3
The next few weeks went by in a blur. Mike handed in his resignation at the warehouse with no small amount of guilt as the boss told him about all the plans that they suddenly had for him the whole time.
"It's a shame you're leaving, Mike," said the boss with a mournful look on his face. "We were going to train you up as manager. You would've been running the warehouse!"
Mike pondered at the fact that he had worked for them for twenty years and they had only now decided to inform him of their secret plans to promote him, right at the very moment he told them he was leaving. Whatever deeply-ingrained, lingering guilt he felt waned every time he returned to Rockstar Pizza to help out and get settled in.
The restaurant was still busy with the builders tying off the loose ends of the remaining construction. Final coats of paint, installation of stage lights and the sound system were all to be completed, and the one task Mike had been most curious about—the test run of the animatronics.
Tim was standing at the foot of the stage looking up at the motionless characters above him, speaking with the old, bearded engineer who was crouched on the floor next to him. The front panel of the stage had been removed, revealing the hydraulics and mechanical parts underneath leading up to each animatronic. As Mike approached, he saw Bonnie the blue rabbit suddenly move and begin strumming his red bass guitar. The effect was unnerving, and Mike slowed his pace. Tim then spoke to the engineer, confirming that Bonnie moved properly and then looked up at the stage again as he waited for the next one to move. Mike stopped next to him and watched the characters, trying to disassociate their movements as a sign that he was in danger. As Freddy began to lift his microphone and move it towards his mouth to sing a silent song, Tim spoke to Mike without looking away.
"Hey, Mike. How's everything going on your end?"
"The office is all set up and the computer works fine. All the cameras work, but the feed to the storage room isn't working. I can't figure it out."
"Good, good," replied Tim, though he was only half-listening. Freddy had stopped moving and now Foxy was active, playing his accordion in a slow-motioned clap as the instrument sagged between his hands. "Yeah, I'll have someone check it out. As long as the cameras out here work."
"Yeah, they're fine."
"Well, then… Excellent."
Chica was now active, shaking her maracas to a non-existent tune. Tim's attention was firmly on the four animatronics, and after each one had been tested one by one, the engineer activated all of them at once to dance in sync with a loud tune that blared suddenly out of the speakers. Mike and Tim both flinched at the sudden music but were impressed at the fluid movements of the characters. They were obviously brand-new out of the box and their in-sync actions with each other and the music proved that. Impressed but wary, Mike stepped away from the stage, calling out goodbye to Tim and retreating to his new office to check his schedule.
Though Mike's job title was security, his duties were sometimes vague and seemed to overlap into other areas. He was to be in charge of any incoming deliveries to the restaurant but was not to work in the back room sorting things. That was for the engineer and other staff to do whenever something needed their attention. So far, the deliveries had been kitchen appliances and crockery, pizza pans, and ingredients that the kitchen staff took care of. Mike was to track and record the trucks that arrived and book in the goods and make sure no unapproved persons were on the premises.
The final days of construction were upon them and Tim was distracted and irritable as he strove to make sure everything was just right. The tablecloths were accounted for and covering the long tables, the cardboard party hats and character masks were all lined up waiting to be snatched up by the first child to reach them, and the staff were enjoying the first batch of test pizzas that were being made up by the cooks as they familiarised themselves with the kitchen. It was beginning to feel like the old days at Freddy's—the way the franchise was meant to be. As if to counteract Tim's tired and stressed appearance, he wore an expensive looking, fitted suit and a neatly-trimmed haircut. This was his first managerial role in a brand-new establishment, and he was determined to look the part and show his worth.
The week before opening day, Tim had received news from head office that the shareholders and upper management were to do a walkthrough inspection of the restaurant the day before it opened. This had put him on edge and the staff were tense whenever he was around, many of them immediately doing their best to look busy whenever he was near. Though there was still plenty to do, it was unwise to appear idle when Tim happened to walk past. Mike managed to stay out of his way as he was organising and confirming times for stock deliveries, locked away in his office working on his computer and making phone calls. There was much to be done and there were expensive spare parts for the animatronics due to arrive. Though he kept a look out for it, Mike never saw any deliveries containing the missing character Lefty, meaning the small stage would have to remain bare for the shareholders' visit and perhaps the opening day.
Before they knew it, the shareholders' day had come. Tim and Mike, along with the rest of the staff, had arrived at Rockstar Pizza early to get everything ready for when the shareholders arrived. It was the first proper test run and it was important to show them that their investments were in good hands. There had been several test runs for the Rockstar animatronics and the staff were already starting to remember the songs as they got stuck in their heads. The characters appeared larger than life, lit up with several multi-coloured stage lights and moved so well that from a distance, they appeared to be people wearing suits. The smell of pizza was already wafting in from the kitchen counter and the whole place had been cleaned and cleaned again, making sure everything looked immaculate. Tim nervously checked the time on his phone and put it back in his pocket with a slight grimace. It was time.
