Disclaimer: I do not own "Five Nights at Freddy's" or its characters.

*6 Hours Ago*

The drive towards the pizzeria felt especially lonely that night. He tried calling Claire several times, but she never picked up the phone. They had never had an argument like that before. They disagreed on some things, obviously, but their quarrels were never so bad that one of them would walk away as infuriated as she had some hours ago.

For the seventh time, he held his phone expectantly next to his ear as he walked inside the building, hoping she would pick up. No response. There was no use. Maybe he'd have better luck in the morning, after she had enough time to calm down. There was no use in insulting himself mentally like he had done for the past four hours. He had messed up bad this time. He should have thought things through before coming up with stupid excuses and acting as shady as he had. Of course she would end up getting suspicious.

Mike shook his head and tried his best to concentrate on the night ahead of him. As much as his heart felt heavy, and as much as he felt like continuing his job as a night guard was meaningless in comparison to appeasing Claire and making things between them return to how they were, he had to focus. If he wanted to try and amend things the next day, he'd have to survive the night first. And even before he got to his office, he had to look for Jim; after all, he had assured Lawrence that he would make sure the elder was feeling alright.

He headed towards the dining area, where Jim could usually be found mopping the floors or rearranging the tables. Maybe Jim would have some "sage advice" for him or something…

However, he found the dining area completely deserted. The robots were still there, but no sign of any human in there. He frowned and looked in all angles, to make sure the janitor wasn't hiding somewhere. He headed towards the bathrooms – who knows, maybe he was doing some cleaning there… - and then, the kitchen. Oddly enough, the kitchen was closed. He picked up his keys and looked for the key that would open it, but just as he was about to try and open the door, something made him turn around.

He felt like he was being watched. The guard looked at every possible corner before sniffing. "Golden Freddy? If that's you, just show up, because I'm not in the mood for games right now…"

He got no answer. Mike shook his head, turning his gaze back to the kitchen door. "Whatever…"

*5 Hours Ago*

Mike sighed in frustration as he headed towards his office. He had looked for an hour and found absolutely no sign of the senior being around. His attempts at trying to open the kitchen door had proven fruitless too – for some reason, as much as he turned the key, the door simply wouldn't open. It was as if something was pushing against the door from the inside to prevent it from opening. But it couldn't be, it had to be something wrong with his key; after all, the cooks didn't show any problems with opening the door during the day.

He sat on the chair and picked up the tablet. There was still an hour until the beginning of his shift. He looked up and tried to think of something that didn't involve revising his argument with Claire (or better, Claire's argument with him) or him being a moron. The only other thing he could think about was Jim's whereabouts. Maybe he wasn't feeling good and decided to leave early? But why wouldn't he warn anyone? Certainly he would tell Lawrence about it, so he could tell Mike that he didn't need to watch over him anymore…

"It's me"

Mike looked at the desk. Golden Freddy was there, looking at him.

"… You're early. My shift hasn't started yet."

"Why are you here?" the yellow bear asked, his voice showing some signs of worry.

The guard shrugged. "Oh you know, I thought surviving five nights wasn't enough…" he replied sarcastically. "So obviously I had to come back for a sixth night just to prove how badass I am, and ruin my relationship with my girlfriend while I was at it, and end it all with a bang by being stuffed in a suit, because my life may as well be over…"

Even though Golden Freddy had no eyes, Mike could almost see them narrowing. "That is not funny" he hissed, punctuating every word.

Mike rubbed his temples. "Yeah I know…" he sighed. "Look, there's something about this place… I'm even having nightmares about it now…"

"What kind of nightmare?" asked Golden Freddy.

The guard looked at the tablet for a while. "I saw two little girls going after someone. I couldn't see who, but I felt like they shouldn't trust him…" he started explaining. "You were there, but I couldn't see you. You kept saying 'help them' over and over, but once I went after them they were gone…" He his face in his hand, swallowing hard as he remembered the dream. "… and then there was this puppet-thing, and a purple shadow of Bonnie… and the kids were screaming…"

He looked at the yellow bear, who stared back at him sadly.

