A/N: For those of you who read this chapter right after it first was published, I apologize for the lack of edits. Apparently, I forgot to save my edits before posting this morning so what I initially uploaded was the pre-finalized version. Sorry about that. :(
WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 2017, 7:46 AM
"Hi, you've reached Chris. I'm currently unable to take your call. Please leave a message and I'll get back to you whenever I can. Thank you."
BEEP.
"Hey, what's going on? You said you'd call me last night to fill me in on how it went. You know I hate assuming the worst, but all this silence coming from you lately is really starting to disturb me. This isn't like you at all. Please give me a call when you can. I'll be watching my phone."
END OF MESSAGE.
"Okay," said Jack, sipping the coffee that Richard had made for him. "Let's take this again from the top. Your friend first disappeared when?"
"While we were in the room with the indoor playground," said Kendall. "He lost his cane and went off to find it."
"And when did you go looking for him?" asked Jack.
"Right after," said Kendall. "We couldn't find him anywhere, though, so we checked up by the lost-and-found and he wasn't there."
Jack nodded, scribbling something down on a small notepad. "Go on."
"So we sat down on the bench up front while Josh went to go find his boss, and then we…"
He trailed off. This was the part where he saw the mysterious figure again, and when he and Olivia both felt that uncomfortable chill in the air. Should I tell them? Would they believe it?
Jack was sitting in his chair, pencil frozen in hand as he waited for the rest of the story. "Yes?"
Kendall glanced nervously to his parents, who were both meeting his gaze, clearly as interested in the report as Jack was. Emma's eyes were wet but firm. He looked at his older brother. Josh was hesitant, too, but nodded.
"There was this...thing...that we saw. A black thing."
"What kind of black thing?" asked Jack, continuing to scribble notes.
"Well, it was dressed in a black cloak, but I don't think it was actually black underneath."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because its face was white."
"How do you know it wasn't just a person?"
"Because it had a mouth that looked like it was painted on."
"Could it have been a party mask?"
Kendall shook his head. "It also had one eye that was glowing."
"Okay," said Jack, reluctantly adding the note. "And you saw this, too?" he asked Josh.
Josh nodded. "Yeah. He's right. I...I don't know what it was, but it definitely wasn't human."
Jack sighed as he studied the notes he had just written. He hated whenever controversial things like this came up, but it was his job to write everything down and then sort it out later. With two witnesses, both clearly beyond the stage of childhood fantasies, reporting it, he had to investigate it. He turned to Olivia.
"Did you see this thing, too, honey?" he asked her calmly.
Olivia's face remained buried in her mother's shirt for a few seconds, but she nodded.
Jack's mouth curled. "Tell me more about this Chris Everett," he said.
"From what I hear, he's always been a shady guy," said Josh. "Everyone felt nervous around him."
"What?!" exclaimed Emma, so loudly that Olivia cried out in surprise. "So you knew that there was somebody there who might do something? You LIED to me!"
"No, I didn't!" shouted Josh, half out of anger and half out of guilt. "Or...well...okay maybe I did, but that was back when I thought you were still just being...you know...you about it."
"Being me about it?" said Emma in shock. "Is that all you think I do? Worry? Is that all you think I am? Joshua Daniel Phillips, you have no idea what has made me worry about you all these years...about all three of you. There are things in this world that should never have to be seen by anyone, let alone a child."
"First of all, Mom, I'm not a child," said Josh, his anger rising. "Second, are you forgetting that I was there yesterday? I saw it, too!"
"Which you maybe wouldn't have had to if you'd told me about this creepy guy. Think about Cameron's parents, for goodness sake!"
Josh let out a breath of astonishment. "Wait, are you telling me that this whole thing is my fault?"
Emma huffed. "Well, I am saying that none of this probably would've happened if you'd been upfront with me in the first place."
"Well, you know what? How's this for upfront? If that's how you really feel, then consider me outta here the second I turn eighteen, 'cause I'm done with you!"
