I paused, looking at Baby as she sang. I don't even know what show was playing, but the kids looked happy to see her all the same. Baby's pigtails moved and her body swayed left to right as the show continued. She paid full attention to the adoring children, only pausing to turn her head-which is when our eyes met. The music didn't pause as Baby stared at me, and the children didn't seem to notice. Baby's eyes flickered green for a split second as she stared at me before resuming her song, looking back at the children with her usual bright blue eyes.
I looked down at the plastic bag I held-the torn, barely-cleaned spy Baby plush was in stuffed inside. Thankfully I was able to get my smell out of it before bringing it here. I walked into the kitchen, trying my best to not turn back and look at Baby again. When I stepped in, Anondos was busy preparing another pizza. He paused in his work to look at me, giving me a smile as he dabbed at his brow with a paper towel.
"Hey dude, 'sup?" Anondos asked. "I didn't think we'd be seein' you today. What's in the bag?" He pointed down. I ignored his question.
"I was having a shitty morning. I don't wanna talk about it." I replied. "Where did all those kids come from? I didn't call anybody to bring them."
"Oh, yeah, that was pretty cool." Anondos started to explain, returning to sprinkling cheese over a pizza. "The elementary school called this morning and asked if we had any field trip discounts or anything like that, so I gave them a deal. I didn't think you'd care."
"Considering I don't know how much money we've made so far, sure." I replied. "Who turned Baby on? I didn't teach you guys how to use her." When Anondos turned to answer me, he raised an eyebrow and looked confused.
"Uh, you're turning red. You okay?" He asked. "Mike said he found her instruction books and just picked some random show disc to play. He didn't think you'd care. Are you jealous that someone else handled Baby's DVDs?" He snickered, looking at me. "Did you finally give in and look up some'a that robot porn?"
"Fuck off." I replied, turning to leave the kitchen. I paused as I stepped into the doorway, turning back to look at him. "Thanks for having my ass so much. This place would be closed again without you."
I heard him chuckle and reply "No prob!" as I walked back into the show room. The children had stopped talking to each other and were now excitedly talking to 'Bonnie,' as a costumed Mike played with the group as some pleased-looking adults looked on. I had to assume these adults were teachers rather than parents, mainly because they looked to actually care what was happening with the kids. 'Bonnie' gave me a friendly wave as the giant head turned to see me. I smiled and waved back at him and the kids.
This was all like the Freddy's I remembered from my childhood. A singing robot, a costumed character making kids happy, and pizza for everyone. The whole place smelled delicious and the atmosphere was perfect. If the restaurant would be like this every single day, I wouldn't hesitate in putting in more effort.
"Hey, Mr. Anon!"
I jumped in surprise when I heard a voice behind me. I quickly turned, seeing Tricia behind me. I had completely forgotten that I had employed her. I think she's Mike's cousin, right? I remember that she was scared of Baby for some reason, which is fine because I don't want anyone near my robot anyway. MY robot.
"Oh, uh, hey." I said, nodding at her. "Sorry, I totally forgot you were here today."
"You never gave me a schedule." She replied, crossing her arms and giving me a disappointed look. "Mike's been asking for me. I'd been waiting for like a week, ya know! Did you forget you hired me?"
"Uh, no! Of course not!" I lied, shaking my head. "Things have just been ... kind of weird, these past few days. I'm sorry, Tricia. I promise, things will be a lot more steady moving forward. I'll go write up a schedule for you today."
"Thank you!" Tricia happily replied. "If every day is as good as today's been, this'll be great job!" Tricia walked past me, heading for a table. I watched her walk away-her long, blonde hair was tied in a ponytail hanging out of the hole in her black hat. She had a black apron on with an order pad and pen in the pockets. Where did those come from? Anondos must have found more stuff in the back again.
As Tricia spoke with the adults, I noticed that the kids had lead Mike into the game room. I leaned over to get a better view, seeing that 'Bonnie' was playing one of the basketball games with them. The important guests were being watched out for, and the ones that paid were happy. I could probably leave and just come back tonight to start talking to Baby.
"Hey, uh, Mr. Anon?"
I looked up at the sound of Tricia's voice. She and the table of teachers were staring at the stage. Baby had stopped singing and was instead twitching violently, with one of her pigtails frantically bobbing up and down and her microphone hand furiously moving back and forth. What the hell?! Was she broken?! I started to run towards the stage, but froze before I could take a single step. I knew I should run over there and turn Baby off before something bad happens, but I couldn't. My mind was making me stand and watch.
For some reason, one of the teachers had decided to approach Baby to investigate.
"No, don't do that!" Tricia yelled, running past the teacher to block their path. Tricia was terrified of Baby, so the fact that she did this at all either meant she was very dedicated to the customer, or ... well, she was very stupid. Regardless, I could see her trembling as she walked towards the stage. She didn't climb on to it, but stood perfectly still and stared at the shaking clown robot. "Uh, h-hello? Are you b-broken?" Tricia asked Baby, as if she would be answered.
"Y-You y-you y-you!" Baby actually started to talk, still shaking while stammering words came out. "Y-You are NOT my f-f-f-friend!" Baby's words were becoming jumbled, as if she was trying to play different lines at once. Unfortunately, this mix wasn't sounding too friendly. "Y-You you you're NOT a friend! C-Circus Baby doesn't LOVE to PLAY with you!"
Oh God. The robot uprising has finally come, hasn't it? I finally took a step forward and started running for the stage. Tricia's legs were shaking as Baby kept spouting out jumbled sentences at her, shaking violently as her head snapped towards Tricia's direction. Before I could so much as reach a table, Baby's face plates started to shake before bursting open and revealing her metal endoskeleton. Just as she had terrified the angry mover in the past, Baby's explosion made Tricia scream in fear.
"C-Circus Baby's friend is ANON, n-not you! Y-you you are ICE CREAM!" Baby's mixed lines were starting to sound like some weird kind of threat. That and she was saying my name again outside of our private conversations. Wait a second. She told Tricia 'You are ice cream?' When Baby talks about ice cream, that's when she tries to ... oh fuck! Fuck! No! No no no!
Baby let out the same loud, scream-like hissing that she had in the past when her face opened up. The teachers were watching this and Mike was trying his best to keep the kids distracted with games, but some were peeking in from the game room doorway and watching as if this was some kind of show. I ran past the tables and jumped for the stage, crawling as fast as I could to reach Baby and press the emergency switch on her leg. In a flash, Baby's face was covered once more and her pigtails stopped twitching. Her body stopped shaking and she stood frozen.
I sighed in relief. The silence from the lack of music was louder than any scream I'd ever heard as I turned to face the teachers. A few of them were standing over Tricia, and another was on the floor in front of her, pushing on her chest and giving her mouth-to-mouth.
"She got so scared she had a heart attack!" One of the teachers said. "Someone call an ambulance! Quick!"
