Still hearing muffled voices outside, I wasted no time in sprinting to the front doors. I had no intention of figuring out why a two hundred pound animatronic had somehow been stolen from right in front of me. Pressing my ear against the door, I tried to listen to the conversation outside.
"Let's leave, we've talked about this enough, and I don't wanna hear what's gonna go on. Vic was like a granddaughter to me," I heard Jed say.
"Jed!" I screamed through the crack of the door. I banged on it loudly, trying to signal for help.
"If there was another place she could work we would've put her there. Don't feel bad, it's not like anyone's gonna miss her," I heard an unfamiliar voice say. That hurts. More voices kept speaking, but their words were becoming too muffled to make out. I tried to silence my heavy breathing.
"We'll come back tomorrow, and if she's dead, she's dead. We didn't even have to work too hard to find Willy a snack!" I heard Tex laugh. I banged on the door again. Their laughing soon faded into silence, as I realized they had left. Wasting no time, I reached for my phone. I had enough battery to last for a few more hours, but no cell service. I figured if I could get Aaron in here with me, he'd hopefully be more appealing to the animatronics than I. If that's what they even wanted.
I paced through the restaurant, trying to locate even the slightest bit of cell reception. I had almost forgotten about Ozzie's sudden disappearance, when I heard a loud scream come from the main dining area. It sounded very human, which meant I definitely wasn't alone. Whipping around quickly, I retraced my steps back into the dining room. Peering around the corner, I noticed the group of teens from earlier. Not these dip sticks again.
"Ray just disappeared, I can't find her and this place is scaring me," One of the girls sobbed.
"Ray couldn't've gone far, let's find her and get out before we-"
"Get caught?" I interrupted loudly, emerging from the shadows. Both teens screamed, startled by my presence. "Neither of you are supposed to be here," I hissed, feeling slightly relieved that if souls were, in fact, what the animatronics wanted, there would be more to pick from than just mine.
"How did you break in?" The boy asked.
"I'm supposed to be working here for the night, now get out before I call Lund," I spoke.
"So it's true? They really do get people in here to feed to those things?" The girl asked, motioning for the stage.
"No, I'm just here to clean. Why are you two here?" I asked in response.
"Uh, call it a dare?" The boy smiled, rubbing the back of his head, "But we've lost one, and we can't find her. I swear I heard her scream a minute ago, unless that was you,"
"It wasn't me, I thought I was alone in here," I replied, "And maybe y'all wouldn't have lost your little friend if 'ya hadn't of snuck in here in the first place. It ain't legal,"
"What would you know about legality, Vic?" The girl spoke. I scoffed, taken back by her snobby response.
"Yeah, my parents tell me to stay away from you 'cause you've been in the system for the last five years,"
"Mommy and Daddy don't trust me, huh?" I sneered. I was trying to come up with another response, when I noticed a slight movement in the shadows behind the teens. I paused, trying to let my eyes adjust to the darkness.
"What's the matter? Can't figure out how to insult me?" The girl barked back.
"I don't care what you say to me, you little pricks, but this is not your home, and none of you have any place coming in here and disrespecting it. So get out before something bad-"
At that moment, with the speed of a striking snake, a figure grabbed the boy from in front of me, pulling him into the shadows. He screamed loudly as I jumped back in surprise. I couldn't see what was happening, but I could tell by the blood-curdling screeches that it wasn't good. The girl he had been standing with began crying, as I tried to get her to be quiet. I grabbed her, moving away from the scene. In an act of retaliation, she slapped me across the face. I let go, continuing to move backwards. The boy stopped screaming, but the unsettling sound of crunching and cracking caused the girl to scream louder. Better them than me, I guess. From out of the shadows, emerged Ozzie the Ostrich. I gasped, trying to brace myself against the wall. His beak was covered in a vile red substance. Ozzie seemed to stare at both the girl and I. The girl, paralyzed with fear, had finally stopped screaming.
"You're," She breathed, "You're alive?"
