Author's Note: Part 2 of Week 2 Update. A bit later than I meant, sorry! Thanks for reading. Read below for Week 3 Update schedule :)

This chapter is written in a different point of view but you should be able to catch on to who it is pretty fast. Next week's update (the first half, at least) will also be in another point of view other than Mabel's. By the way; some of you might notice "Mabel" is kind of a bland character. This is on purpose (ik i'm weird.) Basically I wanted a character that the reader could relate to because I didn't really want to write it as a "reader" fanfic. I want it to be more like a serious novel. But basically, Mabel is supposed to be what you want her to be! As weird as that sounds, she is meant to be a solid character with little to no thirst for mystery or thrills or adventure. Instead, she is supposed to be an ordinary person sucked into an environment which she has no control over and the reader has to watch her struggle while stuff around her happens that she can't do anything about. *insert 6AM sound* YAAAAY! :D (i'm so sorry)

-cw


Chapter 8

The Night Shift

Yesterday

"Well...here we go again." Scott gave a sigh, taking a seat in the giant comfy office chair. He looked like he was going insane or something. If the giant bags under his eyes weren't enough, he was starting to look paler (even more than normal, that is) and his bloodshot eyes looked like they would give in to the temptation of sleep any minute now. He silently wished that his employees were still there just to keep him awake and aware. Now was not the night to be tired on. It was a Thursday night...well- technically a Friday morning now. Vincent had at least sporadically been taking his shifts, which meant every now and then Scott would get some sleep. But for the last few days he'd only been getting three to four hours of sleep, at best, because he had to be at work the next day to keep everything organized and manage the employees.

"It's all part of being manager…" Scott groaned to himself, reminding himself that he'd signed up for it. At the very least, it was much better pay.

He grumbled to himself for a moment and sat back up in his seat, turning on the multiple screens in front of him which revealed camera footage of each room. He leaned back and adjusted the digital clock on the desk so he could see the time clearly. It seemed he had set everything up.

I breathed in, quiet as ever, trying to stay stealthy. I watched and wondered what in the world the whole set up even was for.

What is Scott watching? My mind wandered, thinking of all the possible reasons. I assumed that it was simply as we were told. Maybe I was being crazy in the first place.

Perhaps all the night shift was, truly was just the Boss' orders to keep watch of the place from any robberies. Maybe Scott only wanted Vincent to call by the end of his shift just to really make sure that Vincent wasn't up to anything, as he had told me over the phone.

I watched as he tirelessly eyed each camera by switching through them on the small tv. I was surprised he wasn't dozing off. He looked so tired. So what was really keeping him from passing out?

In an instant, he flipped cameras, one of which had been viewing where the animatronics were kept backstage at night. Suddenly, I noticed something was...off.

Wasn't there three of them? I wondered, seeing the screen where the animatronics had all been.

Scott flipped to a camera and then…

I squealed. Okay...I screamed.

"Eeeek!"

If the Bonnie staring horrifyingly into the camera wasn't enough- my scream reacting to the sight scared the hell out of Scott.

He stood up quickly and the seat rolled away from him. He turned quickly to find me, sitting behind his chair on the ground. The various plushes and old things from prize corner I'd been using to hide myself with now lay around me.

"Um. Surprise?" I bit my lip. I didn't even have the gall to smile like Carmen or Mabel might do. I wanted to roll my eyes just thinking about how they'd react to being caught snooping.

The second he saw me he gave a sigh of relief, which was weird because I thought he'd be insanely mad.

"Oh...it's just you." He sighed, breathlessly.

"W-what did you think I was-?" I glanced at the screen showing the purple rabbit in the camera. "Oh. One of those." I blushed deep red; "S-sorry…"

He lent his hand to me and pulled me up.

"Why are you here?!" He asked, now slightly furious. After asking, he quickly returned to his chair and checked all of the cameras, giving another sigh of relief.

"I wanted to figure out what the night shift really was." I groaned, standing courageously for a moment to defend myself. "I've been asking for years now and-"

"SO THIS WAS HOW YOU DECIDED TO FIGURE OUT?!" He yelled, sounding panicked. I stopped in my tracks for a moment. Scott was seriously freaked out.

"You know what? Fine, whatever...I'll leave. It's not like I'm a loyal employee or anything and you won't even tell me what our shifts are…." I sighed and gave in angrily, knowing I should probably leave before I got fired or something even though I was mad at him.

I'm furious! I thought to myself; All this time and effort I put into the company- NO... into helping Scott - and he won't even tell me what is going on!

