Chapter 2: Chapter 2 Celebrate!


Celebrate!

The first thing that caught her eye in the half lit darkness were the faded yellow words Celebrate! The poster didn't look like the pictures drawn by child's hand beside it. It looked like a photograph of the animatronics in their prime; the backdrop brick. On the far right was a yellow chicken with alfalfa sprout-like tufts of feathers coming from the top of her head. Around her neck was a bib proclaiming "Let's eat!" Her right arm was cut off from the page to make room for the others. Beside the chicken was a brown bear, taller than his feathered friend, even excluding the height of his black tophat. The bear donned a black bowtie around his neck and held a microphone tight in his paw. But even taller than the lead singer was a purple rabbit, looking to the left as if something had caught it's gaze. It strummed a red electric guitar and, like the bear, wore a bowtie (though this one was red). From left to right their names were Bonnie, Freddy, and Chica. These were the ones that Jamie had to keep watch and never let into the office for risk of being killed, though she was pretty sure that was a joke on her coworker Tanner's part; who despite his young age had been at the pizzeria longer than she. Jamie could still see his joking smirk from days before she even considered taking the night shift. It was when Mike came back early one morning, having forgotten his coat. Jamie was wiping down a table when she saw him come in. His cobolt blue eyes were clouded with exhaustion and his dark head of black hair was a mess, probably from running his hands through it nervously all night. He still had on his uniform, which consisted of a very wrinkled light blue shirt, black slacks, and a black tie with his badge. Mike even had bags under his eyes, which kind of worried Jamie.

"What're you doing here, Mike? You don't look so good…" Jamie asked, stopping what she was doing momentarily to address her concerns with him. Mike kept on walking, as if he didn't even hear her, which prompted Jamie to throw her rag at him to get his attention. The poor guy jumped about five feet in the air when it hit him in the back, flinching hard. Mike whirled around, his eyes wide in fear, frantically searching the room for the offender, but his attention was drawn instead to Tanner laughing loudly. Tanner was a freckled, blonde kid right out of high school; his much too long hair trembling as he laughed outright at him.

"Dude! You looked terrified!" Tanner grinned, still chuckling as Mike narrowed his eyes at him, obviously in no mood to deal with anyone's antics.

"Thinking those big bad robots're gonna get ya?" He teased, smirking as the nightguard rubbed his eyes in irritation, his brow furrowing and jaw set in anger.

"Tanner, shut up, you have no idea what you're talking about." Mike muttered darkly, stalking past him to the office. Jamie blinked, glancing over in question, a bit surprised at his strange behavior. Her grey eyes met Tanner's green as she walked over.

"What just happened?" She asked. Tanner just shrugged.

"I dunno, probably grumpy from no sleep. I don't blame him, th' place is creepy at night." He elaborated, leaning forward against the counter where the register was. He leaned closer, seriousness crossing his visage as he looked Jamie dead in the eye.

"Everyone knows what happens when you take the nightshift. You'd be jumpy too if you knew." Tanner whispered, glancing around as if someone were listening in. Jamie, very intrigued, leaned in closer.

"Knew what?" She whispered back, instantly drawn in.

"You don't know?" He asked, brow raised in question, making Jamie feel a little stupid for not knowing what seemed to be common info. She shook her head, waiting for him to continue.

"Ya know, some say that the animatronics..." Tanner pointed out towards the stage, Jamie following his finger, spying those figures that held a special place in children's hearts.

"They say they come to life at night to kill whoever's in the restaurant, tearing them apart and stuffing them into a spare suit." He said solemnly, his voice low and hushed as if the animatronics themselves would hear them.

Jamie could feel a chill going down her spine in remembering the gruesome rumor, turning her focus to the computer screen in front of her. At the time they both laughed it off, especially when he grabbed her shoulders, making Jamie jump about as high as Mike did. But his words still lingered in her mind, even now as she worked the night shift; all alone where no one could reach her. Jamie attempted to concentrate on the thick, bulky computer monitor, flicking through the cameras. She cycled past what everyone called Pirate Cove, pausing on it for a moment to observe the rather eerie place where she heard a broken animatronic resided. Why it wasn't backstage with the other spare parts were, she would never know. But upon observing Pirate Cove, one could see that the curtains were a faded purple, almost closed yet showing a small sliver of darkness peering out onto the actual stage. A sign out in front proclaimed "Sorry! OUT OF ORDER". Jamie moved past it to what she considered more important, the showstage where Chica, Bonnie, and Freddy stood.

