While Charlie is getting accustomed to her babysitting duties, the rest of her friends are busy reunited and catching up with one another.
Further away from Hurricane, in the city known appropriately as Cedar City, several teenagers are inside the main building, talking with one another. There are three of them: a dark-skinned young man with short-cut hair named Lamar, another young man with red hair that makes him stand out like a red rose in a field of blue flowers named Carton Burke, and a well-fit and tall boy named John.
Three of them are talking with one another while they wait for two more of their friends. Carlton was laughing while Lamar was blushing with embarrassment.
"Jesus. Did you actually do that?" asked Carlton. Lamar growled, although there was a slight grin.
"Shut up! That was when I was nine!" Lamar said before laughing. John pointed at him.
"You know damn well that was foolish to do: picking up a feral kitten with its mother nearby and attempt to kiss it!" he said, smiling as well. Lamar groaned as he rubbed his forehead.
"I like cats." he said. Carlton shook his head.
"I do too, but you don't see me trying to kidnap one off the streets." he said. Lamar gave him the finger, but he laughed as well. John then looked around.
"Are the girls coming? We've been waiting for a while." he said. Carlton shrugged.
"Don't know. Probably getting some jewelry or something. You all remember Jessica, and how she always likes to look her best back when we were little." he said. At this point, two girls and another boy were walking into view behind him: a nicely dressed blonde girl named Jessica, a girl with short hair and a curly physique named Marla, and her eleven-year-old half-brother with dark skin and short hair named Jason. John and Lamar looked at them as Carlton rambled on.
"I mean, seriously: a speck of dirt and she acts like it's the end of the world. You get what I'm saying? And don't even get me started on that one time Jessica and I went shopping with our moms." Carlton said as John and Lamar slightly tensed up, while Jessica stared at Carlton with a smirk. Carlton then eventually saw John and Lamar standing rigid, with the latter motioning his eyes to look behind him.
"What? What are you-GAH!" Carlton turned around and jumped, yelping at seeing Jessica. The sudden loudness made the two girls flinch in shock. The building went quiet for a while as everybody else stared at the gang before they went about their merry way, but not without looking at Carlton weirdly. Jason, who was playing on a phone, looked up at Carlton and narrowed his eyes.
"Wuss." he muttered to himself before he went back to playing on his phone. Carlton slumped as John and Lamar snickered. Jessica looked at him and crossed her arms with a smirk.
"I know. That's why I asked mom if we could invite you. It's fun to see you suffer while you have to wait for me to try out new clothes." she said with a tease. Carlton groaned as the others laughed. Marla then extended her hands out.
"It's great to see you all again!" she said as she pulled everyone, except Jason, into a hug. And just like that, whatever little tension there was immediately disappeared.
After a brief while of hugging, they pulled back and began to talk with one another more about what had happened in their lives before the reunion; Jessica talking about how her life in New York, which, while glamorous, is a bit boring, Marla with her family life and her half-brother, Carlton about how his life is going whilst he remained in Hurricane, and John with how he had written a short story and published it.
This continued as they walked around the hall before settling down in a restaurant. Then, as they prepared themselves to have brunch, John noticed that someone else is missing.
"Hey. Anybody know where Charlie is?" he asked. Lamar and Carton blinked in realization.
"Oh, yeah. Forgot about her. Marla, you know how she is?" Lamar asked. Marla and Jessica's smile soon faltered slightly.
"Charlie? Oh, yeah. I sent her a message asking her if she'll be here while Jessica and I were on the plane to meet you all. She said she couldn't; she's babysitting someone." Marla explained. The boys looked on in surprise.
"Babysitting? Who?" asked Lamar.
"A little boy, and from what Charlie said, and I quote: 'He's hyper, but a sweet kid.'" Jessica told. Marla's frown deepened.
"Yeah. However, she's already running into a problem. The child...is a fan of Freddy Fazbear." Marla explained.
This made the others freeze up. Freddy Fazbear. The very thing that all of them swore not to speak of ever since the tragedy a decade ago. Carlton frowned.