Ozzie's neck shot forward like a rocket, stabbing the girl's cheek. She screeched upon impact. Not wanting to be next in line, I used my adrenaline to make a mad-dash away from the situation. I covered my ears to drown out the unsettling screaming, trying to find a place to hide. Locks, locks, there's gotta be somewhere that locks. The bathrooms. I entered the female restroom, being blasted with the smell of ammonia. With little time to make a choice, I settled on the stall furthest from the door. Locking the stall, I balanced both my feet on the toilet seat. I tried to calm my breathing down, but had no luck. I had just witnessed the unsightly injurance, and possibly more, of two kids right in front of me, by a Willy's Wonderland animatronic. Does that mean the rumors are true? Are they actually possessed? Thoughts filled my head as I waited atop the toilet seat, listening for any signs of Ozzie. How did he get off the stage? I thought they were screwed in. Isn't that what Dad told me?
I couldn't help but gasp with fear as I heard a loud bang come from the stall next to me. Unlocking the stall silently, I made every effort to fling myself away from the stall and out into the open. The four other stalls had closed doors.
"I see you over there," I heard a familiar, robotic voice say. I pressed myself against the wall, trying to make myself somehow invisible. My panting was not helping.
"How about you come and find me?" The voice inquired, "Or how 'bout I find you?"
I shook my head, trying to catch my breath still. Maneuvering as silently as possible,I crept towards the bathroom door. With any luck, the voice wouldn't follow me out. "I'm afraid that's not an option. We can play it my way, or the highway, and we all know what happened to you on the highway approximately..hmm..three hours ago,"
I paused, my focus turning towards the closed bathroom stalls.
"What," I whispered.
"You'll never find me" The voice teased. Whoever, or whatever, the voice was coming from wanted me to find it. Whether it was for my betterment or not, I was about to take the risk anyways. No point in running from these freaks if I can just fight them off. I pushed the closet stall door open. It hit the side with a bang. Nothing was in there.
"You're as icy as an igloo," The voice spoke. I braced myself, then moved onto the next stall.
"You're getting warmer," It spoke once more. Only three more stalls were left, and one of them I had just exited from. Pushing open the next stall door, I found nothing.
"You're as hot as a pancake on a grill, and I've heard you're just as yummy too," The voice laughed. I winced. Looking at the last stall, I took a deep breath. I considered all the ways I could use my phone as a weapon, but none of them seemed probable in this situation. Placing my hand on the stall door, I shut my eyes for a brief moment, then pushed it open. To my surprise, nothing.
"Gorilla greetings!" The voice called from behind me. I turned around quickly, only to be blasted into the stall. My face smashed against the toilet as I felt my cheek sting. Gorilla Gus stood before me, rapidly approaching. I had to act fast. Rolling under the stall next to me, I forced myself to my feet. This seemed to confuse Gus for a moment, but he quickly figured out what I was doing, and smashed the stall wall to the floor. I scampered to my feet, running towards the bathroom exit. Using every bit of energy, I swung open the door, and ran down the hallway. I heard Gus's happy laughing fade.
"But we were friends!"
Running from my problems was something I knew how to do. I had done it all my life, as the last thing I ever wanted was confrontation. These problems, however, were very very physically real. As I hid in the grimy ball pit, I considered the fact that I'd only be able to run from the animatronics for so long. If you want to make it out alive, you need to confront them face to..uh..face? Even if it was my dying wish, I was still going to find out if the animatronics were possessed. I could rest in peace knowing I had proved all of Hayesville wrong. Or right.
Gathering my wits, I prepared to go into a battle of verbal contact. Whether the animatronics could understand the spoken language or not was a mystery, and I was determined to be the first one to live to speak of it. I had only gotten my arms out of the ball pit, when I saw a figure dash up the wall. I retracted my left arm quickly, lowering myself to the ground. I scanned the walls carefully, looking for any more signs of movement. Upon being spotted, the figure raced down the wall and onto the floor, positioning herself to stand up.
"Siren Sarah," I spoke, pushing my fear down.
"I've waited so long for a girl to play with," She cooed, staring at me.
"Unfortunate, really, as the feelings aren't mutual," I sneered back, standing up.
"I guess that means you don't want to see my treehouse," Sarah replied, taking a step towards me. Her mechanics whirred loudly.
"I'll be your friend if you're willing to make a deal," I spoke, crossing my arms, "I guess, if you're not up for it, y'all can eat me knowing you just forfeited a very fun and exciting game,"
"Ooh, we love games," Sarah laughed creepily.
"Is it a deal?" I replied.
Siren Sarah got on all fours, and somehow managed to maneuver back up the wall. I took a step back, my eyes trying to follow where she went.
