Keeping aside all the messy thoughts that had been roaming their minds for a long time, the ghosts of what once were the main animatronics of an already forgotten restaurant roamed around the horror attraction aimlessly, lost in their endless minds without thinking about anything that they should care about.
Phantom Chica, the charred ghost of that gleeful chicken animatronic with a high-pitched voice that everyone loved to hear as she sang songs and told food-jokes, walked around the halls, partially illuminated by the flickering, yellow lights of several empty masks placed on the black and white tiled floors. She moved slowly, always looking down with her white eyes that would give anyone nightmares with only a quick glance at them. She wasn't thinking of anything, she wasn't planning on doing anything, she simply roamed through the haunting corridors with no direct aim on any specific route.
Not far from where she was, the ghost of Freddy, the animatronic bear who was once loved by everyone by his funny, childish demeanor, was doing the same. And so was Phantom Foxy, the broken phantom of a very ill-at-ease and mischievous pirate fox. The rest of the ghosts, those being Phantom Mangle, a completely destroyed fox with only a charred head and endoskeleton left, Phantom BB, a cheerful but creepy animatronic child, and Phantom Puppet, a very lonely and sentient puppet-like animatronic, didn't think of doing anything else than just walk around idly as well.
Phantom BB stopped his seemingly endless route near the entrance door of the attraction, illuminated with a bright, red "EXIT" text that gave a poor scarlet light to the zone. He looked at the letters above the closed door. Maybe his eyes, empty with only those white pupils, and his mouth, always widened into a toothy smile, couldn't help the robotic boy define his emotional state, but more than a simple look at him was enough to let see that he wasn't in a precisely good mood. He lowered his head slowly, with a very low and distorted sigh-like noise that almost sounded like a jittery whistle coming out of him.
Almost as if it was in response to his preoccupation, a quiet, distant sob was heard from somewhere near the door. Phantom BB looked up just as if he had been awakened from a comforting nap, wondering what the noise was. It wasn't just a simple sob. It was a cry. The cry of a small child. Phantom BB had an acute hearing, and with a head tilt, he soon realized the weeping was coming from behind a couple of dirty and broken, stacked boxes placed against the wall. Still retaining the curious behavior that had been given to his A.I the moment he was build, Phantom BB carefully walked towards the source of the noise.
He peeked over the stained lower box, and if they could, his eyes would have widened in surprise at what he found. Head lowered into bent knees, a very young girl, most likely around four years old, sat there, crying a river of crystalline tears. The animatronic kid took a look at the infant, then looked over his shoulder making sure at least one of the ghosts was near. Looking one last time at the girl, he turned around and walked towards another hall, where Phantom Chica was walking in circles in the purest of boredoms.
"Chica," Phantom BB called, his once joyful, childish voice converted into a fading whisper. The burnt chicken animatronic didn't seem to notice his presence. "Chiiiica," he called once more. "Chi-ca-dee!"
At last, the animatronic finally turned around to face Phantom BB, standing at the doorway as he kept on peeking over his shoulder. "Come and see this." he urged, motioning Phantom Chica with his hand to follow him. Always up to receive news of what was going around, she quietly followed, expectant to see what Phantom BB was trying to show her. He stopped next to the boxes, looked at Phantom Chica until she arrived, and took a glance at the little girl, still crying on her knees.
Phantom Chica walked next to the animatronic boy and tilted her head on a sad movement as she watched the heart-broken child. The saddened infant sobbed as she apparently stopped her bawl. In a slow, jittery motion, she looked up at the phantoms. Her face was red, her sky-blue eyes watery, her brown hair falling into them. "Oh, you poor thing. What are you doing here?" Phantom Chica said to the kid, her voice soft and charming even if it was a ghostly whisper.
The young girl rubbed a falling tear off her right cheek as with a cracked voice, she muttered, "Mommy…" The kid had either lost her mother, or had been cruelly abandoned there. Phantom BB and Phantom Chica faced each other, their pupils expressing a saddened expression that only they could show.
"She lost her mother." Phantom BB pointed out, crossing his arms thoughtfully. "What are we going to do?" he then asked, not taking his view off the girl, who had started to cry again. Phantom Chica shook her head.
"I don't know… I've been ages without having any contact with children. We can't just leave her here; it'll better if we tell this to the others."
Before Phantom BB could say anything, the chicken had already turned to leave and find the rest of the phantoms for help. He took his few seconds to finally go with her, but decided to do so at the very end. Soon enough, the two ghosts had found Phantom Freddy and Phantom Foxy. Not long after the encounter, they came across Phantom Mangle, and finally coming in contact with Phantom Puppet.
It didn't take long for the little girl, whose name was apparently Alice, to get some trust in the phantoms. She was indeed orphaned and left there to die on her own or be kidnapped. Fortunately for the young Alice, it wasn't going to happen thanks to the love the ghost had towards kids.
"Don't worry Alice, we won't let anything happen to you." Phantom Freddy assured her. He tried to smile, with the best effort he could make. "I promise." Alice had a happy tear about to fall off her right eye, but she whipped it off as she smiled as well. All of a sudden, Phantom Foxy's exposed endoskeleton ear flapped in a circular movement. He looked behind, alert, catching the ghosts' attention. "What's wrong Foxy?" Phantom BB inquired alarmingly.
"He be comin'." The fox deadpanned, looking at a hall. Alice and the phantoms stared there as well. Slow, metallic footsteps were heard. Approaching.