"Really? Wow...must be God's twisted sense of humor or something." he said. John shook his head.
"I...I don't know what to say. Have you asked Charlie if she needed help?" he asked. Marla nodded.
"Yeah. She said she'll be fine on her own. I...don't really believe her, but I didn't want to stress her out anymore than she might already be. Plus, I don't want to scare the kid, either." she said. Jessica narrowed her lips.
"I think we should still be there for her." she said. John nodded.
"Yeah. I...wait, did Charlie say how old he is?" he asked.
"Four." Marla replied. John hummed to himself.
"A young one. Maybe he doesn't know about what happened. You think his parents might know?" Lamar pointed out.
"I doubt it. Thanks to Fazbear Entertainment, the lunatic indie developer, and their 'VR game', the general public didn't believe that such an event happened. The only ones who know the truth are the people of Hurricane, including us. We are the only ones who know the truth, basically." Carlton explained. Jessica scoffed to herself.
"Disgusting. Several kids,little kids, died in that restaurant, and the company not only covered it up but then made fun of such a tragedy!" she growled, crumbling up a piece of tissue on her left hand. The rest remained silent.
"I hope Charlie's doing alright." Marla said, after a while. The others nodded in agreement.
Meanwhile, Charlie and Edward were at the kids' table, the former helping the latter draw a race car. Charlie pointed at the tires, which are still white.
"Okay. Now, you just color the tires in, and it'll be done!" Charlie instructed. Edward nodded as he did just that. Eventually, the tires were colored in, and the car was completed.
"Alright, that's looking beautiful, Edward." Charlie said. Edward smiled with a giggle.
"Thank you." he replied. Charlie smiled back before she continued helping him draw. Then the TV, which was still on, was playing a typical TV commercial. Then, the commercial ended, replaced with another, more familiar commercial.
"Are you feeling alone again? Well, have no fear!"
Edward perked his head up and turned to see the TV, grinning in delight. Charlie looked at the screen as well and frowned, emitting a small sound of disappointment. Edward heard this and looked at her, frowning as he remembered that Charlie doesn't like Freddy.
"Oh...if you want, I can-" he began before Charlie raised her hand.
"Edward, it's okay. I can...I can handle this." she said. Edward raised his brow as he blinked.
"Really?" he asked. Charlie nodded with a smile, although it wasn't as genuine as she would like. Thankfully, Edward didn't notice this, and he then turned his body to face the direction of the TV. Charlie shifted herself to watch the commercial again. It isn't much to note: it's talking more about the robots, how they were built, and what they're planning to do with them once they're fully ready. Charlie stared at the TV, but she wasn't paying attention to it. She was in her own mind, remembering her own time at a Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria. She gulped to herself as images of her seven-year-old self and another child with her, watching the main band sing.
Shaking her head slightly so that she could forget about them for a moment, she then looked at Edward. Seeing the boy smile at seeing his favorite characters made her smile softly for a moment before she frowned again.
"Poor kid...he couldn't have known about what had happened…" she thought to herself. Then, she blinked as she thought of something.
"Hey, Edward?" she asked. Edward wasn't paying attention, however. He was too focused on the TV.
"Edward." she said, a bit louder this time. This time, Edward turned to look at him.
"Hm?" he asked. Charlie adjusted herself as she raised her brows.
"Edward...why do you like Freddy so much?" she asked. Edward then grew a smile.
"I like Freddy Fazbear because he's very nice, he likes to help his friends on Animatronica, and he's a bear. I love bears!" he explained with a smile. Charlie blinked as she hummed to herself, nodding in understanding. Edward then tilted his head.
"What about you? Why don't you like Freddy?" he asked. Charlie frowned as she looked away slightly, slightly rubbing her arms as she tried to think of an answer without getting too uncomfortable. Gulping, she moved a strand of hair from her face.
