The women underneath the mask.
AN: For context of this story I suggest you read white rabbit. Its about Liliana and Vanny's first encounter, although you don't have to read the entire story. It is completely optional, and quite long, but it does touch upon Vanny's past.
This story is AU and has little to do with the canon. The security girl's name is Liliana Anderson and Vanny's real name is Vanessa Myers.
TW: Self harm. Mentions of child sexual abuse but nothing happens. Sexual harassment.
Vanessa never thought she would find herself in this situation.
She had never wanted to be involved in the first place. Yet, when somebody was harassing a girl for no reason - especially since that girl was somebody who she knew - then she had no choice in the matter. She knew the girl, Isabella Martinez, from the same children's home she went to and, though they have never been friends during that time, they were friendly to each other and often had each backs when nobody would listen to them.
Before Vanessa found her new family she had stayed with Isabella for a while. The black haired women knew about her family and... about her horrible history with self harm. She was the only person who Vanessa allowed to be close to her, the only person who she shared her secrets with. Isabella provided her a sense of normality, a home and a shoulder to cry on. A break from all of the misfortune that had happened to her.
Sometimes Vanessa wished she could return to that way of life. She wouldn't trade her newfound family for anything, she was grateful for everything that they were doing for her. But sometimes she wished that the horrible things she had witnessed never had happened in the first place. If she had never taken that job as a game tester maybe that bloody rabbit wouldn't have escaped from its prison - where exactly did it come from in the first place? Vanessa didn't want to know and, quite frankly, she didn't care.
Maybe Jeremy would still be alive if they had never found that bloody rabbit.
But, that was wishful thinking, wasn't it?
So, when she saw her friend getting harassed she had to intervene before it got worse. Unfortunately, for her, it did get worse. There was one thing she didn't count on, that the thugs in question had a weapon on them. A switchblade knife. Vanessa had froze up in the moment, memories of her cutting herself came to her in an instant. She hadn't realised that she had hurt in the process until she was snapped out of her daze, blood was dripping down from her right arm as she was staring into space.
She hadn't noticed that the thugs had been dealt with and that she was being taken away by another women not that much younger than her.
She was currently sitting in the 'employees only' room. It was a cosy room with white walls and light grey carpet. There was a little kitchen area, a sitting area with red and blue chairs and large, oval table in the middle. There were a few lockers in the corner of the room and there was bulletin boards on the wall. Thankfully, nobody else was in the room so the women was able to tend to her wounds without being disturbed - something which Vanessa was actually grateful of, though she would never say that out loud. She never like talking about her past except to those who she trusted. And, the last thing she needed was somebody asking her a bunch of questions that she didn't want to answer.
Instead, the pink haired women turned to the women who was tending to her wound. She had long, golden blonde hair that went down to her mid back, sage green eyes and her skin tone was fair. There were a few freckles on her face. She was wearing blue shirt, with the company's logo on the left side of the shirt, and trousers, a black body warmer, a brown belt with a gold buckle, black shoes and there was a black microphone ear piece in her left ear.
Vanessa knew who she was.
Liliana.
Stars, they had only met a few weeks ago under more... stranger circumstances. The meeting had been accident, really. Yet, she still remember it like it was yesterday. Vanessa had been lost in music and she dancing to a music box melody. Liliana had entered the room she was hiding in and they ended up talking about all sorts of things. Vanessa had learnt about the blonde's family, how her Mother treats her and her friend - What was his name again? Tyler, wasn't it?
It was nice to see her without having to hide who she was.
But, Vanessa's eyes widen once she realised why Liliana was at the Mall again.
She was now working at the Mega Pizza plex.
As a security guard.
Vanessa felt her heart sunk. She... she never wanted this. She never wanted Liliana to put herself in danger. She had some time to think about there last encounter. They hadn't left on friendly terms. There was no bad blood between the two of them, at least she thought so, yet she had left abruptly without saying good bye. Besides, even though it had been a few weeks ago, Liliana's words still echoed in her mind.
"I could be your friend."