"You know I'm not joking, I'm betting my life on this," I screamed, hoping at least one of the animatronics would hear. Or maybe one of the teens, if they were still alive. After a few moments of silence, I pulled out my phone. One bar of service. My heart leapt as I pulled a nearby craft table into the ball pit. Standing atop the table, I managed to get two bars. I just need to get a little bit higher. I grabbed one of the tall chairs from the floor, positioning it carefully on the table. With every last muscle in my legs, I propped myself upon the chair, shakily coming to a stand. With every muscle movement, I felt the table and chair shake beneath me. Holding my phone up to the ceiling, I managed three bars of service. Enough to send and receive messages. As I did so, three messages were received. One from Aaron, one from Chris, and one from Luke.
Chris: Your dad is mad lol what did u do
I left him on read. I opened Aaron's message next.
Aaron: Did you not come back from Luke's party? Where are you?
Typing carefully, I explained how I got into the car accident and ended up at Willy's. I made sure to tell him very directly that I needed him to stay away while I tried to prove my point. He promised to stay away until morning, which I was glad about. The truth was I didn't want him getting hurt, but I definitely wasn't about to tell him that.
Luke: Dad is really mad, what happened
I told him not to bother Dad for the rest of the night, and to spend the night at one of his friend's houses. Liv was the last person I needed to contact. Dialing her number, I pressed the phone to my ear. The table shook. It took a few minutes, but it finally started to ring through.
"Hello?" Liv asked. I was so relieved Liv picked up, I had completely forgotten I was supposed to be performing a balancing act beneath me. Feeling the chair slip out beneath me, I hit the table, gashing my left arm. I cursed with pain, as my phone fell next to me. Clutching my left arm, I reached for the phone. "Vic, what happened?" I could hear Liv ask over the speaker.
"Liv, it's-"
In an orange flash, my phone was smashed to smithereens. My breathing quickened as I retracted my hand. Looking up, I made eye contact with the towering figure of Willy the Weasel himself. He looked down at me uncomfortably.
"You," I hissed.
"Looks like the birthday girl is back for round two," Willy spoke. His New Jersey flared accent was almost too recognizable.
"You can talk," I whined quietly, grasping my arm tightly. It was bleeding rapidly and was getting everywhere. My sheer astoundment that Willy knew who I was had been overpowered by the agony my arm was in.
"Of course I can talk, girly, are you deaf or somethin'?" Willy asked in reply.
I groaned loudly, pushing myself up against the wall. Despite Willy's hesitance to instantly kill me, I didn't dare turn my back to him.
"Please don't hurt me, I just want to strike up a deal, okay?" I spoke, trying not to move too much.
"A deal, huh? Why on earth would 'ya wanna make a deal with us?"
"Because you're not possessed," I said, standing up. Willy's eyes followed me upwards, but he hadn't responded. "You're not. And I know it. I want to prove it to Hayesville so they stop treating this place like trash,"
"'Ya mean so they stop treating you like trash?" Willy responded. I was slightly taken back, and wasn't sure how to respond. Still clutching my arm, I continued to explain myself, "I'll play alone with whatever games y'all wanna throw at me, but just know, if I die, people are gonna continue to spread those nasty lies."
"It's funny how you humans think of silly stories like that," A voice said from behind Willy. I watched as Gus emerged from the shadows. "One of you speaks poorly of another, then that rumor gets spread. And it never stops, does it,"
"Those pricks offed themselves in vain. They wanted to possess us, y'all were right about that, but that sh-sh- didn't work," Willy spoke, stumbling over his cursing.
"Look where it's got us now. No one wants to play happy games anymore," Gus added from the doorway.
"No one will believe you when you leave," Ozzie called from the other side of the door. Ozzie's sentence settled some of the fear that I was going to die tonight.
"Maybe we should pretend she's just another one of those criminals that thinks it's fun to trespass," Sarah spoke from the treehouse behind her.
"That's right Sara, Vic here has a complete record goin' for her, don't 'ya birthday girl?" Willy asked.
"One, it's not my birthday. And two, I don't trespass illegally," I replied. I was severely outnumbered. One wrong move and I was a goner.
"Oh we know, we know all about why you're here," Sara chided.
"We should give her a shot, it's not like we didn't just off three other little chickens," Ozzie called. A knot formed in my stomach.