Without another word, he got up and stopped loudly upstairs. A second later, they heard a door slam. Olivia started crying again. She hated when her parents and brother argued. It scared her. She wanted desperately to talk to Cameron about it, but then she remembered...and cried even harder.
Emma began tearing up as well and hugged her daughter, kissing her on the head. Kendall sat watching the two, feeling more uncomfortable than he ever had in his life. Between the horrifying events of yesterday and the explosive heat that had just ensued, it felt like the very fabric of life as they knew it was coming apart stitch-by-stitch.
Richard cleared his throat. "Well, I'm terribly sorry you had to witness that, detective. Is there anything else we can do for you?"
"No, that's quite alright," said Jack, also feeling more uncomfortable than ever. "In fact, I've pretty much got all I need. I'm actually on my way to speak to Miss Swift, the other boss. I'll be looking into it and keeping the police informed as I go. I appreciate your time."
"Not at all," said Richard. The two men got up together and he led the detective out. "Take care and good luck."
"Thank you, and the same to you," said Jack, nodding toward Emma and the others still sitting on the couch.
Richard closed the door and turned to his family. The sight of his wife and daughter crying together was heart-breaking, and he felt his own eyes misting. His son was still sitting in the chair, staring down at the carpet. Although he usually kept to himself and whose emotions were trickier to read, Richard could tell that he was also severely shaken up by the incident. He walked over to Emma and placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him and he kissed on the forehead. She buried her face into his shirt. He'd never seen her like this before, the same way he never would have imagined such a tragedy would occur. He thought back to all of his dismissals of her concerns and he silently cursed himself for them.
Josh stared at his bedroom ceiling, still fuming from the heated argument as his fingers drummed along the top of the bed in a vain effort to calm him down. He couldn't believe it. After what had happened, how could his mother actually be blaming him for the whole thing? Sure, Chris Everett was a shady character, but he still remembered how convinced he was that Rebecca and the others had been keeping an eye on him.
I guess we all underestimated just how far he would go to try and...do whatever it was he was trying to do. It's not my fault. We were all snowed...all of us: Rebecca, Derek, Susan.
Susan. He hadn't spoken to her ever since they left. She seemed to be absolutely terrified, given that it was actually her scream that began the panic. His heart felt heavier as he chastised himself for not checking in on her earlier.
The phone rang a few times before she picked up.
"Josh?" Her voice was thick with fear and horror.
"Hey. How are you holding up?" he asked.
She gave a loud cry of anguish. "How am I holding up? Josh, what happened? How could things go from being fine to...to that?!" Her voice was shrill and high-pitched.
"I don't know," said Josh. "I'm sorry," he added, trying to make her feel better. "I know I shouldn't have left my post like that. It's just my brother and sister needed help finding him, and…"
"It's not your fault," said Susan.
Josh grunted. "Try telling that to my mother. In her mind, everything is."
"Why would she think that?"
"Because I didn't tell her about Chris. As soon as I told the detective about it, she freaked."
"Well, she has a good reason to. That man really rubs me the wrong way, Josh. And look what he's done! A kid's gone missing and one of our bosses is dead! It's like those stories Rebecca told me about the old days are happening all over again!"
"You really think so?" asked Josh.
"It-I don't know. I haven't eaten or slept much since it happened. I just don't know what to think anymore. Part of me wants to believe that it's all a nightmare, but every time I look at the TV 'cause my dad won't shut it off, I know it's not."
"Yeah," said Josh. "I didn't really sleep that much last night."
"Me, neither," she said. "I just can't stop thinking about that poor boy...and his parents. Everyone's still saying that he's missing, but after what we saw...there's...there's no way that he could still be alive...is there?"
Josh hesitated. He hadn't thought of that. He remembered Cameron's body, how unusually thin it looked, like an emaciated version of its former self. He remembered how his eyes appeared to be leaking something black. However, he didn't recall seeing any blood, at least not from Cameron. He assumed it was death, especially with what happened to Derek, but what if it actually weren't the case? What Cameron was actually still alive? Still in that thing's clutches somewhere out there?
"Josh?" came Susan's voice, once again heavy with emotion. Apparently, she'd been fighting back more of her fear in his silence.
