Road home 3

Five days later…

Mike stood alone on the sidewalk as he gazed at the building in front of him. The restaurant's childish vibe was familiar though the cartoonish animals that decorated the new logo were not.

"I hope you are watching over them Charlie." He muttered to the shadows.

He glanced down at his watch. Ten minutes until opening yet the parking lot was oddly empty. With all the publicity and advertising he would have thought the place would be packed by now despite the negative news surrounding the other restaurant.

Shrugging he walked past the large heavily tinted glass doors and into the massive restaurant. The smell of hot grease, fresh paint and cleaning chemicals assaulted his nose with each breath.

He walked around the massive room, taking in the many long tables covered in plastic tablecloths. Off to the left was the arcade room, the right was a large room that was roped off with a coming soon sign in front of it. He walked to the main room, the walls covered in bright colors and cartoon characters, even the carpet was clean and new.

The large stage dominated the back of the room.

A frown played across his features as he stared up at the new band. They were nothing short of horrible. The overhead lights shone off the slick plastic shells of their bodies and large glass eyes that stared off at the main room. He moved closer to the stage, watching them closely. The creatures stared at the empty restaurant, taking no notice of him. No remnant. Not even a slight trace of it. He sighed and backed up, thankful for the little gift Charlie had given him. Being able to sense the ghostly energy made it easier to know which machines were possessed and which ones were not. It made destroying his fathers legacy a lot easier.

His gaze lingered on the new Chica. It clearly wasn't that kid friendly, not with all those curves and tiny shorts. Must be more for the male parents to stare at while their crotch goblins run wild.

Still it felt a little odd with the restaurant being so empty. He couldn't shake the feeling something was wrong. Maybe he was overthinking it. The restaurant did have a bit of a bad reputation.

Shaking his head he turned and resumed his exploration.

Everything was shiny and new. It was a wonderland for kids with all its bright colors, larger than life props and an arcade that filled a large alcove. The entire restaurant still smelled of fresh paint and wood dust , no trace of mold, vomit or grease anywhere. Turning he made his way to the employee only area where the new security office was.

To his surprise it was large, much larger than the barely closet sized one he used to have. State of the art monitors line one side of the desk. Each one showing different parts of the restaurant, party rooms, private rooms, the main room and beyond. Feeling a bit like a kid with a new toy he sat down in the comfortable chair and began to mess with the controls. The cameras smoothly swiveled up and down, back and forth and zoomed in.

Satisfied that the cameras worked he fiddled with the desk drawers, finding them mostly empty save a large Maglight flashlight with spare batteries and a few wadded up candy wrappers.

So this is your new office. I like it.

He nearly jumped out of his skin, the chair leaning dangerously backwards. "Fuck! A little warning next time Charlie."

Language.

"It's not like you haven't heard it before."

Still I do not appreciate cursing in my presence.

"Fine, sorry." he leaned forward with a small smile.

Thank you. And I am sorry about what happened to your friends.

Michael's good mood vanished like fog before the sun. "I was hoping at least one of the others had gotten out." He had received a text message from a coworker that the badly burned remains of the other band members had been found a few days ago. Hopefully the smoke had gotten to them before the flames did.

He flinched at the icy ghostly hand that lightly touched his shoulder.

The trill of the cell phone pulled him out of the gloom. He picked it up and flicked it on.

"Hey Mike," a loud thump sounded from the background followed by the rattle of a bag," Bonnie get out of that! Don't eat all of it!" another loud rattle of a bag. "Did you get the schedule yet?"

"Not yet. Cowwery should be sending it within an hour or so."

" When does your shift start?"

"Ummm, I think eleven or so. Almost surprised Cowery didn't fire either one of us instead of hiring us to work at the new place. You got to the day shift right? "

More bag rattling. "Yeah…Bonnie let go of that! I swear he's a walking vacuum cleaner when it comes to food."

"So he's up and moving around?"

"And eating anything that's not locked up or out of reach."

Michael chuckled, perfectly normal behavior for the purple menace. "I'm just checking the new place out before it opens, Cowery has me working the day shift for now." he swiveled in the chair then froze when he saw the monitor. The bright blue toy rabbit had moved. Not by much, just a few inches. Its head was tilted up slightly so its cold unblinking gaze could stare right at the camera. He shivered and looked away.

They were probably active and starting up show mode due to how close the opening was. Still he swore it was looking directly at the camera.

"At least he's up and moving. Still not talking?"

"Not a word. Ellie thinks it's the trauma. I got to go, he's making a mess."

Michael chuckled again despite the faint chill that crept up his spine. "See you tonight." he hung up and glanced back at the monitor. The rabbit was looking straight forward again.

The restaurant was a chaotic mess of colors and lights and shrieking voices. Kids ran clutching fistfuls of tickets or shining tokens heading towards the arcade while child friendly music boomed from hidden speakers in the stage. The air was thick with the smell of cheap greasy pizza mixed with vomit, spilled soda and worse as the hours scrapped by.

It made him glad that he stayed primarily in the security office, watching everything through security cameras. No sticky hands grabbing at his uniform. No stepping in something awful. No thrown food or being vomited on.

He leaned back and propped his feet onto the desk, glancing at the phone every once in a while, waiting for any more news even if it was bad news though he wasn't certain he wanted more bad news. The clean up crew had found the remains of the band in the rubble, burned to almost beyond recognition. While devastating it at least gave them some closure about the whereabouts of the missing band. Jerremy had wisely said nothing to Bonnie, not wanting to further traumatize the rabbit.

Michael watched, disinterested, as the toy animatronics interacted with the kids and ignored the parents for the most part. They seemed well liked enough. Especially the blue rabbit though Chica had her fair share of admirers even if they were mostly men ogling her and her tiny pink shorts.

He yawned and leaned back more wishing he had brought an energy drink or something. A glance at the clock on the wall showed only two more hours then he could clock out and get some sleep before he had to start the night shift. A sharp shriek snapped him awake and he sat up, scanning the cameras, panic surging. He panned through several cameras before he focused on the crowded arcade. Seeing nothing more sinister than a child having tripped over their own shoe laces and was unharmed he sat back down with a sigh.

It wasn't your fault. You could have never known what would happen.

"I should have known something bad would happen. It's my fault it happened." he could still hear the sickening crunch of bone and grind of metal in his nightmares.

Ethan would have forgiven you.

"After what I did? I'm the reason he was stuck in that suit."

Your father was the reason why he was stuck in that suit. Not you.

Michael remained silent for several long minutes, old guilt chewing at the back of his mind. The phone trilled, daring to interpret his thoughts. He reached over and picked it up only to drop it again and stare at it. A text message was on the screen. 'Come Home Michael.'