I was at the wrong place at the wrong time.
I wasn't always like this, you know: a rotten, filthy corpse inside an ancient costume. I didn't want to be, either. Like I said, I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.
I was an investigator, mainly for homicide cases, for 4 years before this case. Not too much experience at the time, but enough to get me higher up in the job. I started out this chain homicide sometime late 1974, after a kid was killed outside a family pizzeria; asphyxiation, likely posttraumatic, being that he had several stab wounds on his limbs and tears across his face, which aged about an hour before the actual assault and inevitable death. He was around 6 years of age, and had no way of defending himself. It was eerie, too; performed in broad daylight, yet nobody saw what happened, except a few parents hours after the murder, who were the ones who called to report it. This was just the start however.
The entire team gave up on the case (except myself, being a stubborn pain in the ass), yet just over a decade later, killings of the same scenario killings occurred in 1987, followed that year by a devastating, yet not terminal bite to the forehead. These killings, occurring to three girls and two boys, we're very similar to the first; stabs to the limbs before being choked to their end. This time, however, it was a lot more... composed. It was within the same brand of pizzaria which the previous murder occured outside of, being Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, making this even more sadistic and plain old wrong. Each child was murdered identically, all hung from the ceiling like some kind of mass suicide, though much more of a slaughter. It was difficult to link the murders to the one a decade before, but close analysis showed many similarities. Despite my pleads, and only one other member of my team was brought in to help. I can't remember his name, though I do remember how little of a helping hand he was. I took a few photos of the scene before forensics came to do their thing, helping me link the cases as mentioned before, and so I returned to my place of concentration and comfort; home, of course. I returned an hour later, having learnt nothing new, and saw the forensics team finished and my coworker shoving a piece of paper into my face;
"You're gonna need this," have whispered, before hurrying off again. I entered the building to find a man who looked to be the manager of the establishment, looking at me impatiently. I sighed before reading the paper, which was a newspaper clipping, before approaching the manager:
""HELP WANTED!
GRAND REOPENING!
Vintage Pizzeria given new life!
Come be part of the New face of Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria!
What could go wrong?
$100.50 a week!
To apply call:
1-888-FAZ-FAZBEAR""
I knew what he was trying to say, I wasn't the most eager person to the idea behind it, but asked about the job anyway,
"Hey, I know this is a bad time -"
"You think?!"
I let out a frustrated breath through my nose before continuing, "- but I was wondering if this job was still available," and handing him the clipping. He held the bridge of his nose and stated with surprising nonchalance,
"Yeah, it is. In case you didn't notice, which I know you did since you're some kind of investigator here, my restaurant just had a disaster." I glared forward at him before responding,
"And if you want any help with sorting this out, I recommend you allow me this one job. I'll try to keep the news off, but I'm hoping you can do that; I'm just looking for this guy."
The manager looked around, as if making sure we were alone in the establishment before nodding and reaching for a pen and notepad.
"You'll start tomorrow, be here by 11:45 at the latest and I'll have your uniform. Like you said, can't raise suspicion now, can we?"
All I could remember after that was something about the kids being taken down, but the bodies being missing shortly after. My coworker, ad informant of this matter, seemed a little sketchy on the topic; something was up with him. At the time, I pushed it aside simply as nerves; Obviously, I had almost 2 decades worth of experience under my belt, whereas he only had about 5, mostly in theft and burglary, so having to deal with 5 simultaneous murders couldn't have been easy.
Anyway, I digress; I returned to the restaurant that following evening reluctantly, after a strictly professional argument with my colleague, seeing as he should have brought up the topic before leaping us into the deep end, only to be met by a man, whom I suspected was the day shift's guard, holding a costume upright.
"You'll be needing this, they can get a bit rough at night." He sounded tired, likely after having his head pounded by screams and laughter of children all day. Despite my knowing of this, I was still awestruck and snapped at him, asking,
"What the fuck is This?" Before gesturing towards the outfit, which looked old, but still somewhat usable for a kid's pizzaria; it was yellow, with yellow ears that stuck out of the top of the head at slight angles. It was most definitely hollow, as there were gaps between the segments of the suit, only connected by metal rods. The fatigued guard wiped his hand over his face before saying,
"It's your suit. Like I said, they can get a little rough at night."