"Yeah, I'm here," he said. "Sorry, I was just thinking."
"About what?"
"I don't know," he said, dismissing his theory. "I've just been thinking a lot since this happened. If I actually thought this much in school, I'd be Harvard-bound."
She chuckled, which made him smile. It was a sound he'd grown rather fond of hearing.
"Oh, so I'm friends with a flunkie," she said, attempting to make lighthearted conversation, though her voice was still heavy.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"
"No, don't be. I'm actually glad you called. I needed it."
"Good," said Josh, his heart fluttering a little bit.
"So what do we do now?" she asked.
It was a good question. It was so strange. After only two days of work, he was already pretty much laid-off, along with everyone else. With the recent incident already in the news and the past of the franchise awakening from hibernation, there was no way that the restaurant would reopen again...at least not for another very long time. Perhaps in another thirty years with another promise to a new generation of untainted people that nothing could ever go wrong, assuming there were no suspicious characters lurking about.
"I have no idea."
Jack sat in his desk chair, staring down at the notes he'd taken. He'd already taken reports from several other witnesses at the scene at the police's urging, but there was something about the Phillips' testimonies that intrigued him. It wasn't just the fact that they were the only ones to actually witness the events, along with Susan Gregory. As they told their story, he remembered that fearful look in their eyes. It was a look that could only ever be worn by someone who witnessed something traumatic and could not be matched by anyone else. He'd seen that look before but was struggling to remember when.
He flipped through his notes, studying every single word etched lightly on the paper reflecting the disappearing sun. Out of the three Phillips children, it was the eldest son's report that was the most coherent, which made sense. The young man talked about how he'd just begun working there only days earlier, how normal everything had seemed at first, and suddenly, everything went to hell. It was the same as nearly everyone else's reports, except for one thing: the mysterious cloaked figure that had been reported.
Jack flipped to and re-examined the middle son's report. He'd been more shaken up but still determined to tell the story. While his report was obviously different in many ways, the one common bond that his and his brother's stories shared were the similar experiences they had concerning this figure. It brought chills to his spine just imagining it.
Unfortunately, the youngest child had barely said anything useful, given her young age and distraught mind. The one noteworthy thing she did say was about none other than the same thing: the figure. Although she didn't say much else, Jack could tell as he watched her cry into her mother's shirt that the young missing boy, whom they insisted had been killed, was very close to her. It almost made him tear up as well, but he shook his head with determination and continued his work.
Then there was the report from Susan Gregory. This was the icing on the cake because she wasn't related to the Phillips, which added to their credibility. Unfortunately, she was too flustered to give great details about this mysterious figure, but he'd managed to pull out the familiar details. Whatever this thing was, it certainly wasn't something of the imagination.
In addition to continuous questions from the police, he'd already received three calls from concerned parents over the course of the day frantically asking for an update. He'd kindly referred them over to the police if they needed anything, but he was busy. It still amazed him that he happened to be in the right place when it happened, so the police were quick to officially hire his services. If only he'd seen it for himself, then he'd have more to go off of. He still wondered who it was that had given him the anonymous tip. Could it have been the boss, Rebecca Swift? Possibly, but when he'd spoken to her earlier, she seemed too oblivious to who he was, giving no sign of recognition.
Someone must've known.
His cell phone buzzed. It was a text from his wife.
Hi hon. I know ur busy but if u get the chance could u plz pick up some milk & butter on the way home? Thx.
He groaned but answered affirmatively. He was about to set his phone down when a thought occurred to him.
I wonder what he remembers.
Scrolling through his contacts, he found the number that he hadn't called for a few years. As he listened to the ringing tone, he wondered whether or not his friend still had his number and would recognize the caller. After about twenty seconds, he got a response.
"Hello?"
"Jason?" he asked proactively.
"Speaking," said his friend's voice. "Who's calling?"
"It's Jack."
There was a pause for a few moments. Jack waited patiently for a response, unsure of what he would hear.
"Hmm...Jack. Jack who?"
"Jack Samson, from high school."