The sound of car engines could be heard pulling into the carpark, and after a moment the front door opened and in walked a group of well-dressed older people who looked around interestedly as they shuffled in, congregating around and partially blocking the doorway. Tim approached them with an open hand and greeted them one by one, his new shoes squeaking slightly as he walked. Suddenly remembering an important detail, Tim turned towards the engineer who was nearby and motioned towards the stage where the animatronics were still and silent. The man hurried off and in no time, music had filled the large empty space and the group of shareholders watched as the mechanical band danced and sang their song. Some were excited and thrilled while most were stiff and remained businesslike. One woman in particular caught Tim's attention, though he wasn't sure why. Her tightly-bound hair and stern demeaner was familiar to him, as though he had known her a lifetime ago. He caught her eye and she quickly looked away and blended in with the rest of the group.
Tim led them to the table at the far end on the right. It was the one closest to the stage and the kitchen, and the wait staff were quick to bring out the large pans of freshly-cooked pizza and place them down on the tables. A few of the shareholders were clearly enjoying themselves and had no issue with wearing the cardboard party hats as they sat and enjoyed themselves, while the rest, mostly the older ones, were silent and almost brooding in their efforts to remain as proper as possible.
When the meal and the show was done, everyone rose to their feet and Tim led the group towards the small meeting room off to the side of the building. They filed through the door into the hallway and crowded each other around the large round table, each of them eventually finding a seat before Tim began his slideshow presentation. They talked money and figures and the expected profits for the year, along with the directions the company was hoping to take in the future. One or two of them, well-fed with pizza, nodded off during the slideshow and their increasing snores got the attention and snickers of the few who were still wearing their party hats. When the presentation was over, the group got to their feet once again and made their way down the hallway, past Mike's office at the end, and entered the back storeroom.
It was a long room that ran along the entire back wall of the building, behind the stage that the animatronics danced on. Long and narrow, it was lined with wooden shelves on the right-hand side filled with spare parts and manuals while the left was bare, the exposed grey cinderblock wall matching the colour of the concrete floor. A long workbench sat in the centre of the room down the far end where promotional signs and flyers were stacked in piles. At the nearer end of the room where the group was huddled, was an exit door next to the large roller door. The shareholders did a quick, uninterested walk up and down the unremarkable room, and there was some talk about the available storage space and of the deliveries that were expected to arrive in the near future. The group then moved back out the way they had come, again passing Mike's office as they moved back down the hall into the main dining room.
The wait staff were there waiting for them, ready to offer each of the shareholders a small travel bag with some merchandise including a plush toy Rockstar character. Their business concluded, Tim shook each of the shareholders' hands and said his goodbyes. As the door closed behind them, the fake smile on Tim's face dropped and he let out an audible sigh of relief. The franchise was off to a good start.
The staff tidied up again and the engineer turned off the animatronics, visibly happy with their performance as he grinned behind his beard. Tim retreated to his office and sat at his desk, running his hands through his hair and wondering if he was the right person for the job. The whole day, in front of those experts, those practised gamblers of stocks and shares, those with years of experience on him, Tim had felt like an imposter. More than once he had felt that he was in way over his head, that this restaurant would fail or face a tragedy like the old days, and that the franchise under his management would be dead for good. At a time like this, he just wanted to talk to his old friend.
Tim knocked on Mike's door, knowing that he was inside, having most likely watched the whole test run on the cameras and having a private laugh to himself at Tim's expense. Mike responded and Tim entered. He sat down for the first time that day, leaned back in his chair and relaxed. He looked at Mike with tired eyes and smirked.
"So, did you see all of that?"
"Yeah," Mike responded, unsure of Tim's mood. "Got it all on tape. It looked like it went well, though. They looked pretty happy. Well, the ones with the party hats did, anyway."
"Yeah, they were pretty happy overall. But man, that was intense." Tim swung back and forth in his chair, his hands behind his head, his tie untied. "Were there any more deliveries today?"
"Based on the schedule you sent me," Mike checked the emails on his computer. "Nope. The last one came in when you guys were having your meal."
"Good, good. You may as well go home, then. I've got some stuff to check over, but I won't be long." Tim looked at Mike with vague curiosity. "Hey… have you ever heard of Circus Baby's Entertainment and Rental?"
Mike shook his head, a blank look on his face as though he was asked a trick question.
"It turns out they're the sister company of Fazbear Entertainment, owned by Afton Robotics. Yeah, they were a hire company that leased out characters similar to ours to big events and functions. I'd never really heard of them, but apparently, they just went under and we've bought them out. It had been losing money for years due to safety concerns but the family was reluctant to let it go. The son of the owner had a change of heart and signed it away.