She... She shouldn't want it. She shouldn't of even considered it in the first place. Yet, the more she thought about it, the more she wanted to accept the blonde's kind offer. It could of been out of the kindness of her heart, perhaps Liliana pitted her and wanted to become her friend because she felt sorry for her. In Vanessa's mind Liliana's words felt genuine and, though part of her hated it, she actually wanted to become Liliana's friend - or, something to that extant at least, she wouldn't know what to do if the blonde had figured out her secret.
"Some people are cruel." Liliana muttered under her breath.
"Some people just like to put others down. They believe they have power over people, especially those who are smaller then they are." Vanessa replied.
Liliana froze. She eyed Vanessa cautiously. "I... I didn't think you heard me..."
Vanessa shrugged. "You have nothing to be embarrassed of. You are allowed to have your own opinion, and those guys were cruel."
"I... I see. Thank you." The blonde said. "So, what happened then?"
"They were talking to Isabella, an... acquaintance of mine. They probably wanted something from her but Isabella refused to give them anything. Then they started to harass her and one of them was touching her inappropriately. I couldn't allow it to continue." Vanessa told her before shaking her head. "The last thing I remember was one of them pulling out a knife out of their jacket."
"An eye witness said you shoved one of the guys onto the floor, and you broke another's nose. The third one was arrested for possession of a weapon. Isabella went with them to give her statement. They'll probably want yours as well." Liliana informed her. "There's an officer waiting on the premises."
"I..." Vanessa hesitated. She would gladly put any man behind bars, especially since that person was being highly inappropriate with somebody she knew. But, in that moment, she didn't want to talk to the police. "I'm sure its not needed. Isabella can handle it herself. She was there when it happened. She will remember it better than I do."
"They'll just want to ask you your side of the story, however small it is." Liliana assured her. "I could go with you if you like? They'll probably want to talk to me as well."
Vanessa bit her lip as she turned her head away from the blonde. This... This was the last thing she wanted today. Yet, she knew she had no choice in the matter. As soon as she left the room she would probably get intercepted by the police officer before she could leave the mall. She... didn't exactly have any plans today, she didn't want to stay at the mall a moment longer. Yet, Isabella wanted to see her. She had got worried when she hadn't return to their home. Vanessa had forgotten to tell her that she had finally found somewhere she could call home and that she was living with her new family.
And, considering everything that had happened since she freed that blasted bunny from the game, Vanessa had been too busy helping people deal with it.
Why can't things be more simpler for her?
Well, seeing as there was no way she could get out of this and Liliana offered to go with her, she might as well talk to the police officer. Hopefully, they would listen to her.
"Thank you, Liliana. That would be appreciated." Vanessa said.
Liliana frowned. "How do you know my name? I didn't give it you..."
"O-oh. Um. Well, its on your name tag." Vanessa replied nervously.
The blonde look down to the badge and, sure enough, her name was on it. "Oh. So it is."
Vanessa sighed as moved her head away from Liliana again, this time she was staring at the wall in front of her. That was... too close for her liking. She didn't like deceiving her yet, regardless of what might happen between them, Lilliana can not find out about her secret. There were two reasons behind this. Firstly, she wouldn't want to put in danger. If she knew about her... other identity she was certain that something would happen to Liliana. It was bad enough that she heard her talking with the mask and the suit on. She wouldn't know what to do if Liliana realised that she was one who was under that suit.
It depends on what the security guard would do with that information. If she were to find out and she took that information to the right people then they would be enemies for sure. Liliana could have connections with people who dealt with animatronics and the supernatural on a daily biases and there was always a possibility that Liliana would want to help those people.
And that leads into the second reason as to why Liliana can't find out about her secret. It would make thing more complicated between the two of them. She knew she was already on thin ice with the blonde, she didn't want to make things more difficult between the two of them. She wasn't sure why but she didn't want to know what Liliana would think of her if she found out she was the behind the mask. Because it would make things more complicated and difficult and, if Liliana is the night guard of this building, that meant she would come after her if she decided to visit the mall at night for some extra scouting.
And, because she didn't want to loose possible friendship with the women.
Liliana followed her gaze. She had been staring at a poster of four animatronics: A bear, a chicken, a alligator and a wolf.