"Samson, Samson. Sorry. Doesn't ring a bell. Now if your voice was a little higher and squeakier, then I might believe it."
Jack rolled his eyes. "I told you, my voice was never squeaky," he said as he heard Jason laughing on the other end of the line.
"Yeah, whatever you say. How've you been? It's been, what...four years since the last time we talked?"
"Four and a half," said Jack. "We had a few drinks in that run-down bar in Cleveland the day before Christmas Eve."
"Oh, yes. Thanks again for driving me home. I swear, I've never tasted vodka that dry."
"Neither have I," said Jack, chuckling.
"You a big shot yet? I've been reading some online reports lately about some pretty crazy nut jobs being a little too resistant to Georgia's new driving laws," said Jason.
"No, actually. I ended up moving last year. Atlanta was getting a little too hot for my taste. I'm in St. Louis now."
"Ooh, St. Louis. Well, you're certainly moving up in the world. How's that going for you?"
Jack hesitated before answering. "It's alright, I guess. What about you?" he said, wanting to distract himself for as long as he could before he had to get down to business. "How's your sister?"
"Marla? Fine. In fact, she just got engaged last month."
"Really? That's great. Tell her I said congrats," said Jack in a low voice. He heard Jason chuckle.
"Yeah, it looks like you two aren't gonna work out after all."
"What do you mean?" said Jack defensively.
"I remember how interested you were in her in high school."
"I wasn't interested in her!" Jack protested. "Really! She was just your sister...who's about five years older and was already well out of college at the time."
"Uh-huh. It had nothing to do with her 'cute eyes' or 'pretty hair'?" Jason teased.
"Okay, fine. So maybe I was interested in her. But who wouldn't be? She's a beautiful woman."
"Yeah, she is," said Jason.
"Besides, the past is the past. I've already got a woman."
"True. How is Audrey?"
"She's fine. Her business is still expanding, so that's a plus. Anyway, congrats again to your sister. She's quite a woman."
"Yep. Her fiance knows so, too. Great guy. You've never met him, but we kind of go back a little, too."
"How's the business?" asked Jack, still wishing to make the momentary distraction last.
"Well, things have been kind of hectic for the last couple of months, but we're hanging in there. Unfortunately, my latest game idea fell through. Imagine a game where you find yourself sneaking into an abandoned mall to look around only to find yourself in the middle of a decade-old plot involving state-of-the-art machines that go awry and try to kill you."
"Sounds interesting, though a little violent," said Jack.
"Well, it sounds a lot worse than it actually is...or at least would've been. I wanted to put more emphasis on the human aspect of it rather than the technology. Not that it matters anyway. Apparently, there's already a very similar game that some guy named Scott created a year or two ago, so my superiors shut me down on that one. Unbelievable! All of my experience and I get vetoed simply because I'm late to the party? I'd like to ask some of these other developers what they know about watching a murderer in a yellow bunny suit kidnap their friends in front of them."
There was a pause, followed by a sigh.
"But anyway...enough about me. What can I do for you, old buddy?"
"Well, actually, since we're kind of on the topic, there's something important I need to ask you," said Jack.
"Sure. What's up?"
Jack tapped his finger nervously on his desk. The tapping was probably audible on the other end, so he didn't want to mince words.
"Remember that night...like a week before graduation...when we snuck into that abandoned theme park to see if those ghost stories were true?"
"Hmm...I can't recall. Did it involve you screaming like a little girl when you got jump scared by a raccoon?" Jason asked.
Jack cringed. "Yeah, that's the one."
"What about it?"
"Well...you told me something that's actually interested me for years."
"Really? What?"
After another moment of hesitation, he spoke: "Freddy Fazbear's."
A dead silence fell upon them. At first, Jack wasn't sure whether or not his friend was still on the line.
"What about it?" Jason asked, his tone suddenly lower and much more serious.
Jack sighed. "It's a long story."
Night had fallen. Hardly anyone ate anything for dinner. In fact, Josh took his plate up to his room without a word to his parents. Normally, Richard would have prevented it, but with remnants of the morning's heated argument still lingering, he allowed it.
