An unremarkable girl named Dollface Eloise Cowatch was glued to her grandparents' television screen as a news article rattled off after school, sometime in early May. The unremarkable brown dog next to her snoozed, farting in his sleep. The small brown dog's name was Courage, and the two lived with Dollface's equally as unremarkable grandparents in a town that sat in the middle of nowhere. This nowhere, nobody town in the middle of nowhere was named Elmore, after its founder, Stanly Elmore.
Stanley Elmore died in the early nineteen-hundreds, but not after fathering the rather useless and trashy line of successors, all con-men and fat housewives, soon to be given the name of 'Custer'.
The Custer family, as wretched and proud as they were, were ultimately unremarkable.
Nothing in Elmore was remarkable, except for the Deyhet family chicken coop made from an old shipping crate, Dairy Park, the only gas station in the utterly forgettable county, Daisy's Dairy Delights, run by Dollface's great Uncle Barney, and Friendly Bear's Arcade.
And even that was unremarkable, because everything inside the building was a cheap rip-off of much better brands.
The most interesting thing that had happened in Elmore ever, in anyone's opinion, was the founding of Joey Drews' Studios, but even that had been too boring to stay open for more than a decade, leaving the abandoned building to rot and became a place for kids to made half-assed dares to prove that they were something more than unremarkable.
But to Dollface, Friendly Bear's was everything, even trumping her shifts at Uncle Barney's.
Prissy Missy Custer and her shit-eating friends ate as much ice cream as they wanted with counterfeit coupons at Daisy's, Dollface could play just about any game she wanted with a handful of tokens and watch a live show for only five dollars admission fee.
So sitting in front of the television set as Cecil, the town's only news anchor, talked on and on about something called 'Concept Unification' seemed like the most important information in her young, fairly unremarkable life as she drank out a Welch's juice glass.
She considered the future of her beloved animatronics, musing over what could be next with her best friend, Michael.
Michael was unremarkable, someone she'd found on the side of the road one Halloween night, bleeding.
Michael liked to work on his car and occasionally indulge in Animal Crackers, sometimes even sharing a few with her.
Tonight's story was about the tiny town's only arcade being bought by Fazbear Entertainment for flipping and retrofitting. Fazbear's was top-of-the-line and, compared to the much cheaper Friendly Bear's, who was on the decline anyway, a fairytale come true.
Dollface stared at Friendly Bear and the band members, all knock-offs Fazbear animatronics on the flickering stand. Their ugly, over-saturated colors and latex faces were distorted by the flickering television screen Grampa had bought third-hand from a pawn shop in Clockton.
She set down her pulpy orange juice and licked her top lip as Cecil continued on.
God, could Cecil Baldwin talk!
He could drone on longer than Dollface's school teachers! The only thing saving him in the eyes of Dollface and Michael was the fact that he was talking about stuff that actually mattered.
At least, he was for now.
Friendly Bear's animatronics were the uglier rip-offs of better venues, like ShowBiz or Pizza Time Theater.
Michael agreed.
Something about the animatronics at Friendly's were off. He didn't like them. He didn't like getting new ones though.
Michael didn't like change very much.
Dollface had to admit that she was mildly disappointed, she was hoping for something edgier, like ChuckE Cheese, who had stage shows about promiscuous hippos and often jeered at his audience in a rough New York accent.
Instead, it was Freddy Fazbear, and while an impressive feat on a technical level, was still a glorified Teddy Ruxpin doll.
Dollface much preferred ChuckE Cheese and his loudmouthed performances.
Man, 1977, nearly ten years ago now…
Maybe they'd have a TV special for the anniversary!
Getting back on topic, Friendly Bear's had an in-house laser tag arena. ChuckE didn't have that!
And only five dollars admission fee!
That meant prices would go up after finalization though, considering how Freddy's was higher end than Friendly's, even for a talking teddy bear….
Dollface thought about everything too fast and her head was filled up too quickly, and soon she was overwhelmed.
Then, like a switch, all the loud, chaotic thoughts dribbled out through her ears and she went on her way with one singular inner monologue.