Great, the pronoun game.
Before I could ask who 'they' were, however, the suit was hurled on top of me. "After each of my shifts, I'll leave a call in your office, which is down the hall, across the main room and past all the party rooms. You know it when you see it... good luck, I guess." He montonously said before patting my shoulder and leaving for what I assumed would be his car. The door was held open automatically, so I rushed inside and put down the suit on the ground and looked at the restaurant. 'They' weren't all that hard to find. Four robots, three on a stage, and the fourth in the corner, on its own stage. They were all in fine, almost mint condition, showing that the company clearly received a lot more money in the last 13 years or so. In the opposite corner to the solo robot, who looked like an effeminate, anthropomorphic fox, was a large gift box, with a crank to the side of it likewise to a music box. Above the section dedicated to it was a sign which read "Prize Corner". As if to correspond to this, along that wall were about 6 arcade cabinets - I can't remember how many exactly, but the robots I can, indeed, recall with the greatest clearance. The three on the stage were formed like a band: the singer was a bear wearing a bow tie and button going partly down his torso. The guitarist, or in this case keytarist, was a baby-blue bunny, and the drummer was a chick of sorts, wearing a bib that read 'Let's Party!' The lights slowly began to die down, showing the beginning of my shift. I hurried to pick up the suit and go to the office. The light there was still on, but I didn't plan on staying there for very long. Before I did go back out to investigate, however, I listened to the call the daytime employee left behind. What played was a man who sounded similar to that of my investigative coworker. He explained what the suit was, and introduced me to the location and wished me a fun-tastic time at the 'New and Improved' Freddy Fazbear's Pizza (not in that order). Having a brief understanding of what I should have been doing, I found the hand crank mentioned, opened up the back of the suit and stepped inside. It was uncomfortable, hot and clunky, but I got used to that quickly - which I'm glad of now - and took my flashlight before exploring the location. The place could have opened less than a week beforehand - which might actually have been the case, it has slipped from me though - and it wouldn't have changed. I entered the back room which once held the poor corpses of the children, and saw nothing remain. Not a speck of dust out of place, as if it never happened. I went cold at the sight at first, knowing that either the killer came to clean up, or the company itself was trying to cover up what happened, but either way, if I stepped out of line, I would regret it. I looked for a place for where they could have been hidden, maybe a basement or a back door to a garbage disposal area. I found myself at what I think was for parts and services, and found several other suits lying around, each with similar structures to those in the actual establishment. The bear was facing the doorway, eyes reflecting the light of my flashlight which glared ahead. I dropped it before stumbling to the floor; it stunned me, especially considering this place was made for kids, not a horror show. Fiddling for the flashlight again, I shone it away from the robot, and towards the ground. Great, so the kids were still here; thin, dry trails of blood followed to the far end of the room, where my light couldn't reach. The robot wasn't moving as of that point, so I took it upon myself to see it as a prank by the daytime guard, and proceeded a little hesitantly towards the end of the room, past the bot. The stench of corpses was around, but none of the kids themselves. The suit was getting a little unbearable now, so headed back to the office to take it off. If what the guy on the phone said was true, I did not want to stick around inside the suit if I got sweaty from the heat. Looking over it, I an surprised at myself for not acting against using these dangerous contraptions earlier. Too late now, though...
Having shoved off the suit, I wiped my face and relaxed for a few moments before recalling whatever evidence I had managed to scrounge up; the kids had been moved, so either the killer is still local, or the company which owns the place was hiding something, and they were more than likely around the parts area. A quick check of the time, 12:21 AM. Bored and nothing to do, I considered the options for further investigation, making notes of whatever I already had. I organised both myself and a route to take to find who had done this, before they struck again. I looked around the file for any hints, and somehow found one: A video cassette, an empty one, but it gave me an idea. I left the suit in the office this time, making sure to close it to prevent wearing down of the spring locks, and scrounged the pizzeria for tapes concerning the previous two nights. Two tapes, one of the front of the building two days before, one tape concerning the hall leading up to the main room, with a slight view of the hall to the office and party rooms. Well, I had a few more hours to waste, so it wouldn't be too bad if I sat there and watched TV for a few...