I guess this is technically an alternate reality, but the only thing I really changed was the plot
And for this story, I called the Phone guy Gary
I hope you enjoy!
"That sums up your duties." Gary finished with a tired sigh. "Check the monitors, make sure nothing happens, so on and so forth. You get the idea."
"Yep." I said as I sat down in the chair behind the desk, shifting in the seat to get comfortable. Admittedly, I was feeling pretty apathetic towards the whole rundown of the job. I had seen the ad for a position as a security guard at the recently remodeled Freddy Fazbear's pizza, an updated version of a pizzeria that had garnished some infamy due to some complaints and even some rumors of children having gone missing there years earlier. The original pizza place, called Fredbear's family diner, had been closed down because of it, and the building and animatronic characters had been redesigned to be more appealing and for "safety". I'd never believed any of it though; it just sounded like a bunch of crap that had been generated to scare the kids and teenagers from trying to sneak in at night.
Even so, it seemed that the new establishment was having some trouble finding employees, especially for the night shift. Needing a little cash on the side of my other job, I found myself applying for the position. Management was obviously desperate, so it wasn't a surprise that they contacted me the next day, saying I was hired. That's how I wound up in a security guard uniform, being briefly trained by the previous night guard, Gary, who had been moved to the daytime shift. His instructions were basically everything I had expected to hear, so I was sure that I was going to catch on pretty quick.
Gary checked his watch, a bored expression on his face clearly relaying that he was enjoying this just about as much as I was. This training was more of a formality than anything.
"Alright, your shift begins in about fifteen minutes. I'm gonna head home. If you have any questions, I left some instructions on the desk." He explained, nodding his head at a few papers that had been sloppily stapled together. "but this job's pretty easy. I doubt you'll have any trouble with it."
"Okay," I answered as Gary turned back around. He turned slightly, as if he was about to leave, when his gaze rested on something off to the side.
"Oh, um…" he said, almost hesitantly. "before I forget, I need to tell you about one last tiny detail."
Gary walked over to a cardboard box that sat by one of the filing cabinets on my right. He reached inside and grabbed the object that was inside.
"You might need this." He told me, setting down a rounded brown object on the desk.
The item in question happened to be a spare Freddy Fazbear mask, complete with a small top hat, which appeared to have seen some use. My brief moment of confusion morphed into amusement as I chuckled; Gary had a sense of humor after all.
"What am I going to use this for?" I snickered.
Gary had a pretty good poker face, because he kept a serious expression on as he looked at me with mild concern.
"I know this sounds stupid, but let me explain. The animatronics here have a tendency to roam the halls at night. We have some theories on that, but we're not entirely sure why. But when I was working this shift, they tried to get into the office on more than one occasion. Now as you notice," he paused, turning to gesture to the open hallway. "there's no doors here. So if they do happen to wander in here, just slip this on, they'll think you're another animatronic, and go away. Worked every time for me."
I nodded, a confident smile on my face. "If you're trying to scare me Gary, you're going to have to try harder than that."
Gary waved his hands anxiously. "Oh no no, not trying to scare you! There's nothing to be worried about! This place is completely safe! It's just that…well, if they see you without the mask, they'll mistake you for an endo-skeleton without a suit on. Since that's against their programming to be without a costume, they'll try to stuff you into a suit full of sharp animatronic parts which may cause some…discomfort."
I just gave another laugh with the confirmation of my theory; this guy was just trying to scare me with the stories from the original hoax. Probably some sort of initiation prank that they did with the night guards. I'd be surprised if they tried to pull something tonight.
"Alright, I'll keep an eye out for killer robots," I told him, deciding to play along with his game.
Gary ignored my behavior, probably for the sake of time. "So yeah. If they come in, slip the mask on, and everything will be fine. The only ones the mask doesn't work on are Foxy, and the Puppet. The Puppet will stay in the box as long as you keep the music box wound up. You can wind it from the control panel. And if Foxy comes along, just shine your flashlight at him. Oh, and uh…be sure to check the air vents every once in a while with the lights."
Gary checked his watch again, this time scooting back with a little urgency upon seeing the time.
"Okay, I'd better go! If you have any questions, look at the instructions. I'll see you in the morning!"
He waved briefly before turning on his heel and walking briskly out of the security office, not waiting for me to respond.
