Jeremy had spent the entire day with Mike and Brian. He'd drank three cups of plain coffee and was ready to tackle the first night of his new job.
"Jer-bear, easy on the expresso, dude, you're gonna crash and burn by midnight." He checked his watch, "It's not even six yet."
"First off, you know I hate 'Jer-bear'…" Jeremy set his cup of coffee down. They sat at a family-owned diner for supper and waited for their food to be brought to them. "But you're right, I should probably wait on the coffee until I get there."
"Okay." Brian said, "And just a re-cap on the plan is I'm spending the night to watch this little guy?" Brian asked.
"In case he wakes up." Jeremy nodded and looked over at Mike, who was coloring randomly on his paper menu the waitress had given him. "Having fun there buddy?"
"Look! I drew a monkey!" he cheered and showed Jeremy the picture. Mike swore it was a monkey, Jeremy swore it was a cat, Brian swore it was a malamute. They all agreed it was a monkey, however. Jeremy almost forgot that five-year-olds almost always won a debate. "Daddy, we never finished the investigation." He said.
Brian rose an eye brow, "Investigation?"
"He watched way too much CSI yesterday."
"Oh…" Brian nodded.
The waitress came around and delivered their food, a cheeseburger for Brian, some spaghetti for Jeremy, and macaroni and cheese for Mike. "Enjoy your meals, guys." She smiled and walked off.
Mike picked up his fork and began digging into the macaroni and cheese, almost instantly getting the cheese sauce on his face.
Jeremy began practically inhaling his food, checking the time at once.
"Jeremy, calm down, you're not gonna be late." Brian said, taking a bite of his sandwich.
Jeremy sighed, "Just paranoid." He said, "I don't wanna black out again." He said.
Brian nodded, "I'll make sure you don't. What triggered it last time?"
"I don't know…" Jeremy sighed and shook his head, "I went into the parts and service room yesterday, that was about it."
"This macaroni's shaped like a smiley face!" Mike cheered out.
Jeremy chuckled, "It is." He smiled, "They all are."
"No…" Mike argued, "The rest look like 'j's." he said.
Jeremy nodded and thought for a while, "Mike, do you remember school?" he asked. Having known nothing about the boy, he didn't even know if Mike was in school or not.
Mike thought for a while, "Kind of… I remember meeting my teacher." He said, "But only once…" he stuffed his mouth with another forkful of macaroni. "I don't remember too much of it."
Jeremy nodded, "When those stitches come out we need to get you back in school." Jeremy said.
"Aww, why?" Mike groaned.
Jeremy turned and wiped Mike's face with a napkin, "Because you need to get smart." He said.
"I don't wanna be a nerd!" Mike complained.
"Just because you go to school and you're smart, doesn't mean you're a nerd." Jeremy said. He smiled, "You need to be smart in life." Jeremy said, "Plus, monsters go after little kids that don't go to school." He turned back to his spaghetti and continued eating.
"Monsters!" Mike gasped, "I don't want monsters to get me!"
"Well, then you better go to school." Jeremy said.
"I wanna go to school!" Mike hid under Jeremy's arm. "Don't let the monsters get me!"
Brian was laughing at the conversation between the two, "You're his perfect 'dad', Jer." He said.
Jeremy looked back up at Brian and smiled.
Jeremy walked into the pizzeria after parting with Mike and Brian. He didn't want Mike to see the pizzeria, or even know that Jeremy was associated with the place. He didn't want there to be a fascination due to the sheer fact that it was because of this fascination that Mike was hurt in the first place. He walked into the security office and spoke with Gordon.
"Now, just so you know, these guys get… Kind of 'quirky' at night." Gordon said, "So they'll come off stage and wander around the building. Now- you remember why they were required to stay onstage now, right?" he asked, he was a taller, somewhat slender man, who- now that Jeremy saw it, wasn't even fifty yet, but he had been with the company for a long time.
"I was there when it happened." Jeremy said.
"Right. So make sure you check those cameras and be sure that everyone is in their proper place." Gordon said and pointed at the television screen, "To check the other cameras just change the channel."
After another hour and a half of figuring out how to change the cameras, close the doors and power the lights, Jeremy was left on his own, discovering that his normal hours were to be from midnight to six in the morning. He sat in the chair and held the remote to change the camera. He first saw the stage, Freddy, Bonnie, and Chica all stayed in place. He switched over to Pirate's Cove to be sure Foxy remained where he was.