Not one out of place… Good. Jamie had hoped for that, hoping that the rumors weren't true. It would have spooked her bad if she saw that any were gone. Especially knowing that cheap Mr. Faz made her use the limited backup generator for electricity. Sitting in complete darkness with something creepy moving around wasn't exactly pleasant. She turned off the monitor to save power, spinning over to face the door on the left. Beyond the doorway was thick darkness, not even cut by the dim glow of the emergency light above. Beside it were two square buttons; one labeled door and the other light. Jamie tested the waters by pressing the top button, flinching hard as the door slammed down shut from the ceiling. Could they…? No don't be silly, they things can't hear me. They're probably switched off, anyways. Jamie assured herself, pressing it again to conserve power. It loudly sunk back up into the ceiling, revealing chilling blackness beyond and into the West hall. But… I think I remember Mr. Faz saying something about it not being good for the robots to be switched off…. She groaned, tempted to hit her head against the wall in frustration. Why didn't I pay attention?! Jamie sighed, turning her attention back to testing the second button, labeled lights, just going ahead and pushing it roughly. Purple fur and rabbit ears was illuminated, yet shadow surrounding disturbing, wide purple eyes gazing ominously down at her. It was even taller than she was, bigger and more terrifying than anything she had ever seen, shocking Jamie that it actually moved, walked down the hall, and peered into her office. Its mouth was parted to show hard, square, blunt teeth; the hall light flickering upon it as if warning her to run away as fast and soon as possible.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Her shriek echoed through the pizzeria as she slammed her hands down on the door button, her heart racing a million miles a second as the door clumsily slid shut. She fell forward out of her chair in fright, sinking to her knees as she panted, entire body shaking as she grasped at the wall with trembling hands to pull herself back up.

"What in fuck?!" Jamie pressed the light button, checking to see if Bonnie was still there. Indeed it was.

"You're not supposed to be here!" She accused hysterically as she stared down it in shock and fright through the dirty window. The rabbit, of course, said nothing. Looking into its soulless eyes, Jamie got a horrible feeling that she shouldn't let it in at any cost.

"Go away!" Jamie whined, jabbing at the light button frantically, hoping that the flashing light would confuse it. Jamie stopped, dread pooling into her body about as quickly as a glass of water being knocked over by a clumsy individual. The East Hall….. Jamie raced over and punched the lights, almost falling over in relief when nothing was revealed to be there. She, very unwisely, stuck her head out the door to see if anything was down there. Looking to the left, there were posters of each of the characters with the words Party Time! inscribed on each one and a rather large cobweb connecting the camera to the ceiling. Looking to the right there was a dead end with bits of trash on the floor, papers tacked to the wall, and a note from the management describing the rules of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza.

Leave after dark… Well no shit. Jamie thought, trying her best to get a hold of herself in this predicament. She was still very shaken by a certain oversized rodent appearing at her door. And those eyes…. Jamie shivered, moving over to check and see if Bonnie were still there. It wasn't. With a relieved sigh, she, though reluctantly, opened the door and sat back down in the office chair.

"I didn't sign up for this…" Jamie muttered to herself as she turned the monitor back on and checked the cameras, flickering through to see where each animatronic was. Currently, Freddy was in his original position, Bonnie (that creepy thing) was in the Dining Area, and Chica….

"No no, don't you fucking dare move too." Jamie whimpered, searching in a panic for the bird.

"No! NO! STOP THAT! YOU SHIT, ROBOTS CAN'T USE THE RESTROOM!" She almost yelled, now on the edge of her seat,, practically at the point of hyperventilating again. She ran her hand through her hair, strands of brown locks pulling from her ponytail to settle around her face in a mess. Her grey eyes were wide with alarm, mouth set in a tight frown, gaze wandering over to the corner of the screen where the percentage of power remaining was. 45%... And it's only 2 AM….

"This is going to be a long night…"

Author Note: I would like to mention that the traditional phone call is evidence that someone died at the pizzeria instead of them going missing like the restaurant wants the police to believe, so it was erased, thus leaving Jamie with no guidance. That's why she has no idea what's going on or quite what to do in this situation.