"Alright. See ya later!" I answered back, not knowing if he heard me.
His footsteps echoed down the hallway, slowly fading as he walked away. Once I was sure he was gone, I leaned back in the chair, propping my feet up on the desk. Looking at the screen for the security footage, I flipped through the different rooms, seeing that everything was in place. I happened to flip to the screen showing the exit just as Gary walked through the door, closing it behind him. With Gary gone, I was the only one left I the building. Or at least, I was supposed to be. For all I knew, the rest of the day-shift employees were probably hiding somewhere ready to scare me. I smiled to myself at the thought, knowing that if they tried anything, I'd be more than ready for them.
I didn't get very far into my shift before I realized that Gary had been telling the truth…
The first one to move was Bonnie, one of the newer "toy" versions of the characters, as Gary had called them. I noticed as I was panning between the different camera screens, seeing nothing out of the ordinary for the first few minutes into the night. Every now and then I'd switch to the prize corner and wind up the music box like Gary told me to. I didn't believe his stories about the puppet, but I was rather bored and found winding the box up gave me something to do. I thought of it like a game, seeing how long I could go before winding it back up again.
After I'd fully winded up the music box, I switched the camera screens again, finally arriving at the feed for the stage. Chica and Freddy were in their respective places, but Bonnie was nowhere to be seen.
I blinked, switching the screen to another room and back to make sure I was seeing things correctly, only to get the same results.
"What the?" I muttered to myself. I could have sworn that there was a third animatronic there just minutes earlier.
I couldn't deny that this place was a little spooky at nighttime, so this only served to fuel the slightly anxious feeling that I had. To be safe, I began switching through the screens again, seeing if anything else had changed.
I finally found Bonnie in one of the party rooms, standing casually while holding his guitar as if he was about to play a song. I only thought about it for a few seconds before I shook my head, telling myself that he must have been moved before my shift started, and my mind was playing tricks on me. After Bonnie, it was Chica who disappeared from the stage. And man, I got a pretty good jolt when I found her, her face up close to the screen as she stared into the camera in the hallways. She had somehow lost her beak, revealing a gaping, wicked grin with metal teeth inside. Her eyes were gone too, replaced by empty black sockets with two little yellow pinpricks of light as pupils. It was demented looking.
As I recovered from my scare, I suddenly thought back to what Gary had told me, and I calmed down. It was just the day-shift workers pranking me.
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, real funny guys!" I called down the hallway in front of my desk. There was no reply.
As I kept checking the security cameras and winding the music box every once in a while, I checked back on the rooms where I'd last seen Bonnie and Chica. A sense of dread washed over me when I saw both rooms were now empty. I did a sweep of the cameras again, searching for the two rogue animatronics. Not only did I find them both in different rooms, but I had discovered that now Toy Freddy and the heap of robot parts Gary had called "the Mangle" was moving as well.
Involuntarily, sweat started to bead on my forehead. Prank or not, this was starting to get creepy. But despite my stubbornness to believe that this was some sort of joke, deep down I was starting to doubt myself. These things seemed to have been moving way too fast for someone to sneak in and move them without me noticing. I definitely would have spotted them on the cameras by now.
"Okay guys." I called out, uncertainty lacing my voice. "that's enough. You can stop now."
I waited for a response. Heck, I was practically begging for someone to step in and say that this was all a prank.
"Guys?" I asked again.
This time, I heard something. It was the sound of the dull echo of clanging metal, emanating from the right of my desk. I turned and looked down at the opening of the airshaft, my heart rate accelerating with realization as I recalled Gary's instructions.
There were the cameras and the lights in the vents, but at this point, fear was starting to kick my survival instincts into gear. I grabbed the Freddy Fazbear mask and hastily slipped it over my head. I tried to slow my breathing, large gasping breaths sounding in my ears through the mask. The clanging in the airvent was getting louder.
I waited, listening to the noise coming from the vents for a few more moments before it suddenly stopped. The silence was brief, as the clanging of an animatronic in the airvent was suddenly replaced by the soft whirring of mechanical joints moving. Soon afterwards, I caught sight of a light blue figure slowing approaching me, and I froze in fear. I held my breath and my heart pounded in my chest as Toy Bonnie stared at me. His mouth hung open, and the irises and pupils in his eyes had somehow shrunk, making him look utterly insane.
