Lynn Lambert woke up in the morning early. She was still in her nightgown, her arms wrapped around Caitlyn's warm body, who was busy sleeping. Lynn made sure to not wake Caitlyn up, before she got off the bed. Lynn needed to get up quick for her new occupation as a teacher. For a small town, she could get to know every student personally and feel more included in the community with her girlfriend. She needed this new life. It was going to be good, she knew it.

Lynn settled for some fruit for breakfast, getting ready in the bathroom and checking her wardrobe. She wanted to look professional. Caitlyn was always the one who liked to dress like a businesswoman, but Lynn knew of her girlfriend's upbringing. Putting on some sleek clothing, she tried to act strict. Actually, maybe not too strict. Caitlyn tend to worry a little, when she got strict.

Lynn wanted to leave a post-it note for her girlfriend, but she wanted to get to the school to check in with the principal and the other staff to get more accustomed with the school. Perhaps it will be fine with Caitlyn. She isn't going to possibly go back to that attraction that she's renovating. Not without help.

Caitlyn woke up not long after Lynn left the house. Caitlyn knew that Lynn was in the house briefly. The only problem was that Shaw was about to do probably one of the dumbest ideas she can think of. After some cereal down her stomach, Caitlyn dug through some boxes that were still unopened from the move, looking for something blunt. She was thinking of a crowbar or a baseball bat, but she noticed the fireplace in the living room. Nestled behind some boxes, there was still a fire poker. Old, but it looked like it can do the job done. Since she was naïve enough to enter the horror attraction without any light, she got a small flashlight that she could hold easily with her hands full.

Caitlyn was about to leave the house with her phone, fire poker and flashlight, but she thought about something. She didn't know what to make of it, but she had a belief. Maybe... Just maybe... if there were ghosts, they needed to know if she was a threat or not. It didn't explain the killer animatronics, but what if she could make an offering? Something to get them to not attack her? They were still going after her without a weapon, but she needed to be cautious.

She went into her workshop and office, making sure that she got the sewing machine out of one of the unopened boxes and checked for some materials. In another box, she would get out some cloth and what was left of some stuffing from a small glass jar. She needed to go to a craft store eventually, but the materials she had now were good enough to get her mind off things.

There was enough cheap coffee that was being served in the teacher's lounge that Lynn couldn't handle. The brew wasn't of the good quality she had back at the diner. Some of the other teachers here appeared to be "squares" or related to the sports teams. Were there any sports teams in this school? She did spot a football field and a baseball diamond.

"Ms. Lambert. I see that you have arrived." another woman appeared with gray hair and a set of glasses. The standard teacher type, though Lynn thought she was the type to do discipline. "Yes, that's me. Is there any actual classes for me to go over?" Lynn tried to remain professional. Try to act like Caitlyn, maybe that will help?

"One of the classes that will need your assistance will be the class of Mr. Applegate, our English teacher. He has fell prey from a nasty accident, when he was on his vacation back at Vegas."

What Lynn was not told was that Mr. Applegate was actually going to be possibly fired, after he downed several bottles of expensive liquor that he brought after getting sums of money from blackjack betting, to which he drove his car, nearly causing a strip maul, before crashing into several slot machines. If anything, Lynn should have been told that Applegate was going to jail for reckless endangerment.

"I was also told that you were to be a substitute as a P.E teacher."

"Of course! I was actually a football player back at my school. They allowed girl's football there. I think it would be good if I taught some kids that athletics isn't all about getting bombarded by dodgeball or doing push-ups." Lynn said happily, but the other teacher immediately revealed this gem.

"Coach Beuller isn't going to be a good colleague with you, if you insist on having his students play it soft." Lynn immediately froze from that response. "Ok... where's Applegate's classroom? I love to get my materials organized early, so I can properly introduce myself to the students." Lynn said, where she was taken to the classroom, in question. "You will have 20 minutes. There is a folder on the desk on the reading material for this class. Also.." the other teacher had something important to note, "Send Zeke up to the office, if you smell cannabis on him. You know when you see him."

Lynn was given the empty classroom to herself for a brief moment. There weren't that lot of chairs in the classroom. Most likely because the amount of teenagers in the town could have been small. That was no big deal to Lynn. She wasn't one of discipline, she was one on learning. Though, she didn't know what else to do, besides worrying about a possible stoner kid named Zeke. She already saw interest in the reading material. Lord of the Flies. Looks like they were supposed to start reading it in class, before Applegate's "accident". It should be no big worry. Lynn got this, she thought to herself.

The kids did eventually show up, wondering about this random new teacher that was at Applegate's desk. A pair of jocks who sat near the front grew curious on her. Lynn could tell that they might be interested in her from their looks. Those boys didn't know that she already had a girlfriend. There was one kid with a beanie on and a t-shirt showcasing a Woodstock shirt that she suspected to be Zeke that was warned to her. Besides a bunch of tired-looking kids, they looked obedient enough.