"Alrighty. You clean this hell hole up, play our games, and we might consider letting you off easy," Willy offered, "Do we have a deal, Vic Halifax?"
"How do you know my name," I asked.
"We told you, dingbat, we know everything about why you're here," Sara said. I sneered at her.
"It's not like that bat-crazy Sheriff of yours comes in here begging us not to kill any more of the city folks," Ozzie added.
"Oh please, Willy, spare us and our children, and instead we'll offer you a complete three course dinner. You guys are as nutty as fruitcake," Gus mocked.
From what it sounded like, their killing spree had been kept up for years. How many people actually disappeared here? I had looked at the Missing Persons wall many times in Sheriff's Lund's office, but not once had I bothered to count them.
"You might not have much meat on your bones, birthday girl, but you'd satisfy all three courses," Willy spoke. I widened my eyes at him. I needed to agree to the deal fast, as I still had yet to trust any of the animatronics were going to hold to their words.
"We get people every now and then who come in here thinking they run the joint. We give 'em a run for their money if they don't shape up and show some respect," Ozzie shouted.
"You guys kill people because they disrespect you?" I clarified.
"That's just about the size of it," Willy replied. Not a bad tactic, honestly.
"Y'all have a deal," I spoke, extending my hand to Willy. His elbow and shoulder joints hummed in unison to place his hand against mine.
"Good choice. Now get cleanin', you've got a lot of work ahead of you," Willy sneered. I nodded quickly, retracting my hand.
"You know where to find us if you need anything," Ozzie called out to me as he moved away from the door. "It's not like we can clean anything, though,"
"Yeah, you don't have opposable thumbs," Gus added, "I think I do...but I'm not cleaning. Gorillas don't clean restaurants,"
For basic restaurant machinery, it made me question how the animatronics could comprehend what I was saying, and even respond to it. You were right. Being right got you out of a near death situation. And now, you have to keep it like that. The animatronics slowly left the room, with the exception of Willy, who merely moved towards me. This shocked me initially, as first impressions count. Ozzie had definitely made a bad one.
"Now, before you get that all over the floor" He spoke, raising his left arm above me. I nearly fell backwards as I tried to move out of his way.
"We had a deal, we had a deal," I shouted, shielding my face to expect the worst. felt a hard tug, then a rip. I screamed, waiting for more pain.
"Oh, quit your babying, it's not like I bit you," Willy spoke. I opened my eyes, watching as Willy meticulously tied part of my ripped shirt to my arm. "You might be missing half your shirt, but hey, who needs clothes, right?"
"Uh, I do?" I replied.
"You wear a pair of overalls, you oversized weasel, you have no room to talk," Ozzie shouted. Willy turned his body towards the exit, before turning back to me. I listened carefully to his mechanics, almost mesmerized by the soft hum.
"You've got yourself another shirt, I watched you take it off,"
"You did what now?" I asked, scoffing.
"Ya' stood in the middle of our restaurant-"
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, I'll find a bathroom next time," I replied, trying not to laugh.
"Go clean, I won't leave ya' alone for too long," Willy spoke, walking out the door. I watched him carefully, making sure he was completely gone before I got out of the ball pit. For an animatronic weasel, he did a good job bandaging my arm. I couldn't complain, even if it was at the expense of my shirt sleeve. I had barely gotten myself back together, and had begun to try and figure out what just happened, when Siren Sara startled me from above.
"So, girl friend, you want to play with us?" She spoke, staring down at me. I had completely forgotten she was there.
"Whatever it takes to get me out of here alive," I replied, beginning to walk towards the door.
"We have lots of games here, you're gonna have so much fun you'll wish you could stay with us forever, and ever, and ever," Sara smiled. I ignored her.
Walking back to the supply closet, I was forced to cross in front of the stage. All of the animatronics, even Sara, had managed to return. I didn't say a word to them, out of fear of somehow messing up. The supply closet had less-than-efficient tools for cleaning. I ended up settling with a bottle of Windex and a roll of heavy duty cleaning towels.
By the time I had bundled my arms full of towels and returned to the dining area, all of the animatronics, with the exception of Tito the Turtle, had vanished. While I wanted to question where they had disappeared to, there were more pending questions on my mind.I had walked around the dining room area, checking for any signs of the teenagers from before. I didn't find any signs of them, other than some odd staining on the carpet. I pretended to ignore it. Wiping down the tables proved to be less challenging than I imagined. The only thing that made it slightly more difficult was Willy and his crew seeming to stare at me from the stage. They can obviously hear, but can they smell? Can they see? Can they taste?