Our staring contest seemed to draw on for hours, with me praying that the mask trick would work the whole time. The crazy looking machine twisted his head down to the side, as if he was wondering what to think of my appearance. His left eye twitched eerily, and for a split-second, I was afraid that he'd seen through my disguise. Then, Bonnie finally turned back around, moving out of my view and disappearing.
I stayed still as I listened, not daring to move my head to see if Bonnie had left. I couldn't hear him crawling through the vent, nor could I hear any moving mechanical joints. It was silent, aside from the humming of the lights above me. My heart rate slowly began to return to normal, and sweat had dampened the sides of my head. I released the death grip I had on the armrests of my chair to slowly reach up and gently lift the mask up. I lifted the mask up just enough for me to carefully take a quick look around the room. Relief came upon me when I learned that Bonnie was gone, making me feel safe enough to lift the mask off of my head and set it down on the desk. I took deep gulps of air, wiping my brow in an effort to think straight as I finally admitted to myself that Gary had been right.
These things really were alive… and they were all trying to kill me.
My moment of solace was short lived, as a soft, metallic footstep yanked me back to the present. I jerked my up, feeling my heart rate pick back up when I saw two glowing eyes peering at me from the end of the blackened hallway. I was taking Gary's advice a lot more seriously now, grabbing for the flashlight on the side. After taking a moment to aim the flashlight. I hit the switch. Nothing happened.
I gasped in fear, hitting the switch again and again, getting the same results. A child's shrill laughter caused me to jump in my seat. I turned to the left to try and find where the sound came from, but I only managed to catch a glimpse of something brightly colored slink into the airvent.
Fighting to stay calm, I grabbed the Freddy mask again and slipped it on, locking my gaze onto the eyes at the end of the hall. It worked on Bonnie; it had to work on this one, whichever one it was. Right?
"The only ones the mask doesn't work on are Foxy, and the Puppet"
Oh no…
The eyes suddenly began bobbing up and down with movement, growing larger as the animatronic charged me, accompanied with the sound of metal feet on the floor. Horror shot through my chest like a cannon, and my brain screamed at me to move. I jumped up out of my chair, knocking it over, as I made ready to run. But by then I was already too late…
The most grating, terrifying scream tore from Foxy's voice box as he leapt at me from the shadows, prompting me to scream myself. I shielded myself before Foxy's leap from across the room sent him crashing into me, knocking me to the floor. I groaned as we hit the floor hard, sending pain through my back. But that was the least of my worries. From the eyeholes in the mask, I could only stare up as the psychotic robot held me pinned to the floor, and I couldn't remember being more scared in my life. Foxy stared down at me with unblinking eyes wide open, and I could feel them staring straight into my soul.
So this was it. I was going to die in a pizza restaurant, killed by homicidal robot animal mascots. What a cruel world!
I was practically hyperventilating as Foxy pushed off of me, rising up on his feet. I closed my eyes and raised my arms.
"YARRR!" A loud, synthesized voice screamed out unexpectedly, causing me to involuntarily cry out fearfully and shield myself.
"Victory be mine again, me buckos!" A heavily accented voice boomed from above me.
"What!? You have got to be kidding me!" a younger voice echoed from one of the air vents nearby.
The thudding sound of something large crawling through the vents rang in my ears before the same voice spoke again.
"That tears it!" The voice snapped angrily. "I demand the rules be changed! This is so unfair!"
"Aw Bonbon, don't be such a sore loser, now" the pirate voice said smugly.
"Shut up! I told you to stop calling me that!" the younger one snarled "and I would have won if it weren't for that stupid mask, and you know it!"
"Well, next time, ye'll know not'ta make such a ruckus climbing the vents."
"That would take forever to go that slow!"
"Practice makes perfect, lad."
"Oh yeah! I need practice crawling through air vents, while all you need is two handicaps for you to get an instant win!"
"Hey, show some respect! It be not as easy as it looks!"
I gingerly lowered my arms from my line of sight, the trauma of what I'd just been through still clouding my thoughts. But by now, I was starting to recover enough for the realization that I wasn't dead to break through to me. I gazed up at my attackers, seeing that the heated argument wasn't a hallucination. Still standing above me, Foxy and Toy Bonnie seemed to have completely forgotten about me as they tore into each other with angry words about heaven knew what. The idea sounded absurd, for robot animals in a pizzeria to get into an argument right before they killed me. But at that moment and time, I couldn't bring myself to care either way.
