As for Kestrel, she can't stop watching them and when her eyes wandered a little bit—she noticed drawings of children posted on the hallways' walls.
"That's strange. If it's the grand opening, how come there are drawn posters of children pinned to the wall?" Kestrel thought out loud as she bites the middle part of her slice.
"What was that, hon?"
"Nothing… it's difficult to explain."
"What is?"
"There are drawings of kids implying that they had spent their day here—but it's the grand opening, right?"
"Maybe this is a new branch and they saved the kids' posters as decoration." Rensu theorizes.
"Could be."
When everyone was enjoying their pizza, Dauphine excused herself to the restroom and asked for directions from a waiter who was about to serve an order.
Just when she was at the hallway leading to the restroom in the east side she tried grabbing the knob but it was locked for some reason—she couldn't find an employee to help with it so she waited for one to come her way and while waiting she noticed that there was a newspaper clipping framed and hung on the wall. Usually, newspaper clippings that were framed behind a glass and hung on the wall are achievements of the restaurant but to Dauphine's surprise…
What she saw on the newspaper clipping isn't an achievement of the restaurant but a police report.
A police report about five missing children last seen and later found dead in the Freddy Fazbear's premises. At the end of the paragraph were the words printed:
It was a tragedy.
She heard the sound of the kitchen door banging open and letting the sound of metal utensils clattering and porcelain plates clanging onto another surface and it made her jump. One female employee got out of the kitchen and Dauphine instantly took the chance of having the employee help her with the door and kindly enough, the employee unlocked the door while reasoning that the door tends to hit the lock when someone opens it too wide or swings it a little bit too strongly.
"Oh by the way, miss…" Dauphine to the employee.
"Yes, ma'am?"
"What does the newspaper clipping mean?" Dauphine points to the frame.
"Huh? Oh what, this? This is no newspaper clipping, ma'am, it's a list of house rules."
"Wait, what?" Dauphine lets go of the doorknob and walks up to the frame again—the employee was right, it is a list of house rules. "But… it wasn't a list when I first saw it."
"I'm sorry, what?" the employee cringes in sheer confusion.
"When I first looked at it, it was a newspaper clipping."
"I'm sorry, but you must've been seeing things. I set this up myself a few days before today, I'm pretty sure it's a list of house rules—usually for the kids who tend to be a little of a handful."
"Oh… okay." Dauphine mutters in defeat of the argument of which was real whether the newspaper article or the rules.
She was sure that it was a news article because she even ran her fingers on the glass to trace the words that she was reading. How could it have turned into a set of rules within 45 seconds?
More so, was she the first one to see this?
After her time in the restroom, she returned to the table rather shocked and confused. She has no idea of what just happened.
"You guys won't believe this…" Dauphine muttered.
"What?" Nikaya.
"There's this 'poster' I found in the east hallway, when I walked up to it to read it—it was a newspaper clip."
"And? What about the clipping?" Kestrel.
"It was a police report."
"About what?" Fia.
"There were five kids murdered in here. Literally."
"And they kept the newspaper clipping proudly? What the hell?" Kestrel.
"The newspaper said that the murderer wasn't anyone from the staff, regardless of their working term."
"Now why do I get the feeling that this is interesting as fuck?" Kestrel smirks.
Kestrel's POV
So let me get this straight...
There's this newspaper article about the restaurant but instead of something worth hanging on the wall like an achievement of being the top pizzeria in town…
They posted a police statement about a murder that happened within the four walls of this pizza joint?!
Who the fucking hell does that?
Nobody in the right mind would hang that on the wall for everybody to see but Dauphine said that when the employee pointed it out it was just a set of rules. But how could that be? Dauphine even said that she touched the glass part of the frame so that just confirms that it was real, right?
But what about the employee who saw it as a set of rules—a literal set of rules?
So which one is truer?
That is the question that makes me tick.
"I wanna see it for myself. Tell me where it is, I'm going alone." I demanded Dauphine.
"It's at the east hall, maybe just a few steps away from the restroom door—well, it's at the corner."
"I'm on it. Besides, I need to… you know."
I stood up and scooted my way out of the table. I followed the directions that Dauph said and then I found it. Much to my surprise it was a news article. So I can't tell which one saw a hallucination and saw the reality. Oh Jaysus, this is making my heart race because I can't really tell which is which. So if I saw it as a news article, what about the other people? Or maybe if I turn around for one second, it will turn into the infamous set of rules for the rowdy kids?
Ahh well... I read the article anyway.
So, it's about five kids who were last seen here in Freddy Fazbear's, although their cause was not said. Well, maybe they just went in here for a slice, maybe. But their murder... Who did it?