As I moved towards the door on the right I felt a firm grasp on my wrist that pulled me back; "NO WAIT."

I turned to see the panicked expression on his face. This time it was rushed panic rather than the jittery mess sort of panic he was earlier trying to watch the cameras just five minutes ago.

"Y-you can't leave!" He pleaded.

I looked at him strangely. I had no clue how to react to this at all. He looked like he had no clue how to respond, too, which only confused me more. He seemed desperate.

"You gotta listen- they'll KILL YOU if they see you at this hour!" He begged me. "That's why I haven't let you take the night shift!" He tugged desperately at my wrist some more. I still stood there, staring at him in total confusion.

I began to giggle. As I bit my lip, I realized I couldn't hide it and a full-on laugh escaped my lips.

"Scott that's ridiculous! Don't be silly." I blushed at the awkward moment that had now occurred.

Here I was 12 at night at my stupid job, being begged by my manager to stay away from where I walked every day because some animatronics would kill me.

When I saw that his face was still serious while he still clung to my wrist, I took a moment to glance at the camera which remained on the backstage where the animatronics stayed at night.

"Well...they are a bit terrifying…" I commented, sighing. "But there's no way they'll kill me, right?"

His eyes still looked panicked and desperate; he took a deep breath before telling me; "We've had to cover up multiple incidents at this place…" He admitted, shuddering.

I stopped breathing. His face was entirely serious. Scott did know any company secrets we might have because he was practically a slave to our Boss…

He still clung to my wrist. And Scott would never make this much employee "physical contact" normally because of some insane company rule to prevent getting sued or in trouble for sexual harassment or something…

His breathing was irregular now and his bloodshot eyes were wide open. And also Scott never went more than a sentence or two without stuttering or gaping with an "Uhhhh" or "y'know" because of how awkward he normally was…

"Oh my God…" I stood still, pulling my arm out of his grasp and gasping to myself. "You're really serious…" I put my hand over my heart.

"This is why you won't let me take the night shift?!" I asked loudly as he recognized I would stay and not leave, making him return to checking the cameras.

He gave a rushed but serious nod. "YES!" He practically shouted. I'd never seen him this way.

"But Vincent…" I wondered aloud.

"Don't care about him." Scott commented, grumbling, and giving reason for why he let him take the shift.

"But me…" I gaped.

Scott turned his head for a moment, blushing. "I-I, uhhh...don't want any of the girls to have to do it. It'd freak them out. Probably even Carmen." He gave his reasoning.

"Right." I agreed, lying. I found it impossible to see Carmen being scared of even something freaky and unexplainable as aggressive animatronics. Mabel probably would be horrified, though.

He was lying again and I think he could tell I knew.

"But you let yourself take the shift?" I whined, wondering what kind of ridiculous psychopath would inflict such a horror like this on themselves just to keep me or Mabel from doing it.

"I'm the manager and trainer. Getting the shift taken care of is my job. I'm not gonna force you to do this just because I'm lousy at my job." He grumbled, hating that I was asking him more and more.

"But I offered. You wouldn't be forcing me." I blushed.

He blushed back, still checking the cameras as I took a seat next to him.

"You didn't know the actual risks when you offered." He excused.

"Vincent didn't either, right?" I fought. I really wanted to know why all this was the way it was.

He gave no answer, and I could tell he wasn't going to tell me so I just moved on, giving a sigh.

"Alright. So how the hell do you end your shift without getting 'killed'?" I asked him "And why don't they attack us during the day if this is all true?"

He gave me some long explanation for why they did so. Something about a 'free roaming mode' they go into at night and how they only seem to act strange around the adults and not children. I myself had noticed a similar strange pattern, but before I'd only figured it was my fear of their weird robotic faces that made me feel that way.

"You have to promise me something, and I know it's gonna be difficult-" Scott finally sighed and looked away from the camera for a moment.

I wondered really what it was he was going to ask of me. All I knew was it wasn't going to be fun, whatever it was.

"Promise you wo-" he stopped for a moment in the middle of his sentence.

"Did you hear that, too?" I asked, thinking I heard a rustling sound in the hallway to our left.

I stopped alongside him and listened for a moment, the tapping on the floors ended and Scott gave a quick breath in as he flicked a light on.

"AHHHH!" I shrieked like a little girl.

Right in the doorway was that purple bunny, giving us a terrifying, dead-eyed stare, it's mouth slightly agape.

Scott slammed a button making the door shut and we waited until it was gone when he opened it again, making me still on edge.

He was not kidding…

I realized I was leaning on him slightly since I'd been scared so I leaned back away and bit my lip, apologizing; "Sorry."