"How could it not be easy!?" Toy Bonnie screamed irately. "You don't have to play by that stupid mask rule like everyone else does, and Balloon boy gets rid of your only weakness!"
"It doesn't always line up perfect like that," Foxy muttered, folding his arms. "It be a coincidence whenever that happens."
"Bologna! Your win count is a lot higher than any of ours!"
"Nonsense! Freddy's won plenty o' times!"
"Not as many times as you have!"
The squabble continued on, allowing me to assess the situation more fully. I was able to get back to my feet unnoticed, and I took a moment to glance between the two machines in disbelief. I had no idea what was going on here, but I didn't really care to find out. An opportunity to escape with my life had presented itself, and man alive, I was going to take it! I slowly scooted a foot to the side, bringing my other foot with it as I snuck out between the animatronics and the wall. I considered it a miracle that they didn't notice me; at least, not until I had cleared the desk and given myself an opening.
"Sweet Davy Jones, Bonnie, the rules be the rules! If ye don't be satisfied, then-" Foxy paused in his rant, his eyes widening in surprise as he noticed me. "Wait a minute, lad! Where are ye runnin' off to?"
Okay, time to run. I thought to myself and turned on my heels, bolting towards the hallway.
Sadly, I only made it a few feet before I slammed into something big and firm, yet padded. I landed on my butt with a grunt, the wind getting knocked out of me again as well as loosing the Freddy mask from off of my head. After I regained my senses, the brown legs were the first things I saw. My gaze followed the legs up until I was looking directly at the original Freddy Fazbear himself. The animatronic was mostly intact, with some wear here and there, but it didn't make him appear any less frightening to me. His square teeth were grinning down at me, and his eyes glowed just like Foxy's did.
What made it worse was the fact that he wasn't alone. In fact, as I scanned the room around me, I realized I had been completely surrounded by every animatronic in the building as they walked in behind Freddy. The old versions of Bonnie and Chica were a lot worse off than Freddy was, with Bonnie missing an arm and face while Chica's mouth hung open in a menacing toothy gape, her arms out to the sides ending in stubs sprouting loose wires. The Toy version of Chica was still minus eyes and a beak, with Toy Freddy having followed her example with the creepy empty eye sockets. The Mangle was hanging upside down from the ceiling, gently rocking back and forth in a lazy swing. And Foxy and Toy Bonnie were already behind me. The only one that wasn't there was the puppet thing.
"Goodness, I'm sorry bud." Freddy spoke to me, in a low but surprisingly soothing voice. He leaned over slightly, tilting his head. "but where are you going at this time of night? Your shift just barely started!"
Dread filled me again with this turn of events; there was no way I was escaping now. With this realization, I figured I was dead either way. I may as well go down with my dignity.
Trying to ignore the face that tears were welling in my eyes, my face furrowed in fury. "I'm trying to get away from you freaks!" I screamed.
All of the animatronics around me flinched my intensity of my words, seemingly taken aback by what I'd just said. And to my imagination, some of them even seemed hurt.
Toy Chica took a different approach, putting her hands on her hips. "What did you just call us!?" her seethed, her voice reminding me of a angry teenager.
"Uh oh." The old Bonnie mumbled nervously, his voice box crackling slightly from damage.
Toy Chica took a menacing step forward, prompting the old Bonnie to hold her back with his one arm. "You take that back, you little-!"
The old Freddy held up a hand. "Now now, let me handle this." He said, turning back to me, his eyes suddenly turning dark. "Night guard, we do not tolerate any rude behavior here!" Freddy shouted in startling fury, causing me to flinch.
"Or poor sportsmanship." Foxy added from behind me.
My breaths came in shuddering gasps as I struggled to fight my emotions. Freddy's sudden change in demeanor had scared the crap out of me, but I was still able to scrape up the courage to give a comeback.
"I don't care what your rules are!" I shot back, my voice breaking slightly, "Just get it over with!"
Freddy's face turned back to normal, and he blinked before tilting his head questioningly. "What do you mean by that?"
"I think he wants us to start another round." Toy Freddy stepped in, his voice sounding like a younger version of Old Freddy's.
