Settling down into an old chair precariously attached to five wheels, it creaked under my weight as it was forced to lean back as I did. Sliding the wheels across the ground with a slight kick to the wall moved it easy enough, although it was impossible to be sure if it would hold yet as when the rolling came to a stop, the support holding up the chair wobbled roughly.
"Jeez..." Brushing locks of black bangs out of my sight while running my fingers over the old worn out keyboard that sat in front of me, a quick jab at a key with the faded word 'shift' scrawled over it caused the monitor screen attached to the board to flash and change. "You'd think for this place just opening it'd be… Well, a bit nicer."
The room in which I was to spend my night felt much smaller and cramped than it actually was, with eleven small monitors scattered on the grimey desk that had been shoved up against the far wall, one large screen sat in the middle, and everything seemed connected to it. While this larger screen flicked through the camera views, all the others showed one specific view all time. Although much more pixelated and hard to see, it was pretty nice to be able to glance at everything all at once instead of continuously flipping through the camera views.
Along with the screens, a small black fan whirred next to me, its cool air tried to combat the heat in the small office, but to no avail as all the heat emanating from the screens overpowered it. Following its power cord with my eyes to the wall in front of me where it was plugged in, the one light in the room illuminated multiple drawings of the animatronics, and one poster that showed off the main three characters.
The main one was a brown bear named Freddy that stood in the center of the trio holding a microphone. To his left was a purple rabbit, whose name I think is Bonnie, stood holding a guitar, and opposite of that one was a yellow chicken with a large cupcake on a platter, this ones name was Chica. The three of them were standing on the stage and the word 'CELEBRATE' was pasted above them in a large bubbly font.
Sliding back in the chair after having pushed off of the desk, my fingers just barely traced the walls on either side of me, and it only took a few seconds for the back of my chair to knock against the last wall of my prison.
Kicking once more off the wall, the chair decided to not move as I had wanted, and instead moved towards the opposite wall while spinning, and as I reached out to stop myself, the feeling of plastic met my palm and slid into the wall just a little bit only for a large metal door to slid down into place seconds after. It seemed a bit odd to me that a Pizzeria would need such a heavy duty door, but I wasn't really one to question why. Releasing the button and pressing it once more caused the door to slid back up, letting me see the faint trace of light coming down the west hallway.
Rolling back over to the desk with a soft sigh, all I could really do was start spamming the shift button, the screen flickered in and out before anything really came into focus, finally coming to a stop on the stage camera, where the three animatronics stood, with lifeless gazes staring out into an empty audience. I'd heard stories about these animatronics from loads of my teachers, about how they took their kids to the old restaurant. They didn't look like how everyone described them, they were, much scarier and worn down looking, the way everyone had described them made them sound like, toys, not creepy robots that looked like it might bite my head off.
Shrill rings suddenly pierced the silence of the small room causing chills to run down my spine as I shot up in the chair startled by the unexpected sound. Iit was a frantic search for the source of the ringing as the desk was also cluttered with random papers and more drawings, then of course once my hand finally found the ringing phone, it stopped, and the sound was replaced by a beep, and then a man talking.
"Uh hello? Hello! I'll just assume you couldn't find the phone in time, don't fret kid," Kid? Really? Oh come on, give me a break! Folding my arms over my chest with an aggravated sigh, my focus stayed trained on the phone, pondering if I should pick it up or not. "you just need to listen." Well, that answered one question. "You um, you probably won't be working in this position long, and I'm sure it's not how you wanted to spend your break off school, but uh, we'll get you onto day shift before you go back." Yeah, I wasn't expecting night shift buddy. I had to kiss all my plans for the week goodbye! "I was supposed to be in there, but something um, came up so I have to stick with dayshift for now. Anyway, uh I'm supposed to read you the company welcome, you know all the legal stuff." Oh goody goody... Just what I wanted to hear. Leaning back in the chair, it gave a loud complaining creak then settled again as my legs swung up and my feet came to rest on the desk with a heavy thud.
"Welcome to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. A magical place for kids and grownups alike, where fantasy and fun come to life. Fazbear Entertainment is not responsible for damage to property or person. Upon discovering that damage or death" What? Why would anyone die here? This doesn't make me feel any better about being here at night alone! "has occurred, a missing person report will be filed within 90 days, or as soon as property and premises have been thoroughly cleaned and bleached, and the carpets have been replaced." Glad to know that if something happens to me, the carpets come first! Maybe it's a good thing I didn't pick up the phone...