The ever-present shine behind her eyes dimmed down to what it's usual hums, taking Michael's quiet whispers with it.
Dollface thumped onto her haunches, pulling at her jumper skirt, the one with overall straps and a bib front Gramma had helped her make last year.
Gramma had retired as a school teacher, only to take a job as the town tailor after Dollface's mother had started showing nearly sixteen years ago, allowing her granddaughter to learn and create alongside her. Dollface's mother had been unremarkable as well, maybe lazy at worst. She'd ran away after being released from the hospital with whoever got her knocked up, thinking she was now too good for boring ol'Elmore and raising kids.
Michael had decided without even meeting her, he hated Dollface's mother.
Dollface, quite simply, didn't give a shit. What she did give a shit about though, were animatronics.
Red Rodney Rabbit and his green guitar would soon be one form of blue or purple bunny, while Chelsea Chicken and her limp pink skirt would get an upgrade.
Into Chica.
(duh!)
It would be nice to have plump animatronics instead of the cheap, skeletal neon ones she'd grown accustomed to.
Dollface wondered about the fate of Felix the blue fox. He'd been out of order forever, and with no signs of repair coming soon. Even his vinyl faceplate had begun to rot off of its skull from lack of use.
Even the owners, before selling, had no interest in repairs. And to be honest, Dollface, who was there almost every Friday night since the place opened, had only seen him perform once or twice. Fazbear's, the company buying up all the smaller competitors across the U.S. so they could expand their own line of prestigious robots, would probably not be able to continue with the broken-down swashbuckler.
The fate of the fox, it seemed, was yet to be decided.
Well, maybe this was good.
Dollface always wanted to go up to a bigger city, like St. Louis or Branson, with her friends to play in the arcades and watch the REAL Freddy Fazbear perform onstage, but between gas money and party prices, they just couldn't afford it.
Besides, Michael would argue, the place was too loud, there were too many people, and he hated highways. Why would you want to when you have the same thing here?
She wondered, what models would the town be gifted by the owners, the new, experimental Circus designs? The shiny new Fazbear Junior Toyland line? Or even the classic series, with latex faces and bright teddy bear fur? The kind that shedded on your sweater when you snuck on stage to steal a hug because of a dare.
"Gramma?" Dollface padded sock-footed onto the linoleum floors of the kitchen, leaving the tv on to yammer to itself in the other room, all the information she wanted already taken as Cecil continued on to upcoming end-of-year school events that would be happening at Merston High. Courage was left to chase rabbits in his doggy dreams, too old to do much else.
She remembered as a toddler that he would run all over the yard, playing fetch and all sorts of things, licking her toddler face any chance he got. Courage now only had the energy to follow behind her when she went out to feed Grampa's champion hogs or when she went to sneak a peek of her elderly neighbor Tanaka's prized garden.
Gramma quietly peeled potatoes by the sink. "Mmm?"
"My friends an'I wanted t'go t'Friendly's tonight, an' I was wonderin' if there was anythang ya wanted me t'do b'fore I got ready."
"Well, I just finished the 'taters..." Gramma muttered, "and dinner'll be ready later. How 'bout ya do all th'laundry t'morrow so I can get th'attic cleaned out again."
Dollface nodded.
She loved the attic. It was where she'd found her favorite toy, a real vintage Funtum Mortimer McSnurd dummy her Mama found on the side of the road one day walking home from school. It went missing after a month of play, leaving Dollface rather suspicious of Gramma when anything she liked went missing after that…
...Was it because she'd brought it to school and annoyed the teacher with eerily good impressions of other students?
...Whatever!
"Which friends are comin' t'night?"
"Izzy and Princess."
"Hm."
"What's wrong, Gramma?" Dollface asked, nervously. She just wanted Gramma's approval so she could go already!
"Nothin', nothin'." Gramma looked distant. "I'm just glad ya have friends, th'kind that'll keep ya outta trouble."
Gramma grabbed Dollface's chin and looked wistfully into her black eyes, "You are an extraordinary child."