"W-Well, it's not Freddy himself that I don't like. I...I actually remember having a great time with my friends at Freddy's old pizzeria." she said as she looked down. Edward blinked in intrigue.
"Freddy had a pizza?" he asked. Charlie shook her head as she grew a slight smile.
"No. I-I mean a 'pizzeria'. As in, a restaurant that sells pizza." she clarified. Edward nodded in understanding before he shifted his body to face her.
"What's it like? Inside that pizzeria?" he asked. Charlie sighed through her nose as she remembered her time inside the pizzeria.
*Flashback*
A seven-year-old Charlie was inside the pizzeria, playing in the ball pit with another boy around the same age.
"It was magical." Present Charlie's voice spoke over the memory of Charlie and the boy laughing as they pushed across the ball pit.
"I remember being there with my family and close friends. We all had a fun time." the voice continued as we now see Charlie and a younger Jessica riding the small Merry-Go-Round, her, Carlton, and John singing alongside Foxy the Pirate Fox, and then her and the other boy looking up at Freddy and his friends.
"You know, come to think of it; my twin brother, Samuel...he loved Freddy as well. For the same reasons as you...in fact, I remember saying that he always felt calm and safe around him." Present Charlie's voice added as Young Charlie saw Sammy staring at Freddy with a calm smile as he was singing a solo.
"You have a brother?" Edward's voice piped in as the memory then flashes to Charlie and Sammy speed-waling across the restaurant, the former chasing the latter.
"Y-Yes...he was a twin brother. I was older than him by five minutes according to my dad. He and I were the best of friends. We would always try to stay inside after hours, we love it so much." Present Charlie explained with a small chuckle in the end as we see Young Charlie and Sammy hiding inside a giant gift box where Foxy is.
"What happened? Is he here?" Sammy asked, growing excited.
"Uh…" Present Charlie began as we see Young Charlie and Sammy giggling as they pressed themselves against another animatronic, which resembles a marionette.
"W-Well...W-When we s-s-stayed inside one night…" Present Charlie began, stuttering and voice whimpering as we see Young Charlie and Sammy crawling out of the box and giggling excitedly as they began to explore the rest of the building. None of them could see a large figure with two tall ears on top of its head, watching them from afar…
*Flashback ends*
"I-I-I'm sorry, Edward. I-I can't talk about this." Charlie said as she shook her head, taking in a hitched breath, shifting her body. Edward frowned a bit, and he tilted his head again.
"What? Why? What happened?" he asked, oblivious to Charlie's distress. Without even thinking, Charlie glared at him.
"I do NOT want to talk about it, Edward!" she hissed, harsher than she intended. Edward flinched and frowned at her glare. Eventually, he slumped back down. Charlie, upon realizing what she did, felt guilty.
"I-I'm sorry, Edward. T-That was out of line." she said as she reached out and placed a hand on his left shoulder. Edward looked up, and Charlie could see the tears beginning to run down.
"I didn't mean to snap at you. It's just...I can't talk about stuff like that. It...it makes me very uncomfortable." she clarified as he wiped his eyes. Edward didn't say anything for a while before he then asked,
"I guess you don't like Freddy?"
Charlie shook her head.
"No. I-I mean I don't hate Freddy: he's actually a nice guy. But...after what happened, I don't know if I can be anywhere near him." she explained, feeling tears begin to form. Edward eventually looked down, nodding. He may not understand what happened, but he didn't want to make her any more angry at him than she already might be.
"Okay…" he conceded.
The two remained silent for a few more minutes before Charlie looked at him again. She then took his hand.
"Hey, Edward?" she asked. Edward looked at her again, and Charlie gave a small smile.
"D-Do you wanna eat something?" she asked. After pondering for a moment, Edward nodded.
"Y-Yeah. Can you cook?" he asked. Charlie nodded.
"Yeah. What do you want?"
"Umm…" Edward began.
Dong dong dong dong. Dong dong dong dong.
"Oh. That's the doorbell." Edward then pointed out as their heads turned in the direction of the door while the chime rang. Charlie hummed as she stood up.