Sometime after ten o'clock, Emma found herself sitting on the couch, staring miserably into the fire. Despite the summer heat, she'd felt an inexplicable chill since they'd left the restaurant nearly thirty-six hours ago. She had no clue why, but she just couldn't shake the cold feeling. At her request, Richard had started a fire in the fireplace. Truth be told, she wasn't really that cold, but she always enjoyed watching the flames and embers. It allowed her the chance to drift away into her thoughts. With the crackling flames giving a comfortable blanket of heat and providing her with a mesmerizing image to lose herself in, she was about as sane and content as she could possibly be at the moment.
Her tears had stopped; she'd just about cried herself dry for the time being, but her mind was still numb from what had happened. How could things have gone so wrong so quickly? One moment, she and her husband were talking with another couple, laughing about something that she couldn't even remember now. And then...with no warning, people began getting up one-by-one and rushing to the other side of the room. Perhaps one of the children had fallen and was seriously hurt, but when she and Richard had finally decided to join the action and head over to see for themselves, that was when she heard screaming coming from the back room. In a split second, before the other children began to panic, she recognized one of the screams as her daughter's. With a sense of dread she hadn't felt in a long time, she practically sprinted into the back room with Richard hot on her trail. She remembered her joy when she saw all three of her children safe, but the image of that man's body on the ground drowned her short-lived relief back into the sea of dread that had engulfed her.
Her children had been the only ones to see it...along with that other girl. That was probably the worst part about it all. On one hand, she was happy that she didn't have to witness something that horrific herself again, but on the other hand, what kind of good mother wishes that her children be the ones to take her place in the scenario? Was she really so willing to avoid reliving her own childhood trauma that she would rather sacrifice her children's wellbeing to make it so? Beneath the fear and other feelings of helplessness, a deep sense of guilt began to engulf her. How could she be so selfish? Her children were more delicate to her than they would ever know, and she would never wish anything scarring upon them.
I would rather it be me...wouldn't I?
She continued watching the flames dancing in the fireplace. She sighed in content. After processing so many thoughts and emotions in the last few hours, she hadn't realized how tired she was. Her chill finally seemed to be leaving her as the warmth from the fire finally began to settle and her eyelids continued to get heavier.
She was running down a dark hallway as fast as her legs could carry her. She didn't know what she was running from...if she was even running from anything. Maybe it was to something.
She stopped for a moment to catch her breath. When she rested her hand on the wall, she noticed that her hand didn't even reach the bottom of the bulletin board in the hall. Looking down at herself, she saw that she was wearing a light red dress with buckled shoes, one of her mother's choice outfits for her.
She was a child.
"Emma!" came a familiar voice down the hall. Looking ahead, she saw a figure about her height coming from the darkness. She had dark hair and was wearing a light blue T-shirt and blue pants. Her eyes were bright and her smile was wide.
Emma smiled back. "Cassidy!"
"Come on!" Cassidy said as she waved her hand in a summoning motion.
Emma followed her friend through the wall of darkness and a familiar setting took shape around them. The blanket of silence that had been looming around her like a void was suddenly broken by the sounds of music and laughing children. She saw a room filled with children, all around her age, sitting at tables eating pizza and running around with their friends. There was a merry-go-round playing a jaunty tune in the middle of the room. On stage, there were three animatronics singing and moving in time with the music: Bonnie the bunny, Chica the chicken, and Freddy Fazbear himself.
Emma smiled. She was home.
"Emma, over here!" called Cassidy from the other side of the merry-go-round.
Peering through one of the cracks, Emma saw her friend waving her over. She began moving along the side when she was interrupted by two of her other friends running toward the ride in front of her. As they approached, one of them tripped and fell. The other took his place on one of the horses.
"And Carlton wins again!" he announced, holding up a fist in the air victoriously.
"That's not fair!" Marla protested as she got up. "I fell!"
"All is fair in love and war," replied Carlton.
"Eww! We're not in love!"
