"So your son, Joshua, he desired to visit Marionette every night?" "Yes, he hadn't shown any changes at that point, not till much later. However, since the first meeting; about a month had passed and he begged me to take him to see Marionette, but it could only be after Midnight." Sabrina shook her head, her shoulders slumped down in a depressed state. "Of course, I grew curious, despite the never ending rumors. I stayed in late with Joseph that night, my little boy was ecstatic when he heard I would take him to see The Puppet." The tall brunette sunk back into her rocking chair, every squeak noisy but silent at the same time; the whole room seemed awfully quiet, as she told her tale. It's shaking rhythm the only thing that comforts her at this time.
Echoed clicks and taps of a modern computer mouse ricocheted around the small room, every agonizing clicking and tap meant measure of seconds have passed by; never leaving the room without even an decibel of sound. Sabrina, our tall, brunette woman from a chapter before was seated at her computer desk, working upon an old Mac desktop. The "Fun Time" clerk tried her best to drown out the cries and screams of seven-year-old parties; Sabrina will be staying up late tonight, to pass time, waiting for midnight to come, she had decided to work on few of her SAT test online. The tall brunette was curious about her son's reason to meet The Puppet, only at midnight, Joseph specified. But the sudden drowsiness surrounding 11:30 at night, made it difficult to resist calling it quits, even young Joseph whom had demanded to see Marionette, was beginning to falter.
"Mama, my eyes are slee-sleepy…is it midnight yet?" Sabrina looked towards her son, as he lay, eyes-halflidded, on the old couch in the night watchman's office. "Not yet baby…after Mama is done with her test, do you wanna go home?" "No!" Came the sharp whine, "I wanna see Marionette.." "We shall see him, but, another rude outburst like that and we are going home."
"Sorry-"came his mumble, of course, he meant it, but didn't exactly show it. Sabrina chuckled in her thoughts, she knew how bratty her son could be at times. And though other parents said his behavior was 'rude' and 'undisciplined', Sabrina washed it off as simply an active spirit.
A while passed, and finally the reaches of Midnight crossed the clock's hands; a certain sensation crossed Sabrina's mind, one of dread and uncertainty. Her son desired to see Marionette, yet she couldn't help but feel something, something was out there. The familiar jingle of the night watchman's keys rang and quickly the tall lass woke her son from his nap and packed their things.
'That's it', though she as the intense feelings continued to linger round her senses. 'I'm not risking my boy's life for some stupid puppet.'
. A nervous and twiddling right hand reached for her pockets, and amongst her shambling hand she was only able to merely get the keys out, and look towards the locked door of the restaurant's figure entrance. Sabrina felt frozen, her mind became numb as a lingering fear licked at her inner thoughts. The lass thought she heard screaming; thought so. It sounded like a boy, a little boy just a few years short of her son. "Andrew!" Sabrina stood within the main hall, boy in toe, keys in hand and just about to leave the dreary place when, out of the darkness, came just that. A sudden wave of darkness crashed over Sabrina, she saw that she was alone.
The walls, her son, her keys and the door had disappeared, even the beautiful whistling of Jeremy had gone out like a tesla bulb. "Where.." came her mumble. Her body felt heavy, tired and wretched, Sabrina had a hard time breathing, and she felt her lungs shift and churn. The tall lass gave a scream as all the oxygen seemed to be ripped from the air. "Are you going to leave me again, Sabrina? I always knew, you were a witch, but I know you have a heart." She looked up from the masses of black murk that had enveloped her and swept her from real life. Looking up she spotted a silhouette, a gray figure stood in front of her. It's or rather His features hidden by shadows and beams of light.
"Andrew?" Though it had been many years, Sabrina did not question the face of her lost friend as his features became clear when a sudden light collected behind him. Since the day of his funeral she'd kept a small picture of him, even sliding it into her wallet the day she became 18, to always remember. "Sabrina, I will keep killing, as will the others. I can't find him, Sabrina. I'm lost, the killer will come again; can you find him for me? Please Sabrina, can you find him?-"slowly the silenced voice of Sabrina's long-dead friend disappeared and she opened up to reality, the wash of fear and black water vanished.
"I wanna see Marionette! I WANNA SEE MARIONETE!" She looked down at a screaming, whining Joshua, as he pulled her towards the game room. Standing in the hall, at the door was little Balloon Boy, he didn't have a face to say but his AI was smart to enough to know what was wrong; the tone of his light robot voice showed dreary concern. "Everything alright, Mrs. Teller?" "Yes, everything is fine, I just need to go home." The tall lass went to use her key's again on the restaurants locked doors; "but mama! You promised!" Small, innocent tears dripped from Joseph's eyes, as he watched his mother leave. She did promise to take him to visit Marionette.
Without one word Sabrina put her keys away and let go the tight grip on her boy's hand. He ran off, aimed the game room when Sabrina quickly went after her son, following him into the game filled chamber. Balloon Boy swiftly, or rather slowly followed in on this excited charade. "Mrs, The Puppet is asleep, is it best to wake him as of now?" "I can handle it, Loon, thank you." Loon was the short name she had given to Balloon Boy right as they met on her first day, the human-style robot was eager to make friends and laid a good first impression on the new employee. "Alright, I'll be over here." Balloon Boy took shelter behind a hockey table, going down like he does in the vents to hide.