"Good morning, class. I'm Lynn Lambert. I will be a substitute for Mr. Applegate today. Currently, Applegate had happened to be in an accident, so I have been assigned to make sure you kids are enjoying the wonders of literature."

"I heard Applegate tried to kill several people in Las Vegas." one kid yelled at Lynn.

Student gossip sure managed to travel fast from eavesdropping.

The whole class and Lynn immediately turned to a boy dressed in dark clothing with having short blond-white hair. Lynn could tell that he was a goth or punk kid, though he looked heavily frustrated. Lynn could call out the boy for being rude, but she wanted to focus. "How about we take roll call now?" Lynn said. "Zeke?"

The kid with the beanie said here. Lynn knew it. "Carter?"

"Here."

"Billy?"

"Here."

"Beverly?"

"Here", a girl said, wearing a Roxanne Wolf themed shirt from the late Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizza Plex from Utah said.

"Joshua?"

The boy in the back raised his hand silently. He didn't bother to call out the usual "Here". Lynn needed to make a note about that boy.

After roll call, Lynn tried to advance with class. "Ok, class. Today, we are going to read an interesting novel in class, called Lord of the Flies. I do know that this book does have some violent material, but one can say it's one of the first young adult novels published. You should have these books already from last week, from what I read beforehand. Any questions before we start?" Lynn asked, when Zeke raised his hand.

"Yeah, is it true that Applegate is arrested?"

Lynn wondered what Caitlyn would do in her shoes from that moment onwards.

"Sheriff Leone is trying to find any likely names in the Jacob Owens case. He's making a record of any offenders in the area with criminal records, but no evidence that can nab us a prep." Deputy Brown was on the phone with a fellow officer back at the police station. Deputy Brown had to change out of his attire for a private meeting with one of Bronco's community pillars. The only problem was that she was out of town. The person to communicate for her was her housekeeper Miss Pratchett, who made herself known to the deputy on a bus stop, resting on a bench. Deputy Brown hung up the phone, before meeting Pratchett.

"Miss Pratchett.."

"Have a seat, sonny boy. I know how much there is to talk about. Especially the funeral tonight." Miss Pratchett pulled out a cartoon of cigarettes. Mostly to "pay" back Deputy Brown. "Is Katherine still out of Bronco? When is she supposed to come back?" Deputy Brown needed to know, since he was supposed to relay information.

"Katherine cannot come back now. She has to attend with old friends back in the East of the states. Give her a week or two. She can still communicate by letter." Miss Pratchett explained, making sure Brown was smoking away from her, so she didn't breath in that smoke.

"She is still a mysterious woman."

"You know how she is. Still bitter after everything."

Deputy Brown let out a puff of smoke, before he started to explain things. "I spoke with the coroner and Mrs. Sellers. Jacob is getting an open-casket funeral. His brother Joshua is already out of it. Jacob's mother is still in the midst of a mental breakdown, but that's a different issue. We couldn't find any evidence on who would target Jacob. We do have reason to believe that someone was stalking Jacob Owens, but there's no motive. We found him out near the crossing not far from his house. The boy was only strangled to death and we were only able to find the littlest of clues."

"That's impossible! That poor boy is dead and you can't catch the criminal?!" Pratchett sounded disgusted at Deputy Brown's incompetence. "We found a hatch in his bedroom closet that led to the attic. We think that the killer might have been up there, but other than that, we got no forensics. No strands of hair. No skin cells. No fingerprints. Nothing. The perp was mostly likely wearing rubber gloves and a hairnet. A mask, possibly too. It seems too organized for a death of a child. Without a motive too, we're screwed."

"How long has it been since the Hartman massacre? There hasn't been a murder since 1996..." Pratchett mentioned to Deputy Brown. He already knew the 6 people that were found dead in the Frightmare attraction. Or what was left of them. The thought of that murder spree made Brown shudder, thinking about Jonathan Weaver. "Damn it, Weaver..." Brown said silently to himself. "We already trying to identify possible suspects. People with criminal records. Anyone who might have a bad alibi."

"How are you even going to be so sure that you can catch your prep? They could be out there right now, doing God knows what!" Pratchett yelled, though Brown's attention was focused on seeing a young woman with a fire poker in her hands, walking over to the carnival row. "Uhhh... isn't that supposed to be one of the women that Lowery mentioned were supposed to own Augustus's place now?" Brown mentioned to Pratchett, both of them staring at Shaw heading to Captain Wolf's.

"You reckon that she knows about the animatronics?"

"I don't see any reason on why not to carry that thing around. Lowery must have told her."

Caitlyn did see the two at the bus stop. It was obvious that she couldn't explain herself, but the only thing she could do was give a wave to the two. Deputy Brown ended up giving a wave back. Brown let out a puff of smoke, watching Shaw go pass them to the carnival row.