"I know. It's something my dad tells my mom a lot whenever she gets mad at him for beating her to the last slice of leftover pizza. She gets so mad and gives him this really mad look. It's really funny!"
Marla glared at him. He laughed.
"Yeah, like that!"
Emma approached where she'd seen Cassidy only moments before, but she was no longer there.
"Cassidy?" she called out.
"Over here, Emma!"
Cassidy was standing near the stage, waving her friend over.
"They're playing your favorite song!" she said.
Immediately, her favorite song, Sing, Little Children, began playing in its usual simplified rendition. Bonnie was moving his hands up and down, Chica's eyes were constantly moving back and forth as she sang, and Freddy's hand was waving back and forth.
Emma felt her body swaying to the tune back and forth as it always did. She liked the beat and rhythm of the song, not that she knew what they were. As the tune picked up sound and Freddy began singing, her dance became more elaborate and exaggerated. She heard Cassidy giggle beside her.
The animatronics sang and moved together, their fur glistening in the lights. Freddy's eyes turned to look directly at Emma, causing her to stop dancing. He kept singing, giving the impression that he was singing to her. She blushed and averted her gaze onto one of the others, a yellow rabbit standing just behind Bonnie. Weird: she hadn't seen him before.
"Cassidy, do you know who that is?" she asked. No answer. She turned to see that her friend was no longer by her side. "Cassidy?" She turned back to the stage and saw that it was once again just the familiar trio on stage. The yellow rabbit was no longer there.
"Cassidy?" she called out into the crowd. "Cassidy?" How could she have been standing next to her one moment and then gone the next?
Seeing no sign of her friend, Emma began scanning the crowd, searching for anything resembling Cassidy's appearance. With no luck, she began moving as best as she could through the other kids, which wasn't easy. Some were sitting at tables, eating and laughing, while others were off on their own adventures with their friends, completely oblivious to her attempts to locate her missing friend.
After a few minutes, she saw two of her classmates. One of them was wearing a light pink blouse with a matching skirt with white tennis shoes. The other was wearing a light blue shirt and blue jeans with a pair of red tennis shoes. While she wasn't close friends with either of them, she knew them, just like everyone in their first-grade class knew each other. They were talking about something as she approached.
"Charlie, Jessica. Did you see where Cassidy went?"
They looked at each other for a moment before they both shook their heads.
"Wasn't she with you?" asked Charlie.
"She was, but she's gone now. I can't find her."
"Maybe she went to the bathroom. Maybe John saw her. He just went to the bathroom, too," said Jessica, smirking. "I told him not to drink that whole bottle of water!"
"Okay, thanks," said Emma, annoyed at the unnecessary information as she trotted over to the bathrooms.
"Hey, Emma!" called a voice from a nearby table. It was another one of her classmates, dressed rather elegantly for the occasion in a nice oversized dress shirt. "You okay? You look like you lost something."
"I'm just looking for Cassidy."
"Oh. Well, I don't know where she is."
"Yeah, it's okay. Bye, Lamar."
She continued to slowly make her way toward the bathrooms, keeping her eyes peeled for her friend, though it was hard to make anyone out in the large crowd. She never liked large crowds. They made her feel uncomfortable as if she was being closed in. The noise was another issue. Given her rather reserved nature, she always preferred smaller quieter places to enjoy herself. Usually, her parents only brought her here during the week in the evenings, but today was a special Saturday, so she figured she would have to tough it out for a day. Still, she always enjoyed coming here. It was what she looked forward to every day.
Finally, she reached the bathrooms right as John emerged from the boys' room. He was wearing a nice button-up shirt that was wrinkled with the top few buttons undone and part of the hem was untucked. His hair was ruffled and messy, like it had been combed but was disheveled due to rough play. The most amazing part was that even after washing his hands, they still looked like they were as dirty as could be.
"Hey, John. Have you seen Cassidy?"
John tapped his chin in thought. She couldn't help but chuckle at the gesture. He looked like her dad did whenever he was making a big decision. He shook his head.
"I thought she was with you. Isn't she always with you?"
"Yeah, but…"
"Wait, isn't that her over there?" he said, pointing.