As she and he sun ran towards the back of the room where Marionette slept in his box Sabrina's heart sank as she saw that he had already retired for the day, the lid for his homely box closed and pinned tight. "I'm sorry baby, it seems that Marionette has-" "NO!" came a shrill reply. "Wake him up! Turn the handle!" Joseph ran at the box and practically leaped at the glossed wooden appendage, he found he was unable to turn it, though he had down so not long before. "Mama, the handle is stuck…" the small light-skinned child began to whimpered like a lost pup and in a sense drug himself over to his mother. 'Agh…I know I shouldn't but…I'll let him off this one time..' a thought came and a thought passed. It regarded her son's behavior, screaming and having an all-around temper tantrum that was sure to wake the older automatons.
Seconds passed as she mentally chose to forgive her son and right after the normal sound of a timer occurred; bells and whistles went off again like normal. As the song played the handle only increased its clockwork-like turning, faster around the box's cog. Sabrina's soul screamed from the inside, she knew what happens if an adult human was out when a 'scary' Marionette was near. Utter slaughter; "We have to get out of here, sweetie, Marionette isn't happy at night." "Not happy? But he's a clown, he's always happy!" Her son smiled at the thought of Marionette popping out to give him another present like before. "No, he's not baby. We'll have to try again tomorrow after school." "But-" her son began to cry again, his tears flowed.
Her son bolted towards Marionette. Sabrina couldn't believe what she was seeing, her son running towards the very box that contained a murderous, 'seemingly lifeless' puppet. A robotic dark scream rose from the wonderful present; but nothing had happened, Joseph was fine. A flash had appeared just seconds before Joseph reached his target and Marionette could reveal his full form. A tall thick figure stood a few mere feet from Joseph's small form them. Whomever it was, he was large, strong, out of shape and as always knew how to make a scene. A monstrous, wired and broken hand took time to grip Marionette's thin woven neck before it could reach for Joseph.
"We made a deal-" a gnarled voice rose from the being's inner workings as he continued his grip on Marionette. "Only adults are to be slaughtered for the next hours. Children are innocent, who are you to break a law you wrote yourself." With a mighty fist, the male automaton put Marionette back into his box; using the same hand he smashed the box shut and tore off its swinging handle. "The Puppet-Status: Out of Order." His single cyclonic red eye gazed at Marionette's now smash home, before he turned to face them Sabrina didn't recognize this automaton, rarely did she see the older 'Broke Downs' walking about, none-the-less saving her and Joseph from The Puppet's rage.
"Inform Boss Cawthorn of Marionette's 'disabilities', report it as a break in, vandalization if you will. And tell Jeremy that he is free to go. I'll handle the others for the remainder of his shift." Sabrina was too shocked to ask a question, in fact she found herself barely breathing by the time this old animatronic had trudged down the right hall towards the 'Closed to the Public' subsection of the restaurant's exterior room. "Who was that?" Sabrina choked, holding a shivering Joseph in her arms Balloon Boy finally came from his hiding spot, "One of the older guys, he was picked apart just a little to perhaps fix Mangle. It only made his stubborn attitude worse. It's strange though, he has been murdering the security guards as far as I can remember, yet his name escapes even me."
"Find out for me, would you, Loon?" Sabrina's eyes landed on the child-sized, human-like figure. "Yes's ma'am. I'll see if Mangle knows, she knows everything." And with that Balloon Boy slowly waddled off down the hall, heading towards the play corner where Mangle slept. "Mama, is Marionette going to be-" he gave sniff, his little eyes wet with tears and his small heart beating a million miles an hour. "I'm sure-" she let out a loose gulp "-I'm sure Marionette will be alright. That robot did us good by saving us, we must thank him in time." "Okay, Mama…" her little boy let out a yawn.
Hours had gone by, the twenty minute drive home didn't help the spell of exhaustion and fright put on Sabrina. Earlier, she had nearly run into a stop sign but a vison of Marionette's white, tearful face had shocked her awake. "This is crazy…" she gave a sigh once they were finally in the drive way of her home. The garage door slipped open, a tall man stood in front before walking out towards the car. "Strenuous day, Sabrina?" He saw the dazed expression on her pale face. "Sweetie, are you okay?" "I'm fine Honey, tonight was crazy at the place, and one party ran late. Super late." Sabrina groaned a bit, lying wasn't her best skill.
The man smiled and gently picked up his sleeping boy from the front seat. "I'll put him to bed and re-heat dinner. Come inside soon, babe." Sabrina's husband kissed her cheek and returned inside, leaving the light on in the garage. As soon as her husband disappeared with their son, she locked the doors to the car and played a few classics from Mozart on the radio. "Did all that actually happen? Logically no, but…" she couldn't bring herself to say the words. "It seems the Robots aren't the only things with a soul locked inside, Marionette…he seems to suffer. But why?" Sabrina's soft heart began to race when her eyes glanced over her rear view mirror. In it, a figure similar to the one whom rescued them stood.
With feet as fast lighting Sabrina hopped out of her car, not even bother to lock it. The tall brunette looked back to see it wasn't an illusion, the figure was standing there, physically there even though he couldn't possibly be real! She leapt for the garage door closer that hung near the door and as she leaped on the ground flipped the white switch. As it closed with sudden urgency the apparition dissipated into nothing. Sabrina panted roughly, the soft carpet of the garage the only comfort she had as of now; she noticed some of hair was still above the door's end, she rolled quickly so it wasn't caught. Even still she panted, wheezing, her chest tight. "Who is he…" were the last words she said for the night.