It was Friday night and the place was packed.
Princess navigated the crowd of children, too claustrophobic to think straight. She took her pink prescriptions off to wipe them on the hem of her blue-purple satin skirt. She placed them onto her nose, then adjusted her crown.
She passed Reggie by the door, handing out balloons while fussing with her striped shirt's neckline.
"Oof!"
"Bawney, you'we Bawney!" A little girl slammed into Princess and wrapped her arms around her. Princess awkwardly raised her arms, the kid's chin digging into her stomach and wiry limbs crushing her rib cage. "My favewate's Feddy, but I'm too scawed t'talk t'her!"
The dark face of the girl wrapping herself around Princess revealed all emotions. Pure, unrequited worship.
Princess could tell this girl had been one of the kids invited to see the band from out of town, as she was unfamiliar.
Princess wanted to just shake her off, but realized she had a job to do. The girl's cleft lip curled into a smile. "You'we Bawnie, you really awe!"
"Yes, yes I am Bonnie!" Princess said, the words filling her chest with a sudden, unacountable pride.
Was this why her mom liked to work daycare?
Either way, it was nice to give someone joy.
"I saw you'we pictuwe and you wewe on TeeVee!"
Princess smiled down at the little girl, remembering the photoshoot done at Freddy Jr's and the promotional ads, and later a small commercial shoot to play on local television stations. They'd been fun to make, but Dollface had acted flighty the whole time.
She vaguely thought of it now, remembering how out-of-character Dollface had been on those days.
"You'we haiw is so pwetty!" The girl gasped, overturning Princess's absent-minded train of thought,"I wuv bwoo and poupule!"
"Thank you! What is your name?"
"Pen'eya!" The girl beamed widely. "It's my biwthday today!"
"Happy birthday, Pen'eya."
The girl beamed, hearing Bonnie say that to her special.
"I weally want to talk to youw fwiends, but I'm scawed!"
"And why is that?" Princess asked, a practiced smile playing on her painted lips.
"Becawse I don't know what t'say!"
"Maybe after the show you can come and talk to us! Would you like that?"
The girl with the speech impediment's warm face lit up like a birthday cake.
Everyone, please stay in your seat, the show will begin momentarily!
"That is my cue, Pen'eya, I have to leave now. But I promise to talk to you when we are done!"
Pene'ya unlatched herself and ran to the dining area to watch her new idol come onto the stage.
Just for her.
And the fifty other kids from the big city.
"Mistew, whewe awe we going?"
"To meet your new friends of course!"
Penny followed behind the rabbit carrying her new Freddy toy, the one the lady with striped arms gave her special during the birthday dance. She held it close.
"Follow me!" He giggled.
Penny slowed down, hugging her toy. "I don't feel vewy good, mistew."
"Don't you trust me?" The rabbit asked. The rabbit smelled funny. She batted a fly.
He smelled like too much of Daddy's spray deodorant.
It made her stomach churn.
"Uhmmmmm..." Penny kicked her feet on the check tile, "Where is evee-bawdy?"
Ignoring her question, he giggled, "Here we are!"
"I don't see Feddy..." Penny said doubtfully. Where was mommy? This rabbit was kinda scaring her.
"But he's right here," The bunny grinned, waving a paw in front of her.
Penny looked skeptical at the deactivated animatronic teddy bear sitting on a cluttered work table.
"That's not Feddy. Feddy's bwown."
The rabbit gripped Penny's shoulders, faces cheek to cheek, "This is a special Freddy. Do you know his name?"
Penny studied the golden bear. "It looks like it frew up."
"His name's Fredbear. He's a special bear, just like you."
"Me?" Penny asked, looking at the rabbit as he let go.
He lumbered to a shelf and pulled out a furry brown blanket. "How about you try this on?"
She shook her head full of intricate braids her mother had skillfully woven into her hair. Her mother ran a hair salon, a very popular one up north. Penny spent lots of time there, sniffing soaps and lotions while her mother and aunts trimmed brightly colored braiding hair.
She wanted to learn how to braid, and sew, and weave beautiful heads of hair one day. Her mother had even bought her a mannequin head to practice on.
"If you do, Freddy will come in and see you."
Penny nervously approached the rabbit and touched the furry blanket in his hands.
"I don't know."
He narrowed his eyes behind skull-like sockets as he stretched the phunphur over a thin wooden frame, velcroing the back together to create a torso, "Are you sure?"
Penny nodded, stepping back as flies buzzed against a skylight overhead.
Without looking at her, he lifted the light-weight torso. He turned the large torso, inspecting it, "Freddy won't like you if you aren't dressed properly."
He stooped, stumpy muzzle in her brown face and slammed the torso over her head, forcing her into the suit piece. He slammed a foam and vinyl suit head on top and slammed a comically sized bunny foot into her, knocking her to the ground.
Penny lashed and howled as scrounged parts of pneumatic air hammers penetrated skin and shattered bones.
Dissatisfied at the speed at which Penny died, the rabbit hefted the bulky body off the floor. He wound up and slammed the partially formed robot against the wall.
Penny let out a screeching wail, skull crushed as machinery formed around and inside her.
Finally, the bear was silent.
The rabbit kneeled, a pair of eyes made from wooden Billiard balls with colored plastic lenses set in them, and pushed Penny's organic ones back inside the head.
He forced the repurposed Billiard balls into the eye sockets, "Be good and you'll get candy."
"Where's that Penny kid ya mentioned? Ya said she wanted t'meet us." Izzy said, orange lips forming the words carefully.
"I do not know." Princess paced stiffly around the quieted party room. She glanced at the showstage. Bonnie and Chica had been put back in place, but Freddy was nowhere to be found.
"Guys, it's late." Wolfie said. "She probably had t'go home or somethin'."
Wolfie wasn't too fond of waiting around. She snuck out again last night for a wander and was now really feeling it catch up to her. Dolli Mae nodded in agreement. String Bean did as well, pulling her pants higher over her toned torso.
"Something feels off." Princess insisted in that flat way of hers. "Something is wrong, I can feel it!"
Dollface unclipped the tiny top hat from her hair and twirled it in her hands, then attempted to roll it over her shoulders with about as much success as you'd expect. "I agree with Wolfie. She probably had t'go home."
"No!" Princess snapped loudly, more expressive than usual. The red eyeshadow swirled across her lids mirrored her fiery outlash perfectly.
She slumped.
"Hey, it's fine." Dollface said, approaching cautiously in her platform go-go boots. She ran her fingers through Princess's waterfall. Thorne and String Bean stood closer. "We're all a little tired. Do you need a ride home?"
Princess nodded, looking defeated.
"Hey Thorne, can she catch a ride with you guys?"
"Yep, we can do that." String Bean put an arm around Thorne's waist. Thorne rested her head against String Bean.
"We are all a little tired right now."