"Is this 'bout Mama again?" Dollface said, trying not to shake herself away from Gramma's soft touch, mildly annoyed. She batted her eyes, smeared with light brown and shimmering gold, lined with black pencil. She avoided Gramma's eyecontact, seeing people's face's directly made her nervous.
Makeup lightened Dollface's black eyes. She didn't have dark brown ones like her friend Izzy did. They didn't light up and turn molten gold like Izzy's did. They just stayed a flat black and almost lifeless. Dollface was jealous, all her friends were allowed to wear blue or purple eyeshadow to school and not just for special occasions and their eyes glowed brightly.
She had the darkest eyes in the whole town, the only other person she knew with such eyes was Michael.
Mama never had friends even though she was tall, pretty, and athletic with light blue eyes and perfect teeth…
Dollface was annoyed by the sudden mention of her mother. She seemed to steal the show at inconvenient times, which tended to ruin plans.
Gramma still wasn't done mourning her only child. Dollface couldn't really understand, seeing that she was here, not her mother. Shouldn't that be enough?
Gramma snapped out of whatever funk she'd fallen into at Dollface's unintentionally sharp question, letting go. "Let's not discuss that now." Gramma kissed Dollface on the forehead. "You're gettin' so tall an' pretty, just like her."
"No I'm not. Maymie was tall an'I still have t'stand on m'toes t'reach things."
"Never mind her, you are you and Maymie is Maymie." Gramma said, "And yes, I think ya should go an'see yer friends."
Dollface rang her hands to release some energy. She always had too much of it, annoying people with her absent wrist flapping and finger tapping.
She'd be turning sixteen near the end of summer. That was in only a few months now!
It was amazing to see how time had flown over Freshman year! Most of her friends were fourteen or fifteen, making her sudden jump in age a little awkward, but in a few months, the playing field would be evened out again.
"Thanks Gramma." Dollface called as she ran to her bedroom on the other side of the twenties' style cottage.
"Get me a red balloon, they're m'favorite!" Replied Gramma over her shoulder, grabbing a real slugger of a carrot for the week's stew to peel. She shook her head and smiled, What would she do without Dollface's spontaneity?
Once inside her room and past the Funtum Black Label Rabbits that lined an entire shelf, Dollface searched her closet for something to wear, grabbing a jean jacket, then turning on her antique dresser. Finding acid washed jeans to match and a bright red Hawaiian button up from when Grampa was stationed in Hawaii, she changed, then teased her hair, making faces in the mirror.
Maybe she was immature, but being this way was more fun.
Gramma always hated when Dollface dressed up like this, but since it was more appropriate than what the rich kids in other, much bigger towns wore, Gramma couldn't really complain for too long. She always said Dollface needed to dress more 'feminine'.
Dollface liked that too, but tonight, she wanted to feel like a rockstar, just like Gene Simmons or Starman!
But cute.
With a bit of dark makeup and dramatic eyeliner, Dollface was ready.
She looked like a short, blonde Joan Jett!
Or even Annie Lennox!
Before making her call on the ancient landline to prepare with her friends, Dollface shifted around the box of trinkets Cousin Mike had sent her throughout his years of duty and chose a trinket to carry with her.
She landed on a toy soldier from Germany and pocketed it in her vest.
Outside, the girl threw a booted leg over her bike, tossing her bag into the basket, and took off past the old buildings from eras past.
Daisy's Dairy Delights where she worked shifts over the summer and afterschool, old Mister Haddonfield's hardware store (the one that got broken into when she was fourteen, poor mister Haddonfield!) a few imposing Victorian houses that lay either abandoned or well-lived and unkempt, and finally, she turned onto Hurricane street, right next to the abandoned Joey Drews' Studio.
She snatched her bag, running in combat boots on cracked, black asphalt heated by the warm late Spring sun to her friends standing by the glass and metal door of Friendly Bear's.
