Note: Takes place after "Who am I to Judge?", part of the Phone Guy's Memories series.
Begin Prompt in 3, 2, 1…
"Eggs' still down there working."
Prompt: Why doesn't Phone Guy find out what happened to the other one?
...There was a short time after Freddy's closed that I worked at Afton Robotics. William wasn't working there anymore, so there wasn't a conflict of interest. I just needed the money and I was on their list of previous workers who weren't fired and wouldn't talk. They were always looking for an employee who could keep a secret.
And, before you ask, this was before my accident. So, really, I could do any job that they asked me too. But instead of sticking me in a manager role or even a cheap labor role, they pretty much set me up as a secretary. I would do paperwork and record tapes for new employees, and I spent a lot of my time on the phone answering calls.
There were only four technicians working at ARI when the, uh... Incident happened. I was working late- probably about three in the morning- and the technicians were just getting off their shift. Two of them, the older ones, usually punched out at the same time and had to pass by outside of my office before they left.
Usually our conversations were brief. Water-cooler talk unless they needed something, and I expected them to just pass by like usual and leave me to my work. Instead, one of them knocked on the door frame and leaned in. He always smelled like cigarette smoke. I knew he was sneaking smoke breaks down in the storage room- which is probably extremely dangerous since the whole building was full of flammable material. I'm getting off-topic.
Anyway, he leans in and says to me, "Keep the elevator on. Eggs' still down there working."
So, to bring you up to speed, I was supposed to shut off power to the elevator when I left my shift. This was to cut down on electricity costs, and it pretty much involved me throwing a switch before I left. Usually the technicians were the last to leave so it was a little strange that one stayed behind.
Now, I knew about "Eggs" only through secondhand sources. I think maybe I saw him in the break room once, but usually we didn't cross paths. Most of what I knew about Eggs was from what the two technicians said in earshot. That came down to: "Where's Eggs?" and occasionally "Let Eggs do it." All I really knew was that he was a hard worker and he wasn't sneaking smoke breaks.
Back to the story, the two technicians punched out and left, and I stuck around finishing up what I was doing. At about four it was time for me to leave, so I shut everything down and went to punch out, and then would shut down the elevator on my way out while I locked up... Except I noticed that I wasn't the only employee still there. Eggs'- I think his real name was Benedict- punch card was still sitting there untouched.
I had a bad feeling then, but I thought maybe there was a chance that he got stuck on a repair job and couldn't get it done. Either way, I had to lock up, so either I would shut down the elevator and leave him stranded, keep the elevator on and get my pay docked... Or go down to look for him... I really only had one option.
The elevator at Afton's always took so long. It had to be five minutes before I got down to the floor he was on- and I knew it was the floor because it was the only one with active animatronics: The Circus Baby gang, William's personal legacy. Uh... Never took off like Freddy's honestly, but he loved them. Probably more than his own children. I... I didn't like how human some of them looked.
The only way into the main control room was through a vent... I know that sounds strange, but that's pretty much status quo at a Freddy's franchise. You should've seen the old Chipper's place. The cleaning service had to sneak in through a bathroom window. I digress. I'm obviously stalling, but I just- I don't like remembering what happened there.
So, I didn't have a strong flashlight on me. I had this tiny one that you keep on a key chain, that's pretty much only good for sorting your keys in the dark. Still, I shined it into the vent and leaned down, and was hit with this wall of coppery, putrid air. I can't even describe this; I've found people lodged in suits who didn't smell like this. This was so much stronger... I knew it was blood.
I knew there had been an accident, but I thought maybe there was still time. Kind of. I, uh, I really just wanted to leave, but I knew that if there was a chance he was just injured then I'd never forgive myself. Always check the back room, right? So... So, I began to crawl into the vent. I heard movement further inside, so I just thought that maybe he was still okay.
I found him about halfway in... He wasn't okay. I've- I've never seen an injury like this. I don't even know if an animatronic could do this, but it was like he had been gutted, laying in the vent face up, draining blood everywhere. His chest and belly were gaped- I can't. I'm sorry, but I can't. Just... It was bad.
...In hindsight, I knew he was dead, but some part of me thought that maybe he was still alive. Maybe I was in shock. I took his head in my hands and was trying to comfort him or keep his head still or something. Petting his head, I started telling him it was going to be alright and that help was going to come, and just... Stay with me. I said that a lot, I think.
When I got the phone out to call my boss- standard protocol but I swear I would've called 911 right afterwards anyway- I heard something further in the vent past Eggs. Squeaking and shifting in the space. It was an animatronic, I knew it, so I shined the light down the shaft and hoped it would keep it back. It did. It didn't leave, but it didn't get closer. But that gave me a much better view of Eggs' injuries... It was terrible.
My boss at the time was a great guy. He didn't have a clean-up crew or technicians or anything like that, he actually called the paramedics and got them down there. I didn't leave him until they got him, and even then I waited by the side and watched them try to work on him. It became apparent to them quickly that he had been dead for a while. For some reason, I just couldn't believe it. It was one of the worst nights of my life.
Eventually, it was discovered that the rest of, well, him had been found in the Scooping Room. See, there was this tool called the Scooper that was used to take apart animatronics. Some horrible tool of torture William made because he was too lazy to take the bots apart manually. He could be genius at times, but he had no moral compass. That thing was dangerous.
It was determined that Eggs must have gotten injured while trying to scoop an animatronic and then tried to drag himself to safety... Yeah, I never believed it. The man was missing most of his insides and he still managed to drag himself through two sets of vents and an auditorium? No, we all knew that something else happened down there, and I gave my two weeks' notice.
So, that's the story!... Or it was, until a couple of nights ago.
You remember that I, uh, don't live alone anymore, right? After that thing down at Chance's when I brought a new "roommate" home? Well, he has this particular quirk where he comes into my room in the middle of the night to check on me. I know it sounds creepy and it kind of was at first, but it's also kind of nice. I'm sort of affection starved.
That night he came in like he usually did, but this time he came to the bed. He reached down and began to pat my head while I was sleeping. I mean, it's weird having wires rubbing in your hair, but it was a sweet gesture. He wasn't stuffing me in a suit, so I was fine with it. Didn't tell him I was awake, because I never do.
But then I... I noticed something... I've been close to him plenty of times. I've heard his wires squeak when they rub together and never thought anything about it... Except it suddenly came to me that I heard that squeaking before. In that vent when I found Eggs. I... I think that was him. I think he saw me or something, or- I don't know. I'm almost positive it was him.
And now I've got one of two options I've got to face. Either Ennard killed Eggs- Dear God, I hope he didn't- or Ennard is Eggs.
...I think I'd rather stay in the dark this time.