In the Shadows
Five Nights at Freddy's Story
2. It's Me
2:30 AM
Mike groaned as he began regaining consciousness, feeling something cool on his forehead.
"Easy there, Mike." He opened his eyes and winced as his vision slowly cleared as he saw his coworker looking at him worriedly as said coworker was adjusting something on Mike's forehead, a washcloth more than likely. "Thank God you're ok..."
"W-What...happened?" Mike managed out as he slowly sat himself up.
"Be careful Mike!" Sam said sternly as she floated in front of him. "I don't want you hurting anymore than you have to!"
"You blacked out when you came in..." Jeremy said as he checked the tablet and doors. "Luckily, I was about to leave when I spotted you...and heard you when you yelped..." Mike's face flushed in embarrassment.
"S-Sorry about making you stay..." He managed out and Jeremy chuckled.
"Eh, it's no problem, I mean all I got waiting for me at home is some TV dinner." Jeremy said. "I'm just glad that this happened while I was still there..." Jeremy trailed off as Mike looked over at Sam, who sighed.
"You should've stayed home Mike..." She said and Mike sighed shook his head.
"I thought I was fine..." He whispered, knowing that Jeremy couldn't see or hear Sam. "I really did..." The little girl sighed softly as Jeremy shut the left door.
"Jeez, these guys are jumpy tonight..." He sighed as the animatronic left before he chuckled. "At least there's only 4 nowadays..." Mike nodded slowly, remembering that this guy used to work at the old '87 location, at least, according to the manager.
"How many were at the old place you worked?" Mike asked as he managed to get to a sitting position, though his head and chest ached. Jeremy paused and thought for a moment.
"13 maybe? Let's see there were the old versions...the toy versions...that balloon kid...the puppet..."
"The puppet?" Sam asked, remembering last night. She turned to Mike. "Go ask him about the puppet! Please!" Mike raised an eyebrow, still a bit shocked by the amount of bots back in 87.
"U-Uh...a puppet?" Mike asked slowly and Jeremy sighed.
"Yeah...strange ass animatronic...I think it gave out presents or something...but at night, I had to wind a music box to keep it from attacking...What was the tune..." Jeremy mumbled to himself as he tried to remember. "I can't name it off the top of my head, but I had to keep winding it..." Jeremy sighed before checking the tablet. "Man these guys are being-What the fuck!?" Mike looked at Jeremy.
"W-W-What?"
"I have to be seeing things..." Mike took the tablet as Jeremy shook his head. "T-That was scrapped with the other Toy Models..."
"What?" Mike asked slowly as he looked at the tablet and saw a slender looking black ragdoll-like animatronic wearing a white smiling theater mask, with streaks coming from the eyes, making it look like it was crying. The animatronic snapped it's head to the camera and Mike felt chills go down his spine.
"The puppet's here..."
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1983
"G-Guys...I don't think this is a good idea..."
"Oh stop being a baby!" The rabbit mask wearing boy said in annoyance. Jacob watched as the two argued briefly before Michael was shoved up onto the park's monkey bars, to climb on them by Matt and his friends.
"I-I'm not a baby!" Mike exclaimed. "I'm just saying, this is a stupid idea!"
"Well, you're the one that said you'd do it." Mike glared at Matt as he wobbly held onto the bars.
"You were gonna make Jacob do it, Matt! And I don't see any of you guys doing this either!"
"Oh shut up and walk on the bars, ya chicken." The fox masked boy said simply as Mike tried to figure out how he was going to do this.
"B-Be careful..." Jacob said worriedly and Mike smiled at him.
"I-I'll be fi-"
"Michael Vincent Schmidt! What the hell are you doing up there?!" All of the boys jumped in surprise as the older man in the dark navy, almost purplish uniform, rushed over to them.
"D-Dad I-" Before Mike could finish, he lost his grip and fell to the ground. His dad rushed over to him as Mike fought back tears and failing miserably.