"But that was just a random dream, right?" Mike asked, hoping that he would say "yes".

It took a while for Golden Freddy to say anything. "… Be careful tonight…" he warned.

He disappeared, leaving Mike worried. He didn't answer his question, which meant he was avoiding the issue. The dream hadn't been random – it meant something, and if he felt like he had to stay at the pizzeria, then it was because he had work to do. He had to figure out what was going on there. Even if… it killed him.

*4 Hours Ago*

His shift had begun thirty minutes ago. There was no message from Phil, obviously, and there was no eerie message from hell either. He would like to know who had recorded it so he could punch the person in the face – if it had been a physical being, of course. Otherwise there probably wouldn't be much he could do about it. Maybe he could get Golden Freddy to punch him instead…

The animatronics were very active, as expected, and the signs of supernatural active were more obvious than ever. The drawings of the children kept changing to that familiar drawing of a crying child, the sign of Pirate Cove changed to "It's me" again, and now Golden Freddy was sitting on the right edge of the desk, watching the right door. The level of activity that night was at least having some advantages – he didn't have enough time to mope around and feel sorry for himself.

"I'd like to know who keeps changing the writings on those drawings and sign…" the guard thought aloud.

"… Not me…"

"I know that." He stretched his right arm to get to the door light, but winced and held his shoulder. He had felt a sharp pain in his injured shoulder as he stretched his arm. Damn, he thought it was healing pretty well…

"Need help?"

Mike looked at the yellow bear with a small smile. "Yeah… Can you check if Chica's at the door?"

The door light illuminated the door on its own, revealing Chica staring at them through the window. The door closed.

Mike blinked. "You can do that? How come you didn't do that before?"

Golden Freddy looked at him. "You never asked me to"

The guard glared at him, annoyed.

"… I'll watch the right side…"

*3 Hours Ago*

"Is she still there…?"

Golden Freddy nodded slowly. "Yes"

Mike huffed. "She's going to drain all my power at this rate…" he complained, closing the left door once he saw Foxy was out of Pirate Cove. "Great, now both doors are closed."

"Could be worse" retorted the yellow bear.

"Right, I could have all four of them flanking me." He sighed. "Like Phil… Hey, were you around when Phil was on the job?"

Golden Freddy kept watching the right door. "Yes"

"Then how come you didn't help him?" he asked, trying to not sound accusatory.

"I did" the yellow bear said. "That's why he's alive"

Mike looked at him for a while before nodding and opening the left door. He closed it immediately after though, after seeing Bonnie taking a step towards the door.

He sighed. "I hate my job…"

*2 Hours Ago*

"… I think it's a stupid question but… is she still there…?"

"No" Golden Freddy said, to which Mike sighed in relief. "But Freddy is"

Mike's sigh of relief turned into a growl of annoyance. "For fuck's sake why don't they leave me alone?!"

The yellow bear's ghostly body twitched. "… You said a bad word…"

"And I'll say more if they keep sucking up all my power! Look at that!" he yelled angrily as he pointed at the monitor that showed how much power he had left. He was down to 25%.

He took his feet off the desk in annoyance, making a ball of paper fall on the ground. Out of habit from having to pick up all litter he dropped on the floor under Claire's command – at the thought of her, he had to take a deep breath not to feel miserable again – he bent over to pick up the fallen ball. Once he had it in his hands, he realized it felt unnaturally warm.

"The hell…?"

He unfolded it. The paper had a drawing in it. A crying child.

"Not this sh-crap again…" He managed to correct himself before cussing, noticing Golden Freddy's stare. He threw the ball of paper carelessly onto the desk, checking the tablet and noticing Foxy was out again.

The guard looked at both doors, still closed, and sighed. "I really hate my job…"

*1 Hour Ago*

Finally. Mike opened the left door while the right door opened on its own due to the yellow bear's intervention, now that both Bonnie and Freddy were gone. He knew that it wouldn't last forever though. They would be back soon enough.