After running my finger on the glass, which was really real, I muttered to myself.
"No name. But it was stated that... the murderer doesn't work here or never worked here at all. Huh... So did this guy just barged in to kill these kids?"
When she turned her attention to the door of the restroom opening up, she just made a quick glance at the recent occupant of the restroom and then turned back to the frame.
And then the same thing that happened to Dauphine happened to her. Instead of being a newspaper article, it turned into the said set of rules.
"Oh crap, Dauphine was right. So which is real?" she whispers to herself as she goes into the restroom to give herself some time to reflect.
Upon returning to their seat, her eyes showed complete shock and she snuggled herself in Rensu's arms.
"Now what?" Dauphine. "What did you see?"
"What you saw."
With that answer, I wasn't stirring myself with fear but with curiosity. I want to see what kind of deep dark shit is this joint hiding away from the ignorant people coming in and out of here.
When we were done eating, I took one final glance at the place to see if I can sense something just as strange as the apparition of the frame but it was hazy... Vague... I can't tell much exactly but I was sure there is some weird crap going on.
When we parted ways, Rensu and I were the only ones walking together and he was tapping me with questions about the frame apparition. Rensu tends to be the more rational and realistic but sometimes even if his theories and opinions are factual, it's just that I have my own opinions and they are waaayyy beyond Rensu's.
While walking our way home, we continued on and on about what we saw—and believe me, I feel like I'm not winning the argument at all because his theories are so concrete and applicable but it just wants to make me defend my case that it's not entirely applicable because there's something going on with the joint.
"You must be just hungry or maybe… you're on your time of the month."
"Why do you sounded so hesitant about the last option?"
"Boys don't normally talk about their girlfriend's periods."
"You just did."
"I only implied to it as an option."
"Sure you did."
We continued walking until we were already in the main road of my village. We stopped talking about those theories and he brought the topic up on me visiting his house next time. Rensu's the kind of boyfriend who wants me almost everyday in his house—in fact, my visits there become so frequent that I'm starting to be a boarder in his house because hell, he barely wants me home even though my parents are okay with him being my boyfriend which I find good.
He has two personalities—there's one when in public whether with or without me, and then there's this certain with me in private. He tends to be overly cuddly and playful towards me which I find cute and adorable whenever wherever unless of course, PDA is strictly prohibited in the area we're in.
But I admire his wit and cleverness. Kind of useful for an incoming Civil Engineering student for freshman year in college. He tends to be the mature one even though he's the one younger than me. Yes, he's 17 while I'm 18. I'm a petite girl yet other people think that I'm the one who's 17 and he's the 18-year-old, they switch our statuses at the first glance.
That's Rensu.
And me?
The basics...
I'm short-tempered which transforms me into a sadist. Well, I'm technically already a sadist on my dark side. I have the murderous stare-slash-resting bitch face and it's kind of useful when some goons are trying to take advantage of my demeanor. You would never want to see me mad. Whenever I'm with my friends, I tend to be the one who's authoritative and Fia always uses the reference of my distant grandfather who happened to be a former president-slash-dictator of the country to suit my case of being a dictator sometimes. Her reference is true, by the way, I have the blood of a dictator-president and my family runs the same kind of blood. But this is just my dark side, let me tell you about the other side of me.
I laugh a lot even on the shallowest of jokes or circumstances. I'm a bookie and a gamer at the same time. A lot of my friends say that I'm outgoing and friendly so I guess that's that. In school, I'm usually quiet and I enjoy speaking and writing in classes and a lot of my classmates are also saying I'm a good speaker but I feel more like a good writer more than a speaker. And even if Rensu says I'm childish, he underestimates my way of critical and logical thinking. Whenever something makes me tick, I tend to know about it until there's a conclusion.
And now that something has made me tick which is Freddy Fazbear's, I'm not stopping until the case is closed. I'm gonna start with those animatronics, sure they seem to make the kids happy with their interactive programming but since kids have no idea what they're putting themselves into, am I the only one around here who gets creeped out by them? Of course not.
Among all four animatronics, the scariest for me is the purple rabbit and the chicken. How is it that they look like they have their mouths gaped open? I mean, I know that their robots but it looked like their mouths are gaped open... for a reason.
Even if the fox animatronic looked carnivorous, he didn't give me the kind of appeal that he was... as terrifying as the others.
Also, Freddy appears to have a perverted or flirtatious stare at you. As if he knows what's going on even though he's an inanimate object. There's this aura I sense from the four of them, something...
Sad.
Painful.
And horrifying.