"You know I used to like the animatronics. But now... I'm not quite sure." Liliana commented.
"Really?" Strange. They have talked about the animatronics before - she had said some rather hateful things about the animatronics, it was a heat of the moment sort of thing and she didn't regret it. Though Liliana had never said it, she was certain that blonde was interested in the animatronics. Who wouldn't be? They were the latest instalments and, as much as Vanessa didn't like them, they were... unique. But, if Liliana was having doubts about them, then what changed? "What happened?"
"Well, I'm actually the night guard here - I'm only here today because I'm covering for someone. Anyway, whenever I'm patrolling the area at night sometimes one of the animatronics would chase after me. I know Fazbear Entertainment has a history of animatronics roaming around at night but there's something different about these ones." Liliana explained.
"How different?" Vanessa inquired.
There's something not right about this.
"Unfortunately, I'm still trying to figure that out." Liliana admitted. She was about to carry on talking when she hesitated for a moment. She looked at the door for a brief moment before looking back at her. She leaned in closer and whispered to her. "I know about the horrors that have happened at previous Freddy locations, and I'm almost certain it happening here as well. I'm just trying to figure out what's behind it."
Vanessa tried not to gasp as she took in the new information. Liliana knew? When did that happened?
"What do you know?" The pink haired women questioned her.
"Well, I know that two groups of children went missing and that the abductor hasn't been found yet. The animatronics started acting strange one day and that there was a strange smell coming from them. What really happened was that the children had been killed and there bodies were put inside the animatronics. For some reason the children's spirits were tied to the animatronics and they started possessing them." Liliana told her.
"Do you think..." Vanessa swallowed. Part of her didn't want to ask her the question yet, she knew it was something that needed to be asked. "Do you think these animatronics are possessed?"
"I... I don't think so. Hopefully not because then that means somebody was murdered here before the mall even opened - And this really is an amazing building, by the way. I would hate to see it close down over something like this." Liliana replied. "But, If they are not possessed, then the only logical explanation I have is that they're being controlled somehow."
"Controlled?" Vanessa repeated. "Is it possible to control animatronic?"
"Only through a device or a machine. But, everything shuts down for the night, so I doubt they are being controlled through some sort of machine. It must be something else." Liliana clarified. "Although, what was strange about the whole ordeal was that only Glamrock Chica, Roxanna and Monty were the ones who were chasing me. Glamrock Freddy seems to be avoiding me for some reason."
"Do you have any idea where Glamrock Freddy goes of to, or why he is avoiding you?" Vanessa inquired.
"No, I don't. I tried following him but he manages to give me the slip." Liliana replied. "Although, after the animatronics have finished performing they interact with the kids. They interact with the kids just fine but Glamrock Freddy prefers to keep a watchful eye on the proceedings. He still interacts with the kids but he mainly keeps an on eye on the other animatronics."
Vanessa rested her left hand on her chin as she considered the newfound information. It really shouldn't bother her, after all she had no interest in the animatronics in the first place. Yet, there was something suspicious about this. Animatronics chasing after the night guards was new to her. She was already aware of the nightly terrors that happened on the night shift - she was well aware of how close the animatronics could come to 'capturing' her. Plus, she had heard all sorts of stories from her Father.
It was more of a game of hide and seek rather then an actual chase.
So, why were the animatronics chasing after the night guard?
"I managed to stop the bleeding, by the way,"
Huh? Vanessa looked down and noticed the white bandages on her right arm. At that moment another memory came back to her.
"Miss Myers, what do you think your are doing?"
Vanessa startled. Her green eyes moved to the mirror in the bathroom where she saw the head care worker, Anna Monroe, standing at the door. She had golden brown hair, which was currently tied up into a bun at the moment, and green eyes. She was wearing a white shirt with a winged collar, a navy blue waistcoat, black trousers and heeled shoes. She looked... Well, for a lack of a better word at the moment, she looked angry.
She turned to face her. Her skin had been cut by the knife in her right hand, there was blood on her left arm.
"I... I..." She tried to speak but the words wouldn't come out of her mouth.
"Come with me this instant, young lady!" Anna commanded.