"Okay uh, it might sound pretty bad," Yeah! it does! Are you kidding me?! "but you don't really have anything to worry about. Um, yeah the animatronics can get a bit, quirky, but I don't really blame them… Anyway, they uh, the animatronics do tend to wander around at night, they have them on some sort of free roaming mode. Something about them locking up if they stay off for too long, since they can't wander around the day anymore, not after the uh, the Bite of '87, but hey! The kid survived!" This guy has to be joking around, yeah, he's probably just trying to scare me! Don't they have to tell me this stuff when I apply? "Now um, there is something you need to know for your own safety, if you happen to be seen by any of the uh, animatronics, they won't, or they probably won't realize you're a person. Most likely they'll see you as uh, endoskeleton without a costume… That's against the rules here at Freddy's Fazbears Pizza, so they may or may not try to uh, stuff you into a Freddy suit."
Okay, I'm starting to freak out here! They're just robots, how can they realize if I'm human or not! Shifting my gaze to the large screen, the camera view had changed over time, deciding against flipping through trying to find it, my eyes darted over all the smaller screens until they found the stage feed. Everyone was still in their correct spot… "These suit are full of bars, wires, and the likes especially in the head piece, so uh, it might cause quite a bit of discomfort getting your head shoved in that, or you know um, death." If that's the case, why can't I just keep the doors closed!
Sliding over to the right door in a panic, my palm pressed against the 'Close' button and I pushed off of the wall as the metal barricade came down, rolling to the other side and pressing the second button my prison became sealed. With a pounding heart and hair standing up on the back of my neck, the chair slid back over to the desk with little resistance, and I continued listening to what the man had to say.
"I-I know they don't tell you this stuff when you sign up, but it's just your first day, it should be easy! I'll be there in the morning to let you go, so uh, keep an eye on the cameras. Oh, and um, don't close the doors unless you absolutely have to, you don't want to run out of power after all. Alright, goodnight and good luck kid!" Staring at the phone in silence as the voice clicked off, the message number blinked a red one at me.
"What happens if I run out of power?" Standing up from the chair to move around and think, my legs carried me over to the left door so I could open it back up. Thankfully nothing was standing in the doorway which gave me the courage I needed to go to the second door and open it as well. Does that guy get off by trying to scare me or something?
"Alright Mim's," Straightening my posture with a deep breath to calm my still racing heart, I rubbed the palms of my hands together, just trying to do something to distract me. "stop acting so scared, you're not a little girl anymore! They're just robots after all. I bet they don't even walk around! It's probably just something they tell the new guys to freak them out."
Smiling at my own little pep talk, my feet carried me back over to the chair and as I plopped down and spun to face the monitor again, the screen flickered and changed to the stage view, showing all three of the animatronics still standing in the same spot as before. "See! It's already been an hour and nothing's happened! Jeez, way to be a big baby!"
Fuzz took over the screen for a short second, and once it cleared by up again, my heart sank straight into my stomach when my eyes found that Bonnie was now staring right at the camera. It's dead eyes seeming to pierce right through the screen and stare right through me. Slamming the shift button with my entire fist, the monitor flickered and changed, now showing a curtained area with an "Out of Order" sign hung on a pole right outside of the starred fabric.
"You're just imagining things, you let the phone guy get to your head! They probably rigged this stuff to scare you!" Nervously eyeing the clock hanging just above all the screens, it was just a little past one in the morning at this point, and somehow I had to make it till six without being scared out of my wits! ...Or being stuffed into a suit. "No! Stop that! You're going to be fine! Dammit! I wish I wasn't such a scaredy cat!"
Spamming the shift button again until the stage view came back up on the screen, my gaze instantly found the empty gap where one of the characters was supposed to be standing. Chica and Freddy hadn't moved from their spots, and stood still staring out into the dining around. So where was Bonnie. It had been there not that long ago, how could anyone have moved it that quickly?
Scanning the smaller screens to try and find the rabbit, my gaze finally found it on camera 3, which looked like the supply closet, as dozens of discarded animatronic head lined the shelves and empty suits lay crumpled on the floor, looking almost like dead bodies. Searching the desktop, it didn't take long to find a map to spread out on the floor, my fingers traced over the paper until they found the words "Supply Closet", that was just down the hall from me… How did it get so close to fast?! What was going on here? Taking a deep breath while climbing back up into the chair my shaking hands grabbed a flashlight that sat on the very back corner of the desk. Do I go out and try to catch whoever was doing this? Or do I just sit here and watch the cameras? If they work here, which they most likely do, they would know all the blind spots, so who knows how close they could get before I finally noticed.
