Five Nights With Sebastian
By: AwesomeThePossum
Excerpt One: The Slope of a Downfall
There's an abundance of milestones a typical teenager goes through; getting a license, planning for college – for life, and in some rare cases (such as my own) near death experiences. As sophomore year had come to an end, and I was of finally of legal age to get a job, my parents had pressured me to finally "get off my ass", I had applied to about every job that needed little to no experience within a two mile radius. Yes, I too was about to knock down another milestone of my own.
Pressure was on as my parents had made it very clear, that once this upcoming summer rolled around they would soon cut me off from lending me cash. What had made me even more nervous is that I had an amazing girlfriend at the time; I knew that there would be upcoming summer box office hits – you can't get in to the movies with no money, or anywhere to eat for that matter. I mean, yeah you can take her to the park where it's free, but I had set a precedent for the past 8 months that couldn't be reversed – or at least shouldn't be. I had often taken her out many times previous to that summer, and you can't just go back on awesome stuff like that, for I too had enjoyed spending time with her. Not to mention I had promised both her and my parents I'd get a job.
There was a long list of places I had applied to weeks previous to the start of summer vacation. Places such as Subway, McDonalds and even a few retail stores, but my goals wistfully faded away as many of the local teens, with better resumes, secured the occupations. The demand for mediocre jobs had been flooded…or at least I thought they were.
About a week into my vacation (a month after I submitted my resume) my house phone rang. Quite honestly, I really don't know how to explain how I felt at this time, without resentment in my tone. The irony that surrounds this situation is so atrocious, it's almost funny, so comedic and horrific it became overwhelming to fathom. The job pays you – but robs you – of innocence, of peace-of-mind, of life itself! Irony, fuck irony.
Anyways, sometime in the afternoon house phone rang – and yeah it was a house phone, mobile phones were bricks and not mini computers. I didn't answer it, my mother did, and I was in my room, listening to the latest noise that displeased parents and made their stomachs queasy with anguish – sorry I'm digressing. I didn't actually see my mom when she heard her only child was about to get his first job, but I can only guess by the way she burst through my door without knocking, with a wide grin, that she had been jumping in place when she heard it was Freddy Fazbear's Pizza looking for a 16 year-old Sebastian Ortega.
"Sebastian," my mother said holding back her excitement. "…phone's for you." "Who is it?" I asked with a dazed tone. "Just turn the music down and go see who it is." Gosh she looked really happy when she said that, but in a cheesy way. I made my way into my father's office to pick up the smallest but most important phone call, to this day I have never received such a phone call that would alter me, change me into a shell of paranoia I am today. It was a normal call, so normal – but extra ordinary.
I put the phone on speaker, "Hello?" I said with curiosity. "Yes, am I speaking to a Sebastian Ortega?" "Yes." I said, "Who is this?" "This is Ryan Witt; I'm a recruiter and assistant manager for Freddy Fazbear's Pizza." Oh how I was so excited to get that call, how my mother had reached the phone in time but was too late for me. "Oh, hello Ryan! Yeah this is me." I said happily while staring at my mother. She was silent, but loud at the same time with her gestures and whispers. 'Don't fuck up' she mouthed as she waited in the door way. "Hello Sebastian, recently, we had an employee ditch his station in the middle of his shift, and…well we need to replace him. I had dug up submitted resumes and well, found you ha-ha! I know it's about uhhhh, a week old, but hey, you're still eligible for the job to work here if you still want to?" "I think…I'd love that." My mom and I were practically high-fiving at that point – it would be years after my occupation, that I would be even allowed being in the same building as my mother. "Great! I'm glad someone finally accepted. Can you come in Saturday for training?" "Absolutely!" I said with alacrity. "Amazing, well thanks again for applying for the team, and we can't wait to see you this upcoming Saturday." "Thanks again for choosing me, I really can't tell you how grateful I am." yeah, grateful for being selected, so lucky, lucky – but ill fated. "Okay Sebastian, catch you later!" "Bye-bye!" I said bye and sent a farewell to something other than Ryan Witt that evening, something greater.
Five Nights With Sebastian
By: Jacob Munguia
Excerpt Two: My Hope's Climax
Two days would have to be passed (not counting the phone call I received on Wednesday) before I'd walk through the pizzeria for my training. It's so weird; I was so excited for those two days, even on the phone! Too thrilled in fact – I didn't even ask what position I'd have to take up during the call. I just assumed I'd be a doorman or cashier. I could never imagine a slender adolescent such as me would be eligible for security – let alone the graveyard shift.
For forty-eight plus hours I felt a little less heavy than I usually do. I became light-hearted, light-headed and swift-footed, all of which came with the anxiety – but not in a bad way. My spirits were lifted with the weight of scoring a job being lifted from my shoulders. Finally, I didn't have to worry about getting nagged by my caretakers or my caregiver, in other words I can help pay bills and pay for tabs.
With hours to kill, I planned to spend time wasting time with the person whose company is as genuine as their character. The day after I got the call – climbed the slope, I hid the news from Olivia as a surprise, but I had to unveil such on Friday, since she had volleyball practice Thursday.
I spent all Thursday with my family, we ate pizza…guess from where? But soon after continued with the daily routine of watching television with my father, more specifically the news, it was there where I had seen yet another 'red flag' that evening, but just as all red flags I had witnessed previous to the headline…they were carelessly ignored. Overlooked with eyes of the innocence, but even if they weren't, my naïve mind would deflect any negative press such as that. It read 'Fazbear's Guard Goes Missing'. I look at headline, and then look at my dad, he was already staring at me with concern – he said nothing, though this was normal since he wasn't much of a chatter, once I saw his mild worrying expression, I returned a look, but a confident one. I changed the channel. I refused to have my high brought down by something that that Fazbears may or may not be responsible for. But ultimately, they were liable; it was too late by the time I had realized my careless attitude would lead to a careless life. In short, I slept well that night.
Just as Thursday had gone, the day had just drifted by – but it was even better since I got to see Olivia! Sometime in the afternoon I made my way to her house, said hello to her parents and then just chilled in her loft like we usually do. "Okay," I said with an ugly smile on my face. "I have a surprise – kinda, like it benefits the both of us." "What is it?" she asked with curiosity. "I got…a job." "Holy shit Sebastian! That was fast, where are you working at? What are you going to be doing?" "I'm working at Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria, I'm not sure what I'll be doing actually ha-ha! God damn I was so excited I didn't even ask what I'd be doing, quite frankly I'm just happy to make money." For a while that was true. "Fazbears, like the little kid place?! Oh wow, my family is going to be there for Matt's birthday." Matthew was her brother. "Oh right, that's next Saturday, I still need to get him a damn present, but yeah, I got a job so that won't be hard. And I could take you to places more often – better places too!" after I told her that she gave me the whole 'Oh you don't have to do all that nice junk' then we didn't too much after that conversation. Just a little bit of this and that – a whole lot of that! Gross, sorry I had to tell you that, but I have to tell the truth. But she was right, I didn't have to do all those nice things – but it didn't take away from the fact that I wanted to do those nice things for her. I was in love with her, I didn't love her…'course when you're that young, that eager, that naïve you don't know the difference, even if you did you still wouldn't care – in fact you appreciate it more. Ignorance really is bliss.
