When Aiden was first getting into the job, he seemed almost impossibly skeptical of the entire profession and almost believed that anyone who got into it was out of their minds. All he seemed to do was visit people whose coaster had fallen of the table due to imbalance and their paranoia had gotten the best of them. So his working day mostly consisted of performing some strange rituals that he got off newspaper clippings to calm strangers peace of mind, at least he was getting paid…

Though the longer he visited these households, the more he saw things that he couldn't quite explain with just someone was too uncomfortable with existence or a misplaced coaster. In fact, somethings he saw in this profession were unbelievably bizarre that he started to question the possibility of things going on where we couldn't see them.

This was also the time that the local child friendly pizza chain was under a lot of scrutiny from the community and the police. Aiden didn't really like the place anyway, but that is mostly due to him not liking kids in general. This place however was desperately hanging on to the "child friendly" name it had made for itself, as the disappearances were plastered all over the news, all of which could be traced back to the establishment, though there was never enough evidence to blame the building itself.

It was early Monday morning that Aiden received the phone call politely yet seriously requesting his services. The robots themselves were having difficulties, as almost out of nowhere they became blank and apathetic to any adults that passed them by, especially the staff members themselves. They reported that no amount of tweaking could fix the bug; in fact none of the wiring had even shifted so it was practically impossible for them to be acting this way in the first place.

Aiden agreed to come in later, around eight 'o'clock so it could be guaranteed there was no one in the building and he wouldn't disturb the kids. Also, this gave him time to talk to his wife that was currently on a month-long business trip in London.

When the time actually came around, he walked up to the building, it seemed ever so slightly run down from the outside, which was expected as the business was bound to be falling with all these rumors surrounding missing children and the robots acting strange around the adults. Aiden thought to his self that if he was a parent this would be the last place he would want to bring his child.

There were three other people waiting outside the front door. The younger looking man introduced himself as Sean, then explained that he was here to offer back up if any was needed.

Sean was a bit shorter than Aiden and had a more childish looking face. In front of him stood a little girl around the ages of 9 to 10, they both had very dark ginger hair, green eyes, and freckles though hers were slightly more prominent that Sean's, which led Aiden to believe they were related.

The third person had quite short blond hair which was combed back quite a lot and it was obvious he was using some sort of gel. He introduced himself as the manager of the building and led them all inside; the building was fairly dark due to lights having been shut off for the night, though he gave them very powerful torches as it saved electricity for the building which was a necessity at times of low money. The manager also gave them a tour of the building as well as a map as it was their first time and he didn't want them not knowing where everything was.

Once the manager was done explaining, he gave Sean keys to the front door and was about to leave.

"Make sure you get those robots fixed up, I am counting on you." He stated before leaving out the door

This was the time Aiden turned to Sean in disgust.

"Why did you bring a little kid here?" He interrogated "If we do actually find anything dangerous here then she is going to be in danger…"

Sean looked taken aback for a second though came back for his defense.

"Dude, didn't you even listen to what they said? The robots are acting strange and blank towards the adults, so why do you think we are any different? If there are any problems with her being here the robots would act strangely with all the children."

"Yeah but it's dark and you don't know if she is going to be in danger…" Aiden argued back.

The young girl piped up with a melancholy tone in her voice.

"My best friend disappeared here a year ago; don't think I would be here if I didn't want to be."

Aiden sighed in defeat.

"Alright kid, what's your name."

"Madilyn" She replied

The three seemed at ease with each other now, and started to explore the building for themselves. Maddie knew the way around the main party areas as she used to be a regular.

"Man, these robots really are creepy up close." Aiden commented while peering up at the mechanical suits on stage, looking down at him with emotionless eyes, "It's like they are staring at us."

"Maybe they are…" Sean said with a slightly jokey tone.

"Shouldn't we… do some rituals or something?" Aiden questioned, unsure about the situation.

"Not until there is some tangible proof that there is any danger."

The three pondered at the stage for about another minute before Madilyn became aware of a rather music like noise coming from the room behind them. Wandering in, there was a large present like box, which seemed to be the source of the noise. The walls were covered in scrawls that looked like they were done in 5 minutes with a crayon; on the floor there was a large robot that look too out of repair to even be functional.

