Mike hadn't slept well last night. He collapsed onto his bed, having downgraded everything after Raina's death. Mike shoulda just stayed home and taken a nap, but his new bosses told him to stay in the empty building, even if they were finishig renovations.
He could probably just catch a nap on the nightshift, nothing ever happened at those particular times. At this point, nightshift had become the soul-sucking job of opening cameras and staring at stationary animals.
It wasn't like an animatronic could walk off the stage and out the door- they were bolted in place and attatched to air pumps so they could move.
Why bother?
Mike sighed, knowing that some people would steal anything they could get their hands on, even the bolts holding an ugly rabbit to the floor.
Mike considered telling Afton to go shove it up his ass and start packing like he wished he would after The Trypophobia Boy was found. No way in HELL was he working for a cheapskate who couldn't even bother to hire another security guard after something that horrific and tragic. He especially hated Afton for doing the bare minimum that day, but swallowed his thoughts on the matter.
Afton had completely dropped the sympathetic father act the second he sent the parents away with a check and a body bag.
Sadly, Mike needed the money since he wasn't needed on the small county police force as initially planned, and robots needed guarding even when no one was there. If he didn't take the job, then some other schmuck would. Even in a town like this, someone would steal parts from some old clunker left on the side of the road, and since the highway was nearby, they could disappear for good, never being caught.
Mike had a feeling in his bones that rose from his stomach and into his chest whenever he entered the building, a crawling feeling that something was off about that place. It had felt feverish all week, like something was breathing hot and humid in the heavy darkness.
Glad he'd managed to lose weight and mostly quit his comfort eating at the prodding of his sister-in-law, Mike sat up and planted his bare feet onto the bare wood floor.
Not bad for a fixer-upper.
Just like him.
The girls who swarmed the restaraunt every weekend were gonna be the new face of Freddy Fazbear's, huh? Well, good for them. Those girls were talented. He wasn't sure how he felt about William though, something was off about him. He'd have to keep an eye on Afton whenever he was around those girls.
He had to be ready for tonight's shift, so he better rest up. Jeremy was probably at home by now, or maybe he was working his evening shift at Dairy Park, stealing from the register as he usually did.
Didn't know, didn't care.
That's what you get for pissing around and then dropping out of highschool, stoned out of your mind. Jeremy was a good kid, just fell to the wayside of things like everyone else in this Godforsaken town.
Not like Mike was any better, as a kid, he had a habit of fucking around in all his classes. His brother was worse, their constant rivalry even getting them suspended on occasions. The fact that they both graduated not only highschool on time but college and boot camp was a miracle by many accounts.
Jeremy was still a problem child, regardless of what Mike had been like in school. Just the other day, he caught Jeremy with a Maxim stolen from a dumpster hiding behind the building. If he didn't have such a record, he could go into the army. Mike and his brother both went into the Marines, helped clean them up…
Hell, his brother had a wife and two kids now.
Mike had fallen asleep while listening to Cecil, the man on the radio last night, and had a dream when he was supposed to be monitoring a robot bear. It didn't matter though, no one was coming in and he needed to get a few hours in some way.
Might as well be paid to sleep.
Apparently, he was out cold long enough to dream.
He didn't like the dream he had.
A feverish nightmare that had left him uneasy until he clocked out at dawn, with the golden bear's vinyl mask oozing a sticky black ink. In self-defense, Mike had slammed a maglight into its hideous face, cringing as the skull shattered into fine cracks under his knuckles.
Mike convinced himself, long after the dream had dissipated, that he'd been listening to stories kids were spreading around town about Joey Drews' being haunted.
Remembering the moldy colors of its brilliant yellow fur, Mike found himself unappetized for dinner for the first time since Raina died and opted for a shower instead.
Mike and his brother's family found themselves relating to Dollface in a strange way, a small kitten to their large German Shepherds. Even String Bean, his niece, towered over Dollface and many of her friends, but now he was worrying for her little band of Lost Girls. He shouldn't be, they weren't really his problem once they left the building.
Then again, Mike's niece and her friend were involved with them as general employees, making everyone involved like family.
Mike would have to investigate during the next few nights. It was prime time at Fazbear's because he was left to his own devices. The little boy from the big city found in the trunk of a rich brat's car didn't deserve the death he was rewarded with. They called him 'The Trypophobia Boy' because every part of him had a bloody puncture wound as big around as a quarter and deep enough to have an exit wound on the other side. A sad, painful death by an unknown weapon.
Mike hated how pathetic it had been. The killer was a coward and he was determined to find them, police involvement or not.
Mike sood over his dresser and shuffled the papers he'd already collected, as well as a few notes monitoring things like vermin levels and food quality. At the very least, he could turn this file in to Eustace for a health inspection.
Remembering Maymie, who'd been much younger than Mike had been, he tossed the papers back on the dresser and began his search for a TV dinner.
The damn bitch dumped the kid on her parents and expected everything to 'work out fine'.
No you ignorant slut! Muriel had to come out of retirement as a teacher and get another job, while Eustace had to continue a military career, government health work, and pick up more jobs as a handyman all because ya couldn't keep 'em together on a damn field trip!
She couldn't even be fucked to call on Dollface's birthday!
He'd also heard rumors that there was another brat, a twin of some kind that Maymie had been trying to drop on the Cowatchs' for years now. Most likely because she was tired of playing house with her asshole husband on her permanent European vacation.
Yeah right we'll take your spoiled crotch goblin! Dollface is good enough!
Mike rummaged through the freezer and grabbed a Hungry Man Dinner. They were nasty, but affordable on a wanna-be cop's paycheck.
No, he wasn't mad at Dollface. She couldn't help what cards she'd been dealt.
Her selfish mother Maymie on the other hand?
Maymie was awful.
Mike was just over ten years older than her, meaning interactions were mainly left to babysitting and the occasional glare. But even then, he got a haughty vibe from her, like she believed she was better than everyone, that she was prettier, smarter, higher kept than everyone around her because she didn't have to work quite as hard. Eustace and Muriel had doted on the only child they ever had, which made the news all the more painful for everyone involved.
So when a baby, undersized and sick with a loud, flat voice and black eyes came with Mommy nowhere in sight, people mourned and cursed Maymie's name.
Mike finished heating his dinner and began eating while leaning against the kitchen counter.
He'd have to run over to Freddy's as soon as he finished his meal. Mike decided to walk, he needed to lose the weight he'd gained after his wife's death two years ago.
Raina, his wife, had been a dance teacher for the town, one of the only ones in the county. She managed to get the small group of girls to state competitions before the breast cancer had really set in. Mike couldn't be the breadwinner for his ex-pilot wife, but he could make sure she was happy in her final months.
Mike set his silverware in the sink and dumped the emptied platter into the overflowing trash.
He'd get it later, he had places to be.