Emma turned to the direction of his gaze. At first, she saw nothing in the sea of other kids, but after a few moments of scanning, she recognized her friend's dark hair and blue shirt.
"Cassidy!" she cried, taking off in that direction. "Thanks, John!" She called back over her shoulder.
As she continued to close in on Cassidy, she realized that her friend seemed to be getting further away. In fact, she appeared to be walking in a trance-like motion, as if she were following something. It was very strange: Cassidy was always more of an outgoing leader, sometimes dragging Emma to play with other people whom she wasn't really close to. The only time Cassidy ever really followed someone else's directions was if it were a trustworthy adult.
After finally making it past the crowded merry-go-round, where Carlton and Marla were now having an imaginary race on the horses, Emma noticed that Cassidy was once again gone. Moreover, the door to the back room was swinging slightly like it had just been used.
Did she lose something? Emma wondered. Maybe she's looking for the lost-and-found. Maybe I can help her.
She had never been in the backroom before, and her fears of getting into trouble were present. She considered waiting here for her friend and whoever was with her to emerge. After all, as her mother always told her, nice girls didn't go places that they shouldn't, but her curiosity finally got the better of her. Cautiously, she pushed the door open and walked through.
The environment was completely different back here. While the main room was filled with noises and lights, back here everything was dim, quiet, and cold. Immediately, she grew scared by the darkness and turned back to the door. But then she stopped herself.
I can't leave without Cassidy, she thought. Mom said that everything is still the same when it's dark but you just can't see it. Where's the light switch?
She reached around along the wall and thankfully found a switch almost immediately. She flipped it up but nothing happened. She tried again. Still nothing.
Why aren't the lights going on?
She looked around the dark room. All she could make out were a set of shelves a few feet ahead of her and a dim blue light off to the right. Beyond that, there was nothing but darkness. Tears began to fall from her cheeks as her fears returned. What if there was something in the darkness waiting to get her? Like a monster?
Then, from somewhere in the darkness came a voice. It was very faint and unintelligible, but she could hear it. It sounded like a girl...a familiar girl.
Emma took a careful step forward, making sure she didn't hit anything. She took another, and another, gradually gaining confidence with each step, following along the side of the shelf she could still make out. As she walked further into the room, she heard another voice. This was a man's voice, a grown-up. She breathed a sigh of relief knowing that Cassidy was in good hands and turned back to the door when another thought hit her.
Why would a grown-up be taking her somewhere in the dark?
A pit dropped in her stomach as she thought back to her stranger-danger talks with her parents and teachers. As she turned around once more into the darkness, something grabbed her arm, causing her to let out a scream. After fighting and fidgeting with the arm for a few moments, the grip loosened and dangled in front of her, making her realize that her "attacker" was nothing more than a metal arm that was hanging from the shelf.
A set of heavy thudding footsteps echoed nearby. She turned and saw a shadow step between her and the blue light nearby. It stood motionless, and she knew it was staring directly at her. She remained rooted to the spot, trembling, fearing the worst. Would it run at her? She prayed not.
And then, the shadow began moving backwards very slowly. As it stepped into the light, her heart nearly stopped. It was the yellow rabbit from earlier, only now it looked wrong. Its matted fur was a mess, its head didn't quite sit right on its shoulders, and its ear was a little mangled.
As it stepped fully into the light, Emma's eyes were drawn to what was in its grip. She let out a gasp. Laying limp in the heavy arms was none other than Cassidy, blood dripping from her mouth and blank eyes staring right back at her friend.
Emma wanted to start crying, but immediately the giant rabbit opened the door and disappeared with Cassidy inside. Emma ran up to the door as fast as she could and tried to follow, but the doorknob wouldn't budge. She frantically tried pulling on it, but nothing she did made the door move even an inch.
As she continued trying to force the door open, a chill ran down her spine, giving her the odd sense that there was something else in the room with her. She turned her head slowly.
