88% Good work, just need to tie them into more of a theme and work on syllable count.'
Despite the professor's note, John couldn't be more pleased with his grade. The haiku assignment was finally behind him and he had passed, although it wasn't a perfect score it was better than a failing one. With a confident stride, he walked out of the campus and towards the parking lot. He didn't have as many classes as he normally did so he got out a lot earlier.
John walked out to the parking lot and began looking around for someone he knew to see if he could get a ride from them when he caught sight of Charlie's blue honda. It was parked as close as it could get to the sidewalk and he could see Charlie sitting inside. Her head titled low and facing away from him, eyes cast out the window next to her as she slumped in her seat.
Feeling his eyes getting wider with joy, John found that he almost couldn't contain his excitement as he broke into a light run to get to the car faster. Although Charlie's posture was concerning, he chalked it up to her being tired as he reached the car and rapped his knuckle on the window. He watched as Charlie glanced up and turned her head towards the noise and a faint yet slightly forced smile appeared on her face.
She gave John a little wave and unlocked the doors, allowing him to slid into the car. "Hey, I thought you'd be at home sleeping." He reached for his seat belt while Charlie racked her brain for a decent excuse because she didn't want to tell John about the poster. Not yet anyway, but then again she didn't exactly want to believe it either. Doing her best to repress the thought of a new Freddy's she smiled and said,
"I thought I should come to pick you up, that way we could see each other sooner." She tenderly touched the side of John's face but could see he wasn't totally believing it.
"You were waiting a pretty long time then." John placed his hand over Charlie's own and looked at her, noticing that she looked rather perturbed "Did anything happen at work?" Charlie forced her smile to grow wider and stroked his cheek with her thumb. She leaned in close to him and pressed her lips to his.
"Nothing that some time with you won't fix." She whispered while pulling back from him. John leaned forward and kissed her forehead in return. Charlie contentedly sighed at the touch of his lips. She could feel her tension and anxiety from seeing the poster washing away and wrapped her arms around John's neck. Once more they met the other's lips, John stroking Charlie's hair as they sat embraced. It was only they when they pulled away for some air that Charlie spotted the graded paper that was now laying on the center console
"Is that your haiku assignment?" She reached and took the paper from his hand and read over the teacher's note. Once she'd finished, Charlie set it down and knowingly grinned. "Ha, I told you relaxing was good."
"I'll never doubt your wisdom again darling." John half bowed in his seat, making Charlie giggle.
"Let's get out of here before we attract a crowd." She said and started up the car. Once they'd pulled out of the parking lot and onto the road, John asked
"Did you eat something before coming for me?"
Charlie flinched a little and didn't respond, trying to come up with a believable answer but her stomach decided to but in and loudly growled. She looked down at it at the same time as John and shot it a dirty glare. 'Traitor'
"You went all that time without eating?" John asked.
"Well, I wasn't too hungry and besides I prefer your cooking to fast food." Charlie reached over and squeezed John's hand with a loving smile. Though his face became half-stern.
"Soon as we get home you're getting a snack." He said, in a mock parental tone.
"No, then I won't want dinner." Charlie pouted.
"I'm going to make spaghetti tonight and we both know that's one of your favorites." Charlie waved John away from her with a playful groan and a roll of her eyes. After a year of dating, John knew all of Charlie's excuses inside and out. Of course, she also knew his so if things went too far sometimes, it became a small battle of wits to convince the other about something. It was never anything serious though and they all would boil just making sure the other was taken care of.
"Alright you win, but I don't want to go overboard with the snack...?" She stopped midsentence when she noticed that John had suddenly turned his head mid-conversation and was not staring out the window. His eyes wide and his face becoming pale.
"John?" Charlie slowed the car a little and looked out the windshield in his direction before he blood suddenly turned to ice. Looming over the roadway was on a large billboard was the upper half of Freddy Fazbear with his arms outstretched and raised welcomingly to all who saw him. To his left was a blue and white rabbit with striking green eyes and to their far-right was also a much thinner version of Chica holding her cupcake on a platter. Just like Freddy both of their arms raised in a joyous manner, while the blue rabbit was almost somehow playing his guitar.
Beneath the small group, In big letters beneath the three animals was an announcement: "Coming Soon: Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria and Kids Entertainment Center."
John's face snapped around to look at Charlie and he wordlessly pointing towards the billboard in shock. She matched both his gaze and expression as they stared silently up at the towering image. The same characters that still periodically haunted their nightmares. Charlie's hands gripped tight on the steering wheel before she stepped hard on the gas pedal to get them as far away from the sign as possible. She felt watched and by the way John was reacting he felt the same way. At that moment they both felt the urge to get away Freddy's welcoming, yet to them intimidating stare.
It may have just been art on a sign but the effect it had on them was all the same. The blue honda pulled away as fast as Charlie could get it to go, trying to leave Freddy and his friends behind them. But even as they lost sight of the billboard they could still sense his gaze following them all the way home.
"You're kidding, why on earth would someone even do that?" Charlie couldn't help but wince at Jessica's volume over the phone. Though it was understandable as she'd also felt like screaming ever since she saw the poster in the store.
John and her had returned to their apartment in silence, with Charlie heading for a shower instead of a snack as she'd earlier promised. They both needed time to think about what they had seen and Charlie had hoped a warm shower might help organize her mind. After finishing her shower and getting dressed for the evening, she'd found a plate with a sliced up apple and a jam sandwich waiting for her on the table with John playing dumb about where it'd come from.