Izzy immediately opened her arms for a hug, hair teased to the heavens, complete with cow headband and side ponytail. They giggled in excitement, Izzy's fluffy pink skirt borrowed from Princess glittering and bouncing in the hot sunlight. Dollface peeled away, that was just too much touching for her.
"So, are we gonna go in, or just stand here?" Princess smiled with full lips, rose tinted glasses blinding Dollface from the glare of the late afternoon light.
Princess wasn't much for cuddles, which was fine by Dollface, and how she managed to survive in midwestern heat wearing a tide orange sweater was beyond even her parents.
And she never really dressed up for much either.
Unless Lily was coming.
Then, she dressed up like a Barbie doll.
Dollface still fell for her childhood best friend in the seventh grade anyway. That was then, and it could stay there.
"Wait, wait wait wait, wait." Dollface stuttered flatly, recognizing her younger cousin's car, making her stomach drop.
"Oh, uh, yeah. That shouldn't bother us, right?" Izzy knotted her thick brows and smiled worriedly. The three knew what this could end up being, but no one wanted to go home after all the effort. "If we have to, th'playground is always open, an'Ma offered t'drive us t'th'Ozarks first week o'break. We could just wai-"
"Ugh, she always has to pick a fight with us. Why would she even be here?" Princess complained in her flat voice, cutting in. "And besides, we can't be seen at the playground, that's for KIDS!"
"C'mon guys, an enemy is just a friend ya haven't met yet. It'll be fine!" Dollface assured them with her usual brand of unnecessary confidence as she sipped to the door.
Princess glared, adjusting the shiny gold crown from last year's ballet recital between her blue pigtails, rightfully skeptical. The ballerina by day and video game mastermind by night crossed her arms, thick lips pouting.
Dollface opened the door with a giggle and swept her hand in one long gesture, while listening for the comforting sounds of the rushing, roaring train that ran through the town on occasion for some funny kind of security. "Ladies first!"
Izzy giggled and skipped inside, Princess cooly swaggering in. Dollface dropped her smile and released a breath.
She'd get her party afterall.
Breathing in the air of stale grease and electronic doo-dads, Dollface pulled out a beaten wallet from the bag she'd hastily thrown over her back as she strode with unrivalled confidence to the counter.
"Just our usuals?" She said with assurance in her voice as she passed her friends, already pulling out the cash she'd earned working at Daisy's.
She already knew the answers, all orders memorized. Questions were just courteous ways to confirm.
"Hi Jeremy!" Izzy bounded up to the counter right behind her.
Izzy had to admit, the sound of air cylinders and canned music did fill her with some childish excitement.
Excitement of the learned unknown.
Jeremy sniffed, red, sleepless eyes blinking too slowly to be anywhere near conscious. He smelled of skunk.
"Arcade, laser tag, meal, and, like, a show?" He asked, already nodding off.
Jeremy would definitely benefit from better hours, or even a new job. Much like the security guard, Mike, he disliked people under a certain age and had gotten stuck working minimum wage well past his dues.
Then again, dropping out of highschool had its consequences.
Dollface felt bad for big cousin Mike, he was doing so well until he was passed over for a woman on the Warren County force after retiring. And money only got tighter after his wife died.
The girls nodded quickly.
Izzy's long, floppy cow ears attached to her horned headband comically bobbed with her. She liked it because it matched her favorite cow-print vest.
Jeremy sighed, pulling out an order pad, already reciting their usual order with them.
"One dairy-free pepperoni, and one personal sized veggie lover's please." Dollface grinned as Jeremy mumbled along, already knowing the words.
Jeremy set out three paper cups for tokens with the grotesque animal heads on them as Dollface placed down her money with a wide smile. He dropped a handful of tokens into them and yawned drearily, beginnings of a pubey beard forming on his chin.
They took their usual cups, Izzy with Chelsea Chicken, Princess with Rodney Rabbit, and Dollface with Friendly Bear himself stamped on it, smiling proudly with square teeth, as if saying to the world, 'I'm ready!'
They sat down at their usual table, right next to the stage.
Tonight would be great as long as- "Hey bee-yatch, still, like, missin' something?"