11/2/14

Vincent Nicholson

Animations

One stupid dare. Thats what got me stuck here. I had snuck into an old shut-down Chuck-E-Cheese, just outside of my hometown, Dallas , Texas. My friends, Joey, Chandler and I stumbled upon it as we snuck out of our houses to roam the town, in the dead of night.

"Come on, just do it", Joey had teased me, at the stroke of midnight. It seemed like a simple thing at the time.

Go in, stay for 30 minutes, the then leave. Oh god, I couldn't have guessed how wrong I was.

I had always heard rumors and speculations about this specific place, horrible tales of an "incident" that may or may not have happened there in 1987. Dumb bedtime stories, is what I would have guessed at the time. I had just walked in, and Chandler began locking the door behind me. "See you in half an hour!" he taunted. I was feeling confident about myself, but not for very long. The scene in the main room was unnerving at best, cobwebs covering party tables and arcade machines, but what really made me second guess my idea was the horrid Chuck-E-cheese animatronic and his friends. Their childish, stupid suits decaying, showing their metal, robotic endoskeletons underneath.

One of them, what I believe used to be a duck, had the bottom half of his jaw removed, so you could see the wires and crossbeams that should have been hidden inside. The second was resembling a rabbit, with long ears and a fluffy body that used to be purple (now a brownish-blue). This one looked as if it had been burnt terribly, as his whole left side was charred and smelled heavily of ash. But Chuck-E was the worst, and by far. Its plush suit had rotted away in multiple places, showing rusty robotics, wires, and LED lights. The room's smell overpowered me, a mix of mold and moth balls. There was something else to, something I just couldn't put my finger on.

Unnerved and creeped-out, I left to further explore the building. The other sights it had to offer didn't exactly make me feel much better. Drawings done but children lazily taped onto the wall, and posters of the once-fun animatronic characters only added to my fear. After maybe five minutes of searching, I discovered a room with a computer displaying security footage, office equipment, and an old office chair, lay inside. Oddly enough, the room had two entrances, one on the left, and one on the right. The room was hardly wider than the hallway, but just big enough so that it could fit the by everything else in the building, I decided this was the place I would spend the rest of my adventure. Upon further inspection of the office, I discovered that there were blast doors on either side of the office, which I thought very odd, as this was a children's place.

I sat down and made myself comfortable, though I was scared, I wanted to make the best of my situation. I soon noticed that the computer was plugged in, and was curious to see if it would still work. I pressed the on button, and astonishingly it jumped to life. This startled me a bit, as the initial picture on the screen was security footage of the decaying and demolished animatronics. I switched between the various footage of the cameras, which calmed me some. It made me see that there was nothing to worry about in this abandoned establishment. However, the quenching of my fear would not last for long.

Five minutes to go, I checked my watch. Smug and unsuspecting, I check the cameras on the old computer one last time, when, my initial problems began. I saw that the Chuck-E animatronic had turned its head, only slightly, towards the camera. Oh its only my imagination, I thought, but only for a moment. There was a sudden and swift movement across the screen, and the cameras went black. My heart was racing, fear overwhelming me, I darted in between the various camera footage, but it was all gone, simply a black picture! No this can't be right, how is this possible, I stopped to ponder the idea in my head. But it was happening! After what seemed like only a minute, the cameras flashed back to life. I look from camera to camera, realizing that nothing was wrong, until I got to the footage of the animatronics, that was.

I realized, with a gulp, that Chuck-E, was not in its proper place. This was when I went from scared, to terrified. I let out a scream "Joey, Chandler, let me the heck out of here now ! I began frantically checking each and every camera on the footage, looking of the devilish creature! With a cold rush of fear in my heart, I finally found him on the camera, but this relieved my fear none. Chuck-E was walking! Each one of his robotic movements made me cringe, as I watched him slowly limp across the arcade floor, past pacman, and galaga machines. He was nearing my room now, approaching on my left side! With a sudden realization, I pressed the button meant to close the left blast door, but, as the restaurant was old, it did not work! With a bolt of adrenaline, I lunged for the door, hoping, no, praying I would be able to close it using only my own strength.

The door was heavy, and I was barely able to close it, but I pulled it shut and held it tight. It was then I heard pounding on the very door I had just closed. It's Chuck-E!, I thought frantically. The pounding grew louder, and louder, faster, and faster, as did my heartbeat. The metal on the door began to bend slightly, the strength of the fist too much for it. It was then and there I began to ponder the possibility that this might not be the only mobile animatronic, and thats when I felt a cold, metal hand grasp my neck! Fear washed over me, I dared not move, when everything went black.

I woke what I can only assume was hours later. I had no vision, and searing pains all over my body. Bleeding heavily, I tried to move, but it was no use, I was trapped in some sort of cage, that was far too heavy to move in. It was as I clinged to my last thread of life, that I realized I was inside the Chuck-E suit!. I was dead but a moment later.