"What do you think happened to this guy?" Sean smirked

"Looks like the kids couldn't keep their hands to themselves." Aiden replied while gesturing his torch towards the picture of the kids with bits of the toy fox in their hands.

"Yeah, you can take foxy apart and put her back together again." Maddie joined in "I don't know why it got tangled with another skeleton though, that's weird."

…

There was a shifting noise coming from inside the box.

"Hey, Maddie, what is inside there?" Aiden asked cautiously.

"Oh, you mean in the box? It's a doll person that comes out on birthdays and gives gifts to the guests; I think her name is Mary." She replied somewhat cheerfully

"Wasn't there a music playing when we came in here?" Sean asked

"Oh, yeah, it probably shut off due to everything else being off and all." Aiden replied sarcastically

"Why didn't it shut off with everything else then?"

Aiden held his tongue, and edged slowly towards the box.

There was another movement.

Aiden slowly took off the lid of box, and just like Maddie said there was a doll there. It was curled up in the fetal position; it wore a mask similar to those found in theaters with purple streaks down its cheeks. It seemed to twitch ever so slightly though Aiden didn't notice, until it jerked its head unnaturally and made eye contact.

Aiden jumped back screaming with fright.

"It… ugh... ah… moved." He barely managed to gasp

By this time its hand was already hanging over the side of the box. Sean nudged Maddie forward and whispered.

"He's not going to hurt you."

Maddie stood in place while the head seemed to rise above the box, this time directly locking eyes with her instead of Aiden. She was terrified and began to shake and cry, though rooted to the spot. The puppet looked almost sympathetic in the way it stared at her. It picked up an empty head of Freddy's, before what seemed to be falling out of the box and laying on the ground before making its way over to her with unnatural and jagged movements. She stepped back and it immediately stopped advancing. It moved its hand out to her in a somewhat welcoming manner, and she hesitantly returned the gesture.

It tilted its head at the touch, then slowly moved closer and wrapped its arms around her back, performing what looked like a heartfelt embrace. It didn't stop until her crying ended, before gently picking up the Freddy head in an attempted to place it over her own.

Aiden stepped forward then in anger, and hit the head out of the dolls hands as he knew it would be dangerous for her, then proceeded to shield her with his body.

The puppet seized up and began to make a low guttural moaning sound that sounded slightly demonic, slightly robotic, and not at all human. It looked directly at Aiden again, this time causing him to grip his head in pain, he felt ringing in his ears and wasn't sure he couldn't stand up for much longer. As he was passing out he swore he could see…

What? Why am I outside the pizzeria? Why is it daytime? Why am I so scared?

I peered through the window; it looked like a birthday party…

From up the road, I heard a car coming, that isn't strange right?

Someone got out, I… I… couldn't tell what he looked like he… uh… I couldn't look at him directly.

He was coming this way, what do I do, is there anything to do?

He is coming really close, too close. He seemed to let out a small chuckle before placing both his hands on my shoulders. I looked up before I felt the air stop as the hands moved to around my neck. I gagged and looked up in terror at the grinning face, the lack of oxygen was making me so dizzy and I… couldn't stand up.

He let me down to the ground before tightening his grip in an almost wringing motion, I could feel the cold damp pavement on my back. I tried to push away but I don't remember my arms being this small and weak, he wasn't even fazed at all. Tears were streaming down my face as I desperately gasped for oxygen, my entire body hurt.

Please… stop… why?

It didn't stop, it felt like reality was shrinking and slipping away, like I was falling. The pressure faded after what seemed like an eternity. I couldn't move at all anymore, I saw something bright, and then I couldn't see anything.

Aiden awoke hyperventilating clutching his chest. Thoughts were racing through his head about what he just… saw?

The puppet was curled up in the corner, not moving at all.

"I… I can breathe… what was that?" He gasped barely able to speak

Sean touched his should sympathetically.

"What was what? What happened?" He asked

"I don't know but can we please, please leave…"

They shared a subtle nod before quickly hurrying out of the building and locking the door on the way out…