He felt that no shift had ever felt this long. Two hours dragged on before he saw that someone moved, "Where'd Bonnie go!?" he asked and began flipping through the cameras, finally seeing him standing in the janitor's closet and staring up at the camera. "Okay, stay there." He said. "Would've preferred for you to have stayed onstage, honestly, but…" he checked the stage, "Where's the fucking duck?" he asked, flipping the channels and finding the yellow animatronic in the dining room. "Oh… you're creepy…" he said and glowered at Chica. He flipped back and checked for Bonnie, seeing that he'd left the closet and was now starting down the hall toward Jeremy.
"Oh hell no…" Jeremy looked up, seeing the rabbit approach him from the left hallway. He leapt up and slammed the door. "No!" he whimpered. He flinched when he heard banging elsewhere in the restraint, "Where's Chica?" he sat down and flipped the channels. After finding a room labeled 'Audio Only' he discovered that Chica had moved to the kitchen and was making a lot of noise with pots and pans. "Okay…" he sighed and turned on the light to check for Bonnie, finding that he hadn't moved. Jeremy sank. His heart pounded and raced as he checked the cameras again. His eyes widened when he saw that Foxy was glaring at him from the Cove. "Oh god, he recognizes me…" he said.
Yeah, that Foxy character doesn't like being watched… Gordon's voice echoed in his head.
Jeremy crossed his arms and left the camera focused on him. He heard thumping coming from the right hallway. He looked up and saw Chica peering through the window. "No!" he barked and slammed the door. He sat back down and relaxed slightly… to think that Gordon did this for a living on a regular basis. He jolted at the sound of someone banging on the door. He curled up in his chair and held his hands over his head. He closed his eyes and waited for them to stop.
Jeremy had stayed like that for almost two hours before there was silence. He peeked up from under his hat and switched on the lights, finding neither of the animatronics at the doors. He checked the cameras and found that Chica and Bonnie had gathered in the dining room, Freddy remained onstage, and Foxy was ready to run from the Cove. He opened the doors and unintentionally gave Foxy the cue to run. Like lightning, the fox flew down the hallway, but was immediately met with a heavy metal door. Jeremy trembled, both hands slammed into the button that shut the door. His heart had never beat so fast or so hard. He began to hear slow, deep laughing behind him, he turned around and slammed the other door shut. Before he knew it, there was banging on the doors again. He then hid in the back corner and covered his head, "Just go away…" he whimpered, "I've done nothing wrong…"
The building groaned as everything went dark.
"What?" Jeremy looked up, the power had completely gone out. He found that the doors had opened back up and the animatronics froze momentarily.
Then Freddy straightened up and glared at Jeremy. He glanced up at Foxy and motioned for him to leave or to get the others, whichever it was, Foxy ran off and Freddy continued towards Jeremy. His eyes glowed and shone to reveal his teeth.
"No…" Jeremy pressed himself into the corner, "Get back…" he said, "Get back!" he yelled.
"Child murderer…" Freddy growled.
"No…" Jeremy's eyes turned black once more, "I said 'Get BACK'!" he barked, causing Freddy to step back.
The robotic bear took a while to study Jeremy. The young man was standing up, but had his shoulders hunched and his head lowered, his eyes were shadowed my his wavy hair and the bill of his hat. All that was seen of his eyes were red pin-pricks of pupils that the man bore at the moment. Freddy held up a hand when he saw Foxy return with Chica and Bonnie to stop them.
"Well!?" Jeremy asked, "Go! Get out of here!" he barked. "Get back onstage!"
A bell rang. Freddy looked at Foxy and the others and returned to the stage.
Jeremy watched them leave, his eyes still darkened. He groaned as his eyes returned to normal and grabbed his head. He dropped to his knees and tried regaining his focus. "What-?" he groaned, knowing he had blacked out once again.
"So how'd it go?" Morgan came in, "Whoa, kid, you alright?"
"I have a headache… Jeremy groaned, "I think I blacked out… hey- did I act weird yesterday?" he looked up at Morgan.
"Um… you were quieter than usual, why?"
"I think I blacked out yesterday." He said and stood up, "I think I just did it again."
"Really?" Morgan tilted his head. "Well, your eyes did look a little weird yesterday."
Jeremy nodded. , "I can't remember that last several minutes of my shift. Last I remember was the power went out."
"Hmm…" Morgan opened a panel in the wall, "Yeah, I'm gonna call an electrician and get it looked at. It's getting dangerous for Gordon at night." He hit a few switches a few time and the building came back to life. "And you apparently." He said. "Go home, Jeremy. Get some rest and go see your son."
**So it begins, his… several nights at Freddy's. And he 'blacked out' again and even confused the animatronics, so there's a concern if he's like that and keeping Freddy 'at bay, whatever the hell that means'. Hope you guys liked this! And please review, any questions at all I'm more than happy to answer, either that or things will be explained in near-future chapters.**