The knife had been taken out of hand and Anna grabbed her hand. She had been guided - no, dragged out of the room by Mrs Monroe, and taken to the downstairs office. Thankfully, nobody was in the room. But, that didn't make things any easier for her. She knew Mrs Monroe wouldn't cause a seen around other people. She would probably take her to another room, leave only to get the first aid kit and probably downplay the situation in the front of her colleagues, come back to the room she was in and sort her wounds out whilst she was scolding her.
Vanessa wasn't blind to Anna's cruelty and her... questionable behaviour - Most of it wasn't even questionable, it was criminal. Yet, nobody would believe her if she told somebody. Anna would intervene, say that she had a vivid imagination and that she was just saying that to gain attention. Besides, there was no proof her crimes.
She was brought out of her thoughts by hard slap
"You stupid girl! Do you have any idea of what you were about to do?" Anna scolded her.
"I... I'm sorry, Mrs Monroe. I wasn't think-"
"You weren't thinking about the consequences of your actions." Anna interrupted. "Imagine what would of happened if somebody else found you in the bathroom. One of the younger children or another member of staff."
Vanessa frowned. When exactly did Mrs Monroe care about somebody else?
"We could of landed in a lot of trouble if somebody found out about your little pain pleasure" Anna hissed.
Oh, right. She didn't. If she did she would of allowed her to seek out help for her problem. But then the care home would be investigate for gross negligence and Vanessa wasn't the only one who was being mistreated.
"I don't have time for this..." Anna muttered as she moved over to cabinet by the window.
She instructed Vanessa to take a seat in one of the chairs whilst she searched for the first aid kit. She's right, Vanessa tells herself. Nobody has time for her nowadays, not even Anna. All of the other kids were too busy playing with each other to even bother asking her if she wanted to join it. Nobody came to visit her in room - except for Isabella but, since they shared a room together, that didn't really count. She had nobody.
Anna had managed to find the first aid kit. She walked back over to her, knelt down and place the box down on the floor. She opened it up and managed to find some bandages. She grabbed Vanessa's wrist roughly, Vanessa didn't even wince when she grabbed it.
"You know, Vanessa." Anna began as she started to dress her wound. "I don't have to do this. I could easily leave you in your room and simply allow you to continue your sick desires. But then were would I be if somebody found out what I did, or what I was simply allowing to happen. Out of a job, mostly likely. Not that I care about what happens to the children and the teenagers in this place. But, what else could I do? I lack the skill to do anything else so I here twenty-four seven babysitting a bunch of misbehaving kids. For that you should be grateful."
Grateful? What exactly did she have to be grateful for?
Anna smirked. Somehow she was sensing the question. "Because nobody wants a misbehaving child. Especially ones who were abandoned by their parents."
Vanessa's heart sank. Not... not this again. This was always brought up somehow. It was a constant reminder that she was abandoned by her family. She was constantly told that it was her fault that her parents left her because she was always misbehaving. Vanessa, however, had a feeling that someone was lying to her. She never knew the real reason as to why her parents left her.
"Please don't..." Vanessa tried to say.
"Well, perhaps then you should start behaving then. Maybe then someone would be willing to adopt you." Anna cut her off. "That means no more attention seeking."
Vanessa looked down at her bandage arm. Did she seriously think she was doing this just for fun? This wasn't her seeking attention. It was a sign that she needed help. Not just with self-harming but with her mental wellbeing all together. She had seriously bouts of depression. Because she thought she wasn't wanted. Nobody came to see her. Nobody wanted her. Somehow, because she was the oldest amongst them, she was blamed whenever the other children were misbehaving because she was meant to set an example for them.
So, she hurt herself. To take the pain away. The first time had been accidental. She had been helping in the kitchen, making dinner for the other children, when she had cut herself. She didn't even notice what happened until after she heard one of the care workers screaming, she had been too caught up in the memories to even notice what happened in the first place. And when she was on her own her mind would drift back to what happened. It made her feel... alive and warm.
She knew it was wrong.
Yet nobody helped her.