"Oh God, Micheal!" He checked the boy and not seeing any broken bones, very carefully picked up Mike, gently shushing and comforting the boy. "Mikey! Mikey, it's ok buddy, we'll get you to the doctor's...You're gonna be ok...You're gonna be ok..." He turned and Jacob had to fight the urge to step back in fear as he saw the death glare the man was giving his older brother and his friends. "You boys better head home, or back to the diner..." The man turned and began to leave before he stopped and turned back to Matthew. "And your dad is going to hear about this, Matthew." Once he left, the mask wearing boys looked at each other.
"Man his dad's scary..." The bear mask wearing one said as Matt scoffed.
"Pfft, he's just a weirdo. He can't be that scary, Sean." Jacob sighed as the older boys began to walk back to the pizzeria, arguing about how scary the man was, and clung tightly to his plush.
'At least it they weren't calling you the baby this time...' The golden bear 'said' as Jacob followed the boys, though lagging behind a bit.
"Yeah, I guess...but why did he do it?"
'Hmm? What do you mean?'
"Well, Fredbear, I just don't get why Mike offered to go up there instead of making me do it..." Jacob sighed and shook his head. "I just don't get it..."
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2:35 AM
"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit..." Jeremy said as he paced the office, trying to keep calm as a million thoughts raced through his mind; why the hell was the puppet here? Weren't the Toy Models scrapped? And if the puppet was here, did that mean the others were here as well? Jeremy shuddered and quickly shook that thought out of his head before looking at Mike. "Any movement?" Mike shook his head.
"No, they still seem to be crowding around the show stage..." Mike sighed. "Is there anything we can do to stop the puppet? Or do we just have to hope that we have enough power?" Jeremy sighed.
"Unless you have a music box on hand, then we just have to hope on the doors..." Mike sighed sadly.
"No, I just have my phone...I mean I could put up a video of a music box,"
"Wouldn't have the same effect," Jeremy said. "Though it did work in stopping the Toy Bonnie model from into the office..." Jeremy sighed. "At least till my phone died..." He chuckled nervously. "What's the power at?"
"Uh...74%..."
"Great...that rules out just keeping both doors down..." Jeremy grumbled as Mike looked at the camera as the animatronics seemed to be fidgeting before they started to walk out of the camera view.
"And now they're moving..." Mike said, sighing before perking up. "Has the manager plugged in the new generator?" Jeremy blinked in surprise.
"N-No, he hasn't yet...It's in the kitchen...Do you think we'd be able to avoid the animatronics, turn it on, then race back?" Mike sighed before he saw the vent above them.
"Wait a minute..." Mike said slowly. "Do you think the vents go to the kitchen?" Jeremy looked up at the vents and thought.
"Yeah! They connect to every room in the place..." Sam said slowly before looking at Mike. "Wait...Mike... you're not thinking...You can't be that stu-"
"Yeah, I think so..." Jeremy said before smiling. "Yeah! Maybe one of us can crawl through and turn it on and then we'd be good..."
"I mean it's the best option we have..." Sam's face was priceless as she groaned and face palmed.
"What's wrong?" Sam turned and saw the boy from yesterday appeared from apparently nowhere. She frowned and crossed her arms.
"You said that you were going to take care of Mike!"
"W-What?"
"He blacked out when he came in tonight! And now there's this puppet around here too!" The boys blinked in surprised before his face fell.
"That isn't good..." The boy looked at Jeremy and Mike as they tired to get into the vent. "Uh...?" Sam looked at them and sighed.
"They're being idiots." Sam said. "There's a new generator apparently in the kitchen,"
"And they're gonna use the vents to get there?" Sam nodded as Jeremy realized that it would be a rather smart idea to shut the doors while they were trying to get into the vents and shut both doors before helping steady Mike. "Huh..."
"So anyways, why did Mike black out tonight?" The boy shrugged.
"I don't know...I guess that the puppet's influence is more powerful than me or Nightmare thought-"
"Wait, who?" The boy sighed.
"The bear. His name is Nightmare."
"O-Oh..."
"Yeah...he tends to linger around here, along with the others..."
"How come I've never seen him around before?" The boy chuckled.