He looked at the ceiling. Things were not going good. He didn't have enough power. It was only 3 AM and he was already down to 12%.

"Well. Thanks for the help, bud, but… I don't think I'm gonna make it…" he muttered, knowing Golden Freddy would hear him.

The bear said nothing, but turned his head on his direction.

"… I know I shouldn't have come back… But I felt like I had to… I had to help you guys." He looked at the bear with a sad smile. "So I could do some good, you know?"

"… Stop it. You're not going to die"

"Yeah, I'm not too sure about that…" he said, sounding more uncaring that what he felt. "You should probably leave. Things are not going to look pretty in a while…"

The yellow bear stared at him. Then, as his head lowered until he was facing the floor, he disappeared in a golden mist.

Mike looked at the phone. If he was going to end up killed, then he would use the time he had left wisely. Picking up the phone, he pressed the button that would enable him to record a message. After a beeping sound, he took a deep breath.

"Hello, hello! Heh, hey, so you're the new night guard at Freddy's! Boy, you must be desperate…" He cleared his throat, thinking of how to explain things properly. "So, you don't know me, but I was a night guard before you… The guy that I was replacing left behind some messages to explain the gist of it so I thought – might as well do the same. I don't have a lot of time left so I'll go straight to it: watch over the animatronics very, very carefully. They may not be very active at first, but as the week progresses, they'll start moving around more. They're left in a 'free-roaming' state at night, so don't be surprised if they're not at the show stage anymore after an hour or so. Don't worry about Freddy until the third night, and don't bother trying to look for him in the cameras – chances are, you'll just be wasting power. All you really have to do is check the cameras closest to your office, check the door lights to make sure they're not at the door, and check Pirate Cove. Yeah, I know, the place is out of order, but don't be fooled by that sign. The character there, Foxy, is just as active as the others. But he will only leave if you don't watch him enough or watch him too much, so just find a middle term and you'll be golden. Oh, speaking of golden…"

He paused to look at the right door. "… There's a chance you might end up seeing a yellow bear randomly appearing in your office. I know, it can be freaky when he first does that, but trust me, you have nothing to worry about with him. He's actually pretty helpful, so if he shows up, don't get scared and listen to him. And just in case you're thinking that I'm making things seem worse than what they are, I'm not – if these robots get to you, they will kill you. But I just want you to know, whoever it is that listens to this message: it's not their fault. Something is forcing them to do it. I tried finding out but truth be told I didn't get very far… So, I'm leaving it to you. Maybe, when you start working here, the guy that left me messages, uh, Phil Grayson, will have recovered… he's in the hospital right now, after being attacked by the animatronics, but I'm sure he'll get better. Hopefully he'll be able to explain the rest to you… Go to the hospital and ask to talk with a doctor named Patricia McKinley, and tell her you got the message from Mike Schmidt. She's his sister, and you can only see him with her permission."

He gulped. "… Well, that's pretty much it. If you end up wanting to contact me, don't bother. I, uh… will be long gone once you hear this. So… good luck."

*NOW*

A loud noise alerted Mike that the power had run out.

The office was engulfed in darkness. The fan stopped working, and it only took the night guard a few seconds to realize how hot it was in that office without it. You gotta be thankful for the little things…

The night guard spun on his chair until he was facing the left door. He knew that he was coming. Nothing he could do to stop him this time. There was more than one hour until 6 A.M. No lucky breaks. It was over.

Right on cue, the "Toreador March" started playing. A pair of familiar glowing eyes and teeth flickered on and off at the door, looming down on the night guard.

Mike smiled.

"Hey Freddy. Took you long enough."

[A/N - And there it is. Countdown is over. Next chapter will be the last one of "The Night Shift". The next part of the "A Golden Opportunity Series" will be announced when I post the last chapter.

See ya in five days :3]