"Stay here. I'll get it." she instructed before walking towards the door.
Soon, she opened the door, and she was greeted by an older woman. She appears to be in her early 20s with long blond hair with rainbow hair extensions, apple green irises, olive pupils, and glossy lips.
"Hi! Is this the, uh, Parr residence?" she asked. Charlie nodded.
"Y-Yeah. W-Well, I mean: I'm Charlie, t-the babysitter. Who are you?" she clarified and then asked. The woman blinked in confusion.
"I-I'm Vanessa. So, where are Mr. and Mrs. Parr?" she asked.
"They left on a business trip. They had to leave early. Anyways, you need something?" she asked. The woman, Vanessa, cleared her throat and nodded.
"Oh yes! Well-" she began, but before she could continue, she was interrupted by,
"Bet you weren't expecting me to show up early? Were you no-o-ow?"
Charlie gasped at the abruptness of the voice, which sounded deep and a bit mechanical, yet jovial. Charlie then looked behind Vanessa, where the voice was coming from. What she saw made her eyes wide and her blood run cold: a familiar brown bear with a black hat and a big bow tie, and was holding a microphone.
It was Freddy Fazbear himself!
Charlie froze in place as Freddy stared at her, blinking with delight. Vanessa chuckled, momentarily oblivious to Charlie's state.
"Yeah. I'm here to give the lucky boy in there his own Freddy Faz...Charlie? Are you alright?" Vanessa asked as she turned to look at Charlie. Charlie stared at the animatronic, body ridged at seeing the animatronic.
"Charlie? Are you alright?" asked Vanessa as she approached her, growing a bit worried.
"Uh...Uh…" Charlie began as she pointed at Freddy, who was still staring at her creepily.
"Miss Charlie? Who's at the door?" a voice called out, but Charlie wasn't paying attention. It belonged to Edward, who was walking over to her curiously. His peripheral vision then caught something large and brown, and upon seeing Freddy, he gasped, before emitting a loud scream of delight. The scream made Vanessa flinch and Charlie snap out of her shock!
"Freddy!" Edward cheered before running towards the robot. The robot looked down and let out a laugh as he extended his arms outwards, enveloping the little boy in a hug. Edward laughed as he felt the robot's arms surrounding him tenderly.
"Well, well, well. It seems I have a f-f-fan!" Freddy spoke, voice glitching for a moment. Charlie noticed while Edward didn't, the boy still laughing before the latter looked up.
"I'm so happy to see you, Freddy! Come in! Let's go and play!" he cheered as he took Freddy's hand and guided him excitedly, all while making sure to say "Excuse me" to Charlie and Vanessa. Charlie, once she managed to recuperate, then grabbed Edward's arm.
"Wait a minute, Edward!" she said, gaining Edward's attention. Charlie then gestured her head to Vanessa.
"What do you say to this nice lady who brought you your new friend?" she asked. Edward blinked as he looked at Vanessa before he remembered.
"Oh, sorry. Uh, thank you, Miss um…" Edward thanked before he paused, not knowing her name.
"Vanessa, honey. I hope you have some fun with Freddy!" Vanessa introduced with a warm smile. Edward nodded with a smile.
"I will! Can I go play with Freddy now?" he asked Charlie. Charlie nodded as she let him go, allowing Edward to go with Freddy. Charlie and Vanessa stood there for a moment, with Vanessa looking at her.
"He seems to be a handful." she stated. Charlie nodded with a sigh.
"Yeah. But he's a sweet kid." she replied. Vanessa nodded with a smile before she raised a brow and looked at her.
"Hey, I noticed that you froze up when you saw Freddy. Are you alright?" she asked. Charlie blinked as she looked down.
"U-Uh...yeah. Sorry about that. I-I'm not exactly comfortable being around him. It could've been worse had Edward not told me." she explained. Vanessa blinked as she tilted her head.
"Does it have to do with those stories about what happened at the old pizzeria?" she asked. Charlie felt herself twitch slightly as she looked down.