She would have talked to Cedric a lot more sooner. She liked Cedric. Apart from Isabella, he was the only one who was nice to her or he didn't brush her aside whenever she needed help - though she hasn't told him about the self-harming. She had meant to but, at the moment, he was only working temporally and she could never find a moment where he wasn't shadowing Anna or where he was in a room on his own.
"Do you understand, Vanessa? If I catch you doing this again, there will be serve consequences." Anna stated.
Vanessa sighed. Honestly, she was sick of this. It was better to just comply instead of fighting against it.
Yes, Mrs Monroe. I understand."
"Um. Excuse me, miss. Are you alright?"
Vanessa blinked. It took a moment for her to register where she was. She was still at the Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizza Plex, still in the employees only room. She noticed somebody sitting next to her on the right. She turned to that person - Liliana, she hadn't left her. She was looking at her with concern on her face. Vanessa took a few deep breaths to calm herself, she even rubbed her eyes to stop the tears coming out from them - She didn't like to show weakness to anyone.
"Miss? Are you alright?" Liliana asked again.
Vanessa shook her head. "No. I'm not."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"I.." Vanessa hesitated. Normally. she didn't like talking about her past. But, she was just so tired so keeping everything it. She had never been comfortable talking about it, especially not to a stranger (Though, Lilliana wasn't exactly a stranger now, was she?) "Can you promise me something?"
"Sure. What is it?" Liliana replied.
"Whatever happens in this room, can it stay between us?" She asked.
Liliana considered it for a moment. Not because she didn't want to but because she was considering the severity of what she was about to tell her. She had a feeling that the pink haired women was about to reveal something personal to her. She didn't know what she had done to gain the women's trust in first place, she had only just met her for the first time yet she felt comfortable enough to talk to her about it. But, if that's what she wanted...
"Alright. If that's what you want, it can stay between us." The blonde said.
"Thank you. Just... give me a minute, all right? I need time to gather my thoughts." Vanessa replied.
Liliana nodded. She put the supplies back in the first aid kit and made her way to the Kitchen area, placing the little box in the cabinet where she found it. She would give the women all the time she needed, provided that she wasn't needed any time soon.
She opened another cabinet and brought out two glasses. She closed the cabinet and brought them over to the sink. She turned the tap on and waited until the glasses were almost filled to the top before turning it off. She went back to the young women and offer her one of the glasses.
"Thank you." Vanessa said.
She took a sip of water before shifting into a more comfortable position. Liliana sat down beside her when she was finished.
"When that guy pulled the knife on me it... brought back a lot of painful memories." Vanessa swallowed. "I... I used to self-harm."
"Oh." Liliana commented.
She didn't know what else to say. How could she? This was a sensitive topic they were talking about, she had to applaud the young women for being brave enough to talk about it.
"It was... just a little something to take the pain away, or at least that's how it started. I had been orphaned at a young age but somehow I believed that I had been abandoned by my family. Nobody told me why I was abandoned. Mrs Monroe kept insisting that it was because I kept misbehaving, she seemed very adamant about it." Vanessa told her. "Then it got worse. I started to doubt myself because I wasn't wanted. I didn't have any friends at the children's home, Isabella was a friendly acquaintance then an actual friend. Nobody came to visit me, nobody asked me to join in there games. I was left on my own most of the time."
"How awful." Liliana said. "Did anybody help you or..."
"Only Mrs Monroe, the head care worker, but... she wasn't very nice and she only help me for own benefit. I couldn't seek out help. There was only one adult I really trusted. He's name was Cedric. He only worked temporally and couldn't get him on his own." Vanessa told her. "Anna knew about the self harming and sometimes she helped me. But she would always scolded me whenever she had to help me. She said that nobody wanted to adopt me because I was misbehaving."
"I'm sure that's not true." The blonde said.
"It wasn't, but that's the kind of person Anna was. Always blaming others. Not realise the true consequences of her actions until it was too late." Vanessa replied.
"Consequences? Please don't tell me she..." Liliana trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence.
"She abused her position and got arrested for it. She wasn't... touching kids if that's what your asking." Vanessa clarified.
"Then why was she arrested?" Liliana questioned.