"Well. Looks like she knows. Should I tell the Sheriff? Don't know how long the Frightmare is going to last now. It's on its last legs." Brown commented, before him and Pratchett departed.

Caitlyn turned on the flashlight. Her flashlight shined throughout the foyer of the dark ride. Natural light was still shining through, but now, Shaw could venture down some of the hallways that were too dark to see. Caitlyn wanted to call out for the same animatronics that chased her out, but she was hesitant. She couldn't blame herself. She could get herself killed for her troubles. Where should she go?

She wasn't going to go back upstairs. That skeleton had a sword and didn't look that friendly. She invested in going down a hallway on the ground floor. What room did she not go in? She went down a darkened hallway with the flashlight shining. There was a doorway to a room? She peeked inside. It was a nautical themed exhibit. There was a model pirate ship and a model cruise ship. She walked inside to look at the plague at the cruise ship.

"The Unsinkable - 1912." the plague read.

Looked like an exhibit themed to ships? The place was originally a museum. The metal track was visible on parts of the floor, meaning the ride cars would pass through here. There had to be something else her-

*thump* *thump*

There were a familiar set of footsteps. They knew she was here again. Caitlyn got her fire poker ready, keeping it in her hand. She also dug into her purse for the "offering" that she made. She didn't know that it would work, but she needed to see what would happen. Where was that parrot animatronic that tried to kill her? It was somewhere. She followed the metal track, until she noticed there was a familiar hallway that was leading her back to the party room. It had to be back in there. Caitlyn didn't spare a chance. She went into the stage, seeing the curtains at the stage closed again. She focused her flashlight at the stage, getting the trinket that she put in her purse ready with the fire poker still fumbling around in her hand.

Using the fire poker, she stuck the tip of it through the gap, drawing the curtains aside, where... the stage was empty.

"...It's right behind me, isn't it?" Shaw thought, when she felt a presence behind her. "You know, it's rude to sneak up on someone like that." Caitlyn said, getting her "wild card" from her purse. It was something that she spent a hour making at her new office in the house. It was a small puppet-like doll. It was more of a glorified sock monkey, but she gave it a porcelain-faced appearance in multi-colored stripes and buttons. She calmly turned around to see who was behind her.

Just as she thought, it was that parrot animatronic again. It had cornered her. It looked vicious. It looked ready for blood. But Shaw wanted to test a theory. If that theory didn't work, she was ready to start hitting the killer robot with the fire poker. She held up the doll to the parrot. An offering to it. The parrot stayed still. It looked at the doll, then started to approach Shaw. She had to stay her ground. Maybe it was seeing if she would react in fear.

"Go on.. Is this what you want?" Caitlyn said. She was waiting for the animatronic to take the doll. It just stood there, observing her and the doll. "Go on.." Caitlyn grew impatient. She set down the doll in front of the animatronic. It still didn't budge. She did notice a gap between the doorway and the animatronic. "So what? You're going to chase me out here again?" Caitlyn gave a taunt, walking slowly around the animatronic to the exit. The animatronic turned around to see the doll on the floor. With a mechanical green arm, it picked up the doll by it's leg, turning back to Caitlyn.

"Great.. I..." Caitlyn was seeing the absurdity of the situation was now too much to bear. "Oh what am I supposed to do!?" Caitlyn needed to vent. "I spent my ass trying to figure out a way to not have you try to kill me again and the only thing that I done was waste my own time! Seriously?! How was I supposed to expect this when I bought the property?! I sunk nearly everything into this building and I'm going to most likely get myself killed for my troubles! Now, Lynn will be disappointed in me! Because I have to deal with things like you in my way!"

"I think you're overreacting."

"Of course, I am! Of-" Shaw stopped speaking, when she heard the voice. She immediately knew where it came from. It was coming from the parrot animatronic in front of her. It could talk. "Did you just-.. Am I dreaming right now?" Caitlyn said, her eyes going wide. Sure enough, the parrot animatronic was talking to her. Actually talking to her. "You shouldn't be dreaming now. It's still in the middle of the afternoon, but seeing how you're not sleepwalking, you're clearly not dreaming!" the parrot animatronic tried to sound sarcastic, but Caitlyn ended up pointing the fire poker at the parrot.

"I want to know what's going on! Who's under there!?" Caitlyn wanted to think that there was someone under the metallic plastic looking shell. Someone playing her, but she could see those yellow eyes. It was an animatronic straight up talking to her. It didn't even seem bothered that Shaw was threatening it with a fire poker. Would that even do damage?