"Alright… I'm going to go find this asshole!" Jumping up out of the chair and onto my feet once more, I quickly moved over to the door on my left which would take me out into the west hall and towards Bonnie. Still a bit nervous about what the man on the phone had said, I felt that it was necessary to make sure nothing was there waiting for me. Pressed the light button that sat just above the 'Close' one, my gaze moved up when the hallway was still oddly dark and I feared the light hadn't been wired yet, but instead my eyes met the dead stare of two pink orbs, the same eyes that belonged to Bonnie, and know it was looming over me, staring down. Unable to stop myself in the heat of the moment, a scream ripped itself from my lips and I slammed the door close button, scrambling back away and towards the desk as once more the metal barrier came down into place. Staying focused on the door, my heartbeat drummed in my ears, as my mind struggled to wrap around everything.
"That did not just happen!" Wait, the other door! Whipping around with enough force to get smacked in the face with my hair, I hit the other light button to check, but thankfully nothing stood in the second hallway, or at least as much of it as I could see. Poking my head out into the east hall to do a full check, my eyes caught sight of the very end of a shadow disappearing towards the bathrooms and the kitchen. So someone was here...
"Come on! This isn't funny!" As my voice carried down the hall, the echos of clashing pots and pans reached my ears, which meant that whoever it was had moved into the kitchen. "Are you the guy who was on the phone?" No sounds answered me as I called out, well other than the clashing and banging of dishes in the kitchen. This guy just doesn't give up, does he? Sighing to myself, I made my way back over to the west hall door and opened it, pushing the light button to find that the hall was clear now.
"See, nothing's there. It's just an asshole after all." Flicking the flashlight on after having reassured myself that there wasn't any danger, I spun on my heel and walked out into the east hallway, and slowly starting making my way towards the source of the sounds that were still echoing down the hall. Trying to not alert whoever it was that I was coming, each step was slow as to not step on some of the random junk scattered on the floor seeing as this place was already kind of a dump.
Stepping into the dining area, my eyes flicked over towards the stage where Freddy and now Bonnie were standing, the only one missing at the moment was Chicka. Nothing really seemed out of the ordinary either, except for the fact that their eyes were trained on me, and with each step towards the kitchen I took, their eyes seemed to follow.
Halting just outside of the kitchen doors my back pressed up against the wall while the noises in the next room grew louder and more violent, gathering up all of my courage, I dared to peek through the small circular windows in the middle of the swinging doors. My eyes scanned the dark room quickly, though I found that it was impossible to see exactly who was in there due to there only being one faint security light on, but there was definitely a shadow moving around by the cupboards. Watching as they yanked each cupboard door open and began digging through them as if looking for something then throwing discarded pots and pans behind them, leaving them to crash to the floor without so much as a flinch.
Glancing over my shoulder at the stage for a brief second to make sure the other two animatronics were still in their places and that I wouldn't have to worry about someone creeping them up on me, I took a deep breath and flung the kitchen door open with all my might in an attempt to startle the shadow, the flashlight in my hand moving to point right at them illuminating the culprit.
Nothing happened for a few moments as all the sounds and movement stopped at the sound of the door crashing against the wall, and in this short break I was confused to find it wasn't a person, but the chicken animatronic standing there with its back to me. Surely they had just ducked to the side, right?
"Is… Is someone in here?" The idea of the characters actually moving around on their seemed so farfetched at first, but when no one answered and Chica turned around to face me on her own, the reality of it all crashed down on my shoulders, causing my stomach to knot up so tight and so quickly that I feared I might vomit.
Suddenly, her head started to turn to the side before starting to make an odd clicking noise and then glitching back into the original position, lifeless purple eyes staying focused on me the entire time. Nothing about any of this gave off a threatening vibe a creepy on yes but it didn't seem dangerous until Chica started moving towards me with jerky movements it drew closer. Step by step my gaze had to keep moving up to still watch it's head, and now her hands starting to reach out as if in an attempt to grab me.
Now that it was time to run my body felt stiff and refused to move when I tried, and with each step that brought the animatronic closer the a weight seemed to press down on my shoulders ever harder. At last she came to a stop not more than a foot away from me, close enough that every stain and tear in the suits fabric became noticeable and while my eyes scanned over them, the one thing that grabbed my gaze and help it was the suspicious faded red stain around the bottom of the headpiece that just peeked out from behind her bib. It seemed like forever that I stood there, just staring at the stain and wishing that she would just pass me by and go back to her place on the stage, but after an extended pause, a voice echoed through the room with little to no emotion, and the entire sound of it just being fake.