"Uhhh...anyways...you have to promise you won't tell anyone else. Especially if they work here." He stated seriously. The reasons explained themselves.

Who would want to work here if something like that happened at night? More so, how would someone keep their mouth shut about it. Even more- who would even think I was sane for talking about animatronics wanting to kill people at night?

"I promise." I nodded, looking him in the eyes after taking a moment.

He trusted me.

After 6 hours of closing doors and flashing the lights on and off to conserve power, I cursed my Boss' name.

"Damn cheapskate…" I groaned.

We left at six AM, although I was hesitant to feel safe just because the number on some digital clock said "6:00", but Scott walked out first for me and slowly guided me out like a gentleman.

Well now you know what the night shift is, Addie. Are you happy now?

I wanted to punch myself.

This is why I strictly tell myself to never snoop. Especially in Boss or Scott's secrets about this place.

Deep down, I still wondered what lead to the animatronics being this way, in reality. And I wondered even more what scandals had been covered up about the place, but after that experience- I knew not to snoop.

Still...Scott definitely trusts you now. He might tell you more if you asked.

I shook my head to myself.

Only if he tells you without asking. No more getting involved. I decided.

Even deeper down- there was now only one thing about the whole ordeal that concerned me; and that was Scott taking the night shift. Every night he did that, not only did he get screwed by Vincent and had little to no sleep...but he also was in danger. My heart sank at the stress he was under all the time that I'd barely even been able to grasp until now.

I have to stop this somehow.

I gave a groan at myself for feeling like I had to get involved again as I walked outside the restaurant to see the dark-bluish beautiful sky just before the sun rose to put the sky in a much brighter hue.

"Well…" I sighed to Scott. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow." I smiled slightly, feeling guilty that I'd gotten myself into this which probably only stressed Scott out more since, apparently, his goal had been to keep me away from the shift.

"And...I'm sorry for snooping." I apologized.

"It's okay...I can understand you wanted to know what was going on...y'know…" He blushed at my kindness and scratched his head.

"Uhhh...see ya tomorrow." He waved at me as well and I gave him a small smile.

We parted ways and each went in the direction of our cars.


"WHAT?!" Mabel screeched, pulling on her hair.

And now I've broken my promise to Scott… My heart sank even more on the inside.

"Mabel you have to keep quiet, though. I promised to Scott. Didn't you hear?" I sighed, knowing this was a bad choice already telling her the story. My cheeks were flushed red at the idea of Scott thinking I'd broken my promise to him.

"Oh no, of course I won't tell him." Mabel laughed, giving her innocent small smile and pushing her brunette hair out of her face. "I don't wanna ruin you guys' relationship." She smirked, leaning forward.

"Ughhh…" I blushed even redder now, turning away from her.

In retrospect, I regretted letting her figure that out, too. I crossed my arms and closed my eyes in embarrassment even though Mabel couldn't see my face, anyways.

"We're not in a relationship I just have a...crush on him." I didn't know how to word it. I felt childish, saying I had a crush on someone. Especially since I hadn't been on dates in ages, and I'd been such a loner loser for a while now…

"Yeah, I know. It's okay. We'll get you two together." Mabel smiled, channeling her inner Carmen.

That girl spends way too much time observing that lunatic.

I spun around; "What exactly do you mean by 'we'?!" I hissed.

"Nooothin'." Mabel sang slightly.

Even though she played around, I knew she'd keep my secret. Like Scott trusted me- I could trust her. Even though I'd...technically done something Scott shouldn't trust me for just now.

Mabel was a quiet, observer type. And she'd been so nice when I'd opened up to her. I knew she'd keep it a secret.

The question was whether I could keep it a secret, since apparently I wasn't doing so well with secrets lately…

"Oh, well. Hey at least out of all this craziness we got to see Vincent lose his sanity for a second!" I laughed aloud, Mabel nodded, joining in.

"Hopefully you haven't broken your friendship with Cynthia now because of that…" Mabel smirked.

"We are not friends." I balled up my fists just thinking about that girl.

Mabel just gave a shrug along with her smile.

"Wonder what those two are up to right now…" Mabel pondered for a second.

I shook my head, putting my hands in the air at the grandeur of unwanted mystery about those two;

"Who knows what those two freaks are up to normally, even?!"


2 Part WEEK 3 UPDATE BY/BEFORE NEXT TUE (august 9th)

this time both parts will be posted ON that day unless part 1 is posted earlier than tuesday, then part 2 will still be on or before tuesday