Dollface stopped in place, hearing screams rise from outside the party room.
She bolted, dropping the veggie platter on the reserved table, nearly trampling a few small children with heavy black boots. She neared the front lobby, recognizing the shrieks of...
Prissy Missy.
No Dollie, stay in here! Don't look!
But it was too late for Dollface, she'd already seen enough to piece together what happened.
Missy had opened her Daddy's expensive car's trunk to put away her kid brother's new toys to discover something was amiss.
A child.
Full of what appeared to be holes.
I told you not to look, Dollface. Quit now and go back to having one job. You've been losin' sleep anyway.
William, in a yellow rabbit costume pushed past the crowd and pulled off his skull-like mascot head, forehead wrinkled with concern as a woman, presumably the mother, wailed.
Mike followed behind. "Okay everyone, clear out the area. Authorities are being called right now."
William approached the woman, mouth open and eyes sympathetic, wanting to comfort. Her presumed husband, a burly man from another town, angrily pushed him away and grabbed his wife. William stumbled away, unable to process what had happened.
"You had one job, asshole!" He yelled accusingly at William. Mike prepared to restrain the man, his wife crying hysterically into his shoulder.
Dollface turned, watching Jeremy grab a phone at the front counter and dial for 911.
"What?" Dollface couldn't tell what was happening anymore. She felt light-headed, not understanding what was happening and suddenly feeling light-headed. Her fingers grazed at the gold cartilage piercing, trying to find Michael behind her eyes.
She stumbled back inside.
Dollface, calm down. We need to leave.She should have been more suspicious, as they'd basically filled out the paperwork and shown up for odd jobs and waitressing. There hadn't even been an interview.
But at the time, and even now, the sheer novelty of working somewhere other than the fields, family businesses, or babysitting younger cousins had won out.
There was generally nothing better to do than escape to the Dairy Park Gas Station a block away and buy sodas or kick rocks near the abandoned Joey Drew Studios.
Get back inside, we're leaving."Guys?" Dollface shouted, her heart skipping a beat as she heard kids running around, completely oblivious to the outside world and the havoc being wrecked.
Dollface, listen to me, we have to leave, now! But his voice quickly faded as the world became louder. Anxiety in Dollface rose as her breathing shallowed.
Freddy kept singing.
Bonnie played his guitar.
And Dollface's panic rose further. She felt sick as her chest panted, unable to feel her fingers anymore.
"Everyone! Stay back everybody, stay calm!" She could hear Mike outside but her head may as well be underwater, "Authorities are on their way!"
Michael was just a burning orb now, unable to process all the sounds and sights of the world around them. Dollface couldn't even look at the animatronics near her, feeling too dizzy and overwhelmed to even think her own thoughts.
What was happening to her?
A train passed the town, faster than the highway that constantly buzzed.
"Hello?" Dollface walked past the swarm of children shouting over Freddy Fazbear's band. "Hi?"
Into the prize corner with it's shelves full of toys and trinkets, a few of them Dollface had been eyeing for herself.
A giant gold teddy bear grinned down at her with bulging green eyes.
"Dollface? What's wrong?" Wolfie said from behind the prize counter next to the giant gift box as Dollface stumbled through.
Wolfie dropped her bag of cheap plastic toys and the key ring on her belt rattled, loudly, making Dollface's ears hurt. The face of Freddy printed on the black shirts all of her friends had to wear leered at Dollface as Wolfie approached her, leaving behind the counter full of furry faces and stitched smiles and the bag of shrink-wrapped joy.
"Something just came up."