"Theft. The members of staff at the children's home set aside an allowance for the kids, a reward for good behaviour. You were allowed to go out into town and spend it on whatever you like, though the younger kids weren't allowed out without adult supervisions. Anna had been steeling from the kids when nobody was looking." Vanessa explained. "But, that was not the end of Anna's cruelty. She was horrible to some of the kids. She would scolded them if they did anything accidently or something that couldn't have been helped, such as wetting the bed. There were some kids who would bully some of the more younger kids, she would rewarded their horrible behaviour when it wasn't deserved. She was also punishing kids by hitting them."
"My god... is there no end to her wicked deeds?" The blonde pondered.
"I'll spare you the details. I only found out because I caught her doing it but even then I was swore to secretly. She threatened me, told me that if i ever told anyone what she had done she would tell them that I had been self harming. Instead of seeking out help, she used it against me." Vanessa replied.
Liliana was shaking. That... That women! How dare she! She was meant to prove a safe haven for troubled kids, instead she turned it into a living nightmare. She even threatened the women before her, threatened to expose her secret if she didn't keep her mouth shut. Liliana didn't want to know what might of happened if the women told somebody what she had witnessed. Naturally, she assumed that everybody would come to the women's aid. But words could easily be twisted and there was no doubt in her mind that Mrs Monroe would make up lies about what happened.
What happened next surprised her. Without thinking about her actions, she pulled the pinkette closer to her and pulled her in for her hug. She didn't deserve this. She didn't deserved to be treated like this. She should of received help sooner, it should not have been dangled in front of her like a weapon. She was glad that Mrs Monroe was fired for her job. She couldn't imagine how much pain she inflicted on the pink haired women, she couldn't even begin to imagine just how much damage she did the other children. But it must of been a great deal of damage if it took so long for her to be exposed for what she had done.
Vanessa had been caught of guard by the hug and, strangely, she found that she didn't want remove herself from the situation. Very rarely were people allowed to hug her, yet this felt oddly familiar. It was like the time her Father had found her in the bathroom at his house. She was about to hurt herself again and he had caught her in the act.
He hadn't shouted at her. He had been shocked by what he was witnessing - there again, knowing what he had done before they had met, he was probably shocked by a lot of things. Shocked, but not angry or appalled by what he had seen. She thought she had ruined whatever trust they had built together during her short stay, she managed to put an end to that damn rabbit's control over him. Yet, he had been so kind and gentle and understanding, so much so that she broke down in his arms.
She told him everything. What happened at the children's home, the self harming, what Anna put her through. Then she told him about everything that happened leading up to and during the release of that rabbit. She thought she did her work to the best of her ability but she was constantly put down by her work colleague. They seemed to think that she was just skating by and not doing her job properly. Everybody was horrible to her.
Everyone, except for two.
The first one was Jeremy Collins. He was one of the beta testers for the game. He kept insisting that there was something wrong with the game and that they should stop working on it. One day... Jeremy didn't show up at work. The higher up insisted that he had been fired but Vanessa knew better. She knew he had seen Glitchtrap and somehow that rabbit managed to gain control over him, she even found his passed out in the VR room after another test. They had talked about it a few times though Jeremy was missing gaps in his memory. Eventually, because he couldn't take it anymore, he took his own life.
Vanessa had been devested when she found out the truth.
Then there was Luis Cabrera. Luis... Well, there wasn't much she could say about him. He worked in the same IT department as she used to. He was nice but persistent. He kept talking to her, whether or not he was trying to get her to open up to him she couldn't say, but the conversations were nice. It was temporary distraction that she definitely needed. She suspected that he might have a crush on her but she didn't know if she felt the same.
So, to her complete surprise, he decided to bring her into his family, when he had no reason to. He couldn't allow her to go back to that way of life. She needed help and she needed a place of stability. He kept an eye on her but he provided the necessary space she needed. And, it was thanks to him that she was able to find out what happened to her parents.
And now she found herself in a all to familiar situation. Glitchtrap wasn't the problem, at least she didn't think it was yet, but for some reason the animatronics were chasing after Liliana. She needed to find out the reason as to why they were behaving like this. She didn't know what might happen if they managed to capture her - even though she had seen what happened to those who had been caught by previous animatronics, she suspected the same thing might happen with the Glamrock additions.