"Two games in one night!?" Mangle asked as she twisted right side up, shaking with excitement. "Ooh, I like him already!"
I blinked at their words, becoming more confused by the second. "Game!?" I squeaked incredulously. "Gary told me you were going to kill me!"
The animatronics paused in shock as my words sunk in. They were silent until Toy Bonnie snickered behind me.
"Gary said that we're going to kill you," He paused to snort with laughter "and you believed him!?"
All of the others broke into their own laughing fits; even the old Freddy put a fist to his mouth to stifle his chuckles. I felt my face burn with embarrassment as they began teasing me.
"Wow," Toy Chica snicked. "You are so gullible!"
"Kid, you honestly think they'd let be around people if we were killers?" The old Bonnie gave a fizzling laugh.
"Alright, that's enough everybody!" Freddy chastised lightly. "Bud, I hate to say that Gary was just playing a joke on you. We could never kill anybody."
I stared at all of them, wide eyed in disbelief; while I was extremely relieved, I was also feeling furious about the humiliating events that had led to this.
I sputtered as I tried to think of a response. "You're not-but-but then…why were you all stalking me then!?" I asked, throwing my arms up, pointing to the cameras. "With all that stuff in the hallways, what was I supposed to think?! You were giving the cameras creepy looks and everything!"
"It's all part of a game we made up with Gary!" Toy Freddy explained. "We sneak up on the night guard when he's not looking and scare him."
"If we scare you, we win!" Mangle picked up. "If we can't catch you, then you win!"
I paused. "But…then why did Foxy tackle me?"
All eyes suddenly shifted from me to the pirate fox, who scratched the back of his head with his hook.
"Err, I guess I owe ye' an apology." He mumbled. "I tend ta' to get a wee bit carried away from time ta' time."
The old Freddy finished giving Foxy an annoyed glare and turned his gaze back to me, reaching a hand down.
"Now that our misunderstanding has been fixed, how about we get you cleaned up?" He said kindly.
I hesitated as I looked at the limb, still trying to wrap my mind around everything that had just happened. But I was able to get over my initial distrust and took his hand. The large robotic bear helped me to my feet, giving me a small nod of approval before he patted me on the arm.
"There we go. Are you going to be okay?" He asked me.
To my embarrassment, I was still teary-eyed and shaking. "Yeah. I-I'm fine."
"The poor thing is crying!" the old Chica said sadly.
Quickly, I wiped my eyes and cleared my throat. "No, I'm good. See? I'm okay!" trying to regain my dignity.
"You sure?" Toy Bonnie asked cheekily. "Looks like you had an accident!"
I glanced down and looked myself over, seeing that Toy Bonnie was right. In my adrenaline rush, I hadn't even noticed that my jeans were wet and warm. My face got hot again with a mixture of embarrassment and disgust; this had to be the worst night of my life!
Old Freddy shot him a dangerous looking expression. "Bonbon." He growled as only a bear could, immediately causing the bunny to shut up.
Silently grateful that none of my friends or family was here to witness this moment, Freddy draped an arm around my shoulders.
"Don't worry bud, We'll find you a spare change of clothes." He said. "I'm sorry that we made you panic. We thought Gary would've told you about the game. We'll make it up to you!"
"I'll go make you a pizza!" Chica chirped with enthusiasm.
Toy Chica glanced back at her. "Chica, we've been through this. You need hands to make a pizza." She said patiently.
"Come help me then!" Chica replied, "I'll knead the dough, you put on the toppings."
As two chickens left the room, Toy Freddy turned to Foxy and Toy Bonnie.
"Foxy, Bonbon, let's go find him some new pants." He said.
Foxy and Toy Bonnie walked past me to follow the bear, Bonnie grumbling quietly to himself about how much he despised his nickname.
Mangle lowered down to our level. "Is there anything I can do?" she asked.
"How about you go get him a soda, Mangle?" The old Freddy asked politely.
"Okay!" she answered, climbing back up and disappearing into an airvent above us.
I let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you."
"You 'll always have friends here, bud." Freddy told me. "None of us are going to hurt you."
The old Bonnie walked up to my side, and I couldn't help but shrink back at the sight of him. The lack of face, exposed teeth and red dot eyes still creeped me out.