"...Y-You're not from here, aren't you?" she asked. Vanessa raised a brow, shaking her head.
"Not really. I don't really believe it." she said with a shrug. Charlie then felt her throat constrict.
"T-Those stories...they weren't fake." Charlie muttered. Vanessa tilted her head.
"Huh?" she asked. Not wanting to start a conflict, Charlie shook her head.
"N-Nothing. So, do you have like uh, some sort of instructions on how this robot works?"
Vanessa nodded.
"Oh, yes. I do! You see, the Freddy animatronic has an inbuilt music box, where he can play some classical tunes. He can take song requests, up to 300 songs in his drive. He can also learn from experiences. Freddy can also interact with other robots, but I doubt he'll need to know that. He can also dance, sings (obviously), and he's also very capable of play!" Vanessa listed, with Charlie listening in, nodding with everything she said. However, she soon lost focus of what she's saying. She was focused on Edward talking to Freddy. Seeing the boy looking up to Freddy with a bright smile, once more, reminded her of her time at Freddy's. She bit her own cheeks as she frowned.
"So, any questions?" Vanessa said, snapping Charlie out of her trance, and Charlie shook her head.
"Nah. Nah, I'm good…" she said. Vanessa, although noticing how Charlie acted, decided not to pursue this and smiled.
"Alright. If you need anything, just use the Fazbear Funtime Service app where you'll find everything you'll need to know!" she explained. Charlie nodded again and extended her hand to shake Vanessa's. Before Vanessa could leave, they then heard,
"Wait!"
They looked to see Edward speeding towards them, looking at Vanessa. Once he stops, he looked up at Vanessa with a smile.
"Thank you so much, Miss Vanessa. Freddy's amazing." he said as he clasped his hands together. Vanessa then gave a warm smile as she knelt to his height.
"You're welcome, lucky boy. I hope you and Freddy have an amazing time together. Who knows; if things go well, maybe you might keep him for good." Vanessa said with a wink. Edward and Charlie gasped at this revelation before the former quickly hugged Vanessa. Vanessa smiled and hugged him back, embracing him.
Charlie, meanwhile, stood in shock.
"F-F-Freddy's staying with him?!" she thought to herself. She felt her heart beating faster.
At that point, Vanessa and Edward then pulled away and the former stood up.
"Gotta go! Hope you have a Fazbear-Fabulous time!" she said as she ruffled Edward's hair. She then turned to Charlie and smiled.
"Have fun as well, Charlie." she said with a wink. Charlie gave a forced smile, although she was still in shock. Vanessa then turned around and began to walk away. Charlie blinked as she rubbed her forehead, but she swore she thought she saw a hint of purple on Vanessa's green eyes. Dismissing it as stress, she then looked at Edward, who was looking at her happily.
"This is great! Freddy's gonna make the best time of my life!" he cheered as he spun around in place! Then, as he stopped to look at her, he frowned as he remembered something.
"Oh...you don't like Freddy. That's right…" he said. Charlie looked at him, then eyeing her shoes, thinking about what she'll do next. Once her eyes moved to see Edward frowning, she then knelt to his height.
"Edward. Listen to me, okay?" she said. Edward looked up, and Charlie gave a small smile.
"Go and have fun with Freddy. Just because I've had bad memories about Freddy, doesn't mean you shouldn't have fun with him." she explained. Edward perked his head up and Charlie took his hands.
"You're a kid. You should be happy, having fun with life. You don't need someone like me ruining it." she said. Edward tilted his head.
"A-Are you sure? Again?" he asked, remembering the similar conversation earlier today. Charlie nodded.
"I promise. Like I said earlier: I need to get used to this. This was ten years ago." she assured. Edward still looked unsure, but he nodded.
"O-Okay." he said. Charlie nodded and smiled.
"That's great. Now," she said before,
"Having f-f-f-fun without me?"
Charlie and Edward gasped before they turned around to see Freddy staring at them, looking a bit upset. Edward smiled.
