whole building went black, and then Jessie screamed.
"Turn the flashlight on." Terrance shouted, but Jessie couldn't will herself to move. When No light came on, he reached forward and took the flashlight from her. The bulb lit up, and they were back in the light. He turned the beam on the petrified woman, planning to scold her when he froze in his tracks.
A golden hand held Jessie's shoulder. The animatronic display crouched down, his head over her shoulder. A bloodcurdling, inhuman screech filled the air. The flashlight shattered, plunging the room into perfect darkness.
Markus stumbled forward, the brown bottle in his hand sloshing with each unsteady step. He made it halfway to his regular sleeping hole when he spotted two empty cars, sitting in the middle of a dark parking lot. He stumbled up and just stared at the car, scratching his unkempt beard as the wheels of his mind spun. He looked down at the bottle in his hand and back at the window. With angry grunt, he smashed the bottle against the window as hard as he could. The brown glass shattered, leaving the window intact. Markus swore and just stared at the puzzle.
The front door of the restaurant burst open. A man, drenched in sweat and a terrified look in his eyes rocketed out and onto the sidewalk. Markus dropped to his knees and peered over the hood of the car. The man took one step into the parking lot and slipped on the gravel pit. Markus winced as the man slammed his head against the curb.
Markus tried to call out, but found himself speechless as he watched a golden arm reached out and grabbed the doorframe. Definitely not human. A body followed the arm. A deteriorating animatronic of a golden bunny. It's feet stomped down on the sidewalks. It moved sporadically, twitching and spasming at it chased its prey. The wounded man shook his head and saw the golden figure standing over him. He scampered away, but the blow to the head messed with his movement, and he came crashing back down. Without his legs, the man could only crawl. He dug his nails into the stone and dragged himself forward, panting and screaming. Tears mixed with the sweat that dropped down his face. Unfortunately, the monster moved just a little faster. It raised its leg and brought it slamming down, cracking the stone, as well as the bones between them. The poor man wailed in pain, his leg amputated under the monster's iron footfalls. With a whir of machinery, the machine reached down and grabbed the man's free leg around the ankle. The beast lurched back toward the front door, dragging the helpless man behind him. His nails scraped so desperately against the stone his fingers began to bleed. The two vanished into the darkness, and then the screaming stopped.