"No suit." The threat that her words carried was finally enough to break my body free from the paralysis that held me in place and once she actually moved to grab ahold of me, I quickly back stepped away from her, only for my back to run into something slightly soft and warm. Hairs stood up on the back of my neck as my heart leaped up into my throat, the realization of what I ran into being almost instantaneous, now it was only a question of which one… "Need a suit." The same cold robotic voice chimed out a new phrase and as soon as it cut off, two large brown plush arms wrapped around me in a tight grip making squirming difficult and escaping seem impossible.
Panic set in quickly and now nothing was making sense, and when a deeper voice echoed around the kitchen the words didn't even register anymore, short quick breaths were making my head feel dizzy and not helping me think straight at all. That didn't stop me from struggling against the animatronics hold though, or smacking the flashlight are hard as I could in this position against Freddy's leg trying to get free.
"I'm human! I'm not an animatronic! I'm human!" With a cracking voice my screams fell unheeded by the characters, and as the hold on me tightened my feet were lifted off the ground. Fear caused tears pool in the corners of my eyes threatening to spill over at any moment. "No no no no! I'm human! I'm human, dammit!" Kicking wildly only made Freddy's hold get tighter although that didn't stop me, that is, until a loud thud sounded from the door of the kitchen and as my captor turned my eyes fell upon the empty suit now laying crumbled at the feet of Bonnie who was holding the headpiece under it's arm.
Screwing my eyes shut as hot tears streamed down my cheeks in rivers, the loudest blood curdling scream I had ever heard ripped its way out of my throat and echoed around the room. It was the only thing I could do at the time the only thing I could think of. So when Freddy's grip loosened at the sound for some reason, I took no time to stop and ponder why and instead took advantage of his pause and kicked off of his legs as hard as I could to break free. Thankfully his arms gave way, letting me fall forward although I wasn't able to catch myself before hitting the ground with my knees and hands. As soon as the falling stopped my head shot up to find all three of them starting to come towards me again with hands outstretched.
"No suit, you need a suit. It's the rules." Three voices chanted the same phrase over and over again as they drew closer and closer. Scrambling to my feet in a hurry, my shoulder smashed against the corner of the counter hard, crying out in agony, it was a struggle to force myself forward instead of nursing my injury, and as I ran forward my vision was blurred by tears.
Thankfully the animatronics were slower than they were strong, and I was able to dodge Freddy grabbing for me, and slip past Bonnie who was blocking the door. Breaking free into the dining area, another overly large form stepped into the room and as it was illuminated by the lights on stage, the broken and tattered form of the animatronic fox was startling. Its head scanned the room, then once its one eyed gaze found me, it instantly started moving forward in a run, moving so much faster than the other three. Understanding that there was no way to make it back to the security room with that one out and chasing me, I pivoted on my heel and raced back in the opposite direction as fast as my legs could carry me.
Running past the still chanting trio, my sights were set on the nearby bathrooms and I only just got the door of the girls room locked before they started pounding on the thin metal barrier between us, dents starting to form and deepen with each hit, the sound echoing around the room as loud as thunder.
"Oh god… Is that going to hold?" Backing away from the door with a quivering voice, my eyes frantically searched around the room, but the only thing that was of any help was the clock hanging on the wall, taunting me with the time as the hour hand had just recently touched the two. "I have to last four more hours…" Wringing my hands together, it finally occurred to me that the flashlight was no longer in my hands, meaning I probably dropped it when I fell. Leaving the only source of light I had being the small and flickering security light secured on the ceiling.
Finding the wall with my back, pain flared up in my shoulder successfully reminding me that there was an injury I needed to see to, but at the time I couldn't bring myself to do it, everything was already so horrible I couldn't bare for anything to get worse. Sliding down to the floor as the first sob broke free from my lips, pulling my knees up to my chest and wrapping my arms around my legs to try and comfort myself, tears endlessly streaming down my cheeks as violent sobs caused my entire body to shake. The thundering echoes of all of the animatronics pounding on the door continued to reverberate around the room, unfaltering.
"Leave me alone!" Screaming at the top of my lungs, the force caused a crack in my voice and a small amount of pain flared up in my throat. "I just want to leave! I want to go home!" Sobbing harder, the thundering sounds abruptly stopped but the sound of their steps didn't follow, meaning it still wasn't safe for me to leave the bathroom. "Just go away!" As the echos of my voice faded, no sounds followed but the sounds of my sniffling, realizing yelling at them wasn't really going to help, it became obvious that the only thing left for me to do, was wait here where it was safe till six, and pray that the door held if they decided to try getting in again.