Standing a few feet away from her was a dark figure. Its body was twisted and its arms were long. Its torso was partially matted with thick black fur while other parts were bare, showing nothing but bare skin. Its face was shaped like that of a werewolf, like she had seen in one of her fairytale books in school, only this was much more foul than she ever could've imagined. Its eyes were pure white, like they were staring directly into her mind. Her arms, which had begun visibly shaking, fell from the cold doorknob as this thing stared back at her with a smile plastered on its cold, unloving face. It looked like an absolute nightmare.
And then, without the mouth ever moving, a cold voice spoke inside of her head.
She's gone, Emma, and it's all your fault.
She heard a scream, and it wasn't until she noticed her mouth open that she recognized that it was her. Suddenly, she was pulled away forcefully. She recognized her mother's grip and her father's angry voice.
"Wait! Cassidy!" she cried out. "The yellow bunny took Cassidy! Somebody needs to get her!"
No one acknowledged her words. In her young brain's vain attempt to control the fear and trauma, she was able to make out people gazing curiously at her before the chaos started and everything became blurred. Tears were gushing out of her eyes now, causing her vision to be reduced to seeing nothing but distorted shapes of people, hearing familiar voices among the everlasting noise of other children becoming frightened.
"Cassidy?" came the voice of Cassidy's mother. "Where's Cassidy?"
She recognized the manager, Charlie's dad, amongst the crowd.
"Please remain calm, everyone. Charlotte? Where are you?"
"Emma, are you okay?"
"Why is Emma screaming?"
"I have to go back!" she cried, desperately hoping that someone would believe her. "I have to find Cassidy! She's in trouble!"
"Cassidy's fine, honey," came her mother's voice. "She's probably off somewhere looking for you. We'll talk to her later. Right now, we're going home, okay?"
"NO!" she screamed, trying to wrestle herself out of her mother's grasp, knowing full well that there would be no "later."
"Emma, calm down!" said her father in an embarrassed and angry tone. "We're going home."
"No, we can't!"
"Emma…"
"NO!"
"Emma!"
Her eyes flew open as her husband's shaking ceased. She gazed around the room and took in the familiar setting of their living room. The fire had nearly died down completely. Richard was looking at her with more concern in his eyes than she had ever seen.
"Are you okay? You were shaking and crying. Were you having a bad dream?"
She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into her, sobbing into his shoulder. She felt his comforting hand patting her back as he whispered words of love into her ear.
"It's alright. It was just a nightmare, hon. It's over."
"It wasn't a nightmare," she finally managed to choke out. "It was a memory."
As Chris drove up to his apartment block, he saw three police cars in the parking lot. Slamming his hand down on the steering wheel in anger, he pulled out his phone and sent his friend a text:
Plan went awry. Sry for not calling. Spent all day trying to track down target. No luck. Home # compromised. Call cell from now on. Don't wry. I'll be fine.
As he finished his text, he noticed one of the officers stationed outside look over in his direction. With haste, he took off, trying his hardest not to look suspicious as he got out of the area. Glancing in his rearview mirror, he saw that no one was following him and sighed in relief.
Of course. Rebecca probably blabbed to them about me, he thought bitterly. Now I'll have to improvise. It's a good thing I deleted that message before I left this morning. Can't have them trying to track him down, too. He doesn't need to be involved in all of this...not with everything he's already been through. I really should call him back. He's probably worried sick. He'll know what to do.
But then he thought back to Josh. He wondered why the new recruit, of all people, would be the one who witnessed the event. Curiosity perhaps? In any case, the young man was certainly becoming increasingly interesting...and might possibly be the answer to his problems.
Or maybe that return call can wait. I need to get back to the restaurant.
A/N: Finally, an update! Once again to any eager readers, my apologies for the delay. As I said, December was a busy month. Also, while I do know the general direction in which I want to go with this story, I'm still working out the best way to get there. That being said, I'm open to suggestions. If anybody has any ideas that I find interesting I'll see if I can work them into the story somehow (with shoutouts, of course).
Also, for those who caught it: As someone who greatly admires Scott's talents, I simply had to throw the joke in. ;)
Until next time...stay safe and stay healthy!