"Well, all except for the puppet." Bonnie admitted with a shrug. "If you make it mad, it'll rough you up a bit."
I gave Bonnie a questioning look. "How do you make the puppet mad?"
"The music box in the prize corner is the only thing that helps it sleep at night, since we're always up and doing things." Bonnie explained. "So if you don't keep it wound up, then…well, ya know."
I thought back to how long it'd been since I'd last wound it up, and my face fell.
Oh crap
As if on cue, a metallic scream rang out through the room, announcing the arrival of a black and white figure that leapt out of the darkness of the hallway and latched onto my face with the wrath of an angry wildcat. I grunted as I was tackled to the floor for the second time that night.
About two hours later, I found myself sitting in the security office with a fresh set of pants that had been found in the storage room, a sore back, a few fresh scratches on my face, and the original Freddy Fazbear to keep me company with a game of checkers. Toy Freddy, Foxy and Toy Bonnie had graciously done their best to wash my soiled pants in a bathroom sink (complaints and bickering included), and they had hung them over one of the stalls with a plug in fan trying to dry them out. Mangle had brought me a soda, and Chica and her toy counterpart had baked me a surprisingly good pizza; who knew animatronics could cook?
I casually sipped on my soda as I watched Freddy strategize his next move, my other hand tapping the wind up function for the prize corner's music box every so often. All of the other animatronics had wandered off to do other things at this point. They had invited me to join them on an arcade gaming session, but after the events of tonight I wasn't in the mood. I found sitting at my desk with good food and a stress-free board game was doing well for my sanity, which was still healing after this scarring night. Plus I didn't feel safe leaving the music box unwound anymore.
"I hope what happened tonight doesn't leave you with any ill feelings towards Gary." Freddy commented to me as he looked at the board thoughtfully. "He may have a—unique character, but he really is a nice man."
I shook my head. "Heh. I might feel differently about him in a few hours, but I'm not gonna beat him up or anything like that." I could get angry with people when they pushed my buttons, but I wasn't a jerk. Granted, I'd probably have a thing or two to say to Gary when I saw him again.
"Good to hear." Freddy replied.
Freddy moved a penny that had been used to replace one of the missing checker pieces before looking at me expectantly. I pressed the wind up key for the music box once more before I leaned forward to inspect the board. As I did so, the sound of something hard clattering onto the desk distracted my thoughts. I glanced over to see another animatronic, one that looked like a stubby round little boy that'd gotten lost at a circus, peer over the desk at me.
"Hi!" his youthful voice said.
Freddy looked at the new arrival. "There you are, Balloon boy." He said. "I was wondering where you'd went."
To be honest, I'd forgotten about him as well. I hadn't paid much attention to him during "the game". He jabbed a ball-shaped hand at the items that he'd thrown on the desk, which happened to be the batteries to my flashlight.
"I brought the batteries to the flashlight back. But I already drank all the juice in them." He admitted guiltily.
I gave him a quizzical look as I reviewed that last sentence in my mind; well, that explained the flashlight going out on me. Man, there wasn't going to be much that surprised me here after this first night. With a weary sigh, I plucked up the dead batteries and deposited them in the trash bin off to the side.
"Oh well." I murmured, turning back to the checkers.
"Well, since he's here, I may as well introduce you two." Freddy said, gesturing to the little boy animatronic. "This is Balloon boy. You've probably seen him in the game area."
"Hello!" Balloon boy said to me.
"And this is…" Freddy trailed off, seeming troubled as he put a hand to his chin. "Oh my…that's awfully rude of me."
I looked up. "What's wrong?"
Freddy chuckled a bit to himself. "I don't believe we ever asked you for your name, bud."
"Oh." I deadpanned. "I'm Jeremy. Jeremy Fitzgerald."
Freddy nodded in satisfaction. "Well, I owe you another apology, Jeremy. This night has been so odd that I forgot to introduce you to everybody."
"That's okay." I said with a shrug. "I'm pretty sure I already know all of your names."
Freddy chuckled again. "Fair enough. But we'll have to be sure to tell everyone your name before you leave tonight."
"Alright." I said.
"Welcome to the Freddy Fazbear family, Jeremy." Freddy said cheerfully. "It's nice to meet you!"
I wish I could have said the same to them.
Constructive criticism is welcome, if anyone has some suggestions.
...yep, that's about it.