If Glitchtrap was somehow responsible for this, then there was no way in hell she was going to allow that damn rabbit to carry on with his wicked deeds. She had already seen the damage he had done to the ones she loved, she was not going to allow the same thing to happen to Liliana.
…Huh. Strange, she never felt so passionate about something before. Maybe Liliana was someone she cared about after all.
"Liliana, If its not too much trouble, if I was wondering if I might be able to join you on your night shift." Vanessa requested.
"What? Why would you want to do that?" Liliana questioned.
"There's something suspicious going on here and it involves those animatronics. I too know about the on goings of Freddy's. I'm not sure what the reason is but, if the animatronics are chasing after night guards, then someone or something is behind it. It needs to be taken care off." Vanessa explained. "If Fazbear Entertainment won't deal with it then it falls to us to look into it."
Liliana thought about it for a moment. Whilst something did need to be done with regards to the animatronics, she knew she was going to get into trouble if she brought someone in after hours. She couldn't afford to loose this job. It was her first taste of real independents, even her Mother had been surprised when she told her and her Father that she managed to find a job - despite the fact that it was at the Mega Pizza Plex.
She knew from the moment she mentioned it to her Mother that she wasn't happy with what she heard. She was well aware of how her Mother felt about this place. Mrs Anderson hated the animatronics and the music, there was a lot of things she hated but she didn't have the energy to deal with it anymore.
But, she couldn't just sit by whilst her life was on the line. Roxanna and Monty came close to capturing her more time then she could count. Glamrock Chica, or Candice as she had overheard some of the children call her, sometimes hung back and did other things during the night but she was still coming after her. And, as for Glamrock Freddy... Well, she couldn't say much about him. He was avoiding her for some reason. Perhaps, whatever was controlling the other animatronics, isn't able to control him. Or, perhaps he was avoiding her because he knew he would do more damage then good.
Liliana sighed. She knew she was going to get into trouble for allowing the young women to come into the mall after hours but this was her life on the line. And, if the manager of the mall wasn't going to listen her, then she had to take matters into her own hand. Something needed to be done with the animatronics.
"Alright. You can come with me." Liliana conceded. "But not tonight. You should get some rest and your arm needs time to heal. And you should talk to your friend. I think she misses you."
Vanessa nodded. That's fair. She didn't think they would meet so soon anyway, and Liliana had every reason to refuse her request. She also knew she owned Isabella an explanation, that's the reason as to why they were meeting up in the first place. She didn't mind waiting until Liliana was ready for her, the only thing she could do now is pray for Liliana's safety. Hopefully, she would be okay until she was ready for her.
As they were finishing of their drinks, Liliana told the young women about the various rooms inside the mall. It was truly fascinating. There was an indoor golf area, a large play area, an indoor race track, a beauty salon, a laser tag area and many more fascinating rooms. Even the animatronics had their own little areas. Despite everything, she still loved this place... although somethings have changed for her.
After they had finished drinking, Liliana was washing the glasses whilst the young women was talking on her phone. The small task had given her time to think about what she wanted to next and how she was going to move forward. Yes, she was well aware about the ongoing misfortune that happened at Freddy's. She just didn't think it would happen whilst she was working at one of their locations.
But what was even more surprising was that the young women had heard about it as well. Hearing about the truth at Freddy's can even go to either two ways: You either believe it or you don't. And, it didn't help when Fazbear Entertainment got involved and tried to sell the narrative that nothing bad had actually happened.
She did hear about that VR game from her friend Tyler. Perhaps that's how she heard about the on goings at Freddy's. But Fazbear Entertainment had some involvement with that game so she didn't think anything they portrayed was the actual truth. It was just another cover up in order to try and salvage their reputation.
Liliana sighed, recalling the conversation she had with Mr Turner when she applied for the job. He kept insisting that things would be different the time. That no child would go missing on there premises. That there were safety precautions put in place to put a stop to that from happening. Liliana didn't know whether or not to believe him. She had yet to see these security precautions in action, probably because no kid had gone missing yet - Thankfully! But so far the only thing she had seen for herself was the camera system which was a lot bigger then previous locations - Probably because this place was a lot more vulnerable then any of the Pizzeria's (Or so Mr Turner thinks.)