"I.. I don't think it would be possible to remove my head. It would be hard to put myself toget-"

"Ok, I get it! Who are you? How is this even possible?" Shaw kept the fire poker pointed at the animatronic. "Well, I live here with my crew and family. I don't know if that could answer your family... and especially since Dad will get mad that there is someone in here.." the animatronic said. Caitlyn could tell that the voice was clearly male. In fact, the parrot was sounding like a young man. Possibly a little younger than her. He sounded carefree, despite attacking Shaw the previous day. "I should escort you out, before the Captain comes around. He might not like to see you with that metal spike thingy."

"It's called a fire poker." Caitlyn calmed down, lowering the fire poker. The parrot didn't attack her with her guard down. He was friendly, but she had so many questions. "I'm..." Caitlyn needed to explain herself. Maybe doing so wouldn't lead to her being chased out again. "I'm Caitlyn Shaw. I don't think Lowery told you the news that the building is under new ownership.."

"Lowery? It's been a while, since I heard about him. He's still here in Bronco?" the parrot asked with some interest. "Could I have a name, first?"

"Oh right! I'm Seamate Sully!" the animatronic gave a salute, like he's part of a naval cruise. "I'm a crew member for the Captain's stronghold here in Bronco." Sully sounded more easygoing than Caitlyn thought.

"Right. Peter Lowery. He used to own the carnival row when I met him. Him and Walt Tyson are letting me have the building."

"Wait? Tyson?" Sully clearly recognized the name. "I didn't know that he's still around. He was a friend to our family and- Wait, did you just say that you own the building now?" Sully also realized why Shaw was here. "Uhh.. that's going to be an issue. My dads aren't going to like that. I don't think you met them, too." Sully now sounded concerned.

"You have two dads?"

"It's a long story, but the Captain and his companion are the one who own the place. Because the Captain is my dad. And his first mate. They hadn't been friendly to outsiders, unfortunately." Sully explained vaguely.

"Was that why you tried to kill me yesterday?" Shaw accused Sully. "What!? No no no! I was trying to scare you out! It's part of the pirate code here! I didn't realize that you would come back here. I'm.. I'm so sorry if we got off on the wrong foot." Sully rubbed his neck, even though it was a glossy part of his animatronic body. "Are all of you assigned to get people out of here. Including that skeleton from the upper floor?" Shaw said, not noticing that behind her, a single red eye was glowing.

"Oh come on! Jones isn't that bad! If you get to know him, he can be a funny guy! Actually, he's right behind you over there."

Caitlyn immediately felt the hair on the back of her neck stood up. Her fight and flight response was at full force. She raised the fire poker, swinging around with it, where a familiar metal sword clashed with it. A style of swordsmanship. Caitlyn found herself face to face with that terrifying skeleton that was watching her. "Jones, calm down! She's cool! She's here to own the building!" Sully said, causing the skeleton to lean close to Caitlyn. "What is a lass doing here? Even among dead men." Jones said, keeping Caitlyn with the fire poker still against the sword.

"You can drop the sword act, Jones! You know that it's dangerous to be holding and swinging that thing around!" Sully had to step in between the two to get rid of the tension. "The rest of the crew are going to throw a fit, if you're talking with people. You know the rules." Jones said, dropping his pirate accent, checking the sword against the fire poker, until Sully gripped the blade of the sword, bringing it away from Caitlyn.

"You know I'm not allowed to do that, but like I said Jones. She said she owns the Frightmare now." Sully explained, causing Jones to lean close to Caitlyn to inspect her. "You know Norman isn't going to enjoy that, Jay. How am I supposed to tell them the usual news, if you're getting up close and personal?" Jones addressed Sully a different name. Something that Caitlyn took note. "Jay?"

"Uhh.. actually, it's a bit late! I should help you out and make sure no one else tries to do anything reckless!" Sully suddenly grabbed Caitlyn by her arms, preventing her from moving from her arm that had the fire poker holding it. "Wait, where are you taking me!?" Caitlyn was actually being restrained and escorted out of the building. "Don't make too much noise! He might call one of my dads over!" Sully explained in a whisper, as the both of them ended up at the foyer. "Wait, I still have many questions! How are you supposed to address your captain father and your other dad about me? I'm going to go back here tomorrow, you know!" Caitlyn had to make the point clear for Sully.

"I..." Sully looked around to make sure Jones wasn't following him. "I can tell to..., but this has to be a secret for now. I can negotiate with Jones, but it's not going to be safe with the others around. We can try to chat around the same time." Sully said, even straight up opening the door for her.

"Right... it was nice meeting you, J- I mean, Sully."

"It's good to meet you too, Caitlyn. Thanks for the gift, by the way. I'm too old for dolls, but since you're nice and didn't try to impale me, I can keep it!" Sully said, concerning the doll that Shaw left on the floor. "Take care!" Sully said, when Shaw got outside. She heard the door shut behind her, leaving her back outside in front of the Frightmare and in the carnival row.

Now, all that was left for the day was to process what the hell just happened.

"...Lowery.." Caitlyn muttered.