"Ay, señorita Vic," A voice broke me from my trance. I could help but jump in place.
"Jeez," I breathed, catching my breath.
"Ninguno de nosotros te esperaba aquí hoy,"(None of us expected you here today) Tito spoke. It took me several minutes to process the sentence. With what little Spanish classes I had taken in high school, I managed to comprehend what Tito was saying.
"Eh, hoy fue de cumpleanos de mi hermano,"(It was my brother's birthday today) I managed to say with a very broken accent.
"Aye, hablas bien Español,"(Aye, you do speak Spanish well)Tito started, "Estoy seguro de que este es el último lugar en el que quieres estar,"(I'm sure this is the last place you want to be right now)
I reconfigured the verbs and nouns quickly, "Solo quiero irme pronto. Voy a hacer lo que sea necesario," (I just want to leave soon. I'll do whatever it takes). I replied, hoping what little I paid attention in Spanish class would pay off.
"No lo digas así, somos capaces de 'juegos' que preferirías no jugar," (Don't word it like that, we are capable of 'games' you'd rather not play).
"Entiendo, señor,"(I understand, sir) I replied hastily. Scrubbing the tables with my right arm, I found it difficult to avoid stepping in trash. The table Luke and I had sat at was the cleanest, unsurprisingly.
"You're supposed to be bothering her," Ozzie hissed from another room.
"Ella no le importa," (She doesn't care) Tito responded. I listened to the conversation while still vigorously scrubbing at a soda stain. The original wooden tables, although neat, needed replaced.
"Fine, if you want something done right, you need to do it yourself," Ozzie sneered, entering the room. My eyes met his as I continued to clean. "I'm bored. Let's make a little wager,"
"A wager?" I asked, stopping my cleaning.
"Yeah, a little wager. You look like you'd be good at pinball, right? Right. And you need a break, right?"
I opened my mouth to respond.
"Right. Now, you get yourself ten thousand points in the span of ten minutes, and I, Ozzie the Ostrich, will not bother you for the rest of the night."
I had never played pinball before, nor did I know how. But only dealing with seven of the eight animatronics was a deal too good to resist.
"Deal," I smirked.
"We've got ourselves a player!" Ozzie shouted. I followed him to what appeared to be the kitchen. There were pots and pans everywhere, and trash overflowing onto the floor. A pinball machine sat in the corner. It was the only clean thing in here. Keeping in mind I was taking instructions from a two-hundred pound killing machine, I made sure he never went too far behind me.
"Go on," Ozzie urged, motioning to the game. I approached it cautiously, unfolding my left arm to play. It stung, but the pain was becoming more bearable. Launching the first ball, my hands worked meticulously to try and keep it up. The bright lights and annoying cartoon drawings were extremely distracting. My luck was turning up, as by the time nine minutes had passed, I was basically a professional. Pounding both buttons, I stared at the ball bouncing back and forth.
"One minute left,"
Pulling another ball back, it ricocheted onto several of the targets, causing my score to jump. I had finally reached ten thousand by the time ten minutes was up. "Not bad, I've seen better. I play fair though, I won't bother you anymore," Ozzie spoke, stepping back. I nodded, wiping my forehead. My victory gave me the first bit of confidence I had that entire night. That game was much more intense than my cleaning, and I was much more proud of it too.
Returning to my cleaning, I found it necessary to sweep the floor several times. Each time I went through, I managed to miss something I caught later. This included several of my anxiety pills from earlier, that had rolled under several tables. Tito still stood on the stage, but Ozzie had vanished with the others. Although the animatronics seemed to have somehow put their trust in me, I wasn't about to give them my trust. I needed to keep my wits about me, just in case something was to go terribly wrong.
"I've gone through this room at least three times," I breathed to myself, resting against the broom. Deciding it was time to move to the next area, I walked towards the arcade. Although it was even darker than before, the bright lights from the signs lit my way. I began to spray down the arcade game screens, wiping off dozens of fingerprints. I hadn't noticed Cammy the Chameleon watching me from the side of Dance Dance Revolution.
"That scar on your back has healed up some, hasn't it Victoria,"