"Anyway, they're being liquidated and we're acquiring their assets. We'll start receiving their animatronics as the place is cleaned out. Who knows, there might be some good stuff there. We might have animatronic wait staff like they did in the eighties."
"So much for us keeping it simple," Mike muttered, not thrilled at the idea.
The men both left Mike's office and walked down the hallway. They said goodbye and Tim turned into his own office as Mike continued out to the front door. Today had been busy, but tomorrow was opening day, and the general public was a whole different beast.
-xxx-
Mike arrived at work early the next day and parked in front of the restaurant. Walking in through the front door, he could feel the busy energy in the air as the staff bustled around setting everything up for the wave of customers they were expecting. Arcade machines were lit up with their lights flashing, the kitchen was alive with the sound of pots and pans clanging together and swearing from the cooks as they prepared the food, and the engineer was by the stage with his laptop, his beard twitching, running through the song list and the programmed actions for the mascots as he did one final check. Stepping through the door to the hallway, Mike spotted Tim in his office in the middle of what sounded like a very important phone call. He gave a quick wave as he went past and continued on into his own office.
It was expected to be a big week. The company had spent a small fortune on advertising the date of the opening day and Mike hadn't been able to escape the adverts on the radio and TV for the last week. Hundreds of flyers had been made and Mike had seen them scattered throughout Hurricane, littering the ground as he did his daily commute. He doubted that there was anyone in town who wasn't aware of the new pizzeria opening up.
Watching through the cameras, Mike could see the wait staff tying helium balloons to each of the chairs creating a tangled jungle of strings that reached high up to the ceiling. The lights on the stage turned on and the animatronics began to dance to their songs and the engineer, happy with his work, unplugged his laptop from the inlet on the stage and headed towards Tim's office. Outside, cars were beginning to pull up and families were starting to line up outside waiting for the doors to open. Mike looked at the clock. 10:57am. It was nearly opening time.
The staff opened the doors and the customers piled in, crowding around the entrance as they slowed their pace to take in everything at once, the kids running ahead of them to the play equipment. Row by row, they filled the tables and in no time, the wait staff were bringing out trays of hot pizza and other confectionery. Over the course of the day, the restaurant never saw a lull in activity. Children were always running around, grubby with sauce and food, the arcade machines were always in use as the older kids and several of the adults took turns putting their names on the high scores, and the animatronic band of Rockstars never stopped playing to a crowd of awed, small onlookers. Mike made regular rounds through the dining room, making his presence known if people got too close to the characters, but overall, everyone was on their best behaviour. There were deliveries of supplies and merchandise to the back room which Mike had to sign in and unload, and every time one did, he remembered what Tim said about the sister company.
Overall, there were no breakdowns or incidents, save for a few of the children hurting themselves on the big tube slide and others landing on each other in the ball pit, but they were quickly calmed once they went back to the table for more pizza. Finally, the day ended when the last family left not long after the kitchen had closed, and the staff were able to turn everything off and get the cleaning done. Later, as Mike watched the cleaner on the camera mopping the floors from one end to the other, he was reminded of Jen the cleaning lady at the old restaurant. The main lights were turned off and one by one the staff left for the night.
Mike sat in his office looking through the cameras at the haunting image of the dining room lit only by one security light and was reminded forcefully of the old place. It took him a moment to realise that he was sweating and that his heartrate had risen. He stared at the animatronics on the stage, holding their instruments, their big, shiny stars gleaming on their chests, and tried to think of the hydraulics and the framework that was under the stage. He knew for a fact that the four characters were all bolted to the one mechanical unit beneath them and that they were all operated by a single computer, but the similarities between the ones he was looking at now and the ones that walked during the night many years ago were uncanny.
This was not that same place. Mike knew that. In many ways, this restaurant looked the same as the old one, but he took comfort in the fact that he would never be doing a night shift here, just like Tim had promised. Mike knew that day by day, he would get used to them and would slowly move past his fear of the characters. They would never roam the building, and he would never feel any life from them like he had from the old ones. Here, he was safe, and his door needed no special lock.
Mike turned off his office light and walked down the hallway, passing Tim's office as he did. Tim was sitting there at his desk entirely focused on his computer screen, doing whatever business that needed doing that couldn't wait until morning, unaware of Mike walking by. It had been a long day for Mike, but Tim's had already been longer, and Mike fully appreciated the fact that it was Tim's name on the line if the restaurant were to fail. He was the one who stood to lose everything. Mike knocked on his window to get his attention and waved before continuing on. He checked all of the doors, making sure that the place was empty and locked the door, but not bothering to set the alarm. Tim remained in the building and would be there for a while still.
Mike left the dark restaurant, more certain of his future than he had been in weeks.