Chapter 7: Springtrapped

"Oh, don't worry about that." A voice made her jump. "I won't report you to the cops. In fact, I'll even doctor the footage so it looks like you were never there."

Ming spun around. It was the security guard. "W-why would you do that for me?"

"Because you're going to do me a favour." The guard replied. "If you do a day's worth of volunteer work for me, I won't report you."

"What kind of work?"

"Entertainment, of course." The guard replied. "Foxy, as you've already seen, is out of order, and we have a child's birthday party coming up tomorrow. Some 4 year old whose parents insisted on a separate party with a special animatronic. Now, we've got a spare suit in the back, and you can dance and sing for the kid's party, and maybe serve them cupcakes. Nothing hard."

Ming relaxed. Now she knew the guard's motive, his offer to help her didn't seem so suspicious anymore.

"Okay. I can do that."

"Good, good." The guard nodded. "Come with me, we'll make sure the suit fits."

Ming followed the guard to a door marked Storage. He opened it and she entered. He followed and closed the door behind her.

"This suit here." He indicated, turning on a single overhead lightbulb. It took Ming a moment to realize exactly which animatronic she was looking at. A yellow bear a hat and bowtie just like Freddy Fazbear's, and reddish-brown stains around its mouth. Stains that Ming realized with a shiver looked a lot like dried blood.

"Fredbear?" She gasped.

"You recognize this robot?" The guard asked.

Ming nodded, gently running a hand through the yellow fur. "When I was little, my brother got his head bit by this bear..." Sudden realization and horror dawned on Ming. Her stomach dropped. She stepped back from the animatronic. "No... you don't want me to perform at a kid's party... you- you-"

The guard grinned. "Well, since you've figured it out, I may as well admit it. I am the rumoured 'Purple Guy'. I've used my beautiful robots to kill four kids. Possibly five, depending on if your brother ever survived that bite. And of course, since you've figured it out, I'm afraid I can't let you live." The guard held up her phone, and smashed it. "Nobody will ever find your body. Nobody will ever know what happened to you."

In a moment of pure panic, Ming swung her heavy duty flashlight, knocking the man in the head, and running for dear life. She ran to the Employees Only door and pulled. Nothing. The door had been locked, and she didn't know of any other exits.

Panicking, she ran to find somewhere to hide, somewhere the cameras couldn't find her.

She found a room that the camera in the hall was pointed away from. Perfect. She dove in and searched frantically for a hiding spot. Then she saw it. The yellow rabbit. Somehow, the sight of this rabbit gave her a sense of calm. It reminded her of her favourite teddy. It looked like a suit.

She could hear the security guard swearing, his footsteps approaching quickly. "You can hide all you want, but there's nowhere you can run!"

Ming grabbed the rabbit's head. If she hid in the suit and stayed perfectly motionless, he wouldn't see her.

Quickly and carefully, she put on each piece of the suit, then slumped over, looking like the suit hadn't moved, hadn't been touched. The security guard entered almost as soon as Ming had finished putting on her furry disguise. She waited with baited breath for the guard to leave, to search the room, and then give up and look somewhere else, for morning to come, when she could scream for help and somebody would hear her.

The guard shone his light around the small storage room. "I know you're in here." He growled.

Please go away, please go away, please, please, go away... Ming thought helplessly. Some pieces of metal were sticking into her uncomfortably at the angle she sat in.

The security guard checked in every possible hiding spot in the room, before shining his light on the yellow rabbit suit Ming hid in. He grinned suddenly, and Ming felt sick.

Afton grinned. It was too easy. The girl had chosen her hiding spot, and her eternal tomb.

Perhaps killing her with Fredbear would've been more poetic, seeing the bear's ties with the girl's brother, but he couldn't simply pass up this opportunity.

He walked to the suit. He could see the girl's eyes. He gave a chuckle.

"Your fatal mistake, my young friend, was trying to hide in the murder weapon itself." Afton reached behind Spring Bonnie's head, grabbing the spring locks, ready to end this girl's life. "Have you any last words? No? Alright." He twisted the locks, and quickly pulled his hands back, watching as the locks cut deep into the girl's flesh, as blood pooled around her on the floor, and she gagged and spluttered and tried to scream, only for blood to fill her lungs.

Afton shivered, watching the girl writhe in pain, and felt an instantaneous rush. He had forgotten what it felt like to kill... how it felt to take a life, the adrenaline high in his veins.

He shook his head, smiling. This would have to be the last time. If he wasn't careful, he would be caught, and just when his life was going perfectly, too. No, he couldn't risk it to kill again.