As she started to thank him for his concern despite his playful denial, that Jessica had called. So now Charlie was explaining everything to Jessica while simultaneously munching on her snack. "Looks like it and I'm not sure who's exactly behind it," Charlie spoke in between bites of her apple, while Jessica sighed in disbelief.
"Shouldn't your aunt know anything about this, or like warned you it was happening?"
"No, she was never really involved with it...as far as I can remember. Plus there's no way she'd let this happen, especially after what happened to us last year." Charlie rubbed her arm, where a scar from the year prior was still visible. Wincing at the memory of Jen freaking out when she'd learned where it came from. She'd gotten Charlie to a doctor and told her niece off for doing something so reckless while also cursing Henry for putting an actual sharp hook on Foxy. "It's not really something we can talk about with her anyway."
"Yeah, it seems to be a touchy subject for all the adults that lived through it. My parents still don't know everything that happened last year and I intend to keep it that way." Charlie bit down into another apple slice and sighed. It was a little petty but a part of her envied how easy it was for Jessica and Lamar to keep things under wraps from their families. They'd emerged from Freddy's unscathed aside from the occasional nightmare.
Unfortunately, that was something that herself, Jason, Marla, and Carlton hadn't fared too well with as they all came out with some injury. Scarred both mentally and physically from everything that had happened. Even though things had gotten better for her, part of Charlie still regretted ever returning to that place.
"Though, and don't take this the wrong way, but I'm surprised you're taking this better than expected." Jessica hesitantly stated and Charlie's face fell. She wasn't, not at all. The calm exterior she presented to Jessica was little more than a shell that was masking her resurfacing pain. Disregarding everything going on with Arty, she'd been having a decent life again. A job, a new home, she'd been happy.
'Why now and why here? ' She began to squeeze the phone tightly in her hand as she fought some tears that formed in her eyes. She took a deep, calming breath before replying to Jessica. "I'm… doing the best I can considering the circumstances," she whispered, her voice slightly choking towards the end. She breathed sharply again, hoping that neither Jessica or John heard it. But she could hear John set his pencil down and feel his eyes turn to look at her. Not only that but Jessica let out an understanding short hum on the other end.
They knew fully that she wasn't doing well. She closed her eyes tightly and breathed again, practicing a small exercise her therapist showed her. She'd moved all the way across the country to escape the shadow that Freddy's cast over her life. Yet it had followed her, like some predator stalking after it's prey.
'It can't follow you, it's a building, not a person.' While harsh, her brain was at least a little reassuring this time and she swallowed hard before completing her breathing exercise and addressing Jessica once again.
"There's nothing I can do about it anyway, whoever's doing it probably wouldn't even think twice about listening to me." She leaned back against the kitchen wall and did another breathing exercise in a continued effort to calm herself. "Besides, we're kinda outside the age range it'll be catering too and none of us have kids so staging any kind of boycott would be pointless."
Jessica hummed again and chuckled. "Well yeah, but maybe you can like to spill the beans on Freddy's shady past. Maybe that'd be enough to stop it in its tracks."
"No...I'd rather just...try and avoid the whole thing altogether."
"I can understand that, maybe then it's good I called because I've got something to ask you," Jessica said and Charlie blinked. She leaned against the countertop and tapped her finger against it.
"One of my teachers has to go out for a conference so I've got an extended weekend to kill and I wanted to know if I could come down and see you guys."
Charlie perked up a little at the thought of having Jessica come by for a visit. The last time they'd really seen each other was when she'd helped them get moved in. With the new Freddy's weighing on her mind, another familiar face might do we some good.
"S-Sure, did you mean this weekend?"
"Yeah, unless John has something or you're busy with work."
Charlie reached across the counter and pulled a notebook that'd been lying underneath the cabinets closet to her. Both she and John had been writing down she'd been writing their schedules in it, so if things came up or they wanted to do anything then it wouldn't create any conflicting issues. She gave it a quietly quick glance over before she turned back around to face John and called out to him.
"John, do you have anything due or planned this weekend?" John flinched as he realized he'd still been looking back at Charlie and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Um, I'd have to check but it's still pretty early in the semester so I don't think there's anything I need to worry about."
"Okay, because Jessica wants to know if we can spare a weekend with her." She forced a brighter look on her face to match the little joke she was making. Though she knew John could tell that it was a life, he chuckled a little anyway.
"sure, we both could probably benefit from seeing a familiar face." He said and Charlie turned back to the phone.
"Yeah this weekend will work and we can go out for dinner, my treat."
"Oooh, look at you with the disposable income." Both girls laughed before Jessica announced she had to go and do her own homework and she wished John luck on his own before hanging up. After she was done, Charlie put back both the phone and notebook before rising up from the countertop. As soon as she was fully upright though, a pair of arms wrapped themselves around her body in a gently loving embrace. She didn't even need to guess who it was as she reached down and tightly squeezed John's hands.
He didn't ask if she was alright, they both knew that answer. Even with Jessica's welcome distraction, the new Freddy's loomed large in their minds still. Charlie turned herself around and reciprocated the hug. Wrapping her arms tightly around John and burying her face into his shoulder as memories from the past filled her mind.
They were scattered, but all of them shared the same theme of reflecting on her losses from Freddy's. Her brother, Micheal, and even her own father in the end. Possibly even part of herself in the process as her fingers, then the rest of her body twitched at the memory of triggering "Dave's spring-locks.
As she thought about those losses and her own actions she found herself squeezing and holding John slightly more protectively, determined not to let him go and to make him her anchor to the present. She tried to tell herself that it couldn't hurt her now. That she had a life and purpose outside of those pizzeria walls and that Freddy's didn't define or rule her life.
It was something that she knew...was a lie.