"Sorry, Freddy. My friend, Miss Charlie, was a bit upset, and I wanted to make her feel better." he said. Charlie looked at him and felt her heart flutter at how nice the kid was being. Freddy tilted his head and blinked.
"Would she like a hug?" asked Freddy, innocently as he extended his arms. Charlie stepped back instinctively, and Edward shook his head.
"She's not a hugger. Sorry, Freddy." he said. Freddy frowned again.
"Aww. Most people l-l-like my hugs." Freddy said. Edward pouted before he took his hand.
"I know. Now, come on! Let's play hide and seek in the back-yard!" Edward said happily. Freddy perked up and nodded as he walked away, the robot's movements, while fluent for an animatronic, are still a bit stiff. Edward looked at Charlie and winked. Charlie smiled and winked back before Edward walked off, leaving Charlie by herself once more.
As Charlie heard the door closed, she sighed to herself again.
"Wow...I knew Freddy would be coming, but now that he's actually here...I thought I'd be better prepared for this." she said to herself as she scratched her head. With a gulp, she looked down, thinking of what to do next. She then nodded to herself as she thought of an idea.
"Maybe...Maybe I'll get my friends over…" she said to herself as she pulled out her phone. However, she stopped herself as she thought about Edward. Wanting to ask him, she followed Edward to the backyard.
Charlie opened the door, and he saw Edward walking around the backyard, searching for Freddy. Edward noticed her and waved with a smile.
"Hi, Miss Charlie!" he said. Charlie smiled as she waved slightly.
"Hi, Edward. Hey, I'm gonna call my friends and ask them if they could come over. Is that okay?" she asked. Edward nodded with a bright smile.
"Yeah! That's fine, Miss Charlie!" he said. Charlie nodded again with a smile.
"Alrighty! Have fun!" she called out before she pulled herself back inside the room. With a small smile, Charlie then typed in a phone number and pressed her phone against her ear. Eventually,
"Hello?" asked a familiar voice. Charlie blinked as she recognized Marla.
"Marla! Hi, it's me!" she said.
"*gasp* Charlie! I'm so happy to hear from you! How are you?!"
"Oh, I'm...fine. Considering."
"Oh, that's right."
"Yeah. Well, Freddy's here right now." Charlie explained as she scratched the back of her head. There was a slight gasp.
"Already?!" Marla asked. Charlie nodded.
"Yep. However, Edward is keeping him preoccupied for right now. He's actually having a bit of fun." she said as she looked outside, seeing a happy Edward holding Freddy's legs as he walked out of his hiding place. Charlie gave a small smile.
"Do you want us to be there in case anything goes wrong?!" asked Marla. Charlie thought about it for a brief moment, before nodding.
"I don't think anything will go wrong...but sure. I actually called you to see if you guys would come over. I asked Edward if it's okay, and he said yes." he said.
"Alright! Don't worry, we'll be on our way! Oh, by the way, here's everybody!" Marla said before Charlie could hear the other friends call out to her.
"Hello!" they said. Charlie smiled and gave a small chuckle as she recognized the voices of Carlton, Lamar, John, and Jessica.
"Hey everyone." she said. Then, she heard Marla say,
"We'll talk more when we get there! Wait...can you tell us where you are right now?" asked Marla.
"I'll text it in a moment. So...I'll see you soon, I guess!" Charlie said.
"Alright! See you soon, Charlie!" Marla said, and then she hung up the phone. Charlie smiled as she sighed slightly in relief.
As she began to type in the address to send to Marla, she looked outside and for a few moments, she thought she caught Freddy staring at her. Charlie blinked, and Freddy was no longer staring at her. He was walking around, looking for Edward. She knew Freddy wouldn't act aggressively, but a small, possibly overly paranoid, part of her brain tells her to be careful. Charlie sighed as she shook her head and pinching the bridge of her nose.
"I hope they'll get here soon." she said before walking towards the living room to watch some TV to pass the time.