"Cause while he'll never admit it, he's shy around you guys...he prefers my company...though sometimes he says that he manifest at wherever my plush went after...you know..." Sam nodded slowly before the two looked at Mike and Jeremy, who were obviously having difficultly in getting the vent gate to pry open. "I don't know if I believe him though..."
"Good grief..." Sam sighed before she saw Mike wince. "Mike!"
"Whoa, you ok?" Jeremy asked slowly as he helped Mike down, who nodded.
"Y-Yeah...I think..." Mike sighed as he gingerly touched his head. "Ngh...It's like the front and back of my skull is being stabbed or something at the same time..." The boy's face faltered as Jeremy sat Mike down.
"Maybe we'll just get lucky..." Jeremy said as Mike sighed, obviously trying to stay awake.
"Y-Yeah..." Jeremy sighed as he took the tablet and looked as Sam tried comfort Mike. "Ok...Foxy's still in the cove...Freddy's in the bathroom...Bonnie is one side, Chica on the other side...now where's that pu-"
"Here I am, Mr. Fitzgerald." The two guards jumped in surprise as the marionette-like animatronic appeared in the office, landing on its toes with a quiet 'tap'. The boy's eyes widened in fear as Sam hid behind Mike, with Jeremy stepping back in surprise as the puppet looked at them, a wicked grin on its face.
"Y-You-" Jeremy started to say. "H-How-" The puppet chuckled, sending chills.
"What's with the surprised looks everyone? It's just me after all~"
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1983
"Are you sure you're ok Mike?" The 7 year old beamed as he wiped his nose with his thumb as he and the other two sat in the waiting room chair.
"Yeap! Doctor's said that I didn't break anything, and that I'm one lucky duck!" Jacob smiled and Matthew shrugged, obviously trying to not seem as relieved as he actually was. "Though I have no idea what he's telling my momma and dad..." He turned and looked at the door where they could see the faint outline of Mike's parents talking with one of the doctors.
"Maybe he's saying you're a big old baby." Mike rolled his eyes in annoyance as Matthew got up. "I'mma gonna get some candy." He walked off and Jacob looked at Mike.
"He's a ding bat sometimes..." Mike grumbled. "But I guess it's not a big deal..." Mike sighed before turning to smile at Jacob. "But hey, who cares? Your party is next week, right?" Jacob nodded slowly.
"Y-Yeah..."
"Well, it's gonna be fun I'll bet!" Mike said and Jacob nodded slowly, distracted. "Hey, what's up? Is something wrong?"
"Why did you do it?"
"Huh?"
"Why did you do what my brother told me to do? I-I mean, you got really hurt...Why didn't you just make me do it, like what my brother was gonna do?" Mike was quiet for a moment before he looked at Jacob squarely in the face.
"Cause you're my friend, Jacob. And I didn't want to see you forced into doing something you didn't wanna do."
"But don't you find me annoying?" Mike raised an eyebrow.
"Am I supposed to?"
"Well, my brother thinks I am...he calls me a crybaby...and he gets mad when I get scared and cry..." Jacob sniffled as he rubbed his nose as Mike frowned.
"Well everybody cries...and everybody gets scared..." Mike said slowly. "I mean, I've seen grown ups cry...and my dad says that it's normal is be scared..." Mike tapped the side of his head. "He says it means you haven't gotten a case of stupid," Jacob looked confused as Mike shrugged. "I dunno, I think it's an adult saying or something..."
"I guess..."
"But the point is, is that you're my friend Jacob! And friends help each other out! No matter what!" Jacob smiled slightly.
"O-Ok...thank you Mike..." Mike beamed a goofy smile as his parents opened the door to the waiting room.
"Mikey...the doctor wants to run some tests really quick..." His dad said and Mike looked at Jacob before looking at his parents. "It's nothing big, buddy, the doc is being a bit paranoid." He made a face and both both chuckled as his wife rolled her eyes as she stepped out and Mike stood up.
"OK then, dad..." He turned to Jacob. "I'll be right back!"
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Dun dun dun~
Thanks for the feedback regarding the last chapter guys, I really appreciate it!
Please feel free to leave comments/suggestions and enjoy!