It was better than nothing.
Maybe this time no kids will end up disappearing.
When she was finished Liliana escorted the young women to the room where the police officer was waiting. She explained the situation to the young man, informing him that young women felt a lot more comfortable with her in the room and that she had been attacked at the crime scene - The young women nodded in agreement when she mentioned that. The Police Officer had no problem with her being in the room and, seeing as she had been at the crime scene, he needed to talk to her as well.
Liliana waited as the young women gave her statement to the police officer. The young women started from the beginning. She told him she and Miss Martinez were meeting up at food court area. She saw the three guys surrounding Miss Martinez, one of them was standing behind her and was invading her personal space. They were saying very vulgar comments to her and Isabella had told them to go away several times. Then the guy who was standing behind her put his hands on behind, there had been a look of discomfort on Isabella's face and she tried to remove herself from the situation but the man refused to let her go. That's when she decided to intervene. The last thing she remembered was seeing a knife on one of the men.
Then it was Liliana's turn. Her statement was similar to the young women's. She told him that she was covering for a member of security who taken ill the night prior and she was doing her usual rounds when she spotted the commotion. She had decided to intervene when she saw one of the men pull out a switchblade knife - a risky move, the officer told her and Liliana agreed with him, but she knew how to defend herself and she knew how to disarm somebody if they had a weapon. She didn't go into too much detail about the attack, she didn't want to upset the pink haired women any more then she already was, but she did tell him that the man did stab her in the arm.
When they were finished the police officer left the room. He still had a few inquires to make. Liliana turned to the pink haired women.
"Are you alright?" She asked.
"Yes. That went better then I expected. Thank you, Liliana." Vanessa replied. "And thank you for not going deep into the attack. I knew you had to talk about it to the officer but its something I still have trouble with. I don't want to dive into those memories again."
"I didn't want to. Something like that is bound to be traumatic for you so I tried to be careful." Liliana said.
"You did your best." The young women assured her. The young women brought her phone out of her bag. "So, when are we meeting up? I'm pretty much available all week."
Liliana thought about it before replying. "Well, its Wednesday today. How about before Saturday morning? That should give you enough time to rest and organise yourself. I have to be in the building at eleven pm and the animatronics don't activate until twelve. I can get you in before that."
"That works for me." Vanessa said. "Is there anything else I should know about?"
"Well, for one thing, you need to keep out of the animatronics sight at all times. Once they see you they won't stop coming for you unless you manage to find some place to hide, and even then that might be difficult. They might be animatronics but they can run pretty fast." Liliana told her. "And I would avoid wearing bright clothing. Everything shuts down for the night but this place remain fairly lit during the night shift. You should wear some dark clothing, maybe something with a hood."
"I'll see what I can find." Vanessa replied.
They were interrupted by the women's phone buzzing. The young women checked the message on her phone before turning her attention back to her.
"My apologises. Isabella just texted me. She's waiting for me outside." Vanessa said.
"That's alright. I should get back to work before the manager comes looking for me. He's someone you don't want to get on the wrong side with." Liliana said. "I'll see you on Friday, yeah?"
"Of course. See you, Liliana." Vanessa said.
Liliana said her good byes to the young women before she left the room. She was suppose to get back to work but she decided to linger for a little while, reflecting on their time together. She truly was a curious person, one that was willing to help but only shared her secrets with ones she trusted the most - though, again, Liliana didn't know how she managed to gain that women's trust. Had they met before? She couldn't remember seeing her before. There again the only places she had been to recently was the mall, the Pizzeria, Tyler's Circus and her home and she had never seen anyone like her before.
Yet, she trusted her enough to share her secrets with her. Learning about the women's past with self harming and her ordeal at the children's home was shocking, there was no way she was going to forget that any time soon. Adults were suppose to look after and care for the children, not abusing them on a daily biases. She hoped things were a lot more better for the young women. She had a feeling that she was in a better place now but she still had a lot more work to do before she truly was happy.
It just occurred to her that she didn't ask the women for her name.